Memorial Day. Remember the Fallen
You know the one and only reason we are able to hunt for turkeys and target walleyes and muskies this weekend right? The reason we do whatever we want to do, whenever we want to do it? Because hundreds of thousands of American service men and women have made the ultimate sacrifice so we can do anything we choose. Memorial Day is for them. Remember them. I’ll find myself thinking, “I bet those heroes would like to be doing this….” as I row troll or have a beer on the pier this weekend. I bet their families would like them to be able to do that too.
The less than 24-hour turkey hunt on Adams County land with Mike Hart last week saw a “close but no cigar” ending, but it was so much fun with so much gobbling by birds too cautious to come in that Mike and I sat from 4:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. before pulling the pin. Due to “real work” (field time can’t count as real work), I only had a day to hunt. We got out real early under a full moon and separated to hunt.
Mike ultimately would tell me the story of one nice Tom that didn’t know how close he came to receiving a load from his scattergun. Mike had the gun leveled but determined the bird was literally five yards out of range. The hunter was second guessing his decision later, but it was a good decision and a call that most of us who have paid the mental price for a bad decision learn to make with experience.
Gobblers were talkative and active but didn’t
come in during a Period 5 hunt in Adams County
I have never been closer to roosted birds in a pre-dawn stand. Three boisterous Toms gobbled behind me I’m guessing from 40 to 100 yards, but pitched down after 30 minutes away from me and moved off. They kept up the talk most of the morning. I was able to pull those birds back with sweet talk eventually, but they strutted their stuff and refused to come in to my raspy talking “Doris” I had positioned in the field within shot gun range.
Doris the decoy didn’t get the job done.
Part of being an outdoor writer is occasionally risking blowing a chance to fill the tag when photo opportunities arise. A bird visited me that demanded camera work and hung around long enough to pose and pose again. Allow me to introduce the Scarlet Tanager, the only bird in North America with this unique and brilliant orange and black coloring recently reclassified into the cardinal family. Mr. Bird first visited my decoy, and then me.
Tom Hart, Mike’s brother also visited us in Adams County but was anxious to hunt with a bow for gobblers in New Berlin during period 6. That was a success story on day one. We link to the tale here on this website under “Upland Game”.
Tom Hart found success with the bow
on day one of period 6 in New Berlin. Mike Hart photo.
Find too under Upland Game a Steve Ellis turkey hunting story with granddaughter Lydia. That story takes on a good, bad and ugly tone in the Mead Wildlife area with photos of garbage discarded by slobs in parking areas. OWO writer John Luthens takes us to the Valley of the Trout in southwestern Wisconsin’s Vernon County with trout anglers and fly-fishing enthusiasts. It’s worth the read under “Fly-fishing”. Look too for other stories, fishing reports, photos, many news items and features by guides, writers, the DNR and others under Inland Fishing, Firearms, and Outdoor News.
Garbage dumped in the Mead puts a damper on a Grandpa-granddaughter turkey hunt.
(Luthens Photo) Cutline: “This ski jump towers over trout camp in the Valley of the Trout in Vernon County.”
Plan ahead to attend DeerFest August 8-10 at the Washington County Fair Park in West Bend. On Wisconsin Outdoors will be there in a booth with Kwik Trip Outdoors, just saying hello to you and handing out copies of the July-August issue. That OWO issue will also feature columns on deer hunting, deer rifle comparison so you have plenty of time to contemplate your choice before the November season, concealed carry, youth shooting sports and all the fishing, hunting, travel, recipe, cartoon and product features you’ve come to expect. You will also find out what the next Kwik Trip Outdoors contest will offer as a prize.
More than 700 of you have already signed up for the inaugural Kwik Trip Outdoors contest featuring as the prize a day of fishing with Hooksetters Fishing Services’ Super Guide Phil Schweik. I have been fortunate to spotlight Phil a dozen times over the years as a syndicated columnist and now in On Wisconsin Outdoors. He is a super guide (my words, not his). Go back on this website under “Inland Fishing” and check out the weekly “Central Wisconsin Fishing Reports”. That’s a weekly peek at Schweik on the water with his clients. I have the good fortune to know a lot of great guides who like Phil have turned to good friends. He is as good as anyone on the water, and a guy you will enjoy spending a day with.
I’m going to be there too with David Jackson of Kwik Trip Outdoors, shooting photos and ultimately writing a column on that fishing trip to be published in On Wisconsin Outdoors. It’s easy to sign up for the Kwik Trip Outdoor contest too:
All 44 Wisconsin Menards stores and all 252 Wisconsin Kwik Trip stores, and each of Suburban Milwaukee’s Elliott’s Ace Hardware stores in Muskego, Elm Grove, West Allis, and Pewaukee carry On Wisconsin Outdoors. Elliott’s offer the papers near the entranceway, Kwik Trip in their paper racks or on very visible counter areas, and Menards in the fishing and camping aisle.
Thanks for connecting with On Wisconsin Outdoors. Shoot straight.
Dick Ellis