Have studied and followed CWD since way back. Given quite a bit of input to NRB and DNR. A lot of stuff that has been done with CWD has had no real effect.  Lot of feel good  stuff with no results other than spending a lot of money and crashing deer populations in a many areas unnecessarily.   Sky is falling philosophy. CWD will ruin deer hunting in this state.  Not . Killing too many healthy deer and high predator populations that is ruining deer hunting.  As noted previously 

Hey Littleluck. Do us a solid and get yourself educated a little about CWD. Watch the Joe Rogan podcast he did with Doug Duren about CWD.  It's 2 hours long but worth the time.

The only deer bounty I would be interested in is kill a deer and get two free wolf permits.

Absolutely no science to back up that killing deer that may or may not have cwd will reduce spread of cwd. If a deer is dead of cwd or a rifle bullet, it is still a dead deer that can't reproduce.  Most deer don't live long enough to get cwd or die from it. Most bucks don't make it to 3-4 years when they they may get or die from CWD. So now encourage people to shoot does too that may be healthy and crash the deer population. Kill a deer just to get more cwd data. Treat deer like a varmint. Makes sense. Looks like someone is possibly getting influenced by the timber industry or the cwd testing industry. People will never learn that killing more deer is not the answer for cwd. The only solution will likely be deer becoming resistant to it and breeding it out of the population. CWD isn't crashing the deer population like all the "experts" said it would in this state. Killing too many does and having too many predators most certainly does crash the deer population.   People calling for these moronic management practices don't have a clue.

Can't test 'em unless you kill 'em. Make no mistake about it, the bounty is for killing deer. There should be none, zero, nada bounty. The whole idea is an attempt to drastically reduce the deer herd, something the DNR has been trying to do for a long time. Thank god there's still some sanity on the NRB that's been halting this attempt for the past several years. Obviously West doesn't roll with that group. I'll never understand this mindset, kill the deer, with something that's been deemed unethical for decades, a bounty. The monetization of wildlife is for poachers and outlaws, and I guess now for one NRB member. 

Fin Bender,

 "Many questions remain and that is the intent of a Pilot Project. Let's figure some things out with hunters, landowners, wildlife specialists and CWD researchers involved."

That is the answer to the question about how much of a bounty to be paid for the program.


The Conservation Congress meets in a couple of weeks and I will discuss this issue with Marcie West in person.

If we paid a bounty for getting a deer tested for CWD, how much should it be ?

Hunters are actually that dumb vote to kill deer for an incentive payment/bounty. And believe that it is in the interest of herd health and stopping spread of cwd. When has killing deer that may or may not have cwd been shown to stop the spread of cwd. Not. Just an excuse for dnr to get hunters to kill more deer. I am sure they will offer incentives in areas where deer population is already really low. Talk about hunters shooting themselves in the foot. Then they will complain no deer in their area. Yeah makes sense. You think hunters old enough to remember the old T zones where they had doe only hunts in October. Essentially unlimited doe tags that you could use all year all weapons.  The tags were like free or $5. Hunters wiped out the herd in these areas. They thought they were doing a good thing and helping dnr control deer population.  Well still have terrible deer hunting in my area years later as a result of the dnr flawed management.  Hunters just don't learn doing the same thing over again. 

The day I accept a bounty on a deer will be my last day hunting. 

Fin Bender, Huh, "killing contests" such as coyote contests and big buck contests are under attack but yet, here is a gov. agency promoting a "killing contest".  Go figure....

Now that we know the results from the Spring Hearings I have a question of my own, maybe one of you knows the answer.

One member of the Natural Resources Board, Marcy West, asked a question on the Spring Hearing ballot about paying hunters to kill deer. Here's the exact question, it was number #18, and it passed:

 "Do you support having the Wisconsin DNR undertake a 2-year pilot project to test if offering a healthy herds incentive payment to landowners and hunters can increase the testing rates and remove CWD+ deer to levels effective in reducing prevalence and slowing disease spread? "

So, I'm just wondering if any of you know how much cash I'm going to get from Marcy West for shooting deer and getting them tested? I mean, I thought bounties were a thing of the past, but what do I know. I do know that almost 20 years ago there was a small program that shelled-out 400 bucks a pop, is that how much she's going to offer? Heck I'm loading up on tags for that kind of dough.