Rumblings of a Distant Train

Rumblings of a Distant Train….

Somewhere off in the distance that train known as the Whitetail Rut is chugging toward Wisconsin. When it nears this station sometime in early November, thousands of bowhunters would argue that what it brings is the best week outdoors anyone could possibly experience. I’m one of them.

The rut is the great equalizer.  Trophy bucks normally too wary to move in daylight lose the caution that has kept them alive just because the Hooper Triplets are promising the world.  It’s a small window of opportunity for the old boy. It’s the same old story for all of us who make up the male species.  We get stupid when she tells us we really do look good with our stomach sucked in like that.

After 27 years of marriage, Lori has evolved to say, “are you sure you’re sucking in your stomach?” But that’s another horror story.

The tracks are only on October and Whitetail Express is still a month out. Opening or early season bowhunts still need to be experienced and bring with it their own memories.  Let me tell you my favorite, back when I was a young man and single and my brother Jim was a young man and married. 

Now that’s a big difference.  Although we both had practiced in the early eighties so we could hit a matchbook at 30 yards on the target and could also hit balls rolled in front of the other shooter in the backyard, Jim was home with Colleen the night before the Saturday opener and I was out with the boys.  He came to pick me up in the wee hours, and I had virtually just strolled in an hour before.

We drove an hour to the northern unit of Kettle Moraine, Jim full of excitement and enthusiasm and me probably full of a beer or two.  We moved to the forest, Jim carrying his recurve and me behind him carrying my compound in one hand and for whatever reason, arrows in the other. Finally, the day of days after months of preparation and anticipation had arrived. A day to celebrate like a new fishing season, or the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

With stands on our backs, just before we were to separate for trees carefully selected on two large swamp edges, my blades touched Jim’s string. I know… this entire story is alive with unsafe hunting practices. But it’s the truth.Tinkkkkk went the string. Boinnnngggg went the recurve.

I’m not sure if you can see a face turn angry red in the black of pre-dawn. But I know I could envision it. Jim, all 6’3’ and 220 pounds of him who could destroy me if he wanted, was not happy.  I still remember what he said, but were going to leave that rest. But…to extend a clue, it was the same adjective to describe me that he had used to describe the potatoes he asked me to pass in our parent’s kitchen the first Sunday back from playing football with the Wisconsin Badgers in the late 70s. When your parents never swear, that word can be a bit shocking. Now we’ll let it rest.

We ended up watching first light arrive from a restaurant in Kewaskum.  It was open. The Box store where we had to purchase another string for Jim’s bow was not.  On the bright side, memories like that don’t go away, and they offer great fodder for an outdoor writer who remembers things like opening days, and whitetail ruts.

May you all cross pass with the Old Boy in early November.

Especially you Jim.

Grouse numbers seem pretty good in the north country.  I don’t think we saw a bird but the dogs triggered plenty and we heard our share. You know what I mean.

Steve Ellis and Micah find birds but no shooting while grouse hunting Bayfield County.

We’re scattering photos on this Blog taken in the last two weeks around Wisconsin by me or submitted by some of our writers. Hope you enjoy them.  By the way, Google tells us 18,000 unique visitors (counted only once per month) connected with On Wisconsin Outdoors in September and we appreciate it.  You brought 386,000 “hits”. We launched this critter in January of 2012 to 1,400 unique visitors.

Nothing new on from the bear hunters still working the Mike Foss camp in Bayfield County.  Mike will give us an update when he crawls out of the swamps.

Guide Mike Foss celebrates another recovered bear.

Mike Foss camp guides and hunters take a break from a track to plan strategy.

Below also find some items posted this week that you can read about in detail on this website under “Outdoor News”, “Trapping” “Inland Fishing”, “Firearms’ and other categories.

Although another strong Wisconsin trapping season is expected, OWO writer and northwest Wisconsin guide Dave Hraychuck says muskrat gold rush or not, real trappers trap every year. 

The state Natural Resources Board approved public hearings to be held by the Department of Natural Resources on proposed rules relating to implementation of the Deer Trustee Report.

From Oct. 22 to Oct. 31, DNR will host public hearings on the proposed Deer Trustee Report rules at 35 locations statewide.  

Public Meetings are set for mid-October in Hayward, Rhinelander and Oconomowoc to discuss Wisconsin walleye fisheries and get people’s opinions on what considerations the state should use in coming years to decide how to allocate the increased number of large walleye for stocking made possible under the Wisconsin walleye initiative.

Three years after the idea was first proposed in a citizen resolution  during voting at Wisconsin Conservation Congress spring meetings, rifles will be allowed statewide for firearm deer hunting as of November 1, 2013-unless a local municipality has enacted a more restrictive ordinance.

Wisconsin’s second wolf hunting and trapping season begins October 15^th in all six harvest zones across the state.

A draft proposal for a new, simplified strategy for how Wisconsin allocates stocked Chinook salmon among its Lake Michigan counties will be among the topics discussed at the October 12 meeting of the Lake Michigan Fisheries Forum.

Lake Michigan trout and salmon are starting their spawning runs, and open houses in October at two state egg collection facilities along Lake Michigan let the public see these fish up close as well as watch state fish crews collect eggs from the fish to produce the next generation of fish to test anglers on the big pond.

Thanks for connecting with On Wisconsin Outdoors.  Shoot straight.

Dick Ellis