Grouse Hollow Journal for October 22, 2015 by Greg Koelker

It is Monday morning and Ellen just asked me if I had written a column.  I suppose I could.  Anyway, I do a lot of things backwards it seems so why not start this with Sunday.  I picked up Gregg Sikora at early-thirty in the morning and then we loaded up Bud Veale’s hunting gear and self at Stoddard before we headed north to Warrens and the Woods and Meadows Hunt Club.  83-year old Bud was to be a participant in a NASA experiment; well, that is, he was the guest on a North American Squirrel Association sponsored pheasant hunt.

Our hunt masters, Steve Earp and Lester Hanson of NASA greeted us like the old friends we are becoming as we walked into the lodge at Woods and Meadows.  There were three other folks there, Randy and Jean and their friend Sean, the other hunter guest this morning.  Sean has had a nasty bout with Guillain-Barre syndrome and she has been recovering from total lower body paralysis for some time she told me later.  Jean and Randy were to be her wing men, but Sean invited Bud to ride along on her hunt and for Gregg and I to be backup shooters too.  Anyway, after two hours of great dog work, lots of laughter, walking, and hearty congratulations for some pretty good wing shooting, Sean had four birds.

When we got there at 8 am, it was frosty and gloves were necessary, but by this time, I was down to bare hands and had my jacket unzipped.  Maddy and Greta, Steve’s German wirehairs, needed a break.  (My tongue was almost hanging out and my legs were just about kaput, and those two pointers had covered fifty-times more ground and brush than I had.)  Bud had been riding shotgun, and after our break, it was his turn on point.  He and Sean swapped spots, and Lester and Steve got Bud set up in the hunter’s seat out in front of the specially modified Kubota UTV.  Bud is an uncanny wing shot; in the 26 years I have hunted ducks and pheasant with him, he just doesn’t miss when he has a shotgun in his hands.  We put up 9 birds in two hours, bagging six.  Randy, Gregg and I shot at birds that flushed away from Bud, but when Bud had the shot, the bird went down.  

Back at the ranch after the hunt, while someone from the lodge filleted our birds, this tired bunch had some cool drinks and ate pizza in the lodge; we recounted the events of the hunt and looked at videos and pictures that both Steve and I shot of today’s hunt.  We talked North Dakota pheasant hunting and Packer football.  

When I got home, the scents of cooking emanating from Ellen’s kitchen were amazing.  She had grilled some green peppers and made some Mexican beef, carnitas style for use later on nachos, sandwiches, and/or pizza.  I had time for a much needed shave and shower before kickoff and we had some of that beef on a homemade pizza after the Pack won.  It was a great day.  

Let’s see moving backwards, on Saturday morning at Cassville, I made breakfast; I fried some eggs and ham for Mom and I.  We were able to catch up some before brother Del showed up, raring to get some new siding hung on Mom’s house.  My sister Diane and her husband Dan helped the ramrod, Del get the old storm damaged siding off the day before, so Del, Diane, Dan, my sister Carolyn and her husband Jamie, and I got to it, covering the wall with a barrier material and nailing up new vinyl siding.  Mom made a great family style lunch for us.  My niece Kari showed up to “do” mom’s hair.  I conned her into a buzz cut for me before she left; it took like a minute.  By the time I headed home, the Badgers had taken down Purdue and my right arm was pretty much dead weight from nailing.  El and I went up to our neighbors, Gus, Erin, and Marissa Pickar’s for a bonfire Saturday evening.  We had some good food and drink and the fire was huge.  (In case you were wondering, they had called the sheriff’s department first.)  Anyway, when we got home, after all the fresh air, exercise, fellowship, food, and vodka, it didn’t take long for me to drift off.  Okay, it never takes that long for me to drift off anytime I guess.  

I did get out bowhunting one breezy evening last week.  The sunset over the river valley was yellowish and was fortuitously slow on this pleasant afternoon.  Urged on by an occasional gust, leaves fell and fluttered by like yellow and brown snow at times.  I could occasionally make out the sound of a train in the valley or a blue jay squawking.  When the sun beams retreated up to the treetops into eventual shadow and the wind took its evening breather, I stood up in my stand to await what I call “the magic time“ - that time between sundown and dark when it is most likely that a whitetail or other creatures will venture out of the woods and maybe I’ll get to see them.  This night it was not to be.  I was thinking about heading in when I heard a far off engine start.  It got louder and closer and I realized it was a combine.  Someone was picking something.  Then I saw headlights through the trees and in the fading light made out a John Deere combine with a four-row corn picker on the front turn the corner and head right for me.  I thought maybe I’d see a deer yet, but no.  I smiled from my secret spot as I watched Andy Beitlich and his son Austin in the cab rumble by, their faces dimly lit by the machines instrument panel lights unaware of I was there.  I waited in the tree stand until they came back by and then I climbed down.  Where there had been a cornfield in front of me, there was now just corn stubble and broken over stalks.  The river was still a silver jewel in the darkness when I got back to the Ranger, and as I often do, I stopped for a bit to take it all in, still a thing of beauty even with the lights and rumble over the ridge top continuing.  

Until next time, get out - if you know someone who might benefit from a NASA event, check out the North American Squirrel Association for an opportunity.  Their website is: http://www.nasasquirrel.org/index.asp.  Finally, what a football weekend, my Pirates and Comets won, the Badgers won, the Packers won, and maybe best of all, the Blackhawks won too!  Sometimes it just don’t get no better.  Enjoy.

I thought you might enjoy this old photo I found in my grandma's photos. It has to be a distant relative I think; pretty distant because he is obviously a better shot than me.