IN MY OPINION: Urge state reps to oppose bills that weaken safeguards and make hunting more dangerous

By JOHN J. PLENKE

Citizens of Wisconsin, your help is needed immediately.

There are bills in the Wisconsin Legislature—SB -611 and AB-670—that would greatly compromise the safety of all Wisconsin citizens.

Already this hunting season, there have been at least three incidents involving new hunters who only took an online course.

These bills would make it legal for a person having received no hunter education to be “certified” during a mentored hunt by a person who has no training or has only taken the online hunter safety class, possibly without any firearms experience.

These bills, part of the so-called “Wisconsin Sporting Freedom Package,” were promoted by Hunter Nation, headquartered in Kansas.

Organizations such as Wisconsin Hunter Education Instructor Association, Wisconsin Conservation Congress, Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and other organizations that know the dangers of these bills were not contacted.

SB-611 was fast-tracked through the state Senate with minimum citizen input. The bill was passed by the Senate and has been forwarded to the Assembly, where it may be taken up as AB-670. It is the same bad bill as SB-611.  

Maybe senators didn’t really have the chance to actually assess SB-611, as it may have sounded reasonable. Without knowing the ramifications, maybe they thought this would be an easy fix to an existing problem. It is not.

In order to avoid what happened in the Senate, we need our legislators in the Assembly to look closely and understand that these bills are likely to result in an increase in hunting accidents and hunting related deaths, which have been greatly reduced over the years due to hands-on hunter education courses.

The risk inherent in these bills is likely to also cause more concerned parents to prevent their children from becoming hunters.

We need the public’s assistance to ensure that this legislation does not become law. 

Please relay this information to media representatives, sporting organizations and anyone having an interest in public safety in your area.

Contact your representatives and let them know that you oppose SB-611 and AB-670, and that they should too for good reasons. Also tell them that you support a strong and effective hunter education program.

Please tell your legislators you want them to reply on how they plan to vote and also tell you what they plan to do to protect hunters young and old if they vote to create a future group of untrained hunters.

The author, of Germantown, is chairman of the Wisconsin Hunter Education Coalition. Five other members of the organization also signed the op-ed essay.