Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend, so don’t forget to take that into account if you want to be in the woods before dawn Sunday.
That means changing any clocks that don’t do it automatically before you go to bed Saturday night and setting your alarm for an hour earlier.
For example, Saturday’s shooting hours are just after 7 a.m. to just before 6 p.m. (varies north and south, as well as east to west; see the shooting hours in the hunting regulations for exact times).
On Sunday, after the 2 a.m. end of DST, shooting hours begin shortly after 6 a.m., and end just before 5 p.m.
A calm, sunny and unseasonably warm end to October and beginning to November was expected to give way to wind and rain late this week, as well as cooler temperatures.
Still, highs in the 50s are predicted through the first 10 days or so of the month, before dropping into the upper 30s to low 40s a week or so prior to the Nov. 19 gun deer opener.
Through Oct. 31, Wisconsin hunters had registered more than 55,000 deer, about six percent more than last year through the same number of hunting days.
The antlerless kill was up the most, about 25 percent.
Locally, Brown County hunters had reported 555 whitetails, 241 of them antlered bucks. Of the 555 deer, 310 of them were registered as crossbow kills, 174 as archery deer and 71 during the youth gun hunt.
Leaves and milkweed
Need an excuse not to rake?
Leaves provide shelter for overwintering caterpillars and other insects, which in turn provide food for early-arriving birds in spring.
Decomposing leaves also suppress weeds, hold in moisture and return nutrients back to the soil.
For lawn use, mowing them into smaller pieces is best.
For gardens, piling them works fine.
And if you’re into composting, leaves can be collected and used to cover layers of kitchen waste all winter.
Meanwhile, if you want to help monarch butterflies, gather milkweed seeds and plant them.
Milkweed is the only plant monarchs lay their eggs on, and the only plant the monarch caterpillars eat.
The flowers also produce pollen and nectar for monarchs and other pollinators.
The seeds need to lie under a moist blanket of snow all winter before germinating. Alternatively, you can store them inside a moistened paper towel in the refrigerator for spring seeding.
Start them indoors, or directly plant them after the danger of frost has passed.
If you scatter seeds in the wind this time of year, you’ll get some successes.
But you can improve your odds significantly by poking a small hole into moist ground (after a rain is good) and drop a seed in, then cover with the original soil.
Plant as many as you can, or want, for the area available.
For more on monarchs and milkweed, visit wiatri.net/Projects/Monarchs/habitat.cfm.
Roadkill report
Vehicle-deer collisions peak this month as the whitetail mating season is underway. Drivers who hit deer (or others who may be interested) can legally salvage what they can from the carcass once they report it.
This phone line — 608-267-7691 — is staffed daily 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
After hours, leave a voice message with your first and last name, call-back number with area code, deer location (road name, township, county) and whether the deer was a buck, doe or fawn.
By leaving a voice message, you are authorized to take possession of the deer.
You must take the whole carcass, not just the head or other desired parts.
A DNR dispatcher will call you the next morning for additional information.
Deer Hunt on PBS
Deer Hunt Wisconsin, hosted by Dan Small, will air on Wisconsin Public Television Nov. 10 at 8:30 p.m., and repeat seven more times between Nov. 11-18.
Check your local listings for dates and times.
If you’d rather watch online, visit www.youtube.com/deerhuntwisconsin.
This year’s show includes advice for creating deer habitat and covers several successful hunts, as well as regulations and a hunting forecast by region.
Meanwhile, WisconsinEye host Lisa Pugh recently interviewed DNR Deer Program Specialist Jeff Pritzl for his thoughts on the 2022 deer hunt.
You can register (free) to view.
Find the show at wiseye.org.
Weekly Water Levels
At the end of October, Lake Michigan water levels were still five inches above the 100-year average but had dropped 13 inches since last October.
Lake Michigan and Green Bay were about 35 inches above the record low, set in 1964, and three feet below the record October high from 2020.
Water levels are expected to drop another two inches this month.