Courtesy Photo | A hunter in the 2023 youth hunt at Fort McCoy, Wis., is shown with a successfully...... read more read more
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Twenty-two hunters participated in Fort McCoy’s 2023 gun-deer hunt for hunters with disabilities Oct. 7-8. It was the 22nd straight year this hunt took place on post.
Every October, Wisconsin holds a nine-day gun deer hunt for people with disabilities. From 2002 through 2019, Fort McCoy participated by holding a two-day hunt the first weekend of the statewide hunt. In 2020, Fort McCoy adjusted the season dates to the last weekend of the statewide hunt which also overlaps the statewide youth gun-deer hunt. This has enabled Fort McCoy to offer opportunities for both groups of these qualified hunters to participate over the same two-day period in October, said Wildlife Program Manager and Biologist Kevin Luepke with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch.
Julie Steinhoff with the Fort McCoy Permit Sales Office said of the 22 people who were hunting with their Fort McCoy Gun-Deer for Hunters with Disabilities permit, 15 of the hunters were able to harvest deer. Five of those 15 were even able to harvest a second authorized deer (five of the hunters harvested two deer each).
“Twenty deer were harvested overall for a 68 percent success rate,” Steinhoff said.
The success rate was higher than the 54 percent success rate from 2022.
The event drew hunters from throughout Wisconsin, Steinhoff said. And although the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) has many participating landowners for the special hunt throughout the state, most of those landowners 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, the small number of applicants, and the willingness of local volunteers.
“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 week 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, Luepke said. All deer harvested are required to be registered through the Fort McCoy iSportsman website.
The CSU Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands wildlife staff, who support Fort McCoy programs through an agreement, aided with collecting biological data from the harvested deer at the Deer Data Collection Point located on South Post, Luepke said.
The collection of biological data on deer harvested was mandatory to help with deer herd monitoring. It’s also 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 iSportsman website at https://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 https:www.dnr.wi.gov/permits/disabled.html.
For more about Wisconsin deer hunting regulations and safety, go to https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/hunt/regulations.
Learn more about deer hunting at Fort McCoy by visiting the installation iSportsman page at https://ftmccoy.isportsman.net. Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
YOUTH GUN-DEER HUNT ALSO HELD ALONG WITH GUN-DEER HUNT FOR HUNTERS WITH DISABILITIES
In addition to the 22 hunters that participated in the gun-deer hunt for hunters with disabilities, Fort McCoy also supported a youth gun-deer hunt for a fourth consecutive year on Oct. 7-8.
“During this hunt, nine deer were harvested,” Steinhoff said.
While the success rate with the youth hunt was lower than the gun-deer hunt for hunters with disabilities, Luepke said it was great to see younger hunters out with their mentors and sharing the woods and field with the hunters with disabilities.
“With some of the hunters, they had a parent and a grandparent with them,” Luepke said. “It’s great to see the sport being passed on to another generation.”
Overall, the weather was favorable for both days of the hunt, Luepke said. He appreciates everyone’s support for making both the youth gun-deer hunt and the gun-deer hunt for hunters with disabilities a success for another year.
Learn more about deer hunting and the youth hunt at Fort McCoy by visiting the installation iSportsman page at https://ftmccoy.isportsman.net.
(The Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office and the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch coordinated this article.)
| Date Taken: | 11.06.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 11.06.2023 17:46 |
| Story ID: | 457323 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 281 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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