Blaze Orange

The 2011 Wisconsin Rifle Deer Season was one that will be remembered! My brother-in-law, Drew, and I kicked off the season by opening the cabin up Thursday night with a great meal and some beverages after commemorating the loss of his father, John, who absolutely loved rifle hunting in Wisconsin. We talked about life, about traditions, and about deer after looking at our newest batch of trailcam photos. –We had been getting a host of nice bucks this year on camera, but there were two main-frame ten points with kickers off of their G2s that we both decided we had to hunt hard for. One of these bucks I got to know pretty well back in October as I bow hunted him, but he gave me the slip and turned a bit nocturnal at the particular location that I was hunting him at.

On the Saturday morning of opener there was an early shot fired at a little after 7:30 am from Drew’s direction. –I had a feeling that he had an encounter with one of the two bucks. After a few minutes a text came in from Drew that he was pretty positive that he had hit one of the bucks, but didn’t know exactly as he had took off hard after the shot was fired. Soon thereafter, another text came through that he had got him and in fact had put a perfect heart shot on him as he was piled up on thirty or forty yards from where he was shot. –Now it was my turn!

Saturday and Sunday I sat with no sightings of the other buck. I had a great opportunity at a very nice nine point three times, but had told myself that I was passing on him waiting for an opportunity at the other ten with the kicker eleventh point. I began to wonder if I had made the right choice.

Monday afternoon I found myself in a stand once again and fairly early on in the afternoon I knew I had made the right choice holding off on pulling the trigger as the buck I was hunting appeared. Unfortunately it was about 360 yards off and he did not present himself with a broadside shot. I had a good idea as to the travel path he was on and waited for him simply hoping that he wouldn’t stall up or bed down. Well, he showed up again and this time he was broadside at 260 yards and I eased a shot off from the 280 Ackley Improved and the buck crumpled to the ground right where I had shot him! Unbelievable! –It is so great when a plan actually comes together.

I know my father-in-law was smiling down on us this deer season. We look forward to continuing the tradition and will think about him every time the blaze orange comes out in November here in Wisconsin.

Doing It Our Way...

The fall of 2011 hunting season certainly has been a new adventure for me here. –I have been working on figuring out the 90 acres that I am now hunting on for the second full year. Although I think I am starting to get it all “figured out” there are still things that I am learning every time out either sitting in a stand or scouting.
Additionally, now I have two little scouting companions with a third one on the way later on this year. The times that the three of us have been able to spend on the property together have been priceless. Additionally, I try to teach them a little woodsmanship and respect for the outdoors each time we are out together. I just hope that one day they will be able to enjoy everything Mother Nature provides us with as much as I do.
Over the past weekend we enjoyed an extra long weekend with Uncle Nick and Grandma Weiland. This is a weekend that I thoroughly look forward to weeks, if not months in advance as it provides me with an opportunity to do some bow hunting with my brother during the very best time of the year and is reminiscent on the days when we were younger and enjoyed nearly every fall weekend doing the exact same stuff together on our parent’s farm back in Brainerd, Minnesota. I just hope that some day my boys will walk this path together as Nick and I have had the opportunity to do.

Mile 25 is Yours, John

The training began early for the Grandmas Marathon as I first hit Las Vegas for a half marathon on a family trip that my father-in-law, John, took us on. Here, I ran straight down “Las Vegas Strip”, a location that I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d ever run, and scored a personal record in December of 2010.

As Grandma’s Marathon drew closer and closer my father-in-law, John, continued to fight his bout with kidney cancer. He had started the decline in early May and we could all begin to see him fighting harder and harder as regular life began to get more difficult with each passing day. Anyone who knows John and has spent any time with him can tell you a couple of things about him. -First of all, he is a fighter until the end who will never give up. Next, he is a man who is all about family. As John continued his decline I decided about five weeks out that I would be running mile #25 for him as the last one (#26) is always for my wife and kids.

As the race kicked off on that chilly and damp June morning everything felt great in my body. I had a game plan coming into the race where I thought I would have a legitimate shot at hitting my mark of 3:30:00 if I stuck to it. The first few miles I really had to focus in on not moving out too fast and burning up precious fuel that I would need to carry me through those tough miles at the end of the race. I hit the groove about mile 5 and it seemed like the next twelve miles or so just cruised by and ticked off as my pace was perfect. The work began at about mile 22 as my calf muscles began to stiffen up a little, but I was still feeling very good.

Mile 23 brought pure happiness to me as my wife held a big sign up saying “Go Daddio” and was yelling at the top of her lungs. This gave me the extra boost and I knew at this point the race was mine if I could just hang tough mentally. The next mile brought us through the cobblestones of downtown Duluth where we would hang a hard left followed by a right. As I turned into mile 25 the wind blasted straight into me out of the northeast at about 15 mph. This mile was for John and he would have it absolutely no other way. –I could hear him yelling to push on in my mind and under no circumstances would I let him down. I put my head down and bulled straight into the wind. So many thoughts ran through my head that mile and my eyes welled. I managed to keep an even 8:00 pace even running straight into the wind on mile 25 that day and kicked it down a bit more for the last mile once the course turned again and the wind was at my side as the finish line approached.

As I crossed the finish line a certain euphoria lifted me and I had made my time as I officially clocked in at 3 hours and 29 minutes. Twenty-three days later, in the early hours of the morning of July 11, 2011 the wind picked up once again and a huge thunderstorm came through. This thunderstorm was John leaving us and moving on with God’s hand on his shoulder.

Thanks for the values you taught me and the memories we shared, John. Mile 25 will always be yours.

Where's the Turkey?

For those of you who grew up in the eighties like I did, you will recall the famous Wendy’s ads where the old gals had coined the “Where’s the beef?” slogan. Well, beginning early this spring and lasting (sadly) throughout there became a new spin-off of this popular slogan, which was started by my son, JD. Each and every morning after I returned from the woods empty handed JD would ask me, “Where’s the Turkey?” I would then go on to explain to him that we don’t have success every time in the woods and also continuously emphasized the fact that there were weeks left to turkey hunt. Well… Turkey season has now come to an end. The question has been raised one last final time for the turkey season of 2011 by my son. –“Where’s the turkey?” And the answer to this is that he is still in the woods!

After hours and hours spent in the woods with my bow patiently waiting, experiencing a few “close encounters” with our bearded friends, and sitting in everything from snow to thunderstorms it is official that the turkeys won the battle of 2011. It was a valiant effort, or at least I will tell myself that. Next year those turkeys just better watch it though. And, JD, we will find a better tasting turkey at Wal-Mart in the meantime.

My favorite color is camo!

Take time to teach your children about hunting. The time you share together will be of great value to you both!