Letter to the Editor: Wisconsin Hunting Bill Package

Be aware that the Republican Legislature has introduced a draft package of 13 bills called the Wisconsin Sporting Freedom Package. Some of the bills would relax hunting regulations, and local conservation groups have not been consulted, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story that reported on the package.

I guess my question would be, why haven’t those groups been consulted? If one is to make an important informed decision, isn’t it in everyone’s interest to get input from all involved – not just Hunter Nation and Ted Nugent, who advocates for “less regulations and more transparency” in hunting? I wonder, where is the transparency?

Among the package of 13 bills are these three: reducing the DNR’s regulations for hunting, fishing and trapping; a season to hunt sandhill cranes; and allowing Wisconsinites to carry concealed firearms without

licenses. It would be in everyone’s interest to look up all of them. We as citizens of this state need to pay attention to what is being proposed at all times by both parties. 

It seems that not only our state, but our country has a problem with guns. To continue to make it easier for people to carry firearms is only asking for more trouble. For a bill to be presented on concealed firearms in a bill for hunting regulations is not transparency.

We have an obligation as citizens of not only our state, but this country to protect our environment, the flora and fauna, and our fellow humans from people who would do us harm.

Carol Schmidt

Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin