c. Outdoor activity. To engage in outdoor activity, including visiting public and state parks, provided individuals comply with Social Distancing Requirements as defined below. Wisconsin Gov Evers
Gentle Readers and Loved Ones All,
Rowdy and I are in the wilds of NW, Wisconsin, keeping our social distance like gang busters. This is the time of year when the wily Woodcocks migrate back through after avoiding our harrowing and harsh winter. Today, we went on a nice walk that is totally authorized by our benevolent government that only wants the best for us in the Kiezer Lake Wildlife Area to see if we could find some of them.
KLWA is maintained by Burnet County, WI and is a pretty wild place. There are some snowmobile trails that run through it, but in general you can get back in these woods and be at least a mile away from every other human on the planet.
The map below is way too green for what we saw today. No leaves are yet sprouting and everything is brown and dry. There is still a lot of snow in the shadowy areas.
I include the map to show the breakdown of the terrain as it is germane to this discussion. The lower vegetation that we walked mostly around is recent growth popples and bramble berry bush. That irregular area was totally logged out and left to regenerate about 5 years ago. Woodcocks love it in there. They also like to come out into the margin between it and the old growth popple forest where the sun can melt the ground and the worms are starting to multiply so they can eat them.
Rowdy and I popped up two of the wily guys today and he's got his woodcock game face on now. I didn't get a good look at them but they really have a rich brown back feather scheme that's quite attractive as they speed away from you. It's amazing how your viewpoint changes when you don't have a gun and your can enjoy the spectacle....
We left the woods, were back at the truck and were about to get some water when I heard a Ruffed Grouse drumming off in the distance. The real drumming has a low frequency component that you can feel that this link does not convey. We drove off thinking it'll be a good year.
On that happy note, I remain,
Dad/Geoff
ps, Holy Cow, it's not really all thawed and the ticks are everywhere! Good thing Rowdy just got treated!
Gentle Readers and Loved Ones All,
Rowdy and I are in the wilds of NW, Wisconsin, keeping our social distance like gang busters. This is the time of year when the wily Woodcocks migrate back through after avoiding our harrowing and harsh winter. Today, we went on a nice walk that is totally authorized by our benevolent government that only wants the best for us in the Kiezer Lake Wildlife Area to see if we could find some of them.
KLWA is maintained by Burnet County, WI and is a pretty wild place. There are some snowmobile trails that run through it, but in general you can get back in these woods and be at least a mile away from every other human on the planet.
The map below is way too green for what we saw today. No leaves are yet sprouting and everything is brown and dry. There is still a lot of snow in the shadowy areas.
I include the map to show the breakdown of the terrain as it is germane to this discussion. The lower vegetation that we walked mostly around is recent growth popples and bramble berry bush. That irregular area was totally logged out and left to regenerate about 5 years ago. Woodcocks love it in there. They also like to come out into the margin between it and the old growth popple forest where the sun can melt the ground and the worms are starting to multiply so they can eat them.
Rowdy and I popped up two of the wily guys today and he's got his woodcock game face on now. I didn't get a good look at them but they really have a rich brown back feather scheme that's quite attractive as they speed away from you. It's amazing how your viewpoint changes when you don't have a gun and your can enjoy the spectacle....
 | ||
| Rowdy stalks the wily woodcock |
On that happy note, I remain,
Dad/Geoff
ps, Holy Cow, it's not really all thawed and the ticks are everywhere! Good thing Rowdy just got treated!
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