Photo By Scott Sturkol | A deer is shown on South Post on June 4, 2020, at Fort McCoy, Wis. Deer are one of...... read more read more
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Twenty-eight hunters participated in Fort McCoy’s 2021 special deer hunt for people with disabilities Oct. 9-10. It was the 20th straight year this special hunt took place on post.
Every October, Wisconsin holds a nine-day gun deer hunt for people with disabilities. Since 2002, Fort McCoy has participated by holding a two-day hunt the first weekend of the statewide hunt, said Wildlife Program Manager and Biologist David Beckmann with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch.
“We always enjoy holding this hunt,” Beckmann said. “We get to meet some great people, and everyone always seems to have a great time.”
Eight deer were harvested during the hunt for a 28 percent success rate, Beckmann said.
The event drew hunters from throughout Wisconsin, said Julie Steinhoff with the Fort McCoy Permit Sales Office. Steinhoff added that although the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) has many participating land owners for the special hunt throughout the state, most of those land owners can only sponsor one or two participants.
Fort McCoy does not currently limit the number of hunters because of the number of acres open to hunting and the willingness of local volunteers, Beckmann said.
“The WDNR often will recommend Fort McCoy to hunters who cannot find a location or miss the WDNR application deadline,” Steinhoff said. “The Fort McCoy Permit Sales Office can accommodate disabled hunters up to the Friday before the hunt.”
Hunters are required to have a WDNR Class A, B, C, or D disability permit to participate in the Fort McCoy hunt, Steinhoff said.
Each hunter received two deer harvest authorizations (carcass tags) with their Fort McCoy permit allowing the hunter to take two antlerless deer or one antlerless and one antlered deer, Beckmann said. All deer harvested are required to be registered through the Fort McCoy iSportsman website.
The Colorado State University (CSU) Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands wildlife staff, who support Fort McCoy programs through an agreement, provided assistance with the deer registration process.
CSU wildlife staff collected biological data from the harvested deer at the Deer Data Collection Point located on South Post, Beckmann said.
The collection of biological data on deer harvested was mandatory in an effort to help with deer herd monitoring,” Beckmann said. “Biological data was collected on all eight harvested deer.”
It’s recommended that all hunters have an assistant to aid them in accessing hunting areas, retrieving and field dressing deer, and providing comradeship. Applications for the hunt are accepted from June through mid-September each year. Applications are submitted through the i-Sportsman website at ftmccoy.isportsman.net.
For more information about application requirements, call the Fort McCoy Permit Sales Office at 608-388-3337.
For more information about how to obtain a disabled hunting license, visit the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources website at dnr.wi.gov/permits/disabled.html.
(The Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch contributed to this article.)
| Date Taken: | 11.01.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 11.01.2021 16:52 |
| Story ID: | 408471 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WI, US |
| Web Views: | 165 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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