I Hope I Don't Get Lost

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:20:00 +0000

Partly sunny today. They're calling for warmer temps all week and maybe a little more rain. That's good. In the woods, in the spring, you can't have enough rain.

The scouting process for bow season gets started full swing about now. I've got secret spots I've used successfully over the years. But with no baiting this year there will be less hunters and I'm loooking to spread out a little. I'm looking for another bow hunting haunt somewhere down by the river, down in Big Dismal Swamp. That's where most tourists hunters get lost.

It's going to be a tough hunt around here this fall and for a few years after. The deer herd has been wiped out by too many doe tags the last several years. And it's not the fact there are few big bucks, there are few bucks period. Too many bucks are killed as does before they're even a year old. If I want a buck, let alone a big buck this bow season there's a better than even bet it will happen somewhere near the river, where it's swampy and muddy. The woods are so thick in places the mosquitos have to crawl on all sixes. The spiders have it even worse as they're down on all eights. (And I thought high school biology would never come in handy.)

Anyway, it's real thick woods. I hope I don't get lost.

(Stay tuned.)

Working in the Woods

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 13:50:00 +0000

Satuarday April 14, 2012

Warmer this morning, in the low 50s. The pileated woodpecker calls out through the quiet woods. It is a beautiful song and truly a call of the wild in its own right. After that the loon began to scream out its eerie sounding lonely song. It's good to be a woodsman.. .

We had a little rain yesterday but the woods are still dry. They are calling rain, on and off, for the next three days. This should green up the forest good and take away some of the fire danger. Until then I'll keep my fingers crossed and my nose in the wind.

I'm cutting wood this morning ahead of the rain. If I can get a couple loads of wood cut and hauled home before the rain I'll be as smug as a buck in brambles. Yesterday, I took the apple trees in my little orchard by the roots/ First, I cleared away leaves and sticks and debries from the base of the trees, I took a little top soil too and gave them a good drink of water. Then I spread my secret concoction of fertilizer (a big bag of Miracle Grow Soil, a big bag of cow manure and a good shovel full of wood ash), Now add a couple of days of rain and we'll be in business. Though, all this might not help, at least not this year, but it couldn't hurt. I have a few trees up in the woods I'll gve the same treatment in the next few days.

Keep Pluggin'

John

The Wet Thing To Do

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:56:00 +0000

6/18/11 The Wet Thing To Do

Rain, rain go away, like down to Arizona and New Mexico where half of the state is on fire. In the last two days we¹ve had two separate storms that dropped at least three inches of rain ... each! I know this because not only do I have rain gauges out but I¹m the guy who bails it out of my boat after every storm.

Besides keeping me indoors the fall out from all this rain has many other cause and affect. For instance, the pile of dirty dog towels is getting larger by the hour much less the day. Let¹s see, a pack of dogs who need drying off, including all four paws, every time they come in from outside.

And why does it seem that on sunny days the pack is perfectly content lounging around inside the house in their beds but on rainy days they jump and bark at the door to go outside every 10 minutes or so?

When you¹re closed up in the house on rainy days you¹rein much closer quarters, for many of us, with a wife and her very long Honey Do list. Thank God I saw it coming on these storms and I already hid all the paint brushes in the house.

Anyway, there are many theories as to why we¹re havingsuch rotten weather this year. Some blame it on global warming, or El Nino, or La Pena, or even Coochy Coo. Other¹s claim it¹s God playing some kind of cat and mouse game with us sinners. As if the good Lord didn¹t have better things to think about. But this is true, if He was playing a game with us the sinners would be betting on the outcome. But then none of these are the reason for our recent rainy weather. Though, I know the reason very well.

It¹s my brother Jim. Now don¹t get me wrong, he¹ a great guy. A good husband, father, grandfather, brother and family man. He¹s an avid outdoorsman, a deer hunter with a 160 score buck among the deer he has harvested. He catches fish and cleans them for a family fish fry all the time. He's a pillar in his community and church and he has a fine sense of humor. But what he doesn¹t have is good weather Karma. Not at all. He brings rain like D.Rose brings the basketball. I don¹t know what he must have done in a past life to piss off Mother Nature so bad, but when brother Jim tells us he is coming up to grandpa¹s cabin, right next door, on the weekend we break out the umbrellas and boots because you can bet your best boat bailer the clouds will come and the heavens will open.

Hey, maybe Arizona and New Mexico should fly him down there. I mean, it would be the wet thing to do.

It's Good To Be A Woodsman

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 23:17:00 +0000

It¹s Good To Be A Woodsman

6/13/11

Hot weather at the beginning of last week. It was 100 degrees two days in a row. Then it got cold, 44 by midweek. First the bluegills are on the beds, then they¹re off. It reminds me of my honeymoon all those years ago. The fishing wasn¹t great that week either.

This is June. Which means besides the fishing I figure I¹ve turned a corner and bow season is just one hot summer straight away. I picked up a new treestand this year and I¹m putting it up in a new tree. I saw no shooter bucks last year and this year will be different.

It can be risky putting up stands in June. While on the one hand, it¹s good to have your stands up long enough before the season the deer are use to them by shooting time, but on the other paw, if you will, the squirrels get a couple extra months to cause real trouble. They¹ll chew anything chewable.

Fortunately, I haven¹t seen too many squirrels lately. But I have heard owls every day. It could just be a case of one predator helping out another. Who!

Who!

All and all June is a busy month in the wilderness. And, so far, the bugs haven¹t been too bad this month. But, I mean, think about it, squirrels, deer, treestands, bluegills on the beds. And, at least so far this month, no snow. It¹s good to be a Woodsman.

Welcome Back Good Ol' Summer

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:17:00 +0000

Welcome Back Good Ol¹ Summer

6/7/11

The mosquitoes showed up yesterday, the same day Summer did; and I don¹t care what the calendar reads, 95 degrees in the shade with about a million degrees in humidity -- people start speaking with a Missouri accent -- spells Summer in this neck of the northwoods. Add lots of standing water from much recent rain and you have perfect breeding conditions for mosquitoes. There is, however, more than just a silver lining here.

Lots of bugs usually mean good fishing. Lots of rain means no forest fires.

Lots of heat makes up for lots of cold six months ago. In fact six months ago, give or take a week or two, the temperature was 120 degrees colder.

I¹ll take the heat, rain and bugs anytime. Pass the kindling.

Speaking of good fishing, the last couple of hot days has warmed up the lake water and the bluegill spawn is beginning. I used a little jig with a Mr.Twister tail and a hook tipped with a live waxie. I use that term because my wife Lori was with me when I was fishing. Otherwise a waxie by any other name is still a maggot.

I caught a mess of big bluegills from my boat tied to my pier. I finally got it right when I realized the best fishing spot isn¹t always on the opposite side of the lake. I can almost taste those fish. Welcome back Good Ol¹ Summer.

Yeah, It's Good To Be A Woodsman

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 21:45:00 +0000

March 20, 2011

Yeah, It¹s Good To Be A Woodsman

Well, spring is finally springing here in the northwoods. It hasn¹t quite sprung yet, 47 degrees and rain is barely a strut let alonefull fledged spring. But it¹s a beginning and you can¹t finish until you start.

This is also the time of year when we go from cabin fever to spring cleaning. It¹s like going from a bad cold to the flu. I know it¹sabout to begin when Lori goes from sitting on the couch, wrapped in a blanket,sipping hot tea and complaining about another long winter, to a sweat shirt, tennis shoes and an extra large bottle of window cleaner (it always starts with the windows), That¹s when I head for the hills.

I mean, once she gets up a head of steam with spring cleaning there is no stopping her. She¹s like an avalanche with a vacuum cleaner. Today I made it to the woods behind the house and to my new stand location before she could drag the ladder up from the basement and put me to work.

Anyway, I¹ve scouted this new stand spot for years.Though its more in the woods than my last two stands near clearing edge there is plenty of shooting room. It¹s actually only a few yards from the otherstands. It¹s like when you¹re fishing and you move the boat 3 feet closer to shore.

From the new stand I¹ll also be able to see across the back of the ridge and to my dad¹s driveway. Last year I saw two nice bucks go that way but they soon went out of my sight line. That won¹t happen from this new stand locale. I better practice with my grunt call. Which, by the way, is something Lori claims is like practicing to snore, that it comes naturally.

So what¹s her point?

I spotted the little herd of deer that runs the ridge along the lake and right behind my house. They are a tight little family of eight I call the Timber Ridge Eight.

It was good to be in the woods for an extended period of time for a change.

In winter after bow season, I usually make short forays into the woods. But when the temperature is below zero and the wind is brisk I have a warmer place to sit than under a pine or in the neighbors outhouse. But now that it¹s mid-March I can stay longer. At least until she¹s done washing windows.

I should have brought along some food. Maybe a blanket.

Yeah, it¹s good to be a woodsman.

It's Good To Be A Woodsman

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 21:19:00 +0000

February 22, 2011

It¹s Good To Be A Woodsman

Old Man Winter is still very strong and down right spunky. Some years he gives up about now. The days are long, the breeze getswarm and spring comes early. (See Ground Hog¹s Day.) But not this year. He¹s sticking around and he must have been saving up for this winter. Deep snow,cold, ice and lots of wind.

In fact, Lori and I are snowed in this morning with more than 8 inches of new snow on a very icy driveway. We¹ll sit tight and wait until they come and plow. Besides, she still has a horrible cold or flu and could use another day off. But I have no room to complain as both daughters and son-in-law, Kate, Maggie and Ryan, live in the Twin Cities and they had 19 inches of snow. It¹s a good thing I¹m pretty good at feeling sorry for myself.

I saw the Timber Ridge Eight yesterday. This is a family of deer who have included our family 25 acres as part of their home territory for at least 20 years now. They usually go through here a couple of times a day while coming to and from the big swamp on the other side of the road.

Besides seeing them, this family of many generations, almost every day for all those years there is another feature that helps me follow the lineage.

It¹s a cowlick. It sometimes skips a generation or two, but there is a doe in this family with a cowlick on her neck near where itjoins the body almost every year. A couple of years ago the Greenhorns who also live across the road on the opposite side of the swamp shot what was the current cowlick doe the first year they were here. In fact, soon after the Greenhorns invaded our woods I didn¹t see a cowlick doe for many years. I figured that was that and the string was ended. But then a couple of years ago I was delighted to see a doe fawn with the family cowlick. She¹s still here. I saw her yesterday leading her little family through the snowy woods.

I guess what this all means is, no matter what the Old Man hits us with there¹s reason to rejoice about something else. At least that¹s the way it is in this neck of the woods.

It¹s good to be a woodsman.

I Heard The Choir

Sat, 12 Feb 2011 23:06:00 +0000

Feb 12, 2011

I Heard The Choir

It¹s only 31 degrees outside, a temperature that couldn¹t possibly be described as balmy, but it¹s 51 degrees warmer than it was yesterday. Pass the Coopertone.

It¹s just that time of year here in the big woods ...Spring! Well almost.

It¹s just a little wishful thinking. But it is the time of year when the weather swings back and forth faster than a politician on the campaign. I¹ve seen 30 below one night and 30 above a day or so later. How about a foot of snow overnight that melts by lunch time the next day? Though that can be kind of exciting. No matter how a storm may rage at the time, it¹s a case of, ³grizzle bear roar with a chipmunk punch,² there¹s nothing to it.Old Man Winter, while certainly not down or out, seems to lose interest after an initial blast. He¹s lost his enthusiasm. It¹s the cold I hate the most.

Twenty below, even if it is only for a day or two, is brutal. Cabin Fever is in the air.

I¹m luckier than most as I¹m out in the woods every day.Cold, snow, rain, wind it doesn¹t mater. I hear the breeze in the pines everyday. I see deer and turkeys and listen to the cackles and caws of crows and ravens echo across the tree tops. In the darkness before the dawn an owl hoot echoes loud and frightful. It sounds like something mystical and mysterious, something not of this world.

Today, however, was a little different than most late winter days. Oh, like I said it was cold, though it¹s suppose to get warmer any day now. We¹ll see. Yes Sir, the difference today was something else I heard. It was a song, a chortle, a sweet melody from a bird practicing his love song for spring. I¹m thinking maybe a goldfinch who are already turning gold again.I mean that sounds like something to sing about. I stood still and listened for a long time. The song echoed through the winter drab forest like an angel¹s song in church. My dad use to call these very woods, where I now walk, God¹s Great Green Cathedral. He was sure right about that and today, in late winter, I heard the choir warming up.

Bluegills And Bare Feet

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 23:04:00 +0000

1/21/10

Bluegills and Bare Feet

Old Man Winter arrived full force a month ago, but last night he came out loaded for bear. It was 29 below zero at 7:15 this morning. Lori could hardly believe school wasn¹t called off. That¹s awful cold for little kids to stand out and wait for the school bus. And maybe things are different nowadays but I seem to remember it was never very warm inside the bus either. What happens if the bus breaks down on one of our many backwoods or back country roads? At 29 below the skin begins to freeze in 15 minutes.

Seems to me a broke down bus out here is not going to be fixed in that short of a time. Maybe nothing happened today but when it¹s that cold in the morning I have to believe the kids are better off staying in bed.

Of course it¹s real cold out in the woods, too. When I was out plugging in cars at 4:00 this morning I could hear tree branches snapping loud, like rifle shots. It¹s moisture inside that freezes then kind of explodes.

That¹s cold!

But then, there is a silver lining. This kind of weather makes me a better fisherman. The pain and discomfort that comes when it gets this cold is forever imprinted in my consciousness. It¹s not easy to forget, not even six months from now at high summer.

In summer, any time I need a little motivation to go fishing all I have to do is think back to the cold season. Even if it¹s just to go for bluegills from my pier, in the hot sun, with my bare feet dangling in the warm lake water. It really doesn¹t get much better than that.

Believe me, hard winters make for better fishermen in thesummer. But besides the good summer fishing Old Man Winter also motivates me to go out in the woods everyday in the spring. In fact, as soon as the temperature gets back above zero I¹m out there for an hour or so at a time. But there have been March days when the temperature hits 40 degrees. When that happens I throw on a hooded sweatshirt, pack a lunch and stay out in the woods all day long. Man, it doesn¹t hardly get better than that, either.

Yes Sir, for all the complaining, the howls and gnashing of teeth over the woes of Old Man Winter he is a great motivator for outdoorspeople. I mean, I can almost feel it already ... Summer! That stays imprinted on my mind, too. I can hardly wait for the warm breezes, when the only thing cold is beer from the cooler, and all that¹s on my mind is bluegills and barefeet.

It's Good To Be A Woodsman

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:01:00 +0000

January 10. 2011

It¹s Good To Be A Woodsman

We¹re in full blown winter routine and attire in this neck of the big woods.

It¹s cold! I mean, I put on more layers than a rouge cakebaker or aging beauty queen. The wind is not just whispering in the pine top sit¹s singing, howling like a love sick wolf. And I love it.

That¹s not to say I love it more than summer or spring,and certainly not more than fall. But that doesn¹t mean I don¹t love it too.It¹s like the fourth hunting dog in a four dog pack. He doesn¹t chase too well,or tree too well, or in general hunt too well, but you sure like the rich, powerful tone of his bay.

Cold, deep, deep cold that hangs over the Namekagon River Valley this time of year is part of what I call, The Filter! It¹s just part of why so many people visit here but don¹t live here. Mosquitoes, wood ticks and the wild and mysterious northwoods itself are also part of this filter.

There is no time of year when I have so much of the woods to myself from other human beings. Not even the deer or turkeys run very far from me this time of year. I guess they figure, if I¹m out here at this time of year when it¹s so cold my nostrils freeze closed, when the moisture in tree branches freeze and snap like rifle shots, I surely must belong here.

I never need a reason to lose myself in the woods, but just for the record wood cutting, blue berry picking, scouting hunt and photo locations, and great exercise are all good reasons to get out in the woods anytime of year, but except for a forest fire, there is no reason I won¹t go into the forest. In fact, I go there every day, whether it¹s cold, or buggy or down right spooky.

It¹s good to be a woodsman!