A collision/WI hunt traditions

[Lee Borgersen]

            Editorial

    A collision with Wisconsin's  traditions .....
 




Aldo Leopold about 1940. Columnist David Haynes wonders what Leopold would think about the federal court decision to allow night hunting of deer by the Chippewa.
 



Oct. 22, 2015
       





   

I had to wonder what Aldo Leopold would say.

What would he think about allowing deer hunting at night or about letting hunters "shine" deer with bright lights to freeze them in their tracks so they can be shot more easily?

The father of the conservation movement was an avid hunter but he could be tough on hunters who didn't measure up to his ideal of the hunter's ethic. In his seminal book, "A Sand County Almanac," Leopold complains about hunters who kill does and young male deer then leave the carcasses to rot in the field while they pursue bigger bucks.

What would he say about federal Judge Barbara Crabb's ruling giving the Chippewa the go-ahead to hunt at night?

Long the tool of poachers who don't respect the land, a night hunt increases the risk that wounded deer won't be found. It's inherently more dangerous.

I don't begrudge the tribes their due. Their hunting traditions run far deeper than my own. I do begrudge them the method.

I've spent hours in tree stands or seated on five-gallon buckets deep in the North Woods. Some years I've seen deer, and some years I haven't. It depends on the weather, the land, the cover, the food sources, the wind, on my patience. It depends on whether other hunters are in the woods scaring up animals.

It depends on many things over which you have little say.

The sport is challenging, a test of a hunter's wit and resolve. The animals have a good chance of escaping even if the hunter does everything right.

A night hunt with "shining" tips the balance. You've heard the expression "deer in the headlights." It's all you need to know.

The tribes will require an advanced hunter safety course, a shooting test, a hunting plan and other measures. Crabb decided the tribe's plan was enough to keep the public safe. I'm not as sanguine.


But I don't blame Crabb. Her decision was a natural outgrowth of decisions made three years ago by the Legislature. As my colleague Paul A. Smith explained, this story began with the "Wolf Management Act," passed in a hurry in 2012 when the Republican-dominated Legislature was in a hurry to do many things. The bill was co-sponsored by Reps. Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford) and Roger Rivard (R-Rice Lake).

The legislation created a public wolf hunting and trapping season and allowed wolf hunting at night. Wildlife biologists, wardens and others connected to the state Department of Natural Resources, who should have developed the rules for wolf management, instead offered only informational testimony. Lawmakers and lobbyists made the key decisions.

Realizing their error, legislators later removed the night wolf hunting provision but the damage was done. The Chippewa argued that they should be allowed to hunt at night as well, and Crabb cited the state's decision on wolves in her ruling.

The politicians who were in such a hurry should have understood this. They should have understood the value of professional wildlife management.

Leopold understood. He and others pushed for the Conservation Act of 1927, which established an independent commission — now the state's Natural Resources Board — to oversee what became the DNR. It was the natural outgrowth of his ideas about respect for the land and citizen involvement in protecting it.

"The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land," he wrote.

On hunting, he noted:

"Voluntary adherence to an ethical code elevates the self-respect of the sportsman, but it should not be forgotten that voluntary disregard of the code degenerates and depraves him."

Though he died in 1948, I think we know what Aldo Leopold would have thought about this. Surely, the Legislature should have known this, too.



            Aldo Leopold about 1940.


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