Last Updated: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 9:31 AM CDT
Outdoors : A hunt for the kids
by Mark Walters - Columnist
(An Outdoorsman's Journal) - Hello friends,
This week's column is about spending time with family and friends during Wisconsin's, youth deer hunt.
I camped in The Meadow Valley Wildlife Area in northern Juneau County with 15 other people and as usual we had a good time.
Friday, October 5
High 85, low 52
Most veteran hunters will agree that an October heat wave makes for an empty deer pole.
I pulled into my home away from home this afternoon and was met by Jeff Moll and his sons Ryan and Ross and my nephew Riley Schuster and Tim Rittmeyer. These guys were setting up tents and getting ready to go scouting for deer and duck hunting.
On the youth hunt end of this weekend we would have four kids hunting deer with a rifle that were 12, 13, 14 and 15 years old. The rules for Wisconsin's youth hunt are pretty simple. The young hunters must be between 12-15, passed Hunters Safety and possess a valid gun-deer license. While hunting, the young hunters must be accompanied by an adult.
About the time camp was up, my wife Laurie arrived with my 14-year old stepson Joey and everyone hit the woods or marsh.
After Joey and I were done getting him ready for the morning hunt we met up with Tim Rittmeyer and Riley Schuster. These guys are both in the 19-year old bracket and a lot of fun, they went duck hunting with Joey and I went back to camp to get some work done.
It was the first duck hunt Tim Rittmeyer ever witnessed and he had so much fun that he announced he would be hunting ducks by the following weekend.
Speaking of fun, we let the youngsters cook a couple of wild boar roasts over the campfire tonight and as the night wore on some of the old timers decided they had to wrestle with the unruly 19-year-olds of which this camp had three along.
Saturday, October 6
High 88, low 49
You know your hunt might not be going so well when just as you begin to climb a jack pine over looking a marsh and oak forest your friendly golden retriever joins you at the base of the tree.
That is how Joey and I started our day in predawn light. I took “Ice” back to camp, returned to the marsh and after two hours did not see a deer or hear a shot fired.
My buddy Jeff Moll and his sons Ryan, who is 19, and Ross 13, had a good laugh. Last night, they were scouting for deer and they were literally attacked by a territorial porcupine. This morning after a deer hunt with the same results as ours, Dick Schuster's and his 15-year-old son Trents, the man-eating porcupine attacked again. From what I was told, the old porky was as big as full grown bear and the Molls were fortunate to get away with their lives. Unfortunately, 19-year old Ryan, who I am elk hunting with in Montana as you read this, was so overcome by the incident that he developed an extreme case of diarrhea that put a major “damper” on the rest of his weekend.
We had another reason for a celebration and that was because it is my brother “Mikeys” 50th birthday. We made a bunch of signs and picked up some gag gifts. It wont be long and all of us guys that are in our 40s and 50s will be old timers. The two true “old timers” in the gang, Tony Cibulka and Harold Moll spent the night at camp and all was well in our world. Harold and Tony are in the pushing 70 bracket and it is pretty obvious they still love deer camp.
Unless I am mistaken another milestone was reached today when twelve- year old Hallie Cibulka went deer hunting with her dad, Todd Cibulka. I think Hallie is the first female deer hunter ever in our camp.
For years all the men have been bringing their kids to camp in early November once they are out of diapers. There are at least 17 children in the lineup between the age of five and 19. I think that fun weekend at camp is why at this point every kid in our gang has eagerly joined our ranks for the real hunt in mid November once they turn 12.
As far as this hunt goes, there were seven people sitting in trees tonight with either a rifle or a bow in hand, not a one saw a deer. The next morning, we tried pushing deer the old fashioned way and actually saw some deer, but no shots were fired.
As I said earlier, my pal Ryan Moll and I are elk and mule deer hunting about the time you are reading this (unless we are in camp) I will try to keep all the man-eating porcupines away from him and as you can well imagine, we are having fun!
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