Original Post Date: 11/24/2016
Views: 3230 as of 09/2023
All is quiet on the Camp Weasel front as once again it settles in for the long cold Winter. We had a very nice hunt this year. We ended up with just four weasels this year. Hunting, were Larry, Gregg, Joel and Mike. Weasel Jon had planned on coming up to act as camp foreman, but the flu bug hit and he had to stay home. Weasel dogs Sammy and Remy were also on hand to cheer us on. Things did not start out well on Saturday, with winds in the 40mph range and the deer hunkered down to keep warm. We saw a few, but they were all does and at that point in time we were still hunting bucks only. Sunday morning was cold, about 14 degrees but with little or no wind. The 4-wheeler would not turn over so I had to walk to my stand about 1/4 mile from the cabin, no big deal other than it put me about 15 minutes late getting to my stand. This was just a fore-warning of the luck I was about to experience. About 8:20 I caught movement in the clearcut in front of me. A doe came charging thru with a little fork horn in hot pursuit. They were moving too fast to get a shot, but out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a big boy following them. He turned and came up onto the logging road about 40 yds away. I got a good sight picture and slowly squeezed the trigger only to here a clunk. My firing pin was frozen. I ejected that round and fed another one in. Once again only a clunk. I watched him slowly walk away. He was a nice 8 pt. with fairly thick white beams. Not a real trophy buck, but definitely a shooter. In the past, we have always kept our rifles in the back room over night. With the door shut it remained quite cool. However, this year with the compost toilet in the back room, we had added a heater. Apparently the guns mechanism had sweated and then froze when I took it outside and headed for my stand. Live and learn. I learned later that there was a third buck with that group that heard me messing with my action and turned and went the other way. Mike said he could see things clearly from his stand and kept waiting for my shot. Shortly after my experience, Gregg shot a fat little nubbin so that we had our 3 deer counting the two during the rut hunt. That same morning, Mike passed on a couple small bucks so we had a pretty active day. All told the weather was pretty good except for the strong winds on Sat. We had about two inches of snow which provided great visibility. As always the food was excellent, starting with the steak at County Line Fri night, and continuing with Jans chili, Greggs hot dip and many other tasty snacks. We saw our friends at the Creek, spent some time at the Klatt Man Cave and of course Gregg and I watched Monday Night Football at Klatt Kamp. Gregg and I stopped over to see Sharon Pearson and Gerry Denver Monday morning, before butchering his nubbin Monday afternoon. The compost toilet performed yeoman duty again and I can't tell you how great it is to have an indoor toilet. We set 16 mouse traps, put out our cotton balls of peppermint oil and a box of dryer sheets in hopes of combating our mouse crop. Hopefully our new resident weasel under the cabin will do his bit too. So all I can say after another great season at Camp Weasel is that I can't wait til next year. Remember life is good, and even better if your a weasel.
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