A gobbling tom begging to be called to comes within range (gun or camera) before wandering off when both tire. Poking under an apple tree uncovers several morel mushrooms penetrating the soil. Tiny red flowers, mostly pistils, glisten on morning hazelnut shrubs. A meadowlark sings from a dead snag, while in a fence row several asparagus shoots are obvious, yet missed in the blades of grass. A female bald eagle pulls morsels of meat for her twin eaglets, unaware that an angler below is encouraged that there may be another brook trout when he wades and tosses a fly.
It’s 9 a.m., time to engage other treks.
Wisconsin’s inland fishing season in May; trout streams were crowded in places. Plentiful rains muddied stream and lake waters tipping a balance toward anglers trying to remain hidden.
Morel gatherers couldn’t help but hesitate after two awful years just prior but they won’t know the grade until the short season, late in starting, ended near Memorial Day weekend.
Fungal sages are free with how-to help, but short on away point locations. It would seem that an outdoors activity engaging thousands with vigor would somehow show in sports shops aisles, but manufacturers must not understand the need for a “morel cane,” fungal creel, and head gear that isn’t easily hooked to vegetation. Every picker makes his or her own gear, it seems, or goes with a plastic grocery bag, which is quickly snagged and ripped by a multiflora rose prickle.
Wisconsin pickers know that going south, even a bit or onto southern slopes, earlies the season a few days or even a week. “Ticks are, or are going to be, a problem for morel pickers and turkey hunters,” says Don Martin at Martin’s in Monroe. Brent Drake, at Tall Tails in Boscobel almost never takes a day away from his shop, but morel season could be an exception.
“We needed this warm weather to satisfy the morel pickers and turkey hunters, as well as gardeners and farmers,” said Doug Williams, at D W Sports Center in Portage. “I’ve had Lyme disease and have gone to spraying my clothes with something I’m not allergic to because of ticks.”
Turkey hunters are talking about more than ticks. “Some are saying the hens pull the gobblers away, but others have returned to where they started hunting the morning and have had some success later in the day,” Williams says.
Wayne Smith, in Lafayette County, is working hard to hunt several turkey periods and run some dog trails, too. “Last week I had three hunters in three different southern counties call and ask what to do to get a turkey,” he said in May. “I shot a bird during Period C and pulled him in about 7:30. It’s not easy; numbers of birds seem to be down in many areas, but locating a bird in a field the day before gives an advantage to hunters. Greening in the woods will help, too, adding more cover.”
Jeff Fredrick, Mindoro, a wildlife artist who makes and sells diaphragm calls and decoys with real turkey feathers has a system that works for him and several of his children. “We’ve gone to a 20 gauge and use heavy ammunition when conditions demand, but this one gun is used by all of us and has killed birds for us all, too.”
Fredrick’s biggest problem this year has been the wind, which seems to have kept the gobblers off one of their favorite haunts; ridge tops.
“Patience, please people, patience, patience,” Jeff says. “We’ve shot all our birds with the cheaper ammunition, not the $10-a-shell stuff, he says.
Jeff’s Period C hunt was unique, he says. “It was the first nice day and it seemed turkeys had an agenda to do their normal thing for a change. I had two gobblers come toward my decoys but always stayed 50 yards apart from one another. For two hours they circled my blind but farther away than I wanted to shoot. They could see the decoy almost all the two hours; a coyote got between us once but after five minutes the mammal left and the turkeys started gobbling again. Eventually one of the gobblers came within 20 yards of the decoy. As before, with this gun there wasn’t a pellet in the breast meat. We use it all by putting it in the slow cooker for hours and then peal the meat off the bones, freeze it, and use it any way we want.”
In addition to being patient, Jeff insists on an ethical hunt with respect for the game, the habitat and fellow hunters.
Hummingbirds and orioles are becoming more numerous and are taking the usual food from feeders and orange halves.
Blooms are continuing to fill in woods and prairies, many of them way atop trees. But then no one has to tell many folks about wind-dispersed pollen.
Bald eagle chicks are now visible in the nests and are left alone some of the time while both adults hunt for themselves and eaglets.
Turkey nests are common; avoid them when you can. Some hunters are saying that’s where the short population begins.
Bluebirds are incubating up to six eggs in a box; hatching will occur any day.
While autumn has a lock on leaf color, poison ivy, oaks, maples, and a few others put on a great young leaf display, too.
Ginseng is beginning to poke through the leaf debris. The full shoot, including the flower bud is all there.
Keep a list of what’s blooming as a sign when the first are found. Use it next spring.
Bucks continue to put on antler growth and fawning has just begun, with May 25 usually being a peak time in southern Wisconsin. Deer coats will turn beautiful rust throughout the month.
Leaf development is in full force. Dead and diseased trees and shrubs will stick out like a dead elm, but morels beneath may not.
Turkey bonus authorizations for the later periods in some zones are still available, and believe it or not the hunting is likely to get better as many hens will be nesting.
Look for “Walleye: A beautiful fish of the dark,” by Paul K Radamski, University of Minnesota Press, this fall. This game fish is the state fish of Minnesota, South Dakota, and Vermont.
Gather ethically, be it by just seeing, noting, or possessing, depending on the plant, animal or fungus.
Feel down, pick up an aluminum card or two and pull a few garlic mustard plants on the way out of the woods. This has an uplifting influence.
— 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.
