End of Seasons
Let’s call it the end of the seasons. I fished the river twice this past week; once with Don and once by myself. The weather was great, but fishing was poor. Don and I came in with three saugers and one walleye and when I went by myself I kept two saugers. Frustrated, I put the boat away; end of the open water season.
Today was the end of the deer season. We had two weeks of incredibly nice weather. Our group ended up with four deer; could have had more, but we’ll leave them for next year.
On Thursday, Don and I took another ride down through the forest area. We didn’t see any deer in the forest, but did see a few ruffed grouse and got three. On our travels, we came upon an old fire tower with the trees growing up through the base and a dilapidated old cabin that we guessed was used by those manning the tower during fire season. That was kinda neat; it was a good day.
An Old Fire Tower
The Old Cabin
The Ruffed Grouse that kept me company by the deer stand
A little more deer hunting
I’m convinced that it is easier to get a deer with a rifle than with a camera. Saturday afternoon I had a beautiful eight point buck within ten yards of the deer stand. He came up from the blind side and was there when I first saw him. I made a slight move and he bounced off a few yards and then walked away with his tail standing straight up. It was a kodak moment that got botched. Sunday morning a nice doe stood broadside in the trail; first one side; then the other. The darn auto focus didn’t seem to work when I tried to use the zoom feature. I guess I’m not cut out to be a wildlife photographer.
Wally got a nice fork horn on Saturday morning. We are now four for four.
On Saturday after lunch, Wally, Nolan and I fished the river for a little over an hour. We caught about a dozen walleyes and saugers. We kept three small saugers and two nice walleyes; released the rest that were all small.
Wally with Nolan and Aviana
A nice doe
Timber Wolf
Thursday, Don and I took a ride in the forest area; not necessarily looking for something to shoot, but to see what we might see. We stopped three or four times to take short walks on some trails. One time I was standing on the road waiting for Don to come back and I saw something on the road. I didn’t have my gun with a scope, just my .410 bird gun and I just assumed it was a deer; but when we drove up to that spot, there were no deer tracks just wolf tracks. Then, several miles down the road, about 100 yards in front of the vehicle, out steps this big black timber wolf. Of course, he didn’t stand around long enough to pose for a picture, but we did get a good look at him. We did see three deer and four ruffed grouse for the day.
Deer season is going good. Gerry got a nice fork horn on Sunday morning. I got a doe and a bonus deer for the table on Saturday afternoon. Wally saw some deer over the weekend, but nothing that tempted him to shoot. Terry was not in the right place at the right time and didn’t see any.
Wally, Terry and I fished Saturday during the day for a couple hours and only caught one little sauger and a little walleye. Monday evening I fished for a couple hours and caught two little saugers; nothing to keep. Wednesday, I was seriously thinking of putting the boat away for the season, but gave the river another try. I fished late afternoon and caught five walleyes; kept three from 15″ to 18″ and released a 19″ & 26″. Surprise, surprise.
Sharp-tail Grouse
Diane and I took the opportunity to reserve an observation blind that the DNR has set up on a traditional dancing ground, that the sharp-tail grouse use to vie for a chance to mate. We were lucky, the weather today was perfect; it was going to be sunny with very little wind and temperature in the low thirties. We were up at 5:00 a.m. so that we could be at the blind by daylight. The birds were there when we arrived and they flushed, but returned as soon as we were in the blind. There were between fifteen and twenty grouse in front of us most of the time. We were in the blind for over an hour and the birds were there the entire time. They danced, spared, strutted around and sometimes just sat. It’s a beautiful and sometimes comical display.
Dancing Sharp-tail Grouse
Sharp-tail on their traditional dancing grounds
Winter Severity Index (WSI)
We are having, what one might say, is some good old fashion winter; cold and lots of snow. It was -40 this morning, give or take a degree or two and that’s not wind chill. The day time temperature may not reach -10.
I haven’t fished in nearly a month. We were gone over Christmas and the day we got back I came down with a cold. Then I find out that the river is a mess with slush all over; to much snow with not enough ice. It’s a good thing I had my little house propped up six inches because when I went down to check on it last week the water had come up to the runners and froze. Fishing reports I’m getting from on the river are not good; most of the time it’s one bite, one fish. Conditions on Lake of the Woods are better. I understand Adrian’s have their winter road out nine miles past Pine Island and the going is good. I haven’t heard much for fishing reports on the lake, but for most of the early winter season it was very good.
If this winter continues it may take a toll on the deer herd. The Minnesota DNR has a Winter Severity Index (WSI) that adds up the number of days the temperature is below zero and the number of days with 15 or more inches of snow on the ground. Any time the WSI exceeds 100 the winter becomes severe and the deer can suffer. Thus far this winter I understand that the index is not quite at 50, but it’s two points a day with the current weather so it won’t take long to reach 100. The last really hard winter was 1997 when the index reached 200 and many deer were lost.
Lots of Snow
One for the wall
Diane’s sister, Kathy, and her husband, Dustin, took a West Texas whitetail deer hunt over the Thanksgiving weekend. Kathy got the best of the guys; a nice buck that measured 156-5/8″ that I understand is very nice for a West Texas whitetail. This is Kathy’s first whitetail and one for the wall.
Ice fishing is close to being in full swing. Cold weather is making ice and the fish bite is good. Reports have about 10″ of ice on the Lake and the bite on the north side of Pine Island is terrific. Ice conditions on the Rainy River are spotty; some places have up to 8″ of ice, but there are still open holes up and down the river. I have found fishing to be a little spotty. The other morning I caught six walleyes in a little over an hour with three to big to keep; 20″-25″. Then yesterday afternoon I fished for an hour and never had a bite. I’ll blame it on the numerous weather changes we’ve been having lately.
Kathy with her nice West Texas Whitetail Buck
Making ice
Deer hunting is over, except for the muzzleloader season. I tried that once, but that year it was to cold and way to much snow so I’ve stayed with the regular rifle season; much better.
This year Wally got the best pictures again. I took a picture of a “big” buck standing broad side at about 75 yards, but the picture was blurry. I need a lesson on taking pictures, or maybe I was just shaking to much.
We are having good weather for making ice; cold and not much snow. I understand the lake has 4″ of ice minimum out to about a mile off Pine Island and Adrian’s have a road marked across Four Mile Bay. Travel is with ATV’s only. The river is frozen over, but there are open holes all over. It will be a few days before there is any ice fishing on the river. Fishing should be good as soon was we can get out there.
A doe and two fawns
A nice little buck walked under Wally’s stand
Deer Hunting
It has been a successful deer hunting season. There have been five of us hunting; Gerry & Wally; Terry from Bemidji, brother-in-law, Bob, from Colorado and myself. We’ve gotten nine deer; four bucks, four does and a button buck. The weekends were the most productive with seven of the nine deer gotten on the weekends. In between, it was pretty quiet; not much going on. Bob got a nice doe on opening day and Gerry got a buck on day two. On day eight, Wally and I got eight point bucks less than an hour apart.
Wally & Arvid with their eight-point bucks
MEA Weekend
It’s MEA weekend and the area has fishermen and bird hunters all over the place. It’s the busiest that I’ve seen the river in a long time.
On Friday, Willard and I went for a ride and a walk in the woods. The weather was good and it’s a great time of the year to be out in the woods. There doesn’t seem to be that many grouse; we only saw three and got two of them. We talked to a couple other parties and that seems to be what they were doing, also.
We got back to Willard’s late in the afternoon; added a little clothing and went fishing for a couple hours. Willard and I caught and kept three nice walleye and released a number of little ones. I had fished the river Thursday evening up by Hattie’s and brought nothing home. That’s not very good for this time of the year and I haven’t observed anybody else catching much of anything the past couple of days either. 
Willard with a nice 19″ walleye
Two ruffed grouse
Fall colors in the forest; Tamarack ready to drop their needles
Ice on the Bay
Happy Thanksgiving from sunny and cool Baudette. The overnight temperature got down to one degree and put ice on the Bay in front of the house. There has been a skim of ice a couple of times earlier, but warm weather and wind took it out. This ice may stay with cool temperatures in the forecast. With lots of current in the river ice may be a while in forming.
Deer hunting season has come and gone. It seems like everybody you talk to is wondering where the deer went after opening weekend. I can vouch for that as I saw only four deer after the first three days of the season. Only one, a nice eight-pointer at 15-20 yards, was a real good chance, but he was to small for the wall so I enjoyed the minute or two and let him walk off. I would have liked to have taken another deer, hopefully next year. 
Ice on the Bay on Thanksgiving Day
