An Outdoorsman’s Journal: My EZ season

Hello friends, This week I am writing to you about a series of bad luck that has happened to me, and I feel it makes for a pretty interesting story. Every year from around the 1st of April until the end of Wisconsin’s deer gun season I have what I call my “busy season,” and to be perfectly honest, it about kicks my hinder. For several years now my busy season has not ended until I return from my annual Mississippi deer and hog hunt in early January.

As I have written about, this late December, while hunting and camping in the Delta National Forest in west-central Mississippi, a tree fell on my 2017 GMC, smack dab on the cab, and it was not pretty. Long story short, I made it home with the truck and a month later it was rebuilt, which cost my insurance company $17,900.

The night I arrived home after a 952-mile trek pulling my toy hauler trailer with broken windows and a scrunched cab, I was proud that I got the old girl home. I was shutting the lights off in my house to call a long day quits and I noticed a long and very ugly wound on my 8-year-old golden retriever Ruby’s belly. That wound ended up being cancer; my vet and myself did everything we could do to save Ruby and that was not meant to be, as she passed away 16 days later on my living room floor.

The following week, I started to notice a scratch in my throat, headaches, and fatigue. I was getting better; then I helped host an ice skating party which was on a snowy night and I became very ill for seven days. To this day, about 50 days later, I have not fully recovered my stamina. The illness that whacked me, the loss of Ruby, and a truck guy being without his truck for a month was not a positive start to my EZ Season.

So we all know that when we fall, we must get back up. My pond biologist had told me that I need more habitat for my fish and minnows. I already had

quite a bit, but took on the task with about twenty, 20-foot oak and maple tops from a logging job. I would put the butt end on shore and have the top facing out on the “ice,” and when spring came it would sink down for my long-term fishing/retirement plan. I was super ambitious and was confident the ice was safe. I got a bit too close to the aerator while dragging the biggest treetop across the pond, over 14 feet of water. My right foot, leg and upper body fell through the ice faster than you can blink an eye. I had two problems: one, I was in very cold water that was deep and two, my left leg did not fall through the ice as it did not break, and I was stretched as fast as you can imagine. In other words, tie your right foot to an ATV, tie your left foot to another ATV, and have the two drivers go opposite directions real fast — it was not pretty. If anyone is fairly experienced at falling through the ice and getting out, it is me. I honestly thought I was fine. About an hour later I noticed I had hurt my left ankle, knee, and my back. Two hours later I was 100% worthless; all I could do was crawl. I knew I needed help, so a host of neighbors answered my call. My house was not perfect and before they arrived, I swept my floors while crawling and was, simply put, a mess.

The next day my doctor told me she was concerned my ankle was broken; X-rays revealed a severe sprain. That fall happened four weeks ago. I am healing but my balance, especially when cutting firewood, is not good.

Just to put a tad more love into this story, I’m fishing and camping on the ice on the Mississppi River, then get a text from one of my Polish neighbors down the road a piece. Here is what it said: “there are 3 bulls in my back yard.” I knew it was three, 600-pound shorthorn heifers and I was doinked, as my neighbor is surrounded by forest and I was four hours away.

Thank God for my neighbors for the 500 thousandth time! These shorthorns are so tame that even though they were lost in the forest, my good buddy Daren Plantz who helps feed them had carried a bucket and kept calling. When they came out from their adventure, which was a good half-mile from my house, the neighborhood worked together on a roundup and all’s well that ends well took place!

Can’t wait for this dang EZ season to end! Sunset

Mark Walters