Applications due March 16
By Angie Landsverk
A scaled-down version of a managed archery harvest will take place in the city of Waupaca through April 30.
Participants will hunt for does on city property at the airport, recycling center and Washington Street sewer lift station.
The common council voted 10-0 in favor of the idea when it met on March 6.
“Will there be interest? I don’t know,” City Administrator Henry Veleker said during the meeting.
The city has 20 deer tags for the program, and the hunters will be drawn through a lottery.
Applications are due Friday, March 16.
Hunters may visit www.cityofwaupaca.org/2018/03/08/managed-deer-hunt to fill out an application.
Veleker emphasized online registration is required to be considered for the managed hunt.
After the application period closes on Friday, those selected will be notified by email, he said.
“If there are less than 20, obviously all will be selected,” Veleker said.
The hunters who are selected will attend an informational meeting at City Hall on Monday, March 19.
During that meeting, the city will go over the rules of its managed archery harvest and assign hunters to specific areas, Veleker said.
He said the program will be managed out of his office, with the assistance of a few city employees who are hunters.
Beth Andersen, manager of Waupaca’s airport, is a hunter and will handle the managed hunt at the airport, Velker said.
He said each hunter will be given directions about where and when to hunt and who to report to.
In the case of the city’s recycling center property, which adjoins the city cemetery, Veleker said hunting will not take place when the center is open.
A $10 permit is required in the city to discharge a bow.
That permit is sold at the police department, but will be available for purchase at the March 19 informational meeting.
Veleker said the hunters will be considered volunteers of the city.
They will have to shoot down, and the cost to process the deer will be the responsibility of the hunters.
The managed archery harvest will be a watered down version of what the city initially hoped to see happen.
Last April, the common council approved the Urban Deer Management Plan.
The city sought and received a deer nuisance permit from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for a managed archery harvest program.
The permit the city received from the DNR included 20 tags for a managed archery harvest season of Sept. 1 through March 31.
The common council tasked the city’s Deer Management Ad Hoc Committee with setting up the program.
The committee sought a volunteer coordinator, but no one expressed interest in it.
With the tags set to expire on March 31, the city then sought permission from the DNR to extend the season by 30 days, to manage the program itself and to narrow the hunt down to city property and possibly one privately owned parcel.
The DNR agreed.
The one privately owned parcel the city is interested in for its managed archery harvest is the country club property.
Veleker said the city is still exploring the possibility of including that property.
The city’s program specifies only antlerless deer may be harvested.
All deer are anterless this time of year, but only does are to be harvested in this program.
Ald. Scott Purchatzke questioned the timing of the hunt, noting does may be carrying fawns.
Does would have also been possibly carrying fawns under the original permit the city received, which was through March 31.
Fawns are born in May or early June.
Veleker said the DNR wildlife biologist allowed the city to extend its permit by 30 days.