Archives for August 2012

Trespassing, A Problem

August 30, 2012 by Charlie Leave a Comment

Gun Deer Season in Wisconsin can be challenging in many different ways. Even if you’ve spent the money, time and effort on your won land to avoid the crowds; things can still happen which will cost you a day of hunting.

Wisconsin 2011 Gun Deer Season:

A trespasser stumbled into view at 8 AM. He was very excited claiming he was tracking a deer he shot earlier that morning. After introductions I informed him he was deep onto private propery, that being, my property during prime hunting hours. Waiting until later in the day and calling for permission would have been the courteous thing to do.

Many hunters when caught on private propery claim they got turned around, lost their way. following a wounded animal or some such excuse. However, in the case he showed me the blood trail. We following the blood trail a short distance I quickly concluded it indicated a bad hit; gut shot with maybe a liver nick. I informed him the deer needed some time to settle down. He wanted to charge ahead to find his deer. I would not let him, its my land, I am trying to hunt and he is not making that easy.

I insisted on escorting him back to his stand setup. He starts telling me about all the deer he saw while on stand and just had to risk a shot he was not sure about. A neighbor had given him permission to hunt but he traveled a long way off the neighbor’s land crossing another’s land then set up in a tree 200 yards on my land which placed him within 50 yards of my son’s stand. My son was not hunting this morning. I showed him the boundaries he crossed and he claimed confusion in the morning dark and promised not to trespass again.

I found his deer a nice doe early that afternoon, called him to come get it and helped him haul it out. The trespasser ends up with a nice deer and no charges filed for his violation that burned up a day of my hunting.

Was I too nice?

Now that he clearly knows the property lines will he honor them?

More Marijuana Fields Found in Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest

August 30, 2012 by Charlie Leave a Comment

Hunters should be aware this fall in state and national forests. For the third year in a row pot-growing operations have been discovered, investigated and busted in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.

A fisherman notified WDNR when he found out of place plants and suspicious activities going on.

JSOnline reports

Authorities are destroying an estimated 15,000 marijuana plants worth approximately $15 million, said Ed Wall, chief of the state Division of Criminal Investigation, and Justice Department spokeswoman Dana Brueck. It will take until Thursday to airlift all the pot plants out of the remote, forested Oconto County area by helicopter, Wall said.

On Saturday, authorities stopped the Grand Prix and a red pickup also seen near the growing site and arrested Garcia and five others believed to be staying at her Brandon apartment: Miguel Sanchez Garcia, Jose Alfredo Sierra-Aguilar, Pedro Enfante-Ramirez, Guillermo Chavez-Carrion and a Livingston, Calif., man named Juan Carlos Cervantes-Contreras, the complaint says.

Many of us hunt in these remote areas so we must stay alert to our surroundings. If you come across drug operations which could include planted fields or processing equipment to avoid booby traps leave the area by the same path you traveled in on and report to the authorities.

In addition to their archery gear or shotgun some hunters may feel the need to carry their CC weapon for personal protection. Just remember a CC permit is not a junior G-Man badge; its best to let the trained professionals deal with these situations.

Wisconsin 2012 Fall Turkey Permit Availability

August 21, 2012 by Charlie Leave a Comment

Fall turkey limit in Wisconsin is dictated by the number of tags in your pocket.

As of today August 21, 2012 Wisconsin fall turkey permits have been drawn. You can log on to the online licensing system to check your status.

With the exception of unit 6 and 7 applicants everyone else who applied should have been awarded a permit. Those who did not apply will be able to buy one of the remaining 58,979 permits which go on sale beginning Saturday, August 25 at 10 a.m. Leftover permits can be purchased at the rate of one per-day until sold out. Units 1,3,& 4 did not sell out in 2011 by season’s end.

2012 Fall Turkey Leftover Permit Availability

Wisconsin Wild Turkey Management Plan Survey Part 2

August 3, 2012 by Charlie Leave a Comment

You can see the survey in its entirety by clicking on the link below.

Public Input Survey – Summary of Results

Fall Wild Turkey Hunting Season Survey 66.1% of responding turkey hunters also hunt turkeys in the fall.
By the zones Wisconsin fall turkey hunters hunt:

WI wild turkey off a snowshoe hunt

26.1% responded “Zone 1”

25.5% responded “Zone 2”

23.5% responded “Zone 3”

11.7% responded “Zone 4”

7.0% responded “Zone 5”

3.5% responded “Zone 6”

2.7% responded “Zone 7”

63% would like the fall season to open on the same time as it does now and 55% would have it stay the same length of time. Only 10% would like the season extended into January.

Currently a drawing is conducted to issue hunters their first permit. Many wonder why when there are tens of thousands of permits leftover for over the counter purchase. Hunters can buy one permit per day until they are sold out. By season’s end there are still thousands left unsold. Many dedicated turkey hunters buy extra permits they have no intention of filling just to support Wisconsin’s turkey management efforts.

A good sum of money would be saved by eliminating the fall drawing. 56% favor eliminating it.

If Wisconsin eliminated the fall permit drawing, what would you like the fall season bag limit
(total turkeys allowed for the entire season) to be? Assume that any hunter wishing to purchase a fall turkey
license would be able to do so. Please answer this question for the zone in which you typically
hunt during the fall turkey season.

50.5% responded “1 turkey”

29.7% responded “2 turkeys”

2.9% responded “3 turkeys”

1.2% responded “4 turkeys”

6.2% responded “unlimited with a tag”

9.4% responded “unsure/not applicable”

Again, like with the spring question I do not understand this correlation of answers if the drawing is eliminated then 80% want a one or two bird limit. But if the drawing continues the limit will continue to be “unlimited with a tag”.

I don’t understand the logic here.

In the big picture Wisconsin has very few dedicated fall turkey hunters, most fall turkeys are killed incidentally while hunting

Closing out 2011 Turkey Season in Wisconsin

another species, mainly deer. Perhaps the archers who shoot their turkey or 2 while on stand consider that’s enough and would like all other hunters out of woods by “rut time”. As a long time archery deer hunter I hate to admit the treatment directed by some archers at me while I was turkey hunting was very disrespectful. If I were a weaker personality I would have considered it intimidating. It was quite apparent they considered me a trespasser on their piece of public land.

Wisconsin Wild Turkey Management Plan Revision Process

August 1, 2012 by Charlie Leave a Comment

Wisconsin Wild Turkey

Yep, that is what they call it. When you have so much opportunity to turkey hunt a title like that surely makes a dedicated turkey hunter nervous. But since change is one of life’s certainties we must make the best of it. So far, there are no changes proposed, some are being thought about and the public input survey is the first step. The next step is a draft plan that will be submitted this fall with the final plan being submitted for approval by the summer of 2013.

Lets all hope the public survey is not the driving force in the new plan because only 2,124 surveys were completed. Unfortunately, in my opinion, that too small of a sample and a random sample at that. Krista McGinley and Scott Walter traveled the state of Wisconsin last spring to share information about Wisconsin turkeys and to collect public input. Sadly for all the travel and time they spent only 77 folks showed up at the meetings, charlie being one of them. The meeting I attended had 1 newspaper reporter, 1 warden, 1 biology professor, and 3 turkey hunters. The meeting was very informative and with so few there we had a good wide ranging discussion with Scott Walter. Scott and Krista are good people with their hearts in the right place.

Anyone who has followed my comments on Wisconsin turkey hunting sites know I am very concerned with the sharp decline in the number of turkey hunters. Those hunters who dropped out of turkey hunting are not included in the yearly hunter satisfaction surveys nor are their opinions in this plan revision survey. The survey’s respondents averaged 13.3 years of turkey hunting, we might call those hunters dedicated.

Some highlights from the survey:

80.9% strongly support the current spring season structure and drawing schemes.
97.4% respondents stated they hunt spring turkeys

During the spring turkey season, which time period (A – F) do you most prefer to hunt?

35.6% responded “Period A”
30.7% responded “Period B”
17.4% responded “Period C”
7.9% responded “Period D”
2.9% responded “Period E”
1.5% responded “Period F”

No surprise most of us want to hunt the first 2 time periods.

If Wisconsin eliminated the spring permit drawing, what would you like the spring season bag limit (total turkeys allowed for the entire season) to be?

49.3% responded “1 gobbler”
41.2% responded “2 gobblers”
5.1% responded “3 gobblers”
3.8% responded “4 gobblers”
0.7% responded “unsure/not applicable”

OK this one surprises me. 90% want a limit of 1 or 2 gobblers however 80% said they don’t want the current system changed at all. But it allows 1 per permit and there are quite a few hunters who take more than 4 per spring now. If someone can explain this please do.