The Chippewa County Deer Advisory Council (CDAC) met on April 26, 2022 and made final recommendations for the county’s 2022 deer season framework.

After reviewing both written and oral comments from county residents, the council moved forward with the following recommendations to maintain the county’s deer population. In the Farmland portion of the county the council set a quota of 5,000 Antlerless Deer Harvest Authorizations. Anyone purchasing a deer license for the county’s Farmland Zone will receive a Gun Buck Deer Harvest Authorization and a Farmland (Zone 2) Antlerless Deer Harvest Authorization. There will be a total of 3700 bonus antlerless authorizations for purchase, 600 of which will be available for public land and 3200 for private land.

As for the Forest Zone portion of the county, the council recommended a quota of 1100 antlerless deer harvest authorizations. Being no antlerless authorization permits are included with a deer license purchase in the Forest Zone portion of the county, the council recommended authorization of 4400 antlerless permits for purchase, 3900 of which are to be used for private land and 500 for public land.

With the county having a Metro Unit, the council approved 900 private land and 100 public land Metro Antlerless Bonus Harvest Authorizations for purchase.

With exception of the 4-day December Antlerless Deer Hunt and Antlerless Holiday Hunt, the council voted not to ouer any other antlerless seasons. Although not a unanimous decision, with some spirted discussion, the council did vote to hold a county antlerless only Holiday Hunt. Some council members did not feel another antlerless gun hunt was necessary to maintain the population. Dependent upon snowfall amounts, a number of people felt a holiday hunt interferes with those who want to cross country ski and snowmobile during the holiday season.

Moving forward, Chippewa County will see 34 available days to deer hunt with firearms during the months of November and December. Throughout the gun seasons, archery/crossbow hunters will be required to wear blaze orange or florescent pink. In further action, the council voted to not extend the archery/crossbow seasons to January 31, 2023.

An item of particular concern to the council was a report from DNR Conservation Warden, Richard Maki. He indicated that Warden Clayton Peters and he had checked a number of folks hunting public land in the Chippewa County Forest Zone with possession of Central Farmland Authorization tags but not public Northern Forest Authorization tags. Maki said they had to do a lot of educating, reminding hunters of the zone diuerence and in a few cases issued citations to hunters who harvested deer in the Forest Zone with intent to register them in the Chippewa County Farmland Zone. Moving forward, he indicated Warden Peters and he will have to increase patrol euorts to reduce this violation, as they found it a fairly common occurrence. In final action, under council concerns and matters, yours truly authored a resolution on behalf of the CDAC recommending the Natural Resources Board (NRB) request the Wisconsin State Legislature to reinstate the state wide rule for tagging all deer at point of kill. The resolution was passed unanimously and forwarded along with final recommendations to the NRB.

Moving on with a personal note, throughout the winter months, I’ve received numerous comments about high numbers of deer being viewed throughout the rural farm landscape surrounding eastern Chippewa County. One person in particular called to inform me while taking a circle tour throughout the Townships of Delmer and Colburn in Chippewa County and Township of Taft in Taylor County he counted well over 430 deer. However, I would like to remind everyone that large numbers of deer viewed in a field or fields during the winter/spring months is not an accu – rate method of estimating true deer numbers. Deer disperse, filter and congregate toward the easiest and most likable food sources from miles around. Thus during this time period, we have small pockets with numbers of deer and larger pockets with minimal to no deer at all. A better basis for population recommendations occur in the fall throughout our deer hunting seasons. That's why it's significant that deer hunters go to the DNR website and participate in the annual deer hunter survey indicating numbers of deer seen each day along with recording other animals they may have seen.

Any one hunting in counties other than Chippewa can view CDAC recommendations on the DNR website. Look for CDAC – County Deer Advisory Council Recommendations.