Mornin' to everyone in awe over the sturgeon that swam 651 miles down the Mississippi River. This is the Wiscampsin Weekly - the email that gets you in the know on the Wisconsin outdoors in 5 minutes or less. New reader? Subscribe here.

Ope - Mother’s Day is almost here! Show Mom some love and snag her our American Robin State Bird print, or maybe even our Recycled Coffee Bean Coffee Mug! (Helps us out, too!)

This week’s weekly:

• Our fav camping trick 🏕️

• Hiring 10 new game wardens 👮 

• Marine hired to shoot elk escapee 👀 

  

Our fav campsite reservation tricks + stats

It’s a tale as old as time: The weather gets nice, you finally clean your pudgy pie iron, and then sit down to make some campsite reservations…

But all your favorite State Parks are booked up.

To get one, you would have had to make a reservation months ago, or strike a deal with the devil. NOT your mother-in-law, be nice...

Thankfully, there’s a nifty tool that will save you a boatload of headaches (and screen time).

Introducing: Availability Alerts.

How it works

It's pretty simple. You create an alert. A state park campsite becomes available. You get notified immediately via email.

Let's dive in.

First, head over to the State Park Reservation site.

Once you create an account, input all your info (State Park of choice, date, party size, etc), and click 'Search.'

Ope! No availability. Classic.

Don't fret, on the right, you'll see a 'Notify Me' button. Hammer that and create an alert.

When to use it

This tool is nifty because it means you can snag a less-desirable campground, set an alert for the one you really want, and when it becomes available, you just pay a small fee to swap your reservation.

And your family? A bunch of happy campers.

Other hacks

Now, let's say you want to be notified for a specific site. 2A, next to that epic waterfall.

You can do that too, but you'll have to use Campnab.

This makes creating alerts for certain sites or sections possible for a mere $10/month.

Why this is so clutch: The State Park reservation system opens up 11 months in advance, so folks were reserving before we even sat down for Thanksgiving dinner.

But, you can cancel up to 2 days in advance, further incentivizing people to snag a bunch of sites then cancel the ones they don’t want—right at the last minute.

If you don’t want your eyeballs glued to your computer all night waiting for a reservation to pop up, these tools are a godsend.

Stats + gettin’ out der

Let’s take a peek at last year’s season.

In 2023, there were 5 public campgrounds that had over 10,000 reservations:

• Devil's Lake (21,780)

• Peninsula State Park (19,282)

• Northern Highland - American Legion (16,243)

• Kettle Moraine - Southern Unit (12,993)

• Governor Dodge State Park (12,511)

• Kettle Moraine - Northern Unit (12,300)

But Copper Falls State Park & Peninsula State Park were perhaps the hardest to book, with occupancy rates of 91% for 2023.

What month is best to go? June and August are primo, as July had 13% more visits.

One final note: New data shows that WI has more than three state park visits per capita (19th overall). Heck ya!

But—Wisconsin spends just $3.67 on state park operations per capita – 48th in the country (above only Arizona and Texas). No bueno.

In sum: Don’t let reserving campsites deter you! Use the aforementioned tools, grab some friends, and get out ‘der and support our State Parks!

Support the Wiscampsin Weekly and check out the Wiscampsin shop.

Wisconsin State Bird Art Print: “Very nicely made, great colors and design. It looks amazing in my home. Keep it up Wiscampsin ❤️” - Peggy

Wiscampsin Badgers Tee: “It’s the perfect t-shirt to show off my love for camping and Wisconsin at the same time :)” - Emily

Wiscampsin Recycled License Plate Frame: “Love it! Get out der! Makes my Mazda look even better” - Alex

Wiscampsin Mug: “Awesome mug, very lightweight, the mug doesn't get piping hot if you need to microwave your coffee either.” - Matthew

Wiscampsin Weekly Poll

Well 44% of you said you’ve foraged the holy Morel Mushroom. Someone’s gonna be eating good!

Nuts and Seeds 🌰 

💣 Take cover: In some quirky news, what was thought to be a live grenade was found near the Chippewa River about two weeks ago. Two people brought the grenade to the jail lobby in Eau Claire to “turn it in.” The bomb squad cleared the item, though they couldn’t say if it was live or not. Must have had a couple two-tree beers, no way would we have even touched it!

🦌 Giant bull elk escape: A few years back, a giant bull elk escaped a game farm in Bayfield County. State biologists determined that they animal needed to be exterminated (probably would mess up the conservation equation), so who did they call? Retired marine Mark Mackey, who served 6 tours before living off the grid in Alaska. Read the neat story here.

👮 Hiring 10 new game wardens: The DNR is hiring 10 new game wardens this year. The new recruits will start training next January or April, depending on their experience. Learn more at the DNR warden recruitment web page or by watching a video on the DNR’s YouTube channel.

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Meme of the Week 😂

A review from the trail… Wait ‘til you read our squirrel edition