Non-typical Stuff | Deer Hunting & Management

Deer Over Abundance in Wisconsion

Deer are certainly an important and enjoyable part of the Pheasant Branch Conservancy and other conservancy areas throughout the City of Middleton, Wisconsion. Indeed, deer are wonderful, beautiful, wild animals which people seem to love to watch and feed. White-tailed deer are also an important part of an even greater plan, an ecosystem more complex than we can ever imagine. So what happens we deer overpopulate their habitat?

As agricultural lands disappear and our urban areas continu to grow, the telltale signs of an overpopulated and un-balanced urban deer herd will be exhibited everywhere through the loss of native plant species (trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants), damage to private residential vegetation (trees, shrubs and herbaceous shrubs), and an increased number of car-kill deer accidents within associated suburban and urban areas.

Maureen Rowe, DNR , a Wildlife Biologist for the Dane County Area, sums it up best by stating:

"The deer herds within management units 76 and 76M, are severely over populated. Scientific studies document that current deer population levels threaten microhabitat, severely impacting native flora and fauna."

Hunting for Shed Deer Antlers

Hunters hunting for shed deer antlers has become a big event in recent years. People search for antler sheds for various reasons and some of those folks are not even hunters. Some want to find shed deer antlers to make various items out of… lamps, knives, etc. And then there are those that are serious about finding shed antlers for buck tracking and management purposes.

Hunting for Sheds

Finding shed antlers (especially both sides) allows the finder to rough-score the bucks to get a good idea of current and future quality. In addition, finding a particular buck’s antlers can let you know if he’s made it through the winter or if he’s still in the area. Also, finding numerous shed antlers over years on a particular piece of property allows you to gain knowledge regarding the areas that bucks are frequenting.

Finding a Buck’s Shed Antlers

So, where are the best places to look? The basics are simple. Look for shed antlers in winter food sources, in bedding areas and along trails in between these two areas. These are the best locations to run across a shed, but timing is of the greatest importance. Start too early in the season and you’ll find nothing. Starting too late means antlers will either be partially or entirely eaten by small mammals and other rodents or vegetation will be well-grown, making antlers even more difficult to find.

So when?

Of course, antler drop varies by region and even likely even within parts of your state. I recommend keeping an eye on the deer herd or using a game camera to document when bucks are losing their head-gear in your area. Then it’s just a matter of getting out there and putting in some time. Good luck!

Sausage Making: A Few Recipes for the Hunters

Ready to make some sausage are you? Congratulations, that means you managed to bag some sort of critter this hunting season! Well, you’ve put in the time and effort to bag your wild game, you took care of the animal in the field and got it home, and now it’s time to create a finished product.

Sounds great, so check out the following recipes:

Each year after we harvest a couple of deer, my family and I will get together and make sausage. This is an annual event, typically starting with a wood duck hunt in the early morning and then getting back to the house in short order to get to work making sausage.

We commonly make sausage out of deer and wild hogs, but you can do a lot of substitution when in comes to making sausage. Usually, our sausage mix is about 50% deer and 50% wild or store-bought pork. Sometimes when we don’t manage to bring porky home, we will also subsitute in beef brisket in place of the pork. This works quite well and what we end up adding to the sausage usually just comes down to what is on sale that week.

Sausage Making: A Few Recipes for the Hunters

You can be imaginative when it comes to sausage making, we’ve even used geese, ducks, and turkey – and they have all turned out great! Venison is lean, so you are definitely going to want to add some fat to give your sausage some moisture and make it better table fare. I recommend making a sausage that is about 85% meat and 15% fat.

The following recipe is one that we use and is based on 5 pound increments so that you can easily adapt it to fit the quantity of sausage that you are making. After mixing, stuffing, and tying, you are ready to smoke it.

Basic Sausage Recipe

–5 pounds boneless meat of your preference
–2 Tablespoons black pepper
–1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon salt
–1 Tablespoon garlic powder
–1 teaspoon modern cure

Sausage Making: A Few Recipes for the Hunters

Summer Sausage

The basic sausage recipe above can also be used to make summer sausage. The only difference is that you need to add at least one more ingredient to the mix. Add 3% nonfat dry milk (by weight) to the mix and this will make the sausage “gel.” If you are making 10 pounds of summer sausage, then you need to add 0.3 pounds of nonfat dry milk.

Also, you can add in other ingredients to kick it up, but this is best determined by personal preference. Whole black pepper, mustard seed, jalepenos, and cheese can be added to your summer sausage recipes to give them a kick. I usually just add whole black pepper and I do this until it “looks” right.

Breakfast-pan Sausage

This is a great pan sausage to eat for breakfast and even works great in chili. This can be made from your 50/50 deer and pork mix or from straight pork. Use the basic sausage recipe, but DO NOT use modern cure. In addition, add 2 Tablespoons of ground sage for every 5 pounds of meat and you are done. Simply grind and pack for the freezer!

Texas’ Largest Youth Super Hunt

Take a kid hunting!

Forty-nine young people from across Texas had an outstanding experience this past weekend in what organizers called the Texas’ largest youth deer hunt. Twelve ranches opened their gates for free to the 3rd annual Cave Creek Super Hunt near Stonewall in Gillespie County, sponsored by the Texas Youth Hunting Program (TYHP) in partnership with Austin Woods and Waters and the Cave Creek Wildlife Management Association. Cold, cloudy drizzle on Saturday did not dampen the spirits of the young participants, who harvested dozens of deer. Crisp, sunny conditions Sunday were more welcoming. Several Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) employees helped make the weekend a success.

A key goal of the Super Hunt is to promote wildlife management. Cave Creek WMA’s youth hunt program chairman Ronnie Ottmers said the youth hunt is important to help maintain a healthy deer population, and he hopes it will build positive relationships between landowners and young hunters. Providing a safe, affordable hunting experience is also a major focus, according to Doug DuBois of TYHP, who organized the hunt. “Our goal is to have parents and youth in the blinds, having that quiet time together and watching nature,” Dubois said. The Texas Youth Hunting Program is run by the Texas Wildlife Association (TWA) in partnership with TPWD.

It is important to get youth involved in hunting and other outdoor activties. With the majority of young Americans now growing up in urban and suburban environements, unless kids are introduced to hunting at an early age, it can be diffcult for them to gain interest or comprehend the sport and management ascpects of hunting. Even is a “big” hunting state such as Texas, only about 7% of the total population hunts. This means the future of hunting lies in the future of America. So, wherever you are outdoors, take a kid with you and show them what it’s all about. Because if you don’t, who will? Have fun and be safe!

Deer With Seven Legs – Still Not Enough to Get Away

FOND DU LAC, Wis. – Rick Lisko hunts deer with a bow but got his most unusual one driving his truck down his mile-long driveway. The young buck had nub antlers — and seven legs. Lisko said it also had both male and female reproductive organs. “It was definitely a freak of nature,” Lisko said. “I guess it’s a real rarity.”

He said he slowed down as the buck and two does ran across the driveway Nov. 22, but the buck ran under the truck and got hit. When he looked at the animal, he noticed three- to four-inch appendages growing from the rear legs. Later, he found a smaller appendage growing from one of the front legs. “It’s a pretty weird deer,” he said, describing the extra legs as resembling “crab pinchers.”

“It kind of gives you the creeps when you look at it,” he said, but he thought he saw the appendages moving, as if they were functional, before the deer was hit.

Warden Doug Bilgo of the state Department of Natural Resources came to Lisko’s property near Mud Lake in the town of Osceola to tag the deer. “I have never seen anything like that in all the years that I’ve been working as a game warden and being a hunter myself,” Bilgo said. “It wasn’t anything grotesque or ugly or anything. It was just unusual that it would have those little appendages growing out like that.”

Bilgo took photos and sent information on the animal to DNR wildlife managers. John Hoffman of Eden Meat Market skinned the deer for Lisko, who wasn’t going to waste the venison from the animal.

“And by the way, I did eat it,” Lisko said. “It was tasty.”