Wisconsin Sen. Fred A. Risser (D-Madison) has introduced two bills that would ban trapping and hunting in all state parks. Senate Bill 774, which bans the use of foothold and body-gripping traps in states parks, and Senate Bill 775, which bans all hunting in state parks, have both been assigned to the Senate Sporting Heritage, Mining, and Forestry Committee. If either bill were to pass and become law, Wisconsin would see a decline in access to hunting and trapping, and, worse, these bills would politicize wildlife management.

Research has consistently shown that the number-one reason people give up hunting is due to a lack of access. Sen. Risser would further exacerbate this problem by denying access to more than 60,570 acres.

Reducing access to public lands for hunting and trapping is also bad for the state’s economy. In Wisconsin, the average hunter spends more than $2,800 per year, generating a total of $4 billion in economic impact. Reducing the number of hunters and trappers would also impact conservation funding, as hunting and trapping licenses and taxes on firearms fund the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

“Senate Bills 774 and 775 are just plain bad policy in every way,” said Luke Houghton associate director of state services for Sportsmen’s Alliance. “These bills are bad for wildlife, bad for the economy, and bad for conservation.”

Thank you for the alert.

Didn't Wis. just open this up in 2012. If so that didn't take long.

Didn't take "Fred the Red" long to get on this. These bills won't go anywhere this session.

Aint he dead yet?

Could do a song about that, "Fred the Red is Dead! On a serious note, why does this kind of crap always come from city people that have never used wildlife for anything!

i totally agree with theese bills. prior to 2013 most state parks had limited access that was very acceptable. since then our governor has opened the parks up for a public land free for all and this has huge safety issues. our family farm adjoins a state park and the negative impact it has had is huge. until you personnally are effected you have no idea of the negative impact involved.

how DARE the public use the public land....who do they think they are?

We can hunt and trap on Michigan state park land. There are signs all over telling people that it’s legal for hunting and trapping and also leash laws.

There are a bunch of people who want to walk their dogs without leashes. They go cross country skiing or hiking and want to have their dogs run with them. I have talk to a lot of them that are upset they have to keep their dog on a leash. All they have to do is pay for the little sticker on the license and they get to go cross country skiing all winter long in the park, and us hunters and trappers have to buy the little tag as well as licenses to hunt and trap. So I’m glad they put up a lot of signs to remind people that there is hunters and trappers in the woods as well. Good use of license money imo.

Yup, parks are no longer a refuge for the deer and coon that eat my corn. best thing that ever happened. A few people were mad because they lost their private state sponsored trophy production areas.

I have public land near my farm. Few idiots abuse it, and its disgusting. I wish the few would be held accountable if/when caught. But excluding the limited few scumbags, the majority of people are very respectful of the area and take good care of it.

its hard for a state sponsored trophy area to produce when just about every deer is killed

diggerman you obviously either dont have property that borders a state park or havent been plauged with tresspassing and theft problems. you also have a privlige that i dont. even though we both own property u can control the number of deer and furbearers on youre property i cannot.doesnt seem reasonable to me. maybe since we dont have the same capabilities of how we can use our property my taxes should be decreased and the differance should be spread out amongst those who have full control of there property

does 40 -50 vehicles in a 560 acre park sound safe to you. i can tell you it is not!

yup everyone gets 10 acres

if you think there needs to be some safety then the DNR can set a cap on hunters per XX acres and make people schedule access but closing every park is just dumb

a deer was just hit feet from my mailbox, there era 20+ in my hay field tonite. I have a 4000 acre public hunting area within a forty of my land and a state park that virtually borders my land and land I rent. We have more than enough deer to go around. My neighbor shot a monster buck within a stones throw of the park boundary on his land. I have always had the occasional jaywalker but not any different now as before.
Why can you not control your own property?

When we hunted B.O.W there were assigned parking areas. And assigned hunting areas. It worked just fine.

Sounds to me like some persons that have land bordering state land are worried that some one on that state land just might kill some ones deer.

i dont claim ownership of any animal until it is harvested. animals dont know property lines neither do some of the public land hunters.i cannot control animal populations on my property because the state park is being over hunted/harvested. i am totally fine with allowing hunting in state parks as they used to be. x amount of hunters in x amount of acres

Am I to assume that since your land borders State land you don't hunt over the line?

i do not hunt over the line. there is another negative point that you obviously cant fathom. in the first 3 years of state parks being open to the public i had 2 close calls with stray bullets.in one instance the individual was ticketed the other shot came from within the park toward me striking the tree i was sitting in. that being said i no longer hunt that ridge on our own property! hey beav if you are the forum know it all i would have to say you are not very well versed in hunter safety