So Close… Hunting Seasons and Application Deadlines
The hunting seasons are so close. So let’s make this Blog short and sweet so that you don’t fail to apply for a tag tomorrow and miss an opportunity to participate in a season that might be very important to you.
August 1 is the deadline for:
- Fall turkey hunting applications
- Goose hunting applications for hunting the Horicon Zone.
- Applications for wolf, bobcat, fisher and otter permits.
- Applications for upriver Winnebago system sturgeon spearing season.
- Application for sharp-tailed grouse permits.
Something else was so close this week that all I had to do was follow my own rule as a journalist and I would have had a beautiful shot for the September-October issue of On Wisconsin Outdoors. But no, I did not have my camera locked and loaded with telephoto lens next to me in the truck as a rumbled down the rural road.
As discussed in a recent Blog, we’re ready to go with cover shots on the November-December and March-April of 2015 issues. I’m not yet satisfied with anything for the September-October issues. Tuesday, two beautiful eight point bucks in full velvet with antlers well outside the ears stood in the bean field at maybe 70 yards. Sun light bathed their headgear and summer coats and, like most deer even big bucks during the dog day of the non-hunting season, they did not have a care in the world.
I tried scooting home for the camera knowing it would be a miracle if the twin big boys cooperated and remained in the field. The large majority of my shots are taken during a day in the field. One cover shot though, had come after an unexpected encounter like this one. That time in 2007, I got away with neglecting rule number one as a writer, made it home to retrieve the camera, and wrote about the encounter after capturing a big boy in velvet.
Here he is, and at least this summer buck will get your engine going for those hunting seasons, including the bow deer season, that are oh, so close.
Ellis took this shot while standing on his truck in heavy traffic after catching a glimpse of the antler and running home to retrieve his camera in 2007.
You win some; you lose some….but mostly, you lose some when you don’t take care of business.
See you at DeerFest August 8-10 with Kwik Trip Outdoors.
Thanks for connecting with On Wisconsin Outdoors. Shoot Straight.
Dick Ellis