Sturgeon Guard

Each Spring hundreds of volunteers have an opportunity to guard sturgeon at their spawning sites on the Wolf River and protect the fish from poaching. When the sturgeon are spawning along the rocky shorelines of the Wolf they are fairly oblivious to nearby human activity and are very susceptible to illegal harvest. The volunteers of the "Sturgeon Patrol" guard the spawning fish 24 hours a day throughout the spawning season which is typically in late April and early May. The program is directed by DNR Law Enforcement staff and funded, in part, by Sturgeon for Tomorrow, a local sturgeon conservation organization.

Lake sturgeon congregate in the shallows while spawning and are susceptible to illegal harvest.

When spawning begins, pairs of sturgeon guards are assigned to the sites for twelve hour shifts. Prior to assignment, guards check in at "Sturgeon Camp", just north of Shiocton, where they are fed a good meal, given a generous sack lunch and an identification hat (that they keep), and directed to their site. At the end of their shift, guards return to camp for another hearty home cooked meal before they make their way home.

While it is impossible to predict the exact dates that spawning will occur year, guards are routinely scheduled from April 15th through May 5th. Spawning generally occurs over a five to seven day period within that time window. While we do our best to get all scheduled guards out on the riverbank to see fish, invariably we must cancel some scheduled shifts if the fish are simply not active. We try in those cases to re-schedule guards into an active period.

If you would like to sign up, send a detailed message to the DNR sturgeon guard coordinator at the DNR Oshkosh Service Center at DNRSturgeonGuard@wisconsin.gov or call (920) 303-5444. Your call will be returned to schedule a day or night next spring that is convenient for you. If possible, make it a family outing by bringing a son or daughter or your spouse. For many it has become a family tradition.

Previous publications

On guard! [exit DNR] from the February 2006 issue of the Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine