Kate Mosley, at Kate’s Bait on US Highway 23 west of Dodgeville, Wisconsin,  started doing chronic disease sampling of deer in 2008 and has kept that tradition because it was something people, not only hunters, really wanted and valued.

“At that time hunters had to come to a station to register their deer, but since then the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources changed their procedures about registration,” Mosley remarked.  “But we still offer that service because there are a lot of people who don’t have internet, don’t like to use the phone, don’t know how it’s done and just never learned the registering and sampling process.”

So Mosley and employees including Ellie Ihm, help out, show them the way, and in some cases do it with or for them.  

There is more this helpful “bait shop” does to make deer hunting and what comes after more about camaraderie for those who want it.

Dumpsters for waste from deer processing are needed and provided by some businesses and the WDNR, but there is a cost to have the dumpsters brought in.  Mosley sponsors a dumpster at her cost but asks hunters to chip in if they want.  This provides hunters who process venison at home a place to throw their scraps.

The bones and scraps end up in the dumpster instead of on the land somewhere where, if the deer was CWD-positive, could be a source to spread the disease.  Roadside dumping is lessened, too.

“CWD in our area is not going away and people want to know if the deer they shot had the disease,” she said.

Kate’s Bait is one of the only places around the area who will take the infected lymph nodes out of the deer, eliminating the hunter having to cut off the head.  This speeds the nodes being tested in a Poynette, Wisconsin lab and getting results.  

Mosley even picks up heads from some meat processing locations, removes the nodes and the DNR picks them up.  All of this is free to the hunter.  Mosley does get a small fee from the DNR, if she does it correctly.

Some, but not enough, businesses that process deer take deer donations that go to local food pantries as ground venison.  The state pays the processing fee.  Mosley does not get involved in processing but maintains a list of people who want a deer but do not hunt.  Mosley helps make that connection and no money changes hands so this helps make it legal.

  License and authorization sales, registering deer, taking samples for testing, disposing of waste carcasses and getting venison to non-hunters are some ways to make deer hunting more manageable, enjoyable, and rewarding to hunters and non-hunters alike.

One might ask, “Could inconveniences be reasons some hunters have put the gun away, donated the blazed orange, and yet long for those few hours afield each November for the camaraderie or tranquility?”

Another arrangement that has been going on for years seems to pay dividends to deer hunting, hunters, and the agency responsible for keeping everyone and everything safe.  It’s referred as “all hand on deck,” by those wardens who come out from behind their desks and head to a field or forest with a regular field warden. 

WDNR warden Darren Kuhn has been a warden since 1998 and while he has been promoted over the years in the department, he no longer has a dedicated station, instead he has many boating responsibilities and is a chief recreation warden, not a field warden.

Come deer season he leaves his administrative duties and steps into a field warden’s squad, helps that field warden with contacts, license checks, and anything else the field warden has come up on his plate.

“This is the biggest week of the year for wardens and we need to have a presence not only in the field and forest but at the gas station visiting with hunters, young hunters, and non-hunters, demonstrating that we are out there protecting the resources, public, and hunters,” Kuhn said.

Many of the folks Warden Kuhn meets have never met a warden on these terms.  “Many of the contacts we make probably start out with the person wondering what they did wrong, but we’re there and sometimes even grab a deer leg and help move the animal along to be loaded,” Kuhn said.

Everyone benefits here, the hunter, the public, the DNR, and the image when they get into public view on opening weekend.  It’s all made possible by administrative wardens assuming a role they all started out with years ago.

Wayne Smith, Blanchardville, Wisconsin may have taken advantage of hunters walking in to their stands and pushing deer around.  “I shot a buck a few minutes after the season opened,” he said.  “Now it’s back to the trapping line.”

Bill Jacobson, at Martin’s in Monroe, Wisconsin, believes there were more deer in places due to the past mild winter.

Tom Lochner, at Wilderness Fish and Game, in Sauk City, Wisconsin, heard a number of cases of dad taking a son or daughter on their first deer hunt and coming back with a deer while dad was happy just to have been along for the experience.

Counting shots heard opening morning is an age old tradition for some, but of late those numbers have lessened considerably, in Smith’s case he’s gone from 100 shots at 9 am to 28 this year. 

More deer hunting continues, as well as hunting turkeys, pheasants, rabbits and squirrels.

Contact Jerry Davis, a freelance writer, at sivadjam@mhtc.net or 608.924.1112.