The 2009 Firearms Deer Hunting Season began yesterday, November 7th here on Oak Point. Lots of hunters in blaze orange were out. I counted 4 separate parties along the first mile of the Oak Point Road by mid morning. Roughly Minnesota sells close to 500,000 Deer Hunting Licenses per year with an estimated 200,000 deer harvested annually. Not a great success ratio here. However I think it is more about getting together with family and friends then the actual harvest. The family tradition all begins here in the north woods. Special meals, cribbage and stories are a part of the hunting traditions. Many of the local communities have "Hunters Supper", Cass Lake Chamber had a Chile Supper Friday evening at the Legion with numerous prizes to be given away. Many vendors have the "Biggest Buck/Doe" contests. By early next week I will know more about the local successes. Our early morning walkers decided to take a few days off until the excitement ends. The season in our area runs through Sunday November 22nd.
I heard a story earlier in the week about the "Three Buck Stand". A few years ago a group was hunting in stands out on "Oak Point" when one of there members saw a big buck deer come slowly into view. The hunter had to wait for a clear shot at this nervous deer. After what seemed like a long time. The deer finely walked into a clearing for a clean shot. The first buck was had. Then the hunter relaxed and let some time pass. But before he could get out of his stand to check on his first deer, yet another buck showed up just about as nice as the first one. Now after that one was shot the hunter was real excited. Never before had he shot two bucks with in ten minutes. You can probably guess the rest of the story, number three buck showed up with in a few minutes and that is how this particular stand is known as the "Three Buck Stand". The legend lives on.
Sometime during the last week/ten days the Leech Lake Loons have disappeared and did not tell us that they were leaving. Leech Lake has a number of our official state birds call the Common Loon, Gavia immer. The Minnesota birds migrate every October and fly 1,100 to 1,300 miles to the Gulf areas. They will return in late April or early May when the ice goes out. Loons take about 4 years before they reach breeding maturity and typically lay only two eggs. Both the female and male incubate the eggs and yes, the chicks do ride the back of their parents for a few weeks, I have seen this. Loons can live up to 15 to 20 years. On many a warm summer night we can hear the call of the loons which is music to our ears. Minnesota has about 10,000 adult birds in total with most of them living in the north woods lakes region.
Our graceful mighty oak trees that are the name sake for our area of Leech Lake have one minor drawback this time of the year. Their leaves. The leaves are as hardy as the wood, they are slow to drop from the trees and they don't deteriorate very fast. I mulch, rake and blow with my backpack blower and I still have my neighbor Dennis Yepma come by on Friday to pick up the leaves with his machine. I still have some leaves left in my yard trees and some more will blow in, but they will have to wait until spring. The oak wood heats our home every evening this time of the year.
Meteorologist Paul Douglas writes a piece on local Minnesota weather on http://www.minnpost.com/ that I like to read. Last week he forecast the great weather we had this weekend, but he also wrote about the normal November weather. Typically November is the second cloudiest and the third snowiest month of the year. Now that is depressing. However I am still excited and thankful about the great weather we are having today and yesterday. Yesterdays 60 degree day was the warmest day we have had since September.
The supervisor for the Oak Point Road project, who talked to us just about every day when we were walking, told us that they were stopping the project for the winter. Our road is in fairly good shape as long as it remains frozen. Just have to drive slower.
I heard a story earlier in the week about the "Three Buck Stand". A few years ago a group was hunting in stands out on "Oak Point" when one of there members saw a big buck deer come slowly into view. The hunter had to wait for a clear shot at this nervous deer. After what seemed like a long time. The deer finely walked into a clearing for a clean shot. The first buck was had. Then the hunter relaxed and let some time pass. But before he could get out of his stand to check on his first deer, yet another buck showed up just about as nice as the first one. Now after that one was shot the hunter was real excited. Never before had he shot two bucks with in ten minutes. You can probably guess the rest of the story, number three buck showed up with in a few minutes and that is how this particular stand is known as the "Three Buck Stand". The legend lives on.
Sometime during the last week/ten days the Leech Lake Loons have disappeared and did not tell us that they were leaving. Leech Lake has a number of our official state birds call the Common Loon, Gavia immer. The Minnesota birds migrate every October and fly 1,100 to 1,300 miles to the Gulf areas. They will return in late April or early May when the ice goes out. Loons take about 4 years before they reach breeding maturity and typically lay only two eggs. Both the female and male incubate the eggs and yes, the chicks do ride the back of their parents for a few weeks, I have seen this. Loons can live up to 15 to 20 years. On many a warm summer night we can hear the call of the loons which is music to our ears. Minnesota has about 10,000 adult birds in total with most of them living in the north woods lakes region.
Our graceful mighty oak trees that are the name sake for our area of Leech Lake have one minor drawback this time of the year. Their leaves. The leaves are as hardy as the wood, they are slow to drop from the trees and they don't deteriorate very fast. I mulch, rake and blow with my backpack blower and I still have my neighbor Dennis Yepma come by on Friday to pick up the leaves with his machine. I still have some leaves left in my yard trees and some more will blow in, but they will have to wait until spring. The oak wood heats our home every evening this time of the year.
Meteorologist Paul Douglas writes a piece on local Minnesota weather on http://www.minnpost.com/ that I like to read. Last week he forecast the great weather we had this weekend, but he also wrote about the normal November weather. Typically November is the second cloudiest and the third snowiest month of the year. Now that is depressing. However I am still excited and thankful about the great weather we are having today and yesterday. Yesterdays 60 degree day was the warmest day we have had since September.
The supervisor for the Oak Point Road project, who talked to us just about every day when we were walking, told us that they were stopping the project for the winter. Our road is in fairly good shape as long as it remains frozen. Just have to drive slower.
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