Scandalous Behavior

Well.. as I mentioned it is hunting season here… one of them... and that brings a lot of folks into the area. Neon orange is everywhere. Our road has been very busy with packs of 3-4 trucks at a time loaded with orange clad men and piles of deer food. I am sure half of them have been drinking at some point during their adventures and all of them have loaded guns.

Ahhh.. how nostalgic… it reminds me of home…

Anyway, the ATV- Snowmobile trails are off limits this time of the year which is not so bad because I think there might be three deer and three hundred hunters wandering around in the woods AND it is too damn cold anyway. Makes me nervous to drive down the county road to tell you the truth. Maybe I should get some kind of orange flag for the Infinity. Kinda like those little ones we used to put on the back of our bikes! In the 70's the flag was ok... the helmet? Not.

I know winter has not really started or anything but it is kinda different when I get up to start my day, check out the weather channel, and see that it says “19 degrees but feels like 11 degrees”. As I write this post I can see that the lake is starting to ice over.

Hunting this time of year is interesting. It is a different kind of hunting... it is not the walking through woods all stealth-like and following tracks, reading the deer poop, and watching for other wilderness type signs until you stumble upon a deer in a meadow kind of hunting like in olden days...

Umm.. that might be a bit much....
or not enough... I don't see any neon orange.

But here most of the hunters come in a day or more early, set up their blinds or just go to ones that have already been set up for them, put more feed out, and sit in there and practice shooting all day before hunting season actually starts.

Um. I don't know if I should point this out or not but deer have ears… big ones.

I was hearing gun fire all day... so I am sure any deer with ears may have heard it too.

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining... not really. The one thing that all this hunting does for this area is it brings in a lot of business… hopefully. All the hunting camps that are tucked into the woods around here and frankly look abandoned suddenly now are filled with people… mostly man type people. The hotels are full, the grocery stores are busy, the sporting good stores are busy… a lot of the snow birds around here rent out their places to hunters during this time of the year so there seems to be money flowing. The cabins next door are all full. When you live somewhere that tourists flock in during certain times of the year there are many pros and cons. It is just these tourists aren't in bermuda shorts and shooting with cameras. These tourists are wearing their cammo and shooting with rifles.

Just as a point of information... along with using blinds :



during this particular season you can bait deer so there are huge bags of carrots, corn, and sugar beets out in front of nearly every retail establishment around. You are kind of just supposed to throw out a bucket or two of feed but I have seen trucks with the beds full of bags.

Yes… I said you can bait them. You know, you just feed them until they get comfortable coming to get snacks from you since winter is coming soon and they are trying to eat as much as possible… yeah that's right... you get it... they trust it is a safe place to eat. Then you sit in your blind and shoot them dead. It must be like sitting in the barn shooting cows when they come to get the hay you have put in their manger... trough whatever it is called.

Oh. That sounded snotty. Before sending any frenzied hunters rights emails refer back to my venison post the other day.

Anyway… We went to town yesterday and passed by a motel with a big frame thing out front right on the main road with a huge deer hanging. Speaking of huge deer… one of our neighbor ladies dropped a big fat buck first thing the morning of open season. She was in her blind, and here he comes walking along looking for the pile of apples she has been tossing out into a pile for about a month and *Blammo*. He was a forked horn… small rack but he was a BIG boy. She had him strapped on the back of her ATV and brought him by the Post Office to show me, and of course get her mail. She must have hugged me three times she was so excited. She had already gutted it and was taking it home to hang while she made some pies for church the following day.

Oh and of course we can not forget what else is busy…. the BARS are busy.

Even the bar here in town, which brings me to the latest scandal. I have always kind of thought that running a bar here in town must be a struggle. I do not know of the financial situation at that establishment but it does not seem that it is a real busy place. If it was run more like a pub type place that might be one thing as the restaurant is now closed and people do like to sit and have coffee/soda/beer and chat. In the bar there is a small grill, a surprisingly good sized bar, a pool table, a big screen t.v., and several tables and chairs. However, there do not seem to be many customers. Being a businessman trying to scare up customers the owner has decided that during hunting season he would bring in the gal who used to own the now closed down restaurant to cook breakfasts every morning for the hunters (very good idea) and starting on 11/15 and going through 11/30 he has brought in … Exotic Dancers.

Yes, Exotic Dancers.

That is one way to get people talkin'... you betcha!

Exotic Dancers? LIVE Exotic Dancers? Here? What does that mean?
Who are the girls? Just how 'exotic' are they?
What will they be wearing?

The world is coming to an end... good grief we have gone from Pastys to Pasties!


I have a feeling a hunter might like either one after a very cold day in the blind.

The rumors have been flying that it is local girls doing the dancing. I kind of doubt that since there are like two girls within 50 miles who are of the age that you might want to see dance...

maybe...

or perhaps he has hired girls from somewhere else to come in for the show.

Well, I say good for him… the guy has to compete somehow. He is not on the main highway and he has three bars 10 miles down the road in either direction that he has to compete with… and they are all on the main highway.

I have to tell you though, I was itching to go down and watch.. at least peak through the window! Oh man I am so curious about the whole scene! Since it just started the other night I am sure SOMEONE was there who will spill the beans and let everyone know if the dancers are home grown yoopers or foreign yoopers. Might be kinda scary either way.

Well with all this talk about hunting.. you hungry yet?

Ha! I just love that picture... had to fit it in somehow.

Oh deer.

Along with preparing for winter, and actually I guess hand in hand with that, folks have been getting ready for deer hunting season around here. Actually, there has been a hunting season of one kind or another going on for what seems like a long time.

There is bear season, which is broken down into all crazy kind of ways like.. bear season for 12 year old males with bows only, then bear season with baiting, bear season with dogs but not for 9 year olds with guns, and bear season for only men and women wearing green flannel shirts.


For about a month during bear hunting season with dogs there were some hunters staying next door at the ‘white cabin’ with their hunting dogs. The dogs were fine but everyonce in awhile they would bay... I guess that is what you would call it. But it was not the typical bloodhound sounding kind of bay, instead it is an unearthly hound of the Baskervilles kind of sound. Would scare the tar out of anyone coming through the moors in the middle of the night.

Umm.. that is not a bear hound... I am not sure what the hell that is.
This below is a bear hound.. called a Plott Hound apparently they are good bear hunters. They use them to tree the bears so hunters then wander up and shoot them out of the trees.


Well, Cosmo and Delta took delight in the whole situation. They would chase squirrels over close to where those dogs were penned and dance around in front of them teasing them. After all, they were roaming around free and can hunt squirrels all they want!

The bear dogs were like…. Whatever. Just undo this cage door and we will show you what we can do.

Now deer season is nearly upon us and it seems that there are many more deer hunters than bear hunters. All of these old deer camps that you find here and there in the woods... the ones you thought were deserted all of a sudden come to life. The doors and windows are open, the bar-b-ques are going, beer cases laying around (Pabst) , and there are a bunch of men, trucks, and neon orange accessories of one kind or another.

Oh.. and don't forget the various hunter's toys:

Deer season is also broken down into guns, bows, ages, days, times, baited or non-baited.. I dunno… all I know is that once it really starts you have to stay off the atv trails until the season is over. No scaring away the deer… and no getting shot that way. It’s a good thing.

Men even grow beards and even if their work has a policy about shaving and looking scruff… apparently that is suspended during hunting season. Hmmm… must be some kinda cave man issue. Hairy hunters.


David is going to get his license this year and most folks we know are setting up their deer blinds and getting all ready. I have been invited to join in and have just not been real clear about my answer yet… I will eventually be letting folks know that I really don’t have any desire to go hunting.

Don’t get me wrong, I will eat deer and I have even help butcher a little bit before, but I will pass on the hunting part. Don’t get me wrong, I sure could shoot a deer if I had to but the thing is… I don’t have to.

If I was hungry, had no money, and needed to kill a deer or rabbit or whatever to eat I would. Plain and simple. But I am not in that situation, and frankly... I could eat beans and rice and do just fine. However, David wants to get at least one this year and put it in the freezer and that is okey dokey. I have no problem with hunting if you plan on eating what you kill, and eat it we will. I have some pretty good recipes that we will be trying out.

But given the choice and if hunger is not a factor then I prefer to see my venison like this (you may remember the first one from an earlier posting, click on the picture to remind yourself if you want):



than like this:
... of course I really do love this though:


and ... hmmm.. this looks good too:


Anyway, David, the dogs, and I went out and scouted around in a place where David might do some hunting.


We had tried to take the scooters back there during spring and summer but when we first tried there was:

1. So many maples and baby maples it was hard following and or even finding the path, and
2. Because we were going slow the mosquitos found me and were having such a feast on my flesh that I turned back and went home. Seriously. It was during mosquito season.

Anyway… we were able to walk through that area easily now that all the leaves are down and it really is a very pretty area now that it is all visible.

This country is filled with rolling hills and hidden rock formations. You just don't know that until fall and winter because it is so densely forested. Delta and Cosmo loved the walk of course.

We found a whole little section where there was handfuls of burrows… or dens. I don’t think it was a badger village or anything because I think they are more solitary creatures but I don't know what else would live like that. There were a few active burrows or dens and then a bunch that were not active this year. I think foxes are more solitary critters too but I looked up info on coyotes and apparently not only do they live in dens but they usually have a few nearby for backup in case their main one is compromised and they have to move the pups.


Anyway, I am kind of suspicious that they were older coyote dens because Cosmo who thinks he is a tough guy went halfway down into one (I had visions of badger terror and flipped the snap on my holster) but he sniffed around real good, and then peed on the outside of the burrow.

TAKE THAT! He said emphatically.
Scratch Scratch scratch hop hop hop.

Geez. Maybe he should grown a beard.