ALMA, Wis. _ Professional deer hunting outfitters in Buffalo County don't spare any frosting when tempting clients from around the country to buy five-day "sit" packages priced from $2,200 to $3,500.
"This area produces more record-book bucks per square mile than any other area in the world."
"Book a hunt of a lifetime!"
"Famous for massive-bodied animals with tremendous headgear."
"Together we'll make your dream hunt a reality!"
Located in the towering bluff country just east of Winona, the most acclaimed whitetail haven in the Upper Midwest _ if not the country _ is still in the spotlight. Locals would rather keep it a secret and they dislike the ongoing expansion of commercial buck hunting, but they don't disagree with the hype.
"I think our reputation is backed up by the Pope and Young and Boone and Crockett record books," said Bob Jumbeck, local game warden for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. "There's no doubt we compete with any place in the country."
Longtime residents boast that Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre has hunted here, as well as Hank Williams Jr. and NFL Hall of Fame receiver Steve Largent. Long-dead legendary bucks such as "Moses" and "Field and Stream" live on in local lore.
So mighty is deer hunting in Buffalo County _ a rugged and isolated place with only one public stoplight _ that the sport has crashed into the area's real estate market to the point where 40 percent of all land is now in the hands of absentee owners. Buffalo County Land Conservationist Carrie Olson said many absentee-owned tracts sit idle for 11 months, visited only during peak deer season. It's a land use that treads lightly on the environment, if at all, she said.
"We have very little development pressure," Olson said.
Thirty-seven percent of Buffalo County is agricultural land, but the area's steep slopes and narrow valleys can't accommodate more farming, and the available crops are an excellent food source for deer. Some valleys are so deep and tight, they lack for sunlight.
Over the past 35 years, local land stewards say, the county's woodlands have gone from being throw-ins on farm sales to becoming the top driver in most real estate transactions. The demand from well-heeled buyers in Minnesota, elsewhere in Wisconsin, other parts of the Midwest and such states as Texas and Washington has priced a lot of local residents out of the market, Olson said.
"That tells you that people who buy land here want to shoot a deer," Jumbeck said.
