On Monday morning last week, Vernon County Forrester Matt Bauer and I took a walk up on our ridge. I had contacted him to talk about our managed forest plan and the health of our woods. Matt was great, showing up on time and sharing more than I could absorb regarding our hundreds of trees. Matt said, “Your woods are healing well.” (These woods were logged back in 1982, years before we bought them in 1995.) He said that we had lots of hard maple coming up on the north side of our hillsides and many oaks coming up on the south sides. Matt is knowledgeable and full of ideas regarding making our woods more productive. He answered my questions about emerald ash borer and the effects of this atrocious disease on much of our woods.
We have many ash trees showing the devastating signs of this tree killing bug. Forrester Bauer said the emerald ash borer larvae do the deed of killing the tree, but that beige bark discoloration is a secondary effect caused by woodpeckers foraging the bark for a meal of the larvae. He suggested that we contact a logger to remove any viable ash trees before they die and fall on other trees. Time will tell.
I went fishing by myself at Genoa last Wednesday morning. There were so many fishermen that the parking lot was full and I had to park along Highway 35. There was an overcast sky and the air was damp. I fished along the bay on the beach across from the bullnose on the lock. I drowned a chunk of crawler for an hour or two. I visited with several fishermen who said the few perch they hooked were small. One man said that he had driven over from Wisconsin Rapids. I visited with a gentleman from Viroqua who told me that if he lived near Stoddard like I do he would fish every day. Another guy told me that there were some perch being caught in Black Hawk Park, so I drove south. I talked to one of the three fishermen with lines in the water in the creek that empties into Battle Slough. He said he wasn’t catching much, but he did really well yesterday. It was peaceful and I enjoyed a quiet half-an-hour of moving my bait around. I have to remember to change my last wish list so that it says, “You shoulda been here yesterday” on my urn.
Mountain men Ben and Drew showed up Thursday night about 10. They had been archery turkey hunting on a ranch in western Nebraska north of Ogallala that morning. Drew had arrowed two of the three toms he called in with his REEL Turkey call the week before. They also called in a bunch of birds that morning while crawling up a dry gulch, and when Ben rose up on his knees to take a shot, he was staring at a very startled tom turkey looking at him from 8 feet away. Anyway, the bird exploded stage left taking the rest of the now warned turkey dinners with it. Ben and Drew were in Wisco to display and market their REEL Game calls at the Field and Stream Deer and Turkey Expo in Madison. I talked to Ben on Sunday morning and he said the weather was too nice and the show was pretty slow on Saturday. They plan to hunt Nebraska turkeys again on their return trip to Colorado. Ben and Drew are coming back for the third turkey season in Wisconsin in a few weeks.
Vince and I had decided to put the Queen in at Blackhawk Park on Saturday morning. (As we passed Genoa, the Blask Landing parking lot was filled up and fishermen were parking their rigs along the access road half-a-mile from the landing.) We put the Queen in at the Green Lake Landing and we were able to get a parking spot. We motored down to De Soto Bay in hopes of conjuring up a perch dinner. To save time, we didn’t. While we saw a few small perch caught, Vinny hooked our only fish there, a 12” largemouth bass. Regardless of the disinterest of the fish, we found the morning to be beautiful. The scenes on the ponds and lake and the views of the bluffs above make Blackhawk Park beautiful even at this leafless mud time of the season. Back the Green Lake Landing, the trucks and trailers were lining the park road because the lot was full and there were people still putting boats in. We pulled out and put in again on the main channel. We fished along the main channel near Victory. I finally got off the snide, pulling in a small northern pike. My reel locked up, so I had to grab the line and pull the fish in. Anyway, we saw a few perch caught, but the highlight of the the morning had to be cheeseburgers and fries at the Thirsty Turtle.
On Saturday afternoon, after Scout and I made a trip to the dump, I hauled three tent blinds up on the ridge with the four-wheeler and set them up in spots where I have had some luck calling turkeys to in the past. The air was warming and the sunshine precious. There is much green peeking out and the trees all seem to be budding. I saw butterflies too. I also spent an hour trimming wild blackberry canes in hopes of some plump, juicy sweetness come fall. When I got back in, Ellen had finished raking in the yard for the day, so she and I and Scout had a cocktail and some almonds and cheddar cheese on the porch as the sun set. (Scout doesn’t drink but she loves ice cubes after the vodka is gone.)
When I woke up in front of the TV in the family room that night, a crescent moon was shining through the window near the peak of the ceiling, prompting me to walk outside and take in a star filled sky. It was quiet with no wind and stars as far as I could see. Anyway, it don’t get no better.
Until next time, get out - remember this coming Monday, April 10 is the Department of Natural Resources Annual Spring Fish and Wildlife Public Hearing and Wisconsin Conservation Congress Annual Spring County Conservation Meeting at 7 PM at the Viroqua High School commons. The meeting starts with delegate elections and then a report from the Vernon County Deer Committee followed by the DNR and Natural Resources Board questions, wrapping up with the congress questions. Come, listen, discuss, and vote on resources questions. Enjoy.
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