The Rhinelander Daily News - Online news and information for the Rhinelander, Wisconsin region

This week I am writing to you about three-days that I spent with my stepsons Joey and Travis at our hunting camp in The Meadow Valley Wildlife area in northern Juneau County.

We hunted whitetail deer with a bow and arrow and enjoyed our time at deer camp.

Saturday, Nov. 15

High 35, Low 22

I think that the biggest wildlife story for west central Wisconsin is the seemingly large population of gray wolf. The boys and I would find that out over the next three-days as we have been finding out for the last several years.

This afternoon after starting a fire in the woodstove so the shack would be warm tonight, Travis and I went for the long walk to our bowstands and Joey made about a half-mile trek.

It had been raining a lot in the last week and the type of sign we saw on our 2.5-mile hike was lots of wolf tracks.

None of us saw a deer on our hunts, but we really did not care as we had four more hunts to hopefully bag a buck or a doe.

As we have done for the last eleven years at camp, the boys and I had a quiet night.

Listening to the radio, cooking a good meal and relaxing by the woodstove.

Sunday, Nov. 16

High 29, Low 17

The boys and I were up by 4:45 this morning with Travis and I making the long walk and Joey doing a simple 300-yard sprint to a white pine where a few deer have met their fate.

It was cold in my tree and I froze my behind off, probably like thousands of other hunters did on the last weekend of Wisconsin’s early bow season.

I made a decision that I could get cold and hunt a lot closer to camp the rest of the trip, as once again I did not see a deer, and neither did the boys.

On the walk back to my truck, Travis and I had fresh wolf tracks in our tracks.

I have no problem with wolf, they are a sign of successful biodiversity. If you get the home range of a pack where you deer hunt there will be less deer. A common myth is that all of the deer have been consumed. That is not true, though the gray wolf certainly feeds on whitetail deer, what actually happens is the deer move to the outside of the packs home range.

What I do support is management of the wolf pack by hunting and trapping, just like we do with turkey and deer.

This afternoon our hunts were a little more successful. I climbed up in a white pine about a mile walk from camp and wore chest waders to get to it. Within minutes of getting in the tree, I saw what I believe was a three-year-old buck with a beautiful pear-shaped rack.

A shot was not made available but my hunt was definitely a success. So far after ten hunts in this area. I have seen five deer, three of which were three-year-old bucks, a doe and a fawn. After six hunts, Travis has seen one doe and Joey has seen about seven deer after nine hunts.

A positive result of wolf in the area is that you often have larger deer, because the same amount of food has to be shared by less deer.

On Joey’s hunt tonight, he passed up a spike buck that was in range for almost a half an hour. That’s pretty good for a 15-year-old kid that has yet to tag a buck with a bow and arrow.

Joey has shot two doe with his bow and is having an excellent overall hunting season, which is a good thing, because these days Joey has three things that start his motor, hunting, fishing and spending time with his girlfriend.

My dad, the late Robert Walters started taking me to this piece of paradise 37 years ago and I have given the kids the opportunity to enjoy it as well.

The Meadow Valley Wildlife Area is the true definition of fair chase hunting. No fences, no bait, hardly any roads and a predator called the eastern timber wolf that always has the local whitetail deer population watching their backside.

Live large. It keeps the blood flowing!

Sunset

Tell us what you think...

Comments »

The comments above are from readers. In no way do they represent the views of the Rhinelander Daily News.