Deer hunting 2013

I love to deer hunt.  Its something I learned how to do and fell in love with while in college at WVU.  I have shot a fair number of deer over the years, and some of them fairly nice size.  I can now field dress, skin, and butcher my own deer.  I then take the meat and process most into jerky.  Unline some hunters, I'm not into spending my entire Fall chasing deer.  As a result, I haven't gotten into bow hunting, and I don't own a muzzleloader.  Maybe some day, when I have more time.  So, I focus my effort on rifle season in Maryland.  The season lasts a total of 15 days, and make that 13 days for hunting public land (no Sundays).  My wife gives me the grace to disappear for 6 consecutive days, 5 of which I spend out in the field.  I stay at the camper, and my goal is to take at least one deer, and to put meat in the freezer.  I'm no longer particular like I used to be when it comes to my choice of deer.  I can't put up a permanent tree stand and I don't do climbers, so I am now hunting on the ground.  I will happily take a doe, and I'll gladly take a small one. That said,..

I got down to Deal Island Sunday afternoon and it was really cold.  After putting up my ground blind, I went to evening church at Faith Independent in Wenona.  A small gathering of folks but most went out of there was to make me feel welcome, and I am certain that I stuck out like a sore thumb.  Monday 4:20 AM came early, and I had to scrape significant ice off my windshield before leaving the camper at 4:55.  By 5:25 I was in ground blind, which I had decided to use for some morning hunting.  My evening plan was to hunt the main field, sitting on my bucket.  Monday was a blank, as was Tuesday, which was slightly warmer.  The attached photo shows all of my hunt spots.  Fast forward to Wednesday morning, where I was hunting in the upper left corner of the field.  I had hunted here Monday night, and seen deer after 5:15, about 250-300 yrds down the field, too far and dark to take a shot.  Wed. was overcast and upper 40's.  No breeze, and it was actually quite pleasant.   It was a quiet morning, with nothing moving.  I had the entire area to myself, which was nice.  Just before 9AM, when I was considering to leave, I pulled out my phone to check messages, read email, and a quick look at facebook.  As soon as I put the phone away at 9:15, two young doe popped out of the entrance to the impoundment, 130 yards away.  I raised my M1903 onto my tripod and took aim on the larger of the two, then squeezed the trigger.  CLICK!  Apparently, I had neglected to chamber a round after loading the rifle.  So, I pulled back the bolt to find that the next round was jammed.  Oh crap!!  I quickly cleared the jam and got a bullet chambered.  The deer had somehow decided to ignore all of the noise I was sure to have been making and were still standing perpendicular to to me, providing a perfect shot.  This time it all went right, and hit the targeted deer at the beck of the neck, severing its spinal cord and dropping it right on the spot.  A PERFECT KILL.

Within 3 hours, I had the deer gutted, tagged, checked in, transported to the truck, back to the camper, hung up, skinned, butchered, processed, bagged and in the freezer.  Hey, time to hunt the afternoon.  Fast forward to Thursday, which was much warmer and rainy.  And foggy.  Nothing, hunting down at the far right corner of the field although I did see a deer come out there Wednesday evening for a brief second.  Friday was also a bust, although I ended my week hunting down at Pinky's, on Deal Island.  I will spend some more evenings at Pinky's,  I like the layout and it is 3 minutes from my camper.  Final thought:  These deer go almost totally nocturnal come December.  Delaware shotgun season captures more of the true rut, where the deer are roaming some during daylight.  I believe the deer are hunkered down in the daylight during rifle season and often dont move until later at night, particularly if the weather is warmer and they don't need to feed.  I'm thinking about how to adapt my strategies to this,....

There is a final two-day season in early January, and I may hunt it if it is not too cold.  So, until 2014,.... Merry Christmas  !!!!

Wrapping up November 2013

My last November trip to Deal Island did not exactly start as I had planned.  I had intended to burn a little vacation (crab and/or fish) and also work on Skipjack Kathryn.  Well, my oldest Deal Island friend Mellanie passed away earlier in the week (she was only 51, bit I had known her since I was 16), so things changed.  I'd like to talk more about Mellanie right now, but I think I will save that for a later post.  I came down mid-day Thursday Nov 7 and attended her memorial service.  I awoke Friday to a chilly and blustery (25-35 mph NW winds, or course) day.  Needing a mental health day, I didn’t make it over to Scott’s Cove and instead focused on some simple chores around the camper.  Crabbing was out of the question, as it was in the low 50’s and with the stiff wind my little electric motor would have been useless.  So, I rigged up the center console for one last 2013 trip and pushed out of Wenona harbor around 3 pm.  Since it was way too windy to navigate Tangier Sound, I used my newly learned cut-through and moved directly through Little Deal Island.  I’ll make this brief- I anchored, and braving the wind and cold in full coveralls, bottom fished with the last of my bait for nearly 2 hours.  Nada, nothing.  I had been told that trolling shallow water was the way to go, but I was not up to exploring this solo, in shallow water, and with the wind blowing as it was.  The next morning I pulled the boat back home to Millsboro, and of course Tangier Sound was slick and calm (slick cam) as I crossed the Deal Island bridge.  And it was even a nice warm day, but it was time to return to home and family.  I spent the remainder of the weekend preparing the boat for the winter, draining out some of the old fuel in the in-deck tank, winterizing the motor, and waxing the hull.  Lastly, after I secured the cover to her it was done, and so was my fishing for 2013- unless I venture out on someone else’s boat.

My next Deal Island adventure will be to deer hunt.  I plan to come down Sunday Dec 1, set up my blind and be out on the woods early on Mon Dec 2.  Plan A is to hunt all week and return Saturday.  I am hoping to have some success earlier, wrap things up and return before then.  Prior to this, we have had an unusually cold November, with frequent hard freezes.  I have guarded against my camper plumbing freezing by leaving the heater inside and a lamp in the well-pump box connected to electric with temperature-controlled switches.  However, on Nov 24 it was forecasted to bottom out at 22F, so I came down the Friday prior and winterized the lines.  My approach this year was different however, and I eschewed the typical application of anti-freeze for use of an air compressor to blow out the lines, with the intent of a quick re-hookup upon return.  I believe it will work, as I think I got all of the water out of the lines.  One area I forgot however was to our some anti-freeze into the drains.  Hopefully this will not be an issue when I return, but I guess I will have to deal with it if it is.  So, I’ll repot back sometime in December.

The DNR totally fouls up my crabbing,... Nov 2, 2013

Time to talk about November, before it slips away.  The month started on Saturday 11/2 with a quick trip down with Blair to do some crabbing.  It was a decent warm (68F) day and we got out into the marsh at about 11 AM, only to discover that it had been nearly drained.  So now, I am restricted to using an electric motor, and also there is only about 1 1/2 feet of water tops in the impoundment- just GREAT!  Well, we launched and had no sooner set anchor in the canal (100 yrds away from the ramp) and the DNR pulls up along the road and engages us.  Here’s the deal- I had brought the gas motor also on back of the boat.  It turns out that a new drainage device had been installed, which had required them closing the marsh for two weeks and dropping the level 1-2 feet.  I was also informed that although the new motor restrictions did not specify such, it was not permitted to even have a gas motor onboard the boat.  Again- GREAT ! So, they let me slide since this had not been posted and we proceeded to crab.  After about hour and a half I had a half dozen, and we needed a change of venue.  So, I pushed the boat down the canal painfully slow with my 17 lb thrust motor (so glad I had just sold my 35 lb thrust motor, right!) all the way to the first dike.  And wow I was surprised to see just how badly this had silted in from water coming over the dike into the impoundment.  Anyway, we found a worthy spot on the point about 2 feet deep, and anchored.  Here we proceeded to round out our catch to just over 3 dozen decent crabs.  They were not quite the quality and size of the previous trip, but they would do.  And combined with some fresh oysters, fried of course, they made for quite the feast.

I am totally not pleased about these new motor restrictions, which now limit me from using a gas engine during my peak time of the year for crabbing.  I took the opportunity to communicate my position on this back to the DNR- they had a place online to submit comments on the Wildlife Management Area rules and restrictions.  And here is the text of my comments:

Hello,

I would like to comment on item 28.B. of the proposed WMA Regulations.  First, let me start by saying what a great overall job DNR has done at being a good steward of the Deal Island Wildlife Management Area.  I have enjoyed using this resource for the last 34 years.  My primary uses have been diverse- fishing, hunting, crabbing, biking, hiking, and waterfowl observation and photography.

I am strongly not in favor of the restriction on use of gasoline-powered outboard motors in the impoundment between October and March.  This time of year is historically an optimal time for recreational crabbing in the Deal Island WMA impoundment area.  It coincides with the various waterfowl hunting seasons, and has peacefully coincided with them in the 34 years I have used the impoundment.  The new guideline, which now only permits use of vessels propelled by electric motor, severely limits the range of vessels to a very short distance from the impoundment launching ramp at end of Riley Roberts Road.  My understanding is that this recent restriction was implemented to increase the overall waterfowl hunting experience and to improve waterfowl habitat.

In my many years in using the impoundment during the fall for recreational crabbing, there is minimal overlap between waterfowl hunters and recreational crabbers both geographically and temporally.  Particularly in the cooler weather of the fall, crabbing is only effective beginning late morning  or even early afternoon as the weather cools.  Also, while the waterfowl hunters usually seek more secluded areas where they can lay decoys, etc, the recreational crabber is typically using either the main channel or the area immediately surrounding one of the dikes.

In terms of waterfowl habitat, I do not believe the use of gas-powered outboard motors is dramatically affecting the silting-in or sedimentation of the impoundment salt marsh.  These processes are occurring both by natural growth and decay of marsh grasses and also by past use of the impoundment by waterfowl hunters using “mud-boats”. 

Lastly, the restriction on gas outboards seems unfair to the public at large, as the impoundment is public land managed for a variety of recreational uses and not solely waterfowl hunting.  If the Maryland Waterfowl Association has provided funding toward the Deal Island WMA, that should not buy their interest group preferential treatment in the designation of policies meant to manage this public resource.  Thank you in advance for consideration of my comments.

Getting caught up with October

Just as I expected, after Labor Day I would not return to the island until October.  September was a full month- a mission trip to Guatemala, business trip to Philly, a football game in Baltimore and one in Morgantown WV.  Whew,.....

Friday Oct 4, I got out crabbing in the afternoon.  It was sunny and about 70F, a nice day.  As soon as I anchored next to the 2nd dike in the Dames Quarter marsh and got about 5 hand lines out, I began to catch crabs as fast as I could move.  I never did get more than 6 lines out.  Two and a half hours later I was truly exhausted.  The trouble was- 95% of the crabs were female and off limits to us recreational crabbers.  They were nice, heavy female crabs and it broke my heart to throw them back.  The tide was rolling hard into the marsh very quickly, taking the lines with it and making things a bit hard.  So, I ended up settling for about a 1/3 bushel of male crabs, mostly nice but nothing compared to what I was to come into a week later.  Before I move on, want to report that the jon boat trailer I had worked on all summer served well to carry and launch the boat.  Getting it trailed was a little trickier but like all different trailers I think I will get the hang of it.

Fast forward a week, Oct 11.  I came down to work on skipjack Kathryn.   Had a great time working with Mike and the crew, fitting a knee to a frame and rib.  Got out crabbing the next day in the midst of a nor'easter, complete with wind and sideways rain.  Luckily the temps were up enough in the 60's to make it do-able.  Got out to the marsh and instantly noticed these orange signs everywhere, warning me that gas powered outboards were not allowed in the impoundment from Oct through March.  Nice.  So here I am out there in the middle of a storm, loaded and ready to go with my Johnson 9.9.  No one else is in sight, and no law enforcement on a day like this.  So, prepared to plead ignorance I start the outboard and motor out to the crabbing spot.  Tide not a problem today, and have my heavy anchors in preparation for the wind pushing the boat.  So, same scene as last week except now I am catching 85% nice heavy big male crabs.  Jimmies.  Yep, it had changed that quickly.  I filled the bushel without room for even another crab, all in less than 2 hrs.  And man were they goooooood to eat.  

My next trip down would be 2 weeks later, Oct 25 and another Kathryn work trip.

 Had a great time working with the inmates from ECI on Kathryn restoration, love these guys.  The following day I had planned to fish the high tide in shallow water, scheduled for 7:30pm so I am looking at a sunset fish.  The wind was blowing 25 knots plus out of the SW and I am thinking no problem, I will stay near shore.  Big mistake.  I have never had my boat in such rough water.  I literally was half scared just trying to scoot around the south end of Deal Island.  well, my buddy Mark and I made it ok and anchored in 3 ft of water, casting to the same point I had caught rock at back in August.  We bottom-fished for about 2 hrs, braving the wind and upper 50's.  I caught two rock, one about 18 and into the cooler.  The return trip was taken following sheltered water, through this gut following waterman-laid sticks, and back into the harbor.  Next time this happens, I'll bring the jon boat and cut through both ways.

2013 Labor Day Deal Island Skipjack Races

For me, it started back in 1980.  The annual Skipjack Race festival at Deal Island, which occurs each Labor Day weekend.  This is not just a race, this is an entire weekend.  This is a celebration by a proud community, celebrating their heritage of sail-powered oyster dredging.  It marks the end of summer and also the beginning of oyster season, although some watermen will hang on to crab through October.  Despite the festivity of the weekend, it is the departure of summer which makes it bittersweet for me.

Over the years I have been to many of these Skipjack races, enjoying the fun of the entire weekend on the island.  There were a few years I missed- in the army, having kids, etc but for the most part I have made most of them.  Some have been glorious weekends, some have been blistering hot, and there was even one where it rained all weekend to the tune of about 10 inches, submerging my yard under about a foot of water and trapping 10 of us indoors (in the shack) all weekend.  2013 brought us a warm but otherwise gorgeous weekend.

Saturday kicked off with a crab feast down in Wenona with friends old and new.  After stuffing myself with crabs, crab cakes, and some really hot salsa I made- it was off to Shedders', where I sat in on bass with Captain Harry and Crew.  Everyone had a great time and I got a great night's sleep, in anticipation of riding my motorcycle Sunday morning.  I had recently finished building a motorcycle trailer out of an old boat trailer, and I used it for the first time to pull the cycle down to Deal Island. After about a 2 hour cruise down every nook and cranny on the island and the town of Chance, it was parade time.

The Skipjack parade begins at the school, right next to my camper.  So, some friends came over and we had a little party to celebrate the parade.  My friend Tammy brought her brother, actor Dale Midkiff, who served as Grand Marshal (poobah) of the parade- which we had a lot of fun with.  Well, the parade lasted about 8 minutes this year, it was definitely the smallest and shortest in my memory.  It was emblamatic of the scale of all the weekend official activities, including the race and the festival.  I'm not sure what's up with the organizers but the way I see it, if you are not growing, you are dying.

After the parade, my wife Candy came down to join me for dinner.  It was kind of like icing on the cake and I wish she could have been there the whole weekend but it was not possible (this year).  One of our friends, Mary rented a really nice Italian villa-style house overlooking the water in Wenona.  We all gathered there- Candy, me, Tammy, Steve, Dale, Mary, Ellie, Robert, Ellie's sister Linda, Lex, Stacy, Jennifer, Tammy's dad Tom.  Linda brought a 3 ft long ribeye which we slow grilled, while I had a fry fest featuring rockfish, croaker, soft crabs, and oysters.  It was a meal to remember, one for the decades.  We all meandered back up to the harbor to catch the live band, and they were great !!  The evening ended with a nightcap on the roof deck of the Italian villa, watching the lights of Tangier Sound as the southwest winds blew refreshingly through our hair.

Monday morning was the Skipjack race, the main event.  Some of us gathered at Robert's boat CashFlow II at Scott's Cove, and we picked up the rest of our crew, 10 in all at the main dock.   It was a great race, with mostly heavy overcast skies which cleared just as the race was ending. Chance Skipjack Ida Mae handily took first place, pulling away from the pack after the turn around the Wenona buoy.  It was a great race, and although we had a few brief raindrops fall on us, we all had a great time, and Mary filmed it all in HD.  We were treated to 92-year old Daddy Art Daniels singing over the VHF "When the Star Passes By", which I still cannot locate anywhere on line.  I'll have to ask him about it when I see him next.  I had decided mid-day to stay over until Tuesday morning, something I had not done in years. This was I was able to see all of the workboat docking contest, the awards ceremony and closing remarks by none other than Katherine captain Stoney Whitelock.  To end the day, a little bit of motorcycle cruising, a beer at Shedders, and to bed by 10.

The next day, it was back to work by 11:30.  The Tuesday after Labor Day is always a really weird feeling time for me.  All the crowds have gone.  The friends have all either departed or are worn-out from the weekend and are off the radar screen, heading out soon themselves.  The locals are back to work first light, as usual.  There is little evidence that a great festival has just rocked this island, except for the 5 (of 8 total) remaining participating skipjacks docked in the harbor, and the festival tents nearby.  What I had anticipated for nearly a month is now over, but sure to return next year.  The weather is noticeably cooler, and this happens every year as if God has suddenly turned down the thermostat a few degrees.  I am looking forward to next year's race already, as I am hoping to be aboard the repaired and restored Katherine, which I have literally spilled by blood on.  And of course I am already dreaming of more fishing.  And speaking of which- you thought this was going to be about fishing, didn't you?  Haha joke is on you- I didn't even wet a line this entire weekend.

So, preparing to go to Guatemala on Sunday on a mission trip, then more September trips to Philly, Baltimore, and WVU.  Will not be back to the island until October. SIGH,.....

A change of pace (rockfish) Aug 23, 2013

Hustled down to Deal Island late morning in effort to make a 4:15 high tide.  The forecast had quickly deteroriated   (sp?) to almost certain rain, and the forecast did not disappoint.  The radar showed an ugly mass sliding in from the northwest which was supposed to be gone by 1:30 but which was still threatening as late as 3PM.  I spotted the mass of rain start to part and divide on the radar, and against the advice of some of the watermen with whom I was sharing a soda I launched my boat and headed to Tangier Sound.  As I approached the number 12 buoy, the wind was brisk and straight out of the east.  While this made the water simply choppy, the undesired effect was that it pushed the boat so quickly to the west that a reasonable drift was not possible.  Four ozs. of lead was not enough to hold the rig on bottom, especially with teh light tackle that I use.  I did manage to catch one small rock on the brief time I drifted here.

Off to a new location.  My target was shallow water on the south and east sides of Little Deal Island, as the MD DNR fishing report indicated that the shallow water fishing in the area was really heating up.  By the time I got to my destination, it was slack high tide- I had hoped to get here sooner but this was what happened.  Fishing with soft crabs exclusively,  I anchored off a small point in about 5 feet of water and threw to the bank.  There was a lot of grass here, and all I seemed to catch was a bunch of grass.  So, I moved to another spot that looked, well, simply fishy.  It was a nice tight point with a protected little cove to the south side.  Immediately I started catching rockfish, and this continued for about a steady 45 minutes.  They were small, ranging from about 12-16 inches but fought quite nicely and of course I did not keep any (LOL).  I caught 9 before it quit as quickly as it had started.  Among the flurry of rock was also the biggest croaker I had caught all year- 15 inches and what a nice battle it gave me in shallow water.  Fishing in overcast, drizzly, and cooler (72F) conditions had really turned on these fish.  I am absolutely aching to try this again, but unfortunately I am literally running out of time.  Next weekend is Labor Day and I suspect I will not have opportunity to get out and fish.  Following that, I leave for Guatemala on Sept 9.  Then a brief business trip, followed by 2 consecutive football game weekends.  October will likely be my next time down.

I did manage to finish building the boat trailer I have been working on since mid-July.  as soon as I can get the boat loaded on it, I should be ready for crabbing. !!!

Wrapping up The Summer of Kara- August 17, 2013

Well, I mentioned in one of my previous 2013 posts that this summer would be focused on my daughter Kara.  After starring in her high school musical, prom, graduation, and the college send-off (which we organized), we arrived at the grand finale: Kara's departure to college.  On 8/15 we left with a fully loaded mini-van for Morgantown, WV- home of West Virginia University.  Yes, Kara would be following her older brother and attending our alma mater. The morning of the 16th, we moved Kara in to Towers, same dorm I lived in 32 years ago.  Funny, it even smelled the same.  After Kara tweeted the Mountaineer mascot to come help, we were stunned when he actually showed up in full Mountaineer garb, including musket.  I managed to conclude the day without becoming emotional.  I think I'm saving up for a secret daddy cry-fest,....

Saturday August 17 I headed to Deal Island, as I had agreed to take my brother Ross and one of his young boys, 8 year old Owen, fishing.  After mowing grass and working on my boat trailer for a few hours, my brother showed up at about 4 pm, a bit late due to his 5 hour drive to the beach.  Our target was a 5:05pm low tide.  While we managed to dodge the previously forcasted rain, we couldn't avoid a pretty active NE wind.  Had we been without the young boy, we would have gone out into Tangier Sound.  Instead we played it safe and fished Laws Thorofare, a.k.a.- the gut.  Only able to catch the final 45 minutes of outgoing tide, we still managed to put 9 pretty decent fish into the cooler.  And, young Owen did a pretty good job- reminding me totally of his father when he was that age.  I'm glad we got to go.  Hadn't fished with my brother in years- we used to fish together all the time.  He had never been on my boat.  And I had also never fished with his son (Ross's older son Adam is not yet too fond of boats).

Well, the summer is truly winding down.  Labor Day is in two weeks, then all of September is wrapped up in a mission trip, a business trip, and two football games.  I hope to have the jon boat trailer rebuild completed just in time for crabbing.