I hate admitting I was a fool as I generally see myself as a fairly cautious guy, but last week I nearly fell victim to a computer scam. Tom, one of my Wisconsin sons-in-law, and I were going to go fishing Saturday morning, and it occurred to me on Friday night that my Wisconsin fishing license might be expired. Sure enough, the expiration date was 3/31/19. I didn’t want to hold us up Saturday morning, so I went to the computer.

I should have gone to the Wisconsin Division of Natural Resources website, GoWild.WI.Gov., but it was late and I was in too much of a hurry to look it up, so I very foolishly googled “Wisconsin Fishing License.” The website that came up looked official enough. It requested my name and address, and wanted to know if I wanted a resident or nonresident license. It then asked for my credit card information, which I foolishly submitted as I had done this in the past with previous licenses.

There was an immediate red flag. I was told that someone with the Wisconsin DNR would be sending my license within the next 24 hours. In the past, I received my license immediately. I printed a copy of the transaction that I could show a conservation officer if requested, and went fishing the following day.

Technically, I went fishing without a license. Fortunately Betsy and I, with assistance from our daughter, Lisa, notified the credit card people and stopped payment. I will let the Wisconsin DNR people know what’s going on.

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Larry Fredrickson is a former SD Game, Fish, & Parks pheasant/furbearer research biologist. He sent me a copy of a position statement he submitted to our SDGF&P commissioners for their April 2019 meeting. At this time I don’t know how much press or attention his position statement will receive, so I thought I would review it in today’s column as I feel that Larry is right on, and that what he as a professional has to say needs to be considered. While I applaud Governor Noem for addressing our pheasant decline, I agree with Mr. Fredrickson that the governor’s bounty system isn’t going to help.

I will quote a portion of Larry Fredrickson’s position statement.

“There is no way enough predators could be removed by live trapping alone to reduce them enough to increase pheasants. You would only be taking off some of the reproductive surplus. Therefore it is a waste of the sportsmen’s money (mine included)……Using bounties again is like re-inventing the wheel. We all went through that before in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s.”

Fredrickson goes on to say that we would need to reduce the fox, raccoon, badger, and skunk populations by 80 to 90 percent to get a pheasant increase. He feels that we need a goal of 1.5 million acres of dense nesting cover, and the federal CRP program doesn’t supply the needed money. We need more state run programs. If Fredrickson’s thoughts on bounties are correct, the bounty money needs to go to nesting habitat. We must also get ready to deal with Chronic Waste Disease.

Even if Fredrickson is correct about bounties, I see a positive aspect to a new emphasis on trapping. Hopefully it will encourage more people to get out of the house and into the field. I would hope this includes more young people.

Foxes, raccoons, badgers, and skunks are certainly players in the overall pheasant picture, but raptors, namely hawks, might be the most effective predators of all. I’ve personally watched eagles knock pheasants out of the air, and many times I’ve observed hawks tearing a pheasant apart while perched on irrigation equipment. However, all raptors are protected, and it will apparently stay that way. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating raptor killing.

Readers have found my latest book, Southside Boy, very enjoyable if not educational with regard to subjects including unions, the Cuban missile crisis, and the Yankton Sioux. Send me a check for $15, and I’ll send you a copy postage and sales tax included. Roger Wiltz, Box 253, Wagner, SD 57380. The book is also available at Wagner’s James Drug and Kocer’s Fallen Timbers.

See you next week.