skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Running:
What a nice week last week was for running. I only ran 4 days but I was able to run in shorts every day. Temps were in the upper 50’s to almost 70 degrees during the early part of the week. I ran 5 miles on Monday during my lunch break in 40:11. Tuesday I ran from home and did 8.5 miles mid day in 1:05:50. Wednesday I ran 5 miles at work in 40:22. Thursday I again ran from home mid day and did 6.5 miles in 52:02. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I took off from running although there was lots of work and walking getting deer stands ready for the upcoming gun season. I also noticed that at least so far, my weight has held the same since the week before the Lakefront marathon. The worst month for gaining is coming up though. Over the gun season and Thanksgiving I will take my largest number of days off. In the past I’ve taken as many as 11 days off during this time and of course with Christmas and lots of extra treats and still reduced miles through December I will always add a few pounds. Mileage through last week.
WTD 25
MTD 59
YTD 1932
ODO 27098
Hunting:
Gun season is this coming weekend. The closest way to describe it for me is that the anticipation is like a kid as Christmas approaches. The nights or I should say mornings are sleepless as the day gets closer. I find myself waking earlier and earlier in the morning and can’t get back to sleep. What will Santa bring? That fancy new bike you really wanted or that big buck of your dreams maybe?
This past weekend I was up north getting everything ready. I also fit a little hunting in. I got up to Bayfield late on Thursday. Friday morning I headed out to a new stand we put up last time I was there. I scared a deer on my way into the stand, but saw nothing in the few hours I was out there. During the middle part of the day I put some bait at a couple of stands locations and checked out a few others. In the evening I made my way down to my favorite bow stand. I again scared a deer on my way in and saw nothing. This night was one of the quietest I have ever heard in the woods. It was so still and absolutely no creatures of any kind were moving about. Not a squirrel, grouse, crow, blue jay, deer, or any animal. The few remaining leaves on the trees were not even making a sound. Complete silence for a few hours. It was almost spooky. Early Saturday morning sometime the weather changed and some heavy wet snow started to fall. I went out hunting at dawn for a couple hours. I stayed out until I was soaked and couldn’t stand it anymore. For most of the rest of the day I spend hanging my primary gun stand, putting up another ladder and putting some final touches on a couple ground blinds we have up. The temperature was hovering right around freezing. Near the lake all the precipitation fell as rain. Up the hill where we were it was alternating between mostly rain and all snow. This continued all Saturday and into Sunday. Sunday morning I went out hunting for another couple hours and saw tracks where deer had been near my stand overnight but I saw nothing in my time on stand. There seems to be plenty of deer sign, but the amount of buck sign is down from what I have seen in the past. All I can say now is that I think everything is ready and can’t wait for opening day to get here.
Gardening:
Not much happening on the garden front these few weeks. Most chores are done other than a little leaf and pond cleanup once in awhile. I did help mom shut down her pond for the season. Doesn’t consist of much other than pulling the pump out and putting it in a bucket of water, pulling the filters out and cleaning then, and trying to get out leaves and dying vegetation the best you can. I leave my pump running all year round or at least I have the last few years. I was having trouble burning up pumps in the spring until I started doing this. Anyway it works for me.
My weekend was interrupted in a good way in that I was again invited to attend a Packer football game with a friend from work. Nice to know someone with season tickets that is willing to share once in a while. What a great game to see in that the Packers beat the Cowboys 45-7.
Running:
Running wise for last week it was déjà-vu from the previous week. I ran five days at work 5 miles each day over the same course again. The only difference from last week is that all my runs were less than 40 minutes. I took Saturday off. Sunday morning I ran 8.5 miles in 1:06:19. This gave me again 33.5 miles for the week just like the previous one. So totals through 11/7.
WTD 33.5
MTD 33.5
YTD 1907
ODO 27073
Hunting:
Only got out hunting a little on Saturday. In the morning I hunted the stand where I got the 2 bucks already this year. I could see the scrape I hunt over was still being worked by another buck so I knew there was at least one around still. I didn’t see anything though. I didn't see anything and only hunted until 9:00 and then decided to go on a short scouting trip. I found a few hunting spots on the conservancy land that I can easily get to from the land I have permission to bow hunt on. I’ll need to approach the landowner to see if she has any issue with my using this route to gun hunt this spot later this month and in December. I can get to it from the parking spot on the conservancy, but it is a real long walk coming from that way. Saturday evening I decided real late to just go hunt out in the back yard. I wasn’t there more than 20 minutes when two does came in to feed on my food plot. I could have shot either one of them at some point, but chose to just watch. They were kind of nervous and only hung around for about 15 minutes before walking back in the direction they came from. I haven’t seen the buck yet that has been scraping up trees in my yard. This next weekend I will be heading up north to get my gun stands ready and also do a little bow hunting up in Bayfield.
Gardening:
Amazing how warm it turned again. We’ve had 4 or 5 days in a row over 60 degrees which is crazy for this time of year. I cleaned the pond real good over the weekend so hopefully other than cleaning an occasional filter and fishing out a few leaves there won’t be much to do until spring. I got all the gutters cleaned once more too. However with the way the leaves are falling so slowly this year I will likely have to perform this task one more time before winter. I got the lawn mowed one more time, so I think now this will be the last other than maybe to bag some more leaves using the mower. Only a few things remain in the garden to harvest. We’ve had a few real good freezes so the only things to make it are the root crops like beets and carrots, the Brussel sprouts, and some lettuce that I had covered with a tarp.
Running:
It is so hard to believe that November is here already. October was such a busy month. A marathon at the beginning of the month, beginning of some serious hunting, and lots of yard/garden work really filled up the time. As mentioned in previous posts my running kind of takes a back seat for a few months after my fall marathon is over. This last week was again fairly normal as far as running. I ran each work day again. Four of the runs were on my usual route and one of the really windy days I ran inside on the treadmill. Again all of these runs were 5 miles in length and within a minute +/- of 40 minutes. On Sunday the last day of the month I was able to fit in a morning run of 8.5 miles in 1:05:11. With a couple more months to go there should be no problem making 2000 miles for the year. Totals through October.
WTD 33.5
MTD 117
YTD 1874
ODO 27040
Hunting:
I can’t even believe the year I’m having. This past weekend I was able to bag another nice 9 pointer. That makes three nice deer in 3 weeks time and two of my largest 4 bow kills ever. I think I’ve only been out bow hunting on 5 occasions. I remember a few times going a whole season without even getting a chance for a shot during bow season.
On Saturday morning I made it out to my stand well before light. I snuck out as quietly as I could and was sitting quietly by around 6:15. This was the same stand I shot the deer the previous Saturday evening. I wasn’t quite sure what impact all our walking around the previous weekend would have on this location, but I know it is a good spot and thought I would try anyway. Until shortly after 8:00 there was no action at all. I had lots of things to do so I was thinking I would only stay until 8:30 or so. All of a sudden I caught some movement in the tall grass directly in front of me. It didn’t take long to notice the good size rack on the top of this deer. At first I thought it might head directly across the ditch out of range. Then it made an immediate right turn and headed straight for the scrape I’m hunting over. When it was behind a bunch of trees about 20 yards out I drew back and waited. The deer walked right into the scrape and scratched it with his hoof as I released the arrow. The arrow didn’t pass through, but I knew it was a good hit. I watched it run 40 yards out and stop for a few seconds. It then started walking back towards me stumbling a bit. When it got back within about 20 yards it just fell over. No drama like with the previous week’s tracking adventure. When bow hunting it is always a bonus to be able to see your deer go down. From my experience it doesn’t happen often. While watching this deer another small buck (4 point) made its way on the same path as the other and stood right below me. It walked it's way over to it's buddy and couldn't figure out what was going on. It ended up just walking away. I climbed down and went to tag the deer when I realized I had left both of my buck stickers in with my gun back tag. I had to run home to retrieve it and then head back out. Because this deer was so close to the owners house (at their request) I have to either carry the guts out with me or gut it elsewhere so the dogs don’t get into them. I chose to take it away from there and brought the deer out to the conservancy to take care of that. While there I ran into a guy named Charlie who told me he thought he had a trail cam picture of my deer. In fact he told me he had pictures of two 9 pointers one with 5 points on the right and one with 5 points on the left. He sent me both of the pictures and I think these are the same deer I got the last two weeks. Kind of neat to have the trail cam pictures to go with the harvest shots.
I’m happy the year is unfolding as it is, but sad only that it will keep me out of the woods some during this exciting time to be out there. Maybe I’ll just go out with the camera or at least not shoot anything else unless it is a true giant. With gun season(s) coming up there is lots more hunting to do, but this sure changes the complexion of the rest of the season. The freezer is full, so there is not much need for me to take another unless I can find someone else to take it.
Gardening:
Because I got the deer on Saturday I was able to spend Saturday afternoon mowing the lawn for the last time this year (probably) and all of Sunday on lawn/garden cleanup chores. It is amazing how much you can get done in a day and a half. I was able to put all the planters, hanging baskets, and lawn furniture away. I was able to clean up the last of any remaining leaves and spread them on the garden. I turned my whole compost pile one last time before winter, and harvested lots more vegetables like carrots, Brussel sprouts, beets and lettuce that are still growing out there. I noticed I had a buck rubbing up some of my evergreens in the back again. This just started in the last couple days. I sprayed some stuff on them that is supposed to keep deer away. Kind of funny that I plant stuff to attract them and then have to keep them off other things. Now what will I do with myself these next couple weeks if I don’t go hunting and have all my chores done. I guess that is a good problem to have at this time of year and certainly a rarity for me.
