Attorney Lutz helps DNR stay on target

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Nov. 22 is a big day for attorney Michael A. Lutz. For the 45th year, he will celebrate the start of the gun deer hunting season with his father on a slice of land near his native Shawano. But Lutz will also spend a portion of the 11-day season working in the field as Deputy Chief Counsel for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Since 1980, the former forestry major has worked as an attorney with the DNR. His responsibilities include supervising a dozen lawyers and constant training of almost 500 law enforcement officials.

With gun deer season approaching, Lutz sat down at his Madison office with Wisconsin Law Journal reporter Jack Zemlicka to discuss prominent legal problems during the gun deer season, what type of attorney joins the DNR, and the perils of working with a deer decoy.

Wisconsin Law Journal: You majored in forestry in college, but graduated with a degree business. What brought you to the DNR?

Michael A. Lutz: I was part of UW-Madison’s second forestry class. About half-way through that, I realized I hated soils class for some reason, plus I also started thinking about going to law school.

Even though I switched to business, it was still my dream to get involved in the natural resource field. My first job was with the state in employment compensation, but when I had a chance to transfer here, I jumped at it.

WLJ: With gun deer hunting season a little more than a month away, what is the biggest legal issue you are facing?

Lutz: This year the decision was made that in any place we call our chronic wasting disease areas, we would allow the use of rifles. There’s been a pushback from local units of government that have enacted rifle bans. We have authority to rescind local ordinances that impact hunting, but were not planning on using it this season.

Our early (gun) deer season starts in a couple of weeks and we’re going to see how it goes and decide next year. But we’re getting a large number of calls from hunters who thought it was going to be legal to use a rifle.

WLJ: You partially work out in the field during the hunting season. What does that entail?

Lutz: Because I’m involved so much in seeing that our cases get prosecuted, I always find it useful to see what kinds of problems wardens are getting in the field. When we suspect someone is “road hunting” where they drive slow, with windows down and guns loaded, ready to shoot from the car, what does that really mean?

WLJ: What does that really mean?

Lutz: People will slam on the brakes, jump out of the car and start shooting at the decoy we place just off the road. These are not people who are unexpectedly doing something wrong. Their guns are loaded and they are looking to shoot something.

WLJ: Ever had any close calls?

Lutz: No, we have a protocol where the observers are on the opposite side of the road from of the decoy. The decoys have had some close calls. They are Styrofoam and can get pretty shabby by the end of the season.

WLJ: How have the legal issues associated with the hunting season changed since you joined the agency in 1980?

Lutz: When I first started, “shining” deer was big in the fall season. We hardly make any traditional shining cases anymore. Unfortunately, the trend we’re seeing now is thrill killing. People going out with a light and a gun, but not for the purpose of taking them home, is still against the law. That’s not nearly as bad as some of those who shoot 10 deer and just let them lie.

WLJ: What is your best hunting story?

Lutz: I’m not the most serious hunter in the world, so occasionally I’ll take a nap. There was one year when a deer actually walked up and I could feel its breath on the back of my neck. I jumped up and scared the deer and of course I missed. I wasn’t too far from our hunting shack, so everyone saw and I heard about that one for a long time.

WLJ: As some areas of the state develop, are you encountering more resistance to hunting?

Lutz: Definitely. It’s on a township by township basis. A town board isn’t very big and it can go from the farmers who always hunted to the newcomers who are moving into the subdivisions. We get those situations where the town board says we don’t want hunting or shooting anymore. To some extent you can’t blame them, but all we ask is that you don’t paint with such a broad brush.

WLJ: How essential is it to have experience with the outdoors, given the unique nature of the job?

Lutz: Hunting and fishing is getting less important as a prerequisite for being here. There was a time when everyone who started here was probably a hunter or a fisherman. Resource management involves a lot more than just those two areas. Someone is going to be a good water pollution attorney whether they hunt or fish.