On Tuesday, the State Senate will take up a package of bills proposed by a variety of Republican legislators with the alleged purpose of promoting hunting and fishing in Wisconsin. Before you read another word, please find your legislators here and prepare to contact them ASAP.
The reason I respectfully ask that you contact your legislators is that these bills individually and collectively are foolish. A prime example of foolishness is ignoring experts who have spent years studying issues at hand, especially when one has paid for those experts. Legislatures and Governors have spent decades funding the DNR so that its biologists can study and recommend actions and regulations to improve hunting and fishing with healthy and thriving populations of fish and game. The DNR has made some mistakes, but for the most part has succeeded. Wisconsin hunters and anglers can pursue and harvest a great variety of fish and game, often on public lands and waters at relatively low cost.
None of these bills has been reviewed by DNR scientists nor were they significantly consulted in the development of any of these proposals. These bills have become the latest and most egregious example of many legislators appointing themselves to be fish and wildlife biologists. One might think they had more important tasks at hand.
In my judgment, the failure to work with the DNR on these bills is a fatal flaw.
Sandhill Crane pair in flight. Photo by Arlene Koziol
One bill has attracted the attention of Wisconsin's bird lovers with its creation of a hunting season for Sandhill Cranes. Like many folks, I've spent some time in a crash course on the biology of Wisconsin's Sandhill Cranes and the possible effects of a hunting season. My sense (and please note that this proposal has appeared so suddenly that my quick review might have missed something) is that it is theoretically possible to have a heavily regulated, precisely timed and located Sandhill Crane hunt that probably will not seriously damage the overall population. But: Note all the “if's” in that tentative statement. Conversely, a season could also adversely affect our population, in particular because cranes produce so few young per breeding pair and reach reproductive maturity so slowly. One population of sandhill cranes in western Minnesota has been harmed by a hunting season promulgated without due weight given to some key features of those birds.
In terms of wildlife management I think the more prudent course is not to create a Sandhill Crane season at this time and certainly not to do so by legislative fiat.
There's a stronger reason, for me at least, not to have a season. The Sandhill Crane was nearly extirpated in Wisconsin through the loss of habitat and over-hunting. A charismatic species, the Sandhill Crane rallied decades of conservationists, biologists, and birders to save the bird. The focal point of that effort became wetlands, a most essential part of the bird's habitat.
Sandhill Cranes on a nest. Photo by Arlene Koziol
Sandhill Cranes became the symbol of wetland preservation and restoration in Wisconsin. For decades every spring Wisconsin bird and wetland lovers would take to the marshes to count the cranes. I read those news accounts for years. They always featured reporting on the importance of wetlands and the progress we were making in the protection and restoration of wetlands. As the number of birds increased, they inspired hope, joy, and optimism that we could make a difference and return parts of our natural world to health.
This history means that many Wisconsin conservationists, birders, and just plain folks have a powerful emotional attachment to sandhill cranes. They feel deeply that these birds should be protected for themselves and as representatives of a vital part of our landscape.
This all might seem subjective and sentimental, not to be considered in a wildlife management decision. I respectfully suggest that hunters should respect these widespread and intensely held feelings and not support a crane season. In recent years, as the population has grown more urban and a decreasing percentage of the population hunts, hunters have asked that non-hunters respect their feelings and values. Hunters remind us of how important the tradition of hunting is, the value of being outdoors, of the hard but satisfying physical pursuit of animals in fair chase, of the satisfaction of providing healthy, sustainable food for a meal with family and friends. Hunting, we are told, is an expression of values non-hunters should respect. As a hunter for four decades I agree with those sentiments. And, for the most part, non-hunters do. Even though there is no wildlife management necessity for hunting many animals (ducks, woodcock, rabbits, squirrels, grouse, ducks just to name a few) the majority of non-hunters respect the feelings and values of hunters and don't object or support recreational hunting.
I think it's time for some reciprocity. Hunters should respect the feelings and values of the many Wisconsin residents who want sandhill cranes protected.
Some mutual respect between hunters and non-hunters will do much more for conservation and even the future of hunting than a sandhill crane season.
Topf Wells, Madison Audubon board member and advocacy committee chair
Cover photo by Arlene Koziol
