Grouse Hollow Journal for January 7, 2015 by Greg Koelker

Mountain Man Ben Koelker with his first elk, taken while skiing down a mountain.

I just got back in from getting the paper and tending to the dog and cat. It is so nasty cold out, I could see ice crystals on the ice crystals in my breath; they say it will be worse the next couple mornings. Guess Scout gets to come in for a few nights. It is even too cold to fish - maybe.

We have had a couple fish fries since the weekend before Christmas. Ellen, Vince, and I have been doing pretty well on the panfish in deeper water than I have ever fished in the river. One almost needs a flasher to find them as they are often suspended up from the bottom. Anyway, I have gone through a lot of bait and cleaned enough fish for a meal three times. We celebrated our 41^st anniversary with a fishing trip to French Island. We had a tip from nephew Jason to fish in 20 feet of water, using orange jigs, and be aware that they were quitting around noon. Jay was spot on. I drilled holes in the nearly 6 inches of ice with my Nils auger and Dewalt drill. Ellen caught the first fish, then Vince had two. As it turned out, we were too early. Who'd a thunk it? Around 10:30 or so the fishing picked up and we reeled pretty steadily, putting some bluegills in the bag and tossing back more small ones. I caught two crappies, one a keeper. We were using orange rockers with wax worms, but Vince had switched to his gold mamuska with a wax worm and he was doing just fine. Anyway, by lunch time, the fish had punched out. We packed up our tents and headed back to the landing. Vince donated his fish to our anniversary fish fry. Ellen and I had lunch at Java Vino in La Crosse - two burgers for the price of one. That afternoon I cleaned 23 panfish in the basement. Ellen made cole slaw and got some small red potatoes ready. With cocktail sauce and cocktails, we had a feast for dinner. We didn't need to make dessert what with all the Christmas goodies around just waiting for a dollop or two of ice cream. We raised our glasses to lots more fishing trips and gourmet fish dinners in 2015!

I carried my deer hunting storage container and my blaze orange coat up to the closet on Sunday night. I can't remember when I started piling blaze orange clothing, boxes of gloves and hats, shells, binoculars, knives, hand warmers, vinyl gloves, and boots in our dining room but I think it was at least eight weeks ago. Of course, I started using my archery camo clothing and gear clear back in September. This deer season seemed to go on and on. I guess it did. Let's see: archery and crossbow started September 13; there was a special hunt for hunters with disabilities on October 4 and the Youth deer hunt on October 11; the Big One rolled around November 22 followed by a ten-day muzzle-loader hunt; there was a Central Forest and Central Farmland Zone Antlerless hunt starting December 11 and then the Southern Farmland Antlerless Holiday hunt opening on Christmas Eve and ending on New Year's Day. Archery hunters got a few more days until January 4^th to try to fill the freezer. I did not shoot my bow or rifle or muzzle loader at a deer. I could have once, but chose to see what the four or five other deer behind the antlerless deer I had in my sights were - hoping of course for a buck. I got a rock for my decision. Anyway, I wonder what the final numbers for all those special hunts were - the DNR hotline says they should be available by the end of this month.

I don't want to complain about more opportunities to hunt deer, but I know Ellen and Scout are glad this blaze orange madness is all over for the season as El had to wrestle Scout into and out of her blaze orange sweat shirt each time they went for a walk on our own property to be safe. Personally, I don't think we need two special antlerless hunts, particularly the holiday hunt. There was talk of removing them from the calendar at one time. I also hear a rumor about maybe opening the gun season up a week earlier and adding a week to maybe get better weather and the end of the rut during the gun hunt; hmmm . . . maybe that would be okay, but again it depends on who and where you are. This season's weather - mostly bad, has to be a factor in this season's lower hunter numbers and deer kill in some areas; we ran the gamut from frost to rain to fog to snow storms and wind and dark gray depressing and wet days to dang cold, cold days. I guess the experts - I know I ain't one - will figure it all out.

Until next time, get out - as I was about to email this journal to the Broadcaster, the phone rang. It was mountain man Ben. After a howdy and Happy New Year, he said the year is starting off well. “I just shot an elk! It is in the snow right in front of me!” Wow! This is his first elk ever. He had a late season rifle elk tag. He said after his buddy Drew dropped him off, I skinned up a “pretty gnarly” hillside and then started skiing down the other side when the elk stood up. He thinks he can roll the critter down to the interstate highway near Vail where he hopes Drew can help him get it loaded up. We are pretty pumped up. Go Pack! Enjoy.