Rehashing deer quotas as hunting seasons get closer

Dear reader, please let me try to convey to you how much I dislike having to backtrack and rehash an issue due to politics, failure to follow protocol, or dirty pool.

Yet, here we are. I distinctly didn’t cover it last week just because my blood started to reach a simmer every time I thought about putting the whole fiasco to words.

Had some reasonable protocol been followed, had Natural Resource Board member Greg Kazmierski just provided all the members of the NRB with his “proposal” and had they actually taken the time to at least e-mail some CDAC members in some of the counties that he proposed altering the harvest quotas, there wouldn’t have been such a stink involved.

And there wouldn’t have been a need for an emergency NRB meeting on July 30, at which the board reversed the changes they approved for four of the 11 counties, which previously had their antlerless quotas changed based on what at least looks like politics, failure to follow protocol, or dirty pool.

So, they met and reset the antlerless quotas in four of the northern counties to what the CDAC committees for those counties originally recommended. In Burnett County, 9,600 permits will be available, along with 1,400 antlerless permits in Douglas County, 6,500 permits in Sawyer County, and 6,075 permits in Bayfield County. The other seven of the 11 counties will stay at the amended levels Mr. Kazmierski proposed and were adopted by the NRB.

I’m not going to go through all those quotas again; they will be on the DNR website and there may even be some science behind it all.

But going back and forth listing county names and then a total quota amount is like writing a college term paper and about as fun. And there are fish to catch that won’t catch themselves while we waste time re-hashing.

I really like eating bluegills.

And, following something else until its end, President Trump signed into law The Great American Outdoors Act as promised. He had been behind it for a long time so this came as no surprise.

The DNR announced that spring turkey registrations were up 17 percent. You’ll recall that the patches of ground that I hunted this spring were like devoid of turkey.

We did eventually see a jake that would walk through the yard just off the deck by the house. I’m glad that there were areas with more birds, and more hunters were able to harvest their turkey. As I drive through areas of the state, I’m seeing more turkey poults by far than the last several years. So, barring some odd events, turkey hunting might just get back to what it was before the winter of ‘14. Depending upon where you stand and what you do, that will be a good thing or bad thing. We are also seeing more deer in certain spots than we have in the last couple of summers. But what takes the cake for most increased sightings of wildlife this summer are Sandhill cranes. They are large and conspicuous. I’m seeing them in different hay fields every day of the week. They seem denser around my house but I’m seeing them from Marshfield all the way to my house. I’ve also seen them south of Marshfield and east of the house.

They are truly a good-sized bird, especially in stature. And, early in the morning, they seem to offer some good opportunities for viewing. Known as “the ribeye of the sky,” they are described as possibly the best wild game you could ever eat. There is as much energy for a Sandhill crane hunting season in Wisconsin as there is resistance to it.

Several states allow Sandhill cranes to be hunted, and they are far from endangered, but they’re probably far from being hunted in Wisconsin.

We are almost half way through August. Summer has flown by. But we can start hunting in less than 20 days. It’s less than a month for archery deer, but there are still fish to catch.

I do like eating bluegill and, about the same time that we can start hunting, the fishing starts to pick up. The cool August nights are here again.

Maybe we can get away from rehashing hash now and start focusing on bluegill. Then again, it’s 2020 and we now have earthquakes in South Carolina.

I hope you can get out and enjoy the last few weeks of summer, tight lines everyone.

THROUGH A

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CHUCK K OLAR LOCAL OUTDOORSMAN