The Sounds of Silence

Yeah, that might be the title of my favorite song but it also describes this year's deer hunting season. For the first time since I don't know when, no one pulled the trigger.

Oh, there were deer. I saw 14 myself and could have shot a few of them, however I was still looking for another buck or a big doe without fawns.

Now the archery season kicks back in for another 5 weeks. Since I have already filled my buck tag, it's a doe or nothing. Wisconsin also has a 4 day does only rifle hunt scheduled 2 weeks from now. I've got plenty of doe tags left so we'll just have to see. Last year the weather turned so cold I didn't bother. Sometimes its just nice to get one in your sights, grin and not pull the trigger. Maybe I'm just getting soft....

We took the granddaughters to Duluth one night over Thanksgiving to attend the light show at Bentleyville. It's down by the harbor, colder than all heck but the lights are spectacular. Free cookies, hot chocolate and coffee and wood fires burning everywhere. People from 1 to 80 all bundled up enjoying the lights. It was cold but no one seemed to mind. These Northlanders do know how to stage a festival. It runs until December 26th I believe so if you get up this way, check it out.

Storms coming so for the first time in 9 days, I'm sleeping in. The bow is ready to go but I need a couple of days off....

FINALLY....

October has always been my favorite month but this one has been very challenging.

After seeing tons of deer, and hitting one, in September I didn't see a one the first 10 days of October. Then I got the news that my mom was failing so headed for the Cities. Mom did finally pass away but did live 93 years. She had a good life and is in a better place now.

After nine days I was anxious to get out of the chaos and stress in town and get back home to some peace and quiet. I needed some time alone in my tree stand.

Well. the weather turned. We had rain, snow and high winds that actually dropped a tree on our porch. After five days of that I had had enough. I hit the woods well before first light this morning. The rain had stopped but the winds were still real strong. I picked out a spot where the wind wouldn't knock me out of my stand and set up. At 7:15 this nice fork horn came by and I got him. My buddy Al helped me drag him out. Tomorrow it's time to start butchering and then Saturday it's back to the Cities to attend the wedding of a good friend. A good buddy will be up the following weekend to hunt grouse and two weeks later the whole crew will be up for the rifle season.

Oh, and if anyone wonders how I can talk about deer and losing my mom all in one blog, well then you didn't know my mom.

Her comment today would have been, and I quote, "Duane, that's a nice one".

Huntin' "Sconnie" style...

My good buddy Kurt came up this weekend to help me build another "edifice to the gods", a.k.a. deer stand. That makes number 11. Pretty soon I'm gonna need more woods. At any rate, after we were done it was time to walk the woods for some grouse. We didn't jump any but I told Kurt one or two normally come out before dusk and eat clover right beyond my drainfield. So, there we were, drinking a beer, sitting in lawn chairs waiting for a bird to appear. None did but we did enjoy our beer. Sorry the picture is bad but one of the girls took it with a cell phone through the screen on the porch.
This morning we did some more walking. We kicked 6 birds and got shots at two. Unfortunately those birds were once again flying in a different direction than we were shooting. We discussed the possibility that we were slowing down a bit....can't be can it??
Oh, and when we got back and put away our guns, a grouse walked across the drainfield..... Uffda!!
Ten days ago, I hit a doe archery hunting. My buddy Al and his two sons helped me track it. We spent two hours in the dark, with flashlights, sometimes down on our hands and knees trying to stay on the blood trail. We crossed a couple of swamps and finally lost the trail at 9:30 at night, a long way from my house. I went back the next morning and looked for an hour but couldn't pick up the trail. Hopefully the deer made it, but I don't know... I had the same shot two days later and passed on it. That was wrong. I should have taken it. You have to trust yourself. Lesson learned.
The deer have pretty much vanished during the day light hours. Probably the heat. It's so bad, I haven't hunted some evenings. Why? Cuz of the ^&**(*&&^ mosquitos. Pretty hard to be still and quiet when you are swatting those little guys. We need a good freeze!
Gonna have a T-bone steak tonight and pass on the hunting. But tomorrow morning.....

Bowhunting...Time to Hunt.

Well, after launching 2,000 arrows (one of which is still missing), building three stands, assembling broadheads (and bandaging a finger after that project), storing clothes in pine boughs. checking wind directions, etc. it was time to hunt.
I've seen 12 deer since yesterday morning. I've had them walk under my stand, and stand broadside looking at me. Some huge does but they all had fawns and I won't shoot fawns or a doe with fawns.
Tonight I went out to the meadow a quarter mile west of the house. A huge doe and two fawns appeared and wandered around for half an hour. A yearling appeared and was chased away by one of the fawns and then the doe. When the two fawns finally bolted into the woods, I thought they had got my scent. When I saw the large blur out of the corner of my eye, I thought it was the big doe following her fawns. Well...it was a huge buck. He hit the brakes 25 yards from me. I learned a valuable lesson at that point. I had moved my stool back a few inches and when I went to draw my bow back, my elbow hit the tree. I uncocked the bow leaned forward and brought it to full draw. Oh, had I mentioned all the mosquitos that were making my life miserable? Well, I had a face mask on cuz of the bugs and it slid up in front of my right eye as I was aiming at the buck. Not wanting to take a chance on wounding him with an errant shot, I pulled down the bow so I could pull down my face mask. Though he still hadn't seen me, he decided at that point to continue on his way.
I learned a couple of valuable lessons and got to see a huge buck. Maybe me or one of my hunting partners will see him again this fall. After all, it's the anticipation that makes it so worthwhile to me.
I'll hit the woods early tomorrow. Mikey and Sue are coming up for a few days so we'll do some driving up the north shore and look at all the colors. I've still got two months to hunt before the rifle season starts.....

"Let's Roll"

To the heroes of United Flight 93 - Thank You!!

Bears and Apple Trees

Last fall we discovered a big old apple tree not too far from the house. The apples weren't all that good for eating but I fed them to the deer and took pictures on the trail cam.

We decided to buy a couple of trees right away cuz we like apples and figured that big old tree would be great for pollinating. Lo and behold, both new trees were full of apples this year. One was ready to pick next week and one is a late tree, due in October. Well, we had a visitor last night. He tore up the tree with the ripe fruit, and ate all the apples. He hit the other tree as well. That tree was so loaded, the branches were bent down so he, or she, didn't have to bust up the tree to get the fruit. There's still some apples left but don't know if we should pick them or not. They are still kinda little.

At any rate, we pulled back the two branches on the one tree and wrapped them together. We'll see if that takes. If not, we'll have a really short tree next year.

Oh, and last week I went out and bought yet another apple tree.

And when I lived in Minnesota, all I had to worry about was racoons.... Uffda!!

Bowhunting, Part 3 - The New Stand

I picked this beauty up when I was in the cities a couple weeks ago. Ok, it's not too far off the ground, but it is easy to get into, is right next to the house so I can sleep in a little bit longer, and is right on a deer trail.

There has been a persistent rumor going around that I fall out of deer stands. Ain't no way I'm gonna get hurt falling out of this baby!

Actually we spent about an hour yesterday, with two ladders, trying to get this sucker up a tree where I want to hunt. We didn't get it up as high as I would have liked. My helper is only 5' tall. We did the best we could.

My trail cam keeps picking up this doe and her goofy fawn. I have orders not to shoot a doe with a fawn so hopefully something else will wander by. Well, then there are those two dumb turkeys that seem to like to get their picture taken.

I did build another stand 13 1/2' off the ground not too far behind the house. Gotta build at least one more.... so much to do.