Day 42 - Taking a Stand

Living in Wisconsin, we know that hunting is a big part of the outdoor culture. Having  woods on our land that is connected to other properties with woods, we knew that that culture was closer to us than ever before. Personally, I have no issues with responsible hunting as a way to monitor and maintain healthy animal populations. That being said, not being raised with hunters in my family, my actual experience with hunting is limited to my odd fascination with the television show North Woods Law.

One of the bits of information we learned from the previous owner is that he was a deal maker. In our conversations, we knew he had made deals with other farmers. Bartering seems to be a great aspect of the farming culture we had previously known little about. Bartering of equipment and skill sets was quite commonplace. He mentioned that he regularly  allowed others to hunt his woods as part of a deal he made for other services. He also mentioned that he wasn't so certain if any of the people he had made deals with were still hunting back there. Knowing we wanted our kids to be able to explore freely and safely in their new backyard, this was a bit concerning. 

On one of our first more thorough walkthroughs of the land, the handful of deer stands we found proved that hunting was not only a part of the past, it was a part of the present. We weren't trying to eliminate hunting from being a part of the future, but we wanted to make sure that everyone knew any hunting on our land would only be done with our knowledge and permission. Again, using everything as a learning experience, I reached out to a contact at the Department of Natural Resources inquiring about the stands. He said that ownership of the stands transferred with the land sale, so technically, they were ours.

We could be polite and put a labeled bag on the stands with our information so that anyone coming back to visit their stand knew there was a new sheriff in town. 

We did just that, and it’s a good thing we did.