Wisconsin's First Thanksgiving

Mornin' to everyone getting ready for winter surfing in Sheboygan. 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.

*Psst. Holiday shopping is right around the corner!!! We've got a whole online shop of goodies that look great under a tree. Give it a gander here.

What we're embarking on this week:

• Wisconsin's first Thanksgiving 🦃 

• Kayaker-hunter saved 🛶 

• Wolf management updates 🐺 

Wisconsin's First Thanksgiving

Everyone's pretty familiar with the story of the Pilgrims landing in Plymouth Rock and feasting with the Wampanoags in 1621 - the origin story of the modern-day Thanksgiving we as 'Muricans celebrate each year.

But did you know Wisconsin has a bit of its own Thanksgiving story, and it sounds a little like that first Thanksgiving in Plymouth Rock (TL;DR: starving explorers/pilgrims and generous natives coming to the rescue).

So before you sit down for Ma's famous stuffing and Dad's holy smokes he didn't overcook it! turkey, take a trip back to 1659 when time's where a little tougher for 'Sconnies.

Freeze to death or starve to death

That seemed to be the only option available to French traders Pierre Esprit Radisson and his brother-in-law, Médard Chouart Sieur des Groseilliers.

French explorers from Syracuse who entered the state in 1659, the pair would be the first to enter the state since Jean Nicolet a few decades prior.

But after plenty of criminy cripes, would ya look at that!, the brothers found themself without so much as a single cheese curd by their first winter.

Their journals reveal the pair had resorted to grinding up old bones, digging up previously discarded guts, and even eating their two dogs in an attempt to stave off the starvation.

"Finaly we became the very Image of death. We mistook ourselves very often, taking the living for the dead and ye dead for the living."

Like the Green Bay Packer's hopes of making the playoffs this year, things were not looking good.

Salvation

Just when the two were about to slap their knees and say "Well, I s'pose I should head out" and literally die, salvation came in a familiar way to the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock.

The brothers, stranded in the Northwoods in what they though would be their final resting ground, encountered a group of exiled Ottawas.

The natives, upon seeing the men, acted fast and prepared a meal that probably saved their lives. Though not a feast enjoyed at the first Thanksgiving, the men were more than grateful for the wild rice and turkey prepared by the Ottawa. Talk about Midwest Nice.

They even performed a ceremony over the men, shedding tears over their heads, displaying the utmost signs of hospitality.

The French explorers gave a speech, thanking the Ottawa's for their act, and spent the rest of the winter with their saviors.

Eventually the men would establish fur-trading posts, later helping the English form Canada's Hudson Bay Company.

NEW: Wiscampsin Weekly Poll

To the 33% of our readers who are hunters, hope you got some wall hangers out deer hunting!

Nuts and Seeds 🌰 

🐺 Wolf management updates: The DNR is doing away with population goals for Wisconsin's wolves and instead resorting to local management by conservationists in each of Wisconsin's six wolf zones. Just another exemplary reminder that it takes some tinkering to protect our critters - hope it works!

🛶 Saved: A 27-year-old man found himself in trouble after his kayak overturned while out hunting near the Fond Du Lac River. Authorities say he spent nearly an hour in icy waters before firefighters pulled him out. Great preparation for late season Lambeau tailgates, we say...

🦌 Deer Everywheer! Better buy a bigger freezer - this year's opener gun-deer season has yielded harvests 15% higher than last 2021 and 2% above the 5-year average. A total of 56,638 bucks were registered on opening weekend (compared to 49,721 in 2021), and yet not one shot by Uncle Joe...

Meme of the Week 😂 

A review from the Trail... LOVE, LOVE, LOVE you, Wiscampsin reader! (also beer and cheese)