Surprise, surprise, surprise! GOP siding with the barstool biologists instead of the DNR.

[TheMightyFavog]

http://www.channel3000.com/recreation/27850983/detail.html

MADISON, Wis. -- The state Senate's natural resources committee approved a bill 6-1 that would scale back Wisconsin's much-maligned earn-a-buck program.

Hunters in areas where earn-a-buck applies must kill an antlerless deer before they can take a buck. Hunters generally despise the requirements because it forces them to pass up trophy kills.

The Republican bill permits anyone to kill their first buck without taking an antlerless deer first. The measure also would generally ban gun seasons ahead of the traditional November hunt.

Opponents said the bill would strip the state of its most effective herd control tools.

The GOP sees deer hunting not as a valuable wildlife management tool, but solely as a means to generate revenue. What a bunch of dicks, and I say this as somone who supports hunting.

[sybylla]

1. It's not just about revenue.

Kicking the DNR around will always earn them votes and donations. Admittedly, the DNR screws shit up often enough to aid and abet the destruction of their credibility with hunters and land owners alike. All the Republicans have to do is toss a little gas on that fire, claim they're on the side of the hunter (or land owners as the case may be) and every hunting organization is kissing their ass.

[Broca]

2. Maybe I will send the GOP a bill

for the suppression of forest regeneration on my woods that is caused by the overpopulation of deer.

[Viking12]

3. Yep. High deer populations are good for lazy hunters and bad for everything else.

Bad for native vegetation. Bad for farmers. Bad for vehicles. Ultimately, bad for the deer themselves.

Edited to add: I am a deer hunter myself. I just don't think that everyone is entitled to a deer because they buy a license and sit in a tree.

[digonswine]

4. Hunting has become a joke in this state-

at least where I live. Every asshole from south of here come up for two weeks a year to swing their dicks around-while we who have always been here have to tolerate these orange bastards. I have almost nowhere to hunt anymore. Also--it seems people in general are stupid with their firearms. I'm not down on hunters or hunting--it has just changed in a bad way.

[sybylla]

5. I'm sensing that change, too.

I wonder if it isn't because it's gotten so expensive that only the diehard, knuckledragging, anti-government (or anti-DNR or anti-all-rules-in-general) yahoos make up a super-majority of what's left for hunters.

I've hunted for 35 years and I'm about ready to give it up, which would make my husband a very happy man.

[digonswine]

6. Yes-

I know a number of people who hunted for ages and now don't think it's worth it anymore. Too many bad neighbors. The landowner next to my friend's land leased his piece out for the season. My buddy crossed the property line to talk to the actual landowner, who he knows and is OK with, just for a chat. The asshole who leased the land saw this and reported him as trespassing. He had to go to court and pay a fine. JUST to talk to his damn neighbor. The neighbor couldn't really do squat about it-even though he disagreed. I don't trust troglodytes with this mindset with a gun.