We are well into the in-between season for outdoorsmen

The inland fishing season closed last weekend. Normally that means the last big hurrah for ice fishing. I saw people out fishing, but fishing from boats in Wisconsin. Not an overtly large number of them, but several Wisconsinites hit the water on the last weekend of the inland fishing season of 2023-24.

I headed down to the southern part of the state this past weekend. I drove past several lakes on the way. I saw a couple of lakes with sketchy and rotting ice on the drive down and didn’t see a single ice fishermen. Once down into the “sunbelt” part of Wisconsin, the open water lured several anglers to launch and fish on a windy weekend. Making the most of a situation or maybe taking full advantage of a wonderful opportunity.

Needless to say, I didn’t get out fishing this past weekend.

I drove past a field that I hunted for geese a number of times a few decades ago. It was almost a half section of land that often held several flocks of hundreds of geese in the fall. A subdivision with hundreds of new houses now covers that land. I last drove past that a little over five years ago during the spring migration and it held geese. How fast things change. Speaking of geese, a few made it back to our area last week. So did swans, ducks, and robins. I’m still a bit skeptical that winter released her grip in February. “Finding things to do outside is so different this year,” several friends commented a couple weeks ago already. They, like several of us, have gone for hikes in the woods, evening campfires, spent an afternoon enjoying mild weather and repeated all of those. This has been an odd winter and it looks to be an odd spring if this continues. The spring walleye run will be way off compared to other years.

Turkey season is like six weeks away. The inland fishing and trout seasons don’t open until May.

The in between period for hunters and fishers started early this year. That period when we look outside and want to get going on stuff but the ground gets soft and muddy every day and it gets tore up if you try to get stuff done. Sometimes it’s like a holding pattern. Do you just muscle through and worry about the mess later or do you bide your time and wait for conditions to level out?

Even taking the dogs for a quick run in the woods involves bathing when back home. After washing the mud off of them, my boots and gear, I end up wondering if I even enjoyed the jaunt in the first place.

Such goes the dilemma every year. That in between period.

A coyote just ran across about a 100 yards north of the house in daylight while I’m writing this. It sported a very unique coat. We don’t see that every day, not even every year, sometimes we don’t see that for several years.

It does appear that I can start working the dogs early this year. They should be brushed up and ready a long time before the fall. I should be able to set up the archery target early and maybe start shooting clays a lot earlier. Everything should be running smoothly by fall.

Should be able to scout out several more places to hunt this fall as well. The lack of snow this early without insects means it’s time to check a few places out.

A guy I was talking to this past week made the prediction that we are going to have to mow lawn and shovel snow in the same week this spring. I had to ask him why he would even utter such a thing. Not that I’m superstitious, but what a run of bad luck that week would hold.

I’ll wash a lot of mud off a lot of stuff to avoid a week like that.

No point to any of this rambling this week. I’m like everyone else. Just waiting until we can start hunting and fishing again. Trying to find excuses to avoid things that need fixing that you don’t really want to fix. Excuses like repelling a vermin red squirrel from the yard, but with the early snow loss there aren’t any of those laying siege to the place. So, like every spring, eventually I have to start those projects.

But not until after next weekend.

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