The warm sunlight of fall cascades through the leaves, giving the woods a kaleidoscope of color.
Most of my life I've watch autumn slowly become winter while I've been hunting.
I was raised a hunter of pheasants, squirrels, rabbits and deer. I was walking with my grandfather and uncles while pheasant hunting long before I was old enough to carry a gun. I used to sit at the base of my father's deer stand and quietly play in the dirt.
On one such occasion I could notice my dad had tensed up and he was breathing more rapidly than usual. Surrounded by bushes and underbrush, I couldn't see the eight-point buck he was watching walk parallel to us 20 yards away.
I started bow hunting in 1981. To be honest, I've never harvested a deer with a bow. There have been many times I decided not even to try for a shot. I just enjoyed watching the deer.
My favorite hunting season is Wisconsin's gun deer season. While my son and I are the only people in the family who enjoy eating venison, we like to put at least one deer in the freezer for the winter.
I do not hunt for horns. We hunt for meat. I'd rather have a nice, well-fed, two- or three-year-old doe than a grizzled, rut-weary buck. I've gotten my share of nice bucks. Now I'm simply after tasty, lean protein.
It's exciting to watch deer in the wild, and they are majestic animals. I understand how some people could be against hunting deer, but when you consider the reason why it's important, hunting is logical.
Wisconsin's deer hunters are the only group who manage the state's enormous deer herd. Not only is hunting an economic benefit for the state, but hunters help prevent an over-abundance of the animals and that leads to fewer car-deer accidents.
Some people think there were more deer in Wisconsin before settlers came. That's not true.
As pioneers came they cleared the land and replaced the native prairie with crops. Fields of corn, soybeans and oats provide our deer with more food than they require. The fields of corn provide excellent cover. The combination of food, water and cover makes an outstanding habitat for whitetail deer.
If it weren't for hunters thinning out the herd each year, there would be an overabundance of deer creating biological danger for the species and an ever-increasing threat to humans.
I don't have to go far to watch deer. We're surrounded by a creek and fields here at the Monroe Times building on the city's west side. On several occasions I've walked behind the Times into the parking lot to find deer looking at me from the woods.
There's an adult doe with two yearlings which lives in a territory inside the city of Monroe along Fourth Avenue West. I've seen the trio of deer in several places. The yearlings have little fear of humans.
A week ago, all three of them were crossing from wooded cover north of 11th Street to a corn field south of it. The adult doe made her way slowly across the road followed by the two younger deer. The doe and one of the younger deer wandered into the corn field while the second younger deer stood by the curb of 11th Street and watched me.
I tried to roll forward in my car, but the deer didn't realize it was safer with its mother in the corn field. It started to run away from me along the curb. I knew there wasn't any traffic behind me, but I saw a car coming toward me over a hill. I came to a stop again and flashed my high-beams. The other driver stopped and we watched the deer together.
Here were two vehicles stopped on a city street as a small deer couldn't make up its mind on where to go.
I eventually waved to the other driver, passed the deer slowly and watched it do a little dance by the street, stepping on and off the curb.
The state has a lot of deer and I wish all deer hunters, bow or otherwise, a safe and successful hunt. Without a successful hunt the state's deer herd will grow rapidly, especially if there is a mild winter.
I'm a little superstitious as a hunter. I think I won't see any deer on opening morning this year. I've seen so many deer just strutting around our parking lot that too much irony has been created for me to actually see one when I'm trying.
- Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.
Most of my life I've watch autumn slowly become winter while I've been hunting.
I was raised a hunter of pheasants, squirrels, rabbits and deer. I was walking with my grandfather and uncles while pheasant hunting long before I was old enough to carry a gun. I used to sit at the base of my father's deer stand and quietly play in the dirt.
On one such occasion I could notice my dad had tensed up and he was breathing more rapidly than usual. Surrounded by bushes and underbrush, I couldn't see the eight-point buck he was watching walk parallel to us 20 yards away.
I started bow hunting in 1981. To be honest, I've never harvested a deer with a bow. There have been many times I decided not even to try for a shot. I just enjoyed watching the deer.
My favorite hunting season is Wisconsin's gun deer season. While my son and I are the only people in the family who enjoy eating venison, we like to put at least one deer in the freezer for the winter.
I do not hunt for horns. We hunt for meat. I'd rather have a nice, well-fed, two- or three-year-old doe than a grizzled, rut-weary buck. I've gotten my share of nice bucks. Now I'm simply after tasty, lean protein.
It's exciting to watch deer in the wild, and they are majestic animals. I understand how some people could be against hunting deer, but when you consider the reason why it's important, hunting is logical.
Wisconsin's deer hunters are the only group who manage the state's enormous deer herd. Not only is hunting an economic benefit for the state, but hunters help prevent an over-abundance of the animals and that leads to fewer car-deer accidents.
Some people think there were more deer in Wisconsin before settlers came. That's not true.
As pioneers came they cleared the land and replaced the native prairie with crops. Fields of corn, soybeans and oats provide our deer with more food than they require. The fields of corn provide excellent cover. The combination of food, water and cover makes an outstanding habitat for whitetail deer.
If it weren't for hunters thinning out the herd each year, there would be an overabundance of deer creating biological danger for the species and an ever-increasing threat to humans.
I don't have to go far to watch deer. We're surrounded by a creek and fields here at the Monroe Times building on the city's west side. On several occasions I've walked behind the Times into the parking lot to find deer looking at me from the woods.
There's an adult doe with two yearlings which lives in a territory inside the city of Monroe along Fourth Avenue West. I've seen the trio of deer in several places. The yearlings have little fear of humans.
A week ago, all three of them were crossing from wooded cover north of 11th Street to a corn field south of it. The adult doe made her way slowly across the road followed by the two younger deer. The doe and one of the younger deer wandered into the corn field while the second younger deer stood by the curb of 11th Street and watched me.
I tried to roll forward in my car, but the deer didn't realize it was safer with its mother in the corn field. It started to run away from me along the curb. I knew there wasn't any traffic behind me, but I saw a car coming toward me over a hill. I came to a stop again and flashed my high-beams. The other driver stopped and we watched the deer together.
Here were two vehicles stopped on a city street as a small deer couldn't make up its mind on where to go.
I eventually waved to the other driver, passed the deer slowly and watched it do a little dance by the street, stepping on and off the curb.
The state has a lot of deer and I wish all deer hunters, bow or otherwise, a safe and successful hunt. Without a successful hunt the state's deer herd will grow rapidly, especially if there is a mild winter.
I'm a little superstitious as a hunter. I think I won't see any deer on opening morning this year. I've seen so many deer just strutting around our parking lot that too much irony has been created for me to actually see one when I'm trying.
- Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.
