“A majority of hunters in the chronic wasting disease (CWD) management area generally approve of the state’s handling of the disease eradication efforts,” according to the preliminary results of a survey conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP).
For the past year, Robert Holsman, assistant professor of wildlife at UWSP, has surveyed deer hunter behavior in Wisconsin’s Disease Eradication Zone (DEZ) in the southwestern part of the state where chronic wasting disease exists in wild whitetail deer. A UWSP graduate student from Milwaukee has worked with Holsman and will take the lead on the remaining research to be incorporated into his master’s thesis.
The project is funded by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and UWSP. It is an effort to be responsive to hunter opinions and is one part of the agency’s “learn and adapt as we go” disease eradication plan, according to the DNR.
The two-year effort is halfway to completion, but Holsman and UWSP are releasing preliminary survey data results (see link below) in order to serve the public interest in advance of this fall’s hunting season. The full report and results will be forthcoming prior to the November 2005 hunting season.
According to Holsman, the preliminary results show that most gun deer hunters in the eradication zone give the DNR a “B” or better grade in their handling of the management, despite the sacrifices hunters have been asked to make to help eliminate the disease. Survey results also show widespread support for the baiting and feeding bans. Both these strategies aim to reduce transmission of the disease among the deer herd. On average, hunters in the eradication zone went hunting four more days than other deer hunters in Southern Wisconsin who were in traditional management units. Each hunter in the eradication zone survey was given diary cards; those cards show more deer harvested by hunters in the eradication zone than by hunters outside the area.
“The results show that many hunters are doing what the DNR has requested,” said Holsman. “They are shooting more deer and discontinuing baiting and feeding. These preliminary results provide us with baseline data by which to compare this and future fall gun deer hunts. We will find out over the next few years how hunter attitudes vary as agency management does or does not change within the eradication zone.”
Holsman says that despite increased cooperation indicated by preliminary findings, no one should jump to the conclusion that hunters are content with the current season structure and format in the eradication zone.
“Hunters still have valid concerns about the impacts of CWD management on their traditions. I think many hunters have stepped up to do what has been asked of them, but that does not mean they like it,” concluded Holsman.
Over the next year, Holsman’s graduate assistant will collect and analyze information related to significant social and psychological variables that predict public concern about CWD and support of control strategies put in place by the DNR.
For more on these preliminary survey results go to www.uwsp.edu/cnr/CWDreport.pdf.
A native of Fond du Lac, Holsman joined the UWSP faculty last year. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UWSP (’89, ’95) and his Ph.D. from Michigan State University.
