Thursday, June 15, 2006

Hey, I'm back and gone again! To any regular readers of this blog, I apologize for dropping out of sight for the past month. Turkey season simply got the best of me, and there was no time for most of May to do anything but sleep three hours a night, get up before the cardinals and set out on the crazy turkey quest AGAIN! I think I reported earlier that my NY hunt was a rousing success. I scored two birds in two days, or rather two HOURS of hunting over the first two days of the season. I've never had that kind of luck, so I figured my Wisconsin hunts would follow suit. I mean, I was on a roll, right? Wrong! I'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say that I hunted all or parts of 10 days (the last two hunting periods), in four different zones and never pulled the trigger. Oh, I came close once, when a tom I was calling circled and came in silently behind me. I busted him, of course, when I got up to move, but, hey, it was 4:45 and he had been gobbling, so I figured I'd make one more attempt to intercept him... And then there he was, running away from me and in range, though it didn't register that he was shootable, and so I just watched him trot off. The next morning, Judy Nugent and I had two toms walking toward us along a field edge, but they took a path into the woods and passed a few yards behind us and out of sight, though close enough that we could hear them clucking to each other. Oh, right. I was going to spare you the details. Anyway, I struck out here in WI, after doing so well in NY. And now, it's suddenly June, and my radio show with Judy is going great guns on Lake-Link and our network. Check it out, if you haven't already done so. I spent part of last weekend in Fond du Lac for Walleye Weekend, the annual festival named for a fish. It's a big event, with exhibits, live music, carnival rides and of course, the Mercury National Walleye Tournament. On Sunday, I was invited to share  the main stage with Al Lindner and Tony Esposito for a few minutes during a lull in the weigh-in. I had just enough time to plug my new radio show and give Al & Tony a couple gifts. I gave them each a Fillet King fillet board and a foam "walleye au gratin" hat (walleye eating a wedge of cheese), hand made by my friend Jeff Kahlow, of Big Guy Hats. They both loved the gifts, and Aileen Andrews, photographer for the local Action Publishing, snapped a few shots that will appear in an upcoming Action Advertiser. The tournament showed just  what can happen when a cold front blows through and puts the walleyes off their feed. Of 300 teams, nearly a third of them did not boat a 15-inch walleye (tournament minimum size), and winners John Geiger and Dale Howard took home a $13,000 check with a total of 21.67 pounds, or just over 2 pounds per fish. For complete tournament results, click here and scroll down to the event. BTW, check out this story on Outdoor Wisconsin, written by Gregg Hoffmann, on the current On Milwaukee website. Nice to work with a reporter who gets his facts and quotes right! Anyway, I'm in Lake Charles, Louisiana this week for the annual Outdoor Writers Association of America conference. I'll try to get in some blog time to post news items and other interesting stuff from here. If I do, I will send you to my On the Road page. Later... 10:49:30 PM    comment []