![]() "I'd say we're off to a very good start," Henning said, receiving the duck from Tess. Several flocks of teal strafed our locations before legal shooting time and more trumpeters as well as sandhill cranes called from all sides.Īt 6:35 a lone drake mallard winged in to take a look at our spread and Kammerzelt responded with a perfect shot. The sky was overcast, mercury read 53 degrees and the wind was about 10 mph out of the west. The animal and hunters immediately parted ways.īy 6 we had deployed a couple dozen decoys and settled into makeshift blinds on the grassy edges of islands. Henning and Muche let out a startle, however, when a beaver struck the bottom of their canoe. Not a single internal combustion engine could be heard. The paddle out was illuminated by headlamps and powered by humans. We broke camp about 4:30 and transported two kayaks and one canoe to a gravel road along one of Crex's flowages. ![]() "They were miserable yesterday afternoon and evening." "I'm putting it on thick today," Kammerzelt said in the pre-dawn Sunday. The temperatures in Burnett County had been mild and there hadn't been a killing frost. We also had reason to break out the insect repellent. 25 at Crex Meadows Wildlife Area near Grantsburg. Jim Henning of Grafton and his Labrador retriever Tess sit next to their stashed canoe on a duck hunt Sept. So according to the precipitation prognostication, we had reason for hope. But severe drought was recorded just to the north in Douglas County and a short flight to the south in St. Croix and Pierce counties.Īnd for most of the last year the monitor showed parts of Burnett County as either abnormally dry or in moderate drought. Drought Monitor showed normal conditions for Burnett County last week. In years with less precipitation and lower water levels, the ducks seemed to be more concentrated and we'd had better hunting. In years of high water, we have been less successful at Crex, likely because the birds have so much habitat available. ![]() Judging by past results, the general conditions appeared to be in our favor. "And that answer is out there in that beautiful marsh." "We only have one way to find out," Muche said. We wondered if Sunday would be a repeat or if the ducks had been moved out by opening day pressure. Saturday had been good for my fellow hunters, who brought in a mixed bag of 10 ducks. I arrived after dark Saturday just in time for a meal of fresh duck breasts and hearts expertly grilled by Kantorowicz. Our group included Jim Henning and his Labrador retriever Tess, both of Grafton, and his son-in-law Ramsey Kammerzelt of Kiel, as well as Bob Hunt of Dundee, Illinois, Ryan Kantorowicz of Fox River Grove, Illinois, Bryan Muche of Barrington Hills, Illinois, and me. Sunday the real alarm sounded and our 2022 hunting crew assembled for a quick breakfast around the camp fire. It wasn't the last time they screamed and honked that night.Īt 4 a.m. It was the first time I'd heard them roosting so close to our camp site. 25 hunt at Crex Meadows Wildlife Area near Grantsbrurg. Tess, a Labrador retriever owned by Jim Henning of Grafton, retrieves a teal during a Sept. Trumpeter swans are one of our state's wildlife success stories and, after a period of very low numbers in the 20th century, are now thriving at Crex and beyond. Or just messing with the camo-clad humans who show up here in fall and stake out a piece of ground for a few days. Maybe they were warning off a predator or arguing over sleeping space. More: Wisconsin wolf population show a 14% decline, but state officials say that was to be expectedīut after a minute it became clear: It was from trumpeter swans in a pond a couple hundred yards to the east. More: Joseph Hautman's tundra swans artwork has won the 2022 Federal Duck Stamp contest. It sounded like revelers were blowing on kazoos. That's why I was temporarily taken aback by a strange sound about midnight last Saturday. The camping nights are as restful as any I have all year. We camp at a rest area on the northern portion of the property and eat around a fire pit.Īlthough there's a paved road nearby, it's very lightly traveled. If you didn't know better, you'd think a caravan of Harley riders were coursing through the marsh.īut along with a cadre of like-minded friends at Crex it's been canoes and kayaks and dogs and waterfowl in a sprawling marsh. Other public properties echo with the harsh rattling of mud motors on hunters' boats at 0-dark-thirty on any day of the waterfowl seasons.
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