Where to hunt question answered in webinar

DNR helps hunters to figure out which lands are accessible for season
By: 
Greg Seubert
Correspondent

Social media and the internet are helping the state Department of Natural Resources interact with the public.

The department held its third hunting-related webinar “Wanna Go Hunting: Where Can We Hunt?” Sept. 21 as a way to share information about finding lands open to public hunting, along with tips on getting access to private land.

The webinar’s panel included three avid hunters: Bob Nack, the DNR’s recruitment, retention and reactivation team supervisor; Alaina Gerrits, the department’s wildlife biologist for Vilas County; and Brock Rosenkranz, recruitment, retention and reactivation coordinator for the Wisconsin chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.

“Last month, we talked about all the great hunting opportunities that we have here in Wisconsin and the variety of species,” Nack said. “Tonight, we’ll be talking about where we can pursue them. We’re lucky here in Wisconsin. There are a lot of great resources, but also a lot of public land hunting opportunities to pursue and enjoy the outdoors with family and friends.”

Shawano County has turned in some of the state’s highest harvest numbers from the nine-day gun deer season, which this year will run from Nov. 19 to Nov. 27.

According to the DNR, Shawano County registered 5,446 deer – 2.478 bucks and 2,968 antlerless deer – during last year’s hunt. That total was second in the state to Marathon County, which had 6,208 registered deer.

Oconto County’s totals were below Shawano County, with 1,872 bucks and 1,797 antlerless. Menominee County’s harvest consisted of one buck.

“I would definitely rely on doing internet scouting beforehand,” Gerrits said. “That can help you narrow down things down a lot. A more old-timey piece of advice I would have is talk to somebody who maybe has hunted that property before that can provide you a lot of insight. If there’s a property that’s close to home and you can catch it on the way home from work, maybe just scout in 10- or 20-minute intervals.

“If you’re looking at a new place, it might be good that you start with something like a deer or a squirrel that you’ll probably find signs for pretty much anywhere in the state,” she said. “That’ll start giving you clues to what to look for.”

Where to start is a question hunters often ask themselves as they look for new hunting locations, according to Nack.

“If you live in the country, you can just start around where you live,” he said. “I’ve had great success with that and talking to my neighbors. It’s always helpful to say, ‘I live down the road.’ Maybe you have a relative that lives in a rural area. You can lean on them to maybe help you find some spots as well.”

“Find a piece of land, get out there and see if you like it,” Rosenkranz said.

Rosenkranz takes advantage of apps to find hunting locations on public and private land.

“With private land, it’s hard to say, ‘Well, this guy’s going to give me permission,’” he said. “With 12 people, you might get one or two or three. You never know.”

Gerrits recently started turkey hunting in northern Wisconsin’s Zone 7, which covers Vilas and Iron counties and portions of Ashland, Price, Oneida, Forest and Florence counties. She used apps such as onX to narrow down her options for finding places to hunt.

“That’s kind of a different ballgame for me,” she said. “I’m luckier up north because I have a lot more public land. There’s a lot of county forest and a lot of national forest. Being able to look at that imagery beforehand to help me scout was really, really helpful.”

All three offered suggestions when it comes to getting permission to hunt on private land.

“In the southern part of the state, if you want to go hunt a farm, I would offer to hunt something like a coyote or a turkey to start,” Gerrits said. “Those are sort of the gateway species where you can gain trust with that farmer and say, ‘Hey, I’m helping out your backyard chickens.’ You can develop that relationship and hopefully go from there.”

“A lot of these rural landowners, they live with the rural species that are out there,” Nack said. “They know what’s out there. If there’s any one that’s giving them a little bit of a headache that you can help with, they certainly appreciate that.”

“I’ll ask to go shed hunting and say, ‘Hey, those antlers out in your field are going to pop your tractor tires this spring, I should probably go pick them up for you,’” Rosenkranz said. “Even stopping out and asking if they need help around the farm.”

The entire webinar can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT3j1aG0jDA. Nack said the next webinar in October will focus on shooting ranges.