u/unicornman5d

Ranger absolutely loves going to daycare every week. The staff all love him to death. Lab/shepherd mix, if anyone is wondering.

Really cool to have an expert to tell me all about them and the other wildlife in the area.

I leave a couple to deter other hunters, but the ash trees killed by beetles are starting to fall now and I don't feel like portaging around too many trees.

Cut Saturday, peeled and seeled with bees wax Sunday afternoon. Stored mostly shaded, off the ground.

On Tuesday I noticed them starting to crack along the length of them amd now here we are on Friday.

It looks like some wax was pulled into the wood in spots? I spread it on the ends by hand when the wax was still warm enough to spread like butter.

Northern Wisconsin.

Cut them five to seven feet long. Northern Wisconsin.

This was my first time tanning and they came out very soft.

I got the idea to use bkack tea from someone tanning beaver tails with it.

Initially I made the tea too weak and it took forever to absorb much tannins. Mice also got to these hides while they wete dried, so I figured it was a good use for them to be my first trials.

What ended up working best was 60 tea bags per 1.5 gallons.

I conditioned the pelts with a mixture of oil and bees wax and dregreased with corn meal.

They're soft and supple with a tea scent to them.

I've never made a bow before and we don't have Osage growing in Wisconsin. Will that knot be really bad for a beginner?

Yes, Wisconsin has small peices of gold that the glaciers brought from Canada.

Yes, this is legal so long as you don't use anything mechanical.

Yes, you can do this on some public land.

[WDNR regulations](https://imgur.com/a/Fzjc1wD)

An Italian guy sells a couple variations of these.

They're tomato, basil, mozzarella, olive oil, and chunky pesto on focacia bread.

This one has salami added to it and he does one with salami and pepperoni.

Both seasoned with a chipotle garlic seasoning. Cooked Medium.

Heart has the arteries and damage removed. Then I open it into strips and remove any fat and heart strings.

In the future, I would cut it thicker.

Used 2 loins from a black bear I killed in 2024. About 7 pounds of meat cut into 1/8th inch strips and marinated in a store bought jerky mix for 24 hours before dehydrating at 160°F for 10 hours.

I collected all the public information from Wisconsin DNR on CWD surveillance since 2001 and created a chronological county map. Watch how it builds up slowly from the epicenter and then blooms outward.

See the map here - you can scrub the timeline and see the breakdown for each county each year: Wisconsin CWD Surveillance Dashboard

Also, below the map you'll see some preliminary data re: CWD's impact on harvest and trophy size. Not quite ready yet, I'm still pulling more data. More on this soon.