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Waterloo men accused of illegally hunting deer

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Two Black Hawk County men are facing 14 charges for allegedly taking two deer out of season.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources conservation officer, Dakota Drish, says Waterloo police called him after officers found the men on the east side of the city. “They were on routine patrol and noticed a car that was illegally parked along side the road if you will. And the vehicle was running and they got out to investigate — and that’s when they noticed the illegal activity,” Drish says.

Thirty-one-year-old Paul Lu and 19-year-old Kyaw Wahny, both of Waterloo were found to have two male deer. They are each charged with: shooting firearm over water, highway or railroad right-of-way; hunting deer without a valid license; hunting without a valid hunting license; hunting without paying the habitat fee; taking deer out of season; taking deer with a prohibited rifle. They were also both given a warning for using an automobile and artificial light to hunt deer.

Drish says it was 1:26 in the morning and they believe the two men used flashlights to spot and shoot the deer in the dark. “We run into this quite often as the fall nears. They’ll use flashlights where the deer or raccoon or any other type of animal — their eyes light up and basically glow in the dark — and these subjects are able to harvest these animals illegally after the legal shooting hours and outside the season that way,” according to Drish. He credits the Waterloo officers with seeing the possible violation and calling him.

“It helps us tremendously when you have other agencies that are diligent when they run upon these types of cases and contact us and are able to work with these types of investigations,” Drish says. “So, the Waterloo Police Department did a phenomenal job in this case in particular.”

The antlers on the deer were still in velvet, which means that they had not fully completed their development.  Drish says the DNR is asking each man to pay $4,000 in restitution based on the size of the deer antlers. “On a deer that’s under 150 inches like this — the maximum that the state could be reimbursed is $10,000,” Drish explains. The men face other charges in the case of $2,244 dollars.

The two men are scheduled to appear in court today (Wednesday).

 

DNR taking comments on proposal to raise cost of hunting and fishing licenses

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The price Iowans pay for an annual hunting or fishing license would rise from $17 to $20 under a proposal from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Joe Larscheid, chief of the Iowa DNR’s Fisheries Bureau, believes the fee increases are long overdue. “It’s been 14 years for most licenses and some licenses, it’s been over 20 years since they’ve been raised,” Larscheid said. Revenue from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses is deposited into the Fish and Wildlife Trust Fund, which receives no tax payer money from the state general fund. This would be the first increase in the price of a hunting license since 2002 and the first increase of a fishing license since 2004.

“Really, the modest increase we’re talking about – which is about a 17% increase – doesn’t even keep up with the cost of inflation since the last time the fees were raised,” Larscheid said. “What we’re going to be able to do with this increase is keep the programs we have going now and hopefully add back some programs that were reduced or actually cut in recent years.” According to Larscheid, even with the proposed increase, Iowa’s hunting and fishing license fees would remain lower than most other Midwest states.

“With the caveat that some states, such as Missouri and Minnesota, receive a lot of general funding from different initiatives that have passed over the years and not just license revenues that run the state’s trust fund programs,” Larscheid said. Until recently, hunting and fishing license fees were controlled by state lawmakers. The Iowa Legislature and Governor Reynolds approved a bill last year that shifted the authority to the Iowa DNR and the Natural Resource Commission.

“It puts it on us, the DNR and the Natural Resource Commission, to adjust the fees more often – hopefully – than in the past,” Larscheid said. “So, instead of going for a 17-percent or 30-percent increase, maybe a 2-to-5-percent increase every couple of years, which I think would be more acceptable to most people – because people understand, you know, inflation happens.”

Full details on the proposed license fee increases are on the DNR’s website  and Iowans can provide feedback either online or at “listening sessions” scheduled for August 21from noon to 2 p.m. in Des Moines, Spirit Lake, Ventura, Lewis, Manchester, and Brighton.

 

Iowa and Michigan families accused of plan to illegally take deer

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Confiscated deer following investigation.

A family in Michigan is accused of illegally hunting deer in Eastern Iowa for nearly 16 years.

The investigation started last year when Eric Wright, a DNR conservation officer in Cedar County, noticed a trophy-sized buck in the area suddenly disappeared.

“The locals had not said who had shot it, nobody had any pictures, and it was a relatively large deer that I had watched grow up and nobody had heard what happened to it,” Wright told Radio Iowa. That’s when he began to review local landowner tenant deer tags. Wright noticed members of a family had been purchasing licenses since the early 2000s – but they were people he had never seen hunting, specifically bow-hunting deer.

“Typically, people in the area…you get to know them, you see the deer they shot – there’s pictures floating around social media or just around town,” Wright said. “And so, there were just a lot of things that piqued my interest.”

The investigation eventually revealed, since 2002, a Michigan family was supplied with lodging and tags for any deer they harvested on the Iowa farm – and in return, the Iowa family was given fishing opportunities in Michigan. Those involved are: Douglas Leo Hebert, age 49, of Indian River, Michigan,  his 51-year-old brother, Jeffrey Leo Hebert of Bay City, Michigan, and their 73-year-old father, Leo Frederick Hebert of Bay City, Michigan

The family in Michigan is paying $51,000 in fines for illegally killing 19 Iowa deer. Most of them were mounted. “Seventeen of those were bucks, antlered deer, that we were able to retrieve – all 17 deer racks,” Wright said. Three Iowans, accused of aiding the Michigan poachers, are paying fines totaling $780.

 

Pheasant harvest drops slightly in 2017

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Pheasant hunters shot around 20,000 fewer birds last hunting season compared to the year before.

Iowa DNR wildlife biologist, Todd Bogenschutz says the drop follows lower counts in the roadside surveys. “I kind of expected that because the roadside counts…were down 30%. We were in a drought when we did the counts last year, so we think things were probably a little better than that based on what hunters told us,” Bogenschutz says. “The roadside counts said the populations were down about 30% — the hunters said they were only down about 10%.” He says the drought meant there was less dew when the roadside counts were done and that led to less birds out in the morning — which impacted the overall count.

Bogenschutz says the numbers have held pretty steady in recent years. “We’ve bounced up from the all-time lows when we were down to almost a hundred thousand. So we’ve been back up around the quarter-million mark these last couple of years, so we kind of hung right there. Last year we shot about 245,000, this year it was 221,000, so about 20,000 different, right in that same ballpark,” Bogenschutz says.

The next pheasant number survey takes place in August and Bogenschutz says all the weather issues this year didn’t help pheasants nesting numbers. He says they numbers will be status quo at best and likely down. “Given the flooding is on par almost with 1993 levels. A lot of rain in May and June is not good at the peak of nesting. In April we had record snow in parts of the state and some of the birds can nest that early.”

There were 55,000 hunters out this past season, which is down around 4%. He says the survey numbers likely impact the hunting plans of some. “I think hunters do look at the report, I think that’s why hunter numbers are down,” according to Bogenschutz. “They look at our forecast and if we said things are down there’s a few folks who tend not to go. I think when we say things are good or just word of mouth from other hunters, then we go up.”

While Bogenschutz expects the weather to impact the number of pheasants this season — he says southern Iowa had been much drier and that could make for better nesting and numbers there.

 

DNR asks hunters to help count turkeys

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The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is asking turkey hunters and others to help them get an accurate count on the number of birds roaming the woods in Iowa.

Wildlife biologist Jim Coffey says they have made it easy for you to report what you see with an area on their website where you can go in and report turkey sightings in the months of July and August. The DNR has mailed survey cards to select turkey hunters who are asked to provide the date and county in which the turkey was seen, if it was an adult female or adult male, and whether there are young poults (baby turkeys).

“That helps us gauge what we are going to predict for next year’s supply of turkeys,” Coffey says. Coffey says the weather, available nesting areas and other things can all impact the number of turkeys who are born and survive each year.

There is a link to an online survey and survey card on the DNR’s website at www.iowadnr.gov

 

Turkey hunters overcome cool spring conditions to nearly match last year

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Iowa turkey hunters took home 11,700 birds this season which ran from April 7th to May 20th. DNR wildlife biologist Jim Coffee says that was down just 78 turkeys from last year.

The total is good considering the weather conditions when things got started. “It had a lot of people concerned,” Coffee says, “we had some very cool weather to begin with and we ended up with some pretty warm weather at the end. What it shows you is that turkey hunters are pretty consistent. As long as we get out there and get after them, we are going to be successful.” He says the snowy weather early may’ve hurt the hunters more than the turkeys by making it tougher for them to sneak up on the birds.

“Those extreme conditions can kind of shut them down as they look for food or maybe the hens aren’t quite as receptive because of the weather conditions. But overall it’s still going to be the same type of turkey spring, you’re still going to be out in those areas where turkeys are going to be visible and be heard,” Coffee says. “What makes it a little harder for us is that we just don’t blend in as well with our camouflage typically.” Blending into the woods is important as turkeys are one of the toughest animals to hunt and only about one quarter of those who buy a license are successful.

“You know a 20 to 25 percent success rate is considered pretty good across the country. And our successful hunters some years aren’t successful. So overall, it’s just a matter of how much time you put into it and some good old fashioned luck,” according to Coffee. Turkey hunting hit is peak for participation around 10 years ago and since then Coffee says they’ve seen some decline.

“We have what we call churn — which is people who get in and get out of turkey hunting,” Coffee says. “We see some people trying it again and people falling out. And then we have our avid turkey hunters which are just hose who go every year and potentially get multiple tags — because you are allowed two tags in the springtime.” He says deer hunters are often the ones involved in the “churn.”

He says deer hunters often see a lot of turkeys in the fall decide to try turkey hunting in the spring. “And then they don’t realize that there is a little bit different skill set involved and those people may get in and get out a little bit more frequently,” Coffee says. There were nearly 50-thousand tags purchased for the recent turkey season.

 

Chronic wasting disease found for the first time in deer outside of northeast Iowa

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The Iowa Department of Natural Resources reports the first confirmed case of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in a county outside of northeast Iowa.

Widlife biologist Terry Haindfield says a doe taken in the first shotgun season tested positive for the disease. “In the southeast corner of Wayne County, Iowa. It’s about five miles from the Missouri border,” Haindfield says. He says Missouri has had positive tests for CWD that were about 50 miles from where the deer tested positive in Wayne County.

Haindfield says it is a little disappointing to find CWD in a new county. “It is somewhat inevitable, but we were hoping to have that delayed as long as possible,” he says. The DNR plans to set up a meeting in Wayne County to discuss what this means for local hunters and landowners and listen to their concerns on the disease.

The tests from the 2017 season also found more positives in the northeast Iowa counties that had previously been the only areas to show the disease in wild deer. “We are at eight more in Allamakee County and one in Clayton County,” Haindfield says. “We do have some tests results that we are waiting for on the special test we did not long ago.”

Those special tests were in Allamakee and Clayton counties in January as a follow up to the positive tests there from the 2016 hunting season. There is a possibility that the deer in northeast Iowa could have come from across the border in other states that have had positive tests.

The DNR collected extra samples from deer taken in western Iowa this year after 5 deer harvested in southeast Nebraska in 2016 tested positive. Haindfield says with almost all of those tests back there hasn’t been any positive tests reported there. Haindfield says Iowa is still overall in a lot better shape than many other states.

“You look at adjacent states where they are having 200 or 300 positives that are coming back from their hunter-harvest collections and we’re still on really early onset of this disease. And although we are seeing some movement there — I actually was pleased that we didn’t go more exponential with positives in northeast Iowa,” Haindfield says. “And right now all we know of this in Wayne is that it is one positive.”

He says they contact hunters when a deer tissue test comes back positive. He says they find out if they have shared the meat with others and offer to help dispose of the meat. “That would be of their choosing. This is not a health test that we do, but it is additional information that they can use to make those decisions,” according to Haindfield. The DNR says chronic wasting disease is a neurologic disease apparently affecting only deer, moose and elk. It is always fatal.

The disease first appeared in the wild deer herd in 2013 and each year since, the Iowa DNR has placed extra emphasis on tracking the movement and attempting to stop or slow the disease with the cooperation of hunters.

 

Hunters take 4% more deer this year

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Hunters shot 4,100 more deer this year than were taken the year before. Iowa Department of Natural Resources spokesman Tyler Harms says a total of 105,554 deer were shot with bows, shotguns, pistols and muzzleloaders.

“The important thing is that we are hovering right around that 100,000 mark — which is what we aim for in terms of a harvest goal and a population goal,” Harms says. Harms says the 4% increase in the number of deer taken comes with fewer hunters seeking a chance to shoot them.

“We did see a little bit of a drop in the license sales for both the shotgun seasons, despite seeing an increase in harvest,” Harms says. “So, what that tells me is hunters were able to spend more time in the field to ensure a successful harvest. And if you think about the weather during those seasons in early December — the weather was very favorable.” He says good weather was a bonus.

“It was easy for hunters to spend a lot of time in the field.” Hunters shot more than 57,522 does and 47,992 bucks by the time the final deer season ended January 10th. Harms says those numbers help keep the population in balance.

“The population is right where we’d like to see it. Like I said before, our goal from a harvest standpoint is to hover right around 100,00 to120,00,” according Harms. “We are kind of at the bottom of that range, but still within an acceptable population level at least from out standpoint and related to our goal.” He says they get a lot of feedback from hunters when it comes to population.

“Not surprisingly we do hear from hunters all over the state every year. Some areas of the state we hear that populations might be a little bit below what hunters would like to see. Other areas of the state hunters seem to be pretty pleased with the population,” Harm says. “And that’s not unexpected, we do expect to see regional differences, even local differences in population numbers.” Harms says that’s why they’ve gone to a more local approach in tracking the deer population numbers.

Tissue samples were taken during the deer season to test the animals for Chronic Wasting Disease. Harms says they are still waiting to get those results back.

DNR makes adjustments to western Iowa paddlefish season

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The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is making changes in the paddlefish season in western Iowa to try and increase interest.

DNR fisheries biologist Ryan Hupfeld says the ability to catch paddlefish on the Missouri and Big Sioux Rivers in western Iowa returned in 2015 after nearly 30 years of being banned to protect the species. He says they’re now adjusting some things after the initial interest fell off.

“We’ve seen the popularity and number of tags sold decrease in the recent years, and there’s always extras to go around,” Hupfeld says. “We also sent out a survey card that anglers return and it kind of guided our efforts to making some changes to the season this year to make it more popular.” One of the changes now splits the purchase of tags into two periods, and allows you to buy two tags if there are tags remaining after the first period.

The timing of the season has also been tweaked. “We are starting it much earlier — we are starting it on February fourth and it ends on April 30th. Also, due to the anglers’ comments, we are allowing the harvest of rough fish including Asian carp during the paddlefish snagging season,” Hupfeld says. The previous seasons had started in March.

Hupfeld says they knew they had to do something after seeing the fish numbers. He says there were more than 300 fish taken in 2015 and it has dropped down to 100 in the last two years. Hupfeld says moving the season date back adjusts to the river conditions, which may’ve played a role in the drop in harvest.

“On the river systems where there is not a dam and they congregate, a lot of times in the colder time periods when water temperatures are cool they are in these deep overwintering holes where you might be able to target them before they migrate up north in the spring,” Hupfeld says. Hupfeld says they’ve tried to adapt the season based on what they heard from anglers, and says it’s key for anyone buying a paddlefish tag this year to return the survey card.

“All these suggestions that we’ve gotten in the last couple of years have kind of guided our efforts in hopefully making the season more successful for anglers,” according to Hupfeld. “This year if you do purchase a tag, please keep note of your catch and effort and return those cards whether you harvest a fish or not. We appreciate any input provided and take that in consideration in moving forward with the season and hopefully make it more successful for everybody.”

You still have until January 7th to buy a 2018 paddlefish license for the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers. For more information on the season, go to the DNR’s website.

Photo courtesy of the DNR.

 

DNR reminds anglers to check ice conditions for safety

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While the temperatures have dropped to below freezing across the state, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is warning those who enjoy ice fishing to be extra careful during the next few days.

DNR Fisheries Chief Joe Larscheid says the cold snap likely froze most bodies of water solid — but you should still test it before venturing out.

“We need a good solid 4 to 6 inches of clear ice, hard ice in order to be safe,” he says. Larscheid says even with that said — ice is never 100 percent safe.

“In that lake that is mostly safe there could be weak points that you don’t even know about,” Larscheid says, “there’s upwelling there’s currents in the lake, so you’ve always got to be careful when you’re ice fishing.” Larscheid suggests you go to a place where there are other anglers. That’s often where the fish are and if you happen to fall in, there’s someone there to help.

He suggests that you always  fish with someone else so you have help if you would fall in. And don’t delay if the worst happens. “Call 911 immediately and then hopefully you have rope or somebody has rope and you can toss that rope to them, and hopefully they get ahold of that rope and you can pull them out,” Larscheid says. “But I would immediately call 911 because time is very significant in those situations.”

Larscheid says heavy winter clothing often makes it harder to swim or stay afloat if you fall into the water. He says to not panic, as most people are able to use their fingers, arms and legs for several minutes before hypothermia sets in.

(Thanks to Pat Blank, Iowa Public Radio)