Bills would stop Michigan hunters from using state records to find game
LANSING — A grouse hunter's inventive use of state game data could have an unintended effect: a new restriction on Michigan public records law.
For years, a man requested the results of Department of Natural Resources surveys that showed the distribution of male ruffed grouse through Michigan, DNR upland game bird specialist Al Stewart said.
The hunter wasn't quiet about the purpose of his request — to find exactly where he could get the most bang for his birdshot.
"He said he did," said Stewart, who said he has talked to the man on the phone. "This wasn't a secret mission or anything."
Three bills moving through the state House would deter such requests by allowing the DNR to fine and jail hunters who use the state's Freedom of Information Act to help them find their targets.
Under House Bills 4735-4737, the DNR could require people to sign forms promising they wouldn't use game location data to hunt species such as deer, ducks and turkey. Those who repeatedly violate that promise could lose their hunting licenses for life.
The legislation doesn't add an exemption from Michigan's public records law, which some government transparency groups consider among the weakest in the U.S.
Michigan's FOIA law is designed to promote transparency and help Michigan residents keep government officials accountable, said Jane Briggs-Bunting, founding president of the Michigan Coalition for Open Government.
She cautioned against instituting any exemptions that would "chip away" at the law, but said it's important to balance the interests of conservation with open government. She said FOIA is for keeping an eye on government, not helping document-savvy hunters.
"It's almost unsportsmanlike conduct to use the FOIA to go after where to shoot grouse instead of using your own natural skills as a hunter," Briggs-Bunting said.
One hunter's use of detailed DNR surveys likely isn't enough to hurt the population of ruffed grouse, Michigan United Conservation Clubs spokesman Nick Green said, but there's nothing to stop his cohorts from joining.
"What's to stop many grouse hunters from doing this?" he asked. "That’s where we have to look at what the negative biological implications of it could be."
Document-driven hunting is rare, Stewart said. The ruffed grouse hunter's use of FOIA was the only example he could point to.
But it was enough to interrupt department biologists' work, he argued. The DNR stopped doing the survey in 2015 because they thought the hunter's use of it biased their results.
"We no longer have this information," Stewart said. "At one point, we were one of the longer running grouse surveys out there. Since he requested it, our way of overriding the bias that we were adding to the survey was just not to do the survey."
Other information collected by the DNR could be used to benefit hunters at the expense of wildlife, Stewart said. Someone could request radio frequencies used for animals the DNR monitors with location tracking devices, then pinpoint that animal's exact location.
"I don't think anyone has done that," he said, "but there's that potential of somebody doing something inappropriate."
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Contact Carol Thompson at (517) 377-1018 or ckthompson@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @thompsoncarolk.