WISCONSIN DEER & TURKEY EXPO
April 9-11

Alliant Energy Center, Madison, Wisconsin
www.deerinfo.com and click on the Wisconsin icon

New Tech Information Center at Wisconsin Deer & Turkey Expo

Today’s hunters want to know how things tick, and they want the opportunity to get answers to their questions from experts.
 Tech Info Area subjects and “Answer Men” experts  --
      * Firearms Answer Man -- Ron Spomer, noted outdoor writer and host of several cable televison outdoor programs;
      * Archery Answer Man --Larry Wise, championship archer, international archery coach, magazine columnist and author of several book on archery equipment and shooting form;
      * Slug Guns & Black Powder Guns Answer Man -- Dave Henderson, outdoor writer specializing in these two topics and technical consultant to the manufacturing industry;
      * Hunting Clothes, New Fabrics & Scent Control, & Footwear Answer Man -- Mike Faw, outdoor writer and hunting magazine columnist specializing in these topics;
      * Turkey Decoys & Decoying Answer Man -- Gary Clancy, outdoor writer and decoy-use specialist;
      * Optics Hands-On Tryout Area -- Shared jointly by Spomer, Faw and Henderson, all with a wealth of knowledge in binoculars and firearms scopes;
      * Food Plots Demonstration Area -- Presented by the events’ producer with the help of food plot seminar speakers, contains plant samples, printed guidelines, plant identification photos and a host of other food plot information;
      * Butchering & Processing Venison -- Bill Hesselgrave, professional butcher, will also present venison butchering and processing (and packaging) seminars in a regular seminar room, plus knife sharpening tips.
      * Wild Foods & Venison Cooking -- Jason Coleman, a professional chef, culinary instructor and serious bowhunter, will show you easy, quick, creative and flavorful ways to prepare these natural foods -- the original organically grown foods.
   

Venison Butchering/Processing Demonstrations at Wisconsin Deer & Turkey Expo

Want to learn how to cut up your deer so you get the cuts you want and at top quality?  Of course.  We all do.  Best way to reach that goal is to watch Bill Hesselgrave give venison butchering and processing demonstrations at the 26th annual Wisconsin Deer & Turkey Expo, April 9-10-11 at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison.
      www.deerinfo.com -- and click on the Wisconsin icon.

New Seminar Topics & Formats Highlight Wisconsin Deer & Turkey Expo

The seminar program at the upcoming Wisconsin Deer & Turkey Expo is packed with how-to information for new hunters and veterans alike.

      Tech Info Center and Basics of Hunting mini-seminar topics: Footwear/Fabrics/Hunting Clothes, Deer Hunting, Turkey Hunting, Optics, Bows & Arrows, Firearms, Mounting a Scope, Questions You Were Afraid to Ask.
       In addition, Byron Ferguson, the internationally known archery trick shot, will give two performances Saturday, April 10, and two Sunday, April 11.
       Show hours are 2 p.m. - 9 p.m. Friday, April 9; 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. Saturday, April 10, and 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sunday, April 11.
       Tickets are $12 one-day adult, $20 two-day adult; military personnel tickets are $11 one-day and 18 two-day; $9 Hunter Education graduates ages 12-18 who show proof of course completion at the ticket window (otherwise, pay adult price); $3 youth ages 6-11, children five and under admitted free when accompanied by adult.
       First-year hunters who have passed a hunter education course between January 1, 2009 and April 8, 2010, and who show proof of course completion at the ticket window will be admitted free.  This is a one-time offer to all first-year hunters regardless of their age.  On Friday Family Night, all youth ages 11 and under are admitted free when accompanied by an adult.
       For details on the Wisconsin Deer & Turkey Expo, go to the show's website -- www.deerinfo.com.           

PRESS RELEASE

Hunters register 195,647 deer in November 2009 hunt

http://dnr.wi.gov/news/BreakingNews_Lookup.asp?id=1511

MADISON – A survey of Wisconsin deer registration stations conducted by the state Department of Natural Resources has yielded a preliminary tally of 195,647 for the just-ended, nine-day November gun deer hunt. This includes a buck tally of 86,251 and an antlerless tally of 109,396.

This number is preliminary and is expected change before a final report is published in late winter. It does not include harvest information from the archery, October antlerless gun deer hunt, muzzleloader, December antlerless deer gun hunt or late archery seasons. The preliminary harvest count in 2008 was 276,895.

“Deer populations are variable throughout the state,” said Keith Warnke, DNR’s big game biologist, “and we believe people when they say they did not see deer in their hunting area. We have also received reports from successful camps. As always, local populations make all the difference.

“Wildlife management and especially deer management is a process of continual adjustment. In response to hunter input we adjusted seasons this year to reflect lower populations across the north and central forests and suspended EAB in many areas.”

DNR wildlife officials anticipated the total harvest would be down due to changes in season structure that significantly reduced the antlerless deer harvest, lower fawn production and tough weather conditions for deer and hunters alike. In some northeastern units it was not possible to shoot an antlerless deer and in other northern region units the small supply of bonus antlerless deer tags did not meet demand. Careful adjustment of antlerless tag numbers is an important tool in managing deer numbers.

“There are still days to hunt in 2009 in herd control units where deer are above goal and in CWD units. The muzzleloader hunt is underway and the December antlerless hunt is around the corner.”

In February, DNR biologists will compare unit-level harvest numbers against overwinter population estimates and will adjust the recommended season structure for 2010 to address any significant trends.

“A pillar of Wisconsin deer management is the accurate harvest figures provided by hunters,” said DNR wildlife biologist Jeff Pritzl. “Periods of stable deer populations have always been relatively short-lived in Wisconsin. Mandatory deer registration allows us to respond quickly to changing population levels. We have annually adapted our harvest strategies, and will continue to do so in consideration of what the 2009 harvest tells us about the deer population.”

“This year, in response to hunter input, we moved 29 units from earn-a-buck to herd control status and 38 units from herd control to regular unit status. The total number of regular units grew from 21 in 2008 to 59 this year.” said Warnke. “The result was inevitably less antlerless opportunity and lower antlerless harvest numbers.”

A table of county by county (pdf; 39kb) harvest broken down by DNR region, with a comparison to the 2008 preliminary harvest is available on the DNR Web site.

Young hunters prove themselves safe and responsible

“What is really exciting, is the 9,907mentored hunting licenses purchased by 10- and 11-year olds,” said Diane Brookbank, chief of DNR’s licensing and customer service unit. “These are the future hunters and conservationists that will step into the woods in place of the hunting ‘retirees’ as our population ages.”

Wardens reported no firearm incidents among these young hunters.

Hunt fourth safest in history

DNR hunter education administrator and conservation warden Tim Lawhern said there were seven hunting incidents during the 9-day gun hunt. A possible 8th incident remains under investigation.

“Our hearts go out to the families whose loved ones suffered injury during the hunting season,” said Lawhern. “Our goal is to eliminate all injury and loss of life while hunting. Every incident is investigated to learn what happened so we can work to prevent such incidents in the future.”

Self-inflicted gunshot injuries accounted for 57 percent (4 of 7) of this season’s incidents. Deer drives contributed to 25 percent of all incidents. Both categories and all firearm related incidents can be attributed to failure to observe one of the basic rules of firearm safety according to Lawhern.

Still, noted Lawhern, hunting remains a safe sport and has gotten safer over time as more and more hunters are graduates of hunter safety education courses. This is especially true in Wisconsin where the incident rate for hunters is well below the national average. The incident rate for 2009 in Wisconsin was 1.11 incidents per 100,000 hunters – the national average is 3 per 100,000.

“This was the fourth safest season ever and the fourth time in history that we’ve had a gun deer season with less than 10 incidents,” said Lawhern, “Nonetheless, our goal is zero incidents.”

More than 638,000 gun deer licenses sold

DNR’s automated License Issuance System, known as ALIS, peaked at 200 transactions per minute at 5:30 p.m. on the Friday before gun season. The 638,040 gun licenses sold through the end of the season on Nov 29 represent a near identical number of hunters as in 2008 when 642,419 hunters hit the woods.

• Nearly one in five hunters age 15 and younger is female and women bought 8.6 percent of all gun licenses sold
• All 50 states are represented in license sales with the highest number of nonresident hunters coming from Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan.
• The most licenses were sold in Dane County.
• All ages participate with over 54,000 hunters age 65 and older buying licenses.

New Mentored Hunting Program in effect September 1

News Release Published: August 13, 2009

MADISON – On September 1, 2009 a new law will take effect in Wisconsin. Known as the Hunting Mentorship Program, this new law will allow people interested in experiencing hunting, including those age 10 and older, to hunt under controlled conditions and under the close supervision of a mentor prior to passing a hunter education course.

http://dnr.wi.gov/news/BreakingNews_Lookup.asp?id=1386

Charlton Heston's Speech
delivered to National Press Club 2-11-97

Today I want to talk to you about guns: Why we have them, why the Bill of Rights guarantees that we can have them, and why my right to have a gun is more important than your right to rail against it in the press.

I believe every good journalist needs to know why the Second Amendment must be considered more essential than the First Amendment. This may be a bitter pill to swallow, but the right to keep and bear arms is not archaic. It's not an outdated, dusty idea some old dead white guys dreamed up in fear of the Redcoats. No, it is just as essential to liberty today as it was in 1776. These words may not play well at the Press Club, but it's still the gospel down at the corner bar and grill.

And your efforts to undermine the Second Amendment, to deride it and degrade it, to readily accept diluting it and eagerly promote redefining it, threaten not only the physical well-being of millions of Americans but also the core concept of individual liberty our founding fathers struggled to perfect and protect.

So now you know what doubtless does not surprise you. I believe strongly in the right of every law-abiding citizen to keep and bear arms, for what I think are good reasons.

The original amendments we refer to as the Bill of Rights contain 10 of what the constitutional framers termed unalienable rights. These rights are ranked in random order and are linked by their essential equality. The Bill of Rights came to us with blinders on. It doesn't recognize color, or class or wealth. It protects not just the rights of actors, or editors, or reporters, but extends even to those we love to hate. That's why the most heinous criminals have rights until they are convicted of a crime.

The beauty of the Constitution can be found in the way it takes human nature into consideration. We are not a docile species capable of co-existing within a perfect society under everlasting benevolent rule.

We are what we are. Egotistical, corruptible, vengeful, sometimes even a bit power-mad. The Bill of Rights recognizes this and builds the barricades that need to be in place to protect the individual.

You, of course, remain zealous in your belief that a free nation must have a free press and free speech to battle injustice, unmask corruption and provide a voice for those in need of a fair and impartial forum.

I agree wholeheartedly -- a free press is vital to a free society. But I wonder: How many of you will agree with me that the right to keep and bear arms is not just equally vital, but the most vital to protect all the other rights we enjoy?

I say that the Second Amendment is, in order of importance, the first amendment. It is America's First Freedom, the one right that protects all the others. Among freedom of speech, of the press, of religion, of assembly, of redress of grievances, it is the first among equals. It alone offers the absolute capacity to live without fear. The right to keep and bear arms is the one right that allows 'rights' to exist at all.

Either you believe that, or you don't, and you must decide.

Because there is no such thing as a free nation where police and military are allowed the force of arms but individual citizens are not. That's a 'big brother knows best' theater of the absurd that has never bode well for the peasant class, the working class or even for reporters.

Yes, our Constitution provides the doorway for your news and commentary to pass through free and unfettered. But that doorway to freedom is framed by the muskets that stood between a vision of liberty and absolute anarchy at a place called Concord Bridge. Our revolution began when the British sent Redcoats door to door to confiscate the people's guns. They didn't succeed: The muskets went out the back door with their owners.

Emerson said it best:
"By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world."

King George called us "rabble in arms." But with God's grace, George Washington and many brave men gave us our country. Soon after, God's grace and a few great men gave us our Constitution. It's been said that the creation of the United States is the greatest political act in history. I'll sign that.

In the next two centuries, though, freedom did not flourish. The next revolution, the French, collapsed in bloody Terror, then Napoleon's tyranny. There's been no shortage of dictators since, in many countries. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao, Idi Amin, Castro, Pol Pot. All these monsters began by confiscating private arms, then literally soaking the earth with the blood of ten and tens of millions of their people. Ah, the joys of gun control.

Now, I doubt any of you would prefer a rolled up newspaper as a weapon against a dictator or a criminal intruder. Yet in essence that is what you have asked our loved ones to do, through the ill-contrived and totally naive campaign against the Second Amendment.

Besides, how can we entrust to you the Second Amendment when you are so stingy with your own First Amendment?

I say this because of the way, in recent days, you have treated your own -- those journalists you consider the least among you. How quick you've been to finger the paparazzi with blame and to eye the tabloids with disdain. How eager you've been to draw a line where there is none, to demand some distinction within the First Amendment that sneers 'they are not one of us.' How readily you let your lesser brethren
take the fall, as if their rights were not as worthy, and their purpose not as pure, and their freedom not as sacred as yours.

So now, as politicians consider new laws to shackle and gag paprazzi, who among you will speak up? Who here will stand and defend them? If you won't, I will. Because you do not define the First Amendment. It defines you. And it is bigger than you -- big enough to embrace all of you, plus all those you would exclude. That's how freedom works.

It also demands you do your homework. Again and again I hear gun owners say, how can we believe anything that anti-gun media says when they cannot even get the facts right? For too long you have swallowed manufactured statistics and fabricated technical support from anti-gun organizations that wouldn't know a semi-auto from a sharp stick. And it shows. You fall for it every time.

That’s why you have very little credibility among 70 million gun owners and 20 million hunters and millions of veterans who learned the hard way which end the bullet comes out. And while you attacked the amendment that defends your homes and protects your spouses and children, you have denied those of us who defend all the Bill of Rights a fair hearing or the courtesy of an honest debate.

If the NRA attempts to challenge your assertions, we are ignored. And if we try to buy advertising time or space to answer your charges, more often than not we are denied. How's that for First Amendment freedom?

Clearly, too many have used freedom of the press as a weapon not only to strangle our free speech, but to erode and ultimately destroy the right to keep and bear arms as well. In doing so you promoted your profession to that of constitutional judge and jury, more powerful even than our Supreme Court, more prejudiced than the Inquisition's tribunals. It is a frightening misuse of constitutional right, and I pray that you will come to your senses and see that these abuses are curbed.

As a veteran of World War II, as a freedom marcher who stood with Dr. Martin Luther King long before it was fashionable, and as a grandfather who wants the coming century to be free and full of promise for my grandchildren, I am troubled.

The right to keep and bear arms is threatened by political theatrics, piecemeal lawmaking, talk-show psychology, extreme bad taste in the entertainment industry, an ever-widening educational chasm in our schools and a conniving media, that all add up to cultural warfare against the idea that guns ever had, or should now have, an honorable and proud place in our society.

But all our rights must be delivered into the 21st century as pure and complete as they came to us at the beginning of this century. Traditionally the passing of that torch is from a gnarled old hand down to an eager young one. So now, at 72, I offer my gnarled old hand.


I have accepted a call from the National Rifle Association of America to help protect the Second Amendment. I feel it is my duty to do that. My mission and vision can be summarized in three simple parts.

First, before we enter the next century, I expect to see a pro-Second Amendment president in the White House.

Secondly, I expect to build an NRA with the political muscle and clout to keep a pro-Second Amendment congress in place.

Third is a promise to the next generation of free Americans. I hope to help raise a hundred million dollars for NRA programs and education before the year 2000. At least half of that sum will go to teach American kids what the right to keep and bear arms really means to their culture and country.

We have raised a generation of young people who think that the Bill of Rights comes with their cable TV. Leave them to their channel surfing and they'll remain oblivious to history and heritage that truly matter.

Think about it -- what else must young Americans think when the White House proclaims, as it did, that 'a firearm in the hands of youth is a crime or an accident waiting to happen'? No -- it is time they learned that firearm ownership is constitutional, not criminal. In fact, few pursuits can teach a young person more about responsibility, safety, conservation, their history and their heritage, all at once.

It is time they found out that the politically correct doctrine of today has misled them. And that when they reach legal age, if they do not break our laws, they have a right to choose to own a gun -- a handgun, a long gun, a small gun, a large gun, a black gun, a purple gun, a pretty gun, an ugly gun -- and to use that gun to defend themselves and their loved ones or to engage in any lawful purpose they desire without apology or explanation to anyone, ever.

This is their first freedom. If you say it's outdated, then you haven't read your own headlines. If you say guns create only carnage, I would answer that you know better. Declining morals, disintegrating families, vacillation political leadership, an eroding criminal justice system and social morals that blur right and wrong are more to blame -- certainly more than any legally owned firearm.

I want to rescue the Second Amendment from an opportunistic president, and from a press that apparently can't comprehend that attacks on the Second Amendment set the stage for assaults on the First.

I want to save the Second Amendment from all these nitpicking little wars af attrition -- fights over alleged Saturday night specials, plastic guns, cop killer bullets and so many other made-for-prime-time non-issues invented by some press agent over at gun control headquarters -- that you guys buy time and again.

I simply cannot stand by and watch a right guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States come under attack from those who either can't understand it, don't like the sound of it or find themselves too philosophically squeamish to see why it remains the first among equals: Because it is the right we turn to when all else fails.

That's why the Second Amendment is America's first freedom.

Please, go forth and tell the truth. There can be no free speech, no freedom of the press, no freedom to protest, no freedom to worship you god, no freedom to speak your mind, no freedom from fear, no freedom for your children and for theirs, for anybody, anywhere without the Second Amendment freedom to fight for it.

If you don't believe me, just turn on the news tonight. Civilizations veneer is wearing thinner all the time.

Thank you.