Gas Pains

Tom grew up in Milwaukee, bartended in Wauwatosa in the '70s and moved here in 1984.

Commentary, observations and musings about the outdoors, life in general and maybe Tosa politics and personalities will be the order of the day. He savors a lively debate as much as terrific cooking.

Deer Camp - Day Five

Astronomy, Deer Camp, Economics, Governor Walker, Life Is Good, Sister

11/22/11

9:00 PM - Sat for a spell and saw a few deer.  No shot situations.  Did catch a spectacular sunset. The blonde dog has got a serious case of the haints.  Imaginary intruders have been lurking in the surrounding countryside today.  She's making me nuts with barking while out on her tether or running from window to window with her gruff vocalization of - RUFF.  Probably has something to do with just me and her constituting the current make-up of the family pack.  Can't wait for Jill and Girlfriend to get here.

Just brought the pooch in from her potty break.  The night sky is spectacular.  Clear and crisp with nary a vestige of light pollution.  The constellation Cassiopeia, The Queen, is to the north - positioned to circle the North Star, Polaris, in reverse clockwise.  There is perhaps Jupiter (I think) - at a hands width - above the eastern horizon. 

Deer Camp - the  total stress reliever.

1:30 PM - Ran to the big city of Sturgeon Bay to purchase an additional antlerless deer tag.  Since I used my two antlerless tags on opening day all I had left was a tag for an antlered deer.  With the back-up tag I now have all my options covered.  Big buck or big doe - brown is down.  Also had the oil changed on the car, fetched the mail in town and picked-up a few grocery items for Thursday's feast.  I have a humongous wild turkey thawing in the garage.

I found out that the DNR Service Center is only open on Mondays.  That sort of sucks but is continued evidence that Wisconsin is open for business.  Good thing the Walmart was open for business so I could purchase my tag in the sporting goods department.

Speaking of business - deer hunting is a big deal in Wisconsin.  When you add-up all of the gas, food, lodging, ammo, clothing, dollar bills for the girls, etc. it amounts to about $1.4 billion a year.  Yup - billion with a letter b.  That's huge.

It's also huge from a cultural perspective.  I was talking to Jill last night on the phone and mentioned that I thought  the guys had a reasonably good time.  She got a chuckle out of that.  If you hunt deer everyone waits for this time of year with breathless anticipation bordering on a religious celebration.  Heck, weddings are not scheduled and funerals are delayed.  So I guess deer hunting borders on religion.

I stumbled across a curious  tidbit on the web today.  It would appear that recreational bicycling slightly out paces the economic footprint of deer hunting in Wisconsin.  I am not making this up.  You can read all 42  pages about it here.  Cycling infuses $1.5 billion into the state's economy each year. 

Maybe the Governor should appoint a Cycling Czar to go with our Deer Trustee.  Hey, I bicycle all over the place.  With a new hip I expect  to pick-up the pace next year.  I'd like to see the politics taken off the road and bikes back in.

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