High deer numbers in farm country will be among the items discussed at upcoming Citizen Deer Advisory Council meetings.

The Marinette County meeting is set for April 23 at 6 p.m. at Crivitz Village Hall; Brown County 6 p.m. April 29 at the Department of Natural Resources Service Center in Green Bay; and Oconto County 6 p.m. April 30 at Fox Ridge Game Farm near Oconto Falls.

Anyone can attend to join the discussion about local deer management and provide input on deer season details. Meetings include a review and discussion of current unit data on harvest trends, herd health, hunter experience and deer/human conflict issues like crop and property damage.

For more information, including harvest and population trends, visit https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/Hunt/cdac.

Sucker lives matter

Suckers are among the most abundant and least appreciated fish in the Great Lakes region. Right now, they’re making large spring migrations from into streams to spawn, creating one of the region’s more visible seasonal movements of fish.

Samantha Koyen, executive director at Crossroads at Big Creek nature preserve and learning center in Sturgeon Bay, said research has increasingly challenged long-held assumptions that suckers harm sportfish populations through competition or egg predation. Removal efforts have not consistently produced improvements in sport fisheries, and current evidence instead points to suckers as a foundational component of healthy Great Lakes tributary systems.

Like many other fish species in the Great Lakes, suckers are iteroparous, meaning they survive spawning and return to the same streams year after year. They can begin spawning by age three. Tagging studies along the Lake Michigan shores have found some white suckers living up to 24 years.

During spawning, suckers release large amounts of eggs, milt, and waste products that introduce a pulse of nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorus, into streams. This input arrives just as aquatic systems are emerging from winter, supporting early algal growth and increasing aquatic insect production. These insects become food for trout and other fish, linking sucker migrations to broader food web dynamics and fish growth during a critical time of year.

Sucker eggs are also an important seasonal food source. They’re consumed by a variety of fish, including trout and smallmouth bass. Sucker fry are eaten by bass, perch and panfish, while adult suckers are prey for pike, muskellunge and fish-eating birds such as eagles and ospreys. Through their role as forage, suckers are an integral part of aquatic food webs.

Flooded rivers

All the rain in the past week has flooded rivers and creeks. While that can be a good thing for spawning pike, walleyes and perch, it’s tough on anglers. Not only is the fast, dirty water hard to fish, it can be dangerous in more ways than one.

The strong currents can cause wading anglers to lose footing, while boaters farther downstream as well as out in Green Bay waters need to be aware of large trees, stumps, dock sections and other debris pushed out by the surging flood.

Driftwood is easier to spot, but deadheads — water-soaked logs or stumps that float nearly vertically — are particularly dangerous, because only a small portion is visible and can be hidden by waves. Slow down and stay vigilant in the coming weeks.

Boaters in the rivers should also watch out for “widow makers,” a tree hanging low over the water ready to fall, or a partially submerged log that can catch a drifting boat and potentially capsize it.

Birdathon underway

The Great Wisconsin Birdathon began this week and runs through June 15. It’s like a walk-a-thon, but instead of logging miles, participants log bird sightings.
The Birdathon is Wisconsin’s largest fundraiser for bird conservation. Bird enthusiasts from across the state raise support and awareness for bird conservation by forming a team or donating to a team.

Last year, a record 620-plus birders on 91 teams raised a record $127,001. The funds are collected and managed by the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin.

Learn more at https://www.wisconservation.org/great-wisconsin-birdathon/.
Tick education

If you want to learn about ticks, join UW-Madison professor and Medical Entomology Lab researcher Susan Paskewitz online from 6-7 p.m. April 22.
Viewers will learn about diseases ticks can carry, ways to prevent bites and a tool you can use to better understand ticks and prevent exposure. Learn more and register at https://maple.extension.wisc.edu/maplehour/.

If that time and date doesn’t work for you, there’s a wealth of info online at https://wisconsin-ticks.russell.wisc.edu/.