Last Updated: Saturday, November 17, 2007 6:33 PM CST
The nine-day gun deer season has finally arrived
Northwoods Notebook by Roger Sabota
It has arrived! The nine-day Wisconsin gun-deer season is in progress and many of us have left the comfort of our homes to spend time at the "Deer Shack". There are many deer shacks scattered throughout northern Wisconsin, each with a unique set of rituals. In some groups any hunter who misses a shot at a buck will lose the tail on his or her hunting shirt. At one shack, which is in the Monico area and over one century old, they have a unique ritual. When a member of their group shoots his or her first buck they are assisted by a member of the group to field dress that first buck. Then during the evening meal they are presented with a new hunting knife. Those knives are treasured for the remainder of the hunter's days.
At deer camp it does not matter what a person's social status is or what that person does for a living. Everyone enters camp as an equal and is assigned chores that contribute to the comfort of camp. Some camps are more comfortable than others but all are special to those who are fortunate enough to be invited to a deer camp.
We have been going to the C&R Spruce Swamp Spike Camp for about fifteen years and hope to continue to gather there for many more years. Our shack is not fancy and does not have running water. It does have a healthy population of mice and at times a red squirrel will find a way to get in. The porcupines seem to enjoy eating parts of the shack. Any time that a shovel or an axe is left in the woodshed a porky will gnaw on the handle to get at the salt in the wood. We have also noted that their house keeping skills are completely lacking. When they spend some time inside the windbreaks on one of our tree stands they leave a smelly mess. They also must like the taste of the glue in treated plywood.
Most of our tree stand bases have been chewed on by porkies. We would enjoy being able to see one of those animals upside down under the base of one of our tree stands gnawing on the plywood base.
One of the more enjoyable aspects of life at deer camp are the visits by a variety of friends. The Pergande group usually stops to see how the hunting is going at our camp and exchange a few stories. They have a large group who make the one hundred four year old log cabin home. That group or a part of the group gather regularly throughout the fall and combine grouse hunting with some archery hunting for deer. This past fall they worked diligently on their food plots only to get discouraged by the July and August drought conditions. It will be interesting to see if the plots attract more deer than they have seen in the past.
The "Old Timers", who have their hunting shack on the edge of the Nicolet National Forest, have been in camp for just over a week. Only two of the original group remain and for the week prior to deer season they invite several friends to join them. In past years they would get in some early ice fishing on several of the smaller area lakes. This year their walleye fishing was done from two boats. The sons and grandsons of the original members of this group arrived at various times on Friday. The size of the group will vary throughout the nine-day season.
Like our group, work schedules and family obligations determine how much time can be spent in camp.
Each year we spend at camp it seems that we get out of bed earlier in the morning and turn in a bit earlier in the evening. When our sons were teenagers it was difficult to get them going in the morning. Now that they are working they seem to have no trouble getting up. Of course opening morning everyone is up and ready to walk to a stand before the alarm sounds. Our group sure wishes that the deer population was larger in the area we hunt. Some suggest that we should hunt some other areas but we know the area near our shack quite well after all those years.
The Wisconsin gun-deer season opened yesterday, November 17th and runs until November 25th. The muzzleloader deer season opens Monday, November 26th and ends on December 5th. During the Wisconsin muzzleloader season it is not legal to use a scope with magnification.
On December 6th the statewide antlerless-only deer season opens and that season lasts until December 9th. The season for hunting deer with a bow and arrow runs from November 26th until January 6th. There is a lot of time remaining to hunt deer in our state.
The report this past week that a feral pig was shot and killed in Oneida County has both game managers and hunters concerned. These animals have the potential to be harmful to the environment plus they are capable of carrying diseases. Anyone with a Wisconsin hunting license is strongly encouraged to shoot any wild pig they see. The Department of Natural Resources game managers and wardens would like to know about any pigs or hogs that are shot by hunters. Last year two pigs were seen in the county, one was killed. The good news is that they are good to eat.
Have an excellent and safe deer season. Good Luck!
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