An Outdoorsman‛s Journal: Water, essential for life

Hello friends, My plan for the second week of Wisconsin’s turkey season was to backpack in the Meadow Valley Wildlife Area in northern Juneau County and hunt with a crossbow. A forecast of steady rain and strong winds changed that plan to camping in Meadow Valley and hunting from a blind. I camped where my father first brought me 52 falls ago and my love for this area is why I moved to Necedah. Friday, April 28 — High 62, low 35 I have to admit I was very excited for this hunt. Much of my time in the forest was in the area where I harvested a black bear last fall and where I have hunted deer for 51 years in a row. I was well aware that a significant weather pattern was going to hit, and so I would use my Eskimo ice shack, which I tarped for my shelter. I was in a very good mood because in my scouting I had just seen two toms right where I was going to hunt.

I hauled enough gear into the woods to be very comfortable in a blind and basically just watch nature for three days while hunting. On hunt one, which was in a dark forest with lots of dead trees due to high water, I saw a hen. I did not care as I did not want to fill my tag right away; I wanted this hunt to last.

At dark I got back to camp and my mood was excellent. I had forgotten a lantern, so I just sat in the dark on the end gate of my truck, drank a PBR and hit the rack. Saturday, April 29 — High 45, low 32 I woke up at 4:15, it had been raining most of the night and it was very windy. Soldier on, boy, you’re here to kill a turkey. My blind awaited me, and I sat for six hours without seeing any form of life whatsoever. I did hear some geese that never shut up as they were on a marsh next to me, and I wondered what the other wildlife thinks of the noise pollution that Canada geese make. At 11:00, I made the decision to pull up the stakes and relocate to another area a couple of miles away. I made the move and was very excited for my afternoon hunt. It rained the entire time and sometimes the rain changed to snow. I had a large view as I was in an oak forest, and I did not see a turkey, deer, other type of bird or a squirrel. I did receive an excellent text from my good buddy Doug Cibulka. Doug had taken his father Tony Cibulka out on family property near Poynette, and it only took seven minutes for Doug to call in a tom and 86-year-old Tony to shoot it. This would be the fourth year in a row Tony whacked a tom. Sunday, April 30 – High 39, low 30 I was up long before daylight and set up in my office in the woods. It was snowy/raining and the wind sounded like a hurricane blowing through the trees. I hunted until 11:00 and did not see a turkey, deer, squirrel or any other kind of bird. I might add that after a lot of time in the woods, I had yet to hear a gobble. My new plan after 11:00 was to break camp, go home and hunt my food plot for the last two days of my season.

The wind never stopped, Monday was another rain event and after five days in the woods, I did not see a male turkey, hear a gobble, or see a squirrel or deer.

Sometimes you go hunting and kill a big bull elk on the opening morning of the season; sometimes you go chasing turkey for five days and you do not see one.

That is why it’s called hunting. Sunset

Mark Walters