TOPIC: leaves trampled and rotted on ginseng

Due to a great deal of rain in our area, Menomonie, WI., many of the ginseng plants I have been digging are without the leaves and some fall off. A neighbor mentioned that they thought the roots had to have the leaves with stems attached to sell them. Every day ( digs here started Sept 1st) I go into the woods the deer and other animals have eaten the berries and scattered the rest. I did start marking the plants with doweling painted red in Aug. We bought our 5 acres of wooded land, 15 yrs. ago and no one has ever touched this land except to hunt. We don't hunt animals so no one has been allowed to since we moved in. This is our 1st harvest and the plants are quite big. Any ideas on having mostly good sized roots but not too many stems with leaves? are they marketable without them? I picked up the stems with leaves for tea and proof but we are running out of room to dry all of it. If anyone lives around here and could help dig the proper way, would be happy to share profits. Send your info and we will give you a call. Thanks, L.gust

I have the permit. I'd kill the deer but I love, feed and protect them from hunters. Have a mama bear with 2 cubs so I do talk to myself so she knows a human is close by. She lost her cub last month and I heard her crashing around off in the distance, As her young baby was eating my berries that I was picking 2 yards from me. Know better than to touch a cub, mama will hunt you down, as one did to our dog 20 years ago. I worry that he will be shot as everyone around us hunts and our neighbor has one mounted in his house. My husband knows that if she dies, I will bring them in the house!
Hoping she will move over to our hill soon.

Huntsman53,

I agree 100%. I am fortunate to reside in western West Virginia. In my county one may harvest nine (9) deer per year. They love to browse my sang patches. Drive one hour south or east and you may harvest one(1) antlered deer during archery or muzzleloader only. These are also our boar producing counties along with bears. In southern West Virginia there are more bears and boars than deer.

When the bears and boars far outnumber the deer in the richest forests east of the Mississippi...we have an issue. Overharvest, lack of habitat, and starvation. Look up Isle Royale for mammalian madness at its finest. Moose vs. Wolves.