Taxes, Blood & Terror
4-18-2013
You have your own images of the week. I have a question and a suggestion; what is your opinion of waterboarding? And google Bill Ayers and read about the weather underground bomber of the 70s so often invited today as a guest speaker to American universities. It is so important to know what is going on in America, despite the retirement of the media.
On to a different kind of blog.
A few days ago, the Blood Center of Wisconsin called and told me I was eligible again to give. They do that for me and many people because I’m not reliable without the call and they need blood drastically to save lives. There is never an exception. And yes they do get it in a hurry to places like Boston, especially rare blood.
I went in to the Waukesha blood facility before the Boston bombings and like always, had fun with the girls playing vampire and ate like a pig over all the snacks that they “make” you eat to regain your nutrition as soon as possible. It’s a ritual.
Truthfully many years ago I started giving blood or the occasional platelets when I looked at my tax returns and was embarrassed by the lack of charitable donations it showed. I didn’t have a lot of money, something many of us can relate to especially in this economy. Giving is a feel-good thing Americans do well. My friends at the Blood Center told me last week that I’m over six gallons of donations. I don’t need to be cash-happy to help save people. Neither do you.
What charities a person chooses of course and how much he chooses to give is his own business. But, just a thought; this blood and platelets and plasma thing? We Americans are going to need it more and more. Best, I think, to start changing our mindset now.
I wonder if my mindset is changing on Concealed Carry. I told my friends it just doesn’t work. Last week I got jumped and whipped out my concealed carry card and the bad guys still beat me up.
Now that is obviously my bad joke, but I did get my card with no real intension of carrying. I applied for my card solely to exercise my American right in the face of our precious freedoms being under continuous assault. As an outdoor writer, there are cased guns in my truck almost half the year anyway. During the deer hunt, I like the idea of more than 600,000 Wisconsin hunters carrying for nine days with no intentional malice. It’s who we are. But we don’t read about that much do we?
Now, maybe, eventually, my handgun will be carried but only after I am more comfortable and have received even more training than I have, including at the range. But I do hope more and more of you consider applying for a concealed carry permit and make your decisions. I think the final deciding question is this:
Firearms or not, will we be expected to come to the aid of innocent people, maybe our neighbors one day? After law enforcement, who better than the Wisconsin hunter?
We’ve posted all kinds of stories, news, announcements and photos again under “Outdoor News”, “Inland Fishing”, “Upland Game”, “Firearms”, “Deer Hunting” and other areas of the “On Wisconsin Outdoors” website. We’re in production with the May-June issue and we will be on the streets of Wisconsin in less than two weeks. If you want to know where to pick up your print issue of OWO, we should have 700 locations posted for you on this site by next week.
OWO has great fishing guides and they share their tactics and stories to blend with this issue’s hunting stories. Guides like Phil Schweik of Hooksetters Fishing Services, who also sent our readers a bit of advice for dealing with the finicky weather while chasing river walleyes. Phil is spending time on the Fox at DePere, in addition to his home waters of the Wisconsin River near Wausau.
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| Although conditions are difficult, expert guide Phil Schweik (rt) and Nick Laska found big walleyes on the Fox River this week at DePere. | |
“Spring has not yet sprung and we are not seeing the normal conditions that are usually associated with this time of the year,” Schweik wrote. “With water temperatures well below normal the spawning process has taken a back seat and has forced the fish to stage in transition areas on area lakes and rivers. Most of the fish are now staged between winter feeding locations and what would normally be their spring spawning areas.”
“Right now we are doing everything we can to locate active, feeding fish and to be honest with you it is easier said than done, but we are finding them. They can run, they can hide but we will find them. We are covering a lot of water to locate fish, and we are finding some pods of active fish still staged in deeper water from 12 to 16 feet deep.”
“Most of the action is coming on 1/8th and 1/4 ounce jigs that have been tipped with fathead minnows. To tempt the walleyes we are dragging the jigs very slowly on the bottom of the river and occasionally hopping them just to give them some action. The most productive days are when the sun is shining and the water temperatures have warmed up throughout the daytime a bit. The afternoon bite is much better. The fish seem to become less lethargic and are more willing to bite. For now all we can do is hope for warmer weather to spurn a movement in the fish and inspire a feeding splurge.”
One thing Phil knows as good as anyone. You will not catch fish like these by staying home. That’s my job. Actually, if Mr. Sun gives me any break, I head southwest for Mr. Tom.
Connect with Phil Schweik and Hooksetters at www.hooksetters.biz.
Thanks for connecting with “On Wisconsin Outdoors”. Shoot straight.
Dick Ellis