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Larry Ledebuhr has applied for a conditional use permit to operate the preserve on 300 acres of his land near Houston.
The Houston County Planning Commission delayed a decision on the permit until after it walks Ledebuhr’s property May 23 and reconvenes at its regular meeting May 25.
Those for and against the proposed preserve argued public safety and the spread of disease during a public hearing Thursday.
Dawn Huebner said her cattle graze near the proposed location. “I do not want them shot,” she said.
Huebner asked who would pay if her animals were injured or killed.
Huebner said she plans to eventually build a home on her neighboring land.
“The house will be right in a wooded area,” she said — the hunters won’t see the house or who’s there when they fire their weapons.
Ledebuhr said the location is secluded and “couldn’t get much further away from people.”
Bob Scanlan, the county’s planning and zoning administrator said the land would be surrounded by an 8-foot perimeter fence.
Nose to nose contact between the domestic deer and wild deer would be hard to avoid, said Perry Fitch of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association.
When disease is spread to wild animals, it is difficult and expensive to eradicate, Fitch said.
Wisconsin has spent millions of dollars trying to eradicate Chronic Wasting Disease.
“I appreciate the concerns about (CWD) and everyone wanting to keep the wild deer and captive deer healthy,” said Holly Johnson, president of the Minnesota Deer Breeders Association and executive director of the North American Deer Farmers Association.
Deer farms are “more regulated” than any other agricultural agency, and when disease is found it’s eradicated right away, Johnson said.
Johnson said Minnesota’s first deer hunting preserve is being built in Morrisson County, and its owners went through much of the same opposition from neighbors when they applied for a conditional use permit in their county. She said through education neighbor’s learned it would be safe and the land would be hunted less than during a regular hunting season.
Autumn Grooms can be reached at (608) 791-8424, or agrooms@lacrossetribune.com.
