Love Deer Hunting? The DNR Wants To Hear From You Online Public Comment Period Starts April 16 For 2020 Deer Season

Love Deer Hunting? The DNR Wants To Hear From You

Online Public Comment Period Starts April 16 For 2020 Deer Season

CDAC meetings are important for shaping the 2020 deer hunting seasons and annual antlerless harvest quotas. / Photo credit: Wisconsin DNR

MADISON, Wis. – Starting April 16, the Department of Natural Resources invites anyone interested in deer management in Wisconsin to provide feedback on preliminary recommendations for the 2020 deer hunting season structure.

Every county in Wisconsin has a County Deer Advisory Council (CDAC). The councils give the people of Wisconsin significant input into local deer management. These meetings are important for shaping the 2020 deer hunting seasons and annual antlerless harvest quotas. The CDACs provide the preliminary recommendations.

Each CDAC is made up of representatives from different interest groups that provide recommendations to the DNR on deer management within their county. Members review county-level population data and deer impacts on forests and agriculture, develop three-year recommendations on county population objectives and create annual antlerless harvest quotas.

Anyone wishing to provide feedback on the preliminary recommendations for their county can provide input April 16-29 online here. To view each county’s recommendations, agendas, and members, visit the DNR’s County Deer Advisory Council webpage.

After the public comment period closes, CDACs will convene between May 4-7 to consider public feedback and determine their final recommendations for the 2020 deer hunting season. Due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, it is uncertain at this time if those recommendations will be finalized at in-person public meetings or via phone conference. The most current information on meeting structure, dates and times is provided on the DNR website.

The DNR will review final the CDAC recommendations following the May meetings and provide proposals to the Natural Resources Board for approval in June.

More information about CDAC population objective recommendations, agendas and membership is available here. Additional questions can also be sent via email to: DNRCDACWebMail@wisconsin.gov.