They are laughing at me

My wife’s Wisconsin turkey permit activates today (Wednesday, April 29). We have both been looking forward to this, although she will not get to seriously try her luck until the weekend. Work has a habit of messing up the important things in life!

Like any good husband, I went out and pulled in the trail cams to see what was going on. (OK, it also helps me get ready and map out activity for my late season permit that arrived in the mail on Monday) Of the three spots covered, only one showed turkey activity. Of course, this was the location where I wasted 3 days during my permit period. However, it was certainly heavily utilized. There were also many shots of raccoons and some deer, as well as a squirrel. If nothing else, I know the trail cams are working.

The high probability site has been selected, and I placed one of the cameras to keep an eye on things until the weekend.

Last evening, I made a few casts at the pond, trying to get more comfortable with a Carolina rig for bass. I worked a floating worm near the inlet when a heavy flutter of wings caught my attention. A large turkey came off the hill beside my house and flew directly over my head. He continued across the road, landed on the upward slope of my neighbor’s yard, and calmly walked into the woods. That certainly caught my attention. Five minutes later, another roared along the length of the pond and so low I could have hit him with my fishing rod. He passed over my left should, cleared the roof of the barn (barely), and landed just beyond. This was getting to be too much. Either something was happening up the hill beside the house or the turkeys were mocking me! Owls may fly silently, but turkeys are easy to hear when low overhead.

Shortly past midnight, we were awakened by several coyotes howling.

Chapter 4; THE NEW HOPE

OK, so I was a bit bummed about not getting my turkey. Nevertheless, I have hunted and fished for enough years to know I do not always return with the game. Look at how long I hunted this past deer season before getting anything.

Of course, I never give up. I may not win, but I keep trying. I checked out a possible lead and I was able to get a second chance this season. Unused permits are available “over the counter”. A quick check of the WI DNR website showed some remained for the final session (week) of the season. I suspect they were still available because that is the worst time period. Who cares? At least I can get out and try again. I ordered another permit last Wednesday. Now I can get totally excited all over again. However, first I have to concentrate on getting the wife her bird next week.

Turkeys also have a sick sense of humor. Last week I was out every day looking and calling. No turkeys, just a few sounds (which was eventually good – see the last blog). Two hours ago (7:45 am; April 24), I looked out the front window towards the neighbor's place and overlooking the area to become our garden. Standing out in the open, as bold as could be, were several turkeys. I called the wife to the window and we got quite a chuckle out of it. One even walked up the driveway to our pond. They have done this before, but never during turkey season (now session two of six). I grabbed the binoculars and checked them out. All I could clearly see were hens. A flock of gobblers would have really been hard to take.

Finally, one got tired of looking around the driveway and flew straight at the house, passing just above the window and into the back. Very impressive flying and a big bird.

Now I feel revitalized and looking more toward the wife’s turn as well as my second chance. Hearing them is one thing, but seeing is better. Now if they would just do the same thing next Saturday morning, when the wife is off work . . . .

Turkey season

My turkey season ended last Sunday (19 April). I hunted long and hard all days.

My first three days were in the blind along the trail where the cameras had shown repeated movements. I waited three days and listened carefully. I saw a lot of wildlife, including some deer and heard quite a few unique sounds. I even heard a few gobbles. However, nothing came by in the three days, even when I was not there (love those trail cams). I am new to this type hunting, and tried to limit my calling. I felt confident that I was not very good. However, as the days passed, I began to call more.

With a strong background in planning and tactics, I know the value of sticking to the plan. I also know the folly of blindly sticking to it. After three days to frustration, I decided to move around the property. 58 acres gives room to roam. Day four started out at the blind, but after an hour I moved straight up to the top of the ridge, and then down the back. As I started down, I gave a few crow calls and even some aggressive hen yelps (not at the same time or location). I may not be the best caller, but I needed to get some idea where the gobblers were. I finally got a few responses to my efforts. At last, I had located some.

That evening’s hunt saw me in a secluded location, with a decoy out, two different calls within reach, and 4 more in my vest. I settled down, I tried sounding like a lovesick hen. I heard a response. We kept up the conversation for the next hour and a half. I kept trying to sound like I wanted the big guy to come over and meet me. He responded with a “come here girl” gobble. Finally, he lost interest and moved off. At least I had not scared him off with my calling. I knew there was a problem since I had to convince him to come across an old country road that separated my property from the neighbor’s farm.

Sunday morning was the last day. I headed out early, hiked to the spot with yesterday’s limited success. As I walked in, I made an occasional crow call or a few yelps. I heard a few responses. Finally, I reached my location, set up a decoy, and got covered up. I began calling and received a response; actually several. There were three separate groups of gobblers in earshot. Two were pretty far off, but one was just across the road and off to the left of me. I called, they (he?) responded. I kept this up, with long periods of silence. Lo and behold, he was coming closer. I slowed my calling to an occasional cluck to bring in that reluctant gobbler. He was still closing, but would not cross the road. We had been working each other for over an hour, but he was still coming, even if very slowly.

Suddenly, there was another hen call on the other side of the road, in the neighbor’s field. Good grief, where did this guy come from. He was not even as good a caller as I. Then I realized I had been beaten by the birds. It was a real hen (maybe several). No way could I outcall the real thing if they were on the other side of the road. I could imagine the gobbler(s) meeting the hen(s) and heading off. There was no further interest in my offerings.

That evening’s attempts were somewhat anti-climactic. There was no response to any of my calling at any location.

So the turkeys had emerged unscathed from my first attempt at turkey hunting. However, I had fun and learned quite a bit. Talking to some other locals, it was a tough opening period in this area. My wife’s permit kicks in on April 29. With what I learned, perhaps I can get one into range for her.

Anyhow, there is always next year (or actually, the fall season).

Antici-(turkey)-pation

For many years, I have enjoyed watching the shows about spring turkey hunting. Let’s face it, this is normally an off season for hunting, so a spring hunt sounds great, rather than just waiting for the fall (unless you also fish like me in which case you are already too busy getting ready to or actually fishing).

Living in Alaska for the last 34 years eliminated any chance of doing this unless I travelled. Now I live in Wisconsin, so out came all the books, videos, and watching all the shows on TV or the internet! The trail cams were set, the pictures analyzed, the area scouted, the permits obtained. Today was my first ever Turkey hunt.

My blind was set up yesterday. Inside were my decoys, to be deployed when I got there this morning. The alarm went off, and I slipped out of bed without awakening my wife or the dogs (minor miracle). I got my coffee, dressed, filled the thermoses, and headed out.

On the way to the blind, I actually spooked a gobbler out of his roost and saw him take off (good sign) even if he was not even near where I was hunting. At least I saw one during the season (deer hunters know what I mean). I reached my blind, and set out the decoys. I sat down, made sure I could reach the calls (various types from seeing all those shows) and got ready.

Problem 1; the seat leaned too far forward. This would make it difficult to see the bird and shoot. Solution, collapse the rear feet and the seat was flat.

Problem 2; seat too low, and I would probably hit the edge of the blind when I shot if I did not remember to sit up or get a higher seat. I was already using my official turkey seat and booster from my turkey hunter vest. Solution; bring a chair next trip.
Problem 3; two thermoses of coffee, and I would have to leave t
he blind several times when my body processed the stimulant drink. Solution, bring a can next time to urinate in!

I had reached the blind about 5:45 am, just as legal shooting time began. At 7:00 am, there was a shrieking sound. I did not know for sure what it was, but it got the attention of the 2 deer about 50 yards to my right. Too bad it was not deer season. Around 8:00, a squirrel entertained me along with quite a few crows. 9:30 and a gobbler sounded off along the ridge behind me, and several minutes later the squirrel did an encore. More gobbling at 10:00 and a buck grunted behind me at 10:30. This was all great, but I wanted visible turkeys, bearded types.

Finally at 11:30, I went back to the house for lunch, and to pick up what was needed to fix my earlier mistakes.

I was back at the blind bay 1:30 pm. I had brought a higher chair, and a bucket. The rest of the day was uneventful except for the gobbling at 4:20.

I finally withdrew as the sun started to set.


Thus ended my first day as a turkey hunter. Failure; no way. I had been out hunting. I learned from my mistakes, and had a lot of fun learning how little I knew about my turkey calls. They sound so good at the house; and so bad in the field. Tomorrow morning I will be back out there; better prepared and less ignorant. Of course, it did not help to learn the daughter of the person from whom you are trying to buy guinea fowl got one earlier in the day.

It is called hunting, not killing. I have 4 more days on my permit. I really need to get one to be sure I can get it right for my wife. Her permit activates in 2 weeks.

Turkey fever

Turkey season opens next week. I have a permit for the opening period beginning April 15th. Since this will be my first ever chance to hunt Spring Turkey, I am excited and studying everything I can find. All these months of work and chores have been to have time freely available for my hunting and fishing.

So far, I have been getting the remote trail cameras out to see what was around. I have captured a few pictures, and located other sign. Today I walked the entire perimeter of my property. This is something I wanted to do for quite a while, but work kept me too busy until the snow came. Then it was too hazardous. Now it is snow free and dry enough to try the walk. I made it all the way around, even reaching the highest spot on the property. This has been especially useful to compare the topographic charts and aerial photos with what is on the ground. I also enjoyed getting more familiar with the property.

During today’s hike, I even managed to spot a turkey (probably a hen) running across one of the open fields. Good news from my point of view, since I love seeing them in life even more than with the trail cameras. Hopefully, all this sign will pay off on opening day.

Early this morning, just before sunrise, I heard some crows calling (hardly out of the ordinary). However, today they were answered with some gobbles (just like on the TV shows).

Warm and sunny, finally

It is warm and sunny today. The high temperature pushes near 60, so sitting around the house is out of the question.

With the snow rapidly melting, it is becoming easier to walk around. I took the opportunity to walk down to the edge of my property by the Kickapoo River. I wanted to get the boundaries clearly marked and located. The snow was a little deeper in some spots than I liked, but I managed to get to both edges on the north side of the property. I had also wanted to explore the inside part of the bend where I intend to plant crops, but decided to look over other parts of the property instead.

I headed up toward the ridge that towers over the place. It is not really that much higher than the rest of the land, but the climb is steep. I reached the area where I had been lucky with the deer in season, and relocated some of my favorite spots (which looked different with half the snow gone). I located a few well used game trails and worked my way toward the ridge. Parts were tricky to navigate, since the ground itself was still frozen in several spots, but I made it up to the top (or at least to the point where there was only the rock face above me).

Exhausted, I sat down to cool off. Finally, I decided to look around more carefully. This place was a treasure. I found several small caves and overhangs, obviously used as dens by some critters. Then I located several piles of droppings and identified what had been there. It was a coyote den. It had been used often, but not too recently. I made careful notes to be ready for later activities with the coyotes.

After that, I worked my way down the steeper back side of the ridge to the parts of the land I was more familiar with. Finally, I walked past the “deer condo” and back to the house.
While out and about I heard at least one turkey several times near the river. I later heard several Canadian geese in that same area.
It had been a good morning. But as warm as it was, I could not resist a chance to try my luck at the pond. This warm weather had melted about 60% of the ice cover. Probably half of what remains was slushy and unsafe to even try walking on. I grabbed my spinning gear and some wax worms (left over from my ice fishing adventures) and cast out.

It may be due to the pond turning over from the ice melt or perhaps another reason, but I had almost no luck. I worked my way around the entire pond with not so much as a strike. Finally, I went out on the dock and cast toward the newly open area by the float (that had never been pulled out for the winter). I was rewarded by a nearly instantaneous strike and brought in a nice bluegill. The next cast (which bounced off the float) yielded an even bigger bluegill. However, that was it. Just when I thought I had figured out the pattern, it changed.

Nevertheless, it has been a pretty good day. I caught a couple fish, and explored a large part of my property. Once all the snow is gone, I can explore the parts I have missed so far. Then I can try figuring out where to put the food plots and crops.

Finally, I put the raccoon hide in the freezer after giving it a good coasting of preservative. I can work on the actual mounting when the weather is warmer, and going to stay that way. Anyhow, there are several other critters to get ready, and I can order the needed taxidermy supplies in one big order.

Good day

Today was a good day! After all the work on the drywall, sanding, more joint compound, etc; of the previous days, it was time to let things dry. Even better, for the second straight day, we were expecting the high to be above freezing. It was even in the mid-thirties at 6:00 am. Perhaps spring will arrive.

The wife had to go off to work early, so we got up at 5:00 am. After she got out the door, I made a quick run to the coyote traps. Nothing got caught, but I used this opportunity to retrieve the trail-cam. When I reviewed the pictures, I discovered I had collected several pictures of a Barn Owl. That was unexpected, but certainly welcome. As an added bonus, one was a decent picture of the animal in flight.

Next I got down to the real business for the day; skinning the raccoon. I had managed to collect several of them this year in my traps. It has been many years since I did any serious trapping, so I am happy with the success. This raccoon was thawed out for skinning. Since I am a taxidermist, I planned to make at least one into a full body mount. Another one will be a “coon skin” hat for the wife’s grandchild. It has been quite some time since I prepared an animal for a full body mount. I am glad to say it went well, but took a lot of time. The basic skinning went fast, but all the little detail work needs to be done and done right (carefully). Finally, I completed the task, washed off the skin, and let it dry a while before starting with the preservative.

I even finished in plenty of time to attend the on-line webinar about preserving data for lawsuits. Interesting to me since I am a lawyer, but a bit esoteric for others. Anyhow, it was a free Continuing Education Unit, so I was there for it. Good price.

Then I went over to the pond and drowned a few wax worms for an hour. Sadly, the fish were not cooperating. However, I did hear some Canadian Geese honking away. We had the one here earlier in the week in the pond, so it was good to hear more. The pond is thawing out and almost half clear (or is it half frozen; I never could figure which way I must look at these things).

The turkey and the coyote trap

I just returned from checking my coyote traps, for the second time today. Normally, once first thing in the morning will do it, but today I had a little more bait to put out.

The traps are set near a deer carcass I found on the property last December. Some slob had trespassed and shot the fork horn and not even tried following it up. I discovered it a few days later, by which time some critters had already started eating it. There was nothing salvageable by then, so I kept an eye on the carcass and noticed a steady flow of opossum and raccoon using it, as well a strong likelihood of a few coyotes. After the deer season ended, I set some traps nearby.

The weather has been pretty cold this winter, and the carcass was covered with snow most of the time. However, when it warmed and the snow began melting down, there was quite a bit of activity. I set my trail camera in several different locations near the spot. Most of the time I got pictures of crows. Once a red tailed hawk stopped by. Last night I got a picture of a raccoon on the infrared.

During the trapping season, I managed to catch 2 raccoons. On another occasion, I shot an opossum on the kill site.

I caught a rabbit in one of the traps, near a trail approaching the location about a week ago. Normally, this would have been fine with me, but when I found it in the morning, most of it was gone. Something had eaten it in the trap. Possibly a coyote, but more likely a raccoon. I reset the trap and left the remains nearby. A few days later, the remains were gone.

When I reached the area late this morning, I noticed the space around my main coyote trap was all torn up, and the trap was gone! This upset me since it had been there 4 hours earlier. I had located it under a tree, near a game trail where a lot of varmints left droppings. This made it quite unlikely to catch some other animal accidently.

I carefully checked the area for signs in the snow. There were several sets of long curved marks looking like 5 claws raking the snow. If this was a B grade horror movie, I would have been in real trouble. Then I found a feather and saw the other tracks. Several turkeys had come though the area. The “claw marks” were from the wing feathers. Apparently one had gotten caught by the trap and been able to pull the rig clear of the tree to which it was attached (How I do not know since it held a raccoon several weeks earlier).

I could not let a turkey go running around with a trap attached, so I began tracking. The soft snow made the tracking possible, but certainly not easy. I could indentify the bird with the trap and keep to that trail. However, after a couple hundred yards, the trail ended. I was even more upset until I saw my trap there on the ground. Apparently, the bird managed to get just one claw caught and was able to pull that free.

I was relieved, picked up the trap, and relocated it on another game trail for the coyotes (who were howling away at 1:15 in the morning the day before). Hopefully, with the warm weather we are having today, there will be some activity this evening.

Of course, I am glad the turkey made its escape, since it might have been a real challenge to get the trap off it otherwise. Sadly, I had pulled the trail camera this morning on my earlier visit, and thus did not get any pictures of the turkeys. I am glad to see the wild turkeys moving around a lot more. I saw several others beside the road while driving into town this morning. I was concerned with the weather we have had this past winter.

Early morning surprise

Yesterday morning (February 20) I suffered an early and rude awakening. At 4:20 a Canadian Goose flew near the house. Of course, it had to honk away making lots of noise, which awoke my wife’s Pug and Rat Terrier; as well as both of us. The dogs barked and the pug ran down the stairs to the windows to drive the invaders off. The goose stayed around for a while, probably resting in the open part of the pond or in the small flowing stream below that. Regardless, he honked several more times (unless it was some friends joining him) and the dogs reacted as before. Finally the dogs calmed down and we kept them still in the bed. When I got up, the goose was still making an occasional call, but I never saw him.

These birds come through this area enroute nesting areas to the north. A few stay around, taking advantage of the lakes and ponds and wetlands; not to mention the local agriculture. There were often visitors at the pond last summer. They enjoyed tormenting the pug (or seemed to), but kept their distance when they saw people. Hopefully, I will be able to get some decent pictures of them this spring.

Back in Juneau, I expected to start seeing Canadian geese in the wetlands by the airport during February. They were working their way north to their nesting sites. I assume these geese are following the same pattern here on the Mississippi Flyway.

One of the interesting features of my home location is how sound travels and is funneled by the hills in the area. Some days, I can hear a normal conversation in my front yard while I am 300 yards away and up the hill beside the house. This sound channeling does cause problems when the animals are running around. That goose may have been further off than I think.

Later that evening, the dogs started going ballistic. They really wanted out. This usually tips me off that some critter is in the yard (or the mail delivery person is coming). I could see nothing. I am careful about letting the dogs out in these cases, since I can not always be sure what is out there. The dogs made several more dashes at the door. Finally, I saw a small dark object in the dim light ambling down the drive. The binoculars confirmed my suspicion. It was an opossum heading down toward the barn. I let him alone, since there is nothing in the barn for him to get into trouble with.

A week ago I had let the dogs out during the afternoon, when they had carried on this way. They both ran around the side of the house, raising a real racket. Suddenly, a half grown opossum came running up the sidewalk with the dogs following. I was able to keep everyone from getting into a fight, got the dogs back inside, and let the critter go his way. After all, I already have one in the freezer for mounting (I do taxidermy as a hobby), and did not feel like opossum for dinner. Of course, I might feel differently if I have some livestock such as chickens, but for now, he could go on his way.

Big fish tank

On February 19, 2009 I drove to Richland Center and purchased the last supplies to convert my indoor swimming pool into a fish pond. (I also took care of a lot of other shopping to not waste gas.)

When I bought this place last April, I wondered about its indoor swimming pool. A nice feature; but a one acre pond sat in the front yard if I really needed to take a swim. The room with the pool lacked a heating system (except for what it drew from the rest of the house), so a dip in mid-winter was impractical. If we heated the pool and room, chlorine in the air could cause long term problems with the walls and fixtures, not to mention the fuel cost. The pool’s practical utility was limited to the summer, when I could just as easily jump into my pond.

While my wife was settling in (She came first while I sold the old place in Alaska) problems developed with getting the existing filter system to work. The filter system had been non-operational even before we moved in. Cris had no luck finding a maintenance business or supplier who would help get it operational. All queries regarding what was needed were answered with demands for money to even look at the system or recommendation we replace everything with the new stuff they sold (note, they had not seen our existing system). I needed information, not some sales person looking for their commission.

Three basic options existed.
1) Pay what it took to get the filter systems working and have an indoor pool we could only use in warm weather. Nice to have the pool, especially for those warm summer evenings when we could avoid the mosquitoes.
2) Change out the entire filter system and replace it with a new one designed for fish. In other words, make it into a large (9,000) gallon aquarium.
3) Cover over and fill in the pool and use the room as a recreation room or whatever. This was tempting, but I really hated to just write off the pool.

Since I am an expert aquarist, and the wife wanted a Koi or goldfish pond all her life, we looked into the aquarium option.

My first concern dealt with the risk of chlorine or other pool chemicals remaining in the pool liner. No chlorine had been added since last May, and the room had none of that old chlorine smell I remembered from all the old indoor swimming pools. I had to test the pool in the only sure way I knew. On my next trip to La Crosse for building supplies, I stopped by PETCO and bought 10 cheap comet goldfish (feeder goldfish to those of us who raised large cichlids or other nasty aquarium fish). I put them into the pool and left them to their fate as I began researching pond filter systems.

Four days later, I had found 2 fish floating and one on the pool bottom. This was not good, but not necessarily bad. 3 dead fish would normally be a cause for concern, but the “feeder goldfish” are often stressed in the store and not sold to last long. It also meant there were 7 others alive or not accounted for. I continued my research and looked into various suppliers, while monitoring the pool.

A month later, the fish were still alive. 9000 gallon aquariums with 7 small goldfish do well even without a filter system. II ordered a filter system large enough to handle this size pond, as long as I was not stupid regarding many fish and what types I added.

The parts arrived last Wednesday. I began assembling the various sub-systems and making sure just what else I needed to pick up, such as plugs to cap off some existing pool openings, PVC pipe, PVC pipe glue, and a few extra connections. Those were purchased yesterday, and I put everything together and laid out the flexible PVC pipe that goes into the bottom of the pool so its coils could straighten out. While doing this work, I was able to actually count six fish alive and swimming inthe pool.

Later today, I will attach the last pieces of pipe and start the entire system. It will take a month for the bacteria to establish in the filter media and for having the system ready for the first load on fish. Hopefully, the time will pass quickly, in spite of my impatience.

Now I must decide what to put into the pond. Since we are registering the place as a private fish farm under Wisconsin law, we have a number of options as to where we can get fish to stock and which ones. Now it should become even more interesting.

Time to begin

After 34 straight years living in Juneau, Alaska (plus 2 more before that), I moved. I now live in Viola, Wisconsin. Quite a move. Anytime one lives so long in one place, he sees change (unless he ignores it). It was finally time to leave when the changes became too irritating and there was no way to correct them.

Now I must learn new hunting and fishing skills (or relearn them since I grew up in southeastern Pennsylvania and southern Michigan). I managed to finally get myself moved in by the end of October, 2008. I purchased my license for the deer season(s) in my area. Since the rifle season is shorter than what I was used to in Alaska, I had to hit the woods a lot harder. Fortunately, I live on 58 acres and could work that area pretty well and managed to get a whitetail doe. Just don’t ask about the easy shot I missed or the one that watched when I fumbled with the scope cover. Actually, it was not too bad since I was unable to really scout my land before the season opened. I should do a lot better this coming season.

Now I can share my experiences and thoughts as I explore and have new adventures in Wisconsin.