Appointment came earlier, new system is poised for introduction

As a candidate in 2010, Gov. Scott Walker complained that the Department of Natural Resources "mismanaged" the state's deer herd and vowed changes after he heard complaints from some hunters about declining deer kills and overly aggressive deer management policies.

Two years ago, Gov. Scott Walker appointed James Kroll, a Texas deer management professor, as a "deer czar." Now, Kroll's recommendations are poised to take effect.

Kroll worked with two other outsiders to create a $125,000 report, which was completed in June 2012. Soon after his report was issued, Kroll told a Green Bay television station that a goal of the report was to make hunters more involved in deer management. The changes would put less emphasis on science, doing away, for instance, with the establishment of deer population goals in favor of population "objectives," according to a report by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel outdoors writer Paul A. Smith.

"What is going to have to happen here is hunters are going to have to make the transition from hunter consumers to hunter managers," Kroll said. "We are making them part of the management process."

That's a big change from the present system, where the DNR uses population estimates to balance the desire of hunters to bag a deer with the concerns of others, including farmers who suffer crop damage from the herds and safety advocates worried about the number of car-deer accidents.

Kroll's report was discussed at a series of 35 public hearings around the state that will end Nov. 8, 2013. Final recommendations will be made by the DNR staff to the Natural Resources Board, perhaps as early as December 2013.

Although the board hasn't taken final action, Walker promised to hire an outside expert to revise the deer count system. That's taken place, and there are big changes coming.

We rate this a Promise Kept.