Public Safety Committee Will Discuss New Deer Hunting Rule

A Fond du Lac County committee today will discuss a new state rule allowing the use of rifles for gun deer hunting. The County’s Public Safety Committee will be discussing the new rule during their 5 p.m. meeting in Rooms F and G of the City County Government Center in Fond du Lac. It goes into effect on November 1st. April Dombrowski is the Conservation Warden Supervisor for the Oshkosh Field Office. She says right now hunters in Fond du Lac County can only use shot guns for deer hunting but that will change with the new rule. She says one question keeps popping up in the County whether shotguns are safer than rifles. She says department statistics don’t back up the safety argument for shotguns. She says hunting accident statistics from 1998 to 2007 show shotguns are involved in more hunting accidents. She says the new state rule supersedes current county and township ordinances, but counties and townships can adopt new ordinances that would trump the state rule, so hunters should check with local officials where they hunt.