Wisconsin
Hunting safety experts note improving trend but urge vigilance
No fatal firearm hunting incident in 2023 or so far in 2024.
As deer hunting has evolved over generations in Wisconsin, several trends have become clear.
Participation is down. Options, including types of legal equipment, are up.
And arguably the most positive change in modern times: deer hunting in the Badger State is safer than it’s ever been.
Data collected by state officials show how deadly the activity used to be for hunters. For example in 1914, 24 hunters were killed and 26 injured in shooting incidents, and in 1970, 13 hunters were killed.
But in recent years it’s become rare to have a fatality during the gun deer hunting season, historically the period when most shooting incidents occurred.
In fact, six of the gun seasons in the last decade have passed without a shooting fatality.
With the 2024 Wisconsin gun deer season coming up Nov. 23 to Dec. 1, Department of Natural Resources staff held a media briefing Oct. 30 to present the latest information on the deer herd, season outlook and safety tips.
“Our hunting incidents are on a downward trend over the last five seasons,” said Renee Thok, DNR hunter safety administrator.
The improvement in Wisconsin deer hunting safety has its roots in a rule that required hunter education training for anyone born after Jan. 1, 1973, and a blaze orange clothing requirement that started in 1980.
Changes in hunter behavior have helped, too. More hunters now hunt from elevated stands, meaning their shots are directed downward and less likely to strike another hunter. Fewer hunters participate in deer drives, too.
Thok began a list of recommendations with the cardinal rules of hunting safety, also known as TAB-K: Treat every firearm as if it is loaded; always point the muzzle in a safe direction; be certain of your target and what’s beyond it; keep your finger out of the trigger guard until ready to shoot.
Noting the increased use of tree stands, Thok said it was critical to check on the status of buckles and straps on the hunting platforms and replace any that are worn or damaged. She also said hunters should used a full body safety harness to protect against falls and to use three points of contact (for example, two hands and one foot) when climbing or descending.
In addition, hunters should use a lifeline when going up or down a stand.
Thok also touched on the state’s regulation that requires deer hunters to have at least 50% of outer clothing above the waist in blaze orange or fluorescent pink. Hats or head coverings, if worn, must also be at least 50% blaze orange or fluorescent pink. Faded or stained clothing is unsafe and should be replaced, according to the DNR.
And it’s also smart for non-hunters and their pets to wear highly visible clothing when outdoors during the gun deer season.
If hunters are using an ATV or UTV, Thok issued a reminder to unload firearms before transporting them.
And she urged people to hunt sober.
“Be safe, responsible and sober when in the woods,” Thok said. “Impairment at any time either by drugs or alcohol can have tragic consequences.”
In 2023, 11 shooting incidents were recorded across all Wisconsin’s hunting seasons; none was fatal.
And just three of those incidents occurred during the 2023 nine-day gun deer season. They were: a self-inflicted foot injury Nov. 18 to a hunter in Forest County; a woman shot in the thigh Nov. 19 by a hunter who was hunting with permission on her property in Adams County; and a hunter shot in the leg Nov. 24 by another hunter while the two were participating in a deer drive in Taylor County.
The 10-year average is 5.9 shooting incidents during the state’s gun deer season, according to a 2023 DNR report.
So far in 2024 four non-fatal shooting incidents have been recorded in hunting situations, according to the DNR. One was during the spring turkey hunting season, two during waterfowl seasons this fall and one in which a man shot himself in the foot while attempting to kill a raccoon.
Though the trend toward fewer firearm-related incidents is encouraging, safety experts know their job is never done.
Anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 1973 must have a hunter education certification to purchase a hunting license unless hunting under the Mentored Hunting Law. Learn more about safe hunting in Wisconsin and register to take a hunter education course on the DNR’s Outdoor Skills webpage.
To learn more about hunting in Wisconsin, including information on hunter education courses, visit dnr.wi.gov.
(WLUK) — Wisconsin State Patrol troopers are teaming up with truckers to better spot dangerous driving behaviors.
The annual Trooper in a Truck initiative kicks off next week in Wisconsin.
Troopers will ride along with with semitruck and bus drivers to use the higher vantage point to spot dangerous driving behaviors, especially near commercial motor vehicles.
Troopers will be looking for risky driving behaviors, including distracted driving, speeding, following too closely and seatbelt violations. When an officer identifies a violation from the truck or bus, they will radio to patrol cars in the area for appropriate enforcement action.
Drivers can expect to see Trooper in a Truck enforcement in the following areas:
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- Monday, July 13: Eau Claire
- Tuesday, July 14: Waukesha
- Wednesday, July 15: Madison
- Thursday, July 16: Green Bay
- Friday, July 17: Wausau
New Wisconsin athletic director Shawn Eichorst, who spent the last eight years at Texas, believes his new and old schools have much in common.
Both are well-regarded research universities in state capitals that belong to major conferences and have relatively similar enrollments.
He also pointed out one difference.
“There’s swag at Texas, right?” Eichorst said Tuesday during his introductory news conference. “There’s 30 million people in Texas. We’ve got swag, too, but we have a little humility with that deal. We need to get our shoulders up. We need to feel good about what it is that we’re doing.”
Wisconsin could gain more of that Texas swagger if its football program gets back to winning the way it did the last time Eichorst was employed in Madison. Eichorst, who most recently worked as a deputy athletic director at Texas, received a five-year deal worth $1.6 million annually, with provisions for increases and incentives. He was hired 2½ months after Chris McIntosh left to become the Big Ten’s deputy commissioner for strategy.
Eichorst worked at Wisconsin from 2006-11 when Barry Alvarez was AD and Bret Bielema was leading the football program. He followed that up with stints as an athletic director at Miami (2011-12) and Nebraska (2012-17) before Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte hired him in 2018.
He returns to Wisconsin with the Badgers coming off back-to-back losing seasons in football, a notable fall for a program that had 22 straight winning seasons from 2002-23. Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell has gone 17-21 after posting a 53-10 record with one College Football Playoff appearance in his last five years at Cincinnati.
Eichorst hasn’t worked with Fickell before but said he’s encouraged by their initial conversations.
“Obviously he’s won every place he’s been,” Eichorst said. “My expectation is more of me than him, meaning I need to pour into him, learn more about his program, how he has things set up, how his athletes are taken care of, how we’re supporting that endeavor. And then we can figure out, as we move along, what that might look like.”
Football struggles led to Eichorst’s downfall the last time he was an athletic director.
He fired Nebraska coach Bo Pelini in 2014 and hired Mike Riley, who had gone 93-80 in 14 seasons at Oregon State. Eichorst was dismissed shortly after Nebraska suffered an early-season loss to Northern Illinois in 2017. Riley was fired at the end of that season after going 19-19 in three years.
When Eichorst’s hiring was announced last week, he spoke about how much he had grown from that Nebraska stint. Wisconsin interim chancellor Eric Wilcots led the search and has emphasized Eichorst’s accomplishments at Texas, which has won the Learfield Directors’ Cup all-sports standings five times in the last six years.
Texas ranked anywhere from fifth to ninth in the Directors’ Cup standings in the five years before Wilcots’ arrival. Texas’ football team went a combined 23-27 from 2014-17 but has made two College Football Playoff appearances in the last three years.
“Everybody looks at the end result of what we did at Texas,” Eichorst said. “When we got there in 2018, we weren’t very good in a lot of areas. And that didn’t change overnight.”
Eichorst said one thing that has caught his attention about Wisconsin is the overall quality of its head coaches.
“You’re going to be as good as your coaches,” Eichorst said. “That’s it. If you have an elite group of coaches who are working together and uniting and galvanizing and learning from one another and taking it out to their individual programs, I think you can start to build something special. I go back to Texas. We built a room of really elite head coaches and put them at the top of everything we did to help guide us.”
Eichorst said this job is particularly important to him because of his Wisconsin roots. He was born in Lone Rock, about 45 miles northwest of the Madison campus.
He treasured his previous stint at Wisconsin and says he believes this school “represents everything that is great about higher education and college athletics.”
“Nobody will work harder for Wisconsin athletics,” Eichorst said. “I love this state, and I love everything that it represents. The passion is there. You can see it. I don’t have to make it up. I’ve lived it. It’s in my heart.”
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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
Wisconsin
South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, officials in standoff with homeowner over year-round skeleton display
The city of South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has ordered a homeowner to take down his year-round giant skeleton display or face fines, but the homeowner is standing firm and refusing, even as the deadline to remove the display has passed.
Now there’s a skeleton standoff.
The city cited ordinance violations in their order for Sean Oster to dismantle the lawn decorations. The notice specifically references “large Halloween decorations being displayed not during the appropriate time of year.”
Oster was also ordered to make other improvements to his property.
But Oster has refused to take down the display, which is re-dressed as the year goes on and is currently sporting a Fourth of July theme. The Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm, has come to his aid, saying the city’s actions violate Oster’s First Amendment rights.
City administrators declined to comment, citing a pending investigation. Neighbors have been divided by the display; some say they’re fine with it, and think it brings fun and positivity to the neighborhood, but some others want to see it removed and say the lawn should be kept up better and more consistently.
Oster said he’s hoping to reach an agreement with the city, and said he’s corrected all other violations outside of the display.
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