The public voted, the Republican majority took deer management away from the DNR over 6 years ago. The process is controlled by the Legislature, the goal being to manage for public satisfaction rather than science. After the local public CDACs have voted on numbers of tags, and the Governor appointed NRB approves the tag numbers, .... the process legally forces the DNR to implement that number of tags per county. Legally required Implementation is not control of any process.
https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/hunt/documents/cdacgovernance.pdf
VII. DEPARTMENT AND NRB REVIEW OF RECOMMENDATIONS
Once final recommendations are provided by CDACs, the following process will occur until final approval is granted by the NRB:
A. Each CDAC’s recommendations will be reviewed by the Department’s Deer Advisory Committee. Committee membership consists of department wildlife biologists, researchers, law enforcement, forestry, health program, and ag damage specialists. In addition, several partner organizations are also represented, including Chippewa tribes and Wisconsin Conservation Congress, among others. This committee will develop a list indicating their support or concerns on each recommendation which will be provided to department leadership for consideration.
B.
Department leadership will review and provide their final recommendations along with the unaltered CDAC recommendations to the NRB. NRB agenda items are posted on the department web site for public viewing prior to the NRB meeting to address any process containing CDAC recommendations.
C. If department recommendations are contrary to CDAC recommendations, program staff from the Big Game section will contact the individual CDAC to provide an explanation of any recommendations of concern or disagreement and provide the CDAC with an opportunity to respond to and clarify their reasoning for a recommendation.
