Double Barrels, Downed Trees, and Douglas County
By David Hraychuck
Double barrel 16 gauge shotguns and thousands of acres of downed trees in Douglas County promised to be the magical mixture for a late November snowshoe rabbit hunt. When my long-time hunting partner Charlie Wolden, of Frederic, called me with this idea, I was quick to agree that it sounded like a good plan!
Douglas County, WI boasts the largest county forest lands in the state with over 273,000 acres of public land. In 2010, several storms caused over 10,000 acres of blow-down timber. Picking out a spot for snowshoes, we found a mixture of blow-down timber near a young aspen stand. Walking less than 50 yards into the stand of trees, I heard the bark of Charlie’s 16 gauge shotgun followed by an excited “got ‘em”! A short time later, I had three very nervous grouse get up in front of me. I fired a single shot and got six popple shoots 20 feet away from me. Several more popple stands and one more snowshoe in the game vest, we stopped for a tailgate lunch.
Snowshoe rabbits can successfully be harvested by walking slowing through snowshoe habitat and jumping them out of the brush. When the snow is deeper, you can do “rabbit drives” with standers watching the established snowshoe trails. Hunting snowshoe rabbits with beagles is the ultimate way to hunt these white ghosts of the north.
After lunch we decided to look around the area for future hunting spots. In an hour of driving the county forest area, we saw several grouse, five whitetails, and a coyote. The Douglas County forest land that we drove through had a great diversity of young aspen stands, mixed hardwood stands, pine plantations, and of course lots of downed tree areas.
Douglas County offers a lot for the sportsman and deserves a visit. Maps are available for trails in Douglas County. A lot of the trails are multi-use trails, keeping in mind that truck travel is not allowed on some trails once the snowmobile trails are open. Don’t forget to pack your ice fishing gear, too. There are also plenty of lakes with northerns, walleyes, and pan fish eager to bite!