December Antlerless only hunt

Neillsville, WI.

Friday December 11th, I headed up to Neillsville for the last gun hunt of the year. I was the only hunter for the weekend up there. I decided early in the week to take the four wheeler along so that I would have it in case I was to actually shoot something. I arrived late Friday nite and unpacked and headed for bed. I rose at about 5am, dressed, at a donut, and headed out. I was in the stand by around 545am after driving the four wheeler right to the stand as the snow was about 12" deep. The stand that I was sitting in was Carries. It looked like there was about 24" of snow in it so I got that all cleaned out. The temp was running at about -5 out so the heater was the first thing to go on.



From there, I sat in that stand until about 11 or so. I needed to get out and stretch a bit so I decided to move to another large wooded stand in the swamp. Once there, I got all settled and waited some more. At about 1230, I spotted 3 deer walking past at about 40 yards or so. I scoped in on the first one as it was the largest of the 3. I fired once and knew I had put a good hit on her as she was down in about 40 yards. There then stood one of the others that was with her. I verified that it was not a buck and at about 70 yards, shot that one also. It went down immediatly. Both deer laid about 25 yards from each other.

I started my cleanup in the stand and headed down to check out what I had gotten. Once to the first one, she was a nice large doe. I left her and went to the other which was a smaller nub buck. I removed a few layers and started getting them cleaned up. Gutting took about an hour or so for both. The next step was getting them on the ATV. The buck was no problem, but the doe was way to big for me to get on the front rack by myself. After struggling for about 10 minutes, I did get her up there - it was not pretty but got the job done.



On the way out I got hung up on a stump with the front left tire. This little stump then pushed its way though the footwell of the ATV causing it to crack. $160 for a new one.

I got to the house and loaded up the trailer to take them to town to get them registered. Once back, I hung them and washed them out and then loaded the small one back onto the trailer as I was going to give it to a friend on mine.





This was a great day of hunting for me and I learned that if I have a shooting rest, I am much more accurate with the gun.

Deer camp week 2

Wednesday morning we all headed for Neillsville once again to do a little hunting. We arrived and both Carrie and I went out while Grandma watched Cam. We were out around 1130 or so. It was a long afternoon with nothing really moving. I did count about 20 shots or so around us but nothing to close. We did very little on Wednesday night and went to bed around 900pm.

Thursday we woke again. Bob and I went out to hunt on the 80. We were both concentrated around a corner of the land and not much again was moving. Finally around 2:00, a deer had come in behind me. It was a doe and looked pretty small as she was coming right at me. I looked 3x at her before I decided that I would raise and shoot her for Bob who was just down from me. I shot from about 55 yards away and was low. Right under her belly the dirt and mud flew like a small rpg had gone off. I bolted another and shot again as she was cruising away. Missed again. I got down and made sure I had missed. Then again around 330, I had a nice doe come in around 75 yards. She was on the move and finally stopped. I put the safety on fire and then she started to move again. No shot so I put it on safe again. As I followed her across, she stopped again and I was ready to shoot. I pulled the trigger....... and the damn gun was still on safe. She again started moving and did not offer another shot. Overall a bad day of hunting but at the same time a good one.

Friday we packed up and headed for the cottage early. We left Neillsville around 900am, made a stop at menards in Wausau and arrived around noon or so.

More hunting in a few weeks for the antlerless only hunt.

Opening Day 2009

The gun deer season opened on Saturday November 21, 2009. Carrie and I had planned to leave Cameran and Senta with Grandma for the weekend so we could get some good hunting time in. We left Pewaukee about 4:30 and headed north. Traffic was not all that bad at all. We arrived in Neillsville around 830 or so and got everything unloaded. We waited for the rest of the crew to arrive and went to bed.

Up Saturday around 500am, we ate quick, got dressed and Carrie and I walked out together. It was really foggy by the time shooting hours started and continued to be foggy through about 11am. I managed to see one deer in the swamp but the fog was to much for me to shoot. That deer disappeared into the white out. Carrie did not have much luck in the morning either. Around 1030, Carrie went in for an hour or so to warm, eat, and then was back out. I moved down to the far SE corner of the 80 with my climber. I found a great spot about 40 yards off each corner. I sat for the rest of the day there. Around 230 or so, I spotted 3 does coming through behind me on the neighbors land. I waited patiently as they worked behind me and they finally crossed the fence. KAAPOW! I shot at what appeared to be the biggest one. They all took off to the east and right over the fence. I called Grandma who then called the land owner to ask for permission for me to track through their property. No problem there. I tracked and I tracked and finally after about 1.5 hours of tracking, I once again kicked up that deer. I quietly exited the land and Bob was nice enough to pick me up on the road so I did not have to walk back.

After dark, I had to go and find my gun which I had dropped of near my deer stand against a tree. I ran the ATV down there and located it in about 5 minutes of searching. Back to house, I loaded up the truck with gear and headed to where I had last seen that deer along with EJ (Carrie's Cousin). We tracked for about another 200 yards at which time we lost the blood trail in some pricker thickets. Back home for dinner and in bed around 9.

Carrie in the meantime while I was screwing around wandering the land was still hunting. She did manage to see a few smaller does but did not want to shoot just yet. The others had a good day of hunting. At the end of Day 1, there were 3 bucks and 2 does for 9 hunters. Not to bad.

This is how the crew ended up on Saturday night.



Sunday we woke again at 500am and started our routine. I had wanted to get back in the swamp again early. That again proved to be a hard find for me. I ended up losing the ATV trail and wandering through the woods aimlessly. I eventually found the stand and climbed up. As compared to Saturday morning, there was not much gunfire around. I did see 2 deer on the neighbors property again but they did not cross to come to me.

Around 930am, Carrie was able to have a deer right behind her that she was able to shoot. It was a good shot and laid right where she shot it. We together got it all taken care of and back up to the house and rinsed out.



The temp was very warm out, so we had to move fast to get things to the processor. We arrived there about 300pm and dropped the deer off with no issues. Home around 400.

It was a good weekend of hunting. I was a little bummed that I was not able to get that doe and it must have been a bad shot or she would not have run so far. I was happy that we were able to take one home as that is typically all we can eat in a year anyway.

More hunting to come this week.

Hunting the Rut

I took off by myself on Wednesday night for a hunting weekend in Neillsville. My plan was to hunt sun up to sun down until sunday night. For the most part, it went that way.

Thursday I started up near the house on the 80 in the early morning. I was able to see four does behind me and then one small buck at 100 yards. I grunted 2x and he ran at me to about the 60 yard mark where he stopped and stood. He turned and walked away after about a minute or so. I could not get him to come back to me. I moved down into the swamp around 10am and sat there until dark. I did have one more small fork or spike with his nose to the ground at about 40 yards through the brush and on a mission. Nothing appeared to stop him.

Thursday night Bob arrived for comic relief if nothing else.

Friday I went out to the swamp right away in the morning and stayed out all day in the same spot. I was skunked for friday and did not see one deer. A bit discouraging as I had sat there from 5:30am until 5:00pm.

Friday night, we went out for dinner to the Legion in Neillsville. It sucked for the most part but at least it was cheap.....

Saturday morning I again headed for the swamp. I drove the atv down about half way to save some of my walking and left it out there for the day. I again did not see anything throughout the mrorning and moved way back into the farthest corner of the 80 in the swamp around 10am. This was a good move and is likely the best spot on the 80 that is not hunted. I climbed up a popple tree in my climber and sat for the day. Around 3pm I was dozing in and out and looked over to my right to say to myself "is that a deer"? Shit... it was. I grabbed the binoculars and checked it and quickly realized it was a small buck. I grabbed my doe bleat and he did not respond at all to it. I then grunted 2x and ran right at me and stopped at 25 yards. He had spotted me. I already had my release on the string but not at draw. He was out of there as quickly as he spotted me. A doe followed him. Below are a few shots from the swamp area that I liked so much.





About 20 minutes later, I spotted a lonely doe in the distance and then about 4:30pm, I decided I was going to sit for a bit. As I sat down, there was crashing behind me. There had been a doe behind me at about 25 yards and I didn't even know it. The combination of the marsh grass and wet swamp makes hearing them virtually impossible back there.

I climbed out of the stand around 5:10pm to head out. I had come in and wandered and really had no idea where I was. I thought I was going in the right direction until I realized that I did not recognize anything around me. I stopped for a bit to think about my direction, the wind, and my next move. I spotted a few large pines which I assumed had a stand in them. I headed that way to come up empty again. I almost at that point had to call Bob to help me get out of there but I had spotted another large pine about 125 yards away. I headed that way and found the stand that I was looking for. Once there though, I still had to figure out which way I was heading. Needless to say, it could have turned out that I would have had to call Bob but I ended up finding the way out on the trail in that leads to the gun stand I was near. 45 minutes later, I arrived at the atv in the woods.

Sunday I did not plan on going out due to fact I would not be able to find the stand in the dark. Bob and I went out around 7am to find the stand and do a little work on his stand and Carrie's stand. I ended up putting a new roof on her stand.



We managed to find the stand no problem and then we were off to find the lot lines as I wanted to see that part of the swamp. About 10 minutes into our journey, we came across this guy laying in the trail about 100 yards from the stand I was in on Saturday afternoon. It looked like he had been there a few days as he stunk pretty bad and was pretty stiff. He looked to be gut shot.





My initial reaction was to cut the head off and do a european mount but after thinking about it, I did not want to be respondsible for a headless deer laying on Grandma's land especially with gun hunting starting next weekend. We came back to the house and made a few calls to find the warden for the area. We got in contact with him after a few calls and he agreed to meet us in town to get a kill tag for the deer.

In the meantime, I did make an effort to find out if any of the neighbors had shot the deer and did not find it but none of them claimed it.

Bob and I went back and sawed the head off it off and headed to town to register.

Overall I would have loved to get a deer with the bow but was actually satisfied that I had found the 7 point back there. At least I went home with something......

Hunting Weekend

I was able to get up to Neillsville for a quick few days of hunting October 24th and 25th. I ended up driving up in the rain and snow on Friday and made it there by about 2:00. I suited up and headed out for 4 hours of downpour that eventually turned to all snow. I did see 4 deer but they were quite aways out there on the south side of the 80. Saturday morning I headed to a stand close to the house as I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. I stayed there until about 9:00am and moved to my climber more on the south side of the property. I saw 3 in that transition but nothing that was not moving 90mph. I went in and ate a bit and headed back out by 12:20 to the 50 with my climber on my back. I sat the rest of the day out there. It turned out to be a great day for weather, just not for hunting. I ended up seeing only 3 but on the other side of the river.



I found this tree and it was telling me something

Sunday I woke late for some reason. I ended up on the 50 again. On the way down, I saw 7 deer including what appeared to be a nice buck not far from my climber. I inched in slowly and quietly and once in the tree, I saw exactly 0 deer. Packed up and left around 11 or so.

It was a great weekend for hunting - just not shooting.....

October antlerless hunt in Neillsville, WI

Cam and I had been packing for sometime to head to Neillsville to hunt the October antlerless only hunt. We left Friday October 16 and headed there. We arrive late, around 9:00pm, unpacked and I put Cam to bed.

Saturday we woke, ate and headed out to the stand to hunt for a bit. We packed some snacks, toys, and warm clothes. We stayed out for about 2 hours and by that time, Cam had enough and wanted to be done. We headed back in not seeing any deer at all.





I started working on the ladder for my treestand that I had built a few weeks ago at home and hauled up there. That took about longer than it should have as everything does for me. All put together, Cam, David, Alan, and I headed out to put it up.





This is a great design for a stand as it is easy to move and strudy enough that you feel secure.



From there, Cam took a nap for a few hours as he was falling apart quick. We headed back out to the stand around 4:00 and stayed as long as we could to about 6:00. By then Cam was wanting to go in and I did not want to push my luck to much and make hime not want to go out again ever. We headed in seeing just one deer about 120 yards away. No shot. No even close.





Sunday we woke and Cam did not want to hunt. I talked him into to searching for mud in the woods that he could walk through with his mud boots on. I just so happen to be carrying a gun and possibly hunting at the same time. We did manage to find enough mud to keep him occupied and we also managed to kick up 4 deer. They were at a full sprint. No shot. Not even close.

We started packing up early as we wanted to get home to spend some time with Carrie as she had been working all weekend. Just as I got everything in the truck, Dave and Alan come back. They got one in the woods. Cam was really excited and wanted to go and be part of it, so we unpacked, changed, and headed back to the woods. Dave had made a great shot on a 2.5 year old doe. Cam liked being there able to touch the deer and then watch as they gutted it. We explained the entire process to him and he seemed amazed by it.




From there to home by 3:00 or so.

Lesson of the weekend - Don't expect to hunt sun up to sun down everyday..... especially with a 4 year old.

Pedal the Kettle - Septermber 20, 2009

Well after failing at the Door County ride, I decided on Tuesday that I would try again at the Pedal the Kettle ride leaving from Waukesha North.

I had not biked all week and was feeling good coming into Sunday. I arrived at North around 6:30am, picked up my packet and got ready to go. It was 47 degrees out. By 7:00am, it did not appear a lot of people were leaving, so I left without them. The first leg took us from Waukesha to Wales on the backroads which were very hilly. Once on the south side of Wales, we headed west to pick up Waterville Road back to Delafield. OUr first stop was around 24 miles at Cushing Park. They had the typical spread of fruits, cookies, bagels, and Gatorade. I removed one layer and was on my way. I had seen very few people on the way and road the first leg with only a few people passing me and me passing a few.

The second leg took us into Oconomowoc and then west toward HWY F to Sullivan and then onto Rome where the second checkpoint was. From Rome to Whitewater and the third checkpoint. Somewhere in there, I passed the 50 mile mark. At that point, I was averaging about 17.76mph which is just about my daily pace. Things were going good until we turned to go back east from Whitewater. The wind was just enough that it really took some force to keep moving. This along with a few hills, made the journey by myself pretty hard.

I did reach Palmyra where Carrie and Cam had been patiently waiting for me to arrive. They had signs made and tons of support which is what I needed. We parted ways and I went onward.





I made it to the last checkpoint at Ottawa County park. Here I spent longer than normal. It was around mile 85 or so and I was really slowing down. On top of that, there are people chatting that the last leg of the journey is the hilliest. Great....


Off I go and sure enough, hills, hills, and more hills. It was not really bad until about mile 98 coming into Waukesha. There were about 6 hills right in a row. Up, then down and right back up again. I actually saw people walking thier bikes which is odd on a ride like this.

In any case, I made it back to North only to have my support team waiting for me again. They had followed my progress all day and again had signs made for me. It was a great feeling having them there. Official travel time was 6 hours 47 minutes. By no means was I breaking any land speed records but I did finish which was my goal.





The coolest and craziest thing that I saw all day was a guy with a bike that attaches to his seat post for his kid and then towing a Burley trailer with yet another kid. WOW......

What I did different this time is hydrate way more than I thought i needed to and ate more food and less GU and Shot Blocks.

Overall I am 1-1 now for the Century rides. I think I will hang the bike up for a few weeks. My legs need a break.