Recap of fall 2013 and winter 2014

5-1-2014
Recap of fall 2013 through winter of 2014

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It has been many, many days and months since my last entry, so I am writing a quick recap to my best recollection of what I remember.
I did a little fall walleye fishing up by Trempealeau and did okay, unfortunately Scott out fished me the couple of times we went.

My annul fall bow hunt / bird hunting trip up to the cabin was both a success and lots of fun. The bird hunting was not that great, but it never is when you are dog less. However I did manage to bad a couple of grouse. I was joined by Jake and one of his friends from Galesville. Jake’s friend had a wolf tag, so they mainly concentrated on wolf trapping. They did get a wolf along with a few coyotes and one bobcat that was released unharmed. All three of us managed a deer with our bows. This was quite a feat on account of everyone was telling us there were no deer around. We found plenty of deer, but we had to travel away from the cabin to areas that had been recently clear cut. I shot a spike and both each shot does. I did not get a great hit on my, so it took me till the next morning to recover it.

Gun season saw myself, Jake, Mark Sr., and Mark Jr., plus Donny; Jake’s father in law hunting the first five days at the cabin. As usual it was a good time, but the deer were not very numerous. Jake and Mark senior each shot does. Dick and I came back up after Thanksgiving and made lots of one on one drives. I did connect with spike two of the season on one of the drives. On the way home on Monday we stopped near Alma and muzzleloader hunted the refuge. I had one decent buck slip by me, but Dick was able to shoot a very, very little fawn. In fact it was one of the two I had let go on the previous drive on account of their small size.

The winter season was brutal this year; quite a bit of snow and very cold temperatures. I am generally a fan of the winters but this one sucked! I was able to get a few rabbit hunting trips in but not many on account of the terrible conditions. I had given Dick a beagle (Lacey) for his retirement gift and we were not able to utilize her gift for chasing rabbits very much. I think I shot a total of three rabbits this year.

The ice fishing season was also brutal on account of the frigid conditions. The weather was so cold, that I never even took the airboat out. In fact since I had not used it much the past couple of years I decided to sell it towards the end of winter. The majority of my ice fishing was done after work below the Dresbach Dam fishing for walleye and sauger. It was a very good year for walleyes through the ice; in fact I don’t think I was skunked on any outings. I also caught a few pike and pan fish during the season, but it was nothing too exciting. I did venture north a few miles and fished Merrick State Park and Buffalo City, I will be back to these locations next year.

That was the short and not too detailed recap of my fall and winter ventures!