AJE; You just keep catching those broken and rubbed coyotes in February. A lot of them are that way by mid January

I'm still miffed by the poor attendance in Brown County this year. According to the county by county results last year, there were 152 in attendance. What happened that there was an 80% drop from last year to this year? Some of that can be attributed to online voting, but surely not all of it?!

I'll be interested to see what the head count shows up as for this year, whether they will count those who showed up for the random verifiable number and left. It will also be interesting to see how those online votes shape up, and how much clout they're given.

House of cards ?

I'm afraid that online voting will be the beginning of the end. There was a huge drop at the Sheboygan meeting, even the warden mentioned it, lowest numbers ever. And the average age of the crow keeps getting higher.

I hear ya. I can see both sides.

Maybe GB folks are down about the Packers.

Seriously though, that is pretty pathetic attendance.

We had some people show up just for a number, then go home to vote. I don't get the point of that. Online voters can't vote for delegates or resolutions, so why would people show up just to get a number and then scurry home..

I only went so I could vote no on having 3 different Muskrat zones.. then left so I could be in bed by 9...:-)

Mac

Yep. That was expressed by some top brass at our meeting too.
It'll go to 100% online I think within 6 years.

Maybe the NCAA game hurt attendance.

Folks coming to the meeting to get a code to vote online could stay to vote on citizen resolutions and elections of delegates if they wanted. Other benefit is they get included in the county total versus statewide total.

Can we explore the benefits of providing input online for the Congress?

We also voted against the 3 zone rat cluster.

I also attended the Dane county meeting. The anti s made it brutal to sit through by just being rude and coming up with the craziest comments on every single question. I have all the respect in the world for the representatives on stage but they set the rules at the beginning and then don’t enforce them as far as comments needing to pertain to the question and also not disparaging others. I also feel that if anyone is making a point as fact based on “studies have shown “, they should be requires to provide a citation for the board and attendees to look it up. It was hard to believe how much misinformation is spread and nobody questions it. I know the DNR people aren’t there to sway opinion but it seems like when somebody is clearly just making things up that clearly isn’t true, the wildlife biologists or wardens in stage should be able to correct it. We have to get more trappers and hunters there next year and I think it would be impactful to have some of the younger ones show up. And my wife who doesn’t hunt or trap says she would be happy to go and vote with me next year.

This is why i Voted online... I can't listen to the BS I will lose the rest of my mind...

DNR reps on the stage are really lacking In knowledge when It comes to explaining things. The wild life biologist didn't have a clue on any trapping related questions.

But when Bruce got up and asked the audience Why cannibals didn't eat clowns was priceless. Because they taste funny. LOL

Yea but then you can’t vote for the delegates and I don’t think for the county resolutions. Those are the first things they do and then you could leave after the first 20 min or so and fill the rest out on your own and leave. I also think it might be a good idea to designate someplace on site for the trappers to meet up for a few minutes just before the meeting to all get on the same page in every county. But yea if they are going to make you listen to crazy people for 2 hours they should have to serve drinks. I definitely needed a couple when I got home.

Good luck with that.

I agree we need to try and get more younger people involved, although I think they're the most likely demographic to vote online. I'm 30 years old and I think there was one other person in attendance around my age, while most had 20+ years on me, although I know the warden is a few years younger than me because I was in school with his older sister.

I think maybe reaching out to groups that have a younger membership base and getting their local leadership to remind their members would help. A group like backcountry hunters and anglers tends to be younger and they are really in to conservation and take the approach that we are all public landowners but yet they are all sportsmen. People that belong to groups like that are more likely than the average young person to go the extra yard. That’s just one group and I’m sure there are more.

I think I was the only 1 under age 40 in attendance at our hearing. I've tried for years getting people to attend, and they show virtually 0 interest. It's a futile effort, so much so that I think I could promise a cash stipend to folks for attending and they still wouldn't go. That said, I'm not giving up.

AJE, maybe we need to buy them drinks afterward, but maybe the younger guys don't drink like the old guys. At 40, I am not sure which crowd I fit into, but I was one of the youngest. I agree we need to get more people there, but can't offer any great suggestions as to how.

No way I could sit through Dane's circus. I'd leave in handcuffs.

Im 41 maybe we need to start our own midlife trapper support group... LOL!