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State Park Overview |
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Camping |
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Buckhorn State Park offers a rare chance to enjoy camping in a wilderness setting. Reservations are available from April through November.
Buckhorn has 42 backpack sites one of them accessible for people with disabilities. Our backpack campsites are all secluded, with electrical hook-up and most are located near the water. You get to them by foot trail or by boat. Garden carts, to haul in your camping gear, are available for many of the sites. Toilet facilities are available at these sites, but you will need to transport your supply of drinking water. Three sights (27-29) on the shoreline can accomodate tents or hard-sided and pop-up trailers.
There are also eight family campsites (A1-A8) which can accommodate tents or hard-sided and pop-up trailers. Each family site has a picnic table and campfire ring.
There are three group sites that can accommodate up to 40 people each.
Camping is available year round at sites 8, 9, and 16. Campers must register at the park office or use the self-registration box in the office parking lot before setting up. Site 8 has electrical hook-ups and is available for any camper from November through March. During the rest of the year, this site is held for people with disabilities.
Campsite reservations
Most sites are reservable. Campsites 34-37 and A5-A6 are first come, first-served. Though not required, the campsites fill on most summer weekends, so reservations are recommended. Reservations are available for group, family and backpack campsites by calling a toll-free reservation number 1-888-WI-PARKS or visiting the web site (exit DNR).
This centralized reservation system provides "one stop shopping" for any reservable site in the Wisconsin Park System. Campers may make site-specific reservations, reservations for multiple dates and/or multiple properties, and will receive immediate confirmation of their selections. A credit card is required for Internet reservations. The call center accepts a personal check if it is more than 21 days before you will camp or a cashiers check or money order if it is more than 10 days. Your reservation will be unconfirmed until your check or money order arrives. If the check or money order does not arrive within seven days, your reservation will be canceled.Campsite re-registration policy
If you want to stay longer than you originally planned, you can reregister for your campsite during park office hours up to the day (3 p.m.) before the expiration of the camping permit, providing no one else has reserved the site. The longest you can stay is 21 days.Group camping
Three group tent camping sites (B1, B2 and B3) on the parks east side have room for 120 people to camp. Water and vault toilets are available at the site, but no electricity. RVs and pop-up units must park on the gravel in the parking area.
A short trail leads to the Wisconsin River portion of the flowage. There, campers have access to aquatic activities such as boating, canoeing, fishing, and swimming (not a designated beach area).
The group camp area has a volleyball court and a horseshoe pit. Horseshoes and volleyballs can be checked out at the park office free of charge. |
Trails |
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Picnicking |
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The two picnic shelters may be reserved and group vehicle admission discounts are available. Electricity is available at both shelters.
Reservation forms for shelters are available at the park office or on the web, so why not plan your next group outing, company picnic or, perhaps, your wedding or anniversary reception at Buckhorn! |
Boating |
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The canoe launch is located on the peninsulas east side in a quiet slough that leads to the main part of the flowage. Canoeists should remain near shore to avoid rough water when the wind is blowing. Canoes can be rented at the park office. A concession agreement between the Friends of Buckhorn State Park and Country Cruisin Canoe Rentals provides this.
A self-guided 10-stop canoe interpretive trail will help you learn about Buckhorns wetlands. |
Swimming |
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Fishing and Hunting |
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Fishing At Buckhorn
The Castle Rock Flowage has earned a reputation as an excellent fishery. The wide variety of fish species found in the flowage offers anglers yearround action, in a vast number of areas. The Castle Rock Flowage, like some other waters, contains some fish species on the State Health Advisory List that may have higher than acceptable levels of mercury or PCBs. For current information please check with the park office.
The best places to catch fish from Buckhorns shores are off the 90-foot accessible fishing pier by the North Picnic Area, and from the shoreline by the canoe launch. Dont forget a fishing license is required for anglers 16 years of age and older.
Walleyes are the most sought after species in the flowage. They are hard to beat as table fare, and reach trophy size all along the Wisconsin River system.
White bass, or stripers, as they are sometimes called, can provide fast action. Schools are easiest to locate in early summer, but these scrappy fish provide angling fun all year long.
Smallmouth bass are also found in Castle Rock. Unlike their bucket-mouthed cousins, they prefer rocky areas or downed trees, the numerous rip-rap areas along the shore, as well as the mouth of the Yellow River provide good bronze back habitat. Lures than imitate crayfish and minnows will usually work best.
Trophy-sized northern pike are caught at Castle Rock, too. Spoons, bucktails and spinner baits retrieved near patches of weeds will often attract the attention of these tackle busters.
Panfish are the preferred quarry of many anglers. Bluegills, crappies and perch all reach large proportions and are found nearly everywhere in the flowage.
Warm summer evenings are ideal for doing battle with channel catfish. Try fishing below the Castle Rock dam. Use cheese, doughnuts or stinkbaits and fish along the bottom.
Ice fishing for walleyes and panfish is also a very popular sport. Tip-ups baited with minnows work best for walleye. A small hook tipped with wax-worms, mousies or small minnows are in order if its panfish youre after.
No matter what the season, or your angling preference, the Castle Rock Flowage has something to offer. Give it a try!
Bow Hunting
Archery deer hunting is one of the most popular recreation activities at Buckhorn. Most of the property is open during the early and late bow seasons. Gun deer hunting is allowed only in Buckhorn Wildlife Area "B". Call the park office for more information.
Long before the area was purchased for the present-day park, sportsmen from Wisconsin and surrounding states hunted the area with primitive weapons. This tradition continues today as modern archery enthusiasts stalk the deer of the Buckhorn peninsula.
Archer success rates generally lag behind those of gun hunters. This results in a herd with more adult deer, and hence, more trophy bucks than would be found in surrounding areas. Each year, several trophy bucks are harvested by lucky hunters at Buckhorn.
The best time for a trophy buck is during the "rut" or breeding season in early November. Male deer tend to be more active and somewhat less wary during this season. Hunters often wait near an active scrape or trail in hopes that a deer will walk within range.
The wildlife area has many shallow sloughs, wetlands and islands. Experienced hunters use hip boots, canoes and boats to gain access to areas overlooked by others.
Bow hunters should be aware that small game hunting is allowed in the wildlife area. In addition, the property remains open to other activities, such as hiking, camping and picnicking. Areas around campsites, picnic areas, shop, office area and the beach are closed to all hunting. |
History of the Area |
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Before the 1830s, this area of Winnebago Indian (Ho Chunk) land was considered "unbroken wilderness."
Reports of vast stands of pine timber enticed John Kingston to the area in the hope of finding these stands and establishing a lumbering company, In the winter of 1837, he and Samuel Pilkington walked miles of the frozen Wisconsin and Lemonweir Rivers finding no extensive pine forests, Discouraged, they returned to the Portage area believing the reports were only a myth. But in 1838, Kingston again tried exploring the Wisconsin River, this time starting from Grand Rapids, He found the mouth of the Yellow River where the dark color of the rater convinced him that a large body of pine timber lay upstream, After staking a claim in the Necedah area, Kingston formed a lumber company with Thomas Weston and John Werner, Lumbering became the way of life in he newly established towns of Necedah, Germantown and Werner.
But his boom was short-lived. By 1877 , most of the big white pines had been out. Settlers moved in when the lumberjacks moved on. The whole area filled with small farms. Pasture was at a premium because of the areas marshes. Farmers cows grazed woodlots, eliminating the brushy cover most wildlife needed.
But in the late 1920s change was in the wind. There was talk that hydroelectric dams were coming to the area which would forever change the rivers. Farms near the Wisconsin and Yellow Rivers were being sold to the Wisconsin River Power Company in anticipation of the new impoundment.
Left unattended, the land began to follow natural succession creating the typical central Wisconsin cover of aspen, scrub oak and jack pine now prevalent. This brush habitat increased deer and other wildlife populations dramatically.
In the late 1940s, upon completion of the Castle Rock dam, the Wisconsin and Yellow Rivers backed up to form the Castle Rock Flowage. The towns of Germantown and Werner became just a memory as the flowage covered most of the land where they once existed.
But just as the water erased evidence of the areas past, it also etched the landscape, creating a new peninsula with countless finger-like sloughs that has become Buckhorn. The Department of Natural Resources purchased the land in 1974 with the goal that the state park and wildlife area planned would be managed to allow most of the land to again become "unbroken wilderness." |
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Area Accommodations |
| Cottages and Cabins | |  |
Mazomanie, WI
Vacation cottages, fully furnished, located on the Lower Wisconsin Riverway. Clean 1100 sq. ft. two bedroom cottage with huge granite fireplace. These two renovated cottages were originally built during World War II as military housing for Truax Field Army Base, Madison, WI.
Web Site
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More Info | |
Buckhorn State Park, Wisconsin, outdoor recreation ... Enjoy the Water at Buckhorn State Park No matter how you view it, the Castle Rock Flowage is enormous. The lake was formed by damming ... | |
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Wisconsin Buckhorn State Park Youth Deer Hunt ... Tales Recipes E-Postcards Advertising Write For Us About Wisconsin News Buckhorn State Park Youth Deer Hunt Wisconsin Department of Natural ... | |
Photos from Buckhorn State Park. ... Main-index page. Nebraska. Screensavers. Superior. Wisconsin. WI State Parks. Buckhorn State Park is located to the NE of Mauston. Taken in the Spring ... | |
... in the southern part of the county near Wisconsin Dells. Buckhorn State Park has 19 backpack sites that are reachable by boat or ... trails wander through Buckhorn State Park, providing face-to ... |
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