DAN WILCOX
Wild Side: Extreme trout fishing in N.C.
Twenty years ago my brother John and his friend Dan Heindl started a Boy Scout troop in Madison Wisconsin to teach boys character and about the outdoors. My nephews Brian and Patrick became Eagle Scouts interested in kayaking. The Boy Scout troop merged into an Explorer Post with boys and girls who were interested in kayaking and rock climbing. My nephew Brian became an expert kayaker who won a junior Midwest whitewater championship.
May 09, 2012
Wild Side: Migrating birds welcome friends in the south
The Audubon Society has sponsored a Christmas bird count for 112 years. Christmas Bird Count data from all over the country has revealed a northward trend in winter distribution for a number of bird species associated with the general warming of winter in North America over the last several decades.
By Dan Wilcox, outdoor columnist , March 07, 2012
Wild Side: A startling view of North America from space
In 1966, the author Stewart Brand lobbied the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to release photos of the Earth from outer space. The crew of the Apollo 8 mission was the first to orbit the moon and to see the whole Earth. They took the famous photo of the partially-illuminated Earth rising over the surface of the moon. That photo graced the cover of Brand’s eclectic Whole Earth Catalog in 1968.
By Dan Wilcox, Outdoor Columnist , February 15, 2012
Wild Side: Monumental trees
Orion dancing across the sky on a clear winter night is beautiful. The light from most of the stars in the Orion constellation has travelled over 800 years at 186,000 miles a second to reach us. It’s humbling to know that we are less than one billionth of a light year tall.
By Dan Wilcox, Outdoor Columnist , February 08, 2012
Wildside: October beach bums
I’m not a fan of weddings and funerals, but to maintain domestic tranquillity, we traveled to northern Michigan to attend a wedding of Carol’s niece. When we left home last week most of the leaves had blown off the trees. Following Wisconsin Highway 64 to the northeast corner of the state, we reached the Lake Michigan shore at Marinette.
By Dan Wilcox, outdoor columnist , October 26, 2011
Wild Side: Brook trout thriving in restored Pine Creek
Eastern brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) are the native trout in eastern North America. Brook trout are char, related to lake trout, bull trout, Dolly Varden and Arctic char. They are adapted to cold, clear, well-oxygenated streams, lakes and ponds.
By Dan Wilcox, outdoor columnist , August 31, 2011
Wildside: Seeking refuge by paddling
The recent extremely hot weather has driven many of us to seek refuge on the cool water. The Lower St. Croix River and most northern Wisconsin lakes swarm with big motor boats, water skiers and jet skis on the weekends. Many of us seek quieter surroundings; floating on a remote lake listening to loons, drifting down a river watching the islands slide by, or navigating through rapids when paddling a canoe or a kayak. Paddling is a sport that can carry you to beautiful places away from the crowds and put you in touch with the pulse of the earth.
August 03, 2011
Wildside: Uncovering the dirt on dirt
Many years ago, Milo Harpstead, my Soils professor at U.W. Stevens Point, began his lecture by informing us that the thin layer of topsoil that covers the planet’s land surface is the foundation of civilization. Dr. Harpstead instructed that there’s a big difference between soils and dirt. Dirt is soil out of place.
By Dan Wilcox, outdoor columnist , June 15, 2011
Wild Side: Caddisflies excite trout, anglers
Caddisflies are small insects that have fascinating adaptations to life in fresh water. Caddisflies belong to the order Trichoptera, closely related to butterflies and moths in the order Lepidoptera. Many species live in the Kinnickinnic and Rush Rivers, providing food for trout and excitement for trout fishers.
By Dan Wilcox, outdoor columnist , May 25, 2011
Wild Side: Spring peeper calling
When the ice melts on the ponds in our valley the frog chorus begins. It’s a great sound announcing that spring has arrived. We are serenaded in the evening with stereophonic frog and toad music from the three ponds close to our house.
By Dan Wilcox, outdoor columnist , April 13, 2011
Wild Side: Cheeseheads in paradise, again
Belize is a small country in Central America on the Caribbean Sea, bordered on the north by Mexico and on the east and south by Guatemala. Carol and I have been going there on vacations nearly every year since 1990.
March 17, 2011
Wild Side: Restore the St. Croix River by limiting what flows into it
In 1968 Congress passed the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
By Dan Wilcox, outdoor columnist , March 03, 2011
Wildside: Are we living in the real world?
Last Friday morning was cold, about 5 °F. I walked down to the pole shed to get a flat tire off our wood-hauling trailer. The air was still and the rosy light of dawn made stark silhouettes of the tree branches. I could hear the chickadees and nuthatches waking up from their cold night roosts in the evergreens. A pileated woodpecker swooped through yelling its wild laugh. Badger was out surveying the woods looking and smelling for anything interesting.
By Dan Wilcox, columnist , December 09, 2010
On the Wildside: Not grousing about grouse hunting
I try for equanimity most of the time but often find myself grousing about work, traffic, or my aging body. Grousing about irritations offers little satisfaction or remedy. It’s the other kind of grousing that I really enjoy.
By Dan Wilcox, columnist , November 17, 2010
Wild Side: Fishing deep on the big lake
It’s easy to write superlatives about Lake Superior. Immense, deep, wild, cold, and beautiful are words that readily come to mind.
By Dan Wilcox, outdoor columnist , September 24, 2010
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