Outdoors appearance is revealed when we see rosy sumac, golden ginseng, clear-coated fawns, hard-antlered bucks, purple fruit on pokeweed, dark fruit and lemony witch-hazel flowers, spore clouds from puffballs, colorful goldfinches, smooth-coated furbearers, and showy brook trout.
Most of nature’s species show new appearances, and attitudes, in autumn. Some species show us changes by no longer showing at all, as the ruby-throated hummingbirds fly south, males first; turkey vultures depart leaving bald eagles to scavenge, and ground squirrels are less common above ground. Robins and bluebirds, most of them, take to the skies, too.
Even the last brook trout caught October 15 is as different as the stream banks and scenery beyond. To some this is the realization that the trout season is about to end.
“I realize a shorter fish feeding window, it’s sad to say. The prime time narrows; trout may not kick in until just before noon,” said Bret Schultz, Black Earth. “After 4 p.m. the terrestrial window slows and I change from hoppers and beetles to streamers from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.”
Schultz says he fishes brook trout for the color, not size when autumn appears. “The fall colors are deeper pinks, hotter reds and brighter oranges. It’s all about fall colors.”
He holds new fly-tying until mid-November by cleaning the garden and yard and then tying flies until the temperature shows above 15 degrees in January.
Autumn arrives in Doug Williams’ mind when he hears the geese leaving, and he sees photos of bears and deer taken by his customers, at DW Sports Center in Portage, who know the season by mosquitoes’ absence and hitchhiking plant parts numerous. “Use a cat brush to clean the burs,” Williams says.
“I planned on an earlier fall,” he said. “And hunters should, too. Buy now if you can, with an emphasis on ammunition.”
Ginseng is continuing to yellow, with green root prices holding between $225 and $245 per pound, according to Aaron Fortney, in Gays Mills.
Don Martin, in Monroe, has a few of the more popular cartridges, but deer hunters should be looking at last minute purchases. “It’s autumn when I need the long sleeves and the bugs are missing,” he said.
Catfishing requires some chicken liver, according to Martin; license sales and bonus deer authorizations sales are brisk.
Twelve lake sturgeon have been registered at Wilderness Fish and Game in Sauk City, says Wally Banfi. “One was 70 inches, another weighed 75 pounds.”
Banfi’s autumn signal is shifting to muskie fishing and seeing walleyes putting on weight building up egg sacs. “Seeing the lovely colors appearing take some of the edge of gear and ammunition shortages, too. We’ve started to put out ice fishing gear. It seems many of the archers are smiling already, too.”
It’s Wayne Smith’s raccoon dogs reacting to the cooler temperatures. “They want to go and tell me by barking or pulling my ATV faster that I use getting them in condition for hunting. If I stop to answer the phone, they let me know and I have to hang up.”
While coming back from northern Wisconsin, Smith came within inches of a large bull elk walking across Highway 77 in Bayfield County. “It’s a real treat to hear them bugling. It’s worth the trip and peak leaf color is a bonus.
Many adult deer have again changed coat color, coming up with a more subtle brown from a nearly black. All deer are more active and beginning to interfere with road traffic. Chopped corn fields, along with white oak acorn drop, have pulled many deer from soybean and alfalfa fields. Along the way, deer fights have been breaking out and saplings have taken the brunt of anxious bucks, too.
Grab some shagbark hickory nuts where they present themselves, if not for winter baking, then cracking for nuthatches or just setting aside for a worried squirrel.
It’s not a sign of being rude when some outdoors folks seem to have less phone time to spend, or even pick up; it’s a sign of autumn.
They’re likely mesmerized by the sight, sounds and other sensations of autumn and simply want to engage in a few of the many gathering openings.
— Jerry Davis is an Argyle native and a freelance writer who lives in Barneveld. He can be reached at sivadjam@mhtc.net or at 608-924-1112.
