by Benjamin Yount
Wisconsin is going to look and see if the money that hunters and fisherman spend to hunt and fish is actually going for hunting and fishing.
The Joint Legislative Audit Committee on Thursday ordered an audit of the state’s Fish and Wildlife Account.
“Across the board, hunters and anglers are concerned. These funds come from license fees & taxes on sporting goods and are supposed to be used on projects that benefit fishing and hunting across the state,” Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Green Bay, said. “We need a closer look at DNR’s handling of these funds.”
Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources has a history of dipping into the Fish and Wildlife account.
Wimberger said that a 2006 audit “found $1.6 million in expenditures that had no direct benefit to hunters or anglers.”
Another audit in 1998 found DNR was using the Fish and Wildlife Fund to pay for $11.6 million in departmental overhead. That led to a state law that capped how much money could be spent from the Fish and Wildlife Fund.
Still, Wimberger said the DNR continues to spend the fees that hunters and fishermen pay.
“The State’s most recent budget, the 2023-2025 Biennial Budget Act, assisted DNR in balancing the fund with a one-time transfer of $25 million from the Forestry Account to the Fish and Wildlife Account,” Wimberger added in a statement.
Luke Hilgemann, the executive director at the hunting group the International Order of T. Roosevelt, told The Center Square hunters pay a lot to maintain Wisconsin’s outdoor opportunities.
“The DNR estimates collecting $62 million from license fees in 2026. Resident deer licenses are $24 for archery and $24 for guns. Resident Fishing licenses are $20,” Hilgemann said. “When you match this with the federal excise taxes hunters and anglers pay on the purchase of our products through programs like Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson, outdoorsmen pay over $100 million annually for conservation-related programs in Wisconsin.”
He too wants an audit, again to make sure that the money hunters and fishermen are paying goes for hunting and fishing.
“Hunters and anglers are happy to support conservation efforts with our dollars but we need accountability to ensure those dollars are being spent on conservation-related projects and not being used by the DNR to pad their budgets in other areas or grow the bureaucracy on the backs of hunters and anglers,” Hilgemann added. “The agency claims an anticipated shortfall of $16 million in 2026, but before we have any conversation about fee increases, we need full accountability for the dollars we currently entrust with the DNR.”
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Benjamin Yount is a contributor at The Center Square.
Photo “Hunting” by Rhett Noonan.
