Local Column 10-15-07
gengberg November 1st, 2007
River Currents
Locally, the nine-day hunt in the Disease Eradication Zone (DEZ) opened last Saturday. The unseasonably warm weather that we had been experiencing quickly changed last week with the brisk north winds that came roaring in with a Canadian cold front. Hunters were greeted with weather that was a little more conducive to deer hunting. Temperatures had tumbled from the mid to high 80’s to the Saturday’s morning temperature in the upper 30’s.
My plans for the weekend included checking out some of the local public hunting grounds in Lodi, Mazomanie, and other areas in the DEZ zone to see how many hunters were out hunting and then helping register deer at the Wilderness fish and Game store in Sauk City.
I was a little surprised at how few hunters I saw at the 4,000 plus acre public hunting ground outside of Mazomanie. Before 7:00 a.m., I drove around Mazomanie and saw only 4 vehicles parked by hunters. Living close to the hunting grounds, I drive around the Mazomanie “grounds” regularly and see deer most everyday in one location or another during my travels. Thursday evening, I saw three groups of deer (6 to 8 in a group) in separate locations all on public hunting land. The deer had been coming out just before dark during the warm weather period which we had just experienced. Please believe me when I say that there are numerous deer in the Mazomanie Public Hunting grounds well worth anyone’s hunting time. Public hunting grounds get a bad rap by many people because they think the hunting is elbow to elbow and shoulder to shoulder, but that is rarely the case. Hunting may get crowded on weekends during the pheasant season, but that is the only time that you may feel crowded.
The Lodi Public Hunting Grounds had many more vehicles and hunters than Mazomanie. It’s no closer than Mazo to Madison and smaller, but for some reason there were many more hunters. Most of the deer registered in Sauk City were from Columbia County and the Lodi area.
Since the DNR has lost much of the CWD funding, they are not doing as much sampling as before in most areas of the state. The DNR biologists and technicians are still taking samples of lymph glands, but they are no longer taking the whole deer head. Instead, they are just taking the lymph glands after making a few incisions under the jaw.
I tried to talk to as many hunters as possible to ask questions about how many deer they were seeing and their opinions of the EAB season. Contrary to what I’ve read in other publications, a vast majority of the hunters DO NOT like the Earn-A-Buck (EAB) season. A number of hunters in this area seem to be protesting the DNR and the whole deer program. Many dispute the DNR figures on the size of the deer herd and most bow hunters are upset with the loss of almost two weeks of bow hunting due to the special DEZ hunt and the four-day season that opens this coming Thursday in the Herd Reduction Zone (HRZ). All seasons in the DEZ and HRZ are Earn-A-Buck (EAB), requiring deer hunters to first kill an antlerless deer before harvesting an antlered buck. Hunters may kill as many deer as they can use or giveaway. The deer tags are free.
All weekend, only 30 deer were registered in Sauk City and that included only 4 bucks. I don’t have the numbers yet from Plain and Lodi. Farther west in Barneveld, over 90 deer were registered Saturday and there was much more hunting pressure there than in our area. Why? I don’t really know, so tell me your opinions if you can.
Many hunters are tired of the “special” seasons and wish things would return to the traditional nine-day season. This may be impossible, if you accept the DNR figures because they say we are approaching 2 million deer despite all the efforts to control the size of the deer herd. The EAB tags are good for this season and next, so you know things aren’t going to change for awhile. It’s possible that in the future we may see an antlerless ONLY deer season. The New DNR head, Matt Frank, isn’t happy with the CWD program, so we’ll see what his plans are!
The free deer that have been donated to many area food pantries in the CWD zone was discontinued this year because of the mounting costs by the DNR. But, there are two meat processors that accept deer from the CWD and DEZ areas. Black Earth Meats in Black Earth and Hoesley Meats in New Glarus will both accept deer donations. Hunters are asked to donate $20.00 for each deer donated and to only bring in adult deer for processing. Hunters seem very willing to donate a deer and the $20.00 for processing to help needy families in Wisconsin.
Another problem this past weekend was that the duck and goose seasons in the Southern Exterior Zone re-opened and there were hunters out hunting waterfowl. This coming weekend, there are going to be many hunters in the woods and fields because pheasant, quail, grouse, rabbit, duck, goose, and squirrels season are all open plus the special deer seasons. This is a weekend to be particularly safety conscious because many of the hunters are going to be in the same areas hunting different species of game.
Fishing slowed down with the warmer weather, but is starting to pick up with the cool nights. Turnover, which I explained last week, won’t start until water temperatures drop to the low or mid 50’s. As of this past weekend, the water was still in the upper 50’s in Vilas County and in the area’s lakes and rivers. Many readers go north for muskie and walleye fishing this time of year, but I’d suggest that you wait a week or so and keep checking the weather and water temperatures north. Casey Cole of Madison was up at his cabin outside Minocqua and fished hard this past weekend. Casey said they didn’t see or raise any muskies on any northern lakes that they fished. Casey and his fishing partner, Shawn Lang did catch a 45″ northern that was at least 25 pounds. The fish was released to be caught again. I’m waiting for a photo of the monster pike.
Lake Wisconsin is still 59 degrees and slow except for crappies and white bass. Guide Wally Banfi (6608)-644-9823) said he saw a muskie caught and kept near Okee that was over 45 inches. Let those big fish go! Practice CPR, Catch, Photograph, and Release. The really good fishing on the lake is a few weeks off. I’d concentrate fishing the low-light periods and start switching to minnows for bait as the fall progreesses. The Wisconsin River has been at a good water level the past week and fishing has been good. I’ve had good success casting crankbaits and jerking and twitching them on the retrieve. The best baits have been Rapala Husky Jerks in the natural color. The shad are starting to have their annual fall die-off and that seems to be what the walleyes and muskies are starting to feed on for the winter. Shad are white, black, and silver, so these are the colors to use. There also are fish biting near the Prairie Dam and this should continue through the fall.
This weekend, the pheasant season opens at 12 noon on Saturday. The DNR had a great year raising pheasants at the Poynette Game Farm and they will be stocking 57,000 to 58,000 birds on public lands throughout the state. Remember, that you need a pheasant stamp to hunt pheasants anywhere in the state. The added birds mean that some locations will be stocked twice a week and some birds will be stocked after the deer season for the late season hunters. Lodi, Mazomanie, Goose Lake, Brooklyn, Stoughton, and French Creek are good spots in the area for stocked pheasants. There also are wild birds in the southern counties of Rock, Dane, Green, and Lafayette well worth looking for and asking for permission to hunt them on private land.
Above all, be careful this weekend and whenever you’re out with a loaded gun. Have fun, take a child hunting, and above all be SAFE!
