Conservation Congress, DNR to host open houses in all 72 counties

Muskie season, walleye limit changes proposed

The Wisconsin Conservation Congress (WCC) and Department of Natural Resources (DNR) invite the public to attend an open house the week of April 3-6 to learn about resource management in their area.

Location details for each county open house are available at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/about/wcc/ openhouses. Taylor County’s open house is Thursday, April 6 in the Medford Area Senior High library.

DNR staff and WCC delegates will be on hand at these open houses to discuss local issues of importance, answer questions from the public and open a dialogue between the public, the DNR and the WCC about areas of interest and concern.

The WCC will also hold their delegates’ elections at each open house. Two of the five WCC seats will be up for election in each county.

The open houses precede the annual WCC/DNR spring hearings. In addition to the opportunity to engage with DNR staff and WCC delegates at these open houses, the public is also invited to participate in the annual spring hearings the following week that focus on natural resource-related advisory questions and proposed rule changes.

The spring hearings will again be held in a virtual format, as has been done since 2020. This year’s online questionnaire will be open for input from April 10 at noon through April 13 at noon via the Wisconsin Conservation Congress spring hearing webpage (https:// dnr.wisconsin.gov/about/wcc/springhearing).

The Wisconsin Conservation Congress is the only statutory body in the state where the public elects delegates to advise the Natural Resources Board and the DNR on responsibly managing Wisconsin’s natural resources for present and future generations. The Congress accomplishes this through open, impartial, broadranged actions. Learn more about the WCC and how to become involved in resource management decisions on the Wisconsin Conservation webpage, https://dnr.wisconsin. gov/about/wcc. For the open house, at 6 p.m. the doors will open for meet and greet and members of the public wishing to participate in WCC local election can get ballots at this time.

At 7 p.m., the WCC elections will be held. You must be a county resident to participate in this portion of the evening events. A panel discussion with DNR staff and WCC delegates will immediately follow the elections. Each DNR program will provide a brief update on issues/ items pertinent to the county. WCC delegates will provide an overview of their work on the WCC and what the organization is all about. There will be an opportunity for questions and answers following the panel discussion. Open houses will conclude at 9 p.m.

Fishing rule changes

The 2023 spring hearing agenda is 76 questions long with nine coming from Wildlife Management, 29 coming from Fisheries Management and 38 are advisory questions being presented by the WCC.

Two key proposed rule changes for fishing would affect walleye and muskie anglers.

  Question 11 asks if the public favors a statewide walleye/sauger bag limit of three per day on all inland waters of Wisconsin. Bag limits for boundary waters and the Great Lakes would remain unchanged as would limits on waters that are already less than three. In 2015, a regional-wide three-fish daily bag limit was established for walleyes in the Wisconsin Ceded Territory, comprising the northern third of the state). Since then a three-fish limit has been added for the Winnebago system and six southeastern counties and two east-central counties (Shawano and Waupaca) have established three-fish daily limits.

The proposal is based on recent public surveys and outreach related to an update of Wisconsin’s Walleye Management Plan that found public concern exists about increasing angling pressure and harvest of walleyes in regions where the five-fish daily bag limit remains.

  Question 10 asks if the public favors implementing a standard season structure statewide for muskellunge with opening day being the first Saturday in May and the final day being Dec. 31 on open waters only. This would eliminate the need for the current Northern and Southern zones and apply a uniform statewide season structure. It wouldn’t change existing size or bag limits. The management goal is to provide additional angling opportunity in northern Wisconsin.

  Question 13 has a local connection as it asks if the public favors applying a daily bag limit of three fish and a minimum length limit on walleyes of 13 inches while all walleyes 16-24 inches must be released and only one walleye greater than 24 inches may be kept on several area waters. These include the Jump River, Lake Holcombe, Lake Wissota, the Cornell Flowage, Old Abe Flowage, the Chippewa Falls Flowage, Dells Pond, the Flambeau River to the Thornapple Dam and the Chippewa River to the Arpin Dam.

The current regulation is a three-fish limit with walleyes 14-18 inches needing to be released and only one over 18 inches allowed to be kept. The management goals is to increase the density and size structure of walleyes while allowing for the harvest of relatively larger fish. The goal is not currently being met due to slow growth and inadequate protection of walleyes greater than 16 inches.

Wildlife changes

Included in the list of proposed wildlife rule changes are:

  Question 1 which seeks support for allowing Fshot for waterfowl hunting.

  Question 2 which gauges support for extending the youth deer hunt from two days to four, running from Thursday to Sunday.

  Question 5 which would remove the public/private designation on junior antlerless deer tags.

  Question 7 which asks if the public would support allowing individuals to shoot a bear that is attacking a domestic animal on private land.

  Question 8 which asks if the public favors allowing the DNR to issue deer replacement permits if a harvested deer is found to be diseased.

WCC advisory

Some advisory questions of note in the WCC portion of the questionnaire include:

  Question 57 which asks if there is support for a ban on shining of wild animals from Sept. 15 through Dec. 31.

  Question 58 which asks if there is support for expanding the youth spring turkey hunt from two days to four.

  Question 70 which asks if the public supports legislation to require a $10 grouse stamp authorization to hunt grouse in Wisconsin.

  Question 71 which seeks feedback on the idea of requiring the use of at least 50% hunter orange garments above the waist for the hunting of upland game birds, excluding turkeys and waterfowl.

  Question 72 returns to the often-asked question of what deer hunters prefer for a gun deer season. This year’s options are the current nine-day structure, a 16day season followed by the 10-day muzzleloader hunt or combining the nine-day season and muzzleloader hunt for a 19-day combined hunt where all weapons could be used with proper authorization.