12-17-2011 Sat

12-17-2011 Sat
7:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Weather: S6, overcast, 27˚, (1153) one inches of snow cover, four inches of ice
Location: Sparta, WI area and F McCoy, WI
Bagged/caught: small buck (already had shed antlers/ Lots of small gills and some nice ones and 6-8 crappies from 8 – 10 inches
Partners: Tom W. and some of his friends (bow hunting) myself ice fishing

Comments

Today started out with about one half day of some late season bow hunting. The strategy for the hunt would be deer drives. I would finish off the day ice fishing on the North Flowage of Fort McCoy.
On the first drive of the day I was a stander and it just so happened that it was the only drive that we would see any deer on. The action was awesome; we had deer bouncing all over and they were somewhat stuck between the drivers and the standers. I had several shots and was able to connect with one of my shots. I must tell you these were no chip shots. These deer felt trapped between the standers and the drivers and when they can by me they were in the escape mode and they were making tracks! The deer I did connect on was shot too far back and we had to let it be for two hours before we came back to recover it. Even after two hours it was still alive, but in very bad shape. One more arrow was necessary to put it down. One of the other hunters also shot a deer, or shall I say somewhat of a deer. This deer was tiny and I would have to guesstimate it weight at around thirty pounds! My deer was no trophy either. It was a buck that had already shed its’ antlers, but it weighed in at a measly seventy pounds.
After we finished the deer drives and recovering the deer the group was done hunting, but for me it was time for a little first ice action on the North Flowage. I really did not have a clue on where to go, but I drilled around twenty holes and towards sundown I finally was on an area that started to produce fish. I did not have any flags, but I did get on some fairly nice bluegills and crappies.

Observations:

The weather today was just gorgeous and it was definitely ideal conditions for bow hunting. The fishing in the late afternoon was also good and we had about four inches of safe ice to venture onto.