Wisconsin Wildlife Damage Abatement and Claims Program

The Wisconsin Damage Abatement and Claims Program (WDACP) provides assistance for the commercial agricultural community. The program provides abatement and financial compensation for white-tail deer, black bear, Canada goose, and wild turkey damage to commercial seedlings, crops grown on agricultural land, damage to crops that have been harvested for sale or further use but have not been removed from the agricultural land, damage to orchard trees or nursery stock, damage to apiaries, and livestock. There are numerous requirements that program participants must meet.

Program Guidelines, Enrollment, and General Rules

Enrollees must have hunting access control. This requirement applies to owned and leased contiguous properties. The enrollee must follow the minimum hunting requirement for all enrolled properties.

Enrollees must notify the county damage specialist within 14 days of eligible damage beginning for claims eligibility. Failure to give timely notice of damage beginning does not eliminate the ability for abatement assistance. Notification of damage can occur before the actual damage has occurred, based on past damage history or anticipated damage.

Enrollees must notify the county damage specialist at least 10 days prior to harvesting enrolled crop fields. Fields that are harvested prior to field inspection are not eligible for compensation.

Enrollees must follow abatement measures prescribed by county damage specialists. This includes shooting permits, temporary abatement measures, and/or permanent fences. Some method of abatement must be prescribed for each enrollee.

Enrollees are limited to a single claim application. Enrollees in multiple counties will require the county damage specialist(s) to appropriately distinguish abatement, claim, and deduction totals for the counties.

Enrollment is required. Enrollment forms must be complete and accurate. The hunting requirement assigned to each enrollee shall be clearly identified. WDACP enrollment options:

• Open Public Hunting(OPH)
  An enrollee may enroll their property in the open hunting option of the WDACP. This allows the enrollee all available abatement and claim benefits. The 14-day and 10-ay notifications are required. Hunting access is unrestricted, but hunters are required by law to notify the enrollee of their intent to hunt. The enrollee has the authority to determine how often and how this notification must take place. Enrollees SHALL NOT charge any fees for hunting, hunting access, or any other activity that includes hunting the species causing damage. Parking is restricted to designated areas; vehicular access is prohibited; and use of permanent hunting stands or blinds is prohibited, unless specific permission is granted by the enrollee. Hunters must follow existing state statutes regarding hunting, trespass, and protection of property. No record keeping is required by the enrollee, unless a shooting permit has been issued. On properties where a shooting permit has been issued, all permit hunters must wear blaze orange. Hunting is only allowed for the enrolled species. Hunters are required to notify farmers of their intent to hunt regardless of whether the farmer chooses the OPH or MHA.
• Managed Hunting Access(MHA)
  An enrollee may enroll their property in the managed hunting option of the WDACP. This allows the enrollee all available abatement and compensation benefits. The 14-day and 10-day notifications are required.
• Land suitable for hunting will be determined by the County damage specialist. DEER = The land considered suitable for hunting is woodland, wetland, CRP, other deer cover, and agricultural land within 330 feet of deer cover. Always round the acreage suitable to hunting to the nearest 20-acre increment. Land inside a WDACP approved and maintained permanent deer fence is considered land NOT suitable for hunting. OTHER ELIGIBLE SPECIES = The land suitable for hunting means contiguous land where the conduct of hunting is not likely to result in a violation and shall include all such areas within the contiguous acres under the same ownership, lease, or control, except those areas identified by the County as unsuitable for hunting.
• The County damage specialist shall provide a map to the enrollee of the enrolled property. This map will be used to identify property boundaries and land suitable for hunting. Zones may be delineated to help distribute hunting pressure. The enrollee shall use these maps to explain to hunters the boundaries and hunting constraints on the enrolled property.
• To register for hunting access, hunters shall contact program enrollees by first obtaining the County participation list. The County shall provide a current list of program participants and a fact sheet which describes the WDACP hunting access system to hunters upon their request. The hunter shall arrange a meeting with the enrollee.
• Hunters must register to hunt on enrolled properties. The enrollee shall describe the registration process, where the log will be kept on the property, hunting constraints, safety concerns, and any information necessary to prevent trespass. A hunting log, provided by the County damage specialist, must be completed and signed by the hunter. The hunting log will require the hunter to record name, address, telephone number, vehicle license, and date and time of entry and departure. The enrollee will keep the hunting log current. Special indication shall be marked for those participation hunters under a shooting permit. These records shall be available to County or WDNR staff upon request. In order to protect and preserve the hunting log records, enrollees need to collect pages daily or when pages are filled. Loss of records may result in failure to document access requirement compliance, resulting in ineligibility for program benefits. Loss or vandalism of the hunting log needs to be reported to the County damage specialist immediately.
• Hunting access shall be on a first-come first-serve basis. Hunters may contact the enrollee in advance, but they may not register until their intended hunting date or the day prior. The enrollee shall allow at least 2 hunters per 40 acres of land suitable for hunting, at any given time. The enrollee and the immediate family that reside in the enrollee's household may be counted towards the hunting requirement, but they must register on the hunting log and be out on the land hunting at the time indicated on the log. Enrollees may refuse hunting access for reasonable cause defined in s.NR19.76(7), similar to shooting permit restrictions. Hunters may hunt only the species enrolled, unless further permission has been granted by the enrollee. Enrollees SHALL NOT charge any fees for hunting, hunting access, or any other activity that includes hunting the species causing damage. Parking is restricted to designated areas; vehicular access is prohibited; and use of existing hunting stands or blinds is prohibited; unless further permission is granted by the enrollee. Hunters must follow existing State statutes regarding hunting, trespass, and property protection.
• Written complaints regarding hunter access refusal shall be reviewed by the County and WDNR staff. Hunting log access records shall be used to determine violations. If violations occur, further program assistance shall be refused for the calendar year in which the hunter access refusal occurred. In addition, an enrollee may be subject to the penalties in s.29.889(10), Stats.
• Access hunters may use portable stands or blinds as long as they are removed at the end of each day's hunt, unless otherwise authorized. When registering on the hunting log, the hunter shall certify that he or she holds the enrollee and landowner harmless from any injuries associated with the hunter's hunting activity on the enrolled property, including any authorized use of hunting stands. Enrollees may restrict the use of dogs for the purpose of bear hunting if trespass on adjoining properties is likely to occur.

The hunting access requirement does not apply to enrollees where the damage is to apiaries on lands where the applicant does not have hunting access control.

The County may adopt an exemption for non-compliance with shooting permit harvest requirements described in s.NR12.16(2)(b)2. for a permittee enrolled in the WDACP.

Damage abatement cost sharing is on a 75-25 basis. The County shall determine the actual costs of providing wildlife damage abatement assistance to provide 75% cost sharing. For permanent abatement measures, the enrollee shall provide 25% of the cost of materials and installation. For the purpose of determining the total cost of temporary abatement measures, cooperation by the enrollee in installation, construction, operation, notification if required, or maintenance of the temporary measure shall be considered 25% of its total costs.

Damage to crops that have been harvested for sale or further use, but that have not been removed from the agricultural land, are eligible for program services and benefits. However, normal agricultural practices and implementation of practices and standards described in the WDACP Technical Manual are required. Only damage by eligible species is allowed.

Unharvested crops will be appraised using standardized methods in this manual. County damage specialists who encounter unfamiliar crops or crops for which appraisal methods are not available, should contact the Wildlife Damage Specialist, WDNR-Madison.

Total Farm Appraisals. County damage specialists shall appraise all fields requested by enrollees. Entire farms or crops do not need to be checked if no appraisal request is received. Entire fields where damage has been reported shall be appraised in their entirety.

To be eligible for claims, the enrolled property must have been in production, cultivation, or a USDA-NRCS program for at least 5 years.

If the amount of the appraised loss is $250.00 or less, the claimant will receive no payment, due to the standard deductible. If the amount of the appraised loss is more than $250.00 but not more than $5,250.00, then the claimant will be paid 100% of the amount of the claim that exceeds the standard $250.00 deductible. If the amount of the appraised loss is more than $5,250.00, the claimant will be paid the amount calculated under the $5,250.00 level, plus 80% of the claim that exceeds $5,250.00 with a maximum payment of $15,000.00. A maximum claim has an appraised loss of $17,750.00.

Claim Audits. Claims shall be randomly audited for accuracy and to police fraud. Penalties now exist in state statute to address violations in the WDACP. If convicted in a court of law on charges of fraud, an enrollee may be fined two times the value of any paid claim, plus up to an additional $1,000.00. Furthermore, the enrollee can lose their program privileges for up to 10 years. Any accessory to fraud may be subject to similar fines.

Annual Deadlines. Reimbursement procedures require the quarterly filing of required paperwork. County budgets and plans of administration are due in Madison by November 1 each year. Claims must be completed and turned in to Madison by March 1 each year.

Shooting Permits. On properties where shooting permits for deer have been issued, permit performance is directly related to claims approval. For claims to be approved, the enrollee must:

1. Adhere to the hunting access requirement;
2. Harvest a certain percentage of their prescribed harvest quota; and
3. Make sure that all participant hunters wear blaze orange.

If these harvest objectives have not been met, there may be grounds for an exemption if compelling evidence exists that deer were not available to be harvested. The County damage specialist, County Conservationist, and local WDNR manager will review such cases and make a recommendation to the County LCC or the UW Extension Damage Committee. WDNR, through the claims audit process, will verify regulation compliance.

Parking areas must be clearly identified. The parking areas must allow complete access to the land suitable for hunting on the enrolled property.

Enrollees may sign up their properties with the WDACP for more than one eligible species. The species with the greater acreage of land suitable for hunting shall be used to determine the minimum hunting access requirement. The fulfillment of the hunting access requirement shall be the cumulative total of the access hunters on the property for the species enrolled.

For more information on this topic, send mail to: Assistant Wildlife Damage Biologist

Questions for Wildlife Management