Seasons should change and so should beer

Last evening about 5pm I received a call from RonO inquiring about attending hotdish night at Grumpy's Bar, our unofficial 'clubhouse' and the finest neighborhood bar in Minneapolis. I passed however, as the VOR and I were ferrying GalwayGuy and GuitarMatt's '91 Toyota (212,000 miles) up to Mora, MN for some needed rejuvenation. Unfortunately when we stopped for gas, steam began rising from under the hood and coolant began dripping on to the ground. This meant, of course, that we needed to postpone the Mora trip and head to Grumpys. A quick call to RonO and zero arm twisting made him postpone his workout plans and head for the bar. When we arrived we were all pleasantly surprised to see that the 2008-09 Summit Winter Ale had made its debut among the tap handles.

I love the change of beers almost as much as I love the change of seasons. Hell for me would be living in San Diego, drinking Budweiser 365 days a year. When fall comes, I look forward to the crisp, malty Octoberfest beers almost as much as I anticipate the leaves changing and the beginning of the hunting season. Winter brings cross country and telemark skiing as well as the winter ales and spiced winter warmers that go down well in front of the fire when its -10F outside. Spring brings the start of kayak season, open water fishing, and the malt laden goodness of the bocks and the alcoholic power of the mai bocks. Kayaking is going full bore in the summer as is the hefe weizen and light, crisp wheat beers with the low alcohol content.

Maybe I have a short attention span or maybe I'm just used to the changes in the seasons after half a century of dealing with it. I have come to realize that I can't live without it however and that, unlike my father, I will never embrace the snowbird lifestyle of migrating south in the winter. When we had phone conversations during his Phoenix winters toward the end of his life, he would alway begin with the weather report. "I went outside in my shorts this morning and picked a grapefruit off the tree for breakfast" was a typical opening comment. I'd always detect a bit of wistful longing however, when I'd give him the up north report. Catching a mess of nice bluegills through the ice or talk of perfect snow at Mt Telemark would always get him going with questions, comments and other indications that maybe he'd like to be back up here in the winter, if only for a week or so. He was always seemed utterly at home on a frozen lake, sitting on an upside down plastic bucket in his WWII sheepkin lined flight suit, jigging for the elusive hand sized bluegills. I think that's where my winter loving gene came from and I gotta thank him for it.

Bughead on Lake Superior

First of all, I need to apologize for passing on that weather forecast for gale force winds and 9'-11' (3-4M) seas at the end of my last post. I should have remembered my own rule for fall and winter storms: The length of time spent talking about the storm is inversely proportional to the severity of the storm. This 'major storm' had been talked about since Tuesday and, of course, fizzled out like a cheap Chinese firecracker string. The famous Halloween Blizzard of '91 on the other hand, began as a rainstorm with a minimum of weather hype and we wound up with 36" (1m) of snow. To the best of my knowledge, this rule has never been broken in the field of weather forecasting in the Lake Superior basin. This meant of course, that I did get to paddle this weekend and try out my brand spankin' new Bughead tuliq that arrived in the mail last week.

I've kept my eyes open for a 3mm neoprene tuliq for the Q boat and a couple folks mentioned Bughead. A couple others suggested I could make my own. The thought brought back childhood memories of building such famous WWII battleships as the Graf Spee, Bismarck, USS Missouri, and the Yammamoto. I remember reeling down the hall to the dinner table, intoxicated on Testors glue fumes, on a number of occasions. As much as I'd love to repeat that fine experience with the neoprene cement, I knew I didn't have the time or temperament to complete such a project and that it likley would qualify for the 'irregular' rack once it was done. I finally looked at the Bughead website as the weather grew colder, gave them a call and left a message on the machine. The fact that at least a half dozen people I know were featured in the 'raves' section of the site increased my confidence in the product. Scott, one of the owners, actually called me back promptly when he got my message. The proper sizes were communicated, PayPal activated, and a couple weeks later I had my tuliq. Its a nice gray color that almost perfectly matches the deck of the Q boat. The VOR says that when I go seal hunting the seals won't stand a chance because I have the same color scheme as a Navy destroyer, a stealthy gray that blends in with the water and sky on these cool, overcast, almost November days.

There were no seals near Port Wing on Lake Superior Saturday however. I'd left the hunting camp when Pod and TheKingOfIronwoodIsland headed to their bowstands. I had the Port Wing marina all to myself; all the boats were out of the water and the only souls around were a mother and her young son strolling on the breakwater. There was an offshore wind and the water was a bit nippy, just the thing to test out my new piece of gear. To begin with, everything fit. The stout spray skirt bead fit my cockpit coaming perfectly, the sleeves were long enough for my gorilla arms, and the hood fit my XL noggin just fine. The hood has a unique cinch system. Unlike most tuliqs, the cinch is at the bottom of the hood and there are velcro pull tabs to help seal the hood to the corners of the eyes. I paddled out of the breakwater where the Flag River entered the lake and saw the little boy and his mom at the very end. I waved at the little guy and as he waved back I went over. This was my very first time with a 3mm tuliq and I was amazed at how I couldn't feel the cold water, other than on my face and hands which were freezing. I didn't feel any water coming in and continued to do a variety of rolls. I even did a couple of fairly decent static braces, although with the 2'-3' seas I did get a face full a few times. I had the camera along and tried a crook of the elbow roll with the camera in my hand instead of my trusty seal skinning knife and you can see the results below.

I love the tuliq and plan in giving it a good workout at the Annual Grouse Slaughter at CampO this weekend. As I've mentioned before, no grouse have been harmed for years at this event but its an excellent official start of the serious deer hunting season as well as the site of the famous Mimosa Political Debate on Saturday morning during election years. The tuliq should keep me warm in these cold water rolling exercises and is a great great addition for the serious Lake Superior paddler.

The wave detector cometh

It would appear that the Meyers Beach area of the Apostle Island National Lakeshore will have a "real time wave detector" by next paddling season. A grant was applied for by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the amount of $29,995 was awarded back in early summer. The Park Service, Wisconsin Sea Grant and the Friends group are all pitching in on this project.

I confess to never have heard of a wave detector. When an internet search is performed, most of the entries talk about tsunami wave detectors. From the attached article, comments from the park, and a look at the press release from the Governors office announcing the grant awards, it looks like this would involve a buoy of some sort near the sea caves and a monitor, perhaps both at Meyers Beach and park HQ. The purpose of the system is scientific monitoring, perhaps similar to what we now see when we look at DISW3 on Devils Island, only with up to the second wave height info. I would hope, like the weather stations (especially the beloved buoy 45006), we Lake Superior junkies could access it on the net. The other stated purpose is to make inexperienced kayakers and other users more familiar with the conditions at the sea caves and help them make a more informed decision about whether or not to launch that day.

Whether that will work or not is the question I am trying to get my brain around. I have no idea what a real time wave detector goes for and I don't think they sell em at Midwest Mountaineering or REI. My guess is the 29 large awarded in the grant is seed money and that a bit more cash will be requred. While I believe it will most certainly 'work' to deliver the promised information, I'm not quite as confident that the information will be used by the general public to decide whether or not to paddle out to the caves. As many readers know, there have been two kayaking fatalities at the caves in the past few of years. Prudent and experienced paddlers in the area know that the launch at Meyers Beach is sheltered to a certain extent by Squaw Point and that once you get into the open lake with its 40 mile fetch from Duluth, things can get significantly nastier. Currently there is a NPS employee stationed at Meyers Beach during the busy paddling season, informing people about the paddle out to the caves. Would an automated wave detector reinforce what the park folks are telling people or would they likely go anyway? Also hard to tell. A few years back in June, I ran into a character with a 12' rented rec boat, no spray skirt, dressed in shorts and sandals. He watched me go over in the surf on my way in (dressed in wet suit, pfd, et al) and still insisted he was going to the caves. I persuaded him to change his plans by suggesting we continue the conversation while he stood knee deep in the lake. I think that feeling his lower legs go numb (and visualizing what it would feel like when he got crotch deep) made him decide that a more sheltered paddle really might be a good idea. We males, of course, are the worst offenders when it comes to bullheaded-ness and ignoring valuable advice....or directions.

I guess I need to see more info on the wave detector, what it can and can't do, and how it will be utilized before I formulate any opinion. I still like the idea of a ranger at the beach and despair about how stubborn, ignorant, unaware of their surroundings, and blissfully unconcerned some people are about their own well being. This ignoring of the obvious often puts others in danger when their sorry asses need to be rescued. I hope the wave detector is a success and I'll be interested to hear more about it. Meanwhile, I am off to the hunting camp, kayak on the roof, to hunt some more grouse, work on some deer stands, and paddle the mouth of the Brule River a bit. If the wave detector were in operation this weekend, here is the Sunday near shore forecast. Being a prudent and safe individual, I won't paddle but I sure wanna see it! Be sure to check buoy 45006 on Sunday!

.SATURDAY NIGHT...WEST WINDS 15 TO 25 KNOTS INCREASING TO GALES
TO 35 KNOTS AFTER MIDNIGHT. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS.
WAVES BUILDING TO 5 TO 8 FEET.
.SUNDAY...NORTHWEST GALES TO 40 KNOTS. A CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS.
WAVES BUILDING TO 9 TO 12 FEET.

Attempting to teach an old dog new tricks

This weekend the lure of the hunting camp finally got my butt out of the kayak seat. We headed north to Reefer Creek to move a few deer stands, check out the 40's that the aspen was taken off last winter, and attempt to shoot a grouse or two. Rookie the wonder dog was going to experience his first grouse hunt at age 9.

The Rook was raised in Bismarck, ND and has not been hunting before. He's not a fan of loud noises, especially thunder, and will attempt to hide in the bathroom with his rather large head jammed between the toilet and the wall; his reaction to a shotgun blast was an unknown. As far as I can tell there are no hunting dog genes in him at all, just some Australian Shepherd, Rottweiler, and probably two dozen other off breeds. I figured this year would be a good time to attempt the experiment. The Ruffed Grouse, or Partridge as its commonly referred to, are on a roughly 10 year population cycle. No one has figured out what causes the cycle and but its suspected that a number of factors contribute. All we know is that a lot of drumming in the spring usually means lots of birds in the fall and we heard a lot of drumming this spring; we're likely on the climb toward the top of the cycle.

The northwoods are beautiful this time of the year and I wish I could bottle the smell for when the muddy month of March rolls around. The Rook and I set off on an amble through the woods on a picture perfect fall day and checked out our timber sale. We looked at the new growth in the cut over area, made sure the white pine seedlings that were planted are flourishing, and headed into the thick stuff where the grouse are known to hang out. Rookie had his nose down and was acting very interested in something when I heard the grouse. When it flushed the Rook saw it and took off after it. The grouse made the fatal mistake of heading straight away down the trail and I dropped it. It hit the ground, bounced up and attempted to fly when Rookie jumped like one of those trained frisbee dogs, and grabbed it right out of the air. When I got to him he had it firmly in his mouth and was laying down, preparing to eat the bird on the spot. The only problem was that I was planning on eating it as well. It was a standoff; he had the bird clamped in his jaws and I was attempting to remove it any way that I could. The phrases 'give' and 'drop it' were not part of his understood vocabulary, which consists of 'food', 'wanna come with?', and sometimes 'sit' and 'lay down'. No, he was not planning on giving me the grouse and growled his disapproval. When I pulled out a venison beer stick, a delicacy he loves, and waved it under his nose, his ears went straight up and you could see a fine line of dog drool trickling out of the corner of his mouth. He still would not drop the grouse however. I finally grabbed his lower jaw in the back of his mouth and forced him to drop the bird. He looked at me, growled, and promptly ate the beer stick. It didn't seem like he even heard or paid attention to the shot, which was not very loud anyway since I shoot a 28 gauge. He definitely heard the gun when I shot the second bird though.

This time I saw the bird in a thicket and Rookie did not. When it flew I shot it and the dog was behind me. On the first bird I shot right over his head like a person would with a 'real' bird dog but on this one he was behind me. The GurneyGranny, back at camp practicing with her new bow, said she figured I was right down by the creek since Rookie was back in camp about 60 seconds after she heard the shot. After I shot, I turned to see if he had any interest in the retrieval and saw him heading back down the trail toward camp at cruising speed. GurneyGranny speculated that since the male brain is unable to multitask, his focus on the first bird precluded him from being afraid of or even noticing the shot. Its kind of like when we guys walk past the sink full of dirty dishes to get to the beer cooler; we see it but our mind is on the task at hand. Sounded logical to me, I guess.

It was a wonderful day in the woods in any event and the Rook was tired and content. When I cleaned the grouse I gave him a wing to play with, a tradition with the real hunting dogs at camp. He promptly ate it. I'm not sure what I'll do with him next weekend because I worry what will happen if I'm a far distance from camp. The Podman saw two timber wolves from his bowstand (we have our own little sub pack on the land) and if they caught our overweight specimen waddling back to camp after being scared by a loud noise it could go bad for the Rook. But I'm not worrying about that now. I'm actually anticipating cooking (and eating) tonights supper......

Take two grouse breasts, open them up, and roll up your favorite dressing up in the breasts. Hold them together by wrapping a strip (or two) of bacon around them. Bake covered for 45 minutes and uncovered for another 15 at 350F. Make a white sauce with 2 TBSP flour and 2 TBSP butter. Stir in 3/4 C chicken broth and 1/2 C half and half or cream. Pour over the grouse breasts and serve with fall squash, a salad, and a fine Chenin Blanc.

A fall meal just doesn't get any better.

Lions and tigers and BEARS, oh my!

Its been an interesting bear year in the northland. The bottom line is that there are a lot more bears than anyone suspected and now, thanks to Friends groups and three kayaking clubs, there are a lot more bear boxes in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Three kayak clubs from Chicago and the Twin Cities stepped up with donations and the National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation and Friends of the Apostle Islands matched those funds. There are now bear boxes at Lighthouse Bay on Sand, the mainland campsite near the caves, Trout Point on Stockton, Outer, Michgan, Otter, Cat, Basswood(2), and at the Stockton-Presque Isle dock. As a participant in a number of memorable and potentially dangerous bear bag hangings at 75% of the mentioned locations, I think its really great that the boxes are there, both for happy hour impaired bear bag hoisters as well as the bears themselves. There is still a need for about a dozen more at various sites, especially Ironwood, Rocky, and South Twin locations but it was a pretty good summer for bear box installations.

The box at the lone site on Manitou Island has not deterred our bruin friend that lives out there however. I received a press release and there was an article in the Ashland Daily Press saying that the island had been closed again. There was one clarification needed in that the article stated that the island had been closed in August due to the same bear. In fact it had been closed to overnight campers for the better part of the summer; day visitors were welcome until it started hanging around the historic fish camp. Shortly after the VOR, GalwayGuy, the KingOfIronwoodIsland, and I had camped there in early May the island was closed not reopened to overnight visitors. The photo above is of the bear in question as he sat 20 yards from our camp working on an anthill. He didn't seem real concerned that we were there and that is the root of his problem.

The question at this point is what to do about the bear. In the old days bears were trapped and relocated. A few years back we noticed an increase in aggressive bear activity at our hunting camp. The bears were not really afraid of people, would stage false charges on occasion, and just generally seemed to be more common in the area. It turned out our area in a very remote part of the county was the problem bear dump off spot. All this relocation scheme did was move the problem to a different spot and its likely several of the bears wandered back to where they came from anyway. Shooting the bear would be another solution. There is a legal bear hunt on the islands but the bears are typically small and the logistics of getting a deceased bruin off the island is problematic. I'm not sure how you get a permit but I took a quick look at the regulations and feel legal help might be needed to figure it out. I also understand there is a waiting list jor lottery to get one of these permits. I am not a bear hunter. In Wisconsin for some incomprehensible reason, you can still hunt bears with dogs. Many times we've been sitting at camp in August when a howling pack of semi retarded hounds comes loping through, 'training' for the bear season. This canine trespass doesn't seem to bother the owners of the mutts much since they are usually driving around in a gigantic pickup or SUV listening for the direction the dogs went. Recently a bear in north central Minnesota got a pail stuck on its head. It had to be shot when it wandered into a town festival in Frazee, MN and the outcry was worldwide. My guess is that executing our buddy on Manitou would provoke a similar knee jerk response.

Hell, I don't know what to do. Its aggravating that one bear can close an island visited by 2000-3000 people each year. From its relatively large size one would guess it might have came from the mainland but who knows? It's very likely that its lack of fear of humans is because some idiot gave it a Twinkie and its come to associate people with food. And if one bear can close an entire island think about what could happen next summer. "Sorry sir, we only have permits for Otter, Cat, and Ironwood. All the other islands are experiencing bear activity and are closed for overnight camping". Richard Nelson, a Wisconsin boy, wrote an excellent book on deer in American called Heart and Blood. In it he talks about the explosion of the deer population and the myriad of methods that have been used to control it. The bottom line is that the only effective method has been controlled hunts. Maybe that's the best solution for aggressive bears in areas frequented by the public. Combined with more education and heavy fines for feeding animals and leaving garbage around camps, it might be the solution for problem bears and also the attitude that created the problem bears in the first place. But we certainly don't need to see a bear executed for behavior that some knucklehead likely taught it in the first place. The park service plans to work on some behavior modification over the next few months to turn the bear back into a model bear citizen, one that is skittish of humans and avoids them when ever possible. Best of luck to them. Anyone got any better ideas??