Saturday, September 3, 2005

Panic reborn Oops!  Can't head for the sack just yet! See what you're missing? Tonight is the season premiere (da da da da ta da!) of Panic Express, at Milwaukee's Broadway Theatre Center. Here's a post-spawn candid shot of the two stars, Tony (Outdoor Wisconsin's favorite madcap producer) and Mondy, already exhibiting the precocious talents that got them where they are today! (in a little theatre in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward) Seriously, for more laughs than you probably deserve, catch a performance of Panic Express this month. Later... (Now I really mean it.) 10:16:14 PM    comment []

Lonesome dove hunters Ever give a party that nobody came to? Well, that's what it felt like this morning on Day Three of Wisconsin's third dove season. I joined Charlie Thon and Keith Gierach at an undisclosed location within 50 miles of Milwaukee this morning for a dove hunt. The doves were there, all right, and we managed to bag nearly 30 of them. (Charlie shot a limit and I came close, but opted to call it a day after missing five straight.) Keith was our bird boy, and we sure kept him busy. Thing is, we never heard another shot except our own. All those years of fighting and lobbying for a dove season, and then on the second day of the third season, there's no one out hunting them! (at least, not within earshot of us) We made up for the lack of other hunters by burning a pile of shells all by ourselves! Charlie had to crack a second box to scratch down his limit. I was on my third box when I threw in the towel. If you haven't shot doves yet, you're missing a real treat. We were hunting a harvested wheat field, and there were doves in sight constantly from 6:30 until 10:30. Charlie shot pretty consistently, downing just about every-other bird he shot at. I was hot and cold, missing a bunch in a row and then dropping two with two shots while holding the apple I was eating in my left hand. When Charlie & Gail return from the Brewers game tonight at Miller Park, I hope Gail remembers to email me the photos we took so I can add one to this report. *************** Yesterday afternoon, it was a different story down in Rock Couny, where Debby Wolniak and I taped a segment for Outdoor Wisconsin with a gang. Steve Williams and Rob Kieckhefer organized the hunt, which began with a brats & burgers lunch at Wern Valley Sportsman's Club. After lunch, we car-pooled about 60 miles west to a spot DNR big game ecologist Keith Warnke put us onto. When we rolled into the public hunting area parking lot just after 3:00 p.m., a lone hunter was returning to his truck to check the regs because someone in the field already had told him he needed a federal waterfowl stamp to hunt doves, which is NOT true. (All you need is a small game license or equivalent and HIP certification.) He paled when he saw 16 people disembark, but regained his senses and beat us out into the field. We were a motley crew. Steve and Tom Williams and Tom's golden retriever; Jim and Jeff Bartolotta and Jim's son, Sam. Rob, Jamie, Carroll, Connie and Fritz Kieckhefer and Connie's springer whose name escapes me at the moment. Rob also invited Bill Peter and his son Bill. Debby invited Lynn Ross, her friend and shooting coach. Rob's car broke down on the way west, so he limped home, but the rest of us uncased our shotguns and spread out along two sides of a sunflower field. There were birds in the air all afternoon. Some of us, notably the Peters and Steve, shot well. The rest of us managed to scratch down a half limit apiece. Debby held her own and kept up with Lynn, while I lagged behind them. The field had been hunted hard that morning and the day before, judging from the empty shells strewn about and the half-dozen stiff doves the dogs came up with (which we added to our bag). Keith Warnke joined us for a quick interview. He had been hunting with his four-year-old daughter and his dad on a nearby field, where he said the action was not as good as we had. The highlight of the afternoon was the banded dove Bill Peter, Sr. shot. The DNR banded doves this summer, in conjunction with 25 other states, in a nationwide study to determine the bird's biology and habits and the impact of hunting. I'll be curious to see if Bill's bird was banded locally (as we believe), or somewhere else. The doves shut down shortly after 6 p.m. We guessed they were heading for water, but where they found it was anybody's guess. The field and our throats were dry! On the drive home, we stopped at Famous Dave's in Janesville for barbecue, then repaired to Wern's clubhouse, where we shucked our doves in the bird-cleaning room, a state-of-the-art facility, complete with large stainless-steel sinks, a freezer on rollers and a dog shower. With my doves wrapped and labeled, I thanked Steve for a great day and drove the hour home in time to catch almost 5 hours of sleep - not quite enough for this morning's hunt, I'm yawning again now, so think I'll call it a night. Still nearly two months of dove hunting left! Later... 10:08:58 PM    comment []

Little gal, big muskie! Sports show producer Chuck Collins sent me this photo of Patricia Strutz with a humongous muskie she caught on Lake of the Woods a few weeks ago. The fish measured 54 1/2" and had a 30" girth. Its weight was estimated at well over 50 pounds. You can meet Patricia in person at the Northwest Chicago Sports Show, Jan. 5-8 at Arlington Park. She may also be appearing at the new Milwaukee Fishing & Boating Expo, Feb. 16-19 at the Midwest Airlines Center. Pat is a muskie guide from Eagle River, Wisconsin, who fishes strictly for muskies. Check out her website: ablondandherboat.com. Seriously. She prefers row trolling, but fishes by casting, too. Half her clients are women these days (up from 10% a few years ago). She will present a seminar at the Chicago show called "Women on the Water." A lot of guys attend her seminars, and a lot more would be smart to do so. Here's what she says about that: "My selling point to the guys is[sigma] 'When you get your wife excited about the sport, it's much easier to talk her into that new boat or another trip to Canada!" Good point! Catch her seminar and check out her website. Later... 5:14:28 PM    comment []