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.