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Hardwood Hearings

If you find yourself analyzing public land satellite imagery on any available mapping service, zooming in on remote and off-the-trail beaver flowages, scheming the best way to bushwhack into said beaver pond or trying to estimate the time and distance down an old and overgrown logging trail while also trying to persuade someone to come along on a crazy whim with you and your duck hunting gear, and then eventually planning a duck hunt on that beaver pond with little to no scouting, where you’ll probably see little to no ducks, and shoot even fewer, you might be something like me.

Bill Sherer’s Current of Trout Knowledge

“If you have a Wisconsin gazetteer, one of those map books, the trout regulations, and a smartphone, you can find every bit of trout water in the state,” master fly tyer, Bill Sherer told The Lakeland Times at his shop in Boulder Junction. Sherer, 70, has been fly fishing since his youth, only fishes with a fly rod, and has owned the We Tie It Fly Shop for nearly 24 years. His career fly fishing has led to four line class world records (including one that was broken by a customer), and one accidental all-tackle world record in Florida.

Hardwood Hearings

The sun was destined to burn the rain off by morning, but it was hard to predict its course of action as we stood in the slashing drops the night before. Cloudless skies would be a much needed scenario to make the greenheads burst in front of the backdrop. As the sun set behind the overcast, rain ransacked across the reserve, and all we could do was hope it’d be gone by daybreak. I walked across the desert sand optimistic it would be.

Howard pins 10-pointer

Eighth grader Kennedy Howard beat the heat during the Oct. 10-11 youth weekend and filled her tag on Oct. 11 with a 10-point buck while hunting her family’s property. The buck had a 16 and 3/4-inch spread, and she estimated was about 80 yards out when she took the shot — only 40 minutes into her morning hunt.

Starting small

Small game species can be found in a variety of habitats throughout Wisconsin, but snowshoe hare, cottontail rabbit, and both fox and gray squirrels may be the most accessible and best for novice hunters to start out hunting. Seasons for each species are underway now.

Lower Kaubashine Lake Association seeks feedback on draft plan

The Lower Kaubashine Lake Association (LKLA) is seeking public comment on its draft aquatic management plan now through Nov. 30.

Bone dry ‘balancing act’

With drought conditions persisting into fall for over half the state (51.9 percent as of Oct. 15 according to drought.gov), aquatic landscapes across the Northwoods continue to dehydrate. Artificial manipulation of water levels and flow on our northern reservoirs may stave off temporary drought conditions, but prolonged and extreme drought can dry up a lot of options.

Hardwoood Hearings

Because the fall colors peak for just a short period, I put some other things on hold and take flame in the fiery Northwoods when the timing’s right.

Northwoods trapping tactics

Trapping season opportunities for many of the state’s furbearer species, like fox, bobcat, fisher, raccoon, and coyote, begin Oct. 17, while others will open in the following weeks and months.

GLIFWC ‘objects’ euthanasia of 9 wolves, DNR says policy was followed

Following an Oct. 5 statement by the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) objecting to the euthanasia of nine wolves in Price County, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) added to its original statement, and included a comment from DNR secretary Karen Hyun:

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