White-tailed deer are moving more than usual to find water; collisions with our travels are mounting. Supple vegetation is rare pushing adult deer to fuel up on young soybeans, inside fenced gardens, and even taking fast-growing prairie plants typically spared.
Moles have gone deeper, avoiding drying yards and finding what they need in mulch-covered areas. Trapping them in these unusual locations is impossible.
Watered raspberries are ripening, but wild black raspberries and blackberries are tiny, drying before ripe, and unlikely to be available to top cereal, ice cream and fill pie shells.
While pine seed cones, those started last year, look good, as do red oak acorns on their second year; nut fruits on hickories and black walnuts are suffering and some are being dropped by the tree due to water shortage.
Squirrels and birds are turning to slim sources, including tiny elm and maple seeds inside dry fruits and taking the Juneberries and mulberries as soon as they are ripe. Hazlenuts will be the next fruit to be hit.
Summer and autumn mushrooms, some of the best eating of the lot, are not likely to have enough moisture to produce a usual fall flush.
Plant reactions to one of the driest May-June periods ever are likely to go on impacting spring 2024 things, including morel fungi.
Ginseng digging, beginning Sept. 1, may have already dried, with fewer lantern-like red fruits, and will be difficult to spot. If the plants are nearly dormant and have survived the May-June drought, populations may be much improved in 2024 as taproot reserves come to the rescue to grow new stems. All of this will cause roots to weigh less than normal.
Fawns are following, and challenged, to keep up with mom as she feeds and tries to find water. Again, the more deer travel, the more we see them or don’t see them in time to avoid an accident.
Plan to spend more time scouting ahead of autumn seasons as these impacts are bound to influence animal activities and plants in the animals’ habitats.
In spite of lower water, summer fishing continues to be good in many fishes’ locales.
“A relative brought me fresh bluegill fillets he caught in the Mississippi River,” Don Martin at Martin’s in Monroe, said.
Wally Banfi, at Wilderness Fish and Game in Sauk City, said the water temperatures are 74-76 degrees and fish are feeding more often.
“Mornings are good using slip bobbers with leeches. Fishing cribs have been productive. Smallmouth bass catching has been good jigging and using plastic,” he said. “Mosquitoes have been very bad in northern Wisconsin where heavy snow led to puddles and good hatches.”
Doug Williams, at D W Sports Center in Portage, has noticed animals coming to water sources and being more tolerant of people, just as they are when food is scarce.
“The weather hasn’t seemed to slow antler growth on deer,” he said. “Keep the water and feed available to birds if you feed.”
Certain prairie plants are showing tolerance to low precipitation.
Pale purple coneflowers grew their normal height while the non-native purple coneflower is half the height in many locations. Compass plants have stood up well to the drought, but deer have found some even though we put them on a “not touchable” list.
Farmers are beginning to feel the hit, too, and we should expect, accept, and assist in this dilemma when we continue to ask to walk their land. Take a break from taking from them, or spend some time working with them instead of hunting.
Be positive. Observe how nature is beginning to deal with drought. Terrains are already covered with tiny, immature walnut fruits, which is one method of cutting water needs
Just as results from the 2012 summer continued to linger, so too will 2023. Some weather impacts last decades.
— 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.
