Outdoor Feature: Scouting for Big Wisconsin Deer

Posted by Carrie Zylka on 31 Aug 2012 / 0 Comment

By Carrie Zylka
August 31, 2012

The Wisconsin whitetail deer opener is exactly 47 days away.

And quite frankly I’m dying! I want it to hurry up and get here; I want summer to be over and fall to be here so I can put on my camo and go do what I love to do.

Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to do a whole lot of scouting in Columbia County this summer, until yesterday that is.

During the gun season I am most comfortable with my rifles. I’ve never used a shotgun for deer hunting and I don’t think I’d be that comfortable with it. I live in a suburb of Milwaukee and the surrounding zones are all shotgun only. So I have to travel a bit outwards.

Heading west along Hwy 60 you run into enormous parcels of public hunting land. State land specifically acquired and maintained for the sole purpose of hunting. It was here that I fell in love.

I’ve hunted the 2200 acres of Mud Lake Wildlife Area (Unit DMU 70G) successfully in the past; it’s about an hour and a half from my house. Columbia County is one of the five top producing counties in Wisconsin for trophy whitetail deer; the average typical scores around 140” and the non-typical averages around 170”.

We all want to bag a glorious wall hanger, but to me, the does I’ve taken out of that county have been fabulous; and better yet – consistent; and that to me is worth the 70 mile morning commute.

This year I wanted to check out a few of the other public areas.

Paradise Marsh State Wildlife Area, Peter Helland Wildlife Area, Duck Creek Public hunting Grounds and Jennings Creek State Wildlife Area were all on the list.

I have plenty of archery perfect public land within a stone’s throw of my house, so this particular scouting trip was to focus on suitable firearm spots.

With my hunting loads, my Mauser is easily accurate up to about 300 yards and my SKS 400. I’m most comfortable approximately 170-200 yards and both guns are sighted in for 200. So my goal was to find a few spots that gave me that kind of shooting room.

Easily done in Columbia County. Both paradise Marsh and Peter Helland provided me with more spots to choose from than I’d know what to do with.

Knowing that these areas would be heavily pressured I trekked deep into the heart of the marsh grass and waist high stinging nettles.

Note to self: when scouting wild land, and you’re planning on straying off the logging roads just because you can’t fight the urge to “see what’s on the other side of that hill” or “what’s behind the copse of trees on the other side of the field”….WEAR PANTS.

It was really hot so in my infinite wisdom I decided to wear shorts. My legs are not a pretty sight let me tell you. Fencing in the Olympics? From about mid-thigh down to my ankles it looks like the fencing team was practicing on my skin.

But pain really isn’t a deterrent to me; I mean what was I going to do? Drive an hour and half back home to change? Whatever – “suck it up Carrie, you’re here for a reason.”

And every scratch, scrape and embedded thorn was worth the GPS coordinates I logged on my mapping tool.

My heart soared as I came to the first spot, the trail opened up into a grassy field about 1/2 a mile long, and I of course, (in true Carrie fashion) had to see what was beyond that ½ mile!

There were tons of spots along the logging road, tons of places that would be easier for me to choose a stand sight. But knowing I would be competing against many other hunters I went to the farthest reaches, over the marshy swamp muck, forever away from any parking spot. 90% of the hunters wouldn’t come this far, all of the spots I chose were more than the 300 yard distance the average hunter would go in.

In fact, out of the 7 spots I scoped out, 6 were more than the 800 yards the average “more dedicated” hunter would trek in. So I’m hoping I won’t run into more than a handful of other hunters in the two days I’ll be able to hunt there.

It’s pretty far for archery season but you never do know, perhaps my first Columbia County archery kill will be in this cute little spot I found leading from one huge field to another and covered with deer scat and tracks…