YOUTH HUNTING ON THE RISE

The US Fish & Wildlife survey reports that the number of male hunters decreased in the last survey year. Interestingly, the number of female hunters increased a small percentage nationwide to 1.2 million. The really great news is that the growing segment is in the under 16 years of age group, which actually increased! Good news for the sportsman hoping that the hunting tradition will be carried on in America! Proof of this may be in today's photo .

Hailey Nagel, 9 years old, is the daughter of Jamie and Sarah Nagel. You may recognize Jamie as one of the volunteers from the Southern Illinois Buckmasters chapter who came out on September 1 to help clean birds. In the days following, Hailey came on a dove hunt with her Dad and shot her very first dove. She couldn't have been more excited if it had been a trophy buck. Congratulations, Hailey.

The fun continued well past sun-down as everyone enjoyed beef tenderloin and a real lobster bake!

UNBELIEVABLE,
given the cool weather and the slight northerly breeze the night before, no one, least of all Ron, expected that we would have a dove hunt like we had. Although there were no droves of doves, they were consistent. The help at the lodge heard shots all afternoon and at dinner it showed that everyone had a great shoot. Kudos Ron and thanks to Gary Fitzgerald of Rustic Originals for once again documenting another day of hunting at The Hunt Club.

SUMMERTIME AT THE HUNT CLUB. . . Hard to believe it is two weeks to opening day. . .


Two summertime photos of note:


Veteran fishermen, take note of how to hold a REALLY big fish - Ted Niemann knew his fish was so big he didn't have to hold it 2 feet out from his body! This fish was 20.5" long, but the absence of a scale can only lead us to speculate what it might have weighed. Nice going, Ted.

Seems like Ron has found a new way to pass the days. Perhaps he is looking for a way to load deer stand locations into the computer? In any event, it is highly unlikely that our undercover photographer will ever see a scene like this again.

WHY WOMEN BUY EXPENSIVE SHOES!

To get to THE WILD SIDE lots of work has to be done manipulating the dirt -- on the left, what Ron's big, used, but new machine can accomplish -- on the right, Ron manipulating dirt for better wildlife management -- below shows how big the bucket is!! AND a big Smile from Ron!! This BIG machine has been an added bonus to help water flow for waterfowl season -- get excited!!

Tomorrow: a peek at the Dove Season Menu, a look at our summer party (which most of you missed) Thursday: a look at the Sponsors Dinner for NWTF at The Hunt Club held in July.

Countdown to September 1, 2009

Y'all know what this scene means -- summer will be slowly drawing to a close and cooler weather and fall hunting fun will begin.

Huntchef is beginning to think about menus for opening day and Ron laments nightly that he is behind on everything!

Perhaps Ron would be further along if he didn't play on his new toy -- a REALLY big trackhoe -- every day. Never a shortage of dirt to move around.

The Grand is going on in Sparta this week and once again we have the fun of hosting a really great group of people from all around the country. We enjoy their company and look forward to their arrival each year.

1st Blog May 19, 2009

On the Wild Side begins this experimental blog early evening during late spring when visitors to the lodge are few and days are long and lazy. I feel so completely up-to-date technologically and wonder why I haven't thought to do this before? Until fall arrives you will have to be amused by my adventures in the gardens and kitchen. . .with tidbits from the "field" thrown in for good measure.

The sunflowers are going in the ground today after an April and May which have proven to be some of the wettest in history. This is a really good thing. The wet spring also proved to be a good thing because our new home is complete. . . at least Ron's part is finished. Deep industrial cleaning following Ron's departure from the construction zone and the selection of some nice boxes to sit on is all that is left to be done.

We have 43 goslings by the lodge this year - the most in several seasons. Early mornings are a delight as everything is so green and the babies love to come close to the lodge and munch away.

I'm sure the blog will be infinitely more interesting as we get into the fall. Send me some feedback about what you think - it seems this could be a fun way to send waterfowl updates and pass along daily funnies. Can I keep you amused until September? During the fall and winter I plan to have some guest "bloggers"; for example, Jeff. Perhaps we can teach Ron to blog?