Body found near Flood Bay; may be missing kayaker

The Duluth paper reported this morning that a body found near the Flood Bay wayside could be that of missing kayaker Doug Winter from Milwaukee. The location of the body would be consistent with the wind and waves over the past couple weeks based on his departure from Cove Point and also on the locations where much of his gear was found.

We won't know for sure until the coroner completes their investigation. In the interim, condolences and best wishes to Dougs family and his paddle companions down in Milwaukee

Keeping folks safe from themselves

Having lived in Minnesota since that cold weekend in 1978 when the Happy Warrior, Hubert H. Humphrey, was laid to rest, I am more than familiar with the tendencies of the state to zealously protect me from myself. In the latest head scratcher, the State of Minnesota is going to protect folks who visit food shelves from the lurking danger of invisible lead fragments in donated venison. When a deer is shot apparently very small, too small to be seen, particles of lead are sometimes found in the meat. Even though there is no evidence or research that indicates that this small amount of lead would be a problem, Minnesota government has leapt into action to keep this non problem at bay.

Chris Niskanen wrote about the issue in the St Paul paper today. I can't put it any more succinctly so here's Chris's take on the situation: "One state will account for more than 300,000 pounds of donated venison to food shelves, with no reported illnesses in a decade of operation. In the other state, only about 18,000 pounds will go to food shelves; no one has reported becoming ill there either. One state's donation program manager says, "People have been eating venison for hundreds of years, and we haven't had anybody with any lead issues." The other state's manager says, "We consider this a potentially serious problem."

Can you guess which state is which".

I'll bet you can. Wisconsin hunters donate 300,000 pound of some of the finest meat available to folks who need it. As many of you know, the culling of deer on Sand and York Islands in the Apostles is going on, quite successfully given the recent weather, and virtually all of those deer have been donated to area food shelves. That would not be the case here in the State Where Nothing is Allowed (thanks to J. Soucheray for that phrase). Venison is super lean, healthy, and environmentally sound. Its 'grass fed' (with a bit of corn and soybeans from time to time), the animals aren't fed antibiotics or growth hormones, and have virtually no fat. They are also not raised in a feedlot with serious groundwater runoff and even more serious odor and solid waste issues.

We hunters at Reefer Creek butcher our own deer and I've mentioned the construction of the new 'cut up shack' which some say is resembling a honeymoon cottage due to extravagant upgrades. We feel that doing it ourselves insures that hair, fat, and damaged meat are removed from the venison before it goes into the freezer or to the butcher to produce the savory sausage that the young man in the image above is devouring. I hesitate to mention more careful processing here in Minnesota because it easily could result in the Safe Venison Processing Act, passed by both bloated houses in the state legislature and signed by the governor using the tried and true 'what about the children?' justification. The State would then form the Venison Inspection Division of the Minnesota Department of Human Services to monitor butchers and folks like us. The Venison Tax would be instituted to pay for it and x ray inspection stations would be set up which would sell us a 'passed stamp' if our venison was lead free. We could then expand the program to ducks and small game that might have a pellet present in the meat. Or we could examine the ridiculous, "We consider this to be a potentially serious problem" mind set, ask that research and evidence be produced, or just be like Wisconsin and let the venison flow to the food shelves.

It seems to me that the benefit far outweighs the advantage. I fear that argument does not carry much weight with the bureaucrats that are protecting us from ourselves. Things like Olestra with its 'minor' side effect of 'anal leakage' (!!??) can slide.... sorry, couldn't resist... on to the market but a food that we've been harvesting and eating for centuries is questioned? I worry about the next hazard I'll be protected from.

Kayak Review

The Docksha IV Double by CampO Kayaks

Length: about 8 feet long
Width: about 5 feet wide
Weight: seems like a ton

Reviewers:

MFSL: 6'1" 170# extremely white male.

POD: 6'2" 185# (plus Leinenkugels) very hirsute male

The Review: The Docksha IV is made of untreated wood and large 30 gallon drums wired underneath. Initial stability is phenomenal. Cockpit is amazingly roomy and laybacks, laydowns, and even the occasional nap works perfectly fine. Unfortunately, it doesn't track worth a damn and even those whitewater boats that closely resemble a clown shoe go straighter than this thing. Acceleration is sluggish at best. Paddle float and bilge pump are not needed to reenter this craft. Gear capacity is absolutely unlimited. No rolls were attempted although the comment was made that even Dubside couldn't roll this thing. Due to the similar size of the initial reviewers, the KingOfIronwoodIsland, 4'11", 155#, also paddled the craft. He commented that he couldn't afford it anyway due to catastrophic losses at the poker table much, much earlier that same morning. He also liked the wooden grab lines and felt they were a classy touch. The downside of this boat is that it takes 8 guys and a tractor to land. Weather was also a factor in this review, with 2" of new snow and 32F (oC) temps making the trials a bit uncomfortable.


Manufacturers Response: "I was just happy to get the reviewers out of the bar and down to the lake for the trial. Since this particular craft only moves about 50 yards, two times a year, we are more than happy with this less than stellar review. Although there was some cold water rolling of those skinny British boats by three idiots amid the snow flurries, most of us were very content watching from the top of the hill with an adult beverage in hand".

Idiot's Response: "Water temp was 42F (5C) which caused an instant ice cream headache. Lake Superior was actually 6F degrees warmer. The sauna however, was 175F (80C), a crucial element of the cold water rolling experience".

Tree sitting time is here

Few things are more puzzling to non hunters than how a person can sit up in a tree for hours on end. I don't know if its because of the cold, the lack of entertainment, potential danger, or the perceived boredom. It can be brisk up there, I generally don't bring a hand held video game or battery operated TV, and old guys climbing in and out of little platforms 15' above the ground might be perceived as tempting fate. I find it anything but boring however.

There is constant drama in the woods. Our camp happens to be situated on the western end of Lake Superior and many birds migrating down the north shore find the dozen or so miles of open water to be just the spot from them to 'cut the corner' on the lake. Its amazing how many different birds a person can see if they are sitting quietly up in a tree. Mammals are constantly on the move as well. Porkies, fisher, squirrels, ermine, bear, otter, wolves, deer, and even a wolverine a few years back, have been seen from the many tree stands at the Reefer Creek camp. A person can even get some woodland drama from time to time. I watched a industrious red squirrel moving corn from a small pile to one of his many burrows. When he would run back to the burrow, a couple of blue jays would swoop down and eat a couple kernels and then fly back up to a small bush when Mr. Squirrel came racing back to the pile, chastising them in squirrel language. The jays would squawk back and this went on for several minutes. Unfortunately for the squirrel, I was not the only witness to the scenario. All of a sudden the woods erupted and before I knew it, a hawk was climbing past my stand, within 6' of me, with poor Mr Squirrel in his talons. If I'd just pulled up my camera and shot, I would have had one of the coolest hawk shots of all time but I was simply mesmerized by the event.

Like kayaking, safety is an issue and todays Mpls paper had a great article on how not to fall out of your tree. I may need to get one of those sophisticated vests since I have a tendency to doze from time to time in the tree. I am securely buckled in with a seat belt but this apparatus looks like it might be just the thing for more comfortable snoozing.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this weekend will be a multitaking event with some kayaking, grouse chasing, and perhaps some quality tree time. For me and a number of my cronies, it marks the official end of the Gitchee Gumee padding season for 2009. Our Gales of November event remains (Tuesday, Nov 10th folks??) but that is on an inland lake.

Doug Winter update: It appears that Dougs paddle and gps have been found. We hope for the best but fear the worst.

Doug Winter update

Searchers found Doug's life jacket yesterday near Split Rock. This would make sense, according to the article, which said that the winds were strong out of the northeaset, classic 'Gales of November' contitions in October. They said the zipper and straps were not fastened. The Milwaukee paper also is covering the accident, with some insight from our buddy Silbs.