Road Trip - January 2012

Decided to head down to Florida to see some friends. I guess it didn't hurt to get into some 80 degree weather and put on the shorts for a few days. Saw some sights, took an air boat ride and saw what swims and crawls in the swamps. Think I'll stay in the cold country....
Anyway, I had an ulterior motive for this trip as I'm a history buff and there's lots too see in the South.
We stopped by Plains, Georgia the home of President Jimmy Carter. I would have liked to knock on his door and say hi but there's this thing with the Secret Service......... We did stop out in the cemetery and pay homage to brother Billy. He had the gas station in town and even got a beer named after him. There were a bunch of pennies on his headstone so I added what I had.
We also wandered over to Lynchburg, Tennessee the home of Jack Daniels. We took the tour and even though Moore County is a dry county, they are allowed to sell a complimentary bottle to visitors of the distillery. The only exception was not on Sunday. Guess what day I was there??
Decided to visit the cemetery to see if I could find old Jack. The cemetery was huge but we had learned that there were two chairs in front of his head stone. We found him and, once again, I paid homage.
My real passion in history is the Civil War so we travelled down to Andersonville, Georgia to see the location of the most infamous prisoner of war camp ever in America. Over 45,000 Union soldiers passed through the gates and at one time there were 33,000 in an area of 16 acres with no food, water or shelter. 13,000 perished in a little over a year. Once again I headed to the cemetery where they were buried shoulder to shoulder. I took a picture. One prisoner actually tried to keep track of the names of the dead and smuggled out a copy of his list in the lining of his jacket. A year after the war was over, he returned along with Clara Barton and was able to put names over the graves of all but 4oo men. I walked amongst the head stones. Quite sobering..
On the way home we stopped in northern Georgia and Chickamauga, the site of the bloodiest battle outside of Gettysburg. 125,000 Union and Confederate soldiers slugged it out for two days in the forests and fields just south of Chattanooga. There were over 34,000 casualties in just those two days. There are many plaques and memorials to the various units placed throughout the battlefield and I stopped and read many. A jogger came by, pointed to the back of my car and up towards one of the monuments. It was for one of the Wisconsin regiments who fought there. I guess he saw my license plate and knew which monument was which.
As I wandered the maze of trees and stone and came upon one for a cavalry unit from Wisconsin. Cavalry from Wisconsin? For a moment I had to smile as I pictured a bunch of "Sconnies" riding cows into battle.
One local lady told me about the Confederate cemetery just south of town so we went over there. 421 Confederate and 4 Union soldiers are buried there. All unidentified. Men who never went home and had no one to put flowers on their graves.
I was impressed with the people of the south. I don't know how many times people saw my license plate, or maybe heard my "accent", and told us to have a safe trip home. I think we could learn a little something from them....

"Watchin' the wheels go round and round"

Had to steal a little from John Lennon today as nothing much is going on.
Oh, I did go and donate blood again yesterday. Geez where did those two months go? At any rate, I always enjoy talking to the girls while they are lowering my blood content. Normally one of the highlights is sitting out in the lobby having my cookies and juice afterwards. I peeked around the corner hoping no one was sitting out there. I didn't need someone coming up to me and telling me I looked like Billy Graham, Clint Eastwood, Queen Latifah or the lead singer of the Electric Prunes. Fortunately no one was there so I had my cookies and juice in peace, read my People magazine and vacated the premises.
Ten more days and it's back to Minnesota to do a little walleye fishing. We actually caught a few last year and armed with that knowledge, only good things can happen. Plus the guy who burned through a couple of lines, (literally), while the bite was on can't make it this year. We have a new rookie (Mikey), and look forward to imparting some of our great wisdom upon him. Like I said, only good things can happen.....

Hi Dad ...

Well dad, another deer season has come and gone. It seems they come and go faster and faster as I get older, but then again you always told me they would.
Things have changed throughout the years. We now have our own land and a nice comfortable house to sleep and cook in. No more tent trailer and mile long walks in the dark every morning and not returning to the trailer until well after dark. No wearing stocking caps to bed so we don't freeze to death. I do miss, however, your morning attempt to warm up carmel rolls over the stove with your bare hands. You never got them very warm but nobody seemed to mind.
There are five of us that hunt together now. A couple of the guys are fairly new to the sport. One guy got his first deer this year and I was happy for him. I still have a sneaking suspicion that he still spends too much time on that cell phone of his but what the heck. We never had to worry about cell phones did we? I was always to busy just trying to stay warm and my only divergence was eating candy bars and drinking hot chocolate. Things have changed so much.
I still shoot that 30.06 you bought me 41 years ago. I had it worked on a few years ago as there are inherent flaws in the design and the gunsmith said he did what he could because he knew how much that gun means to me. He just said to shoot it as little as possible. Well, it took me 8 shots to sight it in this fall. I cringed with every shot knowing I was stressing the gun. It's funny as I'm a lousy target shooter but when that buck came by last week, I was steady as a rock. It's like I had a steadying hand on my shoulder. Yeah I know that sounds kind of corny and is probably only wishful thinking on my part, but I can think that if I want.
Your grandson made another nice shot and got his deer. He's quite a hunter and I know you would be proud of the way he hunts and how he conducts himself in the woods. They say talent skips a generation. They are right.
We ended up with 4 deer for 5 guys though your grandson could have shot many more. I had a lot of time to think while butchering this week. I smiled when I remembered one of you favorite questions," Hey Duane, can I make a steak out of this"?
Thanks to you I have the memories of a lifetime. Your generation is gone, mine is next. Hopefully there will be those behind us to carry on.

I didn't want to have to post this...

For those people that know me well, they know that "What's Dewey Doin'" is about self deprecating humor in conjunction with my various exploits. I like to make people laugh and don't mind doing it at my expense - sometimes...
I post various pictures of fish and game that I and my buddies harvest along with the stories that MUST go along with them. After all, isn't that what's most important about such exploits?
Early this spring I dragged a lot of lumber way back in the woods to build a new bow stand. I called it "The New Hotel California." I told, and possibly bored, most everyone I know about how I had plans to shoot a big buck out of it. I had the right wind direction, trail cams and knew just when to start hunting out of it. I even made mention in a previous blog on my intentions to shoot the big buck.
Well, Wednesday morning at 10:45 that buck came by. After two years of shooting arrows, weight lifting every other day (which I hate to do) and all the preparation, I unleashed that arrow. Whether that buck took that extra step or I was slightly off with my shot, I didn't get the shot placement I expected. He ran off wounded. There was no blood trail and the misses and I spent 4 1/2 hours criss-crossing the woods to no avail. It snowed that night and was blowing pretty good Thursday morning. I went out anyway and spent an hour and a half looking some more. I didn't expect to find that deer but I had to look. I came home and put the bow away.
Back when Minnesota had that 9 day season, a buddy of mine told me about something his grandfather had told him. He said that if you hunted those 9 days just for that 1/2 second when you pulled the trigger, you should find something else to do as that would be a poor investment of your time. Fortunately, for me, I've never lived for that 1/2 second. Problem is, that 1/2 second is all I've thought about these last two days.
I don't know why that is. In almost 50 years of hunting, I've wounded animals before though. I'd like to think I'll never do it again but nothing is for sure, unless I were to put down the weapons.
This next weekend is the Wisconsin deer opener. All the guys will be coming up and I always look forward to that. There's plenty of deer and the bucks should still be in the tail end of their rut. I hope all the guys get some shooting. For me, I don't care if I even have the opportunity to shoot because I will not live for that 1/2 second. And yes, if the opportunity presents itself, I will pull the trigger.

The Times They Are A Changin'

So, I gave blood this morning like I always do every couple of months. If you don't, consider doing it!! At any rate, when I was done I was sitting in the lobby eating my Oreos and drinking my juice. You gotta do that before they let you leave.... At any rate, this guys walks in. He's about my age, tall, thin, wearing glasses. We nod and I go back to my juice and People magazine. I notice he's staring at me. He finally walks over, bends over and says "Do you know who you look like"?
I kinda grinned cuz in my younger years I had numerous young ladies say I looked like Clint Eastwood. No really they did!! Well at any rate I said "No, who"? And he says "Billy Graham" The grin left my face and I think he took that to mean that I didn't know who Billy Graham was so he says, "You know, the Evangelist".
Well, of course I said oh that's nice and told him that in my younger years girls thought I looked like Clint Eastwood. He acknowledged a bit of resemblance and wandered back to his seat.
I finished my juice and left vowing never to go back there again without wearing a baseball cap!
But then I got to thinking on the way home. I'm going out to Uweville tonight to hunt out of The Hotel California in search of a big buck. Maybe a little prayer wouldn't hurt.....

Huntin' Grouse...

Early Friday morning I headed over to Motley, MN to meet my good buddy Kurt. We drove up to Foothills State Forest, which I call Spider Lake, cuz of the little lake in the park. I've been hunting that area off and on for 40 years. A lot of people have camped out by the lake with me and walked the woods in search of grouse. I always think of that when I go up there and try to remember everyone I've been with up there. Now it's just Kurt and me......
The bird population always varies and new cuttings sometimes take away some of my secret spots but I enjoy the solitude the area provides. After a fruitless first walk, we ran into a state forestry guy. He said the birds seemed to be scarce and hadn't seen many hunters as well. Though that wasn't too encouraging, we hit the woods again and started flushing birds. Lately the grouse have been flying in a different direction than I've been shooting but Friday two birds decided to fly the same way I was shooting. They are now in my freezer.
I love hunting grouse for a number of reasons. You don't have to pay any extra money for a stamp, they are harder than heck to hit and I love that challenge and I have virtually no competition in the woods. Most guys walk trails or hunt out of their truck or ATV. No one seems to want to push brush any more... except me. Probably why I don't have many guys to hunt with as well. The older guys haven't got the legs or strength any more and the younger guys (if they aren't talking on their cell phone), don't seem to have the time or desire. Hunting grouse the old way is a dying sport.
There's a line in that Bellamy Brothers song "The Old Hippie" that goes "Pretty soon the species will just up and fade away". Hopefully we'll go with guns blazing.....

One Down......

I had posted that I had shot over a doe last week. Later trail cam shots showed that I nicked it in the back. Though the wound looked superficial, I wanted that deer.
Yesterday morning I only hunted until 8:00. I had a slight cold and runny nose which doesn't work well with face masks. Later trail cam photos showed that this deer walked by at 8:09. 9 minutes after I left....
So, I was out at 5:30 this morning even though it doesn't get light until 7:00. I had a doe and fawn walk by in the dark and at 7:20, the one I was looking for appeared. A thru and thru double lung shot and she only went 100 yards.
Now it's time to reposition my trail cameras. No more does or even little bucks. It's time to look for a big boy.