A Northwoods Almanac
for 12/12-25, 2014 by John Bates
Ski Trail Seeds – Ash
and Birch
Mary, Callie, and I have been
skiing or snowshoeing every day in this wonderfully snowy winter, and we
consistently see yellow birch seeds and white ash seeds on the ski trails. The
birch seeds look like tiny three-fingered mittens or little fleurs-de-lis,
while the ash seeds look a bit like tiny canoe paddles. The birch and ash trees
appear to have had a banner seed year, and our wintering birds will be the
beneficiaries.
Both
species drop their winged seeds in the winter, an adaptive design intended for
the seeds to land on hard-packed snow where the wind will skitter the seeds far
away from the parent tree. If the snow is soft, well, all bets are off – the
seeds won’t get far.
Juvenile Loon
Migration Update
In my column on 11/14, I’d mentioned that scientists
had captured and radiomarked 17 juvenile common loons on lakes scattered across
Minnesota and Wisconsin. Five of the seventeen loons radiomarked were from
lakes in our area: Clear Lake, White Sand Lake, Upper Gresham Lake, Tomahawk
Lake, and Butternut Lake (Forest Co.). I noticed the juvenile loon from White
Sand Lake was no longer on the USGS internet map, so I contacted Kevin Kenow, a
research wildlife biologist for the U. S. Geological Survey, to see if he knew
what happened to it. Here is his reply:
“The White Sand juvenile evidently has bent the
transmitter antenna and the locations for this loon have been few and far
between. Consequently, we removed 107277 from the Loon Migration
webpage. I receive temperature information from this loon from single
transmissions every few days, but not enough information is transmitted to
estimate a location. I know he made it to the Gulf of Mexico off the
Florida coast and probably arrived near Florida on about 19 November. The
radiomarked juvenile loon from Butternut Lake is another loon for which we
seldom obtain a location, but I still get occasional temperature data (we will
probably remove 107274 from the website as well).”
As of 12/5, the map shows that the Lake Tomahawk
juvenile is off the northeastern coast of Florida; the Clear Lake juvenile is
off the southwest coast of Florida; the Upper Gresham lake juvenile is off the
far western edge of the Florida panhandle in the Gulf of Mexico; and the
Butternut Lake juvenile has made it only so far as the border of Kentucky and
Tennessee.
Snowy Owl Update
As of 12/1, we stand at 72 snowy owls in Wisconsin
this year, compared to 22 by this date last year.
Cindy and Chris Wills from Presque Isle saw two snowy
owls on 12/7 at the Superior Middle School, one perched on a snowbank and the
other perched on the edge of a sidewalk, overlooking a frozen pond. Cindy sent
me photos – it’s remarkable how well snowies blend into a hill of snow!
Sightings – Goshawk
and Moose
Kaye Oscar sent me some great photos of a juvenile
goshawk eating a wild turkey in her back yard. I don’t know if a goshawk is
capable of taking down a bird as large as a wild turkey (a goshawk weighs 2
pounds, a turkey 9-16 pounds), but goshawks are well known to take ruffed
grouse.
Sondra Katzen also sent me excellent photos of a
young bull moose crossing Oxbow Lake in Presque Isle on October 10. She noted,
“It was amazing how fast he swam across the lake.”
Celestial Events –
Geminid Meteor Shower and Winter Solstice
The Geminid meteor shower is at
its maximum on the late evening of 12/13 and early morning of 12/14. Best time
to watch is before the moon rises around midnight. Peak numbers can be 50
meteors per hour.
Winter
solstice occurs on 12/21. We now begin the slow turning towards more sunlight
and longer days, a welcome, very welcome, change.
Thoughts on the
Deer Hunt
The 2014
9-day gun-deer hunt had the lowest kill in 32 years. Here’s the breakdown on
the gun-deer harvest:
Total bucks: 90,336
Total Antlerless: 101,214
Total: 191,550
The total number is down 15.5% from 2013’s total of
226,582. The buck harvest was down 8%, and the antlerless harvest was down 21%.
Note that the totals don’t include the harvest by archers and muzzleloaders,
which may increase the numbers by 25 percent or more.
The lower numbers were expected, and here’s why:
1-
The deer population is down after two
consecutive tough winters. 2014 had an estimated 1,182,000 deer compared to 1.4
million in 2013 and 1.5 million in 2012. Winter is THE limiting factor for deer
– deer are on a starvation diet all winter. The last two long-lasting winters
were the major factor in a fawn mortality this spring that was estimated at 43
percent.
2-
19 counties only allowed bucks to be shot, the
largest “no doe” zone in 20 years. Thus, the antlerless numbers were meant to
be way down – the mission was accomplished. Plus, there were additional
restrictions on antlerless permits around the rest of the state.
3-
Rain and fog throughout much of the state on
opening weekend made for difficult hunting conditions.
4-
In the northern counties, our early winter
brought deep snow, so it was hard to get far into the woods. And then melting
conditions occurred on opening weekend, flooding some of our forest roads, further
limiting truck, ATV and snowmobile access. Hunters I talked to gave up early.
5-
The season started late – the rut was nearly
over.
6-
In the central and southern counties, there was
more standing corn than normal, making hunting on farm fields more difficult.
7-
Baiting and feeding deer continued to
concentrate deer on private lands.
8-
Fewer licenses were sold – down 4% from last
year.
9-
We have an increased array of predators, with
very high numbers of coyote (40,000-50,000), bears (about 20,000), and bobcats.
However, wolf numbers are down to 600-700 in 2014 (estimated 800 in 2013 and
1,000 in 2011). Predators move deer away from obvious feeding areas, making
hunting over bait less successful.
10-
Predators and bait make deer more nocturnal.
Trail cameras show deer are using many areas, but only during the night.
11-
Some say the aging forest is a factor since deer
do better in younger forest habitats. But actually, there’s still plenty of
good young habitat in most northern counties, so this is generally a
non-factor.
Adjoining states also all have seen declines in their
deer populations and in their harvests. Minnesota’s harvest was down 22% to
110,000 deer. Iowa has had a 33% drop in deer numbers since 2006. And while
Iowa’s and Michigan’s numbers aren’t in yet, both states are saying their
populations and their harvests are well down. The U.P. harvest was particularly
low due to having 40 inches of snow on the ground.
Given all of the above, it was clearly expected that
the largest decrease in buck harvest would occur in the northern counties – the
harvest was down 18% from 2013.
Until recently, it should also be remembered that
Wisconsin legislators and DNR had worked hard to bring the herd down since
2000. The 2000 harvest was 442,581 by gun hunters in 9 days, and 528,494 for
the year, an all-time record. That wasn’t the good old days. That was the time
when a seedling tree or an herbaceous species stood very little chance of ever
growing. And the cascading impacts on many other wildlife species were equally
severe.
As for hunter success, in 2000, it was 76%, compared
to 40% in 2013, a number that may be lower yet this year. But again, note that in the 43 years from 1966 to 2009, the
average success rate for gun hunters was 37 percent.
Unfortunately, deer biologists are again the target
of blame for this year’s low harvest, despite all of the above data.
Individuals who make these accusations continue to forget that the DNR does not
manage deer in order to set record kills. The DNR is legislated to manage for a
balance of habitat for all species, for overall biological integrity. Deer are
but one among a tribe of species.
I love deer, but no more than I love the rest of
Wisconsin’s wildlife and plantlife. Thus, I perceive low deer numbers in a
positive light. I see the results every day when I walk in the woods – the
reproductive success of trees and shrubs and wildflower is significantly up.
White pine reproduction in the understory of our sandy soils is robust, in
large part because of the decrease in deer, which eat five pounds of buds every
day in the winter. The difference can most easily be seen when someone erects a
deer exclosure, which totally excludes deer. However, deer belong on the
landscape like every other species that God and evolution have blessed us with
– they just can’t be so numerous that they become a detriment to the overall
floral and faunal diversity of our forests.
I’m cheered by these lower numbers and have little
quarrel with the DNR’s management. However, the time will soon come when our
winters warm again and deer numbers rebound. Then, the DNR will again have to
cut deer populations, undoubtedly using doe permits and “earn-a-buck” measures
to get the job done. The wrong-headed hue and cry will rise again against the
DNR wildlife managers, and the irony will be that anomalous winters like the
last few we have experienced are highly unlikely to continue in this era of
climate change. These winters will instead be remembered by us old-timers as
the last real winters the North saw. Deer will become ubiquitous because the
winters won’t be limiting anymore, and like back in 2000, we’ll have most
people pounding on the DNR to reduce the herd, not increase it.
Taking the long view, perhaps we should enjoy these
hard winters and low deer numbers – very different scenarios will soon enough
be upon us.
A Christmas Thought
– Contemplate the World with Awe
Only when one comes
to listen, only when one is aware and still, can things be seen and heard.
Everyone has a listening-point somewhere. It does not have to be in the north
or close to the wilderness, but some place of quiet where the universe can be
contemplated with awe. - Sigurd Olson
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