Feb 21, 2016

Sun. 11AM-430PM, ice fishing with Scott
Where: Mississippi R. near Winona
Weather: (1253) N7, clear, 42°, 12” of ice
Caught: me: Pike (2) 24-26”, LMB (1)-20”, Scott: Pike (4) 3) 31-34”, 1) 24”, various pan fish
It was only my fourth time out ice fishing this year and it was a good outing. I basically only tip-up fished the entire time whereas Scott also tip-up fished and jigged fished.
The tip-up action was pretty good and steady up until about the last hour and a half before dark. I don’t know if the bite slowed on account of us running out of decent sized shiners or if was on account of the time of day. We went through about fifteen shiners and at the end we were using some of the ones that we had already caught fish on.
The ice is still very solid and averaged about twelve inches thick. The snow has disappeared from the ice and is vanishing quickly from the woods.

Feb 20, 2016 Sat

Feb 20, 2016 Sat. 12PM-5PM, snowshoe hare hunting with Zeta and Roxy
Where: Fairchild, WI
Weather: W16, mostly cloudy, 42°, 8” wet melting snow
Bagged: nothing

I got my one-day of bunny chasing in this weekend. Today I traveled north in search of the white ghosts. The Fairchild area was god to me last year, but this year the hare numbers seem way down.
The first two hours we never found a hare to chase. Finally the girls rattled one out of its lair and the chase was on for the next three hours! That’s a very long time to chase one hare without putting it in your game bag or without the dogs losing the track. Towards the end of the day I captured the dogs and ended the chase. They wanted to continue, but it was time to go home.

Feb 18, 2016 Thr

Feb 18, 2016 Thr. 530PM-730PM, ice fishing for walleyes
Where: Mississippi R., Dresbach Dam
Weather: SE23 G33, overcast, 40°, 12” of ice
Caught: one 13” sauger

It was a short outing below the dam tonight. I knew it wouldn’t be a catching night, so I did a little experimenting with fishing locations. I tried about fifty yards to the south of the long wall and I also tried out form the landing.
I did not catch anything below the long wall, but I did catch the sauger out from the landing in about twelve feet of water. I did not mark as many fish tonight as I had the other day.

Feb 14, 2016

Feb 14, 2016 Sun. 230PM-5PM, rabbit hunting with Zeta
Where: Blair, WI
Weather: SE17, overcast, 19°, 8” of crusty snow with 1” of fresh powder on top
Bagged: one cottontail

It was a short hunt with Zeta this afternoon. I opted to leave Roxy at home on account of the crusty snow and the damage it would do to her feet. Roxy is so much more susceptible to cuts on her feet than Zeta is.
We had a chase start almost immediately. It was a great run and it lasted about two hours. Zeta did a great job! You would have thought that I could have figured out one of the routes the bunny would take and ambush it, but I never did. I did see it a couple of times and even missed what would have been a great opportunity if I would have been ready and seen it sooner. The Rabbit I did end up shooting was actually a stray (a rabbit that was not chased by the dogs but was kicked up or moved by them). I do not shoot strays, but sometimes you just don’t know. It was a great afternoon hunt with great conditions and great dog work.

Feb 10, 2016

Wed. 5PM-730PM Ice fishing for walleyes by myself
Where: Dresbach Dam
Weather: clear, calm, 5°, 12” ice
Caught: one 15” walleye

It was my fist trip of the season fishing for walleyes through the ice below any of the dams. With the mild temperatures and the high river flow rates this season ice fishing below the dams has just not been possible.
As it is the fishing locations below the Dresbach Dam were very limited. Generally I like to be fishing alongside the short wall but there is no ice there this year. As it was I was able to fish just below and in line with the long wall.
The first spot I fished was about ten feet deep. I marked several fish in an hour, but had no bites. The second spot I fished was about ten yards out farther towards the main channel and was about fifteen feet deep. I marked a few fish and caught the one walleye there.
I did have one of my younger friends Adam stop by and we fished for about a half hour longer with no bites. He had been fishing at the French Island Power Plant and had caught a couple small eyes.

Feb 7, 2016

Feb 7, 2016 9AM-4PM Rabbit hunting with Roxy, Zeta, Lacy and Scott
Where: Lafarge, WI
Weather: (1253pm) clear, 41°, W18 G28, 12 inches of powder snow AM, 8inches of wet settled snow PM
Bagged: me: nothing, Scott: one cottontail

It was Super Bowl Sunday, but I didn’t care, I was hoping to get some super rabbit chasing in. Things started off slow but as the day warmed and he snow melted the action heated up.
The amount of snow on the ground made rabbit hunting fairly difficult. With that amount of snow the rabbits don’t like to run to far and they will try to hole up quickly.

We did have a number of good runs over the course of the day. I had several rabbits within feet of me and I let them go. I mainly wanted to let the dog runs and I also tried to do a little video taping of th

Jan 31, 2016

Jan 31, 2016 10:00AM-4: 30PM Rabbit hunting with Roxy, Zeta, Lacy and Jeremy and his boys Eon and Colton
Where: Gilman, WI
Weather: (2:15pm) overcast, 37°, NW9, 8 inches of sugary snow
Bagged: nothing

I had invited Jeremy and his two boys to go along with me hare hunting today. Jeremy had gone with me many years ago, but the boys have never chased the winter ghosts.
We did not bag anything today, but all had a good time. Eon missed a “gift from god” (a grouse on the ground) and Colton missed the same hare twice and Jeremy missed it once.
The dogs really did not put on that good of a show today, especially Lacy. If I just run Roxy and Zeta together I have good runs but if I throw Lacy in the equation the runs are not consistent.

Jan 30, 2016

Jan 30, 2016 11:30AM-2: 30PM Rabbit hunting with Dick’s dog Lacy
Where: Ettrick, WI
Weather: mostly cloudy, 41°, S10, 3 inches of crunchy snow with 2 inches of powder on top
Bagged: nothing

Today was more about investigating potential rabbit hunting spots than hunting. It was an area that I have hunted in the past with some amount of success. Today, the bunnies were not here. I think the main reason for the lack of rabbits is the woods have started to mature and the brush is disappearing.
Lacy did manage to put together one respectable run until the rabbit got tired of being chased and holed up!