Well, my deer season is over for another year. It keeps getting better and better each year.
This year I had a change in plans at the last minute, so I quick called up some of my buddies to see if they had an extra spot, and boy am I glad they did.
We decided to hunt in the same place we had my friend' s bachelor party, the Kickapoo River Wildlife Area, near Wauzeka, Wisconsin. It' s about 6,000 acres of land that happens to border a small 1 campsite county park that the Carp Express pulled into on Friday morning.
The plan was such. All the road access to the land is off of a county highway about three miles to the east of us. All the locals will pile into the woods there and all but the most enterprising will quit after a half mile. However, just 65 feet across Plum Creek is the back end of the property and prime huntin' land. Our resident MacGyver came up with an elaborate system involving 100 feet of steel cable, a dozen pulleys and some rope so we could pull ourselves across in a small 12 foot boat. The best part of all this is that the boat can be retreived from the far side of the river, no matter which side you' re on. It' s truly an ingenious system.
We also found out that two of us would be sleeping in the ice shanty, which is an old pop up camper modified for portable ice fishing fun. We tore out the sink, refrigerator, bunks and the canvas, made some particle board walls, and cut strategic holes in the floor. Add some colorfully decorated walls, courtesy of Jagermeister and Crayola, and you' ve got yourself a primo shelter. Only problem is, someone forgot the sleeping cushions, so we had to make do with plywood beds.
We just had a wedding reception for another of our friends, so we procured a half-barrel for the weekend' s festivities. Somone forgot the cups (probably next to the cushions), but luckily we had enough saucepans to go around. Nothing like having enough beer to wash the cast-iron skillet out with.
All in all, four deer made it across the river that weekend, nothing real big, but all eaters. New recipies were invented, logs were split, jokes were told, the wives were nowhere to be found, and a man was made out of a newcomer. Does it get any better?
Ahhh...deer season
