Wisconsin Duck Season Is Coming October 2nd

Wisconsin Duck hunters are getting ready for Opening Day which is this coming Saturday, October 2nd.

The river bottoms have had good water levels all summer and have produced a lot of “local” ducks.

The great majority of ducks that are hatched in our area are Bluewing Teal, Wood Ducks and Mallards. Occasionally you’ll see a few Greenwing Teal but they’re not very common. I’ve always loved going down and standing along the high bank of the river bottoms at dusk and watching the ducks come into the ponds for the night. Mallards are returning from farm fields where they’ve been eating grain and corn. Teal also will feed in fields and you can find them in soybeans quite often. Woodies will follow the area streams up into the hills and then land and find oak trees and fill their crops with acorns.

They go out in the morning and evening for a meal and then spend the rest of the time resting on one of the many ponds and sloughs in the Wisconsin River bottoms. When you add in hundreds of geese that also call the bottoms home, you can have a great time watching waterfowl real close to home. The River bottoms are one of the reasons I moved back to this area and spent my life here. I wish I knew how many times I’ve heard the “Eeee Eeee” sound a hen wood duck makes as she comes into a pond just at dark. It’s a special kind of music to a duck hunter’s ear.

Post written by: Dan Bomkamp
Author & Host of "How's Fishing?"

Scents Make Sense

One of the most important things that a hunter can do to be successful hunting deer with a bow is to make himself invisible to the deer. That is accomplished by camo clothes and face makeup. But one other thing is necessary to being invisible and that’s being scentless.

A deer has an amazing sense of smell and can identify a tiny amount of scent molecules in the air. Deer hunters take special pains to keep their hunting clothes clean and free of the smells of smoke, detergent and the home. One way to help with that is to use Cover Scents. These mask the human smell with the smell of wet dirt, pines, oak trees and many others.

Food is a big part of every deer’s day and early archers use food scents to help lure in that big buck. There are scents that smell like corn, or acorns that are often used. Then as the season progresses, the Doe In Heat scents become very important to luring in a deer.

Scents are a big part of hunting and a helpful tool for almost all hunters. But then that’s part of the fun of hunting…..collecting toys that help you hunt.

This post was written by: Dan Bomkamp
Author of several outdoor adventure novels and host of "How's Fishing?"

Bow Hunting From a Tree Stand

If you’re an archer you probably have at least one tree stand in your hunting arsenal. The great majority of bow hunters hunt from some type of a tree stand allowing them the chance to get up above their quarry where their movements and scent will be overlooked by that big buck.

If you own a piece of hunting land you can build a permanent stand. Some are pretty fancy and make it very comfortable for the hunter. Others are just a place to stand or sit. If you hunt on public land you will most likely use a tree stand or a tree ladder stand. The ladders are very popular and not only let you climb the tree more comfortably and safely, but they also have a platform on top where you can sit or stand.

There are double ladder stands that are big enough for two people to hunt from. Even I feel safe in one of these big steady platforms.

No matter which type of tree stand you use, a safety harness is a must. Every year several hunters are injured or even killed when they fall from a tree. Some just fall and most fall asleep and then topple out. The harnesses they make nowdays are very comfortable and you won’t even know you’re wearing one. And, if they save you from falling they’re worth every penny you invest in them.

by: Dan Bomkamp
author & host of "How's Fishing?"

Wisconsin Archery Season is Upon Us

Hunters have been taking to the Wisconsin woods with bows for over 75 years. In the early days you bought a deer license and if you shot one with a bow, you were done for the season and couldn’t hunt during the gun season. That changed in 1966 with a separate license and over 85,000 archers hunted that year. They harvested a bit over 6,000 deer.

Last year 260,000 archers bought licenses in Wisconsin and harvested 87,000 deer…..quite a jump from the early days. Of course gun hunting still is much more popular with over 630,000 gun hunters harvesting over 242,000 deer last year.

Archers have a chance to scout and learn the habits of the deer they’re after and if they do their homework they usually can get that big buck they’re watched for weeks. It’s a more solitary hunt and requires the hunter and deer to be much closer together than with a long range rifle.

Bows have evolved from a simple stick bow to compound machines that are very lethal and efficient. But either way, the hunter has to be skilled and do a lot of practicing to place that shot where it needs to be. Good luck in the woods this weekend. Have fun and be safe.

by: Dan Bomkamp
author & host of "How's Fishing?"

Be A Mentor - Wisconsin Youth Hunter Mentoring Program

Wisconsin Hunters have an opportunity to help young kids get started at hunting by participating in the Mentoring Program. This is a way for kids who are 10 or 11 to get out and do some safe hunting. They are too young for Hunter Safety, so this program lets them actually hunt before they take the HS course.

A mentor has to be at least 18 years old and the parent of the kids or have permission from the parent to take them out. A mentor can only take one kid at a time out into the woods. The mentor must have a Wisconsin hunting license of some kind. Any hunting license is fine. One gun or bow can be taken with the mentor/child. And the young hunter must be within an Arms Reach of the mentor at all times.

There are a lot of kids from single parent homes or homes where neither parent hunts that would love to be in this program. By mentoring them you give them a new outlook on the outdoors and open them to the great enjoyment of experiencing nature.

I’ve introduced dozens of kids to the outdoors and helped most of my 32 exchange students hunt for the first time and I guarantee there is no bigger thrill than seeing the look on the face of a new hunter the first time he or she gets that first shot. Take a kid hunting. You’ll have a friend for life.

by: Dan Bomkamp
author and host of "How's Fishing?"

Wisconsin Youth Duck Hunt

September 18th and 19th are the dates for the Wisconsin Youth Duck Hunt this year. This is a fairly new program where kids from the age of 12 to 15 can go duck hunting with an adult and get a crack at the ducks before the general season opens. The adult hunter can help with decoys, a blind, calling the ducks and helping to identify them but can’t shoot at any birds himself. That’s something that only the kids can do.

But this year it just so happens that the Exterior Zone for Canada geese opens on the same day as the Youth Hunt, so the adult hunters can shoot at any geese that happen past. Both the kids and adults need a goose tag and can get them at a DNR license station.

Duck hunting is a dying sport. In times past the marshes were full of shotgun toting hunters but the numbers have dwindled to just a few in the last decade. Duck hunting was and still is my favorite hunt. For many years I hunted every day of the season with one or more of my golden retrievers. It would be nice to see more young hunters get interested in this sport and carry the tradition on to the next generation.

So if you know some young hunters who’d like to try it, get them rigged up and head to the marsh next Saturday. I guarantee there will be lots to see and you’ll have a grand day in the great outdoors.

by: Dan Bomkamp
author & host of "How's Fishing?"

http://www.waterfront-property-wisconsin.com/

Bluegill Weather

When I think of cooler weather and falling leaves I think of bluegill fishing. It takes me back to when I was a kid and the many times my family went fishing after Sunday church for fall bluegills.

One place that seems to always turn into a bluegill paradise is Cold Springs, just north of Lynxville. Another is DeSoto bay just up the road a few miles. Both of these places fill up with big bluegills in the fall and can be a great place to spend a day fishing.

But you don’t have to go all the way to the Mississippi to catch bluegills. The Wisconsin River bottoms are full of nice sized fish and when the temperatures start to drop a bit they turn on and can provide you with great fishing. As an added bonus you can watch ducks, geese and cranes flying about the marshes.

And don’t overlook Blackhawk Lake near Highland. Blackhawk has a huge bluegill population and if you work a bit and find a “hotspot” you can have some great action. Bluegills provide countless hours of fishing fun each year for millions of fishermen. Not only are they fun to catch, they are great to eat. A big plate full of bluegill fillets a great reward after a day on the water in the fall.

by: Dan Bomkamp
author & host of "How's Fishing?"