Wolves, Snappers, Good Fishing, Cougars, Blueberries....and Bears
7-19-2012
If you looked at the title above, you may have a hard time thinking we were in Wisconsin. Every week, I'm amazed at the number of reports and photos that come in over the On Wisconsin Outdoors wire on a diverse range of subjects that 20 years ago we weren't talking about much at all. This week that includes a photo of a cougar captured in Buffalo County that you can see and read about under "Outdoor News" or "Outdoor Photography" as well as information on the Wisconsin Wolf hunt.
This week the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board approved quotas, zones and rules for Wisconsin's fall 2012 wolf hunt and trapping season. The emergency rule was approved on unanymous vote July 17 in Stevens Point. Read the whole story under "Outdoor News" "Deer Hunting" "Bear Hunting" or "Trapping" on this website. By the way, we post important outdoor news in numerous locations because not everyone reads this blog (I wouldn't) but 5500 visitors connected with our website last month alone even though we just launched in mid-January. We don't want anyone missing news like wolf hunt banter that affects many different aspects of Wisconsin outdoors.
Posted under "Waterfowl Hunting" check out information regarding new "Learn to Hunt" waterfowl programs being offered at Horicon March by the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association, US Fish & Wildlfie Service (USFWS) and the DNR. If you do know someone who needs an introduction to those great sports, it's being billed as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hunt areas normally closed as refuge areas on the world famous Horicon Marsh.
Bear guide and OWO writer Mike Foss may not have a little bear eating his poridge or mama bear sitting in his chair, but this week he does have a big bear sleeping in....his bait. Check out Mike's photos of the big snoozer as the guide leads another young new hunter and the hunter's father around Bayfield County and shares it with us. "Diary of a Wisconsin Bear guide" is posted weekly under "Bear Hunting". If you are hunting over bait, click on the Bob's Bear Bait banner ad posted over the Bear Hunting page and on our homepage. It's our advertisers that bring this website and our print paper to you at no cost at 700 Wisconsin locations. We thank you and they thank you for looking at their products and services.
I received an invitation from a trapper this week to join him on a snapping turtle hunt. With low-water conditions, he guarantees a very different experience which includes finding the snappers with a long pole, then working the critter out of the muck with final tail capture by hand taking care not to lose a finger. The invite reminded me of a turtle hunt I took in Dane County nine years ago. Not only was the successful hunt an eye-opener for a rookie like me, the interviews taught me an incredible amount about our Wisconsin snappers that I think you will also find extremely interesting, despite the fact that I wrote it . We post that story and photos under "Dick's Trips".
Columnist John Luthens takes us this week on a blueberry hunt in far northwestern Wisconsin. It's a blast from his own past and it also brings into the spotlight some really interesting Wisconsin history. I've been in the area myself many times on many trips, including a sharptail grouse hunt under a special permit where I never flushed a bird. Of course John Luthens flushes a very large covey of sharptails on his trip. We didn't know where to post a blueberry hunt so we posted it under "Inland Fishing". What are you looking at? Doesn't that make sense?
More good but spooky stuff under "Firearms". The National Shooting Sports Foundation is very concerned about our freedoms and the 2nd Amendment. They sent OWO a video with the heading "Why this election is so important". It's posted under "Firearms" for you, along with information on the 11th Annual Don Heding Memorial Boys & Girls Trap Shoot July 21 a the Fall River Rod & Gun Club; and were pushing too the Shoot for a Cure at the Hartford Conservation and Gun Club August 25 and 26.
Don't forget clicking on "Inland Fishing" "Fishing Reports" and "Great Lakes Fishing" for all our newly posted fishing reports and photos from around Wisconsin. That's always worth your time. Speaking of fishing, I'm in the Boulder Junction library to file this blog before I get right back in the saddle...skiff anyway...to chase muskies with my wife Lori. I lost a beauty (not Lori yet) last time out row trolling, at least I think it was a big fish. The rod bent right in half slowly, deliberately...none of that bouncing you often get with smaller fish. She wasn't hooked for more than 5 seconds but it was a real adrenalin rush. I'm going out for another fix. The librarian is telling me to shut up anyway. deja vu from the New Berlin West Library 40 years ago...
See you next week. Thanks for connecting with On Wisconsin Outdoors.
Dick Ellis