Dec 6, 2015 9AM-4PM Scott and myself walleye fishing
Where: Pool 9 below the Genoa dam
Weather: calm, 42°, cloudy
Water: fairly dirty, rising, 32kcfs, 36°
Caught: Approx. 25 walleyes and saugers, kept 5 saugers
Today I did something I normally do not do, walleye fishing in December. Scott had his boat and was the Captain this day. We tried various late fall and early winter spots up by the dam, but the flow was just too fast for them. We did catch a few fish on the Minnesota side of the river about 300 yards below the dam, but this area was fairly crowded with other anglers.
We moved downstream after about an hour and fished the series of wing dams down by the Y. This is where we caught the majority of the fish. They were not out close to the main channel, but were between the wing dams staying out of the high river flows.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
12-1 thru 12-5 2015
12-1 thru 5 -2015 Up to the cabin Muzzleloader hunting and hare hunting with Jake and his friend Cory and Dick and my beagle Zeta.
Weather: The weather was decent, we had about one inch of snow cover and the highs were around 30 degrees
Location: Moose Junction, WI
Bagged: one grouse and two snow shoe hares
It was suppose to be a muzzleloader and hare-hunting trip with Jake, but to my disdain it didn’t turn out that way. It was Jakes idea to come up muzzleloader hunting and hare hunting and I thought that sounded like a good idea. I did have some spare vacation to burn and why not use it on hunting trip. Well when I get there on Tuesday I find out Jake and his buddy Cory are hard- core trapping. With them spending most of their free time trapping it does not leave much if any time for us to muzzle load hunt and hare hunt together. If Dick would not have come up I would not have even gotten a chance to muzzle load hunt.
I did get some grouse and hare hunting in. We all hunted hares on Friday and it did not go too good. Jakes dog Lucky acquired a nose for deer last year and he continued on with the deer chasing this year. In a half-day of hare hunting we had two deer chases and at least one of the chases but probably both could be attributed to Lucky.
I never really blame a dog for bad behavior; it is mostly the owners’ responsibility to correct bad or mis-guided behavior in their dog. I had done some deer breaking on Zeta this fall, but of course Jake had done none with his dog Lucky. I am thinking Jake and I are not too compatible as hunting partners and anyway I usually prefer to do most of my hunting alone.
Weather: The weather was decent, we had about one inch of snow cover and the highs were around 30 degrees
Location: Moose Junction, WI
Bagged: one grouse and two snow shoe hares
It was suppose to be a muzzleloader and hare-hunting trip with Jake, but to my disdain it didn’t turn out that way. It was Jakes idea to come up muzzleloader hunting and hare hunting and I thought that sounded like a good idea. I did have some spare vacation to burn and why not use it on hunting trip. Well when I get there on Tuesday I find out Jake and his buddy Cory are hard- core trapping. With them spending most of their free time trapping it does not leave much if any time for us to muzzle load hunt and hare hunt together. If Dick would not have come up I would not have even gotten a chance to muzzle load hunt.
I did get some grouse and hare hunting in. We all hunted hares on Friday and it did not go too good. Jakes dog Lucky acquired a nose for deer last year and he continued on with the deer chasing this year. In a half-day of hare hunting we had two deer chases and at least one of the chases but probably both could be attributed to Lucky.
I never really blame a dog for bad behavior; it is mostly the owners’ responsibility to correct bad or mis-guided behavior in their dog. I had done some deer breaking on Zeta this fall, but of course Jake had done none with his dog Lucky. I am thinking Jake and I are not too compatible as hunting partners and anyway I usually prefer to do most of my hunting alone.
11-21 thru 11-25 2015
11-21 thru 24 -2015 Gun deer hunting at the cabin with Jake, Mark Sr., Mark Jr., and Cole Tupper and Donny (jakes’ father in law).
Weather: For the first two and a half days we had about an inch of snow and it was pretty cold opening day. Then after Monday night the temperatures were above normal
Location: Moose Junction, WI
Bagged: 11 point 180 pound buck
The weather conditions for the first day of the season were ideal: one inch of snow, calm, sunny and a high of twenty degrees. I sat down by the otter crossing all day on opening day. I saw two groups of antlerless deer before noon. This year was our second year of bucks only on account of the depleted deer population after our nasty winter in 2013, so I was unable to shoot a doe. For lunch I had planned to cook myself some Rome Noodles up in my tree stand; both to pass some time and to get something warm to eat. Well, it did not work out so well. I cold not get the water to boil. I was using a can of Sterno and it kept going out and just was not getting very hot. After about an hour of fooling around trying to get the water to boil I decided the heck with it. I added my noodles and flavor packet to the luke warm water. It was not what I had expected, but it was a little bit of warmth and the somewhat crunchy noodles partially filled my stomach. Both the Tupper kids shot antlerless deer the first morning; it is permitted for kids 16 and under to shoot an antlerless deer.
On Monday we made a couple of drives. The first two were unsuccessful, but on the third my luck changed. I was one of two drivers on the third drive and on our way to start the drive I spotted a very fresh large track in the remnants of what snow we had left. I figured this deer had eluded us on the previous drive and probably was not too far away. Fortunately for me there was just enough snow to follow the tracks, although with some difficulty. Mark Tupper Jr. and I were the drivers, so I sent him ahead and around what I thought would be the travel path of the deer. I was hoping to put him into a position to get a shot at the buck if it was still in the area and tried to escape. With some difficulty I was able to follow the tracks along the edge of a large dried up swamp. After about stealthily following the tracks for about 300 yards I heard the deer get up between myself and Mark and crash through the brush. I sprinted a couple yards out to the edge of the swamp hoping to get a glimpse of the escaping deer. Luckily for me the deer decided to run the open area along the swamp edge. One quick glimpse was all it took for me to identify the whitetail as a very large and mature buck. After three quick shots from My Ambush 300 Blackout AR rifle the buck was down!
It was a very exciting moment for me. My new rifle had performed just as I had hoped it would: a rapid-fire rate with good accuracy. In all honesty I do not know if I would have hit that deer with my old and slower bolt-action rifle. I also credit Mark with helping me get that buck. That deer was only bedded about forty yards from where Mark was standing and I don’t think it would have ran out to the swamp unless Mark was there blocking its other escape route.
Mark Sr. got a spike the following day. Success wise it was a good season, but the cabin was way to crowded and after a couple days I started to get a little frazzled with all the chaos.
Weather: For the first two and a half days we had about an inch of snow and it was pretty cold opening day. Then after Monday night the temperatures were above normal
Location: Moose Junction, WI
Bagged: 11 point 180 pound buck
The weather conditions for the first day of the season were ideal: one inch of snow, calm, sunny and a high of twenty degrees. I sat down by the otter crossing all day on opening day. I saw two groups of antlerless deer before noon. This year was our second year of bucks only on account of the depleted deer population after our nasty winter in 2013, so I was unable to shoot a doe. For lunch I had planned to cook myself some Rome Noodles up in my tree stand; both to pass some time and to get something warm to eat. Well, it did not work out so well. I cold not get the water to boil. I was using a can of Sterno and it kept going out and just was not getting very hot. After about an hour of fooling around trying to get the water to boil I decided the heck with it. I added my noodles and flavor packet to the luke warm water. It was not what I had expected, but it was a little bit of warmth and the somewhat crunchy noodles partially filled my stomach. Both the Tupper kids shot antlerless deer the first morning; it is permitted for kids 16 and under to shoot an antlerless deer.
On Monday we made a couple of drives. The first two were unsuccessful, but on the third my luck changed. I was one of two drivers on the third drive and on our way to start the drive I spotted a very fresh large track in the remnants of what snow we had left. I figured this deer had eluded us on the previous drive and probably was not too far away. Fortunately for me there was just enough snow to follow the tracks, although with some difficulty. Mark Tupper Jr. and I were the drivers, so I sent him ahead and around what I thought would be the travel path of the deer. I was hoping to put him into a position to get a shot at the buck if it was still in the area and tried to escape. With some difficulty I was able to follow the tracks along the edge of a large dried up swamp. After about stealthily following the tracks for about 300 yards I heard the deer get up between myself and Mark and crash through the brush. I sprinted a couple yards out to the edge of the swamp hoping to get a glimpse of the escaping deer. Luckily for me the deer decided to run the open area along the swamp edge. One quick glimpse was all it took for me to identify the whitetail as a very large and mature buck. After three quick shots from My Ambush 300 Blackout AR rifle the buck was down!
It was a very exciting moment for me. My new rifle had performed just as I had hoped it would: a rapid-fire rate with good accuracy. In all honesty I do not know if I would have hit that deer with my old and slower bolt-action rifle. I also credit Mark with helping me get that buck. That deer was only bedded about forty yards from where Mark was standing and I don’t think it would have ran out to the swamp unless Mark was there blocking its other escape route.
Mark Sr. got a spike the following day. Success wise it was a good season, but the cabin was way to crowded and after a couple days I started to get a little frazzled with all the chaos.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
11-7 thru 11-15-2015
11-7 thru 11-15-2015 Up to the cabin bow hunting and a little grouse hunting with Jake Tupper
Weather: Mostly way above average for this time of year. Had some significant rain one evening with a little snow mix. Temperatures were mostly above average.
Location: Moose Junction, WI
Bagged: two grouse
It was my usual one-week fall bow-hunting trip up to the north woods at my hunting shack. This trip was about two weeks later than usual. I was hoping to time it so more bucks were in their seeking phase. I actually think we should have been up about five days earlier. When we first got up there we saw bucks on the roads and cameras but after about Tuesday the buck sighting drop to almost nothing.
The deer are fairly sparse up north, but they are rebounding. If you were able to find oak stands with a heavy mast of acorns you would see deer.
I saw an ample amount of deer while hunting but I only saw one buck and he was a dandy! I had an opportunity at this buck on the fourth day. I was hunting what I figured to be a pretty good travel corridor in the morning. At about 8:45 AM a doe came from behind me and ran within feet of the tree I was in. This doe was moving at a good pace and I figured a buck was chasing her, sure enough one was. Within seconds of the doe being out of my sight I hear a buck grunting from the same direction the doe came from. He was in a bird dog style of travel following the doe’s scent.
This buck was air scenting her travel path and zigzagging the route she had taken. Well he was coming towards my stand on the opposite side that the doe had taken. I quickly but very carefully turned 180 degrees to get into position for a shot. I got ready to draw and tried to time it so his head would be behind a smallish oak tree about fifteen yards out that would shield my movement. I was a little early on the draw and the buck caught my movement of drawing the bow. He did not know what he had seen or where it had come from, but he stopped and was on high alert. He turned 90 degrees took about three steps and stopped quartering away, which gave me a good shot. I was at full draw and attempted to settle the twenty-yard pin behind his shoulder. But there was a problem. I had forgotten to take my glasses off when I started hunting this morning and I have a peep with a lens in it that does not mix well with my glasses. It was like trying to sight through a frosted coke bottle, everything was distorted and blurry. I aimed as best I could and smoothly released my arrow. My arrow smacked the center of the oak that I had previously used for cover about ten feet off the ground. What a disappointment! The buck scampered unharmed toward the direction from which he had come. It was a total let down, but I am thankful I will always have the memories of the action from that morning.
The rest of the week I did not see any more bucks, but I did see a respectable amount of does and fawns. Jake Tupper who was also hunting the week out of the cabin shot a smallish eight pointer on Friday night.
In retrospect I think next year I will hunt the first week of November instead of the second.
Weather: Mostly way above average for this time of year. Had some significant rain one evening with a little snow mix. Temperatures were mostly above average.
Location: Moose Junction, WI
Bagged: two grouse
It was my usual one-week fall bow-hunting trip up to the north woods at my hunting shack. This trip was about two weeks later than usual. I was hoping to time it so more bucks were in their seeking phase. I actually think we should have been up about five days earlier. When we first got up there we saw bucks on the roads and cameras but after about Tuesday the buck sighting drop to almost nothing.
The deer are fairly sparse up north, but they are rebounding. If you were able to find oak stands with a heavy mast of acorns you would see deer.
I saw an ample amount of deer while hunting but I only saw one buck and he was a dandy! I had an opportunity at this buck on the fourth day. I was hunting what I figured to be a pretty good travel corridor in the morning. At about 8:45 AM a doe came from behind me and ran within feet of the tree I was in. This doe was moving at a good pace and I figured a buck was chasing her, sure enough one was. Within seconds of the doe being out of my sight I hear a buck grunting from the same direction the doe came from. He was in a bird dog style of travel following the doe’s scent.
This buck was air scenting her travel path and zigzagging the route she had taken. Well he was coming towards my stand on the opposite side that the doe had taken. I quickly but very carefully turned 180 degrees to get into position for a shot. I got ready to draw and tried to time it so his head would be behind a smallish oak tree about fifteen yards out that would shield my movement. I was a little early on the draw and the buck caught my movement of drawing the bow. He did not know what he had seen or where it had come from, but he stopped and was on high alert. He turned 90 degrees took about three steps and stopped quartering away, which gave me a good shot. I was at full draw and attempted to settle the twenty-yard pin behind his shoulder. But there was a problem. I had forgotten to take my glasses off when I started hunting this morning and I have a peep with a lens in it that does not mix well with my glasses. It was like trying to sight through a frosted coke bottle, everything was distorted and blurry. I aimed as best I could and smoothly released my arrow. My arrow smacked the center of the oak that I had previously used for cover about ten feet off the ground. What a disappointment! The buck scampered unharmed toward the direction from which he had come. It was a total let down, but I am thankful I will always have the memories of the action from that morning.
The rest of the week I did not see any more bucks, but I did see a respectable amount of does and fawns. Jake Tupper who was also hunting the week out of the cabin shot a smallish eight pointer on Friday night.
In retrospect I think next year I will hunt the first week of November instead of the second.
Monday, November 16, 2015
11-2-15 Tuesday
11-2-15 Tuesday 6 – 9pm, myself walleye fishing
Weather: S 10-15, clear, 60°
H2O: 5.1’→, 20 kcfs, clear, 49°
Location: Mississippi R. pool 7 near Trempealeau
Caught: Approximately 30 sauger (kept 6), 4 small walleyes
Once again the walleyes were not abundant, and the ones I did catch averaged about 13 inches. However the sauger were once again abundant and very aggressive. The fish were once again caught on soft plastic baits. One little thing I did notice was that when a tow boat came through the locks and water was discharging out the side port on the long wall the fish were aggressive.
Weather: S 10-15, clear, 60°
H2O: 5.1’→, 20 kcfs, clear, 49°
Location: Mississippi R. pool 7 near Trempealeau
Caught: Approximately 30 sauger (kept 6), 4 small walleyes
Once again the walleyes were not abundant, and the ones I did catch averaged about 13 inches. However the sauger were once again abundant and very aggressive. The fish were once again caught on soft plastic baits. One little thing I did notice was that when a tow boat came through the locks and water was discharging out the side port on the long wall the fish were aggressive.
11-1-15 Sunday
11-1-15 Sunday 1 – 8 pm, myself, walleye fishing and squirrel hunting
Weather: calm, sunny, 60°
H2O: 5.1’→, 20 kcfs, clear, 49°
Location: Mississippi R. pool 7 near Trempealeau
Caught: approximately 30 sauger (kept 6), 4 walleyes, and 4 small mouths
Bagged: nothing
I started out fishing for small mouths, but it was not nearly as good as it had been one week earlier. I then switched it up and went for the little tree dwelling rats. That also was not productive, seems they had gotten smarter than they were the last time I stalked them.
I finished off the night fishing for walleyes and saugers. I did not catch many walleyes but the aggressiveness and the number of sauger I caught more than made up for the lack of walleye bites I had. The saugers were very aggressive and all came on soft plastic baits.
Weather: calm, sunny, 60°
H2O: 5.1’→, 20 kcfs, clear, 49°
Location: Mississippi R. pool 7 near Trempealeau
Caught: approximately 30 sauger (kept 6), 4 walleyes, and 4 small mouths
Bagged: nothing
I started out fishing for small mouths, but it was not nearly as good as it had been one week earlier. I then switched it up and went for the little tree dwelling rats. That also was not productive, seems they had gotten smarter than they were the last time I stalked them.
I finished off the night fishing for walleyes and saugers. I did not catch many walleyes but the aggressiveness and the number of sauger I caught more than made up for the lack of walleye bites I had. The saugers were very aggressive and all came on soft plastic baits.
10-31-15 Sat.
10-31-15 Sat. 9AM-4: 30PM squirrel hunting
Weather: rainy, calm, 55°
Location: Ft. Mc Coy, Wisconsin
Bagged: two gray squirrels
It was a very rainy and dreary day and my main focus was getting Zeta my beagle on some deer. I wanted to get some opportunities to smell and chase deer so hopefully I would have a chance to break this bad behavior.
I was able to find several deer for her. The first few deer she did not see, but when I put her on the track she showed no interest in their scent. However at the end of the day I was able to set her up with two deer out feeding in a field. She saw the deer and when they ran she gave chase, it was a perfect training situation. I was able to shock her as she gave chase and it definitely had an impact on her! I can only hope that she will now leave the deer alone.
The squirrel hunting was not that great, but I did manage to bag two.
Weather: rainy, calm, 55°
Location: Ft. Mc Coy, Wisconsin
Bagged: two gray squirrels
It was a very rainy and dreary day and my main focus was getting Zeta my beagle on some deer. I wanted to get some opportunities to smell and chase deer so hopefully I would have a chance to break this bad behavior.
I was able to find several deer for her. The first few deer she did not see, but when I put her on the track she showed no interest in their scent. However at the end of the day I was able to set her up with two deer out feeding in a field. She saw the deer and when they ran she gave chase, it was a perfect training situation. I was able to shock her as she gave chase and it definitely had an impact on her! I can only hope that she will now leave the deer alone.
The squirrel hunting was not that great, but I did manage to bag two.
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