Ottertail Country

Ottertail Country
Ottertail South

April 29, 2009

Hailee and hunting.....

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Hailee spent several days with us while we were on layoff. I mean furlough..... here we are looking at pictures of dogs, of all things, on the computer. I was showing here how to use the mouse and such, with mixed success.




Then she helped granny take out a reconsidered knitting job and ended up with all the used yarn on her head. It reminded me of raspberry flavoredRamen noodles.




We also spent some time outside hauling firewood from the edge of the yard to the outdoor stove. I think we were just done with an awesome bit of running when this picture was taken. Or some other heroic endeavor.




Yes, we were still firing the stove at that point. I think it was the week of April 13-17. We were nearly out of wood, then decided to cut up some windfall items at the edge of the lawn to extend the burn as things did not seem to be warming up much.




Starting on the 15th I was turkey hunting. Here is the view from the blind looking southeast. A couple of times I was startled by that decoy when I would look in that direction. I'm probably not as smart as most turkeys....




Here's a look at the blind from 'decoy distance'. Apparently, the turkeys would rather see a big, non-defined blob than something that looked like an enemy.







I had decoys set out about 25 yards away in three directions. I went out to the blind while it was still dark, having set out the decoys late in the preceding evening. I took some coffee, a couple of donuts, and a summer sausage sandwich. I did have some action with calling and having a bird answer and eventually come in. It acted like a tom, all fluffed up and tail spread, but it had no beard or wattles on the head. It never approached the decoy, so I'm not sure what it was. I have since read on the web of others seeing a hen turkey acting like a tom on occasion.




The decoys looked pretty real, although the realism doesn't play into it much. I have seen some decoys of other animals the I would have thought were a joke, but the general shape seems to do it. Well, I had no luck in getting a tom turkey this year, but I had a good time.




Early morning light makes for some interesting looks. I could not resist the silver maple shadow on the garage wall. Blow this one up and see the nicely defined shadow of a robin on the extreme right.....

That's it for now,

I gotta go, Carlo



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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hurrah for more pictures. Hailee is surely growing up and looks more and more like her Grandma Peggy. Nothing much new in Milwaukee. Margaret and Liz were both here for awhile today. It was a cold day tho. Not at all like spring.

Lc

yram said...

those decoys look kinda stupid? you look like a real grandpa! is that what Hailee calls you?? heehee
the shot of the tree and robin is nice.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Hailee sure is growing fast... and is a ton of fun. There isn't much that she won't try/can't do now... Most of the time Hailee calls Gene "Papa Gene"....and yes, he is actually acting like a "real grandpa"... and that's really fun, even just to watch them having fun together.

more later... looks like it could be a beautiful day.
hugs ps

Anonymous said...

Hailee sure looks like her Grandma Peggy!!! Seems like everyone had fun!!! Kristi