I just peeled my Packer sweatshirt off. The Sunday afternoon sun came out here and is doing its best to roast me here on the porch. I had a nice visit with Mom and now I am visiting with you.
It’s been a quiet Sunday, well not really. This morning I got Scout out and we went down to get the newspaper. I was looking at some of the headlines through the orange wrapper when I turned to see Scout with a whitetail deer standing in the driveway to a field. Scout’s tail never quit wagging like she wanted to play. The deer did not; it was hunched up and apparently hurting. It looked pretty distressed to me with ribs and backbone sticking out through a tight skin. I left messages with a warden and left it at that.
While I was perusing the Sunday Tribune, I got a fishing tip text from nephew Chet. He said they hammered the perch and bluegills behind his place yesterday. Okay, we have been through that “you should have been here yesterday” stuff before, but El and I loaded up the Queen and headed out a short time later. We put in at the north landing at Goose Island. The current was strong as we motored north. Chet and Kim live along a backwater of the Mississippi River that shall remain nameless. We actually tied up at their dock and dropped in hooks tipped with chunks of nightcrawler. Ellen got off the snide first, hoisting a small ring perch into the boat. A few moments later, she hooked a dandy perch, and then we commenced unhooking perch and bluegills into the livewell. The sun came and went and an occasional front moved through, but there was no rain, and our time in the boat was pleasant enough.
Chet and Kim and her folks were laying cement blocks for a retaining wall. (At first I feared this was a set up to get more laborers.) Anyway, before we motored away, we visited with them a bit. I offered to help them “dedicate” their new back yard and patio some time soon.
Back at the ranch, the unfortunate whitetail was dead, and there was a message from the warden that gave us permission to dispose of the carcass, but I cleaned fish first. Scout kept me company while I sipped a Coors and filleted 18 keepers.
Our neighbors - who don’t have a dog - said we could dump the deer behind their grainery and they would take care of the last rites of the unfortunate critter tomorrow with a bobcat. Upon further examination by the way, El and I concurred that the deer had been hit by a vehicle and probably was not sick - so that’s good. I don’t know how animals know so soon but Ellen spotted a coyote up the road when she went to church. Later there were dung beetles and blowflies all over the deer while a pair of turkey vultures made lazy circles overhead. Hunters always hope for a quick, clean kill. Seeing an animal suffer is so difficult. El helped load the carcass into our dump trailer, and after strapping the corpse in for the ride, I hauled it up the ridge.
While I was gone, Ellen made coleslaw and boiled up some red potatoes to go with the fresh fish. I rolled the filets in Andy’s cornmeal mix and fried them using the same Wisconsin-made Presto fryer we have been using for over 30 years. She told me that this was the first fish she caught since last fall. I guess it was the first keepers I have got into since before Christmas. Anyway, it was a treat to have fresh fish filets.
Until next time, get out - I worked last week’s election for the Town of Bergen. I was there all day and I can assure you the Russians - while they came up often enough in jokes - did not interfere with our results. The voting machines are NOT connected to the internet; in fact, Town Clerk Tina Dahl had to call in the results to a LIVE person at Vernon County. Our polls were so secure the ladies I worked with wouldn’t let ME vote because I forgot my billfold and had to Ellen drop it off when she came to vote. Still the Russians may have tried interfere here if they saw all the food people brought for the workers! Anyway, I can’t wait to hear the stories from the youth turkey hunt this weekend, and I can’t wait to get my stuff ready for my first season turkey hunt either. Enjoy.
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