I purchased 26 acres of land near Danbury, Wisconsin last year so that I would have a place to hang out in the woods, especially in the fall during hunting season. I have been hunting on public land for many years, and with hundreds of thousands of acres of public land in my county alone, I probably always will, but having a little corner all to myself is a nice feeling.
I hunted deer exclusively at my land last fall, and while there were plenty of deer around, I only saw deer while actively hunting three times. Two were does that I saw while bow hunting, and they never wandered into range. The other was a little buck that I had ample time to shoot, but I hesitated, thinking that maybe I’d wait for the larger buck that I had been seeing on my trail camera. Then when I decided that was a stupid decision, the buck had wandered out of range. I never had another shot on any deer last season. I took my son hunting with me during the gun season, and we didn’t see a thing (he was only 11, still unable to sit still for very long).
I have been out with my bow three times so far this season (its October 14 today). No sign of deer yet while actively hunting. But there’s plenty of deer sign around. My land has many white and red oaks on it, and the acorns were plentiful this year. I have not captured much of anything on my trail camera yet, but I had a couple glitches with it (low battery, poor location) and I think I have that straightened out now. There is plenty of season left, so I am not in a big hurry. I hope to harvest one deer from the land this year, either with my bow or with a gun during the Thanksgiving week gun season, or, new to me this year, the 10 day muzzleloader season. I’m very excited to try to harvest a deer with my new .50 caliber traditional percussion cap “smoke stick”.
The Wildwood Glen 