Buckhorn Wildlife Area
Buckhorn Wildlife Area is a 1,643-acre property contiguous to Buckhorn State Park and Yellow River Wildlife Area. It is 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, efforts are being made to restore the property to the original pine, oak barrens habitat.
The area is a diverse habitat consisting of open oak barrens, scrub oak, small jack pine stands, mature white pine and flooded wetlands with shrub-carr and second-growth forest along the castle rock flowage. The barrens contain dense patches of jack pine and oak with scattered openings of characteristic prairie grasses and forbs. Species include little bluestem, flowering spurge, puccoon, lead-plant and lupine. Lupine growing along one of the trails offers a spectacular view in June.
The maintained trails throughout this wildlife are a unique opportunity to explore one of Wisconsin’s wildlife areas, with greater ease.
Management Objectives
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 oak and pine 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.
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.
Visit the property planning for more information on master planning for this and other wildlife areas around the state.
Recreation
The Buckhorn Wildlife Area offers many recreational opportunities:
- Birding
- Canoeing
- Cross-country skiing (designated trails)
- Fishing
- Hiking (designated trails)
- Hunting (bow hunting early and late season for white-tailed deer and spring turkey *see parks maps for specific areas*)
- Kayaking
- Spring turkey hunting open for a two-day Youth Hunt and during the first three time periods of the regular season
- Trapping
- Wild edibles/gathering
- Wildlife viewing
Amenities
- Bathroom - bathrooms nearby at Buckhorn State Park.
- Parking lot - parking is available.
- Campground and size - three back country camping spots.
- Trails, Types and Lengths - maintained trails.
Maps
Download a map of this property.
If you are interested in exploring this property further, you can access an interactive map.
