This is the time of year that hiking becomes problematic on
Wisconsin’s public lands. It used to be that Wisconsin’s deer season
started the week before Thanksgiving and ended the weekend after
Thanksgiving. Now, with all of the special hunts to reduce deer
populations and chronic wasting disease, the chances of running into a
hunter in mid-October through Christmas have greatly increased. When
hunters with loaded weapons appear on the trails, it’s time for me to
take my walks elsewhere.
Ice Age Trail: Cannery to Twin Pines
On Monday of this week, Callie and I hiked the Ice Age Trail segment
from the Lodi Cannery to Twin Pines without any incident whatsoever.
It’s a beautiful time of year to hike: fall colors, comfortable temps,
reduced mosquitoes, and fewer people on the trails, especially on
weekdays. We hiked Slack’s Hill on Tuesday and enjoyed similar
conditions. On Wednesday, we went back to the Cannery segment. Things
had changed, and it wasn’t even deer hunters.
First, I should say that I don’t have any moral issues with hunters
harvesting game within the rules. I don’t hunt, but I’ve eaten game
many times and helped to butcher farm animals also. Meat doesn’t come
from a foam package covered with plastic wrap. It comes from a living
animal. Unfortunately, there are a lot of hunters that don’t play by the
rules or are otherwise inconsiderate.
Additionally, some of the rules
make hunting a little bit more like gathering.
It was obvious when we came out on top of the hill that state-raised
pheasants were just released. A couple of birds came across the trail
right in front of us. There was no great surprise when we saw a bird
hunter ahead of us.
Unfortunately, he was hunting right on the hiking
trail with two unleashed dogs. In Wisconsin, it’s illegal to hunt
within 100 yards of the Ice Age Trail, but there’s little enforcement. I
suppose I could have made a citizen’s arrest or told him that he was
breaking the law, but he had a loaded gun. So there’s that.
The hunter’s back was to us. He was trudging along with his gun
without any idea that we were coming up behind him. I stopped about 100
feet away (Callie on leash), and waited for him to notice us and leash
his dogs. My plan was to go around and past him, continuing our hike.
As you might expect, his dogs were the ones to eventually notice us.
They both started running at Callie. The hunter didn’t move but started
swearing at the top of his lungs. When one of the dogs got within 20
feet, I picked up Callie (who wanted to “kill, kill, kill”, despite the
other dogs being twice her size).
I yelled, “Go home,” The dogs looked at me questioningly. I yelled
“Go home” again, and they turned around. When the dogs made their way
back to the hunter, he made no effort to leash his dogs, but continued
to walk slowly down the middle of the Ice Age Trail, gun on his
shoulder. I turned around and headed home. It was time to leave that
public property until after Christmas. Hiker-friendly laws aren’t much
good when ignored by hunters.
Devil’s Lake State Park
On Thursday, Julia took the morning off and we got up very early to take the ferry across the Wisconsin River.
The
sun was just starting to come up when we started up the east cliff
trail. There was no one else on the trail, except for a lone
photographer snapping photos of the sun hitting the west cliffs. The
lake was so beautiful. We then hiked up and down the west cliff trail.
Playing with Wood
Between hikes, I’ve been making progress with the firewood pile. I
identified several fallen trees in my woods to cut up. Because I live
on a hill, the rounds get thrown down the hill, loaded into my truck and
taken to the processing area. Here, the wood is hand split with a maul
and then stacked.
This year’s wood is stacked on pallets in my pole barn (5 full
cords). Next year’s wood is off to the left in the photo. I need to
get to work on the spaces on the right. Split hardwood benefits from
two or three years of aging in stacks to get the moisture levels down
below 20%, which is optimal for wood stoves. Typically, I heat with
wood full time from October to April. The furnace only goes on if we’re
out of town overnight.
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