Wolf?

I'm not prone to Internet hyperbole but a trusted friend emailed me this picture today.

This is allegedly a trail camera picture of a wolf taken on December 27th just north of here at a location near Little Sturgeon.

I'll do a little digging to determine if this is the real deal.

Until then - when the dog is out for a walk in the woods with us the Frau and I will be packing heat.

Edit - Or is it just a hefty coyote?

Winter Finches

These goldfinches are a bunch of tough hombres.

Seven degree overnight lows and highs of nineteen degrees.

The hairy woodpecker has been eating from the peanut feeder we put out this winter

But what's with the finches? This is a bit unusual - but I suppose if we keep the three finch tubes full they may just stick around, eh?

Click to enlarge

Tuesday Morning Music

I stumbled across another live version of one of my all time favorite songs.

And Ray Thomas is wearing some groovy tie-dyed jeans just like I had back in the day.

The scarf too...

Merry Christmas

Mein Frau has taken it upon herself to decorate the trees along the roadside.

Yep.

Just like you see here.

Lots and lots of various Christmas ornaments hung from the little trees all along the side of the road.

You know hon - when the Door County plow comes tearing down that road at 50 miles an hour those ornaments aren't going to stand a chance of survival.

Found out they've been wired to the branches.

The problem will be removing them after the holidays.

Merry Christmas and best wishes to all my my readers for good health and prosperity in the New Year!

Your pal -

Swamp

Innsbrucker Capellknaben

The Labor of Labs

There is practically nothing on earth more pathetic than a miserable Labrador retriever when they aren't feeling well.

They make very poor patients.

Take Girlfriend for instance. Two weekends ago we went outside in zero degree weather to play fetch with a tennis ball.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Until she came back with the ball - whining...

Believe it or not - she seemed conflicted about going into the house or the possibility of another fetch.

My first hunch was that it was finally too cold for her. Not a likely hunch - but a hunch. So we went in.

Upon further examination it was determined that she suffered an injury to her right rear ankle. Not a dislocation - but clearly an injury. The dog was terribly preoccupied and not interested in much beyond going outside to attend to her business and laying on her bed.

Inasmuch as having a hunting Lab is fraught with adventure and incidents that call for a visit to the vet we have a regular pharmacopoeia of remedies that we travel with. So I fetched Girlfriend's traveling bag and found a bottle of Deramaxx. I gave her half a tab that night and one more with breakfast in the morning. Following that we made a trip to the vet in Sturgeon Bay.

The doc examined the pooch and declared it a soft-tissue injury and suggested I continue with the Deramaxx for four more days. If not improved - see the regular vet.

Whew! I had been up all night with a groaning dog and visions of surgery for a torn ACL that would have the dog laid-up for the holidays.

Girlfriend is fine. Since then she's been tearing all over the place and fetching logs from the wood rack on the porch and chewing on them.

Not sticks - logs.

Labs will eat anything that is disgusting. Road kill, other critter's scat, baby rabbits - and logs.

And this last weekend she's been puking.

Puking outside and puking in the house. Yes - Lab puke.

Blech.

This is not unheard-of so I revisited the stash of canine pharmaceuticals and started her on Cerenia (for vomiting) and Famotidine (for upset tummy). And we switched to the universal canine bland diet of boiled brown rice and boiled chicken - good for both stomach upset and canine diarrhea.

Sometimes I think my dog does this just so she can have her favorite meal which happens to be boiled rice and chicken.

As soon as I started cooking-up a big batch of the universal diet she shadowed my every moment in the kitchen.

Drooling like Homer Simpson...

The Return of the Osprey

New York Times Photo

A couple of years ago Braumeister and I were cleaning-up and putting stuff away in the garage after cutting-up a deer.

Hey, did you know that you have an osprey around here?

Not that I'm aware-of. Why do you ask? - I answer.

There's one sitting right over there in the big tree along the line-fence.

With that - the bird takes to the air voicing a strained whistle.

It's back.

Albeit temporarily.

I was hauling wood in from the porch to fill the wood box in anticipation of an afternoon of football followed by reading in front of the fire when I noticed a very large raptor soaring above the grassy field behind the house.

They're a striking bird of prey and easy to identify with their distinctive dark wrist patches on the undersides of their crooked wings.

They don't live around here as I never see them during the warm months. Although I see bald eagles from time to time.

With more than a foot of snow on the ground and ice on the bay this bird seems to have gotten a late start on its trip south for the winter.

Strange - don't you think?

He Said - She Said

Guess who's back in the news?

Yep. Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinski, the Little Blue Dress (with that nastiness on it), Ken Starr and the whole gang.

Conspicuously absent is Hillary Clinton.

The Death of American Virtue - by Ken Gormley arrives in February. In it you will find assertions that Clinton had yet another extramarital fling. Ms. Lewinsky says that she believes the President lied under oath.

Through 769 pages, Gromley, a Duquesne University law professor, offers a detailed, even scholarly retelling of an epic saga of grand jury depositions, fevered partisans...

Read the entire excellent (short) five page review to found over at Politico.

St. Martin Island Poaching Bust - Not So

About thost photos that have been floating all over the internet and rasing such a stink on the hunting/fishing/outdoor message boards?

The photos are real.

But no poaching was involved.

I spoke with Debbie Munson Baldini today - and I was told that the photos are indeed real. They were taken by MDNR Conservation Officers on the scene.

Eleven tickets were issued for improper tagging of deer. No poaching was involved.

At 1200 acres St. Martin Island is mostly privately owned and is intensively managed. In short - this was a cull - a management hunt.

I gotta say - that is one heckuva meat pole.

MDNR has taken an interest in this so there may be more forthcoming. Maybe.

Also maybe not.

Oh Tannenbaum

I'm looking forward to fetching the perfect Christmas tree in preparation for the holiday festivities.

Yes. My daughter and her family will be joining us shortly and we're big believers in having a real live tree on display for Christmas.

A freshly-cut Tannenbaum!

Bear - Bummer!

I've been getting some crazy emails lately...

So here’s a fella that shot himself a nice doe with his bow.

Good for him. This is a good start. Hang your deer overnight to cool-off for butchering the following day or so.







Unless a hungry neighbor comes around for a midnight snack.













Sometimes life isn’t very fair.

Unless you have a metal building to hang your deer, no?

This is reminiscent of the time Braumeister didn't recover his deer until the following morning - after the 'yotes had feasted upon-it all night long.

Hardly a memory left...

Pro Team In Your Future?

A professional sports team just might be coming to a city near you.

Portfolio.com/bizjournals analysis looks at the economic viability of different professional sports in 82 United States and Canadian markets.

According to analysis, Los Angeles, which is without a NFL football team, is demographically able to support five teams. Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Phoenix appear overextended and have difficulty supporting the teams that currently call these cities home.

Read this interesting piece and explore their interactive feature.

Poaching Bust - Yep - It's Real

Not being able to find anything on the web about whether the provocative report about the St. Martin Island raid was the real deal or just another Internet hoax I looked-up the email address of Michigan's Regional Warden and fired-off a question to him on the subject.

Here's his response:

Sir,

It is not a hoax. We are referring all inquiries to Debbie Munson Baldini at the MDNR Marquette office @ 906 228-6561.

Thank you for your interest.

Acting Lt. Greg Drogowski
Newberry Operations Service Center
906 293-5131 Ext. 4100

Poaching Bust - Update

I've been cruising a bunch of hunting message boards and any other sources trying to determine if this is for real or just another internet hoax.

Some say photo shop, others suggest legitimate hunt. Others say there isn't any official word as it is still under investigation.

There is this video update from the UP. It's also worth hearing what the oldtimers have to say.

Stay tuned...

Poaching Bust

Click on images to enlarge.

I received an email from a buddy yesterday about a bust on an alleged poaching operation in our neck of the woods. The forwarded email included the following text – presumably from a Michigan DNR warden…

From our raid on St. Martins Island on Nov. 19, 2009.

31 bucks and 9 does on the pole. Nothing smaller than a 7 point. Another approx. 10 deer, antlers, and heads found on the ground around the camp. A mix of smaller bucks and does.

10 deer without tags, approx. another 10 deer with wives/girlfriends tags. Investigation continues.

This is the next island beyond Rock Island. (Just beyond Washington island). The Wisconsin/Michigan boundary is right between Rock and St. Martins Island.

If this is true the outrageous scale of this crime is absolutely breathtaking and someone should be sure to throw the book at the perps.

On the other hand maybe it's just another internet hoax?

Stay tuned...

Close Call

Went to town this morning to fetch a Sunday Journal Sentinel. Later as I was reading Paul Smith's On The Trail column I noticed that the deadline for Spring 2010 Turkey Permit applications was December 10th.

I'm thinking - Did I send in my application? I'm sure I did - I probably did a long time ago. For sure.

But I have no recollection of doing it. For sure.

So I go to the DNR's nifty Online Licensing Center and open my account.

Gasp! Sure enough - no spring turkey permit applied-for. With a couple of key strokes I fixed that.

Disaster averted.

Cold

I had been contemplating a little bow hunting this weekend but it is too damn cold!

The thermometer has finally crept-up to a balmy 26 degrees. Overnight low was 18.

The wood burner has been stoked continuously to keep the furnace from running.

This morning there was an immense flock of crows - a murder of crows - gathered in the vicinity of a couple of deer gut piles. I stopped counting at seventy.

Deer Camp Rehash

So, how many deer has your camp harvested over the years?

That would be too hard to say - however if I pored-over the camp diaries I would be willing to bet that I could come-up with a fairly accurate count.

I did find a bag of metal ear tags - 32 of them - in an upstairs closet.

But this isn't all of them - as many of them went home with the hunter.

I would like to think that it isn't the number of deer - but the memories of good times from the hunt.

It's all about the journey and not the destination...

Deer Camp Rehash

Behold the Signature Deer Camp Beer!

I’d be willing to bet that we were the only deer camp in Wisconsin to serve Tim Hortons coffee every morning and a refreshing, custom-made malt beverage every evening.

A refreshing Cascade Pale Ale personally brewed by our deer camp's resident brewer: Braumeister.

This is an all-malt beverage that included Cascade hops picked from both my rock wall and Braumeister's trellis.

During deer camp we kept a keg of this yummy ale on the back porch near the hot tub. Along with a pitcher for handy refills.

I recommend that you serve this with smoked chubs, cheese curds or King Oscar Sardines.

Prosit!

Deer Camp Rehash

These are deer camp wings - delicately tossed with buffalo sauce.

At the Campingplatz we have a turkey fryer that has never seen a turkey. However it has fried a mountain of wings, fries, curds, onion rings, pheasant fingers, fish fillets - you name it!

This year NewGuy introduced me to the nuances of Hendrick's Gin.

Best served in a frosted glass, rinsed in dry vermouth and garnished with a bleu cheese stuffed olive.

Old Swamp would be a whole heckuva alot more spoiled if all of that fine gin hadn't evaporated...

Deer Camp Rehash

This is a Signature Deer Camp Bloody Mary.

Clamato juice, vodka, Worcestershire, horseradish and garnish of dilled garden green beans and garden-grown polish dill pickle.

Best served with smoked salmon and pheasant along with some of Lawyer's most awesome parmesan croutons and a cheese.

I have learned that the pickled hops I made this summer are not a good garnish. Way too bitter.

They’ve since been exiled to the compost heap.

Deer Camp Rehash

I'm not sure how I missed this post but it would appear that one of our missing deer camp members has been living it-up over in Malaysia.

We've been hunting our behinds into submission while he parties.

Where is the justice?

Here is The Impromptu Traveler performing an awesome karaoke of Elvis...

Deer Camp Rehash

I discovered an additional use for leftover Thanksgiving wild turkey.

Top a pizza crust with grated Renard's natural mozzarella, chunks of wild turkey breast, chopped artichoke hearts, sweet onion, basil and garlic.

Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Approach for Landing

SinissippiGal emailed me this cool action shot of a female eagle.

Deer Camp Winds Down

That red pine sapling that you see to the left isn’t going to make it.

It has been stripped bare and girdled by a buck marking his territory.

Deer camp is winding down.

And a good year it has been.

Our crew of six bagged four deer so far this year and there still remains some hunting to be done. Although I’d be the first to admit that it is difficult to be motivated when the freezers are packed to the gills with yummy venison and pheasants.

So I’ve been puttering in the kitchen and reading by the fire.

The Frau suggested I go out and knock one down for the hungry. That’s probably a good idea as deer donations are down significantly this year. Probably due to the wounded economy and maybe reduced deer numbers.

Who knows?

Cooked-up a big old wild turkey for the family on Thanksgiving. It was awesome. Made a big old batch of turkey soup yesterday for supper. It was awesome.

Like I said - cooking and getting caught-up on my reading.

I’ve been digging this book by Jon Krakauer – Under the Banner of Heaven. It’s as good as any of the other stuff he’s written such as Into Thin Air and Into the Wild. If you like contemporary and religious history with a dose of depravity I recommend it. When I'm done with this I need to get my hands on a copy of his story about Pat Tillman.

Took all the recyclables and garbage to the dump today. I was hoping to get some of the skinny on the local hunt but nobody besides the caretaker was there. I did notice some groups conducting some deer drives however.

Maybe I should go out and sit. Something just might get pushed my way.

The Frau and I went out this afternoon and cut a Christmas tree and a bunch of spruce and pine boughs for holiday decorating. What fragrance!

The ponds froze over last night and the creek is running.

The Campingplatz Redirects

Wisconsin's traditional deer hunt begins soon.

And I am sitting here at the platz wondering where I am going to find the time to update both this blog and the original blog.

Top-level management has determined that for the duration of the nine-day Wisconsin gun deer hunt you visit the original blog for a running commentary on this year's hunt.

Any posts that are published here will be evidence of idle time and no deer.

Obama's Home Teleprompter Malfunctions During Family Dinner

Dead Fish

Behold the finest of sardines and almost perfect cocktail hour or breakfast food.

Breakfast? Cocktail hour? What gives?

Seriously - if you serve these on saltines with your favorite adult beverage you have an instant cocktail hour hors d'œuvre .

Serve them on toast with a hot cuppa joe and you have breakfast!

And brisling sardines are the standard upon-which all sardines are to be judged.

And King Oscar brisling sardines are the gold standard.

Oh sure. You're probably thinking - That's about as appealing as eating bait.

Pish tosh. I've been eating these since I was a wee kleiner Junge.

And I have 10 more tins safely ensconced in the pantry for deer camp.

Yes.

Deer camp is just around the corner.

Ooooh...Pie

One de-boned pheasant cut into pieces. Skip the legs.

Olive oil and chopped garlic

Chopped celery, butternut squash, potato, carrots, peas and pearl onions – slightly precooked but not soft and mushy. Go for blanched. You’ll want enough to fill a couple of pie tins.

Butter

About two cups of chicken stock

1 c of milk

½ c of Half and Half or light cream

Fresh rosemary

2 frozen pie crusts (the kind that you unroll). Thaw to room temperature.

Sauté the pheasant pieces along with olive oil, garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until well browned. Set aside and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Bring the stock to a boil in a small pot. In a saucepan melt 5T of butter. Whisk in ½ c of flour. Add the stock, the milk and the cream. Bring to a boil until thickened.

Add the cooked pheasant and the veggies to a pie pan. Sprinkle with rosemary, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. Ladle-in the cream mixture.

Drape the pie plate with your pie crust and crimp the edge to seal. Cut some vents in the dough.

Beat an egg with 2T of water and brush the top of the crust.

Bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with a bold red wine.

Makes two 9-inch pies.

Don’t hunt? Substitute boneless, skinless turkey or chicken breast.

Recipe adapted from the November, 2009 issue of Field and Stream.

The Return of the Hippie Bus

One of the side benefits of South Dakota pheasant hunting is that you get to sleep-in.

Legal hunting is 10 AM to sunset. So unlike turkey hunting, duck hunting and deer hunting there is none of that nonsense of getting-up in the wee morning hours and stumbling about in the dark trying to feel your way to a blind. Which might possibly be a contributing factor to the persistent rumor of snoozing in hunting blinds.

Because of the later start - pheasant hunting allows for poker games and late night bull sessions to ensue with little risk of sleep deprivation.














Unlike sleeping in your deer stand – pheasant hunting actually requires that you tramp about.

The birds hunker down in whatever cover affords them the best form of concealment – be it grassland, agricultural crops or swampy sloughs.

And as of last weekend South Dakota has harvested only half of its beans and 12 percent of its corn. And things were rather wet.

We pushed a lot of corn, grass and soggy bottomland in an attempt to get those birds up in the air.

Ordinarily we’d move about from place to place throughout the day with our trucks. But this year we resurrected what we affectionately refer to as the Hippie Bus.

This clunker – with its paratrooper-style seating arrangement - can easily haul eight dogs, twelve hunters and our gear. At the end of the day – clean-up is easy – you simply kick open the back exit door and hose it out.

This year uncle Glenn got the bus stuck in a bean field.

South Dakota Works Its Magic

The Rock and I drove straight home from SD today – stopping only for coffee, gas, breakfast and more gas.

Girlfriend - aka Mighty Dog (that lovely Lab on the left in the picture below) really worked her own magic. Flushing birds out of heavy cover, working water-logged bottom lands and completing some great retrieves on wounded birds trying to make a run for it.

When she saw us packing the truck this morning she took refuge under the dining room table hoping we wouldn’t take her from her vacation.

The dogs worked hard this year. One of the Labs came-up lame and was down for the count. A few other dogs were limping and Girlfriend ran into a barbed wire fence yesterday chasing a bird.

She’s fine though – excepting for some irritation on her tummy.

With the exception of a Minnesota pit stop Girlfriend slept the entire trip home.

The Rock and I brought home a Coleman Xtreme cooler packed full of dead birds.

I have a vision of pheasant pot pie before too long...

click on image to enlarge

Dakota Pheasants

Hunted hard today.

And the pheasants were fewer and farther between.

With South Dakota's wetter fall weather there is standing corn everywhere.

Have you ever heard of taking beans off of a field in November? Huh?

Nobody’s started on the corn.

After sunset we ended up at Randi's barn for a refreshing adult libation two and some of Larry's freshly-fried pheasant tidbits.

And I found a bottle of this on the bar...

Gone Hunting

The dog and I are just about to shove-off for South Dakota pheasants.

Girlfriend is pacing-about as she knows what's-up.

I'm all tingly and wracking my brain to figure out what I've forgotten to pack.

If I can grab a signal I'll post a progress report - otherwise I'll catch you on the flip side...

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

I snapped these pictures the other day after the rains ceased and the clouds opened just enough to let some of that fantastic late afternoon sunlight to filter through.

(click on image to enlarge)

Bowhunting

Braumeister and I hunted this past weekend - and the weather was absolutely good for nothing.

Wind, rain, more wind and rain mixed with snow.

Pretty hard to stay warm under these conditions.

Braumeister hunted from a couple of ground blinds to hide from the elements - and I went vertical.

Never saw a deer until I let the dog out Saturday night before bedtime. There they were - two of them - munching fallen apples in the yard.

There were fresh deer tracks in the garden the next morning.

Did you know that deer are fond of romaine lettuce and broccoli?

Belgian Bier

Around here Belgians figure significantly in the local populace so Stella Artois can be had. It is a fine Pilsner and their advertising is rather creative...

White House Reveals Obama Is Bipolar - Entering Depressive Phase

Consider the Larch

Aka - Hackmatack, Eastern larch or American larch - Larix laricina – the Tamarack is one of my most favorite trees.

Girlfriend I were out woodcock hunting and happened upon a stunning stand of tamarack.

The tamarack is one of only three native North American larch species and is the most common.
An unusual species in that this larch sheds its needles in the fall like bald cypress. It turns a bright golden yellow just prior to shedding its needles.
Tamarack is the most cold-hardy of any native tree and has the strongest wood of all the conifers. Tamarack also has the widest range of all the North American conifers.

The tamarack is often found in association with black spruce, balsam fir and northern white cedar.

Large trees are rare as most old specimens were killed years ago by the larch sawfly.

The wood is heavy, hard and very durable in contact with soil. It is often used for posts, poles, ties, pulpwood and locally for timber.

Obama Inspires Change - Hunters and Shooters Benefit

Thanks to President Obama – next year Wisconsin's going to benefit when the Department of Natural Resources receives nearly $13 million in federal funding for its wildlife conservation programs, 50 percent more than it received this year.

This is the sixth largest payment made to any state. The DNR will also receive nearly $2.4 million for hunter education and shooting-range work in 2010. That's also a 50 percent increase from 2009, and ranks No. 17 nationwide.

In one of life’s great ironies all of this is the result of Obama’s anti-gun stance.

Read the rest of Pat Durkin’s column here.

Check Out the Impromptu Traveler

A member of our deer camp is on assignment in Malaysia for a spell and he's started-up a blog to keep us posted of his cultural impressions.

He's posted some pretty funny homemade videos if you are looking to expand your world view.

Check it out by linking to: The Impromptu Traveler.

Or scroll down to the Blogs I Follow.

At great risk of offending someone's delicate cultural sensibilities - Andy needs to know that there has been intense lobbying for the serving of Sid's humongous porkulus, apple and kraut dish at deer camp again...

Mail Call

Oh sure. The blogger who dwells on this site gets some interesting email from time to time.

But this was a treat.

Good old-fashioned snail mail!

The Campingplatz received this very nice letter from the Wauwatosa Farmers Market thanking one of the verrückter Deutschen for participating in the inaugural return of this community’s farmers market.

For the record I also happen to live in Tosa Town more than half of the time and mein liebchen (who happens to be the brains of the organization) figured that if she loaded the truck with all manner of our surplus fall produce she could sell those Door County desirables for top dollar.

In the short space of a few hours she netted $270 for pumpkins, decorative gourds, fall produce and red osier dogwood.

This was matched by a corporate donation which allowed for a contribution of $540 to the Wauwatosa Historical Society.

Now that I have the official papers I think I might have stumbled upon the perfect plan for a comfortable retirement…

Drink Beer - Butcher Deer

Quite possibly one of the simplest and finest pleasures in life is drinking beer, butchering deer and listening to the Packer game in your man cave.













These steaks are awesome!

And if you are a Labrador retriever - if you are patient enough - the butcher might flip you a delectable schibble of raw venison once in awhile so you can indulge your inner wolf.

(Click on any image to enlarge)

Deer Camp Downtime

Sitting by the fireplace and trying to bake the chill out of my bones. 40 degrees and rain this morning. Nobody is seeing any deer.

I have a borrowed copy of Army Staff Sergeant David Bellavia’s account of the battle of Falluja.

It’s a rather gripping and raw account of urban combat.

And almost impossible to put down.

Peace Initiative

First the Nobel Peace Prize - Stay tuned for Walking on Water...

The Big Stink

Just like the seasonal flu the seasonal stink is back.

Sometimes I would welcome the flu and not the stink. Nonetheless the neighbor’s honey wagon is as predictable as the spring and fall migration of the resident songbirds.

I’m not sure how many gallons that tank holds but it is full of liquefied bovine poo.

And it has its own unique pungency. Having festered in a manure pit for a spell - by the time this high octane stuff is sprayed on the field it will make your eyes water if you happen to be directly down-wind of the stuff.

Whew!

But that’s part of country life. Once all the city folk move to the country seeking relief from the city woes they will most certainly begin to bitch about stuff like harvesting late into the night, hunting and manure spreading – all of which predated their arrival.

You see – they want everything to conform to their comfortable vision of country life.

Me?

I like the stink this time of year.

It’s good cover for bow hunting when the wind blows wrong.

(if you want a bigger stink - click on the picture to enlarge)

Another Letter to the Editor

The following letter to the editor was published in the Door County Advocate following a front-page story about a Door County youngster afflicted with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

This little fella enjoyed a guided hunt, used a donated bear tag and fired his rifle by blowing through a straw. He bagged a bear. It was a dream come true.

Good for him.

Here's the letter-

Don't Encourage Animal Cruelty

I was extremely dismayed to read the story entitled "Dream come true" on the front page of Wednesday's Advocate regarding the 13-year-old Door County hunter who shot a 100-pound black bear.

While I certainly understand the issues he faces as a person with muscular dystrophy and sympathize with him and his family, I also feel for the animals who try to share our world and get blown away for no reason other than entertainment.

Sport hunting inflicts irrefutable cruelty on living, sentient beings and should be at odds with the values of a humane and caring society. Isn't there enough hostility in the world? At a time when youth violence is a nationwide epidemic, we should not be teaching our children that stalking and killing animals for trophies is wholesome fun. Shouldn't we be encouraging our youth to show compassion and kindness, not advocating violence?

Of course, I wish Ben the best; however, I'm sorry he wasn't armed with just a camera instead.

JoAnne Rosenfeld
Egg Harbor
______________________________________________________________________

So I composed the following letter in reply and emailed it off to the editor of the Door County Advocate.

We'll see if it is published.
______________________________________________________________________

Dear Editor:

JoAnne Rosenfeld's letter to the editor (Advocate 10/10/09) begs for a response.

Your readers can probably take comfort in knowing that Ms. Rosenfeld is a vegan. Judging from the sincerity of her views we might appropriately conclude that this is the case and accord the necessary gravity to her opinion.

I would. I have vegan acquaintances and I respect their views and they respect my hunting.

I read the article about Ben Junion and nowhere did I note that this animal went to waste.

I presume that Ben's family would do what any other self-respecting family would do - they would put the meat and the pelt of Ben's trophy to good use. And Ben's presumably shorter number of years on this earth would be blessed by his efforts and the generosity of others.

Why would anyone get their nose out of joint over this?

Sincerely,

Thomas Gaertner
Brussels

Smile for the Camera

Between September 28 and October 7 (when the batteries died) the trail camera captured 42 deer pictures. I strapped the camera to a tree adjacent to a trail that led from a tangled thicket into a meadow. (click on image to enlarge)




This one – as if posing for a holy card












This spike buck

And the three in this shot

The Perfect Cockail Hour Food

This might possibly be the perfect cocktail hour accompaniment.

Smoked Canadian trout.

I recommend that you serve this with an aged Renard's cheddar, sea salt bagel chips and a Martini on the rocks (in a tub) topped with a couple of queen olives and a twist.

If you want to make this at home the Signature Brine can be found over at the other blog.

Snow!

I sat for a couple of hours last night with my bow in a ground blind adjacent to a wildlife opening. At six o'clock four deer materialized opposite from me - two adult does and a couple of little deer born this year.

That would constitute a small herd.

Raising my bow and clipping on the release I waited for them to cross the opening and exit into the woods on their well worn trail adjacent to the blind.

Yet all they did was fiddle fart. The adults actually reared-up and boxed each other for a bit.

I wondered what that was all about.

Impatient with their lack of cooperation and rapidly losing my light I though maybe a call might bring them closer. You know - make them fatally curious.

I think to myself - Grunt or bleat? Grunt or bleat? These are girl deer so go for the bleat.

If any of you hunt deer you're probably familiar with The Can. It replicates the sound of a deer bleating. Which for any of you non hunters sounds just like a sheep bleating.

I give them a bleat.

And the responses is - No way do we like the sound of that. We're out of here.

They all skedaddle.

Darkness falls with no other deer to be seen. But as the sun disappears a raucous chorus fills the darkening woods. Chirping and squawking like I haven't heard for awhile.

Doodle birds!

On the half-mile walk back to the house I flushed no less than eleven woodcock from the grassy trail. And there were uncounted more of them in the alders and willows around me.

I'm thinking - Hey. They've been feeding all day and they're staging for their night migration flight. I better get out tomorrow with the dog and take a long walk and see if we can't bag some of these guys. They're all over the freak'n place.

Today it dawned cold. Thirty two degrees was the overnight low and the weather guessers are predicting an overnight low of twenty tonight.

As I tap-out this post it is snowing. Yes, a genuine snow squall.

Girlfriend and I are going out to hunt woodcock in the snow.

More later...

U.S. Concemned for Pre-Emptive Use of Hillary Clinton

Not a Visit From the Tooth Fairy

Upon my arrival at the office this morning I found this on my desk.














Has this ever happened to you?

I’m thinking – How strange? A 50 cartridge box of 9mm Makarov rounds. 94 grain - FMJ too.

I’m not sure if someone is trying to send me a not-so-subliminal message or if the ammo fairy paid me a visit.

Either way I can make use of them.

However - if anyone bumps into the ammunition fairy be sure to tell that woodland nymph that next time I want a big box of 7mm Remington Mags . Preferably tipped with 150 grain Swift Scirocco boat tail Spitzers.

More Birds

As a child I haven’t any recollection of seeing a bald eagle. Although I saw a snowy owl perched on a utility pole once. Forty some years later I saw my second snowy owl – perched on a fence post only about a mile or so from the farm. I guess there was an owl eruption that winter because the vole population in Canada had crashed.
Now I see eagles almost year-round.


When I’m fishing I watch them fishing.

They nest along the peninsula’s coastline.

I saw one a couple of years ago on a fence post.

One of my readers caught this pair on camera just the other day.

That female poised to take flight looks like she belongs on the top of a flag pole.

BREAKING NEWS: Bat Loose in Congress

Who Pushed Over the Crapper?

There is a secluded spot near the ancestral campsite where a simple commode has been maintained.

It's just a three-sided box topped with a second-hand seat and lid with a big hook upon which you can hang your roll. It's constructed of big pieces of treated lumber. It’s tough and built to last. The proof is that it has been out there braving the elements for a decade and a half.

It sits over a hole. However, the hole has moved from time-to-time.

It is the handiest darn thing as it's a bit of a hike to the nearest flusher and you never know when you are out communing with nature when nature will call and you will have to answer that call. And the view is pretty nice. During the deer season you can see directly to one of my neighbor’s condo deer stands. He has a good view of the moon.

This is a heavy and bulky object and I want to know who knocked it over.

Ornery buck maybe?

Payback

For any of you that have followed my garden chronicles you would know of the pillaging and rape of my sweet corn crop this year.

And you would appreciate the sweet taste of revenge.

Payback is sweet

Weekend Update

It’s been an altogether decent weekend.

For me anyway.

My neighbor has been chopping corn for two full days already and isn’t finished yet.

Girlfriend and I did some woodcock hunting and came home empty handed.

Someone once said that a good day of lousy woodcock hunting is better any day of the week than a good day at work.

A walk in the fall woods is always good.

I also took the opportunity to sit with my bow and see what was happening.

And there wasn't much going on.

Saturday night about a half-hour before shooting time a little deer scampered into shooting range. Followed by a second deer. A couple of twin fawns. And very stupid - as I could have taken either one or both of them.

Mama followed.

Mom was the nervous sort and it was immediately clear that she was not comfortable with whatever is was that was hanging about in their proximity.

Bow up and with the release clipped-on the string I pondered drawing as soon as the doe turned away and taking her. I was thinking – Well, the fawns don’t have spots anymore – they’re not nursing. They’ll do fine.

With the completion of that thought the doe stalked-off with a stiff-legged gait and the fawns followed.

The frau and I began to get caught-up on more fall chores – namely stacking three cords of firewood for the winter.

The wood box in the house is full; the wood rack on the porch is stacked with the balance stacked in the barn.

For good measure I canned nine more pints of tomatoes and froze a pile of pumpkin puree. And a big, giant batch of sauerkraut too.

I’m not buying kraut anymore. We dined on Jaeger Schnitzel, spaetzle and homemade sauerkraut on Saturday night.

Squash and sweet onions are in the machine shed awaiting winter storage.

Quarterback Bargains

Now that the NFL season is in full swing it seems like an ideal time to take a look at the sport in a "Moneyball" sort of way.

Portfolio.com analyzed the cost-effectiveness of all 36 NFL players who threw at least 160 passes during the 2008 regular season.

Matt Cassell and Tyler Thigpen were the best bargains at the quarterback position last year in the NFL.

Go here to see how your team's quarterback ranked.

Friday Morning Music

Welcome to another earworm...

Green Bay Walleye Action

Lawyer and Sid have been seeking the secret to catching the elusive eyes on the Bay.

Rumor has it that they've finally stumbled-upon it.

Pictures from this past weekend...

Handsome Canines

Girlfriend and Little Buddy went to town recently to attend Bark in the Park - a fundraiser for the Door County Animal Shelter.

Aren't their fancy red bandannas eye-catching?

Girlfriend's mortal enemy - Harley the Camel was there too.

Girlfriend is normally a very tolerant person - but she does not like camels. Which is precisely why (even though I have several) I will not be posting a picture of the Evil One with One Hump.

Did I say - person?

Isn't it funny how dogs can carry funky grudges and prejudices just like people?

The Haints

Gilligan is either the best or worst watch dog ever.

For such a little guy he sure packs a load of spunk and he's always - I mean always - on high alert for an intruder, trespasser or threat.

If someone is even walking down the road the alarm is sounded with his very scary mixed terrier bark.

After the sun goes down the threat level increases to RED. Especially if the windows are open.

Because that is when the haints come out.

Girlfriend and Little Buddy will be snoozing peacefully when all of a sudden Gilligan will leap to his feet, howl the alarm call and run to the nearest open window to peer into the darkness. This is usually followed by sharp barks and glances to the adults in the room for further instructions.

The haints are out and there's no way they're going to find their way into the house if he has anything to do with it

Haints? What are haints?

Well - as my buddy Bill from Oklahoma would describe them, haints are those amorphous beings that materialize out of nowhere. They're usually to be found in the dark and their sole purpose is to taunt your dog. And wise old Bill would thoughtfully conclude that...

The dog can bark all it wants to only there haint 'nuthin there.