Wings Over Wisconsin...Restoring habitat, helping wildlife
By Dick Ellis
It seemed more than appropriate, to be having this conversation with Burt Bushke, Executive Director of Wings Over Wisconsin, in a duck blind on a 440 acre restored wetland, as the awakening flights of teal, wood ducks and mallards cut the predawn sky, or chattered on the water. Morgan Bushke, 14, slipped three shells of steel shot into the Beretta 20-gauge she had received as a birthday present from her dad and mom two year before, checked her safety and assumed the duck hunter’s gaze of twisting and turning with the sound of whistling wings as the last seconds before shooting time fell away.
In the previous hour. an army of almost 50 young men and women from 10 to 15 years of age wearing enough styles of camo clothing and gear to rival a Cabela’s catalogue had invaded the wetland near Deansville in Dane County. They marched on the edge of a waterfowl paradise that less than a decade before had been a mint farm, eventually falling off in twos and threes with mentors and hunting dogs to man their own blinds and usher in another Wisconsin Youth Duck Hunt. Tom and Julie Bergholz of Tom’s Guns in Marshall had once again done all the work necessary to coordinate the hunt properly.
“Wing Over Wisconsin heard that the mint farm was for sale and through the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund sought money to help us purchase the property,” Bushke said. “We try to partner with as many organizations as we can to purchase land and promote habitat for all wildlife. This wetland was purchased by our Tri-County Chapter (Columbus-Dane-Dodge) in partnership with the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) wetland reserve program run through the Farm Services Administration. They have a perpetual easement on the property and are responsible for maintenance. The USDA plugged the ditches, took out the drain tiles and put in the water control structure that turned the mint farm back into the wetland that it was before.”
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| A hunting mentor welcomes his dog back after a retrieve on a Canada goose dropped during the statewide youth duck hunt September 17. This hunt took place on Wings Over Wisconsin restored wetland property in Dane County. | Burt Bushke, Executive Director of Wings Over Wisconsin, adjusts the decoys Saturday during the statewide youth duck hunt. This hunt took place on Wings Over Wisconsin restored wetland property in Dane County. |
Wings Over Wisconsin, Bushke said, is exclusive to Wisconsin with 19 chapters and 5000 members now headquartered in Mayville after originating in Waupun in 1980 with 12 members seeking to establish more upland bird habitat. With the expansion of the organization to include representation nearly statewide, the focus of the organization has also expanded to creating and maintaining habitat for upland and waterfowl species, which, he said, means assisting all species of wildlife in general.
Wings Over Wisconsin is gaining such a favorable reputation for its work in establishing and maintaining wildlife habitat within the state that properties donated are often gifted under the stipulation that Wings Over Wisconsin will manage the land for wildlife habitat. Four such recent donated properties, he said, range in size from 90 to 5 acres.
“It feels good that people think enough of our organization to place conditions like that on their land before they will donate it,” he said. “The land stays with Wings Over Wisconsin and isn’t sold to another organization. We’re about managing it for wildlife.”
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| Tom Bergholz, owner of Tom’s Guns in Marshall and coordinator with his wife Julie of the youth duck hunt Saturday on Wings Over Wisconsin restored wetland property in Dane County, sets decoys . | Burt Bushke, Executive Director of Wings Over Wisconsin, and his daughter Morgan 14, wait for ducks September 17 during the statewide youth duck hunt. This hunt took place on Wings Over Wisconsin restored wetland property in Dane County. |
“The unique thing about Wings Over Wisconsin is that it is totally run by our Wisconsin members starting with two members representing each chapter on the Executive Board. With 19 chapters, that means we have 38 board members. The money not only stays in the state, it stays local. Each chapter spends their own money the way they wish.”
With chapters of Wings Over Wisconsin established from Lacrosse to Green Bay and from northern Wisconsin to Platteville, the organization continues to seek to expand, in particular in Wisconsin’s northwest where representation is now less. Chapters average 150 to 200 members with the largest chapter having 450 members and two chapters have waiting lists for membership. An all women Wings Over Wisconsin boasts 90 members and, Bushke said, often designates its donations to youth and women’s projects.
The youth hunt Saturday, September 17, also included Learn to Hunt participants and is annually held one weekend prior to the regular Wisconsin duck season opener. The event, like other youth hunts coordinated by the DNR, allows young and inexperienced hunters to participate without competition from veteran hunters in a controlled and safe environment that allows close mentoring and even some success.
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| Tegan Huber and Jacob Glynn, 15 of Fall River show the bluewing teal and mallards that fell to their guns during the statewide youth duck hunt September 17. They hunted on 440 acres of Wings Over Wisconsin restored wetland property in Dane County. | Ben Stevens and Don McClain of Waterloo, both 14, with a Canada Goose and mallard taken during the statewide youth duck hunt Saturday, September 17. They hunted on 440 acres of Wings Over Wisconsin restored wetland property in Dane County. |
Up and down the meandering line of blinds Saturday, steady shotgun reports would have kept any sales rep from Federal, Remington or Winchester smiling. When the gun smoke had cleared, a few young hunters were going home with something for the pot. All young hunters were going home with an experience that could never have happened, at least here, without the purchase and habitat work of Wings Over Wisconsin.
“I was given a $500 scholarship at Mayville High School by the Mayville chapter of Wings Over Wisconsin in 1986 to attend UW-Stevens Point,” said Bushke, who earned degrees at that institution in Wildlife Management, Resource Management and Biology with minors in chemistry and conservation law enforcement. “Wings Over Wisconsin is the premiere conservation organization. I’ve always believed it. From that first scholarship, I’ve gone to Stevens Point and gone 360 degrees to come right back to Mayville to run the organization.”
For more information on Wings Over Wisconsin including steps for beginning a new chapter, connect with www.wingsoverwisconsin.org or contact Executive Director Burt Bushke at burt@wingsoverwisconsin.org or 920-387-5198. To connect with Tom’s Guns in Marshall and “cheaper than dirt prices”, call 608-655-3772.