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Al Brown | Tracking the Seasons
Wolves getting expanded role in wildlife picture
The absence of snow has made for an interesting and challenging 2011 deer season here in southern Wisconsin, both for bow and gun hunters.
Cold temperatures, strong winds and heavy rains in early November changed the landscape of the bottomlands from tinder-dry cattails to flooded swampland.
Migrating waterfowl found new resting areas as they winged their way south. Many deer hunters, on the other hand, quickly learned wearing hip boots or waders was the only smart way to reach their stands or drag out a deer.
With the majority of crops harvested well before the regular gun deer season, the deer had changed their feeding and resting patterns.
After the opening day fireworks, many hunters said the deer where they hunt had gone nocturnal, coming out after dark and moving back into dense cover before dawn. After opening day, even organized deer drives produced fewer deer than expected.
Without a tracking snow, it's hard to tell just how many deer there are and where.
Some hunters have reported finding the skeletal remains of lost deer after hungry coyotes had eaten their fill.
Unlike coyotes, Wisconsin's free-roaming wolves, with a minimum estimated population of 782 animals as of last winter, are still under the protection of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
According to Kurt Thiede, land division administrator for the Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin officials have called for the delisting of wolves in the state, considering the population has far exceeded its established delisting goal of 100 animals, as well as the state management goal of 350 wolves.
Seven wolves were illegally killed during the 2011 Wisconsin gun deer season. Wolf depredations on livestock and hunting dogs have continued to increase as the population expands without lethal control of the problem animals.
Coyotes, the little brother of the gray wolf, are also expanding in numbers that have gotten the attention of the DNR.
According to the DNR, coyotes are present all across the state, from the north woods to inside Milwaukee's city limits, and urbanites should develop plans to live with them.
Don't leave food outside, which might attract coyotes, and don't let small pets like cats and dogs roam free, especially at night or early morning hours when coyotes are most active.
Urbanites should also be alert at night and early mornings when coyotes are most active. Also, February and March represent the coyote breeding season, when male coyotes will likely attack dogs they consider competition.
The coyote season is open all year statewide, except in northern Wisconsin, where it closes for the 19-day period of the regular gun deer and muzzleloader deer seasons, as well as the Dec. 8-11 for antlerless-only deer hunt.
Hunters still hoping to fill a deer tag might have good luck if we get some snow during the CWD-Earn-A-Buck units Holiday Hunt, Dec. 24 to Jan. 8.
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Photo of the Week by Todd Ponath: ROCKIN' IT - Fred Eide, left, and his daughter Ashley, of Eide Painting and Sandblasting, use spray guns to paint the individual rock shapes on the underside of the I-94 overpass at Highway P in Oconomowoc Wednesday, May 16. Each "rock" is painted individually and then speckled with black paint to make it look like granite.
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Page or layout design of the week by Lisa Leonard: Drop a line and relax
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