Grouse Hollow for April 30, 2015 by
Greg Koelker
I just got in from a Sunday drive,
off-road style. Scout and I made a tour of the farm on the
four-wheeler. Okay, to be accurate, I was feeling old and lazy, so I
rode the Rubicon and Scout jogged along. This was her second trip up
the ridge on the day as she and Ellen went for a walk an hour
earlier. That first trip and old age must be what made Scout drop
back and trot along before we got to the top of the hill. It has
been a while since I had to wait for her when I was on the
four-wheeler as she usually loves to run ahead. We checked out a
large erosion hole that our friends are dumping old hay into. Then
we went over to the Oak Stand and checked the two-person ladder stand
El and I have there. I got off the quad and walked around the food
plot, looking at the sign. Lots of deer tracks, turkey scat, and
evidence of raccoons. We checked out Chet's crate deer stand by the
downed barn overlooking Grouse Hollow. The roof is off, piled high
on what's left of the old barn. The rain and wind are doing their
part to send his stand back to wherever he got it I fear.
We left the Honda in the field and
walked along the fence line into what we call the Raspberry Stand
area. There are thick stands of blackberry canes that sometimes
produce copious amounts of the sweet fruit, but last year, not so
much. Anyway, we walked out on the point along our southern property
line. There is some saw work to be done on the narrow trail with
oaks that have fallen and other trees blocking the way in places. I
saw goose berries all leafed out and blue bells starting to open and
mayapples in large areas. Can the morels be far behind? At the
Christmas tree food plot, there isn't much coming up worthwhile, so
we will be “Rounding Up” the area soon and planting some good
stuff for antler growth I think.
I checked out a couple of apple trees
along the fence line and one actually appears to have some blossoms
about to burst out. On the way down the ridge road, I shut off the
engine and coasted back to the ranch, braking all the way so
you-know-who could keep up.
Back at the ranch, Ellen was pulling
nettles out of the red raspberries on the outside of the old water
tank. Those berries grow around what's left of an old cement
watering tank in the middle of our garden. This spot used to be the
barnyard when we first moved here. Anyway, I am going to spray the
nettles in the tank tomorrow as they are so thick and we need to kill
the roots before I put a few buckets full of dirt into the tank with
the John Deere. We plan to transplant some raspberry plants that
have gone rogue so-to-speak, shooting up in the nearby yard.
I hunted last week on Tuesday in the
snow and sleet and rain and wind. You might think that turkeys are
smart enough to find shelter and hunker down for the duration (come
to think about it, I guess I am not that smart either), but actually
I had a blast playing tag with at least four gobblers that day.
Around 10 a.m. I drove into the neighbor's farm and startled a flock
of feeding birds. I got my gear on back at the farm and strategized
with myself about how best to get close to those wary birds. I hiked
around the other side of the hill from them, taking my time as I came
up over each rise in the rolling fields just in case. I did not see
a bird though. On the other side of the hill-top field, I set up and
called a bit. It didn't take long for the fun to begin. Like I
said, at least four gobblers responded and no matter what I did, they
only would get closer but only so close. I tried different calls,
loud calls, soft calls, no calls for quite awhile, and then I moved.
The toms seemed interested and moved with me, but they never showed
themselves. I finally gave up and headed back for breakfast. I
hadn't gone 100 yards, when the gobbles came up the hill, so I
hurried back. A neighbor started running a chain saw on the next
hill over, and I figured the jig was up, but I was wrong again. I
moved and called all around a large point and the gobblers kept right
up with me, but . . . well, I think this turkey lost and those
turkeys won. Anyway, I didn't leave until going on 3 in the
afternoon with no bird, but this was a great hunt. I loved it. Eli
and his friend Tony had a frustrating Saturday early morning turkey
hunt, but Tony was able to tag a jake up on the neighbors around
midday, so at least someone has turkey to eat.
Until next time, get out - I went to
the Vernon County Deer Advisory Committee meeting last week at the
Westby Rod and Gun Club in Timber Coulee. It was interesting and I
learned some too. Committee Chair, Jason Leis, began with a
discussion of the antlerless quota for Vernon County. One of the
changes for next season will be that antlerless tags will be public
or private specific and county/unit specific next season. If I got
this right, when one purchases their license for next deer season,
they will have to specify whether they will hunt on public or private
lands and they will have to specify which county/unit they will hunt
in. If one wants to hunt antlerless deer in another county/unit,
they will have to purchase a $12 permit for that area. Some of the
discussion revolved around how confusing it could be to hunt along
county/unit lines. Warden Shawna Stringham said that law enforcement
has been discussing this as well. She said that mistakes will be
made and enforcement will be on a case by case basis at this point.
DNR Biologist Dave Matheys said that the buck stamp program from last
season is a “no-go” for this season. Both Ellen and I have
stamps we saved after registering an antlerless deer last year that
we thought might get us an extra buck tag this year - guess not.
Warden Stringham also said there will not be a holiday hunt in 2015.
Around 200 deer were taken during that hunt in 2014. We heard some
of the comments from the 20 or so online survey Vernon County
respondents. (I was one of them.) There were complaints of too
many antlerless permits being offered and just the opposite, and at
least one respondent wanted antler point restrictions put in place.
As to what the committee can recommend to the DNR, well, in 2014,
2,700 private land and 235 public land antlerless permits were left
over (unsold and thus unused) after an initial offering of 5,000.
The proposal from the deer committee for 2015 is to maintain the herd
at current levels. The Vernon County Deer Advisory Committe will
recommend an 8,000 antlerless quota. Based on hunter numbers from
last season, an estimated 5,000 “free” tags would be issued with
hunting licenses and an additional 3,000 (2,700 private and 300
public) would be for sale. Of course as in all things deer hunting,
this too is not written in stone, so we shall see. Oh, I counted at
least 50 deer in fields along my route home through Coon Valley,
Chaseburg, and over Chipmunk Ridge that night.
It was 32 here on Monday morning, but
tulips are popping and Ellen found the first shoots of asparagus
peeking out on Sunday. Ummm. . . the possibilities. Enjoy.
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