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You guys all have your tackle boxes and fishing gear all organized and ready to go. Guys have been trying for the crappies down in the old West River Marina down by Naples. And the bullhead will be biting pretty darn soon. And of course we are right on the eve of trout season. I'm all set.

I started getting ready last weekend. With the help of my brother in law and nephew, we got the docks in and lined up at the in laws place, up in the Dacks. The lake had finally thawed out the previous week. We had 4 hours daylight and just above freezing temperature and no rain on Saturday. I also got thru the break in procedure on the new Mercury 4 stroke 5 hp outboard, that he picked up to replace his old Johnson 2 stroke 5.5 hp, which I had sieved up last October. It took a lot of pulls to get that new Mercury to fire up the first time, but after that, it started with the first pull every time. To kill time breaking it in, under half throttle for the first hour, I trolled a diving crankbait around the lake several times. Lake trout haven’t been stocked there in over 20 years and I haven’t seen any in 10, but you never know if a holdover survived. No hits though. After that, I tried casting a bucktail jig a little for perch, but no hits there either. They’ve always been few and far between on that lake. Most of the hard spring work is done up there now, so I’ll be able to focus more on fishing and turkey hunting, the next run we visit in May. I plan to start working on my bigger boat at home in WNY next weekend, and maybe have it ready for some shoreline trout trolling out on Lake Ontario, the weekend after that.

The second dog was part of a pair that was chasing deer on a ridge. After an hour snow/sleet/rain delay where I hunkered down under a pine tree with my tactical stealth scooter I was able to call them into range and lucky enough for the male to stop in a sparsely wooded spot where I could get a quick shot. Tried to coax the female back into range, but no luck as the rain moved in and soaked me. SJC

Ended the dismal 2024/2025 Predator season dropping three coyote. I took off Thursday + Friday being the weekend was called to be a washout. First stop was at a buddy's camp I've been trying to get to, but the deep snow had the seasonal road closed. This strawberry blonde female came in silent and ran right by me into the food plot, but it didn't run fast enough. SJC

The population dwindles because they bait and shoot all the deer looking for the harmless crap. The Wisconsin herd has rebounded after the kill off and with CWD to having more animals and they are still positive.

Ever wonder if CWD is as devastating as is popularly believed, why are the woods not littered with dead deer bodies everywhere. I do not know why the scare stories are so popular to pass on, but a little common sense goes a long way toward calming all the panic.

My wife and I stopped at a little antique shop on our drive back from her parent’s place today. I picked up a slim single blade backup knife, for the little two bladed Imperial that I usually carry. I have been impressed with the quality and longevity of that one, which I found for $ 1 at a flea market, about 17 years ago. I thought this one was also an Imperial, but closer examination shows that it is made by “The Ideal”. The proprietor of the shop had it marked $ 8, but she took about $ 6 for it, along with a package deal on a few other items including a Taylor pin on compass, a couple pieces of jewelry for my wife, and about 15 dvd’s & vhs’s. “The Ideal” knife doesn’t exhibit quite the quality of workmanship, as my old Inperial, but at least it’s made in USA. I think both companies were/are in Providence RI.

I would be carrying on doing the same as I always have. Al

Know one that I know has stopped eating beef even though some cattle test positive for mad cow disease. People have not stopped eating chicken just because of bird flu. The risk are real for all types of meat wild or other wise. I believe when business start penning these animals up in close quarters, thy lies the problem, and big trouble starts. Deer are free range, which in my boat, make them much safer.

I think it is blown way out of proportion and wouldn’t change a thing for me. I’d still get most of my families protein from “free” venison and wouldn’t be overly careful about using gloves while processing.