MADISON - After eleven public hearings across the state and 6,500 written comments, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is recommending expanding the gun deer hunt from nine to sixteen days beginning in 2010.  The hunt would begin the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

The 16-day season is intended to replace the unpopular "earn-a-buck" program.

The final decision is up to the state Natural Resources Board and the state legislature.  The DNR will present the proposed framework at the board's Dec. 8 meeting in Madison.  If the board approves the proposal, the legislature will then have a chance to review the decision.

The DNR had also considered beginning the 16-day hunt two Saturdays before Thanksgiving, but hunters expressed concern about the hunt overlapping with the rut.  "At public hearings we heard sentiment overwhelmingly against an early start date so we are recommending a traditional opening date to the board at this time," said DNR Secretary Matt Frank in a press release.

The proposal also includes:

• extending the archery season through all gun seasons and extending archery season until the end of January in herd control units
• addition of a four-day October antlerless only statewide muzzleloader hunt
• a four-day October antlerless only gun hunt in herd control units
• a four-day youth hunt that coincides with the October antlerless hunt
• a seven-day statewide December muzzleloader hunt
• a four-day December antlerless only gun hunt and a 10-day buck plus quota holiday hunt in farmland and central forest deer management units

The proposal would also allow additional harvest measures in units with a deer population more than 20 percent over goal in 2012.