Red Lake Walleyes 2014

Had the opportunity the go up to Red Lake with Johnny, Tommy and Brian. Weather was interesting. It was 35 below with wind gusts at 65 below. Spent 2 days and 2 nights out on the ice.
The guides told us the fishing had tailed off a bit with the cold snap and they were right. We only caught 34 walleyes but were told that we did better than all the houses around us. That, of course, makes sense as Tommy is a great winter fisherman, Brian was born with a horseshoe installed..... and Johnny and I are Norwegians. At any rate, we had a great time and are already making plans for next year.
Mr. Anderson.... we seemed to have our best luck on rainbow fatheads. Go figure.
Had a tough ride home today. Hit black ice on the freeway in Duluth. Did a 360, hit a guard rail and probably totalled my nice pickup. Took a shot from the airbag and am hurting tonight. I guess if you can walk away, it's OK..... I keep telling myself that......

Bentleyville 2013

Every year we take John and the girls over to the huge Christmas light display at the Duluth harbor. Every year something new is added and when I saw this display I had to take a picture. We seem to forget about the tens of thousands of men and women who can't be home for the holidays; some to never return. Then I thought about our illustrious senators and representatives who in their haste to beat feet home, passed a bill cutting benefits for some of our soldiers. What? Huh? Can that be? Oh, I'm guessing once they wander back to Washington, pointing fingers at each other all the way, they'll figure out a way to right this wrong (blaming someone else of course). A lot of words come to mind, some of which I won't put in print. How about "pathetic"?
The tour at Bentleyville is free but you are asked to bring a food item to help fill the local food shelves. As we walked up with our sack, I only saw two other bags in the tote boxes. As we left I walked by a few hundred people entering and only saw one woman with a bag in her hands. Maybe all these other people couldn't afford a can of soup or a can of corn but from the looks of them, most of these folks weren't hurting for a meal. It was sad. I guess I expected more out of my fellow Northlanders.

Deer Huntin' 2013

Hunting 2 weeks after Minnesota always presents it's problems. The rut is normally over and it's 2 weeks colder. Deer were still moving up to and including the day before the season opened. Problem was, they must read the calendar as they became quite scarce once the season did open.
Did I mention cold? Opening morning handed us single digit temperatures and NW winds of 20+ mph. Let's just say the wind chill was well below zero. The only deer seen was this spike who wandered by me a half hour before sunset on Saturday.
After the other hunters left Monday, John and I hunted through Thursday. He could have shot a big doe but passed on it. With this buck and the one I shot with the bow in October, he figured we had enough meat and decided to let the doe live and hopefully make more deer in the future.
Most guys who had hunted for 5 days and hadn't seen a deer yet would have plugged it. That's why John is a great hunter. He knows when not to pull the trigger.
We hunted together three days as we took one off to butcher that buck. Even though we are sometimes 1/2 mile apart, it's good knowing that he's out there. I can count on him and as I get older that becomes more and more important to me. Enough said.
I've still got a doe permit left with my bow and a 4 day does only rifle season coming up in 10 days. Doesn't matter. I've cleaned my rifles and stowed away the blaze orange. Putting the bow away will be next. Don't need any more deer so I'm through for the year.
Oh, and that 30.06 made it through another year dad.....

Fall Turkey - 2013

These guys have been eluding me for the better part of 6 weeks. First Cody scared away 3 jakes and after that turkeys seemed to appear whenever I wasn't hunting. It's the downside of trail cameras I guess. It's like "Dang, why didn't I hunt yesterday at 2:00"? Then, of course, a small herd would appear across the street on my neighbor's property or at the end of our property while I was driving down the road.
Then there was the night I was armed with my bow and jumped a flock walking out to my bow stand. I went back to the house, got my shotgun and wandered around the woods until almost dark looking for them. Of course, they had disappeared.
Friday night the deer hunters were due up for our annual gun sight in, stand repair weekend. First thing that morning I wandered out to check a trail camera and jumped some birds. Decided to go back after lunch and spend a couple hours hoping 1 might wander back. Well, it only took 20 minutes until this guy showed up. My hunt is over. He's now in the freezer.
Since my archery buck tag is used up I'll probably not doe hunt. I'll wait for the guys to come up in a month to rifle hunt. I've got some work to do on a stand and will increase my training with Cody as he's now 9 months old and just loves the woods. He's not gun shy and finds everything I toss in the weeds. I'm sure he and I can find some trouble to get into.....

Thursday night at The Hotel California

The weather has been tough for bow hunting. It;s been windy and warm. Not the kind of weather we bow hunters like. Though I've been out a lot, it seems the deer have been hanging around stands I'm not hunting.
Tonight I decided to hunt The Hotel California for the first time. Though it was windy, I've seen deer on the trail camera down there. I don't like hunting that stand in the evening when I'm alone as it can be tough if you hit a deer right around dark and don't have a buddy around. Well, that's just what happened tonight. This nice fork came by about 20 minutes before dark. I debated whether or not to take him but when he presented a broadside at 18 yards, I decided to shoot. I knew I hit him but decided not to wait for a half hour as it was getting dark.
When I got down I couldn't find my arrow. Not a good sign as you want a through and through so as to get a better blood trail. With my flash light and headlamp, I searched for 20 minutes and couldn't find any blood. I worked my way back towards where I shot figuring I'd have to come back in the morning and see if I could find any blood. Well, I happened upon a few specks in the leaves and started to follow, marking the trees with trail tape as I went. When I ran out of blood I decided to give it up for the night as it was dark by then and if you've spent any time in the woods, you understand what dark is out in the boonies. I decided to make one last trek up the hill and saw what I figured was another of the many downed birch trees in the area. A big white spot in the dark. Well, it was my buck. I had hit him with a through and through lung shot.
Gutting him out and dragging him to a place where I could get my ATV was yet another challenge, but I managed.
Now it's time to try and find those dang turkeys that keep eluding me. Oh, and I have go to back tomorrow and try to find my arrow. We Norwegians hate to leave valuables lying around in the woods.

Dewey's Pumpkins (and other things)

Last year I harvested 15 pumpkins. Thought I'd increase my production this year as the deer love 'em. Well, now I have a boatload. Uffda it's gonna be a bit of work carting them back into the woods. I always overdo it.....
Turkey and archery for deer opened up on the 14th. My plan was to hunt those three jakes I've been watching all summer. Well. the evening before opening Cody and I walked back to the meadow an hour before dark. My mistake! The three birds were standing out there. Cody saw them and took off after them. They, of course, flew away and I haven't seen them since. Cody was quite proud of himself. What are you gonna do......
I did set up my portable blind and hunted for three days but no birds. I finally took the blind down after two nights, I felt I was stretching my luck with the bears around. They did crunch my blind last fall. I had the bright idea to hunt out of a tree stand I have in the area. So, for two nights in a row I had deer in front of me. One big doe literally walked under my stand and stood broadside at 18 yards. And me carrying a shotgun.... I did have a hen turkey walk by a couple of times and though hens are legal in the fall, I passed on her.
I finally got serious and hauled out the bow. Kurt and I spent two days in stands and saw nothing close. I later discovered that the deer were hanging around another stand of mine we weren't hunting. Figures.... Once Kurt left I hunted one stand while the deer were walking by the other one we had been hunting. If only there were two of me.
I took the last two evenings off as it's around 70 degrees and I don't like hunting when it's that warm. Plenty of time left.
So, we drove to Bayfield today and picked up a bushel of Cortland apples. We have apples coming out our ears! But, I get fresh apple pie tonight and the deer get the leftovers.

It's Tough Being a Puppy (Living with Dewey)

Mike and Sue paid us a visit this week and we thought we'd take the dogs down to Lake Superior. Cody had never fetched out of water so thought I'd work a bit with him. The first retrieves went well as I kept the sticks close to shore. Well... the next one went a little deeper and my poor pup, knowing nothing of water depth, plunged after the stick. He went under. I can still see his eyes, wide open, under the water. Well he made it out and it took me another 15 minutes before he'd go back in the water. Finally got him swimming. AND, he did need a bath.
We drove up to Bayfield and picked blueberries. Took in some sights and walked a few trails with the dogs. Came home and picked wild blueberries back in our meadow. Raspberries are almost done but the wild blackberries will be ready in a couple of weeks.
Everyone was tired last night so Cody and I took a walk back to the meadow. Pulled the SD card from a trail cam and discovered a bear had been there about 4 minutes before us. Just missed him. Glad we did as I didn't need to be battling a bear over my dog. And, of course, I was unarmed.
Took this pic of Cody with his swollen right eye. Deer fly got him and he looked pretty tough all day. He's laying at my feet as I type this. With everything I put him through, he'd still follow me anywhere. Undying devotion and undying trust.....
Mikey and I managed to pick up some nice crappies and sunnies on a local lake so at least I was able to send them home with some fish. Fishing can be tough in August but with my secret bait and secret fishing spot (thank you Alva), I seem to do OK late in the season. First time I've had the boat out in almost two months. Glad I've still got Mikey.
Fall is coming. I can feel it in the air. One month until fall turkey and bow hunting for deer. It's time......