Fish Report: 1/18/05

Well, you have to admit that it sure feels like winter out there the last few days. The interesting thing is how little snow we have had so far this year. There was the one big storm that mostly left with all the rain that followed it. What makes life even more interesting for us old fossils are the ice rinks that engulf all the driveways and parking lots. There is something wrong when you feel safer with ice creepers on when crossing a parking lot.

The one thing a person could do if they wanted would be to take a long cross lake skating trip. In some places the whole lake is a sheet of ice that looks like a plate glass window. As a youth we always wanted to build an ice boat when conditions were like this just to see how they would work. We never did get around to doing it as far north as we lived, but it would have been interesting to raise the sail on an ice boat and see how fast you could cross a lake.

One thing that can be real bad with this kind of weather is the effect that a snow like we had followed by the rain that forms a hard ice crust, has on outdoor life. If you get this hard frozen crust the birds and animals that have to get through the snow for food have a real problem. Then when it is followed by the cold spell we have had before we get another layer of snow those birds and animals that burrow into the snow for shelter are once again at risk.

I guess the one thing you can always find if you look at Mother Nature is that there are always both positives and negatives for each weather pattern. As far as the wildlife goes you can only hope the positives out weighs the negatives.

You could always look at life like in the case of the nice deer I saw the other day. Here you make it through the October into November bow season. Then you manage to live through the firearm deer season from November 15^th through the 30^th. You later find a place to hide for the muzzle loader ten day season in December. Those out for the December bow season do not have any luck finding you either so now you have made it through the more than three months of hunters out trying to find you. This does not count the pre and extended season some people in the U.P. take part in.

So what happens? The nasty cold weather moves in and you head out for the deer yard only to get hit by a vehicle as you cross the road into the swampy area where you plan to spend the winter! Is this fate or not?

This tale came my way during a book signing just before Christmas. It was told by the man involved.

It seems this man who was quite a hunter had a large family and usually took a couple of deer to supplement the family[base ']s food supply. This year he had taken a nice buck with his first tag and was hunting in an area where the second buck had to be a four pointer or better.

He was out in his hunting area sitting during the tail end of the firearm season when he saw a real monster buck coming out of the heavy stuff. He watched this large buck and put his scope on it and could count the four points on one side that he needed for a 2^nd buck tag. He sat there with his heart pounding because this was by far the largest and nicest buck he had ever come across during his hunting. Once again he counted the points and it should be legal for him to shoot. As the buck came into his shooting lane he pulled up and shot and down it went. He sat there a moment while his heart slowed down to normal because this was really a trophy buck in both size and the height of its antlers. When things returned to normal he got up and walked down to where his monster buck lay. He grabbed hold of one of the antlers and picked up his head and could not believe his eyes! He looked once again and realized he had a problem, his trophy buck was illegal!

His trophy with its high-wide antlers was not legal because this buck did not have any brow-tines! Therefore he had only 3 real large points on each side. He had counted the points three times before he shot and each time he was sure he saw four points on each side. It had to be that he wanted to see four points so bad on this large buck he had counted something that wasn't there.

He cleaned his buck out and took it home where he skinned it out and then after talking to his wife called the local Conservation Officer and told him his problem. The local officer came out and the first thing he asked him was why he called after he already had the buck home and ready to cut up. Our hunters reply was, "Because I made a mistake."

The officer informed him he would have to seize this monster buck because after all by his own admission the deer was illegal. Our hunter told me he was about ready to shed a tear because he had never even come close to getting a buck this large before. This was besides the fact that he could use the meat for his family as he informed the officer.

After talking to our hunter the officer said once again he would have to seize the illegal buck, but then asked the hunter if his wife was at home. He was informed she was in the house and was asked to get her.

The wife came out and the officer asked her how big the family was and if she could use some venison? At first she did not understand, so once again he asked the wife if she could use some venison for the family? Kind of hesitating she replied she could and the officer informed her, "Ok ma'am, I am going to give you this buck for you to use for your family. Now understand I have seized this buck and am giving it to you for your family. It is not your husband[base ']s deer now, but yours to use for your family or however you want."

All this time the officer never so much as smiled as he wrote out a receipt for the buck to the wife then got into his patrol car and left.

The man that told me this story said he wanted to sit down and cry because after doing right the officer had found a way to let him keep his trophy buck. But he said the officer did remind him to make sure to count a little closer the next time.