Wildlife Areas
Wildlife Management Project Areas
- Central WI Grasslands Conservation Area
- SW WI Grassland & Stream Conservation Area
- Glacial Habitat
Restoration Areas - Western Prairie Habitat Restoration Area
Other Recreation Lands
- State Parks
- State Fisheries Areas
- State Natural Areas
- State Trails
- State Forests
- Forest Legacy Program
- County Parks and Forests
- State Parks & Trails Hunting Opportunities
- Wild Rivers
- Voluntary Public Access Program
- Interactive Map Viewer
Statewide Recreation Opportunities
Buckhorn Wildlife Area
Buckhorn Wildlife Area is a 1643 acre property contiguous to Buckhorn State Park and Yellow River Wildlife Area located on Castle Rock Lake in east-central Juneau County off of Highway G. Buckhorn Wildlife Area is located to the south of the State Park Boundary, between the Park and Castle Rock Lake.
The property lies within the transition zone of northern conifer-hardwood forests and southern hardwood forests. Prior to logging in 1900, the original vegetation was pine and oak savanna. Currently the area consists of large expanse of sand barrens and sand blows, flooded wetlands with shrub-carr and northern sedge meadow, and a second-growth forest. The barrens contains dense patches of Jack pine and oak with scattered openings of characteristic prairie grasses and forbs. Species include little bluestem, flowering spurge, puccoon, and lead-plant.
For a fascinating history of the area visit the Buckhorn State Park website.
Management
Management Objective
A master plan [PDF 497KB] for Buckhorn Wildlife Area, Buckhorn State Park, and Yellow River Wildlife Area was completed in February, 2007. In general, Buckhorn Wildlife Area is managed to provide quality public hunting, wildlife viewing, and other compatible recreational opportunities for a variety of upland, wetland, and aquatic habitat types. The area is managed to protect, restore, and maintain rare or unique habitats and ecosystems, particularly aquatic habitats, bottomland hardwoods, and barrens. The management of this wildlife area is integrated with the adjacent state park and state natural areas to provide high ecological and public use benefits. Buckhorn Wildlife Area is located entirely within the boundary of the Buckhorn Barrens State Natural Area. The vegetative management objective for the property is to restore and maintain approximately 930 acres of ecologically functioning oak-pine barrens native community with a moderately open structure and scattered older jack pine.
A more detailed listing of management objectives can be found in the master plan [PDF 497KB]. Management activities for the grassland, barrens, and sand barrens management may include fire, tree and shrub cutting or shearing, mowing, chemical treatment, mechanical site preparation, and planting, as deemed appropriate by the property manager. Cutting, girdling, application of herbicide or other methods may also be used to control invasive plant species. An annual monitoring program [PDF 28KB] is in place for this property as part of master plan implementation.
Recreation
The following recreational opportunities exist at Buckhorn Wildlife Area:
- Hunting - Bow hunting early and late season for white-tailed deer and spring turkey by special permit (1F).
- Trapping
- Hiking
- Berry picking
- Cross country skiing
- Fishing
- Wildlife Viewing
- Bird watching
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Maps
Download [PDF 514KB] a map of this property.
Hunting maps - Buckhorn State Park [PDF 344KB] and Buckhorn State Park and Wildlife Area [PDF 1.02MB]
If you are interested in exploring this property further, or want to print aerial photos or topo maps, you can access an interactive map. Then go to the button in the upper left hand corner called Layers and explore from there.
Useful Links
For more information on Buckhorn Wildlife Area contact the property manager.
Questions for Wildlife Management
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