On the Hunt: The History of Deer Hunting in Wisconsin ~ Book Review

AmmoLand ^ | May 9, 2023 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

On the Hunt is a well-written and comprehensive history of deer hunting in Wisconsin. It is that rare treat, a factual, scholarly history combined with numerous anecdotal accounts and local histories integrated to make an easily readable, smooth-flowing, and factually loaded book.

It has about a hundred illustrations.  The illustrations and stories will appeal to a broad range of ages and interests. The book opens with a recounting of Robert C. Willging’s transformation from a Chicago city kid to a full-fledged Wisconsin deer hunter.

On the Hunt: The History of Deer Hunting in Wisconsin by Robert C. Willging, Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2008

This writer purchased On the Hunt for his brother as an adjunct to the long-term family tradition of deer hunting in northern Wisconsin.  The book is available from the Wisconsin Historical Society in oversized softcover for $25. Hardcover copies and digital copies are available online. [link above]

On the Hunt portrays pre-historical hunters as they populated the Great Lakes area with its retreating glaciers thousands of years ago. The Paleo-Indians were armed with the atlatl, or spear thrower, a device that significantly increased the range of a hunter’s reach. The atlatl stayed in use up to the discovery of the new world by early Renaissance Europeans. Its use by Aztec warriors was noted in the first-hand account of Bernal Diaz in his seminal work, the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico.

The atlatl is limited in effective range to about 30-40 yards. It requires a fairly open space to work. The next advance in hunting hardware was the bow and arrow, which became common in the Americas a few hundred years before the Europeans arrived in significant numbers.

[marktwain]

An excellent coverage of the history of deer hunting in Wisconsin.

[marktwain]

A very well researched book on the history of deer hunting in Wisconsin.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Your food, your neighborhood! (Any salt blocks do you have on your property??)

[Sacajaweau]

Here in Upstate, deer hunting season meant steak for breakfast. Bless my dad and his bros for making the Hunt for us.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thanks for the Ping. Looks like a perfect Christmas Gift for all the hunters in my life! :)

We don't bait; salt licks are in the barn yard for the mule and steer. But, I DO see deer scat nearby from time to time. I DID put up a sign and all, LOL!

We haven't harvested any BIG deer out of here for a number of years. Beau has gotten some nice ones through the years, of course. My last kill was when I was in my 20's. I like red meat and all, but I don't want to be the one to pull the trigger. I am getting to be an OK butcher, though. Played plenty of rounds of 'Deer CSI' through the years.

[marktwain]

Funny sign! A type of deer “sign”, I guess.

[irish guard]

I live in a metro Wisconsin county and can bow hunt deer from October through the end of January. Most days I head out my back door, sit in one of three tree stands and just listen to the animals in the woods (turkey, tweety birds, squirrels and deer) wake up. If I see a doe in early fall, I never shoot, but often draw on them to see if my motion spooks them. If I see a buck, same thing…..but I’ll only try to shoot a buck that is big enough. Big enough is always a tough call. Never four pointers or less and I’ll even add six pointers to that mix. So it’s only eight pointers and up that I’ll try to shoot. That’s said, I’ve only seen one in that class close enough to shoot and his head is mounted on my basement wall. Have seen larger bucks, but farther out than 60 yards, so I don’t feel comfortable trying to take a shot that far and only wound a buck.

I’m with Diana in Wisconsin. I like and eat red meat.

[crusty old prospector]

Just look at those scrawny Wisconsin deer. We have coyotes, I mean cows, that big in Texas.

[crusty old prospector]

Switch to a crossbow. Sixty yards is doable.

[irish guard]

I know, I know…..but I still like my compound bow.

[crusty old prospector]

I got tired of lugging mine around through the brush. My crossbow has a nice sling. No release to bang around and the bolt is always nocked. Scope makes targeting easier. The only downside is that you have to fire it off into a target when finished for the day.

[NorthWoody]

Hopefully your mom was a more well-rounded cook than mine. Until I moved out on my own and got advice from other people on how to cook meat, I thought all meat was to be cooked until it was grey all the way through and dry. My dad and I never complained about what she did to the good venison we brought home. She always ordered well-done at restaurants too, but my dad would order medium.

I attribute it to their upbringing in the olden days of the Great Depression, when medical help may have been hours or days away. I suppose the last thing they needed was to get sick from something as controllable as how they cooked their food.

[Sacajaweau]

She did okay. Just ordinary cooking...But we never even had steak...except deer meat....cooked med rare.

I was about 14 when I had my first beef steak. Tasted like deer meat...lol

[NorthWoody]

Some of the new crossbows can be easily decocked. I know Ten Point has a method and I think Ravin does too. The crossbow I have (Ten Point Turbo XLT II) is still like new because I treat it well, and an expensive new one is something I just can’t justify to myself, as much as I’d like one.

I keep a round field target about the size of a volleyball in my Jeep all season, and I have a dedicated bolt with a field point on it that I use for decocking, so I don’t put wear and tear on my hunting bolts.

[crusty old prospector]

I just shoot a crappy bolt into my target. I have a run-of-the-mill Barnett.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Uhm. Glad you clarified and good to know that the deer in Wisconsin can read! :)