Making A Memory

Hunting is one of those activities that is very important in rural Wisconsin and many other states. Kids grow up around hunters and those hunters pass on the tradition to the youngsters.

Wisconsin has several programs that encourage seasoned hunters to take first timers out and help them get their first deer, duck or other game. Hunter Safety is as common among Wisconsin kids as getting your first bike. The kids taking this class have to be at least 12 years old so one of our enterprising state legislators came up with the idea of Mentoring young hunters. We’ve talked of Mentoring many times and I’ve heard many stories of the great successes it produced.

This past weekend a young Avoca hunter went deer hunting for the first time and the results are shown below. Alex Cole bagged his first deer on the first day of his hunt with a family friend who took him and his brother out hunting. Although Alex is only about 5 feet tall he was walking like he was ten feet tall when telling the story of his first buck. Brother Tyler got his first deer during the Youth Hunt earlier this fall.

Do you think we have a couple of new hunters? I’d bet on it. Oh by the way, Alex is donating his deer to the Donate a Deer Program since they have venison in the freezer from Tyler’s deer. A pretty good deal all around eh?

That first deer will be a memory both of these boys will tell about when they’re old men sitting around a campfire, taking their first timers out. I’d bet on it.

post by: Dan Bomkamp

Deer Eve

Every year on the night before the Opening Day of Deer Season I think back to my first year of hunting. I began in 1963 and the day will always be burned into my memory because it was the day after JFK was assassinated. I’d been watching a one-horned buck and his doe for weeks and knew exactly where he’d go that morning. My plan was to be there first and I’d have my first deer.

After a sleepless night watching a clock that moved like a glacier, I got up at 4 am and drove my mom’s car to the river bottoms. It was over two hours until shooting time with a cold wind blowing out of the north and a cloudy sky that made it as dark as the inside of a cave. I waited a while and then couldn’t stand it any longer and stumbled out through the darkness to my spot.

A few minutes after I got situated it began to sleet and then a bit later it began to snow. The wind picked up and the snow billowed. I sat for about 4 hours and was so cold I thought I’d probably never warm up. I never saw that deer nor did I see any others that whole season. In fact I hunted for 10 years before I bagged my first deer. Things were different back then. Deer were not as plentiful as they are now days.

Despite the cold and the lack of deer, I’ll never forget that first day of deer hunting. I hope the hunters who are going out tomorrow will have better luck but whether you get a deer or not, I hope you make a memory you’ll keep forever. That’s what hunting is all about. Good luck, be safe and be glad you live in such a great place as Wisconsin where there is the opportunity to do all of these great outdoor activities.

post by: Dan Bomkamp

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Plan Ahead for Deer Eve

I’ve always been one of those people who is a half hour early for a fishing trip or hunting trip. I’m always packed the day before, and have my gear laid out ready to go. But there are a lot of people who aren’t so prepared and they are the ones who will be scrambling around next Friday looking for their gear in a panic.

One of the things that always amazed me when I had my sporting goods store was those hunters who showed up Friday evening at about 7pm looking for a box of 257 Roberts, or 3040 Krag shells. Then when I told them I didn’t have any left or had never had any they looked like the most amazed guy in town. Shells like that need to be found early in the season. Those guns are very rare and few stores can afford to carry shells that might be on their shelf for years.

So if you have a 264 Win Mag or a 325 WSM, you better be looking early in the week or you might be disappointed on opening morning.

post by: Dan Bomkamp

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The Armistice Day Storm

In 1940 they were having an autumn that was very similar to what we’ve had this year. The temperatures were mild and the weather was beautiful. On Armistice Day many had time off from work and school and the duck hunters among them headed out for a day on the marshes of the Mississippi river. They dressed lightly as the temperatures were in the 60’s by mid-day.

But then a front moved in from northern Minnesota and the weather changed fast. First it began to rain and then the rain turned to sleet and then snow. The wind began to blow and in no time it was gusting between 50 and 80 miles per hour. The snow turned into a blizzard dumping over 2 feet onto the ground and piling up 20 foot drifts.

Ahead of the blizzard the ducks flew by the thousands. Hunters who afterward shared their story said they’d never seen so many ducks and geese. Many hunted too long and by the time they realized their mistake it was too late. Some tried to sit it out on the small islands in the river. Some tried to get back to land in their duck boats. For many it was their last day of duck hunting and of life.

When the blizzard subsided two days later 166 people had died in the mid-west. Sixty six of them were aboard three freighters on Lake Michigan that sank in the storm. 50 were duck hunters, found frozen under their duck boats on islands, many with their arms wrapped around their trusty duck dogs. One hunter was found knee deep in a pond with his hands holding onto a branch of a tree overhead, frozen solid.

This happened 70 years ago on the day we now call Veterans Day.

post by: Dan Bomkamp

Plan Ahead for Processing Your Deer

Once you have made the shot and your deer is lying in the grass dead, it becomes food and ceases to be a game animal. The care you take from that moment on will make a big difference in the quality of the meat that you’ve harvested.

First you must field dress the deer. Take your time and try to keep everything clean. Get the deer opened up so it can begin to cool down. After registering it many take their deer to the locker and pick up boxes of frozen meat a few weeks later. But you can cut up a deer at home, saving the expense and wait time.

If you’re going to cut up your own deer it’s a good idea to remove the hide right away. It comes off much easier when the deer is fresh compared to a week later when it’s frozen solid. Then prepare a good sturdy table for cutting. It’s best to work directly on a table rather than putting down plastic or paper. Fresh venison is very sticky and you’ll spend as much time peeling paper off the meat as you do cutting it up. Then remove a quarter at a time from the carcass and cut it up.

Front quarters are mostly stew and hamburger meat. The rear quarters have large muscles that can be separated and cut into dandy steaks. Remove the tenderloins from the back and you’re done except for taking all scraps off the bones for hamburger or sausage.

When you finish you have several pounds of pure meat that you can freeze, can or make into sausage or hamburger. It takes about an hour and I guarantee you’ll have a sense of satisfaction the first time you fry up a nice steak from a deer that you hunted, dressed and cut up yourself.

post by: Dan Bomkamp
author and host of "How's Fishing"

Wisconsin Hunting Land For Sale

Who's That In My Tree Stand?

You’ve gotten your gear ready and put your tree stand up in your favorite tree. It’s 4:30 am and you get up, dress, have breakfast and head out to the woods. When you get to your spot you slowly hike up the trail to your tree stand. When you get there you stop and catch your breath after your hike.

Then you decide to climb up to the stand when you see by the light of the stars that there is somebody already sitting there….on your stand. What to do? Well rather than have a big fight you decide to sit down and maybe when the guy sees you down there he’ll come down and apologize and go his way.

As the light strengthens you look up again and then decide to let the stand stealer have it after all. Why? Because the “hunter” on your tree stand is a 300 pound black bear. Oh well.

post by: Dan Bomkamp

 

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Time for Doe Scents

You spend hundreds of dollars on a gun, warm clothing, a scope, binoculars, hand warmers, licenses and ammunition, so adding a few bucks to buy a good bottle of deer scent should be a given. Right now is the prime time of the year to fool an old buck into thinking you’re a hot doe. The way to do it is with a doe-in-heat scent.

There are dozens of brands and types of scent on the market ranging from some that will cost you around $6 to some that can cost as much as $20. Is the $20 bottle that much better than the cheap one? Some would say yes, but I think either will work if conditions are right. I guess I’d go for something in the mid-range.

Deer scents have been around for decades and have lured many unsuspecting bucks to the sights of a gun or bow. Used properly they can make the difference between getting a trophy and going home with nothing. The use of a scent surely doesn’t guarantee a deer but it does help.

Probably as important as the use of a scent is that the hunter be scent free himself. That means clothes washed in non-perfumed detergent, and stored away from household smells should be a number one priority. Also the hunter must be scent free, with no aftershaves, cigarette smells or other human smells like gasoline or food. Take care to be as scentless as possible, use a small amount of a good doe scent and you’ll have a good chance at that trophy.

post by: Dan Bomkamp 
author & host of "How's Fishing"

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