Campfire discussions over doe hunt regulations

“I’m sure they’re all experienced in wildlife management,” someone blurted out around the campfire we lit after a little outing we went on a couple weeks ago.

“And they all hunt a lot too,” replied another.

Their cynical comments came after someone asked if we heard about WI LRB-5341-1. A proposed state bill introduced by Reps. Chanz Green, Angie Sapik, Calvin Callahan, Rob Swearingen and Sen. Romaine Quinn. Several national media outlets covered this, so I’m guessing more than one of you heard about it.

The bill seeks to stop the hunting of does in the 20 counties or parts there of that make up the Northern Forest Zone for four years. The representatives cite dismay amongst hunters about the dismal deer hunt this past fall and that citizens demand action. Representatives held “listening sessions” in a few northern counties earlier this year.

The guy that brought this up did so because he hunts in the area in question, and feels this overreaches. He dislikes the four year time period and wanted to know what science came up with the four year period. I sat back, enjoyed the fire, sipped a hot cocoa and laughed at the zingers.

The topic switched to the opportunity that exists for this wonderfully mild winter combined with the heavy mast crop last fall to result in a lot of heavy antlered bucks’ next fall. “I’m finding acorns on the ground everywhere I walk in the woods,” one guy said. “I walked out to check on some cameras after that snowstorm and the oak flats look like they were plowed up.” We all stepped on an found a lot of acorns that day. We got to that from one guy mentioning he heard of someone saying the poor deer harvest this past fall came from the heavy mast crop. He felt it kept the deer “deep in the forest” and away from his stand at the forest edge. “Don’t anyone tell him to move his stand ‘deep into the forest’ by me,” one guy blurted out.

What the group eventually noted, was once again the underlying issues are not being addressed. Issues that even former DNR employees are talking about, like a single age class forest that has aged out of its maximum winter forage production for animals like deer and snowshoes. I might have covered that a few times. By our second hot cocoa, what we came back to was: “It’s the habitat stupid.” And most felt that the County Deer Advisory Committees hold the ability to stop the hunting of does and allow the population to recover - and those guys hunt deer. So why the legislative need that removes flexibility?

In other news the WDNR announced that they were made aware, late last week, of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to create a national wolf recovery plan.

Umm . . . Ahhh . . . Ahhh . . . Umm . . .

If I’m skeptical about state politicians jumping into wildlife management, I’ll tell you that’s nothing to what I feel about this. Why does this come out now, after several decades of this politically charged wolf ordeal?

A cup of cocoa, a campfire, and listening to the boys chew on that would be entertaining.

Will this be good, bad, indifferent, or some of all?

This raises more questions than it answers if wolf management concerns you, and it concerns a lot of people.

On a happy note, late last week, woodcock returned to the area. That news came from hunters. Could that mean this mild winter might end early. I hope to get the dogs out a bit for some woodcock finding and maybe a pic or two.

The Wisconsin Woodcock Research Project announced that they intend to put GPS transmitters on a couple more woodcock netted in Wisconsin this spring. This early return hopefully provides more opportunities to place the transmitters and more data on the movements, nesting habits, brooding habits, and long migrations of these little brown russet birds. Conserving their habitat conserves the habitat of many species of endangered neo-tropical songbirds. This effort is funded by hunters and carried out by hunters. Hunters as conservationist. Another part of our story that the opponents of hunting want to subvert. I hope you get to light your own campfire this weekend, roast venison hot dogs, drink some hot chocolate, and enjoy life. It’s a great spring, I mean winter for it.

Through a

Decoy’s

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bigbeardown. com

207 E. Spruce St., Abbotsford 715-316-0900

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Bryce J. Kelley, 7153160303

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