Hayward Storm Damage
Wisconsin
I took some time today to check out my two (mostly) gun hunting ground blinds. Road into there finally got opened up. I get in the little over a mile to my stand that upwards of 100 trees had to be cleared from the USFS road.
The storm was about a month ago and hit a path from hwy 77 just east of Minong through the north edge of Hayward, through Spider Lake, and beyond I don't now how far. 90+ mph straight line winds and 6" of rain fell in about a half hour. Add to that way more than normal rain all summer and 2 inches about a week before the storm had things all setup for trees to easily uproot. If you know anyone that hunts near that path tell them to expect damage around their stands. The woods along the south part of FR 319 is unbelievable.
Here is a picture of one of my ground blinds, that cut chunk of log against the pine tree is the seat. Just getting from the car to the stand (maybe 120 yards) was an ordeal. The view of the shooting lanes is well, more like what shooting lanes? Where did they go.
Here is my other ground blind. The seat is right in the little V that the trunk of the spruce tree made. (middle of the kind of circle that the popple branches makes) The brush that made the blind is totally crushed by the popple tree trunk.
This stand was even harder to get to and when I got there I was looking at it and didn't see the stand. I was recognizing some of the area that I looked over from that stand for 30 years yet could not see the stand.
Along the south part of FR 319, that used to be forest filling what is now skyline.
Wait a minute, why do we need a gate?
Lots of tops for winter feed and good deer cover, lots of open area for new growth in the years to come. Mother nature at work making the habitat better for the animals of the woods, we are to chicken shit to clear cut so Ma nature does it for us.
A lot of ATV and bike trails are open again but not all. Some USFS campgrounds are still closed. Even the signs on this trail off of 319 took a hit.
Widow makers everywhere, thousands if not millions of them that will be hanging up there for many years waiting to fall on someone. This one is huge and pretty obvious but the small ones can be just as fatal. The walking paths on my little 20 acres had 7 of these sticking in the ground far enough that they stood right up. My neighbor was walking on his trail and had a 3" diameter branch like 8' long come down and plant itself in the dirt only 6' from him. There is a significant one caught directly above my outhouse, man, I have been waiting for that thing to fall so I could take a s--- for almost a month now.
There was one spot where a popple had broken clean off about 10' high. Another tree like 12" or better in diameter landed right on top of that tall stub and stayed there, the top is hanging like 20' above the forest road near it. Makes you think twice driving under it but if you have a well insured clunker you can't sell I can tell you where to park it.
Tops of trees that are 10" where they broke off lay 20-30 feet or more from the trunk they broke off from. Winds that strong do nasty things. Imagine how far smaller branches/tops might have flown before they landed on the ground or in another tree.
Same danger walking in the woods, you have to crawl and duck under or climb through trees to get anywhere in these areas. Gotta wonder if you bump something what could happen. Just be darn careful anytime you are in those situations.
Navigation through that stuff is hard too. Can't see far, can't go on a straight path. One thing is all of the trees point more or less SE so just need to use them like compass needles on a cloudy day like it was when I was there.
basbh1, ironic that the area by my stands has been marked for logging for well over a year now, maybe two. The USFS wheels of progress move just too slow. I know of another area of USFS land that has been marked for a while too that got hit hard. Probably more.
Right, lots of cover and food in there for this winter that the 15 deer that survived winter and their 9 fawns will get to eat. ;-) (I have been driving about 70 miles of these roads the last 5 days and probably 4 other days like 3 weeks ago and I think I have only seen 3 deer in all those miles, much of it early in the day miles. Those deer were all seen in areas with mostly private land)
It will probably take two years for the USFS to determine what of the downed timber needs to be logged and get it done. Yet I see private land that was hit that has logging cleanup happening already.
Good pics and words of caution. The FS is planning on salvage sales for the area so some will get cleaned up. I think this new District Ranger is getting some action.
The forest needs disturbance, whether from wind, fire or logging to be healthy. I prefer logging so we can use the resources.
Good pics and words of caution. The FS is planning on salvage sales for the area so some will get cleaned up. I think this new District Ranger is getting some action.
The forest needs disturbance, whether from wind, fire or logging to be healthy. I prefer logging so we can use the resources.
Jeff Be safe out there no deer is worth getting hurt over sorry Ma nature made a mess but she knows what she is doing maybe a few young bucks will make it another year or two by hiding in the mess and you will get a shot at them when they have a big rack good luck and safe hunting.
I don't plan to go into that tangled mess again for a long time. Just had to see what those stands looked like for old times sake. Lots of memories of hunting there and the deer taken there by myself and my dad and friends.
I still have cleanup to do around my place and am being much more attentive to safety since I cut my wrist with the chain saw the day of the storm.
That storm made my bear hunt a little interesting- 6 of my hunters had hail damage to there vehicles - my son got hit in the hand while gutting a bear and couldn't open his hand out for a day or two until the swelling went down. Very bad storm. I'm sure allot of deer hunters will have a change of scenery around Hayward
I have 90 oak logs piled up at my place. Maybe 20 more to go before the truck comes to get them but first I have to get my skid steer out of an uprooted stump's hole. (turned too close when going around it yesterday) Two logs are over 24" diameter.
Storm damage was pretty much all the way to GG. Some areas are still very difficult to access. Second morning of bear hunting took 2 hours to get back to camp for a 20 minute trip trying to find roads with no downed trees.
