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The La Crosse County Board decided Thursday to allow a third year of the managed hunt to reduce the herd on the southwest La Crosse County island.
The two earlier hunts took 63 deer, and a task force monitoring the island’s herd estimated the population was down to 60 after the 2007 hunt.
At one point, the Goose Island deer population was roughly estimated at 200, though surveys right before and after the 2006 hunt put the population at “well above 100,” according to a report to the board Thursday.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist Ron Lichtie told the board the deer at Goose Island look healthier and have fewer liver parasites. Car-deer crashes on Hwy. 35 are down, he said, and the habitat is in better shape because of less browsing. None of the deer killed tested positive for chronic wasting disease, he said.
But Lichtie said further herd reduction is needed. The task force isn’t recommending a specific population, but noted in its report to the board that the DNR sets a population goal of 20 deer per square mile in this area. Goose Island is about one square mile.
Lichtie said some people still feed deer at Goose Island but not nearly as much as in the past.
The city of La Crosse is considering some deer herd reduction program for Hixon Forest in November, but officials still are studying the issue.
The county board approved a managed hunt on Goose Island on Dec. 13 and 14, with Dec. 20 and 21 as alternate dates. Participants will be selected in a random drawing by the North American Squirrel Association, P.O. Box 186, Holmen, WI 54636, or www.nasasquirrel.org.
Hunters with disabilities who wish to participate must apply before Sept. 30.
Lichtie said the two previous hunts have gone safely, though a mentor who helps disabled hunters believes he contracted ehrlichiosis, a tick-borne disease new to the Midwest, from deer killed on Goose Island.
After this year’s managed hunt, the Goose Island task force plans to develop a comprehensive, multi-year deer management plan, Lichtie said. It will include “triggers” indicating whether further herd reductions are needed. He promised public meetings about the long-term plan.
The task force includes representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which owns Goose Island; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; DNR; La Crosse County; and the town of Shelby.
Supervisor Charles Spiker praised the five agencies involved in the task force for their cooperation. “This is something I never believed would happen,” he said. “The only ones who don’t like it are the deers being shot.”
And Supervisor Ann Fisher, the only board member to vote against this year’s hunt.
Reid Magney can be reached at (608) 791-8211 or rmagney@lacrossetribune.com.
