Wildlife biologist John Kubisiak retired in 1996 following following 34 years with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in wildlife management and research. “I came from a dairy farming background and was always fascinated by the natural world, especially wildlife,” he said.

Throughout his long career, he authored and co-authored more than 40 technical and popular publications on ruffed grouse, wild turkeys, and white-tailed deer, including a full-length book, Sandhill Whitetails: Providing New Perspective for Deer Management. The 2001 book compiles three decades of deer research from Wisconsin’s Sandhill Wildlife Area, covering deer management topics including harvest regulations, trophy-buck management, hunter perspectives, and habitat changes.

Kubisiak was instrumental in implementing a quality deer strategy in the Sandhill Wildlife Area. The landmark studies he led in the 1970s and ’80s worked to answer such diverse questions as whether deer hunters can exterminate a herd, if muzzleloaders create excessive losses from wounded deer that go unretrieved, and the densities at which deer hunters begin to feel crowded by other hunters.

He also helped developed statewide habitat management guidelines for ruffed grouse in Wisconsin, and he considers his greatest achievement to be his research on the species. “My ruffed grouse research included development of a population model based on years of censusing drumming males on large tracts of state owned land,” Kubisiak said. “This information provided breeding grouse densities that were projected to fall populations and the effect of known levels of hunter harvest. It involved live-trapping hundreds of ruffed grouse over several years.”

Kubisiak was a contributor to the book A Passion for Grouse published in 2013 by Wild River Press. He also has been recognized with several awards and honors, most notably the 1987 Award for Excellence by the Wisconsin DNR Bureau of Research in 1987 for his outstanding contributions to the northern wildlife management program. Since retirement, Kubisiak has kept busy. He volunteers with the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point LIFE (Learning Is For Ever) continuing education program for seniors, where he has taught classes on calls of the state’s frogs and toads, mushroom identification, maple syrup production, wild game cooking, sausage making, prairie restoration, and wildlife viewing tours at the Sandhill Wildlife Area, among others. He has also volunteered as a Big Brother for seven boys, worked as a mentor for lower elementary students in local schools and on recycling and roadside clean-up efforts, and volunteered with outdoor education programs at the Sandhill Wildlife Area.

He has been president of the Friends of Sandhill for 16 years, and served on the Wood County Wildlife Area Advisory Committee, the Wisconsin DNR Wild Turkey and Ruffed Grouse Statewide Advisory Committees, and addressed various issues and policies affecting deer management in the statewide media.