Wisconsin’s symbol big game animal since 1957, feeds on a variety of plants depending on the season and habitat the animal calls home.

 Several crops and wild plants draw white-tailed deer’s attention. Crops are accessible and can be consumed with little fear of being disturbed, or there is a deer’s convenient escape route.

Most wild apples have dropped but many remain to be taken from under the trees. Another fruit, elderberry, is common in many edges between fields and woods, roadsides, and lowland areas.

Nut crops, when available, are another favorite. This year acorn crops are highly variable. The white oak group, bur and white, have dropped and are a deer’s favorite when available. The red oak group was more plentiful this year and those that started in spring 2022 are now mature and falling.

It’s easy to see which trees have good hard mast by watching town and county roads. The plentiful crops litter the pavement. Squirrels are often unable to climb to the small limbs where the acorns still hold tight, so the rodent chews off the twig letting the fruit and twig drop. Then, before another animal picks up the fallen nut, scampers down the tree and eats the acorn.

An accumulation of drying leaves under a tree is a tell-tail sign of this activity.

Soybeans continue to be a favorite, although with the leaves yellowing and falling, there comes a time when soybeans, now with pod remaining, are less attractive than field corn. Deer will return to the bean fields even after combining to feed throughout the winter, even if it means pawing through the snow where their noses say “there’s a seed under this white stuff.”

“Young bucks are beginning to spar a bit,” said Wally Banfi, a fishing guide and sales clerk at Wilderness Fish and Game in Sauk City.

“Deer are after apples and acorns; beans, too. Recent rains have helped some of the food plots.”

Sturgeon fishing and catching has been awful, Banfi said, with only two fish being registered since the opening September 2. 

“Seventeen fish were brought in last fall. Very low water and flow have made fishing nearly impossible in the area,” he said.

There’s a $10 rebate on some copper rifle cartridges with an immediate rebate at the counter,” Wally commented.

Brent Drake said some deer have already been registered, license sales are brisk, including several ginseng digging licenses, ammunition is readily available except for .410 shotshells.

A Genoa man reported all stages of ginseng plants dying back and numerous fruit aborted without maturing.  Digging is difficult in places, with prices about the same as 2022.

Autumn is in the air, according to Doug Williams at D W Sports Center in Portage.

“The robins are flocking; the blackbirds are flocking and the geese are flying,” he said. “Several nice deer have been registered, too.”

 The fall rush is on at Martin’s in Monroe according to Don Martin, with anglers and hunters bringing guns and reels in for repair. Some ammunition has come down a touch. 

“One hunter took a 12-point buck at five yards,” Don said. “Most ammunition is in fair to good supply.”

Autumn is showing in earnest, particularly along roadsides where sumac, black walnuts, dogwoods, and others are showing reds, yellows and oranges. Walnut leaflets are coming loose during breezy days or when weighted down with light rain.

Woodbine, with its bright red leaflets, has begun to show, particularly on dead tree skeletons, giving a tree “new life” so to speak.

With all the area diversity, look early for autumn, because it will never come all at once. Some trees will still be green, others brilliant, and still others showing their deciduous character.

— 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.