DNR board member: Lack of minimum hunting age creates 'embarrassing perception' nationally

MADISON —A member of the state Department of Natural Resources board says the lack of a minimum hunting age in Wisconsin has created an embarrassing perception nationally that babies are hunting deer.

Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill just ahead of the nine-day gun season last month that eliminated the 10-year-old minimum age for participating in a mentored hunt, essentially eliminating the state's minimum hunting age. The DNR sold 1,814 mentored hunt licenses heading into the nine-day season to children nine years old or younger, including 10 licenses to children under a year.

DNR Board member Fredrick Prehn said during a review of the season Tuesday that the license sales to infants generated national media attention that he found "rather embarrassing." He told a reporter during a break that infants clearly aren't capable of hunting and he's worried that other people are using the children's tags. He says that's a loophole and it isn't right.