Still, after about a decade since Wisconsin discontinued in-person deer registration, and then turkey registration, many hunters say they miss this contact with others outside of the fields and forests.

What they miss, they say, is the camaraderie with others, hunters and seeing others enjoy the activity, too.

There is a place to for an outdoors user as a spectator, that is watching others recreate and watching the resources themselves be part of the environment.

Sometimes the two come even closer together.  We call that scouting.  Maybe it’s just seeing what is out there, plants, animals, fungi, and habitats are enough or maybe all we have time for at the moment.

Sometimes being a spectator is because something else is in the way.  Time is short so we drive by Trout Creek to see someone else fishing.  Money, free time, physical ability, a space to hunt, or fish may be wanting at the moment.

Many deer hunters, at times, admit that seeing deer is enough to satisfy an appetite as much as taking a shot or registering a deer.

Some morel gatherers seem to be a magnet for ticks or poison ivy, but they stop and admire a crop of morels growing in a yard, then drive away, refreshed.  And believe me, a small percent of the public is allergic to morels and get sick eating them, but not poisoned by them.

May is a perfect time to be a spectator because there are so many activities going on at the same time.  

Pretend, for the moment, being the reporter, all seeing and hearing, but instead of calling-in to register a turkey or baiting a hook with a piece of nightcrawler the thrill is seeing it happen.

Here’s an example. While driving down a town road, watching out for deer, I could see a camouflaged person loaded as if for military training.

Turkey hunter Tyler was about to cross farmer Craig’s fence before kneeling to pull a bird under the bottom fence strand.  It was exciting seeing the hunter, just a few minutes after his season opened and was ready to drive his truck back to Madison, Wisconsin.

A mile down the road two buck deer were wandering across a town road.  Their antlers were two inches tall.  I imagined what the forked antlers might look like in October and wondered if they would still be running together.

Of course not; bucks are in bachelor groups until they shed antler velvet and then become loners.

There is no deer season open now except watching but I saw deer and reviewed some basic biology and ecology about this cervid.

No fewer than a half dozen, somewhat shaggy appearing white-tailed deer crossed in front of the truck a half mile up the road.  

Female does were still together with last May’s fawns.  Several does looked to be carrying a fawn or twins in their belly areas.

Down the road a piece a stream widened giving room to two drake mallards and a single drake wood duck.  The female hens are likely already sitting on a dozen eggs.   Maybe ducklings would be swimming in the pond on my next trip as a spectator.

A beaver, a muskrat, and a host of birds were breakfasting and bathing in the spring water.

I found out later that one bird was a sandpiper wading along shore, a solidary sandpiper it’s called.  After learning the bird’s common name, it was not surprising to find it alone.  Books call this bird socially monogamous, but not sexually monogamous, in other words they do not form lifetime pair bonds.   How could they with a name like that?

Some trips as a spectator require a bit of work later to learn what the animal was, how old it might be, or in this case why it was alone.

A man, somewhat secretively was cutting wild asparagus.  It was more obvious that a different man was about to hunt morels.  He carried a few tools; the asparagus man had none.

Hickory tree buds were leaning over onto the road seeming the size of small sausages but were not done growing.  The size makes this shagbark hickory easy to identify.  The opening bud sure does a good imitation of a flower, too.

Dogwood shrubs seemed to have lost their red stems and were adding green leaves to further identify spring.

A bald eagle nest viewer (yes there is such a volunteer person), was parked roadside.  Nest viewer Mary showed me photographs of the single chick being fed, not the more usual two eaglets in this nest this spring.

Canada geese and sandhill cranes were fine without being in a hurry to build flimsy ground nests.  Even so, they were noisy, 

Some late-to-leaf-out species, black walnut, chestnut, and bitternut hickory mimicked the dead trees morel hunters sought this morning.

Farm tractors were idle due to wet ground, while oats, alfalfa and very early corn began to green the fields with life.  Burned prairies showed life with shoots of shooting stars and compass plants as well as the white bones of deer and raccoons that didn’t make it through the winter.

Deer, herbivores, love the fresh shoots of compass plants.

Being a spectator doesn’t mean not carrying a camera or note pad.  When something unknown appears, these photos can be a reference to review later.

Now that the scouting is over, it may be time to fish, hunt, or gather.  Or maybe it is time to plan another road trip, this time carrying lunch and a thermos of drink.

Contact Jerry Davis, a freelance writer, at sivadjam@mhtc.net or 

608.924.1112.