Let’s turn our attention to yet another perplexing addition to Wisconsin’s recently updated native reptile and amphibian regulations. Section 20 of CR 25-092, includes the following on the possession and use of snake hooks, tongs, and other reptile handling equipment. Most of the changes of interest more affect herpetoculture, or the captive care and keeping of reptiles and amphibians. This one, however, relates more to field herpetology and field herping, which is the active searching for native reptiles and amphibians in the wild.

NR 45.04 (3) (h) Harassment of amphibians and reptiles. No person may do any of the following while on department property:
1. Possess a snake hook, snake tong, or similar device that is used to handle amphibians or reptiles except as allowed by the department under s. 29.604, 29.614, or 169.25, Stats, or for non-native reptiles and amphibians if granted prior written permission by the department.

Perhaps the first question we should always ask is: What are the authorizing legislative statutes enabling the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) to prohibit snake hooks and other reptile handling equipment. Let’s examine them:

Wis. 23.11 Stats.-General powers.
grants the department jurisdiction over department lands.

Wis. 23.28 Stats.- State natural areas; designated state natural areas.
authorizes the department to designate and regulate state natural areas, and restricts the department from allowing uses of state natural areas that are incompatible with the natural value of those areas.

Both of these statutes would seem to be very broad statutes in which the department used in CR 25-092, but they don’t really have much to do with snake hooks and tools, or any other specific form of recreational tool or equipment. To use these statutes to ban snake hooks, a golf club (which could just as easily be made into a snake hook) or ski poles, or any other commonly used recreational items is blatant overreach. What is the difference between a golf club and a snake hook? Here is why:

§ 227.11(2)(a)1. prohibits the Department from using broad legislative purposes to create or expand rulemaking authority under §§ 23.11 and 23.28. While the Legislature has granted the Department jurisdiction over department lands under § 23.11 and authorized it to restrict uses of state natural areas that are incompatible with their natural values under § 23.28, neither statute expressly authorizes the Department to prohibit possession of snake hooks or other commonly used recreational equipment that is not inherently incompatible with those natural values. The Department must identify a specific statutory delegation for such a prohibition; it cannot manufacture that authority from legislative purpose alone.

- § 227.11(2)(a)2. provides that a statutory provision describing an agency’s general powers or duties does not confer or expand rulemaking authority beyond what the Legislature has explicitly granted. Section 23.11 gives the Department general jurisdiction, care, protection, and supervision over department lands, while § 23.28 addresses the management and protection of state natural areas. Neither provision expressly authorizes the Department to prohibit possession of snake hooks or other commonly used recreational equipment. The Department therefore cannot rely on its general powers under §§ 23.11 and 23.28 to create a new substantive prohibition without an express legislative delegation.

Throughout CR 25-092’s rulemaking process, WDNR seems to have flip-flopped as to the reasons why snake hooks and other handling tools would become prohibited more times than there are waffles in an International Waffle House. From preventing harassment and overcollection of animals, to preventing the spread of diseases, and back and forth. Simply possessing and using snake hooks does not necessarily indicate an intent to collect, however. Oftentimes, snake hooks are the safest and most humane methods of responsibly handling or interacting with some groups of wildlife, herpetofauna specifically. When it comes to prevention of diseases, such as snake-fungal disease (or SFD), we learned that SFD and other diseases present within the soil and overall environment will somehow magically affix themselves to only snake hooks. Forget hiking boots, shoes, backpacks, or anything else which touches the ground in areas where these sorts of wildlife diseases may be present.

On the legislative side, at an April, 2026 Assembly Committee on Environment hearing on CR 25-092, WDNR staff informed the committee that they had not heard about, or were aware of any opposition to the snake hook ban. This, however, can be directly contracted by their own responses to public comments from earlier that year, in January, 2026:

The department also received several comments opposing the prohibition of snake hooks and snake tongs on department property, stating that carrying these items does not indicate the animals will be collected.

But there is perhaps an even larger contraction which can be seen in another recent WDNR rulemaking, updating N.R. 40 in 2025-2026, the state of Wisconsin’s invasive species rule. 2026’s N.R. 40’s revisions were quite a bit more of a lengthier rule, with as many as 142 sections, but if we scroll all the way down to section 140, we will find a section on
“Amphibian and Reptile Pathogen Preventative Measures”:

SECTION 140. NR 40.07 (9) is created to read:
(9) AMPHIBIAN AND REPTILE PATHOGEN PREVENTATIVE MEASURES.
(a) Applicability. This subsection is intended to prevent introduction and spread of the
following regulated animal disease-causing organisms:

(c) Requirements. Before an individual visits a site at which the individual will locate,
handle, or otherwise directly interact with reptiles and amphibians, and before visiting another
site for the same purpose, all participating individuals shall disinfect the following items in
accordance with pars. (d) – (e):
1. Snake hooks.
2. Snake tongs.
3. Bags, plastic containers, or other devices for weighing animals.
4. Tape measures, rulers, calipers or other devices used to measure animals.
5. Items used to sample animal tissue or mark animals for future identification.

So why did we need to create NR 45.04 (3) (h) to prohibit the use and possession of snake hooks under CR 25-092 if herptile diseases in the wild were a concern, when we could have just had the decontamination protocols under N.R. 40.07(9) under that administrative code, instead? Does it make that much of a difference as to whether snake hooks are used on department-owned properties vs. non-department owned properties when it comes to disease transmission or spread? Or did WDNR, under CR 25-092 realize internally that they had legally questionable legislative authority to ban snake hooks outright, thus limiting section 20 of CR 25-092 to department-owned lands only? Seems a bit odd.

If the Wisconsin Legislature wishes to better address the use of snake hooks and other handling tools, it should consider working with the stakeholders and field herpers which use them to create another related section under s. 169.12 on native reptiles and amphibians, which would seem to be the most logical place to put it rather than in Chapter 23 Stats.