ARGYLE - Todd Broussard and Ron Dalton traveled all the way from Paso Robles, Calif., for the gun deer season that commenced Saturday throughout Wisconsin. Necessary, they maintain jokingly, to finish the job for cousins Jack and Peter Emery and their hunting companion, Dack Damron - all of Argyle.
The local trio had a shot at the big eight-pointer during the bow season, but failed to bring down the buck believed to score somewhere in the low 150s. As the boys from California discovered on opening day, however, one arrow had grazed the deer.
Two blades of the broadhead carved out a six-inch swath along the back of the whitetail, Broussard reported. "One of them cut into the hide a little," he said.
The wide-bodied buck had a 20-inch spread with a heavy mass of antlers. Broussard shot the deer on the run as it traveled through a CRP field near the Yellowstone Golf Course on land owned by his uncle.
Tom Goebel and his son, Hunter, of Blanchardville shared an exciting hunt, with each harvesting a doe just two minutes apart in the Town of Blanchard in Lafayette County. Hunter, 12, took his first deer ever with a double lung shot that made for a quick and humane kill.
Dad's deer went a bit farther before crashing, causing his son to adopt one of deer hunting's favorite traditions, that of needling others. "I guess I'm a better shot," he said with a grin.
The Goebels were two of more than 630,000 deer hunters who took to the woods last weekend. More than 35,000 of those were non-residents.
The 2008 hunt kicked off relatively safely, with only one fatality reported statewide. This contrasts with the bad old days when "deer widows" were much more prevalent.
Twenty-four hunters died while hunting in 1914, with only 155,000 licensed hunters in the field. The number of hunting-related deaths fell to 13 in 1970 despite a much larger hunting population.
Fatalities declined even further with the introduction of blaze orange clothing in 1980 and the expansion of hunter education programs sponsored by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and local conservation groups. With the exception of 1987 when seven hunters died, fatalities have declined to near zero.
Hunters took advantage of the Customer Service Call Center at 1-888-WDNR INFO (936-7463) to the tune of more than 1,200 calls during the week prior to the opener. The DNR also reported heavy phone traffic on Saturday when the call center opened at 7 a.m.
One call came from a young female hunter who phoned in to ask if it was legal to shoot an albino deer. "I have an albino deer in my sights right now," she whispered nervously.
State law prohibits shooting an albino deer unless hunting within the Chronic Wasting Disease Management Zone. Most questions were more general as operators kept busy answering calls about registration stations, Earn-a-Buck requirements and various other rules and regulations.
The DNR hotline for reporting violations, 1-800-TIP-WDNR (847-9367), also was active over the weekend with reports of poaching, shooting from roads, baiting violations and using all-terrain vehicles on public land. Hunters must report trespassing violations to local authorities, however, as our hunting party discovered Saturday.
The first intrusion occurred around 7 a.m. - arguably the most opportune time to harvest a deer. Son Darin whistled from his tree stand and motioned for the two trespassers to move along.
They waved and retreated - perhaps indicating a simple mistake as to their whereabouts. However, the situation deteriorated into a distinct lose-lose situation an hour or so later when the pair wandered in noisily from a different direction.
He felt little choice but to climb down, confront the individuals and record a back tag number. The pair maintained that the DNR had told them the area all along the three-mile-long town road is open to public hunting. To the contrary, none of it is.
We are meticulous about knowing the location of other members of our hunting party and the rules for moving from point-to-point are strict. Having strangers wandering around on the land not only chases away potential targets, it makes for a dangerous situation. Anyone unethical enough to trespass is unlikely to bring a disciplined and cautious approach to hunting safety.
The safety measures embraced by responsible hunters and enforced by the DNR constitute a workable social contract between the state and its citizens.
Adding in some informal rules of our own promises great fun while hunting and a safe return to the bunkhouse to recount the events of the day, quaff a beverage or two and enjoy a highly competitive game of Trivial Pursuit.
- Lee Fahrney is the Times outdoors writer. He can be reached at (608) 967-2208 or at fiveoaks@mhtc.net
The local trio had a shot at the big eight-pointer during the bow season, but failed to bring down the buck believed to score somewhere in the low 150s. As the boys from California discovered on opening day, however, one arrow had grazed the deer.
Two blades of the broadhead carved out a six-inch swath along the back of the whitetail, Broussard reported. "One of them cut into the hide a little," he said.
The wide-bodied buck had a 20-inch spread with a heavy mass of antlers. Broussard shot the deer on the run as it traveled through a CRP field near the Yellowstone Golf Course on land owned by his uncle.
Tom Goebel and his son, Hunter, of Blanchardville shared an exciting hunt, with each harvesting a doe just two minutes apart in the Town of Blanchard in Lafayette County. Hunter, 12, took his first deer ever with a double lung shot that made for a quick and humane kill.
Dad's deer went a bit farther before crashing, causing his son to adopt one of deer hunting's favorite traditions, that of needling others. "I guess I'm a better shot," he said with a grin.
The Goebels were two of more than 630,000 deer hunters who took to the woods last weekend. More than 35,000 of those were non-residents.
The 2008 hunt kicked off relatively safely, with only one fatality reported statewide. This contrasts with the bad old days when "deer widows" were much more prevalent.
Twenty-four hunters died while hunting in 1914, with only 155,000 licensed hunters in the field. The number of hunting-related deaths fell to 13 in 1970 despite a much larger hunting population.
Fatalities declined even further with the introduction of blaze orange clothing in 1980 and the expansion of hunter education programs sponsored by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and local conservation groups. With the exception of 1987 when seven hunters died, fatalities have declined to near zero.
Hunters took advantage of the Customer Service Call Center at 1-888-WDNR INFO (936-7463) to the tune of more than 1,200 calls during the week prior to the opener. The DNR also reported heavy phone traffic on Saturday when the call center opened at 7 a.m.
One call came from a young female hunter who phoned in to ask if it was legal to shoot an albino deer. "I have an albino deer in my sights right now," she whispered nervously.
State law prohibits shooting an albino deer unless hunting within the Chronic Wasting Disease Management Zone. Most questions were more general as operators kept busy answering calls about registration stations, Earn-a-Buck requirements and various other rules and regulations.
The DNR hotline for reporting violations, 1-800-TIP-WDNR (847-9367), also was active over the weekend with reports of poaching, shooting from roads, baiting violations and using all-terrain vehicles on public land. Hunters must report trespassing violations to local authorities, however, as our hunting party discovered Saturday.
The first intrusion occurred around 7 a.m. - arguably the most opportune time to harvest a deer. Son Darin whistled from his tree stand and motioned for the two trespassers to move along.
They waved and retreated - perhaps indicating a simple mistake as to their whereabouts. However, the situation deteriorated into a distinct lose-lose situation an hour or so later when the pair wandered in noisily from a different direction.
He felt little choice but to climb down, confront the individuals and record a back tag number. The pair maintained that the DNR had told them the area all along the three-mile-long town road is open to public hunting. To the contrary, none of it is.
We are meticulous about knowing the location of other members of our hunting party and the rules for moving from point-to-point are strict. Having strangers wandering around on the land not only chases away potential targets, it makes for a dangerous situation. Anyone unethical enough to trespass is unlikely to bring a disciplined and cautious approach to hunting safety.
The safety measures embraced by responsible hunters and enforced by the DNR constitute a workable social contract between the state and its citizens.
Adding in some informal rules of our own promises great fun while hunting and a safe return to the bunkhouse to recount the events of the day, quaff a beverage or two and enjoy a highly competitive game of Trivial Pursuit.
- Lee Fahrney is the Times outdoors writer. He can be reached at (608) 967-2208 or at fiveoaks@mhtc.net
