An Outdoorsman’s Journal:
Hello friends, Every few years I pick a cool part of Wisconsin to climb into a tree and watch what happens over a 24-hour period of time. Last week I gave my good buddy, “Musky Joe” Flater, a call. Joe, who owns Flater’s Resort — a great place to hang your hat, located on the shores of the Chippewa and Flambeau rivers — set me up for a big show! Thursday, July 10 — High 83, low 57 Here is the plan: Joe set me up on one of his food plots, and I would be very comfortable 18 feet up in the air, in a two-man ladder stand. My diet would be a stick of garlic cheddar elk sausage, a Ziploc bag of green beans that I had just picked, and half a pound of cheese. I had a frozen 1-gallon jug of water for hydration, which also kept my food chilled.
Clothing wise: mosquitoes, ticks, rain, and heavy dew atnightwereallimportantconsiderations,soIworelayers and rain gear after dark, as well as a ghillie suit.
At 12:10 p.m., I was dropped off by UTV and was very comfortable and looking forward to my challenge. My view is a T-shaped food plot planted in clover and grass that is 100% surrounded by forest. I think that it is worth mentioning that so far, this warm season I have had 13 separate experiences where ticks have lodged into my carcass and with each experience, it sucks for about three weeks.
For several hours, all I really observed besides a great view was a lot of robins. At 4:58 p.m., a large doe entered the food plot, did not like something, and left. During prime time, I was very excited to see a bear, deer, turkey, etc., but did not. I passed the time eating my snacks, especially the green beans. At dark I had not climbed down and realized nine hours in that I still had 17 to go and this was going to be a challenge.
11:58 p.m. There is a full moon and my eyes have adjusted to the forest and food plot as well as I could hope for. Four large deer are feeding within 30 yards of me. I can see the red of their bodies perfectly but cannot make out horns. There are no fawns and I am thinking they are bucks. They had no idea of my presence and were communicating in snickers; it was very cool. The deer kept me wide awake, but by 2 a.m. I was getting tired. Though I was strapped into my tree, if I would start to relax my legs would slipoutfromunderneathmeandthus,zerosleep would take place. It started to become light at 3:15 and light was very obvious by 4. I was in an excellent mood at 6:05 when to my left I saw about a 250-pound sow with three cubs enter the plot 70 yards to my right. To watch the cubs was to watch an endless game of them playing with each other and exploring by themselves, and theyweremakingasortofcluckingsoundtocommunicate to each other.
Kind of bad luck came my way when they started heading directly towards my tree. Things got a bit touchy whenoneofthemclimbedmytreeandtheothertwotried climbing my ladder. So here is the scenario: I have a cub directly behind my head on the back part of my tree and the other two are trying to climb the ladder.
Mamadecidedtomoseyonoverandseewhatwhatwas so exciting. She was 10 feet in front of the ladder, looking up and using her nose. The cub in the tree climbed down, the other two headed to Mom, and for the next half hour, I was able to watch these four play and rest in the plot.
That, my friends, could have become a very different situation. Friends would ask me afterward if I was scared; I can honestly say that I was not. Some of the drivers and ice on the road scare me more. Technology puts fear in me as I have not kept up. The family of four experience was just one very cool memory. I stayed in my tree until 12:10 p.m., changed into shorts at my truck, and was consumed by mosquitoes. Now I had to makethedrivehome.Ihadbeenawakefor 35 hours. I was fine until I hit Marshfield and just like that, I simply could not rationalize driving. I pulled over at the zoo, took a 30-minute snooze, and was good to go. I want to thank Musky Joe for almost feeding me to the skeets and bears! Sunset
