One of the harbingers of spring is the return of the red-winged blackbirds. A much less common spring sighting, at least east of the Mississippi River, is the yellow-headed blackbird. In fact because they’re so uncommon, they’re listed as a species of special concern in Wisconsin.
Some hard-core deer hunters have referred to the traditional deer gun season in the northern tier of states as holy week as they filter into deer camp in the days before the opener. Although my son Kyle and I enjoy deer season as a way to share a father-son bond and, hopefully anyway, secure a winter’s supply of free range, healthy protein, we hunt out of our home and enjoy the creature comforts it provides. This year was no different.
In the Upper Great Lakes states, the end of summer marks the beginning of the fall spawning run of German brown trout and salmon. Lake Superior, the biggest and deepest of them all, is a good example of how early the transition from lake to stream fish takes place.
Some traits are crucial for hunters when we chase the variety of renewable natural resources available to us. An awareness of our surroundings, patience, and the determination to succeed are some of those traits. Another might be a sense of humor, because sometimes the best-laid plans turn into comedy of errors.
There’s something unsettling, visceral even, about a bear attacking a person. It’s not the way it should be. We’re supposed to be the top predator in the food chain, not the second link. Fortunately, events like this are rare which is why they attract people’s attention as they do.
“If they were as big as a bear, it wouldn’t be safe to go in the woods,” Dad said. Those were his comments to his young son after I told him about my first encounter with a weasel at the end of deer hunt. I’d been sitting at the base of a blown down tree when I first saw the flicker of white in the fallen branches.
Every year toward the end of August I find myself noticing the first subtle signs the seemingly endless days of summer will soon be over. More often than not this realization occurs when I’m on a trout stream.
I was the first one to arrive for the show. I always like to get there early, that way I’m sure to get my money’s worth, although this show was free. All the best ones are it seems. The others came in time and took their place around me, while still keeping a respectable distance.
“Tell me again, why do we live here?” a non-hunting friend sarcastically asked me after listening to a weather forecast predicting incoming quantities of snow for northwest Wisconsin that were better measured in feet than in inches.
Jenny Biolo, who lives in far northwest Wisconsin, is likely the only woman in the country, maybe in North America, who had to courage to take on a wolf with a stick. “He wasn’t expecting a 33-year old blonde with a stick when came after my daughter’s goat,” said Biolo.
After decades of working and playing on the ice, I have a healthy respect for it. One poor choice can put you in deep trouble. Literally.