Deer Hunting Third Report - Avoiding Boredom

The deer are not cooperating.  Various theories are in circulation.  The venerable Moon Deer Theory that posits a full moon changes their activity.  The Acorn Cycle Theory, which notes a multi year cycle whereby that tasty treat has a bumper year in 2025.  So they could be camped under Oak Trees, lolling about.  The upshot - no pun intended - is that we trying multiple sites trying to figure them out.

I set up a ground blind back at the spot where I got my first deer back in 2020.  Golf Course Corner has converging trails where they go on and off the abandoned course.  Basically a big green deer feeder that covers many acres.

For a ground blind you need to be wily.  This is where my Grandpa skills, specifically Hide and Seek and Blanket Fort building pay off.

Behold, the Blanket Fort of Doom.

Camo fabric wrapped around some trees and posts.  Then festooned with the dead ferns that grow everywhere in this section.  Not bad I'd say, the point is to break up your outline.  Deer's eyes are like using your photo editor with the Contrast function dialed way, way up.  Of course I'll be sitting in there and my head and shoulders will be visible.  So.....

Sometimes I think this is all just goofing around, avoiding boredom.  Forts, dress up costumes, all sorts of Grandpa activities.

On this particular night I decided to leave the crossbow at home.  Deer have a degree of memory from one day to the next.  So I figured it would take a while for them to not be interested in this new patch of brush.  By the way, every trip there I'll add a few more handfuls of dried ferns.  Maybe I'll put some on the hat too!

So you'd assume that a gigantic buck would have stopped 20 yards off and viewed me with disdain.  Well, nope.  But for the first time sitting out I actually did see some deer in the distance, far out of bow or even rifle range.  Dancing about safely on private property.  Alas.

More boredom relief.  For ground blind hunting you should have a bow rest to stabilize your shooting.  I have an entire basement workshop full of robotics surplus.

Here's my fancy robotics bow rest.  It's one leg of a damaged camera tripod bolted to a section of 80/20 aluminum extrusion that we use for prototyping.  With a spike attached to the bottom to plant it in the dirt.

Should work until said dirt is frozen solid.  Chilly days are coming, but probably have a few weeks yet before that.

Tree Shaped Tombstone - Barron Wisconsin

Today an unusual exception to the general rule that if you find one "Tree Shaped Tombstone" in a cemetery you'll always find at least one more.  Nope, this specimen in the cemetery at Barron, Wisconsin, seems to be a loner.

I've been by here a number of times in the past year and so its surprising that I've not stopped to search.  

Barron is an unusual community.  It started out as a typical small Wisconsin farm town.  Cows, implement dealers.  Catholic and Protestant churches.  Lots of taverns, which for all I know also have denominations.  

But by virtue of some industries in town it has a large population of immigrants.  So there's a mosque.  And back when my oldest was playing soccer this little town had an absolute powerhouse team, since many of the families came from places where Futball ruled.

Anyway, its still a nice little place where everyone seems to get along.  The tombstone above is a fairly typical medium style.  Ropes, ferns, an unrolled "scroll of life".  Nice coating of that very specific yellow lichen you find on these.  There's a subsidiary marker that is hard to read.  But of course it just says FATHER.

And then there's this odd little thing on what looks like a corner of the family plot.  I'm not sure what it is, and I don't recall seeing one before.  A corner marker?  Seems sort of drab, and it has no buddies at the other edges.  Was this the mount for some auxiliary object?  Like a planter perhaps?  Seems a bit small for that.  I did cautiously nudge it with my toe to see that it was firmly planted.

Thank goodness it was.  I don't need L.F. Whittemore coming back to haunt me!

The Great Idea - And the Fatal Flaw

I was back for another round of the great Clean Up/Clean Out of my parents house.  It's not for the faint of heart.  I was often dreaming of being off in the woods, watching the trail for a deer to turn up, breathing that fresh North Country air.......   And I had an idea.

Without exception, everything you find in a project like this comes in multiples.  Bottles of an over the counter pain med or vitamin?  Dozens.  Walking canes?  I think I came across eight of them.  And I got an idea.  Not a good idea, nay, it was a Great Idea.

One area we favor for bow hunting is a special type of public land.  Because it is along a river you can hunt there, but not put up any stands or blinds that stay overnight.  So, its pack everything in, and pack it out.  Quietly.

For me that is a fold up blind, my trusty folding chair, my crossbow of course, and ideally a rest for same.  I'm a good shot out to 30 yards with a rest.  The problem is that the one I like to use is a bit big and klunky.  So....why not just modify one of these walking canes?  Lightweight, adjustable, and there were so many that I just took four or five home for experiments!

Here's my first version.  Simple is best.  Just use hose clamps to attach a spike to the bottom.  This lets you just stick it into the ground at the proper spot.

And the crossbow rests very nicely in the original hand grip.

So, what did I forget?  What is the fatal flaw?

I'd forgotten that when I came home with these things that Hank the Dog immediately stopped his happy pup celebrations and started sniffing them with intense interest.  I won't trouble your day with the long list of odors that could be grabbing his attention, but rest assured, any deer within a couple of miles would notice!

I had him check out the final product just to be sure.  Yep....sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff.....

Well, maybe if I cut off the foam hand grip and bury it in a pile of leaves and bark for a couple of weeks, then spray it with anti scent stuff...........

Second Hunt - 2025

I've been dutiful in getting out to hunt this fall.  Sometimes at the cost of aches, pains and not enough sleep.

Here's the crossbow ready, well still needs to be cocked and loaded with an arrow, for action.  And the blue tub???

Unless you are a hunter you likely have no concept of how much of an advantage deer have.  Sight, smell, hearing courtesy of those big bat like ears....they have every opportunity to detect our presence.

Odor control is a big consideration. Hank the Dog has been banned from the hunting land for about the last month.  And as for other smells, well, there are all sorts of scent blockers and laundry soaps.  Also sprays, I think toothpastes, etc.

But once you have your camo garb all de-scented, how to keep it that way?

Pack it into a tub full of leaves!

I won't bore you with the many photos of me peering out of a blind or stand looking at, perhaps, a few frisky squirrels.  So far no deer has wandered into what I would consider reasonable crossbow range.

The other evening we had a three generation hunt.  I sat in a ground blind with my grandson.  His eyes and ears are better than mine.  A lot better!

Excellent camo and a fairly good job of being quiet were not rewarded.  This time.

My son was hunting on the other side of a river that was less than knee deep.  But when he got a deer just before dark we had a problem.  The deer was evidently not that bothered by an arrow stuck into it from about 3 yards range, and ran off into the night.  The next morning we spent a long time tracking it.  Two observations:  The sumac and maple leaves were actively turning red as we scanned the ground for drops of blood.  And, we figure the deer swigged some sort of video game Potion of Healing, because after a quarter mile or so the drops ceased entirely and the deer was Gone.

We'll try again this weekend.

The Black Bag at age 75. Or thereabouts.

My dad was an Old School physician.  Although he practiced in Minneapolis, his approach to medicine was not much different than that of the country doctors he saw in his youth, showing up at the various farm houses with a horse and buggy, carrying the traditional black bag.  He still did house calls in an era where they were becoming obsolete.  And he carried a black bag when he went.

I remember it.  Mostly I remember its presence, not it being used all that much.  By the time I was actually paying attention to such matters I think his house call days were nearly over.  But he still toted it when he visited his patients in the nursing homes.

Here's the bag.  I of course found it when the duty fell to me of clearing out the room at my parents house that had a high percentage of his medical stuff.

It looks a little less "black bag" now.  That's partly the lighting and partly the underlying leather showing through after all this time.  How much time?

There's a little name plate on it.  When you look on ebay and such places you'll see claims that this is a "Vintage" item from the 1920's or 30's.  But no, the patent date is from 1940.  My older brother claims that there was actually an even earlier bag once, but it got really beat up and was discarded.  I'd guess this item was acquired in the 1950's when he was back from military service and starting out in practice.  He had two different office locations I think, and also did many home, nursing home and hospital call.

The contents of the bag were sort of a time capsule.  Lots of stuff for treating migraines.  More injectable vitamins than you'd expect.  Some sort of under the tongue asthma medicine I'd never heard of.  And this stuff:

As you can guess from the name it was an anti nausea drug used to treat morning sickness.  I looked this one up, it was discontinued in 1969 for causing liver damage.

That sort of fits with the overall contents of the bag.  I think it was in use early in my dad's career then just set aside in the late 1960's.  If I remember it after that it was either as something sitting in my dad's office, or perhaps just my imagination.

Black doctor bags used to be a thing.  They still were when I graduated medical school in 1982.  Every graduate got one for free, courtesy of a drug company.  I didn't use mine much, just a bit in residency.  I have not seen it for a while but its probably around here somewhere.  In keeping with my new one item in, one or more items out policy I will probably ditch it next time I run across it.

The medications that were in the bag were all so old they were likely inert, but I still took them down to the medication disposal box at the local police station.

My dad's old black bag I'll keep.  I cleaned it up and aired it out on the porch for long enough that the nasty medicinal smells have lessened.  I'll pack it up with various mementos from his career and leave an explanatory note in it for when my kids run across it someday.....

Robot School Days

Good progress since the last update.  Even with one session mostly ruined by a false "Intruder Alarm" where everyone was supposed to shelter in place.  I just picked up a really big hammer and waited for the all clear, but it was a big distraction.

The enclosure for the CNC router is done, and I think turned out well.  It has thick vinyl sides, with the front featuring a "shower curtain" so you can open and close for loading material in and out.

We will be adding more team "stuff" to the outside.  Right now its just bumper numbers and a couple of old robot parts.  Oh, in case you wonder why an enclosure is a good idea....

The main project, a robot that can pick up and launch volleyballs, is coming along well.  But I'm going to tease that a bit....

Various experiments with metal fasteners is ongoing.  The power rivet gun is of course their favorite tool.

And software has been programming some mini robots.  Here they are running races through a little maze the kids designed and built.

All good stuff.  But tiring.  Fifteen middle school kids with power tools.  It's a lot.

Deer Hunt 2025 - First Report

I got out hunting a few times earlier this week.  A spell of ridiculously hot weather finally broke, with the usual cold rains.  So my first session was cold and unproductive.  Next morning I did a walk through of an area that I've hunted before.  Great bounding herds of fat and happy deer!  Of course when I spent some time there the next sunrise there was....nothing.

This season I'm hunting multiple spots in two different areas.  Here's some views of pretty, but unproductive landscapes....

A ground blind.  Yesterday six deer had gone prancing right past this spot.

The view from one of our enclosed box stands.  Nice and dry.  Good enough light to read a ponderous historical novel....

And just for variety the view from a high up tree stand.  More woods to survey, but still no deer.  Although to be fair I did have a little excitement when a juvenile black bear went running through at a clip that suggested Goldilocks was eating his porridge. 

Weather and other obligations make the next expedition tbd.

Oh, one more thing.  As the modern age now reaches into the back woods I have to turn off all sound on my phone.  Wouldn't want to get a spam call when a big buck was just strolling into range.  When I got back from the woods I decided, hey, lets just leave it on silent mode.  I don't need to pay that much attention to the distractions of modern technology.