Saturday, November 25, 2006

Gun Deer Season Report from my tree I decided to stay home for gun deer season, rather than head for Bayfield County where I used to hunt with son Jon. From the looks of things, I mjight have done better up north. Sat. 11/18 Spent opening morning in a tree stand about 150 yards north of my house, watching a trail deer use to cross my little patch of woods. Light north wind in my face was perfect. Sat until 10:00 a.m., heard a bunch of shots but saw nothing. Spent midday running errands - went to Dominion Valley Farm over in Allenton to pick up some free-range turkeys & chickens. Showed Brandon & Tammera Dykema my new Turkey Cannon from Camp Chef. A totally cool way to cook anything from a 4-pound chicken to a 20-pound turkey. They were impressed. Som impressed, that they entered the drawing for one on my radio show and actually won it (fair & square, in a drawing pulled by our engineer Tony Skerbec). Now they can try out their own Turkey Cannon! Back in my tree for the last 2 hours of daylight. About 2 minutes before the end of shooting hours, a doe came along from the west. She spotted me as I was zipping up my fanny pack and preparing to head down. I didn't have a doe tag for this unit (DMU 69, the only "regular" unit in an area surrounded by "herd-control" units, so I didn't try for her as she wheeled and trotted back west. You would think that someone who writes about deer hunting for three publications and broadcasts a radio AND TV show about deer hunting would have the foresight to buy an antlerless carcass tag for the unit where he hunts, now wouldn't you? Well, I didn't. Sun. 11/19. Brother Mike's birthday, and the 43rd anniversary of the first deer I ever shot, way back in 1963, three days before JFK was assassinated by that conspiracy in Dallas. Back in the tree for the morning. A brisk north wind made it pretty chilly, but the sun helped warm me a bit. Around 7:15 or so, a bunch of hunters were making a drive in the woods north of me. I heard some shooting, then a doe ran across the field right toward me. She stopped at the edge of the woods, then walked past me at 15 yards. I could have hit her with a brick. That's when I decided to buy a carcass tag. Our regs have changed this year. With your gun license, you get two antlerless tags for herd-control or CWD zones along with your buck tag. With your bow license, you get one buck & one antlerless tag good for any unit. So I had a pocket full of carcass tags, but still needed another one for DMU 69. Bought it Tuesday afternoon. There were 15,000 available for DMU 69 and over 7,000 left when I bought mine. If I shoot a doe, I'll buy another one for muzzleloader season. Wed. 11/22. Didn't hunt today. Went fishing with guide John Matenaer and flyfishing writer Chris Halla on the Sheboygan River instead. We fished nonstop from 8:00 to 4:00 and caught several browns and even a couple spawned-out chinooks, which surprised us this late in the season. We were after steelhead, but the browns saved the day. John said he saw lots of browns moving upriver last weekend. We saw a few spawning, but most must have dropped back down into deeper water. Thu. 11/23 Thanksgiving Day. Always a good day to hunt in the morning, as most hunters give it a half day and then go eat turkey. Sat in my tree again. Same group of guys made a couple drives north and west of me. I heard thre shots to the west, then saw 4 does run north across the field in front of me. The drive moved that way and must have run into those deer, as there were 15 shots in rapid succession. One doe raced back SW across the field. Never saw the rest of them. The boys must have got at least one out of that group. Hunted the last half hour again, but saw nothing. Fri. 11/24. Morning in the tree again. Very mild, south wind. Saw nothing. Late afternoon, saw only a raccoon and squirrels. Sat. 11/25. Even warmer than yesterday. Sat in my tree until 8:30 because I had to go to the Grafton Christmas parade. At 7:30, the same group of guys staged a drive through the woods to the north. "Bring 'em on!" I thought, but all they pushed out of there were three turkeys. One big tom flew practically over my head! Parade was fun, as always. Wore my sturgeon hat from Jeff Kahlow & could have sold it seveal times! You can buy your own from Big Guy Hats. If you watch the Packers on CBS, you sometimes see Jeff in the stands wearing one of his creations. The cameras find him often. Fox cameramen don't seem to pick him out, but the CBS guys do. He even got invited into the tunnel at one game, where he walked out with Brett himself. "I figured I'd never get another chance, Jeff told me, "So I reached over and patted him on the behind." I wear Jeff's hats on TV and at parades, but he's never patted me on the behind! Back to the tree for the last half hour. Heard one shot just to the west. I don't like hearing single shots [^] that usually means somebody got one. Multiple shots usually mean one or more hunters shooting at running deer, so it pays to get ready in case they come your way. One more day of the gun season, then it's 10 days of muzzleloader season, with essentially the same rules. Full report when something interesting happens. Later... 6:57:06 PM    comment []