Hunting community loses local educator

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Dave Johnston is pictured teaching a hunter education class.

Talk about it

Earlier this month a good friend passed away after a long bout with cancer at the young age of 52.

Dave Johnston was an extremely talented family man who shared many of his interests and expertise with those who had the good fortune to know him. He loved the outdoors and hunted and fished whenever possible.

He was the president of the Willow River Rod and Gun Club for several years and a hunter education instructor, teaching hundreds of students the basics of firearm safety, outdoor ethics and common sense.

One always knew when Dave was in the vicinity as his deep distinctive voice and laugh could belong to no one else. As a black powder shooter and muzzle loader enthusiast, he held several competitive shooting records that will stand for a long time to come. Dave was a true conservationist. He will be missed.

Nature walk

The Friends of the St. Croix Wetland Management District and the St. Croix WMD is sponsoring a winter ecology and nature walk on Saturday, Jan. 15, on the Oak Ridge Waterfowl Production Area from 10 a.m. to noon. Oak Ridge WPA is located about two miles east of Star Prairie, south of County Road H.

Biologists Jim Riemer and Chris Trosen will lead you on a winter walk exploring the mysterious sights and sounds of nature during winter. Following the outing, hot chocolate will be available.

Space is limited so RSVP at 715-246-7784, ext. 16 if interested.

Odds and ends

The recent December DNR wildlife report contained some interesting information:

• A total of five feral pigs were harvested in Wisconsin over the last year. Two were from Crawford County, two from Clark County and one from St. Croix County near Baldwin.

• During the nine-day deer gun season 218,144 deer were registered. This is an 11 percent increase compared to 2009. Buck harvest was up 17 percent wile the anterless harvest was up nearly 7 percent.

• The 2010 deer gun season was the first season since 1974 with no fatal hunting accidents. Wisconsin has 5,630 volunteer hunter education instructors with more than 1 million hunters having graduated from these classes since 1967. Wisconsin is well below the national average of 3.27 firearm hunting incidents per 100,000 hunters standing at 1.93 per 100,000.

• The ALIS licensing system used by Wisconsin performed flawlessly processing a one-day record 89,593 license purchases on Friday, the day before the deer gun season opener.

• At the close of the 2010 gun deer season, 621,094 gun deer licenses had been issued; down 3 percent from 2009. Of these, 13,168 licenses were issued during the open season.

• There were 205,410 archery licenses sold in 2010, up slightly from 2009.

• Hunters from every state in the country and several foreign countries, ranging in age from 10 to older than 90 bought a license to gun deer hunt in Wisconsin.

• Of the 621,094 hunters this gun deer season, 95 percent were Wisconsin residents, 13 percent were younger than 18, 9 percent were female and 9 percent were older than 65.

Junior Duck Stamp

By Tom Kerr

Do you know a K-12 student who likes to draw or paint? Are they interested in conservation? Would they like to enter a free art contest?

If so, encourage them to enter the Junior Duck Stamp Contest sponsored each year by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Students from around the country enter their respective state competitions and then each state’s Best of Show winner is submitted to the National Junior Duck Stamp competition.

Winners from each age group receive a ribbon. The national first, second and third place winners receive ribbons and cash prizes.

The national winner’s design is also used to produce a Junior Duck Stamp which can be purchased for $5. Proceeds from the sale of the Junior Duck Stamps are returned to the states for environmental and conservation education programs.

The Junior Duck Stamp program is modeled after the highly successful Federal Duck Stamp program, which not only encourages artists to capture their favorite waterfowl species in art but also results in the stamp proceeds being used to purchase and protect migratory waterfowl habitat.

Within the St. Croix Wetland Management District, more than 7,800 acres of land have been protected with funds raised by the Federal Duck Stamp program.

If you know a budding artist in grades K-12, encourage them to enter the Junior Duck Stamp contest next year. Wisconsin entries are due by March 15, 2011.

Make sure they review the contest rules since there are specific requirements for items such as image size and eligible species.

For more information, visit the contest website at http://www.fws.gov/junio rduck/. If you have the time, encourage them to enjoy our great outdoors and visit one of your Waterfowl Production Areas (http://www.fws.gov/mi dwest/StCroix/) in the New Richmond area. Who knows maybe that will serve as inspiration for their Junior Duck Stamp entry.

Warden Paul’s Corner

Fishing from Permanent Shelters

With winter here in a big way, people are struggling to get their permanent ice shelters onto the ice for fishing. A few things to remember when fishing from shelters:

• Fishing from inside a locked ice house prohibited.

• Permanent shelters must display name and address legibly and visible.

• Pick up all litter on the ice and around shelters.

The doors of all enclosed fishing shelters, both permanent and portable, must be readily opened from the outside while someone is inside. The only time a fishing shelter can be locked is when it is not in use. Therefore, a permanent shelter cannot be locked from the inside when someone is fishing. Your shelter needs to be built or modified using a typical door knob/latch, a heavy duty spring or some other way to keep the door closed, but not locked while in use so it can be opened from the outside.

All permanent fishing shelters must display the owner’s name and address (in English) legibly by painting or otherwise affixing on the outside of the shelter using block lettering a minimum of one inch and in contrasting colors. A name and city or phone number is not correct. Take the short amount of time to look at your shelter and get it into compliance if needed.

The main reason for this requirement is so law enforcement knows who owns the shelter for removal deadlines. In addition, Wisconsin does not want to license fishing shelters such as Minnesota so please follow the laws, be respectful and responsible so the laws stay the same.

Tags: outdoor happenings, outdoors, hunting, fishing