State DNR scraps plan to catch deer by helicopter

[Go Big Red!]

State DNR scraps plan to catch deer by helicopter

February 25, 2011

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is scrapping a program to track and study deer by capturing them from a helicopter.

WSAW-TV reports the helicopter had repeated mechanical problems.

DNR researcher Christopher Jacques says the helicopter flew just eight days and captured about half of the 120 deer the agency was hoping to capture and collar.

Jacques says the Utah company that supplied the helicopter didn't have a replacement.

Jacques says the helicopter allows the DNR to capture deer much more quickly than on the ground, and allows researchers to more easily target bucks. Before the helicopter plan was scrapped, the DNR was able to use the 'copter to capture and collar 66 deer, mostly in the Shawano area. The DNR plans to continue to capture and collar deer using ground traps.