This last week Ellen and I took
advantage of a fine October afternoon and went fishing up on Lake
Onalaska. There was a breeze, but the fall sky was mostly clear with
only stray fast moving clouds. The trees along the river valley are
passing their prime for fall color, but still in the sunlight, they
made for the perfect background. We put in at Shafer's without
incident and tried a couple places we have caught fish before. We
had plenty of company, so because the action in our boat was pretty
slow, I scanned our neighbors. One fellow off by himself was
regularly setting the hook and reeling in fish, only to toss them
back. We pulled up anchor and moved into the general area he was
anchored in. We immediately started catching mostly small sunfish.
The action was enough to keep us interested and use up some bait, but
in the end, I cleaned only four decent fish.
On Saturday, we worked on tree stands.
We took along a ladder and some tools and Scout. Up on the ridge, I
have a stand that keeps coming apart, that is the tree is growing so
fast that it pulls the seat up with it, causing the ladder to loosen
at the joints, which as you might imagine, is not good. Ben and his
friend Drew put the stand there for me in 2009, but the whitetails
don't seem to use the area much, so we moved it. After finding a
tree where there appears to be two deer trails going by, we had to
lean the 15' high stand up against the tree and level the base with a
shovel. We added a middle brace that is supposed to keep the ladder
from buckling, then I used the regular ladder to climb up on the back
side of the tree and attach a ratchet strap to the stand and crank it
up tight. I climbed the stand and directed Ellen as she cranked her
geared Fiskars shears, lopping off small trees and branches to clear
some shooting lanes. After that, we drove down the old farm ridge
road to place a brand new stand on the Grouse Hollow path. We heard
the noon whistle down in Stoddard as we scouted out a spot. There
are two well-used deer trails crossing the path and we chose to place
this stand against an old oak that grows between the trails. It was
frustrating at first, because the earth around the tree is thick and
soft and whenever I climbed up the ladder, the whole affair sank down
a foot, causing the platform seat to hang up on a football sized knob
on the tree. After some brainstorming, Ellen had a brilliant idea.
“Do you want to go down to the Turtle for a burger and fries?”
My answer is always yes to that question. I called in our order and
we made our way down to Stoddard. The place was busy, but if you
haven't had a cheese burger and fries at the Thirsty Turtle, I
recommend it.
After lunch, I did some hacksaw work on
an extension to the tree stand ladder and we took the four-wheeler
and trailer up the path. The entire time we had been in the woods
this day, we could hear ruffed grouse drumming. (You may not even
know you're hearing a grouse drum; it sounds like a small engine
firing, first putting and then revving up to full throttle before
stopping - over and over again) Ellen mentioned it would be nice to
see one of those grouse, and as if by magic, she whispered for me to
stop and look. She had grabbed Scout by the collar and was looking
intently down the hill from us. I followed her gaze and was able to
make out a ruffed grouse gingerly making its way through the brush
right toward us. I asked Ellen for her phone so I could try to
photograph it. The bird came up to within 10 feet of us. Scout was
having none of this and was struggling with Ellen to get after the
bird. I switched the camera to video and told El to let 'er buck.
Scout crashed down the hill after the bird; old ruff reluctantly
took wing and flew off only twenty yards or so. It kept Scout out
from under foot for a while. We wonder what berries it might have
fermenting in its crop. When we got finished with the patridge pause
and tightened up the stand, we took the four-wheeler up the path to
retrieve some firewood that we had cut while clearing some downed
birch and oak trees. It will be put to good use in the fire pit this
fall yet.
Back at the ranch it was time to go to
the dump. As I was leaving, Ben called from Colorado. He has
several rifle tags and is hunting elk and deer now. He said he had
seen maybe 50 elk that morning and at least 40 mule deer, but no big
bucks and all he has is a buck tag.
Anyway, after I got back from the dump,
I needed a nap, so I went bow hunting along the Corner woods. The
sunset was behind my left shoulder and the oak leaves around were
brilliant yellow. There was a light breeze and no bugs. The woods
was busy with squirrels, chipmunks, birds, and mice all scratching
through the hardwood detritus to find acorns or whatever. I had to
get down and walk around after less than an hour in the stand as my
restless leg got, well restless. I watched the sunset over the
Minnesota bluffs turn from pink to orange to a fiery red as I walked
back to the truck and home.
Back at the ranch, the kitchen was one
of those memories you want to store away; it was warm, and the aromas
of roasted meat and baking squash and apples were thick on the air.
My wife wanted to hear about my hunt and shared that our old friend
Mark Wadium was up in the field trying to call in a coyote. The
dinner, salad, boneless ribs, baked squash and potato topped off with
hot apple crisp, was frosting on a great day that ended with a nap in
front of the fire and a college football game.
Ben texted us a picture on Sunday with
the byline, “Got him!” He attached a shot of him holding up the
antlers of a huge mule deer buck. I haven't heard the story yet, but
I could tell by his smile that it will be a good one. Oh, I got the
text while I was pheasant hunting near Millston and I was able to
share the picture with my friends. More on that next time.
Until next time, get out - mountain
kids, Mark and Whitney are in Nepal this week - yeah, that Nepal with
Mt. Everest. We got an email that they had arrived in Katmandu on
Tuesday evening and were picked up by the principal of a school which
may be a future destination for the Children's Global Alliance. This
last week, Nepal headlines were full of horror stories about
avalanches killing trekkers in the Annapurna National Preserve
after a freak blizzard caught hundreds off guard. Annapurna is where
the kids plan to go trekking for a few days. Mark posted a couple
photos of long, high mountain ranges, blue in the early morning on
Facebook Saturday morning. He wrote this comment, “Namaste
(a form of greeting in Nepali) from breakfast in Nepal - thank you
for all of the thoughts and concerns.
Whitney
and
I are loving this area of the world, but our hearts go out to all of
those lost in the tragic Annapurna weather last week.” The
pictures he posted were amazing, and to those who asked, neither of
them work for the Travel Channel, but I think they maybe should.
Enjoy.
