Wisconsin Duck Season Opens; Two Waukesha Residents Call DNR To Ask About Frame Park Pond
As waterfowl hunting season begins statewide, at least two local sportsmen sought clarification on whether a city pond qualifies as legal hunting territory.
WAUKESHA — Wisconsin's fall waterfowl hunting season opened this week across the state's duck zones, and by Wednesday afternoon the Department of Natural Resources had logged at least two phone calls from Waukesha residents asking whether the central pond at Frame Park met the legal definition of a huntable wetland. A DNR spokesperson confirmed that it does not, and that a state hunting license would not have helped either caller even if it did.
"We get these calls every year when the seasons change," the spokesperson said by phone Thursday. "People see water, see ducks, and ask questions we've answered since 1987." The spokesperson declined to name the callers but described both inquiries as "sincere" and "not the first time this particular pond has come up."
A Pond, Not A Zone
Frame Park's pond sits roughly a quarter mile from the Fox River, ringed by a walking path, a disc golf hole, and on most mornings a rotating cast of retirees feeding bread to a mallard population the Parks Department has never formally counted but estimates at "a lot, honestly." It is, by any reasonable standard, a municipal amenity. It is not, the DNR spokesperson confirmed twice during Thursday's call, a Wildlife Management Area, a public hunting ground, or any other designation that would make discharging a shotgun there anything other than a serious legal problem.
One of the two callers, who the DNR did not name and who did not respond to a message left at a number provided by a neighbor who overheard the conversation, reportedly asked a follow-up question about whether a bow would be treated differently than a shotgun under city ordinance. The spokesperson said the answer to that question is also no, and that the follow-up itself was noted in the call log "for staffing purposes."
"People see water, see ducks, and ask questions we've answered since 1987."
— DNR spokesperson
Where Hunting Actually Happens
Legal waterfowl hunting within a reasonable drive of Waukesha requires either a registered Wildlife Management Area or private land with the owner's permission, neither of which describes a park pond bordered by a splash pad and a senior center parking lot. The DNR spokesperson said the office typically redirects Waukesha County callers toward public hunting grounds in the Lake Michigan zone or west toward the Illinois border, and that both callers this week were given that same referral "politely, the first time."
City Parks and Forestry has not posted new signage specific to the pond this season, according to a department staffer, who noted that existing signage already lists leashed-dog and no-fishing-after-dusk rules but has never needed to specifically prohibit duck hunting because, in the staffer's words, "nobody's ever asked the sign that question before this week."
A Seasonal Ritual
The DNR spokesperson said the agency doesn't track year-over-year totals for this specific category of call, but estimated that "a couple" come in from Waukesha County alone each time a hunting season opens, spread across several ponds and retention basins the office has fielded questions about in the past. Frame Park's pond, the spokesperson said, is "a repeat customer" in that regard, though not the office's most frequent caller location, a distinction the spokesperson declined to specify further.
Wisconsin's regular duck season runs in phases through early December depending on zone, and the DNR said it expects the clarifying calls to taper off within a week or two, once hunters either secure proper locations or, as the spokesperson put it, "just go to Culver's instead, which a surprising number of people seem to do right after we explain the rules to them."