Of Zombies, Pig Roasts & Shrooms
But first, remember the fallen vets who allow us to do whatever we choose this Memorial Day and every day. This is the one date dedicated to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. By the very nature of war, you have to think that 99 percent of the fallen were ages 18 to 30. That’s a lot of living to give up for us. That’s all I can say about that. Appreciate their loss and their families’ losses.
Its two days into the last of 6 seasons for the Wisconsin spring turkey hunt and I have yet to hold a shotgun. I have shadowed my brother as a reporter/cameraman and listened to many success stories from friends and readers, but I have not chased Tom myself. That changes in the next few days, and hopefully I will have a success story to share. The delay is by design. I think I can mislead a lonely big gobbler in the late season, and that is the goal. But, if a not-so-big but mature gobbler answers my mouth call for companionship, he will wear the tag just the same, and I will be happy to give him a ride out on my shoulder.
Ojibwa Bowhunters’ member Scott Montgomory draws from an elevated platform.
I am a member of the Ojibwa Bowhunters in New Berlin. What are you doing Saturday, June 20th? Why not join us at our Spanferkle, with stone spit roasted pig from 4pm to 7pm? Dinner is $12.00 per plate with presale dinner cost at $10.00. The night includes gun raffle, cash prizes, dancing (what bonehead came up with that?) and other entertainment from 7pm to 11pm at 3045 South Johnson Road in New Berlin. Call 414-383-2285 for more information on the pig roast, etc.
The Ojibwa zombie emerges from the shadow.
But, for you bowhunters and shooters, we will also have 3D Open Shoot Saturday June 20 from 8am to 3pm and Sunday, June 21 from 8am to 4 pm. Cost is $15 unlimited shooting on very great courses each day or $20 for a 2-day pass. Ojibwa Bowhunters extend special thanks to Sprecher Brewery.
Montgomory readies his bow as the knife-wielding Zombie draws near.
What can you also expect that is really fun at the club? Ojibwa member Scott Montgomory came up with an affordable fundraising idea that put to use an old circular monorail on the property. Instead of a typical moving target, say a whitetail for instance, you can take shots from an elevated platform at a real, live zombie. Well, maybe not “live”…he’s a zombie remember? Duh. Don’t you watch the authentic zombie shows on the tube? This is not your Chuckie type- live- but-dead guy. Stick with me, people. I’ll learn you lots of useful information.
Montgomory draws…will Zoltran’s knife or the hunters’ arrow prevail?
Anyway, as Scott Montgomory shows in the series of photos below, Zoltran the Zombie will emerge from the shadows wielding a knife and looking generally blood-curdingly scary, and you can riddle him with arrows. Or at least Scott can. I believe it’s as many shots as you can get off for one dollar. I personally drilled Zoltran only once out of three shots using my friend’s recurve. Micah was with me at the club and my golden retriever wanted nothing to do with the moving zombie; he’s one scary dude.
Montgomory connects again.
Montgomory kills Zoltran…for now…but doesn’t appear to have a valid zombie tag. OWO will refer this matter to the wardens.
Last week, I did a lot of research on how to find morels without poisoning my family before taking Lori on a Friday night date in search of those delicacies. Guess what? It worked like a charm, first with my wife Friday and then Sunday with Lori and our nephew and niece; Julia and Carter. I did take the scattergun in case Zoltran or Chuckie showed up.
Morel mushrooms can hide but they cannot run from this Ellis hunt.
I knew going in that I was looking for partially dead elm trees as the trigger for spores of the morels. I asked permission on a tract of land in southeast Wisconsin, and off we went. It’s kind of strange to think that finding these shrooms poking up through the leaves right where they should be (after a couple hours of failures) can give a hunter the same kind of thrill as any other hunt.
Julia Cullaz discovers morels beneath a dying elm and harvests them for a delicious meal.
By the time we had headed for the kitchen, we had bagged about 3 pounds of morels. We left half with the landowner. I understand that morels go for $100 a pound in Chicago, a shocking thought tempered by the reality that these people also spend money to watch the Bears. If you hunt morels, first google “elm trees and morels” but also google “false morels”. It will give you a great foundation of what to stay away from that could be poisonous, the most noteworthy of which is that a true morel has a hollow stem. If you slice an edible morel open from top to bottom it will be hollow inside. A non-edible mushroom will usually be filled with wispy cotton-like fibers or chunks of tissue. But check it out for sure. A bad shroom will cause vomiting, dizziness or worse. I thought it was a little unusual that just after dinner I was flying over Africa with elephants smoking cigars and singing Jimmi Hendrix “Hey Joe”. Being a sharp journalist I exclaimed, “Hey, this ain’t right!”
Lori and Micah show the take on day one.
Some of the morels were huge, with the stems bent over under the weight of the caps. but from the smallest to the largest, they surpassed all taste expectations. We had them with a shish-ke-bob dinner of pheasant and steak with all the vegies and again with burgers. We still have one meal left. Try it, you’ll love it.
The morels are cleaned in the Ellis kitchen and about to simmer in butter.
Fishing reports can be read weekly under “Inland Fishing” on this site including photos like these received with the Price County report. Also search “Outdoor News” and “Firearms” as part of the pages that we really keep active. We’ll be expanding to make more pages very active very soon.
Have you checked out the OWO Fishing Reports lately?
Thanks for connecting with On Wisconsin Outdoors. Shoot straight.
Dick Ellis