Catholic Hotdish

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!

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 have one year of archery under my belt, and I have learned one very important thing – the key to success is in your head.

In other words, the sport is mostly mental. That important fact landed like a carbon arrowed zipped into a hay bale yesterday during a practice session.

As I draw near to the bow hunting opener next month, I am trying fine tune my shooting to make sure my arrow hits the mark when I – hopefully – take aim at a deer. Thus, instead of shooting several arrows at a time, I chose yesterday to shoot one arrow at a time. I am trying to make each and every shot count because, more than likely, I will get only one shot at any deer that comes my way.

At the same time, I wanted to test shoot two broadheads that I plan on using this fall – Rage and the new Ulmer Edge by Trophy Taker. The two heads are very similar. Both are mechanicals in which the blades deploy from the rear. The Rage comes with a practice head, while the Ulmer Edge comes with a set screw that keeps the blades from deploying during the shot. I like this feature, as it allows the archer to shoot with the actual head versus a separate practice head.

The good news is I shot both heads at 20 and 30 yards and they both hit in the same spot as my field points. So, I don’t need to do any more shooting with them.

The bad news – and what gave me the opportunity to learn an important lesson – is that my favorite arrow broke during the session. I didn’t have the foam target propped up well enough, and it fell over after my arrow hit, snapping the arrow.

I was bummed at first, but then decided to take the advice of my wife, who told me that situations like this can be opportunities if you let them.

I decided to test that theory. I said to myself, “Well, I’ll just  have to find a new favorite arrow.”

Guess what? I have a bunch of them now. Why? I learned that what really makes an arrow hit the mark is good form. When I shot several others arrows after my “favorite one” broke, I was able to get all of the others to hit at or near the bullseye. As I increased my concentration to try and find a new favorite arrow, my form got better and all of my shots were good.

That’s a great lesson to learn, and it helps my confidence way more than believing I shoot better with my “favorite” arrow. The truth is, today’s carbon arrows (which is what most bow hunters use today) are remarkably consistent from one arrow to the next. In fact, the carbon arrow is one of modern archery’s best technological advancements. Thus, when you buy a set of arrows from a given company (I happen to use Gold Tip), all of them should hit in the same spot, at least at short distances like 20 or 30 yards

In the long run, I think I’ll be much better off believing that my shooting form is the critical factor, not which particular arrow I’m shooting. Yesterday, after my practice session, I was able to proudly tell my wife Julie that I applied her little kernel of wisdom to archery.

Who knows? Maybe she’ll be able to offer me more good advice, like where to put up my stands.

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!

I know we’re only a few weeks into the fishing season, but those who can switch gears to the fall hunting season could reap some big savings.

Last week, I got an email from my friend, Steve Huettl, general manager at Gamehide clothing, alerting me to a big clothing sale the company is putting on. It’s tomorrow (Wednesday) and Thursday at North Trail Elementary in Farmington. It goes from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow, and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday.

This sale happens about every five years or so, Steve said, and there will be lots of clothing available at very low prices. Gamehide is calling it a Factory Direct Sample and Overstock Sale, and there will be parkas, bibs, rainwear, accessories and more at the sale, in both camo and blaze orange color patterns. In addition to men’s sizes, there also will be youth and women’s sizes available. So, you can bring your whole family.

Of course, with any sale, it pays to come early. I’m good on camo clothing for now, but may come to help shop for others. I use Gamehide clothing, as do all three of my boys. My oldest two, Joe and Andy, have summer jobs at the Gamehide warehouse, so they are able to get stuff because they are employees.

These days, I have had to learn to be extremely thrifty with everything, so I always look for sales when buying gear. I can tell you through experience, Gamehide clothing is high quality. So, not only will you get a low price, but you’ll get stuff that will last. I’m on my sixth year of a set of camo rainwear, and it is still holding up well. One key is to not wash it too often and use soap specially designed for hunting clothes. Normally, it’s the no-scent soap bowhunters use, but it also reduces fading caused by stronger soaps.

It’s hard to find good prices on hunting apparel before the season, but this could be your best opportunity. It might even be worth leaving work a little early. Just remember that you likely will have to wait at least five more years to find prices this low on Gamehide clothing again.

I read an interesting article in my current issue of Outdoor News yesterday. The topic was new technology in depth finders for fishing. With advanced GPS mapping and side viewing functions, anglers can see more and more detail in the water than ever before.

The author, a muskie fisherman, said how he used it to find a small rockpile on a point that went from 20 to 40 feet. Soon afterward, he learned that muskies related to this rockpile throughout the summer. That ultimately helped him catch more fish, which is the idea of these advancements in electronics.

Of course, such technology comes with a hefty price tag, which means that the high-end units likely won’t be mounted to my console anytime soon.

But, there’s a bigger reason why I am reluctant to employ such devices: I’m old-school when it comes to fishing. I got my start before flashers were even invented, and quite a few years went by before my Dad purchased the famous Lowrance “green box.”

I still have one of those units in my garage and may actually use it this summer. The most sophisticated device I have on my boat is a Vexilar flasher. An improvement over the Lowrance, but it does essentially the same thing.

Though the new technology would undoubtedly help me catch more fish, I’m not drawn to it like others are. I have always had a fascination with the underwater world, and a big part of the appeal was the mystique.

I remember looking down into the clear waters of Lake Koronis in Stearns County as a youth and wondering what finned creatures were cruising the depths. And, whenever someone in the boat had a fish on, I would peer over the gunwale straining for the first glimpse of whatever it was on the end of the line.

That’s what captivated me about fishing. Still does. I think, if I knew too much about what that underwater world looked like, it might take away the sense of awe and wonder that I’ve always had about it.

In other words, I think it’s possible to know too much about what’s going on in the depths below. That can take away the element of surprise – not knowing when or where a fish will strike. Playing this guessing game is a big part of the appeal for me.

Same goes for trail cameras used by hunters. I would rather not know that a particular buck walks down a certain trail between 8 and 9 a.m. every day. I like the element of surprise – and, good, old-fashioned scouting to help you determine where deer travel.

Besides, once the rut kicks in, the predictable late summer and early fall deer movement patterns fall apart anyway. And, that’s just the way I like it.

I know that declining the use of some of this high-tech gear means I may end up going home empty-handed from the field or the lake, but it also keeps alive the mystery of what’s lurking in the woods and waters.

And, it makes success that much sweeter!

After hunting hard in Wisconsin for five days, it was time to get out in the woods in Minnesota. The hunting in Wisconsin was tough, and I managed to shoot a young male, called a jake. I took a shot at a mature tom at 30 yards, but missed.

Time after time, birds would hang up and not come all the way in, so frankly, I was expecting more of the same in Minnesota. I was prepared for difficult conditions, but also ready to try some new tactics to go after birds that might hang up.

My friend and expert turkey hunter, Steve Huettl, general manager of Gamehide, has spent a lot of time teaching me effective ways to hunt. He said if you can set up on a gobbler within 75 yards before you start calling, your odds of getting the bird to come within shotgun range (40 yards or less) dramatically increase.

With that in mind, I decided to hike a long ridge and try to find an active bird. I began my walk about 5:30 a.m. and started moving along the ridge, hoping to hear a gobble.

Sounding off

Unfortunately, I started hearing birds gobbling across the road. I had permission to hunt there, but figured I would strike up a bird on this ridge. I was hoping I wouldn’t regret my decision. At this point, it was too late to change. Before long, I heard a gobble in the distance on my side, and quickly began walking toward it. Steve has taught me to stop and listen every time I hear a crow call, and that’s exactly what I did when I heard this familiar sound.

To my surprise, right after the crow called, a tom sounded off very close. In fact, I already was even with the bird. I just slipped through some small trees and grass and got near the edge of the woods.

The turkey continued to gobble, and I eventually did some soft hen calls. He fired right back with an eager gobble, then added a few more. Thinking he was coming in, I got ready to shoot

But, he stayed put. Once again, I was faced with a hung-up bird. I thought about moving closer, than decided against it for fear of spooking the bird.

Good thing I did. Turns out he was still roosted in the tree. About 10 or 15 minutes after I sat down, I heard a ruckus in the trees and saw a black shape drop down to the ground.

Game on!

OK, I thought. Now, it’s show time. He gobbled a few times, then started swinging around to the right and toward me. There was a small clearing straight ahead of me, and I got into a shooting position.

It didn’t take long. In just a few minutes, I saw a head bobbing through the brush. Only a second or two later, I fired.

Things went still, and I briefly wondered if I had hit the bird. Then, I walked over and found him. The shot was only 21 yards. It was a beautiful bird, weighing about 22 pounds with a 9-inch beard. I was absolutely thrilled. It was one of my favorite hunts of all time. Added to my Wisconsin bird, it pushed my career total to 21 birds, with 20 of them coming in the spring and one in the fall.

Back to Wisconsin

With one tag and one day left in my turkey season in Wisconsin, I decided to try one last time for a bird across the border. I visited several properties in my last-ditch effort. I saw a tom in a field, stalked in and called, but no answer. I visited another property and didn’t hear or see a thing. Finally, I went to the last place on my list. I had shot my nicest bird there last year, and hoped it would produce again this year. I saw two hens, and called both in close, but the boyfriend was nowhere in sight.

Finally, at about 5:30 p.m., I went to the far end of the property, where I had heard one gobble on Day 1. At a corner where a mowed path reaches a clover field, I spotted something brown in the grass. Walking up, it appeared to be a mushroom of some sort. But, it wasn’t flat like those I had seen before. Then, it hit me: Could this be a morel?

I called my brother-in-law immediately, and he asked me to take a picture and send it to his phone. I did, but it didn’t work. So, I decided to just pick them anyway, figuring I could discard them later if they weren’t morels.

In only about 20 to 30 minutes, I picked at least 100, filling the back pouch of my turkey vest. They were bigger than I thought morels grew (some were at least 6 inches long), and far more numerous than I imagined. I only searched a very small area.

Paydirt!

When I got home, I called a nearby morel expert, Chris Thompson, academic dean at the St. Paul Seminary. He came over right away and confirmed that they were, indeed, morels. In fact, when he arrived at my doorstep, he looked down, saw my vest and stared into it for five minutes before he rang the doorbell. He was absolutely stunned at my harvest. He said he had been hard at it all spring and only had found one small one.

His look of shock turned to joy when I said I would be happy to share some with him. He took them home to clean them off, then invited me over for fried mushrooms. He pan fried them in butter, then made an omelette with them. Both were delicious. The good news is, there are plenty more left, so there will be more good eating to come.

The day ended at midnight, which was especially long given that I awoke at 3:30 a.m. But, I am not complaining. I started the day with one of my most exciting turkey hunts ever, and ended it with a dinner of fresh morel mushrooms.

I couldn’t ask for more. As my father-in-law likes to say: God surprised me with his blessings! Thanks be to Him.

Sister Joyce Kolbet shot this nice tom April 26.

I got a great email this morning from School Sister of Notre Dame Joyce Kolbet, an avid turkey hunter who went out in the woods for Minnesota’s Season B last week.

She is the vocations director at the Our Lady of Good Counsel Campus in Mankato in the Diocese of New Ulm. I first met her in 2006 when I did a story on her fly-fishing exploits for The Catholic Spirit. We have tried to stay in touch, and I wanted to hear how she did last week, so I sent her an email requesting details of her time in the woods.

She hunted hard all week and finally was rewarded with a nice tom Thursday morning about 8:45 a.m. After spending the first three days near Good Thunder, someone she knew offered her a chance to hunt a different area where birds were hanging out.

She got there the night before and saw a bunch of birds roosted in some trees on the property. A blind already was set up – only 80 yards away.

A perfect setup, except for one thing – the turkeys didn’t cooperate the next morning.

“Nothing came out at sunrise,” she said. “I thought for sure they would come out in my direction and walk out into this alfalfa field where I was set up.”

But, turkeys being the unpredictable birds they are, they threw a curve ball at Sister Joyce and went in another direction. Fortunately, she has learned one of the hardest lessons in this sport – patience. Thus, she stayed put in the blind and waited for another opportunity.

Around 8 a.m., she heard a gobble in the distance. She did some yelps on her slate call and waited. Then, she heard another gobble, closer this time. Once more, she did a soft call on her slate and put it down. She was done calling.

Finally, she caught sight of the tom walking along the edge of the woods toward her blind at about 90 yards. When it reached 46 yards, she fired, ending a hard four days of hunting.

Sister Joyce hunted with three others, and they spent lots of time in the woods near Good Thunder throughout each day last week. But, gobbles and bird sightings were rare. The three others stayed in the area after she left, and one of them shot a year-old gobbler, called a jake. That was it.

“I can’t figure it out,” she said. “We talked to other hunters out in that area and people just had not seen birds, or heard them.”

Good thing she switched areas. Sometimes, that makes all the difference. And, it’s one more way that experienced hunters can get their bird. Too often, inexperienced hunters keep trying the same things over and over again, hoping for different results. But, sadly, those results often don’t come.

For Sister Joyce, who has been turkey hunting since about 1996, she gets a bird about every other year she hunts. That’s a 50 percent success rate, almost double the statewide average of about 25 percent. So, congratulations to Sister Joyce on a well earned bird!

My turn comes Wednesday in Wisconsin. I’ve got some great properties to hunt, and I’m hoping the weather will cooperate. Right now, it looks like some storms are going to come in Tuesday night and possibly last into Wednesday morning. I will set up a blind this afternoon and wait out the rain on Wednesday. Doesn’t sound like it will rain all day, so the birds will move once it quits. But, it is supposed to warm up to 80 degrees or even a little more. Turkeys aren’t fond of extreme heat, yet they should be active at least in the morning.

And, I’ll be waiting for them!

Q: Do you have a turkey hunting story from this spring?

Several months ago, my wife Julie advised me to take a cell phone while on my 3-mile walk. Last night, I had to use it.

I was nearly halfway through when I felt pain in the middle toes of my right foot. Soon, it became very intense and I quickly realized I would not be able to walk on it much longer.

So, I pulled out the cell phone and dialed Julie’s number. Thankfully, she answered and I told her my plight. She said she would come right away.

I decided to hobble on, taking short, labored steps around the perimeter of a golf course. On a wooded portion across the street from the course, four whitetail deer fed silently in the grass.

I walked right past them at close range. They jerked their heads up and looked at me, but resumed feeding as I walked past. These semi-tame animals are nothing like their fully wild counterparts.

I wasn’t even 100 yards past the deer when Julie pulled up. I told her about the deer, and we drove up past them. Then, we continued on, turned around and pulled right up to them. I rolled down the passenger’s side window, and we enjoyed a few moments of watching the deer graze peacefully.

I was glad Julie got to witness the scene. Of course, I was even more grateful that she came to pick me up. The last time I didn’t finish a walk or run was in January of last year, when I severely sprained my left ankle and had to be driven home by a Good Samaritan.

I hope to try walking again tonight or tomorrow. But, I’m not going to push it. With my turkey hunt scheduled for next week, I’ll need to be able to do some walking to go after the birds. And, hopefully, I’ll walk out of the woods with a nice gobbler!