by Ced Vig - Wisconsin Woodsmoke

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From the front page of this week's Wisconsin Outdoor News:

“Heading into the fall deer-hunting seasons, DNR wildlife biologists collaborated on a 2007 statewide deer herd estimate of 1.6 to 1.8 million animals that should provide hunters with a combined bow, rifle, and muzzleloader kill of 400,000 to 500,000 deer, when all is said and done. ‘Deer hunting opportunity should be great again this season,' said Keith Warnke, DNR deer ecologist.”

“It's nice each morn to be a squirrel! Because (it's never failed), he simply cannot help but be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.” - Dick Emmons

Chattering squirrels

In addition to having new reddish winter coats, red squirrels have grown prominent, long ear tufts - the only eastern squirrels to be so adorned. Red squirrels appear to be most territorial, as there is seldom more than one resident red squirrel in a backyard.

If red squirrels can't find a hollow tree in which to den in the winter, they generally dig one under a stump or fallen log. Their winter food is principally the cones of conifer trees.

Coyotes like venison

Wisconsin has a good population of coyotes - sometimes called brush wolves. A coyote resembles a small collie dog with a black-tipped tail. They're not fussy eaters and take whatever food is available to them.

One of their top-priority foods is venison which they obtain from the deer carcasses that are left behind by hunters, predators and disease. To protect the carrion they find, coyotes form small packs of yipping and yapping defenders. A 150-pound deer carcass produces about 100 pounds of feed.

Gizzards

Some people like turkey gizzards - power machines with grinding teeth and strong jaws. Mallard ducks use their gizzards to grind down the acorns and hickory nuts they eat. A wild turkey's gizzard can pulverize a pecan nut in an hour, but it takes 30-32 hours to digest a hickory nut.

To aid the workings of the gizzard, birds need grit - coarse sand and pebbles - which many find along the roadsides. The birds can retain this grit in their gizzards without it passing out with the body wastes.

Meet a predator

Barred owls are the most common owls in the Northwoods. During the daytime they are frequently seen around the backyard bird feeders where they prey on the mice, shrews and voles that feed at the base of the feeders.

Barred owls have brown eyes and a roundish head. They lack the ear tufts and yellow eyes found on a horned owl's head. When they hoot or call, barred owls seem to be saying, “Who-cooks-for-you? Who-cooks-for-you-all?” Owls appear to hoot for the same reason that wolves enjoy howling - they like the sound of their voices.

New white coats

The snowshoe hares and the weasels get new white coats in November. The short-tailed and the long-tailed weasels have all-white coats and black-tipped tails. The least weasel lacks the black-tipped tail.

The least weasel is the smallest carnivore in Wisconsin. Like other weasel species, it is a

quick and ferocious predator. Its size and shape allows it to enter tunnels and burrows to pursue mice and other small animals. Contrary to popular belief, weasels do not suck blood from their victims, although they may kill more than they eat.

A story of tails

Other than the beaver, the only semi-aquatic rodent in Wisconsin is the muskrat. The only big difference, other than size between them, is their tails.

Both have furless, scaly tails. However, the muskrat's tail is narrow and resembles a snake. The beaver's tail is broad and spatulate, like the broad end of a canoe paddle. Both animals spend the winter in well-insulated houses or in dens located along the shorelines.

Early settlers in the Northwoods ate muskrat flesh. It tasted much like wild duck. The trappers also roasted beaver tails, even though the tails were fat and oily. In fact, they considered beaver tail a delicacy.

Whitetails on the move

The rutting season for deer reaches its height during the middle of November. A buck may mate with five or six does during the nine-week rut.

After chasing does, traveling long distances and eating poor food, a buck may lose as much as 25 percent of its weight. When the rutting season is over, the bucks drop their antlers and retire to the woods, becoming shy critters. During May, a new set of antlers will begin growing.

Loons leaving

By the middle of November all the loons have gone. The adults go first, followed by the juveniles, who will remain in the wintering areas for two or three years. When the loons reach the ocean, the salt glands above the eyes will remove the salt from their blood and excrete it in liquid form through the nostrils.

Ced Sez

At our second meeting of “Winter in the Northwoods,” Scott Anderson will speak on bears.

We're waiting for a report of seeing a snowy owl.

Tell us what you think...

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