And the Coyotes were Howling

I had to check the mouse poison and traps at the Hilton this morning and see if the weeds in the winter wheat stubble and been mowed completely so I cruised over to the Hilton. There were no mice in the traps so I’ve been skunked since I baited the place. Never, never before have I gone so long with an empty trap line over there.

Last night Graham got a good look at one of those critters living in the attic and my hunch from the night before was correct. Flying Squirrels. They were running and racing around up there late and actually went out on the roof of the Hilton. I have to give them credit, they have a lot more courage than I do out there on that roof. Of course, I’ve never mastered the art of controlled falling like Flying Squirrels have. I asked Graham if he was familiar at all with the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons. He wasn’t which was just another indication of my age versus his age. I’m 61 and he’s 9. I grew up with Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Bullwinkle the Moose while Graham has grown up with more sophisticated animations. At any rate I explained to him that Rocky wore a WWII Fighter Pilot’s head piece and goggles.

Having Graham there was pretty cool. I want to get him there more often. When I am there I am always digging in my files and coming up with memories of my father, my father-in-law and the others who have passed on into the happy hunting grounds. Those memories always make me smile. Perhaps one day, long from now, Graham will be up there, will dig back into his file and pull out a memory, think of me and smile. If he does, it will all have been good.

I was thinking about my earliest hunting memories. I remember that old Remington autoloader that was my grandfather’s. It wouldn’t always kick out the empty casing but it didn’t matter. He’d given it to me and I’ve just never had a gun that created that same feeling. I remember my first wild duck falling from the sky. It was actually just a little east of where I hunt now. How ironic. One shot, a hoot, a holler and fifteen minutes of searching for the duck. We had no dog but my dad, bless his soul, was bound and determined to find his oldest son’s first duck. I’m sure that if we hadn’t been so broke, he’d have had that bird mounted for all time. As it is, that wasn’t necessary. I think about that bird all the time.

Then there was my first pheasant. Shot while road hunting on Kent Road just west of the Claude Cross place. I had spotted the rooster in the first couple rows of corn. We stopped, I loaded that old Savage single barrel .410 gauge shotgun and it seemed like my feet never touched the ground as I headed into the corn field. The dog picked up the trail right away and soon there was a commotion in front of me. A rooster pheasant going airbone, a dog nipping at it’s tailfeathers as the bird gained speed and altitude. I only had one chance and it was my first-ever chance on a bird. I took deadly aim, pulled the hammer back and snapped the trigger. By the time the shot pattern from that old single barrel .410 reached the bird, it had flown a fer piece. But, a perfectly placed shot scored a hit on the head of the bird and the next night it was dinner.

I’d like to have that old single barrel .410. I’d hang it on the wall in my carving room and just stare at every time I go down there. A gun, two hands on the piece, I’ve never really been able to capture that way that old gun felt.

I went over to the Hilton tonight after officiating the 9th grade football game and after a quick meal. I’d left my digital camera in the Hilton and this time of the year, it’s really hard for me to resist the pull that the place has on me. There were a few deer in the alfalfa right in front of the Hilton but I was moving too fast and too loudly and they spooked into the marsh. I stuck around a few minutes and got to listen to the coyotes howling to the north of Al Heath’s Tamarack swamp. Cool stuff that 20 years ago we’d never hear around these parts. There were no coyotes here then. There is just something wild about the sound of coyotes or wolves howling.

In the coming weeks I’ll be spending more and more time over there. It is a spiritual thing for me. It’s a way to really get in touch with my outdoors background. The place just speaks to me. It’s peaceful, never hurried.

Tomorrow, I’ll check it out briefly in the morning before heading to “The Nong!”

Graham in the Doorway of The Oshaukuta Hilton

A Double-Dose of Oshaukuta Outdoors today

 

An Evening with Graham
I called my grandson Graham this afternoon after he’d gotten home from school. He said he’d like to join me at the Hilton so I picked him up just after 5 PM. Anne E. my grand daughter indicated an interest in going along as well but at the last second decided to go shopping for new PE shoes with her mother.

We arrived at the Hilton at about 5:26. There were no sandhills cranes and no wildlife in the field. I’d made sure I had plenty of “big boy toys” on hand in the Hilton to keep him interested an actively watching. I had the range finder, two high powered spotting scopes and I’d brought along the Remington 22 that Bud is giving to Graham. We noted tractor tracks in the sand as we drove in and another set of vehicle tires that wound up being Brian’s truck. He had it parked in the hollow so we drove closer to the top of the hill by the Hilton to park. We got into the Hilton, took Graham’s picture and started acclimating him with all the gadetry up there. In the end he seemed to like the 15 to 60 power Tasco World Win spotting scope over the 20 power Bushnell. We had a camera, a carving bag and a bag of mouse poison from Bud to take up there as well.

5:50 – Nothing in the field yet so Graham kept busy doing yardages on things in and around the field.
6:00 PM – Still and empty field. At 6:02 a flock of sandhill cranes flew over the marsh from south to northwest. They just kept on going.

6:19 PM – Blue jays are making a racket down in front of us. I explained to Graham that rowdy jays often times indicate movement in the woods or area. I explained the Solunar tables to him but I still haven’t procured any. I need to get a set and leave it over there so I know when the major and minor feeding periods are.

6:32 PM – Graham is being really quiet as is all the wildlife in the area. Suddenly he says, there are raccons. He was correct, there were two masked bandits heading from the marsh, across the alfalfa and into the swale hole. They wasted no time in gettng there.

6:38 PM – Graham and I, at the same instant, spot the Sandbank Three coming out onto the alfalfa at the sand bank. I told him that I fully expect Singlehorn to show up soon. He was with those three deer when I left last evening.

6:42. Aha, I was spot on. Singlehorn steps into the alfalfa from the same spot that the Sandbank Three had entered. They all feed on alfalfa and seem to be content.

6:48 PM – Three raccoons bust out of the west end of the swale hole. They investigate vigorously the site of Bud’s Turkey kill then they head for Brian in his tree stand area.

7:02 PM – All four deer near the sand bank go back into the woods.

7:05 PM – One of the Sandbank Three re-emerges and is followed by the other two. They trot down to the west and get in front of the trail camera which snaps a flash that can be seen a long ways away. They spook into the woodline there. Singlehorn follows out to the edge of the field but stays back in the tall grass for quite some time.

7:10 PM – Singlehorn gets to the new scrape along the edge, fiddlles with the branches above and just stays there for quite a while.

7:22 PM – Graham spots another deer moving out into the alfalfa from the rock pile area. The Sandbank Three are now feeding just to the east of the big maple tree when the adult doe gets a strong whiff of Brian or whatever scent he is wearing. She looks like a pointing dog on point as she peers and stares toward his stand. Quickly she bounds away with her two fawns following. The headed right back to the sand bank area.

7:30 PM – It’s took dark to see anything with the naked eye or the gadets and widgets we have so we pack up and head for Graham’s house. He has reading to get done and a bed to get into.

It’s been another fantastic day at Oshaukuta. Tomorrow I will be there during the day measuring up the new deer tower and pussyfooting around in the marsh. I can’t watch tomorrow evening though as I have a football game to officiate.

Friday will find me in Minong at the trailer.

A Gusty Southwesterly Wind at Oshaukuta

After another great day around the house and yard and a great lunch with Karol and my mom, I headed for the cross country meet at Shepherd’s Meadow to watch the girls run.

After a quick meal, I headed for the Hilton. It was 5:55 PM when I arrived. I noticed deer tracks in the drive to the Hilton since I drove out last night. I parked the truck at the bottom of the two hills, grabbed my carving bag and the 20X spotting scope and headed up the hill.

Sneaking through the tall grass, I made it to the steps and peered all around. There were no deer but there were two sandhill cranes in their customary spot. I had to “pussyfoot” up the steps so as to not spook those cranes into flying away. I made it.

It was 5:55. The temperature was between 65 and 70 degrees and the wind was gusty out of the southwest 15 to 20 mph. I got up into the Hilton and started to settle in and realized that I had again forgotten to take the Range Finder over there along with a Sharpie to jot down the key distances from the Hilton. Darn it! As I gazed out over the property that wind hit me in the face. I think we need a windsock or a wind direction indicator of some kind over here.

6:00 The Bluejays are pretty noisy to the south of the Hilton, toward Brian’s bow stand. Perhaps that’s where the jays are or else they might be in the trees in the swale hole itself. The mice are quiet and I suddenly notice that the entire gel block of mouse poison is missing from the bait station on the counter in the Hilton. Are these mice I’ve been hearing or are they flying squirrels. Seems as though mice would be snapped up in the traps baited with Jiffy Peanut Butter. But I’ve had no luck and surely the mice aren’t smart enough to not get caught. That thought takes me back to the “Rats of NIMH” and “The Secret of NIMH” — both great movies. Perhaps these mice are descendents of Mr. Brisby?

6:04 PM – Two Sandhills approach the original two from the air and are squawking. They land but soon thereafter while my head is down jotting down these notes, they squawk again. When I look up two are airborne but I have no clue if they are the intruders taking off or the original pair leaving in a huff. At any rate, one pair surely didn’t want the others company is the way I looked at it.

As I sat looking out at the lush, green alfalfa; the golden-yellow soybean field and the messy winter wheat stubble and weed field I can’t help but think about the “forever memories” this particular piece of property has afforded me. I think back to my earliest adventures here as a 16-year-old kid. Nervous to be around Bob Thompson and not wanting to get him angry at me. At that time there was a telegraph pole anchored to the sandbank and to the bank on the penninsula across from it that we had to use to “pussyfoot” as RMT always said, across. All without falling into about three feet of water. I never did lose my footing. Others did. I always used a stick to keep myself up there.

Ah yes, Memories of my childhood years, tucked away between the ages. They almost all come back to the forefront of my mind when I am here. People, adventures, not so adventurous days. They are all easily remembered. For me, it’s as spiritual experience just to be up here. It’s not about killing anymore. Least wise, not for me. I’m certainly not against it. As a matter of fact I enjoy seeing the spark in a young fella’s or old fella’s eyes and a new bounce in his step when he gets an Oshaukuta Trophy. At least I dont’ have to gut it, drag it and butcher it (usually).

6:08 PM – It’s getting close to deer time. Is the wind a factor tonight?
6:11 PM – I notice movement along those strange plants that border the north side of the swale hole. The light colored doe fawn that bolted in from the wheat field last evening steps out into the alfalfa on the very west end of the swale hole. Was she bedded down in the swale hole or was she in the marsh along the woodline and made those jays behave the way they a few minutes ago? Then the red buck fawn that accompanied her yesterday popped out there with her. They appear to have no adult supervision over here.

6:16 PM – They are working their way toward me as they nibble the fresh alfalfa shoots. Suddenly they notice the cranes about 180 yards to the east and they settle down and nibble more and check the area less. They keep working toward me up the hill. Now they are 50-60 yards out, now 40-50 and getting closer. With the scope I can see the flies around their ears and noses.

6:20 PM – She’s 35 yards away and moving closer right on the edge of the alfalfa and the wheat field in front of me. He’s about five yards further west.

6:21 PM – He has moved up the path and continues to move up the hill. He is 10 yards away and behind the elm tree. Now he goes to the orchard and is directly in the middle of it. Will he browse on my Honey Crisp apple trees?
Suddenly she bolts and so does he and they head across the top of the gravel hill behind the old shack there. I look east and there is a large deer out there in the field. With the spotting scope that large deer turns into two fawns. One is a buck fawn, the other a doe.

6:25 PM – An adult doe steps out of the woods and weeds by the sand bank. I’ll call these three “The Sandbank Three” as they came from there yesterday too. She stands pat for a long time just searching the area for security sake. She is really gray while the fawns are still red. She is looking intently toward Crawford’s. Is the Crawford Three coming out?

6:40 PM – It’s still just The Sandbank Three out there. What does that say about today? Wind bad? Solunar tables at work here? I need to get a set and leave over here.

6:41 I think to myself, “Camera’s over here need checking tomorrow morning. Bud and I can do that!”

6:46 PM – still just The Sandbank Three out there. Bigger wind gusts now start to really rattle the roof of the Hilton. I probably need to check it. That thought brings back memories of building this latest verson of the tower. I was the only one brave or stupid enough to crawl up and out there to roof the darn thing. Another big gust snaps some metal up there and the place creaks and squeaks. The critters up there  get active now.

6:49 PM – Another big gust shakes the place.
6:50 I think the twins from The Sandbank Three have left but a look through the scope at 20X reveals two tiny heads with huge ears sticking up out of the alfalfa. They are lying down. They remind of little johnnies (kangaroos) with tiny heads and big ears. The doe keeps feeding nearby, somewhat content right now.

6:59 PM – Mice or whatever critters those are up there above me are really active and loud now. They make noises I had never heard until last night. That’s why I think they might be flying squirrels and not mice. That and the fact that the peanut butter has not been touched. It’s getting dark pretty fast here tonight as it is slightly overcast.

7:04 Aha! Singlehorn steps out into the alfalfa at the end of the woodline east of Brian’s tree stand and north of the rock pile. He slowly feeds to the east in the shooting lane toward the rock pile. Soon he is behind the big maple tree and I can’t see him. Sandhill Three are still out there far to the east of him but he knows they are there and vice versa. There is a critter commotion above me now.

7:10 PM – Whoa! A doe and buck fawn come out from the big oak tree and hickory tree right here in front of me. They quickly move across the field in front of me and go to the east end of the big maple near Singlehorn.

7:15 It’s tough to see but it appears that Singlehorn and some other deer have moved out in front of Brian’s camera. No flashes going off though. That’s strange.

7:17 PM – It is time to sneak out of here. I leave and head for the truck and back home to type this.

Another great evening at the Hilton.

A Great Evening at Oshaukuta Hilton

After my first-ever day of substitute teaching, I got a few things done around home, had a nice dinner with my wife and then headed for the Oshaukuta Hilton to see what would transpire in front of me this evening.

Here are the chronological notes from this evenings trip to the Hilton.

9/19/2011 – Bob T. arrived at 5:24. There were no mice in the traps and it didn’t appear that any of the poison had been attacked by the live-in rodents here. What’s with that anyway? There was no wildlife in the fields yet. It was a bluebird day with not a cloud in the sky and a temperature in the mid 60s or so. The sun was shining brightly on the lush, green alfalfa stretched out in front of me and on the golden-yellow bean field to the north. I sit and wonder when the two sandhill cranes might arrive. Today was my first-ever day of substitute teaching in Poynette after 39 consecutive years of employment there. It had been a great day there but I already missed my retirement freedom. It’s OK for a day or so here and there for now and the $110 will go a long ways toward easing the burden of paying for our health insurance. Oh yah, today I turned in the agreement, signed to return as the Head Softball Coach at Poynette High School, a position I held for 32 years.
5:40 PM – An adult doe appears in the northeast corner of the alfalfa field and is about 20 yards out in the field. She’s feeding very quickly without much care or looking around.
5:45 PM She jogs back into the fenceline/treeline between Crawford’s and ours.
I continue to carve on the right hand of the motorcycle rider I’ve been working on.
6:00 PM. She is back in the alfalfa and keeps looking to the north into Crawford’s. Is there another whitetail there?
6:07 – she jogs back behind the treeline a second time.
6:08 – a large flock of Canadian geese fly over but pretty high. They are loud but there are no sandhill cranes in the field to call them in and they head south over Fountain’s place then turn east. I can hear a sandhill squawking to the southwest though.
I go back to carving on that right hand.
6:17 – I look up and two fawns of the year, a buck fawn and a doe fawn and an adult doe come out near the rock pile on the south edge of the alfalfa. They suddenly perk up and stare to the east and get very nervous. Suddenly she bolts to the marsh westward and the two fawns follow suit. Not long after a golf cart appears in the alfalfa field just inside the treeline to the east of the Hilton. It’s Randy Crawford, his wife and what appears to be a granddaughter out for a late afternoon ride. That’s something they would not appreciate happening on their side of the fence line.

I go back to carving some more and break the thumb off that right hand I’ve been so diligently working on. Oh well, it will glue back on and besides, I figured it would snap off anyway. It needs reinforcing with some wire and super glue.
6:26 PM – The field is empty still
6:27 – I look up and two sandhill cranes are flying low over the field right at me. They continue right over top of the Hilton but do not circle back into the field. Darn!
6:30 PM – A doe appears in alfalfa at far northeast end of field. She’s back out there eating. The twins, buck and doe reappear back in the field on the south side of the swale hole in front of the Hilton. They are feeding eastward toward the big maple tree.
6:34 – The doe at the far end humps up and pees. However, she does not lift her tail and I wonder if that deer is really a young buck. At 50 power I discover that sure enough it is a young buck with no antlers. There are still just three deer in the field right now.
6:36 A buck with no left antler appears in the alfalfa just to the east of Brian Visger’s stand. He has four small points on that right antler and the other one can be seen to be broken off. Now two more fawns appear and an adult doe all in the same area as the broken antlered buck. I’ll call him Singlehorn.
6:42 – I’ve put my carving down and now two doe appear at far east end of the alfalfa in the northeast corner.
6:44 PM – An adult doe appears directly below me to the right of the swale hole and just out of the marsh.
6:45 PM – A fawn enters next to her and it’s a doe fawn. They are between those strange plants that grow on the north edge of the swale hole and the Hilton. Just out in the alfalfa.
6:50 PM – Four fawns are now out in the middle of the alfalfa to the east of the big maple and in front of Brian’s trail camera. They begin to play tag and scoot all around the field. Back and forth, round and round and they race around the swale hole. They are really fast. Now into the sand bank area and back out by the rock pile on the dead run they chase each other.
6:52 – Now two fawns bust into the wheat stubble right below me, they startle the doe and fawn and all four bust it into the marsh under the big oak and hickory tree. Singlehorn is still in field way east and out from the sand bank.
7:05 two fawns and a big deer bust out into the field by the sand bank. The large deer is an 8-pointer with a 12 inch spread. It’s high but not wide. Not a shootable buck for anyone who wants to hunt at Oshaukuta with me. He works his way out into the field and shortly the two bucks are next to each other. They just feed and the small ones gets a sniff or two in on the bigger one.
7:10 – Now there are about 15-16 deer in the alfalfa from east to west. The ones on the west end keep peering to the west and suddenly a scrubby buck appears. He still has some velvet on both small antlers. He is smooth and sleek but his rack is a messy looking things. He also needs to be allowed to live another year or two. He works his way to the south of the swale hole and then later out into the alfalfa with some other does and those fawns. The larger buck at the other end and Singlehorn have moved right in front of my archery tree stand. They remain there until just before dark. There are still 15-17 deer out there. It is promising but is still less than half of what I once watched out there before the killers arrived.
at 7:44 I was still there and the deer had moved off to the south. I quietly closed up the Hilton and headed home.
I need a high powered and good camera to get some good shots. I’ll check the trail cameras tomorrow but I didn’t notice any flashes going off and those deer were right in front of Brian’s and one of mine.
A great night where I would have loved to have had Graham there with me.

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