Jack Daniels If You Please

Looking out my window at the snow and sleet still covering the grass, I've pondered the recent events and the changes on the horizon. It has been said that the only constant in life is change, and as I get older, I believe age may speed up the perception of those changes.  

Back at the beginning of February, I again applied for the pot of leftover tags in Idaho to elk hunt.  The group of 4 of us had not drawn tags and we agree to put in the same areas and order.  We pulled the trigger and awaited our outcome again.  Finally, the email arrived and we were greeted with the bitter taste of disappointment once again.  It seems the changes nationally to the opportunities for elk now favor those that can afford, or are willing, to put in for and get points in multiple states over multiple years.  The states see the opportunity and require non-refundable licenses just to enter the draws.  I am old fashioned a bit, and it just rubs me the wrong way as hunting and fishing used to be things "everyday folks" could do without spending a small fortune.  I've been hunting "my way" for elk and have yet to harvest an animal in over 16 trips with my low-tech sticks.  I'm not complaining, but now it seems that if I need to spend that much money just to hunt, I am encouraged to use a weapon that will bring quicker success.  Well, that is not for me, and I'll likely not be making those trips again.  This year, we may try to get OTC deer tags and hunt in October since the 4 of us have licenses now, but I doubt I will be putting in for Idaho elk again.  Times have changed.

Back in my home state of Maryland, the assembly is busy passing laws that prohibit lead ammo for hunting and imposing a HUGE tax on ammunition as they continue the war on guns...an in-adamant object, while simultaneously attacking law enforcement all in the name of safety?  As it stands there is a recruitment problem with hunters.  Less and less hunters forced on dwindling lands and they decide to make it more expensive?!  This will only reduce future hunter recruitment and only serve to enrich the ammo and gear manufacturers while providing no real benefit to the environment.  How many shots does one take while hunting? What does it mean for those like me who want to use the flintlock.  I guess more inevitable and uncontrollable changes.

Recently, I decided to try to unplug and get away to a local trout stream to fish.  The DNR posted that they had stocked this stream with 500 fish just 2 weeks ago.  I set out with high hopes to try out some of my newly tied flies and practice my skills.  I was joined by my friend Mike, and we enjoyed a nice few hours knee deep in some cold clear water.  Well, it became obvious that there was no way DNR stocked that many fish.  I talked to close to 10 other fishermen and only one claimed to have even seen a single trout.  Lied to again.

All this makes one want to drink!  Well, instead I decided to tie up a few Jack Daniels pattern flies.  Dreaming of a time when I can get to a lonely piece of stream and try my luck on some fish.  Not buy them, but coax them in, to a homemade treat. Not sure that is a lot to ask. 

Winter Lock-in and Loss of my Last Private Hunting Area

I wanted to give an update since I have not posted since December, and lot of drama has ensued since then.  Usually, I would have posted some adventures and activities in the hunting realm by now seeing that Maryland's liberal seasons run through the first week of February these days for "primitive" archery.

First of all, fate conspired against me at the home front, when my next-door neighbor made it clear to my wife that she was enjoying feeding the deer and turkey and watching them from her driveway.  As a means to keep good will with her, my wife decided that I should no longer hunt on my 5-acre back woods.  

Near about the same time, another neighbor two houses over gave permission to an out-of-state crossbow hunter to hunt on the hill across from my cul-des-sac.  I had been keeping an eye on a large buck during the rut, and one morning I had a knock on my door from the fellow across.  He said he had shot a "large buck" the night before and wanted permission to look in my front woods for him.  He thought, "He made a good shot".  I helped him look but the deer was nowhere to be found.  This left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth but heck, anyone can make a bad shot even with technology.

Then, as the second muzzleloader season approached, I reached out to the landowner of the property I was allowed to bowhunt and told him I was excited to resume chasing deer there.  He informed me that he had a contractor working in the woods to start a solar farm on the fields, and that I wasn't allowed to hunt the remainder of the year and to find another spot in the future.  Dang, I was not a public land hunter 100%.

Not being one to be dissuaded, I decided to pour some effort into the public land hunting.  I went out and hunted hard an area I had hunted about 10 years before.  I saw limited sign, and only found one deer that I kicked out of very thick laurel.  This was going to be tough, but at least I could scout the rest of the year.

As I got home that morning and pulled back into my yard, there was something odd laying in my side yard.  I investigated and found a small buck that had been gut-shot, and the foxes had already started on the hind quarters.  I had seen the out-of-state hunter the night before parked.  He did it again, another poor shot and unrecovered deer.  Now, my deer-loving neighbor had not apparently seen this as I quickly disposed of the carcass, but she was already on a mission to petition all neighbors and ban hunting on the properties.  She was citing our covenant that had some vague verbiage about any activity that was deemed "offensive to the community."  I had hunted there for 15 years without incident or issue.  What a bummer.  I could say her concentrating the deer through my landscaping was "Offensive" to me, as well as the increasing likelihood of disease and tick illness spreading near my house...

Then, the winter weather closed in, and things have been pretty frozen and brutal of late, so I doubt I will get out again this season.

Meanwhile, our group failed to draw an Idaho elk tag as well.  So, we will try again for the leftover tags Feb 5th. Another blow.

I've still been shooting the bow when I can to keep sharp, but of late I have just been tying flies, making jerky, and working on some tallow soap in the future. Things are so frozen that fishing isn't even an option.  

I did manage to get another manuscript for an article in TBM accepted.  It will be a recipe article for making bone broth from deer bones.  

Also, around Valentines Day, I have a long weekend trip to Daytona beach, and I planned to bring my flyrod and try a little from the beach.  I was disgruntled to learn I would need a 3-day Florida fishing license, and even more shocked when I read that I could not purchase that online.  I will not have a vehicle to get to a retail outlet, so I guess I will not be fishing there either.  Wow, I would expect that kind of thing from Maryland, but not Florida.  Oh well, foiled for throwing a simple Clouser minnow in the surf by the bureaucratic red tape.   

I will be back at it and scouting the public land in the spring, but life has decided to throw some challenges.  I'm not complaining, as life goes on and these small things are but a "thing".  

Stay Safe my Friends!