2025 Fishing Lake Erie Part II - Queasy Monday

Dave said he was only doing one boat this year, so I was happy I made the cut.  I definitely look forward to fishing on Lake Erie.  I do need to sometimes park part of my personality elsewhere - lest I become too ... neurodivergent.  

I woke up "late" Sunday.  I was wondering why the older dog was almost sitting on top of me.  Most likely she was hungry.  

My morning with coffee, waffles, and tea sent me to a dark place on the internet (dark as in where the world is).  I'm not sure it is fair to say that the world is changing so fast - that has probably (almost) always been the case.  But too often, it seems like I need to just make it to...  What that "to" might be is always changing.

The company I work for has announced downsizing.  People keep asking me when I'm going to retire, or if I'd leave if offered the chance.  I don't want to get my hopes up one way or the other.  Keeping my game face on is hard enough at times.  My response remains either:  "It depends on the day."  or "I'm not old enough yet - I only look like I'm 90."  I'm still well aware that where I am is objectively at least good enough.

After a morning dog walk, a few chores and doing the push-mowing, I packed up and headed to Dave's.  The roads were infected with pokey Sunday-morning drivers, but I wasn't in a hurry.  Dave was packing when I got there.  After hellos, we packed up and headed over to Nick's house.  Fishing this year was myself, Dave, Nick, Lou, Chris and Phil.  Everyone else piled into Nick's van while Dave and I stayed in his car.

The trip north wasn't the most fun.  There were several rounds of rain, and at times it was a deluge which was hard to see through.  But the inclement weather was selective; Port Clinton and Lake Erie got almost no rain.

We were staying in a hotel this year instead of the condos.  The rooms felt like a sanatorium - just a little bit too much like the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.  But all we needed was a place to sleep before fishing.  We went to eat at a local tourist restaurant.  It was crazy busy, but the food was decent.  I ordered shrimp instead of Erie walleye or perch - which seemed sacrilegious.

We stopped by the Marina before heading back to the hotel for the night.  The sun was just near setting, which was beautiful.  It was hard to recall the heavy rain just to the south not that long previous.

Davis-Besse was churning out megawatts for our enjoyment.

With an early morning on tap, we all turned in relatively early.  I was feeling the beginnings of a headache and hoped a good night sleep would keep that tiger in a cage.

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But it was not to be.  I woke up with a full migraine brewing.  The rest of the crew went to breakfast while I stayed at the room and just ate the fruit I had brought with me.  This was the healthier option...

We met Ned at his boat at the appointed time.  Soon enough we were headed out onto the lake with Ned's comment, "It's going to be a bit rough."  The wind wasn't that bad, but the lake was roiling.  We had well over an hour to enjoy the chop to to get Northeast where we were fishing in deeper water near the Canadian border.

The fish finder was marking lots of fish so we started fishing.  Between my migraine, the rough water and the smells, I got as queasy as I ever have on a boat.  At one point I set my pole down and backed off into the cabin just feeling like survival was in question.  Thankfully I was able to recover enough to resume fishing.

Instead of the shorter drifts we usually do in shallower water, we did much longer drifts across the open, flat plains of deep Erie.  Fishing through the day was good, but there were long slow stretches as well.

There were lots of theories why, but Ned and I absolutely hammered the walleye.  I think Ned caught about a third of what was caught, I caught a third and the rest of the boat caught a third.  This did serve to distract me from feeling on edge.

There was a bit too much shop-talk during the fishing, but I suspect this is to be expected when everyone in the boat had work history together.  I mostly stayed in the background.  Weather through the day was great and the wind died down which also brought the waves down.

We caught 41 fish out of the limit of 42.  We desperately searched for the last fish and thought we had it until Chris brought in the one and only sheepshead of the day.  Oddly, I never grabbed a picture of me with any fish - despite a few decent sized ones.

With a long boat ride back, we packed it up around 1:30.  The trip back was much better was minimal waves.  Back on terra firma, we dropped the fish off to be cleaned before putzing around a bit.  With clean fish in hand, Dave and I headed south directly to his house since there wasn't any reason to go back to Nick's.

The trip back went fast enough.  Traffic and weather cooperated.  I grabbed my fish and headed home from Dave's.  Back at home just before sunset, the dogs were happy to see me.  I wisely planned Tuesday off of work.  S/O and I separated fish out and into the freezer before turning in for a blessed night back in my own normal.

2025 Hog Hunt Day 7 - Home

I was up and on the road early.  I knew there was going to be rain and while I didn't see any snow forecasts, there is always a chance of the unexpected in the mountains.  

I made my way north and west while listening to Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational by Michael Shermer.  It was far better than the book I listened to on the trip down.  The first part of the book is more academic and I did find my brain wandering a bit.  The second part of the book was more conversational and fun to listen to.  Although the section on how to talk to conspiracy theorists was just off.  Just about everyone I've ever heard who holds nut-job conspiracy theories believe it as dogma, and it is not rational.  Maybe just my personality, but I'll continue to nod my head and quietly judge (while enjoying the ride).

I missed not one, but two turns on my route.  I have no idea how I missed the first one - just a total brain fart I guess.  But Tennessee - why the snot do you have I-26 labeled as "Future I-26"??????  Maybe we are now in the future...

I was trying to figure out if the Cherokee Reservoir was low because of dam issues (Helene?) or if it was just a really dry year.  But the lake was basically a mud pit.  If I lived in the area, I'd wait for it to freeze in the coming weeks and go find all my lures I'd ever lost!

US25 through the mountains was tolerable, if a bit frustrating once I finally did get behind the conga line created by a single slow driver.  I just used it as a reason to practice my patience.  But overall, the US25 route was far preferrable over the West Virginia tolls.

As I got closer to home I started to see snow again.

Once at home, SO had left for family issues so I had the house to myself.  The dogs were thrilled to see me.  This also left taking care of the hog as a solo job.  I didn't even bother unpacking the truck, but spent most of the rest of the day cutting and grinding and freezing.  I had to remind myself that if I could get the entire pig taken care of, that would leave me two blessed days to recover.  While part of me was a bit disappointed I could not shoot one of the hogs in the two wads of them - my freezer is thanking me.

As always, the pig hunt was a great way to start the year.  I still have some things to mentally process about this year's hunt.  I'll have time to do that in the coming days and weeks.

2025 Hog Hunt Day 1 - Snow Fever

The last few winters at home have been a bit boring but boring in a good way.  The few heavy snows that I can recall were mostly weekends or near holidays.  That changed the previous Monday when about a foot of snow fell near home; the drifting made it worse.

A second round of snow, if slightly less significant, fell Friday.  This created some anxiety about the drive south, but at least I was leaving on Sunday.

Yet being a chronic worrier, I still left early in the morning worried about road conditions, worried about the route (I-40 remains closed), worried about home, worried about the dogs and SO, worried about work.  But I was also leaving anticipating another week of wild hog hunting.

Sunday morning came and after taking care of the dogs and a quick shower, I was on the road.  Early morning felt like even less traffic than usual - maybe a lingering hangover from the roads.  I made my way south.

I listened to The Knew by Sarah Kendzior for the entire trip.  I thought it was going to be a book about conspiracies that were/are real and it was ... sort of.  The book was really repetitive and rambled all over at times.  It seemed to often confuse and equate that which is illegal, unethical and just distasteful - which greatly distracted from her main thesis.  It also came across as though once someone has done something that fits into one of these categories, everything they ever do will be criminal.  I can't say I disagree with some of what she said, and there were some good nuggets.  But it was all doom and gloom.  I suspect if you gave Kendzior a delicious tuna sandwich, she would look at it and assume that four sea turtles were killed in its preparation.

She ended up in a circular firing squad by insinuating that everything bad could have been predicted by listening to prognosticators of conspiracies, but didn't seem to acknowledge that for every conspiracy theory that ended up being mostly correct, there are probably 80 of them that are mostly wrong.  The book was a solid 1.9 stars; while some books make the drive very short, I think The Knew made it longer.  I ended up finishing the drive with a podcast about coffee and caffeine - which was far more enjoyable.

But overall the drive went well - I can't complain and no sea turtles were killed.  There was lots of snow near home and significant ice remaining around central Kentucky.  I was able to see a glorious sunrise near the Kentucky-Tennessee border.

Instead of stopping at my "usual" place for gas and coffee, I went a little further.  I was glad I did since the gas was a bit cheaper and the coffee was not terrible.  I'll take both as wins for the trip.

Precipitation decreased once out of the mountains until it was gone as I descended into South Carolina's low country.

I was ready to be out of the vehicle by the time I got to Rick's.  Weather was a balmy mid-40's and very sunny! 

As I was unpacking, I realized I forgot my soft gun case for while going to and from the stand.  I always forget something, and I guess this year it is the case.  Overall not a big issue - most guys don't even use one.  But I guess it will be something for me to worry about.

Rick had vaporized shortly after I got to the lodge, so I had the place to myself as Gary (hunted with him a couple times before) was already out.  This gave me a chance to recover as much as possible from the drive.  I probably should have walked down to the river, but just didn't feel like it.

I had a noodle bowl for dinner and shortly after dark Gary was back.  He had seen one deer but no pigs.  Claude and Denis are staying at Denis's house, leaving more room in the lodge!

The adventure was just beginning.

2024 Lake Erie Walleye - Cats Eyes

There was a failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump yesterday.

“Robert Kennedy, whose summer home is eight miles from the home I live in all year round, was shot two nights ago. He died last night. So it goes. Martin Luther King was shot a month ago. He died, too. So it goes." - Kurt Vonnegut

Very possible the best non sequitur in literary history (from Slaughterhouse-Five).

Richard Simmons died yesterday.  His "Sweating to the Oldies" was a staple of TV commercials in the 1980's.  He was 76 years old - a mere 3 years beyond "average."  So it goes.  

He was a joke to us kids.  His real name was also Milton (TIL).

Dr. Ruth died yesterday at 96 years old.  Maybe sex is better for longevity than exercise?

Shannon Doherty died yesterday.  Her age is close enough to mine to make that terrifying.

It hasn't been an easy year.  I've spent more time at the doctor this year than I have the last 20 years combined ... with more to come.  If this is what the next 30 years will look like, you can color me ... gone.

I took Friday off to get a few things done including target shooting for bear hunting, which is not all that far off.  It went well, but Friday was far wetter than I had hoped.  And today I head north for another attempt at Lake Erie walleye.

But first, the recent rains made the state of the lawn right on the edge of needing mowing.  I mowed just the dog part of the back yard before getting ready and heading over to Dave’s.  We drove to Nick’s where most in the group met briefly before heading north to Lake Erie.  Twelve people total on this trip:  Dave, Chris, Tim, Mike, Dan, Craig, Tom, Tim, Lou, Jim and myself.  It was just Dave and I in the car; I always enjoy talking with Dave.

Once up in Port Clinton, we found our Condo.  There were no surprises – good enough, but only enough.  Dinner was hamburgers and brats – I thought the simpler approach of this year was better than some of the previous year’s more extravagant offerings.  We all sat on the back deck after eating.  I enjoyed sitting back and watching some of the personalities; my natural state is fly-on-the-wall.  This was the first time I’ve been on one of these trips where one of the other people is a former boss; it wasn’t as weird as I had anticipated.  The evening was humid but with a heavy rain squall earlier in the day when we were driving north and arriving, the temperature had moderated significantly.  Once it got dark, I quickly headed to bed. 

I knew sleep was going to be an issue and I wasn’t wrong.  I slept very little.  The loft area was initially freezing, but turned tepid and clammy as the night went on.  I could feel a migraine coming on as well.

Morning came and I had one quick cup of coffee before we all headed to the boats.  I was on Ned’s boat – which I was glad about.  The other boat had Captain Steve who I fished with in 2018.  As it got lighter, we headed away from the docks.

We stayed in Ohio and fished (I think) north of Kelley’s Island for our first spot.  A few walleye came in the boat, but I hammered the catfish instead, bringing in four of the ugly behemoths.  With limited success, Ned tried several other places around the island.  None of the places were great, but I oddly continued to reel in catfish.  I wasn’t too disappointed by this as they were much bigger than walleye and fought much harder.  Walleye have to be the least engaging fish to catch – reeling in a walleye is not too different from reeling in a shoe; a big walleye is like reeling in a boot.  In fact, at one point I thought I had a really big walleye on, only to find it was a big rock with my line wrapped around zebra mussels.  All catfish were returned to do catfish stuff in the water.

I did catch a few walleye, but continued catching catfish – reeling in well into the double digits of them through the day.  A few of them were absolute monsters.  Temperatures started cool and humid.  A heavy rain squall did approach, but fell apart before it got to us, ending with just a few sprinkles over the boat.  Later in the day it actually got really sunny and nice.  We really lucked out on the weather.  Depending on where we were, the wind was light – being blocked by the island or really windy with more waves.  It didn’t seem to affect the fishing either way.

With a small number of fish in the boat, Ned eventually took us to the other side of the island within site of Cedar Point and just off a rocky point.  This ended up being “the spot” for the day.  There was one area which couldn’t have been more than a few hundred yards where every drift brought in a handful of walleye.  Ned just kept working around to bring us across in another drift.  

While the other boat started off strong, our fish ended up being bigger even though we were fishing shallow water – especially for walleye.  In some places we were in less than 10’ of water.  Our boat limited out with a catch by Nick at just a hair over 15 inches.  The other boat was just short (32 fish I think).

We re-congregated at the condo where the 2-nighters were staying while waiting for the fish to get cleaned.  Once the fish were cleaned, there was a bit too much yakking.  I was tired and my migraine was still affecting me.  Eventually it was time to go.  Dave grabbed his phone off the table, and we left.  Several miles down the road a phone call came in.  I thought it was odd that Dave’s phone was on the table before we left – and in front for Chris.  But Chris hadn’t said anything despite it being his phone that Dave had picked up.  We had to circle back to drop the phone off.  My headache was not happy, but it was best just to roll with the punches.  The condo-dwellers had their own issues later that evening as the air conditioning went belly up.  I couldn’t imagine trying to sleep in that sultry humidity.

Soon enough we were en route back home for real.  It always seems like the drive home is longer…

A few hours later we were back and Nick’s, where Nick and Lou were dropped off.  Then back to Dave’s.  Then me … home.  I was exhausted and it was late.  Work the following day felt painfully close.  I wished I had worked the previous Friday and taken the day after fishing off.  I did the bare minimum, dropping the fish in the refrigerator before calling it a day.

I always look forward to this trip.  Even with some shop talk, it is interesting to get together with a fun, smart group of people.  And the fish (soon) to be in the freezer will be great in stir fry or maybe even fried.

2024 Eclipse Day! (Staycation)

In 2017 we travelled west to view the Total Solar Eclipse under the big Western Sky.  We were fortunate enough to be able to view it.  I noted at that time that the next total solar eclipse in North America was a mere seven years away - TODAY!  The 2024 eclipse has totality passing through our back yard.

And I am a little conflicted.  SO and I haven't gone on an extended road trip in a few years.  There are several reasons for this.  As nice as it is to be able to use home as the base, it isn't quite the same kind of adventure.

As the number of days until totality wound down, the forecasts were all over the place.  Rain, then just cloudy, then clear, then cloudy...  I did notice that the temperature forecasts were showing the cooling effect of the sun being obscured - which I thought was neat.  But this must be manual manipulation since I didn't see this in any of the actual raw weather models.

I woke up on eclipse day to wet ground but clearing skies.  The previous evening's forecast of heavy clouds most of the day was replaced with mostly sunny skies with numerous high thin clouds forming.  Almost all the weather models were in general agreement.  The biggest question was how intense the high thin clouds might be.

Right at daybreak I took the older dog on a long walk around the "block" (5.05 miles).  The morning was brilliantly clear and it warmed quickly.  I couldn't help but hope that it would stay that way.  As I approached the long stretch back toward home, thin clouds were building to the Southwest.

Back at home I spent several hours killing time.  I read a bunch about the models available on SpotWX.com and how good they are at various aspects of prediction.  I shook my head and intense "discussion" about the most mundane details.  I never came to any strong conclusion and appreciated that they were easily viewable.  I also like that Windy.com allows graphical viewing of some of the models.  While fun to learn about, it actually increased anxiety a bit.  Do we stay at home?  Or go "somewhere" - I have a long list of alternate locations as well as last minute, "Move That Cloud!" locations mentally prepared for.

I was ready with my April 8, 2024 survival kit.

I left around midday to walk the younger, special-needs dog.  She was happy to walk in the bright sun and roll around in the grass.  I couldn't help but notice clouds building, and not just wispy high altitude clouds.

Still, if we have to do an "oh crap" move, so be it.

First contact came a little before 2:00 with clouds moving through.  There was about 15 minutes where the clouds obscured the eclipsing sun, but things cleared dramatically to the west.  I'm not sure if it was due to the cooling effect of the eclipsing sun, or if it was just luck, but I was happy.

The moon munched away at the sun for a little over an hour.  A few clouds did drift over.

The light got very weird.  I heard yelling from a quarter mile away.  Then the light was gone.  The sun was replaced by this amazing, incomprehensible, alien sight.  I snapped a few pictures, but also spent time just watching it.

And all too soon it was over.  Light slowly increased along with the temperature.

In contrast to 2017 when we had thick ribeyes for dinner, we simply grilled some wild game for dinner.  Also unlike 2017, where the adventure continued, in 2024, the eclipse is followed by ... work...

But for now, having the stars align or maybe I should say the sun and moon align and being able to see totality is enough.

Visiting My Ancestors Day 4 - Home

 Madison, WI to Home:  454.0 miles

I woke up to a cat leering at me - which is not unexpected at my sisters.  But it was almost ominous.

Once I got over the cat I started the coffee maker and poked around online.  The weather looked good for the trip home, which was a nice change from the previous day.

My sister and I talked for a bit while having our morning coffee before it was time to leave.  I was on the road around 6AM (WI time).  Madison traffic hadn't picked up yet and the temperature was almost perfect in the mid-60's.  I headed south.

There is one Illinois Road Extortion Booth (aka Toll Booth) that I have to go through.  I dutifully pulled into the toll area only to see that there is now no way to pay cash.  I looked for a sign telling me what I should do, but all I saw were signs screaming at me to not stop.  As if I needed yet another reason to dislike northern Illinois around Chicago (don't worry, Southern Illinois is still all right).  So I drove on through and saw a hand written sign with the web site of where to pay.  Granted I couldn't stop to actually write it down, but I was torqued off at this point anyway.  In all fairness, it took me only a few minutes to pay once I got home - but it is still extortion since Illinois roads aren't any better for all the tolls they collect.

I continued on eventually making my way to I-74.  It was getting really warm by this point, but traffic was light all day so I was mostly enjoying being on the interstate.  The boringness of it gave me time to think.  I was really grateful to have been able to see the my ancestor's farms.  And I was especially grateful to have been able to meet my Dad's cousins.  The world is an amazing place - if we let it be.

I must have had the perfect amount of coffee in the morning since I was alert and felt good all day and didn't have to stop until an entire tank of fuel had been burned up.  

The Illinois state police were clearly out in force.  I wasn't too worried about this since I wasn't really speeding above any worrisome level unless a cop had already decided he hated blue motorcycles.  I did see a few cars who zoomed past me pulled over a short time later.  Poor bastards...

As I got into Indiana it got hot, like summer-time hot, 90F with humidity to match.  This early in the year I almost like it though.  Getting through Indianapolis was again tolerable, if not fun.  Soon enough I was on the curvy roads getting close to home.  Somehow all the farm equipment stayed out of my way which is a blessing I'll take this time of year.

I've had lots of time on the road to think about this trip.  Unquestionably I am who I am because my Great Grandparents were who they were.  This is, of course, a banal platitude - but having seen the farms makes this real.  I'll have more time to think about this over the coming days and weeks.  For now, I'm just grateful.  Grateful to have been vaccinated so I could safely take this trip.  Grateful to the people who helped me set this up.  Grateful to my relatives who put up with me for a few hours or overnight.  And grateful to my ancestors ... for everything.

My First Attempts at Hunting Ducks

Duck hunting has been on my bucket list for years.  I have a good pile of gear for big game hunting.  Upland small game has modest requirements at best.  But duck hunting has more specific gear than most other hunting.  Waders.  Decoys.  Non-toxic shot.  A boat would be nice.  And putting these all together requires knowledge that is realistically difficult to come by from books or magazines.
Dedicated duck hunters are quite the closed group.  I'm not the best pass-shooter with a shotgun and I can't justify a guided hunt with minimal knowledge and experience.  I have a few friends who love duck hunting, but I don't think they believed me when I said I wanted to go.
2019 was different.  I went into the lottery pool to hunt a local state park, none of us in a small group were picked, but I guess this did make my wish to hunt waterfowl appear earnest enough.
Dave is a down-to-earth guy.  He emailed me mid-October to ask if I wanted to head to a nearby lake to try to go after some ducks.  I was in - 100%.  Sadly, as the day approached after a near-drought late summer and fall, that day appeared to be ferociously wet and windy.  We bailed on the idea.  But the following week Dave asked.  And again, I was in - 100%.

November 2
The day before the end of daylight saving's time I met Dave at a nearby convenience store just a short distance from the lake.  My truck smelled plasticy like my new waders.  I had tons of other gear for hunting - and hopefully enough.  We caravanned to the lake and got set up in the parking lot.  My Amazon-purchased waders, nylon and rubber, were sticky to get into.
We loaded up the boat and dumped it in the lake.  Some other waterfowlers were in the area Dave wanted to go to, so we headed out to another spot.  We dropped a bunch of goose decoys and a little closer to shore dropped some ducks in the classic "J" pattern.  Then it was time to situate everything tucked into some cedars on the shore.  It was getting light at this time.  It was cold - near freezing - but I was still comfortable.  For all I had brought, I forgot to bring an extra pair of socks.  The comfort of my feet diminished until they were numb.  But I was not going to complain.
I was almost anxious as legal shooting light brightened.  If ducks did come in flying fast over my head or across the water, I wasn't sure how well I'd do.  Big game usually allows some time to look over the situation - ducks don't meander in the sky.

No blow-by-blow run through of the morning, but there were a few highlights.  We saw several ducks, most too far away and none wanted to commit to our most lovely decoy spread.  We did have two geese come in twice.  We both shot and both missed twice.  So it goes.  I was just thrilled to have seen a few ducks and to have been able to get a couple shots off.

A couple other hunters did set up a little too close to us a short time in the morning.  They didn't get any shots off and almost lost some decoys in the deep water.  When we were packing up to leave, they did stop by and apologize as we talked ducks a little bit - they hadn't seen us when they set up.
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November 30
With a very "ducky" final Saturday of Indiana's deer gun season, I was glad for a reason to not go deer hunting.
Dave was going to take me to Grand Lake to hunt ducks on a controlled hunt he had drawn for, but he had a family emergency.  "Family Emergency" is a euphemism nobody wants to think about - let alone think about on Thanksgiving.  Tyler was free so Dave gave his Mercer permit to us, allowing us to head north and hunt ducks.

I was up early by even my standards.  Just about everything was ready to go so it was a quick few minutes to take care of the dogs, dump them on SO and head out the door.  Predictably, there was no traffic and I suspect some of the cars I did see were late-nighters heading home, rather than Saturday morning goers.  As I drove through a nearby city center, I'd never seen so few cars; the Christmas lights coupled with wet roadways sparkled - very pretty.
We met at Tyler's parents house since it was a safe place to drop the truck and relatively convenient for both of us.  All of my needed stuff was transferred to Tyler's car and we headed north.  I had only met Tyler once before but we got along pretty well.  As we traveled the couple hours we talked hunting, life, hunting and hunting...
We got to the DNR office early and signed in.  They had a calendar with the recent activity on the various controlled-hunt stands.  Most were zeros, but a few looked decent and the period before the windstorm the day before Thanksgiving had apparently been quite good.  The drawing was done promptly at 5:30 - we were picked first.  It was hard not to jump up and down at this, but I suspect that kind of behavior would have been call for a beat down by other hunters.  Tyler chose the stand that had had the most activity, closest to the fish hatchery.

With minimal instruction from the DNR, we headed to the hunting area and changed into waders and hauled our gear to the pit blind in the dark.  The concrete pit blind looked pretty nice, but it had several inches of cold murky water in it.  We set up duck decoys on the left with goose decoys on the right, an open area in the pond right in front of us and got into the blind to wait for daylight. It was raining, but Grand Lake was right on the edge of the rain.  The rain stopped as it started to get light.  The pit blind smelled like a swamp...

At first, we didn't see any birds.  Then one lone duck came in and landed off to our right.  Tyler said to hold off shooting since two more were coming in.  We waited, but the two didn't land.  Tyler peaked up and said he thought the duck that did land was within range but with some brushy grass between us.  He told me to stand and see if I could shoot since it was on my side of the blind.  I saw what I was nearly certain was the duck's head above the grass - I aimed like I was shooting at a deer, not pass-shooting ducks and pulled the trigger.  No duck flew away; the duck was hit.  I got out of the blind to finish the duck and bring it back.  My first duck!!!!

  As I came back, Tyler was walking away from the blind telling me he had seen another duck land on the main pond a ways away.  I watched as he stalked the duck, eventually jumping it.  He shot and hit it, bringing it down a short way away.  He had to walk around the pond to finish it before joining me in the blind.  We had both shot big drake mallards.

As the morning progressed, we would see waves of geese a few hundred yards away, but none would head our way.  We thought they were headed to the main lake.  Some ducks were mixed in as well.
We did get a few more small groups of ducks to take interest in our decoy spread and tried a few tactics to bring them down.  Waiting to watch them land in our little pond resulted in the ducks not liking what they saw once they started cupping and flying away.  Shooting early when they were on the edge of range resulted in them flying away.  It was a losing game; the ducks had probably played this before.
We were really glad to be in the blind we were in, since the birds we did see were stragglers from where the large masses were landing.  The other controlled-hunt blind a short ways to our right only shot once all morning - and it was a prayer sky-busting shot at geese that was outside of any range except hope.

I did get a chance to try to stalk one lone duck that landed in the same pond Tyler shot his from.  I got very close to it, but trees and brush prevented me from shooting as soon as the duck took off and by the time I had a clear shot it was moving fast on the edge of range.  It was still exciting to try.

As it got close to the end of legal hunting for the controlled hunt, we almost left a couple times only to have ducks come in for a look-see again.  But eventually we started to clean up and head out.  The wind had picked up and it started to rain again.  I was still mostly comfortable, but my feet were unhappy from sitting in the frigid muskraty water in the pit blind.
We dropped off our report card for the hunt by the fish hatchery and saw hundreds of geese and many mallards in the hatch ponds.  This is where we had seen geese all morning.  The scene was almost funny after the morning of hunting ducks.

We headed south, stopping for lunch before getting back to Tyler's parent's house.  We took some time cleaning the ducks.  Since Tyler was going to breast his out, I chose to clean the whole duck so he could teach me both methods.  Neither was hard, but plucking results in feathers going wherever they want.  Gutting the duck wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world, but not too different from a very tiny deer.  I couldn't help but thinking that doing this at Tyler's parent's house felt a little like high school - the non-wretched parts...
I headed home for the day as the rain came down and the night sky took over.  While a long day, it was an awesome second attempts at ducks with my first duck in the bag.  I'm not ready to run out and buy a boat and a few hundred decoys, but I do hope for future opportunities to go after ducks again.

The Wilds Day 2 - Riding the Rhino

I was up at my normal too-early time and tried to sleep a bit more, but it wasn't going to happen.  I'm not sure how SO puts up with me because I had to get up and make coffee.  Ah ... the yurt life.
As it got light we packed up our stuff.  We were hoping for a late checkout, but that wasn't possible so we had to find a way to get all of our motorcycle crap secured on the bike while we went on the tour.  This was made easier by the weather since it was between cool and cold - so I ended up wearing my motorcycle jeans instead of shorts.
We had even more down time after a good breakfast waiting for "The Wildside" tour.  The Wilds has many tours available, this one takes place in an open air truck with up to eight people.  The trucks will also go off-road to see the animals where as the bus tours stay on the road (and they're on a bus).
Our tour only had four people on it, which was something we all seemed happy about.  Eight would have been OK, but we may have had to be closer than kin...  The other two women on the tour were very friendly and we got along well, making room for each other's pictures and sharing access to the nearby animals.  It was a little funny that they lived not too far from us either.  Apparently multiple full trucks are more common, so I'll take the day's situation as a plus.

Kristen was our tour guide and she started by giving us some background and a few warnings.  Nothing was too surprising, but it did include warnings on some animals being aggressive.  The plan was to find animals, get as close as reasonably possible, and spend some time in each spot.  Kristen would sit in the roof of the truck since there is a no-feet-on-the-ground rule on tours.

Off we went in search of animals.  First up were some wild horses with more warnings on biting.  The steering wheel had a chunk taken out of it on a previous tour - 'nuff said.

Then it was on to some camels.  Up close they don't look as regal as they do from far away with their big lips hanging out and gangly demeanor.  We were allowed to pet them and I was surprise how firm the hump was since they look so floppy.

The beginning felt slow since horses and camels don't exactly seem toooo exotic, but maybe that is by design since things got better as the morning went on.  Next up were the Sichuan Takin.  These are the bulbous things that I thought were pretty cool looking.  I guess these are a Chinese National Treasure and are all "owned" by China.  However, they are doing better outside of China than in.  Two of these guys were getting frisky - which must be OK since they need to use contraception to limit the breeding (this is true of many of the animals).

There are American Bison on the property, but they are actually not strictly part of the wilds.  Far from endangered, these are raised for meat.  Still, neat to see.

From there we went to the carnivore area which is surprisingly small.  For (perhaps obvious) reasons, the carnivores are kept separate and in extra double fencing.  The cheetahs are pretty magnificent animals.

We had extra time at the carnivore area which allowed us to look around on our own.  It is probably also to give poor Kristen a break from all the questions which she probably gets from all of the guests.  While I'm sure every tour is different, I have to suspect it also gets painfully redundant for the guides.

I've always thought African Spotted Dogs are one of the neatest looking canines.  Being so close to them was really cool.  Their coloring almost looks fake.

I want to take one of these home - but I bet they are hard to house train...

Some of the animals stay hidden and whether they are out might be temperature dependent.  Shortly before we left the carnivore area we did get to see some young Dholes.

Back in the truck we were on the hunt for more animals.  I have to say that the Pere Davids Deer look regal from far away, less so up close.  Their back story is pretty interesting though.

Another regal-looking animal which is prone to biting is the zebra.  From even a short distance away, the stripe pattern blends into a camouflage grey.

Kristen moved the truck as the Ostrich came close.  Their head was high enough relative to the truck that she didn't want them too close to us.

We had another stop at the Rhino barn where they keep their male one-horned Rhino.  At first he was in the barn but as if on cue, he came out when Kristen shook a small bucket of sweet potatoes.  We got to feed him ... and get Rhino slobber all over our hands.

Feeding was also on the agenda at our next stop - whether we wanted to or not.  The Giraffe WILL BE FED!  I guess it really likes romaine lettuce.

While the one giraffe was pretty aggressive in wanting food, we were also able to entice another smaller one to eat as well.  The strength of such a svelte animal was pretty amazing.

A short distance away we came to a group of animals that included two-horned Rhinos.

Wild Scimitars.

And Bactrian Deer (which were showing rutting behavior and vocalization).  These deer were massively impressive both in antlers and body size.  I wonder what they do with all the shed antlers?

The Rhinos liked to use the truck as a scratching post and it was surprisingly OK for us to pet and scratch them.  Their skin is like armor.

As we made our way back out, we saw some young Eland.

The tour was much more interactive than I would have thought.  Getting to feed the rhino; being up close to an obnoxious giraffe; seeing spotted dogs and watching a cheetah lie down right in front of me.  And that might be my only criticism of the entire thing.  Or maybe it is a criticism of myself, of all of us - while unscripted and infinitely more natural than a zoo, the animals have little fear of humans.  Still, it was much more honest than a Cade's Cove version of nature.  And to be pragmatic, this is probably the only way to keep some of these animals alive and reproducing on the planet.  I'm sure doing so is massively expensive, and having tourists come through makes this possible only due to the interaction.  I can appreciate that on many levels while at the same time being a bit uncomfortable with it. 

"When experiences are sold, when scenery becomes commodity, places can morph into caricatures of themselves, obscuring context and meaning." - Sarah Gilman

I'm glad that places like The Wilds exist while being a bit sad about it at the same time.  Our goal for the natural world shouldn't be animals that are so divorced from it that they resemble their former selves in form only.  We risk seeing nature as a giant terrarium, instead of the unscripted and sometimes ugly wilds that it should be.

Day 2:  202.6 Miles

It took a few minutes to reorganize everything for the trip home.  The day which started out cold had started to grow warm.  We had at least a short amount of time to enjoy the Eastern Ohio roads before we hit the interstate.  Then it was goal driven - time to go home.

Traffic wasn't too bad and there wasn't much construction - which was nice.  As we passed over the Lost Lands Musical Festival, it looked much worse than the previous day.  Uggg...  You guys can have it.

As the relatively short trip home continued, the combination of wind and atypical heat made it feel longer than it was.  When this whole thing was originally planned, the worry was more that any rain could make the bike trip uncomfortable; as it was, a bit of rain might have been nice.

Soon enough we were home.  We unpacked and got the dogs.  Even though they were only gone one night it will take a day or three for them to get back to normal.

For a short adventure, it certainly felt longer than it was.  The spotted dogs were a highlight as was the ability to be up close and personal with the rhinoceros.
I'm still overdue for another long road trip, but I'm glad I got to experience a bunch more interesting Ohio for a few days.

The Wilds Day 1 - Historivia and a Yurt With Plumbing

I've already kvetched about the spring and summer of Day-In Day-Out, so I won't go over that again.
SO has gone on her Alaska trip.  I'm recently returned from my Bear Hunting Adventure.  Things are mostly caught up at work and at home.  A break may not be needed, but there is still vacation to burn and doing it now makes much more sense than sitting around pondering life's failures in December.
I usually average between 10,000 and 15,000 miles on my motorcycles per year.  The last couple years have been disappointing.  I'm overdue for a long road trip - this will not be it.  But after touring all over North America, we've spent surprisingly little time in the adopted home state of Ohio.

Day 1:  268.0 Miles

After a normal Wednesday, we had an abnormally light packing job for a single motorcycle overnight.  SO took the dogs to beagle jail in the morning, a few things were tidied up.  And we were off.  Temperatures were almost perfect in the mid-60s with mostly sunny skies.
We got through the tail end of greater Cincinnati traffic, before heading north and east.  I-71 wasn't too bad once a ways away.  We worked our way around Columbus before heading due east.
I was tired on being on the interstate, so I got off on Ohio-13.  This was a poor choice since the Lost Lands Music Festival was happening right near this exit and things were horribly backed up.  And oh my goodness were those people jam packed in some of the most uncomfortable looking camping conditions that I've ever seen.
I jumped right back on the interstate, getting off a short time later - let Garmin do his duty.  Garmin is sometimes stupid, so this was a bit risky.
Getting off the interstate for the rest of the day was 100% the right choice as was letting Garmin route me stupidly.  The area of Ohio I went through had motorcycle roads that rival just about anywhere else I've been.  Hills, twists and turns.  Some technical sections, many blind hills and off-camber turns.  Many straight stretches with higher speed sweeper turns.  Subtract from that almost all traffic and it made for a great late morning through early afternoon.

Our first stop for the day was the Morgan County dungeon.
Morgan County was created and incorporated between 1817 and 1819.  A little over 10 years later, I guess they needed a spot to house their criminals - those convicted of theft, murder and who knows what else.  Criminal justice in early frontier America was somewhat subjective, political and prejudiced against the poor.  Which means it was pretty much like it is today.  Of course by today's standards, most would have been considered poor since they didn't have cable TV and motorcycles to ride around to see arbitrary places of Americana.
A dungeon was dug into the ground around 1833.  Having previously toured several jails that were from a similar time period, I can say with some authority that a jail and a dungeon are not the same thing.  A dungeon brings up images of a dank hole were people were thrown in perpetuity, which is pretty much what the Morgan County Dungeon is.  Although I have no idea how long people were in there, even a short amount of time would have been brutal.  The thought of being in something like this - with or without a trial - seems pretty heinous; possibly cruel and certainly unusual - at least by today's standards.
This dungeon was hidden from view, literally buried, until it was exposed while building the present jail and sheriff's office.  The idea of burying this in the past seems like an allegory to hiding our own past mistakes - it wasn't destroyed, just tucked away under the surface, probably hoping that nobody would ever find it.  Thankfully they chose not to use it when it was dug up, and it now sits as a reminder that history is judged not by how the most privileged are treated, but by how the worst off are.

Maybe it doesn't.  The Dungeon is actually a recreation in a totally different spot with some other historic things nearby - most notably a relocated one-room school.  I was disappointed it wasn't the actual dungeon, but I guess that explains the plate steel roof the structure has.  But it was still worth a stop and put us on some nice roads.

Next up was the Big Muskie Bucket.
The Big Muskie was the largest single-bucket digging machine and was in service between 1969 to 1991.  It held about 220 cubic yards - which is a lot.  Back of the envelope calculations suggest it could hold about 100 Gold Wings.

When I was buying gravel to turn my old driveway from mud to muddy gravel, I was buying about 2 Bobcat scoops at a time which is about 1 cubic yard.  If I would have had a Big Muskie, I wouldn't have beat up my F150 quite as much.  Of course the Big Muskie had limited ability to move - and only very slowly, so the comparison isn't all that relevant.
When first put into service the Big Muskie was the pride of the Central Ohio Coal Company.  With all the coal it mined, it is perhaps odd that it was powered by electricity.  Maybe there is a lesson there?  And maybe electric power is both the past and the future.  All hail Zero Motorcycles!
It stayed in service far longer than I would have thought.  But EPA regulation on how coal is used coupled with how mining can be done finally made the Big Muskie lose the race against being cost effective.  Coal is still used for energy in the US and is still mined in Ohio, but we pretend it is done in a much more friendly manner.  Frankly, I don't see how anything can be more friendly than something called Big Muskie.
We talked with some other people visiting the Big Muskie.  One man even had an uncle who worked in the mine with it.  Almost more impressive than the bucket itself, was the chain used to maneuver it.

Our final quick stop for the afternoon was the Thorla/McKee oil well.
Around the time Morgan County was being incorporated, early settlers Silas Thorla and Bob McKee noticed deer licking the ground in a particular spot.  They hoped this was due to a natural salt deposit since salt isn't terribly prevalent in Ohio and their fried potatoes where lacking that little bit of something extra.  I can't help but wonder if their venison was lacking salt as well?  I can only hope they tried licking the ground themselves, but I suspect that isn't the case.
They did dig a 200 foot well - by hand which is pretty incredible since I can barely dig a hole deep enough to get to the failed drain tile in my back yard.  They did find salt (brine), but along with that was a "healthy" supply of crude oil.  I say healthy because McKee and Thorla decided it must be a good thing to market as a tonic for health.  In other words, they used the same logic health businesses use now, "It comes form nature, so it has to be good!"  CBD Oil for everybody - there is absolutely nothing it can't cure!!!  They bottled the crude oil and sold it as "Seneca Oil" because I guess "Snake Oil" was already being sold by two other guys.  Hopefully they got rich from both salt and Seneca Oil.  Sadly, McKee and Thorla were dead by the time the value of crude to propel motorcycles became known.
This oil well is often described as the first oil well in North America, since it was one of the first times oil was purposefully extracted from the ground for financial gain.  If nothing else, it is a very early extraction of oil from the ground for commercial purposes in North America.  Additionally, Silas Thorla has to be one of the coolest names ever.

The well itself is just a grubby, oily hole in the ground and it is a bit hard to find.  There is some other weird log contraption hooked up to it, but whatever it is supposed to be isn't clear.  It is an interesting piece of both North American and Ohio history.

After seeing a bit of Southeast Central Ohio Historivia (history combined with trivia), we headed to the ultimate destination of The Wilds.  The Wilds is a reclaimed strip mine turned animal sanctuary.  They offer places to stay and various tours.  A yurt and tour was scheduled for this trip which comes with food and a few other things.  I originally heard about The Wilds from Ohio Cooperative Living, the magazine from our electric coop.  I couldn't tell where on the spectrum from campy to cool this would be, but the chance to be up close and personal with rare animals was at least interesting.

We stopped at the gate and were told we could head up to the yurts.  At the "Concierge Yurt" we were given our key and some additional information.  The yurt itself was tucked into the trees.  There were other yurts with better views overlooking the water and possibly animals; I don't remember if they cost more... (yes, they do)

The yurt itself is pretty comfortable.  Like all nomadic yurts, it has electricity and modern plumbing and like the yurts of inner Kazakhstan, the open area at the top is conveniently covered with Lexan.  OK, so the whole yurt thing might be a little gimmicky, but it was kind of neat at the same time.  I did appreciate the air conditioning...
After settling in, we walked to the nearby overlook.  It was a bit of a poke to where the animals were, but we had binoculars with us that allowed to see them quite well.
I was pretty fond of the rhino and her (I assume) baby.

Many of the animals seemed to like the water.  With the ongoing near-drought conditions, I'm glad they have water.

I'm not sure what kind of antlered thing this is, but it was pretty cool.

We headed up to dinner and were the last ones seated even though it was early relative to our normal dinner time.  Looking around, I strongly suspect we brought the average age of the room down.  The geriatric generation was well represented.  This is good, the "school season" is the best time to travel.
Dinner was good and our waitress had an interesting tattoo.  I couldn't see the whole thing, so I finally asked her - it was a skull with a bear inside it with the words, "Bear In Mind" under it.  Cute...

We took our dessert to-go and walked back toward the yurt, stopping at the overlook again.  The sun started to go down and the shadows got long.  Temperatures dropped and the animals started coming out again as they will at dusk.  I was able to get a few more pictures before the light level dropped to make it impossible with the zoom lens.
I won't guess what kind of deer this is, but the antlers were impressive!  Maybe a Pere David's Deer?

The rhino came out again.  I still like the rhino.

But I think I like this bulbous guy even better.  Looking at list of what The Wilds have, I think it is a Sichuan Takin.  Sure ... whatever.

They were having a fire at the overlook and a small group was gathered around it.  I was a bit worried I'd get in a situation where, if I sat down, it would appear rude to leave.  So we headed back to the yurt and wished they were a little more sound-proof.  Not because the four-legged animals were noisy, but the two-legged ones were.  I guess some yurt-dwellers are a bit hard of hearing too.  Such is the glamping life.

Eventually we turned in for the night.  No, it wasn't a day pouring on the miles on the bike, but it was a day of good weather, great roads, interesting sights and lots of unusual animals.