An Outdoorsman’s Journal
By Mark Walters
Hello friends, I have been friends with “Musky Joe” Flater, who is a fifth generation owner of Flater’s Resort, for a good 20 years. Joe is hard to describe in less than a million words – old school, hardcore, fun, disorganized, one of the few in the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame, fond of beer, a Packers and Brewers diehard, trapper, smells like an old bear just coming out of the den, etc., etc.
I told Joe a while back, I could help him, along with our very good buddy, Dave Schmitt, with the seven bear hunters Joe was guiding this fall. Flater’s Resort has been owned by the Flaters for 86 years, and is located where the Chippewa and Flambeau rivers meet. If you have ever been in their very outdoor-oriented tavern, you are well aware it is a fun place to enjoy a beverage.
Friday, Sept. 6 • High 61, Low 42 I have been here since Wednesday, when the season opened and am staying in a cabin with Dave, who lives near Adams and Hartland. Of the seven hunters sitting over a bait, not a bear has been harvested, but let me tell you, a lot of bears are being observed and there are some interesting stories.
The first two nights, one hunter saw 11, then eight bears; every hunter but one has had bear experiences, but the bears were either with cubs or just too small for the hunters to take this early in the hunt.
There are five guys from the Jefferson area – John Hauser and his 26-year-old son, Alex, Mike Henningsen, Tom Ames and Brian Happ. These guys are rigged with the best of everything, very into the hunt and when day becomes night, are a blast, as we create a strategy in Flater’s pub, for the next hunt.
So, Wednesday, Dave was placing these guys in their stands and one of them had a really good bear at his bait, five minutes before they approached. The next day, Thursday, the cellular trail camera told the same story.
Today, we placed them two hours earlier, and it did not pay off. John did have two experiences with bear, but no meat was made.
On the other hand, Mike, who shot his first buck with a bow last fall (and it was a dandy), passed on a bear early in the evening and did not pass later in the hunt, and thus scored on his first black bear, which made everyone in Flaterville very happy, even though the Packers and the Brewers lost.
A little side bar story, Alex had to leave camp, as he was in a Friday wedding, in southeastern Wisconsin. He would come back to camp Sunday, and Monday, just before his hunting experience for this year was over, a 225-pound brute made the mistake of getting into Alex’s sites and thus, another happy night at Flaterville would take place.
Musky Joe has more friends than brain cells and that isn’t saying much. One of them is Scott Stewart, who lives near Bruce, and is highly respected in this area. Scott needed some help Saturday night, as he had whacked a real good bear, that, after some extremely physical labor getting it out of the bush, tipped the scales at 345 pounds, dressed.
A couple sidebar stories: Joe, Dave and I went for a drive down by Gilman, to Tiny’s Taxidermy. We became quite lost, the box is falling off Joe’s truck, one of his tires has very little air in it and when we got to Steven Gross’ place in the woods, “Tiny,” we had a lot of laughs. Joe had a 56inch, 45-pound musky redone and it will be above the bar in Flaterville.
In closing, it is also sturgeon fishing season, Karen Wegerer caught and registered a 64-inch sturgeon at Flater’s. Her gang, who is from Medford, stays at the resort, is very into sturgeon spearing and a heck of a bunch of fun.
As you can well imagine, Old MGW was mighty tired when he got home from Flaterville, and literally was in bed, 15 minutes after he parked the horse in the barn!
If you aren’t having fun, do something about it!
Sunset
Karen Wegerer and Laura Wegerer, with a 64-inch sturgeon that Karen caught, while fishing near Flater’s Resort.
Adventures at Flater’s Resort
