A December to Remember

What an end to duck season this year. I’ve never seen cold and snow like this, this early in the year. Add in an extra week with a later start this year and what a time. We certainly earned it though and nothing came easy. There were some pretty great hunts and then others that were good but just didn’t go quite according to plan. Even those ones were phenomenal just because of the sheer numbers of birds we got to see.

We busted a lot of ice, came up with crazy plans, lost decoys to the ice, lost decoys to steel shot, and just overall had a ton of fun. Hunts ranged from gentlemen’s hunts with just me and Trevor for mallards to diver onslaughts with guns a blazing. We got a kid on a hunt he will remember the rest of his life and I got a mallard for Hutch to make his last ride with. It is going to be interesting to see the repercussions of this years freeze up though. I’m sure there will be complaints from hunters that hunt different habitat than we do. But for us along the lakeshore this is what we hope for every year and I think it will be hard to top going forward. It isn’t often we are begging for a thaw before the late split but I sure hope we get one this year, it is our only hope.

While we were fighting to find open water, others were searching out ice. If nothing else was going on it would have by far been the earliest, I’ve ice fished. I just haven’t felt ready for that with hunting season going on and the perfect conditions for that. Guys definitely got out in West Michigan; we just didn’t join that party. I am fired up about ice fishing though. I spent all last weekend working for Clam Outdoors at Frank’s in Linwood. It was a fun show to work, the crowd were fisherman. Much different than what we will experience at the Novi show in a couple weeks. It was my first time in the store and I was impressed. Well worth a trip if you are in the area and they have a solid staff. It is always good to see the familiar faces working these shows from all the different brands.

Then there’s been deer hunting and what a season it has been. I had some good bowhunts but never released an arrow. I didn’t hunt as much as I had hoped because of the warm October weather. It has to be cool enough for me to deal with the processing of one or I’m just not going deer hunting. Gun season rolled around and although my chances at larger bucks greatly diminished the fun did not. The girls and I had an opening day to remember and got on the board. Last year we at 5 deer and I had to fulfill that meat mission again. We also need to do our fair share of work to thin the herd for the farmer. I made one more trip during regular gun season and I apparently timed it right. I had intentions to sit in one of the treestands I put up. But not until after I crept through some blueberry rows. I killed 2 nice does on the sneak in and had to pass some more because I just don’t have room to hang more than 2 deer at once!

The pressure was off with 3 out of 5 tags filled and a lot of season left. Fast forward to “muzzleloader” season, snow on the ground, and deer on the move. Amanda and I had a wedding on the east side of the state and on the drive back Sunday afternoon they were out and about. I have never felt more confident in my life that I could fill the next 2 tags in short order. Plus we had just acquired another piece of property that was loaded with does. I decided to start there and it didn’t take long to get things going. I found one really quick but she only presented a hard quartering to shot to me and I was not going to bust up a bunch of meat and make a mess. I found some more but they were getting out and close to the property line. They got the pass at 150 yards from me but they made the mistake of crossing the ditch and coming back. I had some cover that I could use to my advantage and made a quick move to close the distance to 70 yards. Got in position and took one, that one took off and another jumped right in its tracks. So I took that one too. The one that took off hopped a ditch onto a neighbor’s property. Lots of blood and I knew she wouldn’t be far.

I didn’t know any of the neighbors here and it is always intimidating walking up to someone’s door explaining what happened and asking if you can retrieve your deer but it is the right thing to do. Luckily the family was outside and they were happy to let me retrieve my deer. They even took me back in their side by side to go get it. They were extremely appreciative that I came and asked vs just going onto the property. It all worked out well and I had a full freezer. Plenty of deer were in there when I went to retrieve the other one and it is just a matter of time before I get in there with some buddies to fill their freezers.

The nice thing about 2 at a time is that the knives only get dirty once and while it takes a little longer it is just more efficient. It was cool this year that Mabel asked to help one night that I brought 2 home. She worked hard helping with the skinning and hanging. “I’m going to ask santa for a knife this year, what kind of knife should I ask for”. That was pretty cool to hear and I look forward to skinning many more deer together and her first season next year. The whole team really helped a bunch this year with the packaging and grinding. Every year things get a little more efficient with the processing. Millie took it upon herself to label almost every package this year with her name, that is one way to practice your 3 year old writing skills.

Once again we took advantage of the 5 dollar Christmas tree from the Manistee National forest. A big snowstorm made that a little more challenging but it really was pretty out there in the forest looking for the right Charlie Brown tree in knee deep snow. It is always a fun adventure every year and maybe one of these days we will do some scouting to find some “fuller” Christmas trees.

I will probably add one more deer to the freezer this year for some fun cooking projects and to gift some meat away. But I’m going to wait until tags are 5 dollars in the extra extra late season. Although at 20 dollars a tag that is still a good deal for the meat a deer provides. It has been a great fall harvest and I’m ready to switch over to fish for the winter. I really appreciate the opportunity to “eat wild” and really cook some “restaurant quality” meals with the food that hunting/fishing provide.