NR 12.36 (2g) Landowner signatures for leased properties must be submitted to the county or its agent within 14 days of WDACP enrollment.
(2r) Landowner signatures for leased properties on permits issued under s. NR 12.37 (4) (a) 5. must be submitted to the county or its agent prior to February 15 of the year of enrollment. 19Section 19 NR 12.36 (3) (a), (b) 1. c., 3., 4., 6., and 7., (4), (5), and (7) are amended to read: NR 12.36 (3) (a) Open public hunting for the species causing damage. The enrollee may not restrict hunting access, place limitations on which hunters or how many hunters may access the property enrolled by the enrollee except for reasonable cause as defined in s. NR 12.31 (7). The enrollee may not require registration of hunters, but the hunter shall establish an acceptable arrangement with the enrollee for notifying the enrollee of the hunter's intent to hunt prior to hunting. The enrollee may choose how often notification is required and the manner by which notification shall be given. The enrollee shall indicate the manner of notification by which the enrollee may reasonably be reached. (3) (b) 1. c. Permanent barrier woven-wire and high-profile electric fences. Land inside a permanent barrier fence, or land inside a temporary barrier fence which meets construction and maintenance standards in the WDACP technical manual or are approved by the department, may shall not be considered land suitable for hunting.
3. `Registration.' To register for hunting access, hunters shall contact the program enrollee after obtaining the county’s list enrollee’s contact information. The county or its agent shall provide the current year's list and a fact-sheet which describes the WDACP hunting access system and the obligations of the hunter under this system. Enrollees must make a reasonable attempt to return each phone call. The hunter shall arrange a meeting with the enrollee. The enrollee shall describe the registration process, including completion of a hunting log, where the log will be located on the property, any hunting constraints on the property, and any information necessary to promote safety and prevent trespass. The registration form shall be provided to the enrollee by the county or its agent and be in the form of a log book following the format in the WDACP technical manual. The enrollee shall keep his or her hunting log current, recording hunters under this section and shooting permit participant hunters under ch. NR 12 to show compliance with the hunting access requirement. Enrollees shall make these records available for review by the county, its agent and department staff as required by s. 29.889 (8r) (a), Stats. 4. `Hunting access.' Hunting access shall be on a first come, first served basis. Hunters may contact enrollees before the dates they intend to hunt, but may not register until their intended hunting date and cannot reserve hunting access in advance. Hunters shall register by signing in on the hunting log every time they arrive to hunt and signing out on the hunting log every time they leave. Enrollees must make a reasonable effort to respond to requests for hunting access. Failure to respond to access requests are subject to the penalties in subd. 7.
_Hlk1738305526. `Refusal.' Enrollees may refuse hunting access for reasonable cause as defined in s. NR 12.31 (7), if the hunters density limitations in subd. 5. are met, or if hunter fails to complete the hunting log under subd. 4. 7. `Complaints.' Upon receiving a written complaint from a hunter denied access, the county, its agent or the department shall review hunting access records required under this chapter to verify compliance. Verification that access requirements have been violated shall require the county or its agent to deny The county or its agent shall deny further abatement and claims assistance to the enrollee for the calendar year in which the violation occurred and the following calendar year upon verification that a violation of the hunter access requirements has occurred. In addition, an enrollee may be subject to the penalties in s. 29.889 (10), Stats. (4) The county or the county’s agent shall maintain the current year's list of all enrollees and make the list available upon request for public inspection and enter information into data management systems provided or developed by the department.
(5) Hunters may hunt only the species causing damage the enrollee is enrolled for unless the enrollee or landowner has expressly granted permission to hunt other species.
(7) Motorized vehicles may not only be used anywhere but the designated drive-way and parking location on the enrollee’s land unless or parked in areas authorized by the enrollee. Enrollees must offer safe parking accommodations to all hunters.
20Section 20 NR 12.36 (9) and 12.37 (4) (a) 1. are repealed. _Hlk173825762Section 21 NR 12.37 (4) (a) 3., and 5.are amended to read: NR 12.37 (4) (a) 3. Unless otherwise provided by the county, the claimant shall have notified the county or its agent of his or her intent to harvest crops subject to damage but not less than 10 days prior to the harvest.
5. If an enrollee has participated in the WDACP the previous year, and had in excess of $1,000 of appraised deer losses in the previous year on contiguous land or land within the same section, as documented by the enrollee's previous claims appraisal conducted by the respective county, or the county's agent, to be eligible for claims the enrollee shall implement re-enroll in the WDACP a deer damage shooting permit that shall automatically be issued by the department to the enrollee by February 15 and shall comply with subd. 4.
22Section 22 NR 12.37 (4) (a) 6. is renumbered NR 12.37 (4) (a) 6. (intro.) and 7., and amended to read: NR 12.37 (4) (a) 6. The county shall, as a condition of providing claims assistance, require full cooperation and assistance of the enrollee in operating, maintaining and applying appraisal equipment as deemed needed by the county or its agent. An enrollee who engages in abusive or threatening language shall also be considered uncooperative. A county or its agent may deem an enrollee uncooperative if any of the following applies:
7. Uncooperative enrollees under subd. 6. shall be ineligible for program claims assistance for the remainder of the calendar year in which they were uncooperative and the following calendar year. Upon determining an enrollee is uncooperative and ineligible for further program assistance, the county or its agent shall notify the enrollee in writing that the enrollee's program participation is terminated.
23Section 23 NR 12.37 (4) (a) 6. a. to f. are created to read: NR 12.37 (4) (a) 6. a. The enrollee fails to implement and maintain required abatement measures.
b. The enrollee fails to comply with reporting requirements,
c. The enrollee fails to properly operate and maintain abatement equipment.
d. The enrollee uses abusive or threatening language towards the county or its agent.
e. The enrollee fails to make a reasonable effort to respond to requests for hunting access.
f. The enrollee fails to comply with any other WDACP requirements.
24Section 24 NR 12.38 (title), (1), (2) (intro.) and (a), and (5) (a), 12.39 (title), (1), (3) (a), and (b) 4., 12.41 (title), (1), and (3) are amended to read: NR 12.38 Woven-wire and electric barrier fence construction.
(1) Specific applications and funding for woven-wire and electric barrier fences shall be approved by the department and county and included in the county plan. Woven-wire and electric barrier fences are permanent, high-profile fences built to function 15 years or more.
(2) Prior to granting its approval, the department shall assure verify all of the following:
(a) Deer or elk damage has occurred or, is occurring, or is likely to occur on the lands of the applicant and is likely to occur in the future.
(5) (a) The county and its agent shall follow permanent barrier fence project development, contracting, bidding, funding, billing, and contract term inspection procedures detailed in the WDACP technical manual or as otherwise directed by the department.
NR 12.39 County and agent recordkeeping.
(1) In this section, “records" means books, documents, papers, accounting records, audits, and other evidence and accounting procedures and practices. This includes records in electronic and paper form.
(b) 4. Records which relate to appeals, disputes, litigation on the settlement of claims arising out of the performance of the project for which funds were awarded, or costs and expenses of the project to which exception has been taken by the department or any of its duly authorized representatives, shall be retained for a period of 3 years after any appeals, litigation, claims, or exceptions have been finally resolved.
NR 12.41 Permits to hunt Canada geese causing spring agricultural damage.
(1) Issuance authority. Contingent upon the establishment of a federal harvest quota and goose season framework valid for Wisconsin and in accordance with this section, the department may issue Canada goose damage hunting shooting permits valid between May 1 and August 31 to agricultural crop land owners or lessees experiencing crop damage by Canada geese. Permittees may issue Canada goose damage hunter permits to other persons and authorize them to assist by hunting Canada geese causing damage.
(3) Application requirement. An applicant shall apply for a landowner or lessee permit to hunt Canada geese causing spring agricultural damage under this section on forms supplied by the department. A separate application is required for each parcel of noncontiguous crop lands.
25Section 25 NR 12.41 (3) (note) is repealed. 26Section 26 NR 12.41 (4) (intro.) is amended to read: NR 12.41 (4) Permit issuance criteria. After determining that issuance or extension of permits under this section will not result in the harvest of Canada geese which exceeds the federally assigned approved quota, the department may issue goose damage hunting permits only to landowners or lessees meeting the following criteria:
27Section 27 NR 12.41 (4) (d) (intro.) is renumbered NR 12.41 (4) (d) and amended to read: NR 12.41 (4) (d) Alternative abatement attempted. The applicant shall comply with all alternative damage abatement techniques recommended by either: the county or the county’s agent.
28Section 28 NR 12.41 (4) (d) 1., 2., and (e) are repealed. 29Section 29 NR 12.41 (4) (f) is amended to read: NR 12.41 (4) (f) Permit and license compliance. The applicant shall have complied with the conditions of any permit to hunt remove Canada geese causing spring agriculture damage issued to him or her within the 12 months immediately preceding application and may not currently have their hunting license privileges revoked.
30Section 30 NR 12.41 (5) (a) 3., 4., and (b), (c), (d), and (e) are repealed. 31Section 31 NR 12.41 (5) (f) and (g) are amended to read: NR 12.41 (5) (f) Reporting. The landowner or lessee permittee shall maintain a record of all hunters, including themselves, who participated and were issued carcass tags. Within 3 days following permit expiration, Upon request from the county, its agent, or the department, the landowner or lessee permittee shall return their permit and all hunter permit records, all unused carcass tags, and report the number of Canada geese harvested under permit to the department office indicated on the permit. The permittee shall report all Canada geese harvested under the permits to the department by October 31 of the year the permit was issued.
(g) Permit length. Permits shall remain in effect until all carcass tags issued under this section have been used, but not longer than 7 days, unless the department grants an extension under par. (h). Permits shall only be valid from May 1 to August 31 of each year.
32Section 32 NR 12.41 (5) (h) is repealed. 33Section 33 NR 12.41 (6) (e) is repealed and recreated to read: NR 12.41 (6) (e) Goose disposition. Canada geese shall be disposed of in compliance with 50 CFR 21.165 (d) (5). 34Section 34 NR 12.41 (6) (f) is amended to read: NR 12.41 (6) (f) Regulation compliance. Except as otherwise authorized in this section, all participants shall comply with all state and federal waterfowl hunting regulations including tagging and the daily bag limit. Any geese taken by a person who has not complied fully with this section shall be considered illegally obtained.
Section 35. Effective Date. This rule takes effect on the first day of the month following publication in the Wisconsin Administrative Register as provided in s. 227.22 (2) (intro.), Stats. Section 36. Board adoption. This rule was approved and adopted by the State of Wisconsin Natural Resources Board on September 25, 2024.
Dated at Madison, Wisconsin _____________________________.
STATE OF WISCONSIN
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
BY ______________________________________
For Karen Hyun, Ph.D., Secretary
