Catholic Hotdish

I was sitting high in a ladder stand yesterday near Red Wing during the final day of the 3A firearms season. In several days afield, including several dawn to dusk sits, I had seen only two deer – a buck that was too small based on the Zone 3, southeast Minnesota four-point antler restriction, and a doe that spooked and ran before I could shoot.

So, it had been a frustrating season. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go out hunting yesterday, but my friend and hunting partner, Bernie Schwab, persuaded me to give it one last try. He was gearing up for an all-day sit. I didn’t know if I wanted to hunt that long.

I almost got a deer yesterday evening the way no one wants to – with my car. Coming back from a fruitful day of stand preparation, the buck jumped out of the ditch as my brother Paul and son Andy and I were headed home from the Red Wing area.

There was no time to react, so I braced myself for impact. I got a good look at the deer as I zipped by it, then heard a thump as it made impact with the back end of my van. Fortunately, both deer and van made out OK. In fact, there was not a scratch on the vehicle.

I thanked God for that, and for the enjoyable day in the woods. We visited two farms where we had permission to hunt, then put up a stand for each of them. I think they all are in good spots, and I think we should have some action on opening day. The other member of our party, Bernie Schwab, got his stands ready the day before. So, we’re set for the firearms deer opener Nov. 3.

Tips for hunting success

For those still in the process of putting up their stands – especially those who haven’t picked a spot yet – I offer four tips for where to put your stands, how to access them and how to hunt them on the opener and throughout the season. When I follow these rules, my success goes up.

1. Hunt funnels. If you don’t know what a funnel is, now’s the time to learn. Deer movement picks up dramatically during the breeding season (known as the rut), and the best place to be is where they travel. Specifically, you want to be in areas where bucks are cruising as they look for does, or are chasing does that aren’t quite ready to be bred.

The good news is, funnels are not hard to find. You can look on satellite images (think Google Earth) and see areas where wooded areas get narrow. That’s a great place to start. Another is where deer cross steep ravines. We found a dandy funnel yesterday that we couldn’t see on a map. It’s only about 25 yards wide and the deer trails already were there, not to mention a buck antler rub and a ground scrape. Andy will be positioned there waiting for deer to come through.

By the way, last year I shot a beautiful 8-point buck while positioned in a classic funnel. He chased a doe right in front of my stand, and I shot him at only about 20 yards.

2. Play the wind. This is far more important than many hunters realize. Observe a deer catching your scent even once, and you’ll know exactly what I mean. If deer see or hear you, they will pause and try to check you out. They may even get fidgety and nervous. But, if they smell you, they’re gone. Right now. No questions asked. That happened to me two years ago. I saw a doe’s head pop up in a cornfield, then she moved from left to right. After only a few steps, she was straight downwind of me, about 25-30 yards away. I looked down at my gun and slowly lifted it up for the shot. But, when I put my scope up where the doe had been, she was gone. Then, I saw her running nearly full speed to my left in an adjacent field. That was the end of that.

So, try to place your stand upwind of where you think the deer will travel. Better yet, have some obstacle like a cliff or pond behind you so that they have to go upwind of you. Also, don’t forget about scent as you go to your stand. If your scent drifts into the woods where the deer are, they may never come your way. In other words, you could end up spooking deer that you never knew were nearby. I think that happens a lot more often than hunters think, and could be a reason some hunters don’t see a deer all day.

3 Stay put. I know it’s tempting to climb down out of your stand to take a break for lunch. But, if you’re serious about shooting a deer, don’t do it. Deer move around a surprising amount throughout the day, and climbing down out of your stand takes away the chance to capitalize on this activity. Remember, it’s the rut and bucks can’t stand to sit still for more than about four or five hours at a time. They get antsy, then get up to keep on chasing does. The nice buck I shot last fall crossed in front of me at 2:55 p.m. Things had been quiet for a while, but I knew I was on a funnel, so I waited. The reward was worth it. Besides, the weather was so nice that it was not hard at all to stay in the stand.

4. Sight in your gun. Lots of hunters fail to do this. Some of them believe that it will shoot the same as last year. Maybe so, but not always. It takes so little time to go to a range and fire a few shots to make sure. Then, not only will your gun be accurate in the woods, but your confidence will go up as well. We were able to get our shotguns sighted in yesterday, and that was the last part of our trip down yesterday.

I’m getting excited. Next week, I will try to get out in my bow hunting stand once or twice, then it’s on to the firearms season.

I can’t wait!

I am a week and a half into the Minnesota bow hunting season, and there has been action aplenty. Unfortunately, I have yet to fill a tag. On opening day (Sept. 15), I had four deer come in, and got a shot at a small buck I grunted in. I was using a lighted nock and it looked like it went over the deer’s back, so I didn’t bother to check for blood.

That was a mistake. The next day, I went to clean the mud off of the broadhead and found clear signs that I not only hit the deer, but the arrow passed through. I know I hit the deer high, but there’s at least a chance I may have clipped the top of a lung, which is all it takes to kill the deer. But, I’ll never know.

Then, just this past Sunday, I went out for the third time and had a doe and fawn come out of a thicket on a trail 25 yards from my stand. I had cleared a nice shooting lane in it, and she stopped right in the middle broadside. I put my 20-yard pin on her and released the arrow. With my lighted nock, I saw it flying right at the deer, then heard that telltale whack as it hit the deer.

Looked like it went into the vitals, but the arrow did not pass through. I saw the lighted nock moving through the brush as the doe ran away. I waited a half hour, then got down and started looking for blood. I went about 40-50 yards before finally finding it. There was a nice blood trail at first, then it got lighter and finally disappeared. I zig zagged all over looking for blood or the deer, but didn’t find either. I spent a good two to three hours looking, but nothing.

I don’t understand what happened. I thought the shot looked good. But, I guess without a pass through, you don’t get much blood. I shot a Rage 2-blade broadhead, but now I’m thinking this is not the right broadhead for me. I only have a draw weight of 56 pounds, and I think you need at least 60 or more to get good penetration. So, I’ll probably try a different head. One thing I like about mechanicals is they fly the same as your field points. I know with fixed blades you generally have to adjust your sights because they will fly differently  than your field points. I do have a set of three Ulmer Edge mechanical broadheads I would like to try. They are slimmer than the Rage, have a smaller cutting diamter, and have blades that pivot when they hit bone, all of which should help penetration.

At this point, I’m really struggling with bow hunting because I really don’t like the idea of hitting animals and not recovering them. What’s even harder is thinking I may have killed two deer and not tagged either one of them. I wish I knew exactly what I could do to prevent this from happening again. Both shots this year were of deer standing still broadside, which is the shot you’re hoping for. I waited on both deer until I got the right shot, then I took it. I don’t know what else I can do. I guess, for starters, I’ll try to find a broadhead that works better for me.

There’s lots of time left in the bow season, so I’m hoping I can fix this problem and eventually tag my first archery deer!

With the Minnesota archery deer hunting opener set for this Saturday, I have been working to get all things ready.

I put up a stand on a good looking spot near Red Wing, then got another set up on a metro property that I hunted last year. Due to a complicated problem, I thought I wasn’t going to be able to hunt the property this year. But, things got resolved within the last week, so I went back out and put up a stand.

Looks like the weather will be nice this weekend, though a bit warm. Saturday should be good because it will still be cool in the morning from the day before, plus winds will be light and from the south/southwest.

That is perfect for my metro stand. The cool temps and light winds should have deer moving. I am hoping things happen early, as I will head to the Archdiocesan Youth Day in the afternoon. Hopefully, by then, there will be a deer at the butcher shop!

I have been practicing with my bow diligently throughout the last year, and I feel ready and confident. Based on my stand setup relative to the deer trails, my shots should be within 25 yards, which is my comfortable range.

I have shot with my practice broadheads and am good to go there. Plus, I will use lighted nocks, both to be able to find my arrows after the shot and, hopefully, see where they hit the deer. A double-lung pass through is my goal. That should make for a quick and easy recovery.

My hope is a deer will present a good shot, and I won’t get too shaky when I draw and can settle the pin in the vital area.

That wasn’t a problem last year, although I think I should have been a bit more deliberate in executing the shot. It’s not like a gun where you simply put the crosshairs on the deer and pull the trigger. You have to make sure everything is lined up and steady.

I hope and pray I can draw on a deer this weekend!

I got to spend an afternoon on Lake Mille Lacs last week. Actually, it was for an assignment for The Catholic Spirit (my outdoors column). One of the highlights was a nice sunset. I was not able to take advantage of the amazing walleye bite of May and June, but talked to someone who did.

Father Troy Przybilla got out on the water a number of times earlier this summer and confirmed that the action was blazing hot. On the flip side, keeper fish were very hard to come by. In about 10 or 12 trips, he managed to catch just two keepers outside of the 17- to 28-inch protected slot. He caught a bunch that were just beyond the 17-inch mark.

I had felt frustrated about not being able to join the ranks of anglers who capitalized on the sizzling bite, but far less so after hearing about the lack of keepers. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy catching walleyes, but I like having at least a few for the frying pan.

There was a similar problem on Upper Red Lake back when it reopened to walleye fishing in 2006, but it wasn’t nearly this bad. If you fished long enough, you eventually caught your two fish under 17 inches. There were lots of fish in all size ranges, so you just had to keep at it until you found the keepers.

Now, it appears as though there aren’t many keepers in Mille Lacs. So, if it’s a shore lunch you want, Lake Lacs may not be the place to go.

Father Przybilla thinks it’s time for the DNR to modify the harvest rules for walleyes. He suggested a total inch count for walleyes, with anglers able to keep fish of any size, as long as the total inch count doesn’t exceed a certain number.

I like his idea, in terms of balancing the size of fish taken. When you have both sport anglers and Indian tribes targeting small fish, it stands to reason that, at some point, the number of those fish will go down.

In this case, it appears as if it’s going way down. I like the rule they had on Lake of the Woods about eight or nine years ago. You could keep six walleyes, with only one over 20 inches. My friend, Pete Wolney, and I went up in the fall the last year of that rule, and had an absolute walleye bonanza. We each took one fish home between 20 and 21 inches, plus several that were in the 19 1/2-inch range.

Now, you can keep four walleyes, and none between 19 1/2 and 28 inches. That still leaves plenty of fish to keep, and Pete and I have no trouble catching our limit of keepers, as long as the weather doesn’t mess things up.

Lake of the Woods is in good shape, but Mille Lacs has an imbalanced walleye population. I hope the DNR can figure out a way to correct the problem.

I think it’s time to let anglers start keeping at least a few of the bigger fish. Some of those fish are dying after being caught. Why not let anglers keep some of them, rather than feed them to the seagulls?

My oldest son Joe is going off to college tomorrow (Friday) for his junior year at the University of Dallas. He is the most avid hunter among my four children, and I thought it would be nice to prepare a wild game dinner for him before he leaves.

Actually, I have done so several times during the three months he has been home, but wanted to serve him up some “natural” fare one last time. This time, I decided to prepare grilled wild turkey breast. Haven’t done that very much over the years, but I recently discovered a terrific marinade that I have used on venison a couple of times with great success, and thought I should try it with turkey.

I will divulge the marinade recipe near the end of this post. A nice touch to the meal was the fried morel mushrooms and onions that I served on the side. I found a large batch of morels on a piece of land in Wisconsin where I went turkey hunting. I brought them home and cooked some that night, then froze the rest for later use. I thawed them and fried them in butter along with the onions. This was the recommendation I got from a good friend of mine, Jim Grill, who is a gourmet cook.

The mushrooms and turkey both were delicious. In fact, the meal was so good that Joe is planning on taking frozen turkey breast down to Dallas. He was fortunate enough to shoot a bird during a hunt back in May just days after he came home for the summer. He plans on making the same grilled turkey that I made for him. For those interested in trying something new, here is the recipe for the marinade:

Ingredients:

– Packet of Italian seasoning mix (may need more than one, depending on how much meat there is to marinade)

– Balsamic vinegar

– Olive oil

– Water

All you need to do is follow the recipe on the back of the packet, substituting Balsamic vinegar for regular vinegar, and olive oil for oil. You combine 1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar with three tablespoons of water and the seasoning mix in a  glass jar, then shake until mixed. You then add 1/2 cup of olive oil and shake again. When mixed, pour over meat that you have placed in a marinade pan (any large plastic or glass pan will do, or even a disposable tin foil roasting pan). Refrigerate overnight, then flip meat in marinade pan and refrigerate meat until cooking at dinnertime.

You can’t go wrong with this recipe. It comes courtesy of some friends, Bob and Christine Brickweg of Burnsville. They shared it with Christine’s sister, Louise Schwab, who lives next door. Louise and her husband, Bernie, used it earlier this summer when they invited my family to come over for dinner. I have tried it several times since, and I now know it works with both venison and turkey.

The key, I think, is to grill your meat on a charcoal grill, rather than gas. I like the flavor of meat grilled on a charcoal grill. You spend about $60 or $70 for a grill that should last a lifetime.

With plenty of summer left, you can bet I’ll be grilling more wild turkey!

I strolled down to a dock on North Long Lake near Brainerd last Tuesday. My wife and two of my kids were staying at the cabin of two friends of ours, Patti and Brad Bye.

We had arrived two days earlier, and I went fishing on Monday afternoon. I landed two bass in about an hour or so of fishing, and I was primed to catch many more on Tuesday morning.

With hopes high, I walked the planks toward my Crestliner Fishhawk, already dreaming of the lunker bass I would be landing.

But, my heart sank when I saw that my boat had done the same. The back end was submerged, and I was left in shock at the sight.

Getting the transom elevated so we could bail out the water was no small task. The sunburn on my shoulders I discovered later attested to the amount of time required to accomplish this feat.

With the help of my wife Julie and children William and Claire, I got the boat afloat and took it to Nisswa Marine I thought it was a problem with the live well and bilge pumps, but learned there was a small hole in the hull, right at the bottom center of the transom.

The week before our trip, I had taken the boat out for a test ride. While backing the boat and  trailer into the water to launch, I realized I may not have put the drain plug in, and hit the brakes. That tipped the front of the boat up, and the back end hit the concrete ramp. The fin behind the propeller, called the skeg, was bent, and I got that fixed. But, I did not realize at the time that the transom had hit the concrete as well.

That, in fact, is what happened, which created the small hole where water was getting in.

The mechanics at Nisswa Marine did some welding to repair the hole. To my surprise, the repair cost only $164. And, it was done on Friday afternoon, which gave me the weekend to fish.

Unfortunately, the fishing wasn’t so great. I ended up catching six bass total on the trip, four of which I took home. The bigger reward, however, was the lesson in patience that I learned. It wasn’t fun waiting for the boat to get fixed, and watching precious fishing time slip away.

But, by God’s grace, I was able to wait. What helped is the fact that I brought my bow up north with me, along with my new Rinehart archery target, which I really like. I finally decided to spend $100 for a nice target, and my research showed that the 18-and-1 target was one of the best on the market.

I also got a chance to visit an awesome archery shop called Archery Country with my son, William. It’s a really cool shop, and I learned about two great products that I hope to use soon – VAP arrows and Ulmer Edge broadheads. I plan on using the broad heads this fall and maybe the arrows next year.

I’m excited about the upcoming bow hunting season, as my shooting form has been getting better!

Not many folks in the country live within walking distance of their church. Pete and Regina Poncelet are fortunate enough to enjoy this blessing.

After visiting with them this morning, I went on a drive up Highway 47 near Goodhue to see their church, St. Columbkill (pictured above). Because they share a pastor with two other churches, they only have one Mass on Sundays. Sometimes, they walk.

It’s hard not to envy people who are surrounded by this type of rural scenery every day. I make any excuse I can to get out into the country.

The Poncelets don’t have to. They can just go into the garage, get out their bikes and start riding. Sitting down with them and four of their five children (their oldest, Laura, is down in Miami where she is studying to be an architect), their wholesomeness was as easy to spot as the cornstalks in view out their back window.

Because both of our families have kids around the same age, we thought it would be fun to get together and compare notes on parenthood, faith and life. I enjoyed the discussion, not to mention the beautiful drive down Highway 52, with a detour  through Cannon Falls.

That area seems to have rebounded from the flooding a month ago. In fact, the Poncelets say that the whole region now could use some rain.

Fortunately, rain fell overnight and there was a sprinkle or two left as I drove down. With more forecast for tonight, I think farmers will be in good shape. The corn stalks I saw looked thick and green – and high! The old saying used to be “knee high by the Fourth of July.” It’s closer to chin high now.

One of the Poncelet children has taken a special interest in all things farming. Michael, about to turn 15, has wanted to be a farmer since he was a toddler. With both Pete and Regina having relatives who farm, Michael is getting plenty of opportunity. He seems very determined to do it for a living someday.

We need many more like him to keep farming going strong.  There aren’t as many small, family farms as there used to be, but the Poncelets noted that organic farms are now dotting the landscape and doing well.

I just hope the rural landscape stays unspoiled until long past Michael’s retirement!

I know this sounds strange, but I put my fishing boat in the water for the first time this season just the other day. On Monday evening, I took it to Lake Johanna in Arden Hills to make sure everything was running OK. Our family is going up north to the Brainerd area on July 22 for a week, so it’s always nice to check things out before a trip.

As I was backing the trailer into the water, I thought of something that needed to be done and hit the brake. With all of the straps unfastened, the back end of the boat dropped down and the bottom of the motor hit the concrete ramp.

Not good. Not good at all. Before even looking, I knew what I would  discover – a bent skeg. This is the triangular shaped fin at the very bottom of the motor, directly in front of the propeller.

The last time my skeg got bent, I had to pay $140 to get it fixed. Needless to say, I was not happy. In fact, today I went to confession to ask God’s forgiveness for the vocabulary I used after the mishap.

Despite the problem, I knew I could still drive the boat, so I dropped it in the water and tried to start it. It took a while, but I finally got it going. As I motored out on the lake with my son, William, and his friend, I noticed the boat pulling noticeably to the right. This is the classic symptom of a bent skeg.

So, that night, I went online to find a repair shop. I had been to one in Brooklyn Park for the first repair, but that’s a long ways, and it’s only open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Very inconvenient for me. It would mean no option of going on evenings or weekends.

Further searching produced a place called Propulsion, Inc. in Hudson, Wis. It’s open earlier in the morning (8 a.m.), plus on Saturdays. I called and talked to Dan Cremin. He was very helpful, and said I could come in the next morning and the shop mechanics could squeeze me in. He thought there was a good chance they could pound the skeg back straight again.

Excellent! I arrived there at 8:30 yesterday morning, and Dan got me in right away. In about 15 minutes, the job was done. And, here’s the best part – it only cost $15.

Needless to say, I was thrilled. This is a shop I can highly recommend. Dan did a great job of customer service, and I thanked him profusely.

He seemed a bit surprised by my praise.

“Usually, people don’t like to see us,” he said. They come in angry because they damaged their prop or lower unit and aren’t happy about paying an unexpected sum of money to fix the problem.

I get that. I wasn’t happy when I first bent the skeg, but I walked away satisfied because I knew I would have had to pay a lot more if the skeg had cracked while the mechanic was pounding on it. Dan had warned me that this could happen.

Thankfully, it didn’t. Now, I have a boat that’s in good working order, and a soul that’s clean, thanks to a priest I had lunch with today who was gracious enough to hear my confession.

Fortunately, there is no charge to straighten a bent soul.

I walked into the Ascension School building in north Minneapolis this afternoon as the heat index soared well above 100 degrees.

As I waited in the hallway, principal Dorwatha Woods poked her head out of her office and gave me a warm greeting.

Once again, I was there to make a wild game donation. But, I was going to get something meaningful in return – smoked wild turkey. Yum!

Several weeks ago, she had accidentally dialed me and I happened to mention during our conversation that I have a bunch of wild turkey in the freezer. She replied that she has a smoker and she knows how to use it.

What a match! My friend, Steve Huettl, had some extra turkey he wanted to give away, so I took it off his hands and gave it to Dorwatha for smoking. When she described the process of smoking it in her charcoal smoker, I was getting hungry right then and there.

Of course, it’s nice to get something back, but that’s not why I bring wild game to her. She prepares it for poor and underprivileged folks, of which there are many in north Minneapolis. That’s something I believe in, and it takes very little prodding to put together a care package for her.

I added a few packages of venison to the donation, plus two turkey legs from the bird my son, Joe, took in Montana. So, it was a nice selection of wild game for her, and I’ll be counting the days until I get smoked wild turkey. I’ve never had smoked turkey before, so it will be fun to try.

After depositing the bag full of frozen game on her office table, we sat down and started talking about life, as we always do. I couldn’t help but think of her in the wake of the shooting death of 5-year-old Nizzel George not far away from her school on June 26, as he slept on his grandmother’s couch.

I know that this type of tragedy tears at Dorwatha’s heart, not just because of its proximity to her school, but because caring for children is her passion.

Sadly, this shooting is one of many to take place in her school’s neighborhood during the 25-plus years she has been at the helm at Ascension School. Thankfully, she – and her school – is a beacon of light in an area shrouded by the darkness of violence.

Amidst the crime, she marches – and prays – on. More than 200 children are safe within her school’s walls, even though she often invites the very thugs who perpetrate street violence into her building.

“I am determined to make a difference in this neighborhood,” Dorwatha proudly proclaims, adding that she is afraid of no one, even when police issue warnings that people should not be alone in a parking lot.

She scoffs at such alerts, saying “I’ve been going out alone for millions of years.”

It is not so much a statement of age, but of experience. What else would you expect from a woman who once walked across the street and told a group of young men to clean up the drug paraphernalia in the yard so the school children would not see it while looking out their classroom windows?

There is no fear in Dorwartha, but lots of fight left. And, make no mistake, she will not rest while kids are dying in her school’s neighborhood. Unlike many others who see such violence regularly, she has not grown cynical.

Far from it. She continues to open her arms wide and offer a warm smile to every visitor a warm, even those who have been in jail, or will be on their way there soon. She sees value in every person, saying over and over that all people are God’s children and have value.

I’m happy and proud to say I am on her good side, though the stories she tells indicate that visits to her office aren’t as scary as students might think.

In other words, she’s as tough as nails, but with a heart of gold.

And, I can’t wait to be called to this principal’s office for some smoked wild turkey!