Bow season usally opens the second week of sept.
As for deer rifle season that opens the saturday before thanksgiving and runs for 9 days. Hope this helps.
For more info look at the wisconsin DNR web site.

The hunting dates are as claycrusher stated, but be aware that Wisconsin's DNR is raising license fees next year to $32.00 .
I'm hoping it gets defeated in the legislature, but I don't hold out any real hope that it will be defeated.

Board passes DNR job cuts, higher fees
By LEE BERGQUIST
[email protected]
Posted: Dec. 8, 2004
Madison - The Natural Resources Board approved a 2005-'07 budget Wednesday that called for increasing a variety of hunting, fishing and camping fees and cutting 167 positions from the state Department of Natural Resources.

Wisconsin

Licenses, Hunting to Cost More

Deer licenses will jump $12, to $32, under the Department of Natural Resources budget. But that won't be the only fee rising. Others:
Resident state park stickers: Up $5 to $25.
Non-resident state park stickers: Up $5 to $35.
Camping fees: up $2 per day for sites that range from $6 to $10 per day.
Resident small game hunting licenses: Up $4 to $20.
Resident fishing licenses: Up $3 to $20 (Youth licenses will remain $7.).

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On the Web

Web site: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

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Board members voted, 7-0, in favor of the $1.03 billion budget, but not until after they were briefed on cuts and listened to nearly five hours of testimony from people who criticized the cuts while supporting many of the fee increases.

The measure now goes to Gov. Jim Doyle, and then to the Legislature, where it faces an uncertain future.

DNR Secretary Scott Hassett said he was hopeful lawmakers would approve the changes, which include a $12 increase in the resident deer hunting license.

Last year, the Legislature rejected a similar fee-increase proposal despite support from the state hunting and fishing groups.

"I think there's room for belt tightening," said Rep. Scott Gunderson (R-Waterford).

Gunderson, who will become chairman of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee in January, immediately threw cold water on the DNR's request to raise the annual price of a deer license to $32.

"A $12 increase? I don't see that happening," he said.

Board members tweaked the budget by reinstating funds that saved six positions.

And by a 4-3 vote, the board voted to ask the Doyle administration for more funding to allow members to fly on state planes to attend meetings and make occasional site visits around the state.

The money for planes was proposed by Stephen D. Willett of Phillips, who criticized the Department of Administration a year ago for taking away the planes as a budget-cutting measure.

"I don't want to sound like a petulant child," Willett said, noting that he lives five hours from Madison, and because he lives so far, he has missed meetings because of conflicts with his law practice.

The DNR's budget proposal for the next two fiscal years calls for an annual state park sticker to increase by $5 to $25. Non-resident state park stickers would rise from $30 to $35. Camping fees would go up by $2 per day for sites that range from $6 to $10 per day.

In addition to the increase in the price of a deer license, the price of a resident small game hunting license would rise from $16 to $20. A resident fishing license would increase by $3 to $20, but the price of a youth fishing license would remain at $7.

Some of the hunting license increases would be the first since 1997. All told, they would generate $13.3 million for the state's fish and wildlife account - funds that pay for conservation wardens, fish and game stocking, and salaries of wildlife managers.

The account currently faces a $20 million shortfall, in part because the DNR has had to pay the lion's share of costs associated with battling chronic wasting disease.

The influential Conservation Congress backed all of the fee increases.

Steven Oestreicher of Harshaw, chairman of the Congress, said higher fees are justified. Fighting chronic wasting disease has meant cutbacks in other wildlife programs.

"Throughout Wisconsin there is real concern that the conservation programs we built are suffering because of a lack of funds, and that without action it will only get worse," Oestreicher said.

Fishing and hunting license revenue pays for $4 million of the $5.7 million being spent on controlling the disease in the current DNR budget. Most of the rest of the money comes from federal dollars.

Former DNR Secretary George Meyer said the cuts will mean the DNR will operate with 2,600 employees - 500 fewer than in 1995.

"You will not be able to manage the department with 2,600 employees," said Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation.

Andrew Hanson, a public interest lawyer, said that citizens are being asked to pay more to hunt, fish and use parks. But the DNR did not consider increasing fees for companies that emit air pollutants.

He recommended lifting a cap on fees paid by Wisconsin companies that emit more than 5,000 tons of pollutants annually. Doing so could generate $6.6 million in additional revenue for the agency, he said.

"This is nothing more than a windfall for the state's 15 largest polluters at the expense of smaller businesses who must pay fees on each ton of pollution," Hanson said.

In other action, the DNR put off for now a decision to buy 2,804 acres for the Mead Wildlife Area in Portage and Marathon counties.

From the Dec. 9, 2004, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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