Deer hunters give DNR an earful

DENMARK - More than 100 hunters came to Denmark high school to let the Department of Natural Resources have it.

"I just don't get it. There is no logic here," one man in the crowd yelled.

Many hunters are fed up with the way the DNR is managing the herd.

"44 deer per square mile? What a joke. That's not even close," another man said.

Hunter after hunter told story and after story about the lack of deer in the woods.

"It's time for us to make a stand and tell the DNR we're done," said Steve Armstrong, president of the Maribel Sportsmen's Club. He said he sat out last year's gun deer season. He's considering closing his 200 acres to hunting this year.

"We should've stopped the DNR years ago," Armstrong said. "They kept telling us to shoot the deer, the population is too high."

"If a guy wants to put meat in the freezer the deer aren't out there," said Pat Schaefer from Sheboygan. Schaefer said he just doesn't buy the DNR estimates.

"20 years ago we could see 15-20 deer in a day the entire length of the gun season," Schaefer said. "Now I can't see 15 deer in three seasons combined."

The DNR concedes that point.

"There are fewer deer now than there have been over the last decade," said big game ecologist Keith Warnke. He said hunter observations are just one of many ways to find out information about the herd.

"Deer are a species that doesn't distribute themselves evenly across the environment," Warnke said. "So there are pockets that have a lot of deer. There are pockets that don't have deer."

The DNR is asking for help from hunters. The agency is doing several new studies on the herd. But many of the hunters at this meeting don't believe the DNR is listening.

After two hours, the majority of the hunters actually walked out of the meeting in protest.

There are several other meetings scheduled over the next two weeks. Click here for a list of those meetings .