[You can expect a lot more hunting accidents when this season starts up…]

Towns and villages in 18 counties across eastern and western

Wisconsin have  only a few weeks to decide if there are public safety reasons to prohibit rifle  hunting for deer.

Local governments are scrambling to get the issue on meeting agendas before  the Nov. 23 start of the annual nine-day deer gun season.

The state Department of Natural Resources declared in late September rifles  will be allowed statewide for the traditional deer gun hunt and the December  antlerless deer hunt, except where municipalities enact local restrictions.

Most counties in southern and central Wisconsin in the past were designated  as shotgun-only for deer hunting, primarily in response to a public perception  that shotguns were safer for hunting in open farm fields.

While shotgun slugs are not as accurate or powerful as rifle bullets over  long distances, the DNR says a study of hunting accidents shows a switch to  rifle hunting did not boost the number of injuries and other incidents.

DNR officials in the past few years could not confirm any safety advantages  to hunting deer with shotguns rather than rifles so the change was made,  according to Conservation Warden Todd Schaller, chief of the DNR’s recreational  enforcement section.

The department set off the dash for a local decision by announcing the end of shotgun-only counties for deer hunting in Wisconsin  as of Nov. 1.

The decision followed votes in favor of the change at Conservation Congress  spring meetings in 2011 and 2013, said Matt O’Brien, a DNR administrative warden  in Madison.

And the number of counties prohibiting rifle hunting for deer had steadily  declined before this year.

As of January 2013, the DNR listed 19 counties with shotgun-only zones for  deer hunting. In one, Milwaukee County, all communities had enacted separate  regulations to prohibit rifle hunting in any season.

The other 53 counties permitted rifle hunting for deer before the recent rule  change.

Any new local regulation of rifle hunting should balance public safety issues  with the state’s responsibility to regulate hunting and manage wildlife  populations, Schaller and O’Brien said.

One complication for hunters is that the DNR’s declaration came after the  2013 deer regulations were printed, so a state map in the pamphlet still shows  the 19 counties as shotgun-only zones.

One other complication: the DNR will not track local ordinances and provide a  central database. It is the hunter’s responsibility to determine if there are  municipal restrictions on rifle use.

Patchwork of rules

The Village of Germantown in Washington County last week enacted a year-round  ban on rifle hunting with an exception for low-powered .22-caliber and  .17-caliber models using rimfire cartridges.

“It was a difficult decision, but it came down to topography and density of  population,” Police Chief Peter Hoell said.

Large flat fields of corn and soybeans north of Freistadt Road are his  primary concern. High-powered rifle bullets could carry long distances across  those fields, which are sandwiched between rural homes, subdivisions and  crossroad hamlets, he said.

When the dust settles in a few weeks in the other 18 counties, the result  likely will be a checkerboard quilt of ordinances with some municipalities  imposing year-round prohibitions on rifle hunting, others restricting rifles  only in the deer season, and the remainder taking no action.

But maneuvering through dozens of differing local regulations would be at  odds with one of the main reasons for eliminating the shotgun-only counties, DNR  officials said.

The change was intended to simplify hunting rules so that hunters would not  need to check the deer regulation pamphlet, and switch weapons, each time they  crossed a county line, according to O’Brien.

The checkerboard design is a work in progress:

From Germantown, a group of hunters walking north across Pioneer Road into  the Town of Jackson will need to call ahead for information on rifle use.

Town staff and board members are studying the issue but no meeting has been  scheduled.

Hunters walking south from Germantown into Menomonee Falls will have to put  away their rifles and check where they can discharge a shotgun.

The village in Waukesha County had established a prohibition on rifle hunting  several years ago and requires a municipal permit for hunting with shotguns or  bows. Shotgun hunting is only allowed on designated properties that are 5 acres  or larger.

West of Germantown, the Richfield Village Board is planning a special meeting  Nov. 7 to discuss the need for restricting rifle use, Village Administrator Josh  Schoemann said.

Hunters entering Richfield from Germantown should call ahead to determine  which firearms are allowed.

Rifles are welcome for deer hunting in the Town of Cedarburg in Ozaukee  County, a former shotgun-only county. The Town Board in October decided not to  impose restrictions on rifle hunting.

The town posted a link on its website to a Pennsylvania study of the need for rifle hunting  restrictions. The study concluded shotguns with rifled barrels could pose a  greater public safety risk than rifles on level terrain, and there was a greater  risk of ricochet with shotgun slugs than rifle bullets.

The Waukesha Town Board will discuss the issue of rifle hunting at its Nov.  14 meeting, Town Chairman John Marek said.

One additional consideration for local officials is that the old shotgun-only regulation applied only to deer seasons. There was a flip side of the rule: use of rifles for legal hunting of coyote, fox and bear during open seasons was permitted unless local restrictions were established.

In Mequon, the city had designated zones of 10 acres or more generally west  of the Milwaukee River for hunting. Rifle hunting is prohibited throughout  Mequon under an existing ordinance.

The Town of Addison in Washington County decided to re-establish a  shotgun-only deer hunting zone within its town boundaries.

On Oct. 17, the Town Board adopted an ordinance prohibiting use of rifles in  any gun deer hunting season. The board cited population density in enacting the  limited restriction.

Even so, hunters can use rifles in other open seasons.

The Town of Hartford in Washington County took no action. The Hartford Town  Board on Thursday could not reach consensus on either a year-round prohibition  on rifles or a rifle ban only during the deer gun season.

On a 2-1 vote, the board decided to step back and monitor complaints in the  upcoming season.

“There’s not a lot of open area left in this town,” Clerk Marvin Justman  said. There are 22 rural subdivisions crisscrossing the municipality with the  historic St. Lawrence hamlet on the north.

Enforcement difficult

Shotgun-only deer hunting regulations will be difficult to enforce and vulnerable to challenge now that  the DNR has decided there is no safety advantage in hunting with shotguns, the  Wisconsin Towns Association advises local governments.

Adding to the challenge: Conservation wardens do not have the authority to  enforce local regulations.

This is one situation where the DNR recommends town officials either go big —  impose year-round rifle hunting restrictions for public safety reasons — or do  nothing.

A deer season-only restriction on rifles would be viewed by the department as  a hunting regulation, rather than a public safety rule, and municipalities do  not have authority to regulate wildlife hunting seasons, O’Brien said.

Why would a community restrict rifle use only during a deer gun season? he  asked.

“If there is a public safety risk in hunting deer with rifles, then the risk  exists 365 days a year” in hunting other wildlife with rifles, O’Brien said.

For that reason, the DNR has distributed its preferred model town ordinance  with a year-round ban on rifle hunting.

“Although the department does not feel any local ordinances are required, and  in fact emphasizes minimal local regulation, certain localities may not share  this position,” O’Brien said in discussing the need for a model ordinance.

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