Conservation Congress To Take Up Hunting Policies At Spring Hearings

Meetings Will Be Held In All 72 Wisconsin Counties

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Nighttime hunting policies will part of the focus at the Wisconsin Conservation Congress‘s annual spring conservation hearings, to be held in every Wisconsin county Monday night.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Board may be nearing a decision on allowing overnight placement of portable hunting stands and blinds on DNR lands north of Highway 64. The same goes for a proposal that would allow the nighttime recovery of game that had been shot legally during daylight hours.

The DNR’s Kari Lee Zimmermann said conservation hearing attendees can weigh in on those issues with a non-binding vote.

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“It doesn’t mean that if it passes or fails that it necessarily will change,” Lee Zimmerman said. “But it is a strong gauge that the department uses to weigh public sentiment about these issues.”

Wildlife advocate Patricia Randolph said the two questions are an example of the hearings focusing on more power for hunters and trappers, and not humane stewardship of intact ecosystems.

Melissa Smith, a delegate to the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, said she’s proposing a wildlife conservation stamp that would provide money to preserve habitat and public lands. That, she said, would help “make sure that we are striving for managing for biodiversity and holistic management, rather than hunting game species management.”

Smith also wants people to support registration of canoes, kayaks and other non-motorized watercraft. She said that would raise money to prevent more invasive species from reaching Wisconsin.