Catch up through November

Running:
It has been a while since my last blog post. Hunting season will do that to me. I’m finally getting caught up with things neglected since mid November. This update will take me through November and hunting season.


Not much has been happening in the running department since my last update 11/17. Over hunting season I ended up taking seven consecutive days off from running. Except when I have been injured this is as long as it gets between runs for me.   For the month of November I ended up with only 98 miles. This is my only sub 100 mile month this year and is likely to be my only one. This week I’m back on track and have run every day.   Through 11/30
MTD 98
YTD 1971
ODO 27137


Hunting:
Hunting season was interesting to say the least. Lots of stories, but no buck for me, at least that I shot. I got up north to Bayfield the day before the gun opener. Kylli and I left about 3 in the morning on the Friday before. We stopped on the way up and sighted in our guns in Ashland.  We were actually in Bayfield before noon. We went out in the woods to check our stands and place some bait in a couple of them. When we walked down to my brothers stand we smelled something not right. Someone had sprayed perfume or similar substance all over his stand area. Stunk like crazy. Who would stoop to such a low level? All the work all year long preparing this area only to have someone trash it the day before season. We have our suspicions, but no firm proof as to who the culprit is.

Opening day we headed out in the woods early. It was a cold day, no higher than mid 20’s all day and it was dark in that a storm was approaching for the next day. Around 9:00 I heard a deer as it made its way towards me. I caught a glimpse of it, but even though it was angling towards me it never came where I saw it again. Nothing else for me until the last 10 minutes of the day. Again I could hear a deer approaching well before I saw it. In the middle of the day I would have seen this deer earlier. In the fading light I did not see it until it came close to my shooting lane. I raised the gun and saw the curve of an antler which was enough for me. I steadied my gun on the shooting rail and aimed at the shoulder and fired. I heard the deer run off. I waited a few minutes and got down from the tree to check. I already needed a flashlight to see anything. When I got to the spot wouldn’t you know but my new flashlight quit. I had to go out of the woods back to the truck a quarter mile away and then go back in. I took my brother Todd and another flashlight and went back expecting to see a dead deer. We searched everywhere with no sign of a hit. This is not a shot I would miss. I have no idea what might have happened. Kylli and I both ended up staying in our stand location over 11 hours on opening day. This is normal for me, but I think quite a show of patience for her. I hunted the same spot the next morning and searched for a couple more hours again with no sign of anything. After totally tromping all over this area I decided to hunt another spot in the afternoon. I went to my bow stand where I took my big 8 point last year. A little after 4pm a doe came into the stand. I wasn’t going to shoot it, but I texted my brother and he said shoot it for him. That’s what I did. I had it gutted and dragged back to my stand by the time he arrived shortly after 5. It turned out to be a pretty big doe. She weighed 133 pounds on the registration station scale. Monday evening I had two does in by my stand for quite a while. Even though I had an antlerless tag I chose to not to shoot. Kylli also had a couple deer by her but no chance to shoot them as she only saw the legs.

On Tuesday afternoon we got out a little later than hoped. Kylli went down to her ground blind and wasn’t there more that 45 minutes when a deer appeared. She shot. I had her go check for blood and she saw none. I got out of my stand and over by her as quick as I could. We found blood right away and not more that 25 yards away a dead fork horn buck. She was happy as was I. She really is a good shot. I said this before, but the only thing better than getting a buck myself is being with your kid when they get one. Brought me back to thoughts of dad and me and some of our early hunts together. We dragged the deer out together and were back to the truck before it was dark. Wednesday was somewhat uneventful except that we had a DNR game warden in the area. Todd was checked, but none of the rest of us were. I’ve hunted in this particular area for 40 years and have never seen a warden. Not that we were doing anything wrong, but it opened our eyes to be sure everything is by the book as far as hunting on State/county land from now on. There are new rules is place regarding blaze orange markings on ground blinds and providing identification even when the blinds aren’t occupied we will have to pay attention to. We headed back to Dousman on Thursday morning with the plan to make it back by Thanksgiving dinner. On the way back the car started acting up. All I could think about was how in the world if we broke down I would get home with all of our stuff in the back. The problem turned out to be mismatched tires. Before I went up the previous week I had two replaced because one of them had a screw in it and the tire was not repairable. The uneven circumference of the tires apparently caused an issue with the transfer case. My mechanic was right as two new tires ended up solving the issue. Hunted just in the yard Friday and didn’t see anything.

Saturday I made my way out to the Waukesha conservancy. Not seeing any cars there I thought I would walk around instead of sit. When I got to a location on the way back of the property I noticed quite a commotion going on in a grassy/swampy area a little ways from me. When I got there to check it out I found the carcass of a large buck. Almost everything was eaten or pulled away except for the head and neck, a few rib bones and a couple of the legs. I cut the head off and brought the head home with me. What a unique 8 point rack. One tine was clearly broken off. Both sides didn’t match at all, but it still is impressive. Nothing else much happened on Saturday and likewise on Sunday. So the regular season ended without me getting a buck for the first time in several years. Like I said at the beginning it was an interesting season with lots of stories. With my earlier success I’m not disappointed at all how this one went and besides we aren’t done yet.

Gardening:
Just like with running not much going on in the gardening area. The recent warm spell and rain softened the soil so I dug up another big bunch of carrots. The rest I covered with a layer of leaves and a tarp in hopes of digging more in a few weeks. As of yet we have no measurable snowfall here. There is several inches forecast for this weekend though. By the end of this weekend I will have the outside Christmas decorations out. In the morning I hope to cut our tree down from the back yard and brought into the house.