Elk being reintroduced to Jackson County?

Plans to reintroduce Elk into the 68000 acres Black River State Forest were put on hold since 2001. Now talks are starting up again and it appears the central part of the state will get it's own Elk Herd.
Plans are to bring in 50-60 additional Elk from Alberta and split the animals (Clam Lake Herd and Black River Herd).
Jackson County is located in the Central Forest and has a large amount of suitable land for this native species to thrive again. I deer hunt in the area and I absolutely love this idea!! Here is a article from the Lacrosse Tribute. I also posted some information about the Clam Lake Elk Herd.



Black River Elk

Clam Lake Herd

Wisconsin Cougar Killed in Car Crash in Connecticut?

"HARTFORD, Conn. -- Wisconsin wildlife officials said DNA tests show a cougar that roamed Minnesota and Wisconsin was killed in a car crash in Connecticut last month.

The cougar apparently had walked halfway across the country from South Dakota.

Connecticut environmental officials said Tuesday the roughly 2,000-mile journey was one of the longest ever recorded for a land mammal. They said the animal originated in the Black Hills region of South Dakota and was tracked by DNA from its hair and droppings as it passed through Minnesota and Wisconsin in 2009 and 2010.

It was the first confirmed wild mountain lion in Connecticut in more than 100 years.

The lean, 140-pound male was killed by a car in the New Haven suburb of Milford on June 11.

Tests determined the cat was likely the same one that had been seen earlier in Greenwich, about 30 miles from New York City.

The cougar would have traveled 1,055 miles in a straight line, a new record for movement of a known cougar. However, biologists believe it walked roughly 2,000 miles, traveling through Canada and down through New York into Connecticut."


----Channel3000.com


Pretty interesting how little we really know about the movements of Cougars separating and looking for new territories. Who really knows how many of these large predators are roaming the state at any given time.

Madison Chain water temps!!!!!

WOW

Lake Mendota - 80.8 (Main basin)
Lake Monona - 79.7
Monona Bay - 84.0

yikes.
I haven't been fishing much at all this summer do to the damn temps. Gonna start fishing for some Mississippi Catfish with a family friend soon hopefully.

Don't worry I will be posting my Big Rainbow picture soon.



Check out the temps here: infosyahara.org/watertemp

Wait til you see the size of this rainbow...........

Well I didn't make it out this weekend since the storms were totally pounding the area I was planning on fishing.
I did make it out for a quick trip today and wait until you see the size of the rainbow I caught. I have never caught a rainbow out of this creek before and they haven't been stocked there in several years.

Let's just say the fish will be on the wall. Got one good picture that I will post here in the next couple days.


Other than that............... I haven't been trout fishing in some time. Muskies have been on my mind catching some smaller fish (22-28) at night and we have been having some MONSTERS rise and follow. Water temps are now too high for muskies so I will have to wait until fall again to chase them.

Trout fishing in the morning

Getting up very early tomorrow morning and hitting some small cold spring creeks tucked away in Southwestern Wisconsin.
After trout fishing in the morning I will most likely take a quick nap and possibly do some water warm fishing later in the afternoon.

Keep an eye out for a report with pictures tomorrow.

New puppy pictures (nothing better than a lab puppy)

Thus far little Kato has been a great dog. Making very little fuss at night in his kennel, couldn't care less about loud noises (even a T-Storm) and is taking to potty training very well. I will start his formal training program in about 3 weeks. I let my dogs just be puppies for awhile and let their confidence build up before training them.