HUNTING --For the first time in modern history, Chippewa Indians will be permitted to hunt deer at night in the Ceded Territory of Wisconsin, reports Milwaukee Journal Sentinel outdoor writer Paul A. Smith.

The six bands of Lake Superior Chippewa have long had the right to hunt deer off-reservation, but until this month hadn't received approval to exercise it after dark. A court ruling has cleared the way as a judge determined night hunting would not be a threat to public safety.

Smith comments:

It's not a proud moment in the annals of North American hunting. The tribes have publicly framed it in terms of subsistence.

Behind the scenes, the issue is about more than gathering meals of free-range protein. It's also a means to apply pressure on state officials with whom the tribes have had an increasingly strained relationship in recent years.

The tribes also may be reacting to passage of a state measure that created a public wolf hunting and trapping season. That measure, opposed by the tribes, allows wolf hunting at night.

Several sporting groups and many individuals objected to the night wolf hunting provision, but anti-wolf sentiment backed the vote.

The Chippewa bands had for decades sought to exercise their right to hunt deer at night. But after the wolf law was passed in 2012, they renewed their push for night deer hunting.

Recognizing their mistake, legislators quietly removed the night wolf hunting provision in the 2013-'15 state budget.

But it was too late. The tribes pushed on and this week, after more than two years of legal decisions and appeals, won the case....

To add frosting to the tribes' legal victory, Crabb's ruling cited the state's allowance of night hunting for wolves in the 2012 legislation.

The reasoning is simple: If it was OK for the state to allow a licensed hunter to pursue wolves at night, why wouldn't it be OK for the tribes to go after deer at night?

"There will be a lot of folks unhappy with it in northern Wisconsin," said Dave Zeug of Shell Lake, a retired DNR warden and warden supervisor. "Having shots going off at night is not going to make it any easier for law enforcement in the area, either."

Deer poaching at night could increase, Zeug said.

The development also is a blow for hunting ethics. How do you instill values of "fair chase" in a new hunter when some in the state can legally shine and shoot deer at night?

Such concerns should have prevented legislators and lobbyists from including night wolf hunting in the 2012 law.

Instead, they provided leverage for the tribes' night deer hunting case. And we're left with another case in which politics have overridden Wisconsin's once proud history of professional wildlife management.

In Washington State, tribal members have more liberal hunting rules in some areas.  But asked whether they can hunt at night, Fish and Wildlife Police regional supervisor Dan Rahn said:

Currently we are not aware of any of the almost 30 Treaty/Executive Tribes in Washington which would allow spotlighting for deer at night.  Our position on this is a public safety issue, and most of the tribes seem to share that view as well.

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