Wanderer

Posting. Cuz I can’t sleep worth a dump. Gonna be a MEA yahoo for most the rest of the week. I’ve heard good reports from the friends that are already out there. They took the whole week so I’m driving myself out Tuesday night. Just getting the the back of the truck filled with dekes got me too revved up. Gonna be hard packing anything else besides waders, layout blind, guns and shells! Who needs food and more than one change of clothes for 5 days anyway?!

I was ALMOST headed to Ely as well but opted to stick to “productive” pursuits at home, figuring I probably missed the October window this year. That only lasted a day though before I headed west. It looked really cool though. Quiet too I bet.

I have a couple LX5s and have been very happy with them. I had to get a second one for the wheelhouse since after I set it up for the wife, I usually go out hole hopping my original one. Then come back with fish only cuz I was using the “cheat mobile”. With the second one I was able to let her stare at it long enough to figure it out cuz apparently my teaching skills are sub par. She normally wanted to have the camera down all the time but come dark, it’s kinda hard to see anything. Who knew a wheelhouse and flasher would change her from a winter hibernator to an ice fishing addict. She wants to go EVERY weekend now. Anyone wanna buy a wheelhouse? Just kidding.... but I wish she’d wanna try for lakers every once in a while.

Had to go back and see if it was you that posted this one:

@smurfy I like that decoy! Hope it works great for ya. Sometimes I wonder if the 9 under 22 is something we should just start doing even if they wind up as cat food. I’m never an advocate for wanton waste so I say that with the thought of realizing I should experiment with other ways to use little pike that doesn’t involve filleting all of them. I like pickeled pike but not a quart at a time!

Sometimes the cozy little place with just essentials is part of the adventure of going somewhere. You’re going to enhance your bond to your new place even more going through these phases. It sounds like you have solid and realistic expectations for the resources available. It’s been fun reading about your progress. In your shack, I might consider using your loft for gear storage more than for sleeping. That top bunk roast out would be a little aggravating to me since I sleep better in a cold room than hot! And one tip if you plan to keep it a wood floor on the bottom: get at least some bath mats to put down by your bunks/cots for your feet to land on when you get out of bed on those cool mornings. You’d be surprised how much they will be appreciated! I thought of your post when I had this sent to me yesterday:

@fishkid Nice “consolation prize”. I’m hoping next year is my year to get back up there.

You say you can’t get it going. What DOES it do? There’s always a sequence of operations to run HVAC equipment. Knowing if it does some things or nothing at all is Important. Looks like fresh marks on the flare from you diconnecting it. But ya, like Leech said, better have that connected. Do you get propane to that point?

I rigged 4 dozen dekes with factory Lifetime rigs and tried them out over the weekend. I like them so far but think I’ll like the custom rigs I make with the kit a little more. I ordered 4 different lengths in 2 different weights to help figure out my preference. One thing I know is I don’t like mushroom anchors. I hunt in weedy areas and they just stay goobered up too much on retrieval. I’ll try egg weights on my custom made rigs but think they’ll pull more weeds than I want too. Bell weights seem nice. I’ll keep experimenting though. I find I’m not wanting to use the slotted decoy bags while I’m hunting with these rigs. Seems like a waste of time and space to have them until I’m ready to put them away. I did lose a carabiner the first day. That’s something I have to get used to keeping track of. Keeping in mind that nothing is perfect, I’ll rate them 8/10. Pretty happy so far.

Boats and Beyond; Pleasurland RV are two that I found by Googling fish house rentals Brainerd MN.

Yeah, that is awesome! I hope the guy chokes down his humble pie and realizes what a gift you and your son are willing to give him!

Ketchup and mayo... Burger Kings special sauce.

@Abndoc I hope your conversation with the Landowner goes well. In my experience, the 85 year old landowner truly DOES believe there’s enough land for the two hunters and couldn’t possibly think of a reason why it wouldn’t be. A 50 year old will always be a kid in her eyes but she may not have even met him personally. He could be a friend’s or even a friend of a friend’s “kid”. This is a remnant if the good old days of getting private land access. Modern deer hunting teaches us to have as much control over as much ground as we can to be more successful, so some people really forget their place as a guest of the true landowner ( I know you’ve been around long enough to know this). I’ve personally seen these situations go both ways: The landowner finds out there’s a conflict and either kicks the 50 year old out for being a Dick or kicks the 2nd hunter out, feeling bad that they [PoorWordUsage]ed off the first hunter. It’s crazy! I think you’re handling it pretty well since the season has started. Let her know and let her decision be the final word, without pressure from you. BUT encourage your boy to be the FIRST person to knock on her door before next season starts! Then he can tell the 51 year old to [PoorWordUsage] off!

I do understand what Leech is getting at, but ya, gotta give the good neighbor approach a chance. Good neighbors are priceless. Congrats from me too!

+1 For the steak, if I order one in a restaurant and get asked if I want steak sauce, my usual reply is “l hope not!”