How NOT to wade a steelhead stream

Larry Winans once posed for photos of an out-of-control angler.

 

Water is great stuff. It's wonderful to drink, the right stuff for showers, great to wade in, fun to fish in, and a necessity when hunting ducks in the fall.

However, it is not fun to swim in at cold times of the year. Here's what happened when I needed a story and photos on short notice for a newspaper story. It turned out to be a great column..

The Betsie River has strong currents in certain locations and dark water. High early spring  water complicates things even further because it dirties up once the spring run-off occurs. Seeing bottom can become nearly impossible.

Certain areas can only be waded with extreme caution. I knew where two early-spawning steelhead were spawning on a bed, and proper positioning had me in the key location to cast a wet fly. Time after time the fly passed their nose, and time and again the male and female parted to allow the intruding fly to swing past.

It may have been the 50th or 60th cast when the male separated early, moved toward the fly, and sucked it in. The hook was promptly set and the fish jumped once. It darted upstream, and fought hard until it began to tire.

The buck steelhead, his cheeks and gill covers the color of orange-pineapple ice cream, put his broad side to the heavy current and started drifting downstream. I was fishing a familiar area, one I knew like my backyard. Or, so I thought. I had forgotten to take in mind the higher water level and that brush could have washed in.

It was necessary to stick very close to the bank, and with the river swollen with run-off, I knew it would be tippy-toe as the fish tugged its way downstream. The first six steps took me into waist-deep water.

"Cool," I thought. "This isn't too bad. The bottom shelves up 10 feet from here."

 

That 10 feet was a real treat. Five feet into it my toe bumped against a submerged log that had washed in on the high water, and with the water pushing hard on my back, over I went with a mighty splash. I never felt bottom again for nearly 150 yards.

The strong current turned me upside down, rolled me around, sent me feet-first and then rump-first, down around the bend. The fish was still on, tugging at my rod as it was held up out of the water, but a one-armed breast stroke just wasn't cutting it. The river carried me another 100 yards around the bend, and as I came to a shallow gravel bar, I heaved my rod up on shore.

My waders were filled with water, and the current ground me into the gravel bar with considerable force, and finally I was able to get to my hands and knees and crab across the gravel to shore where I floundered like a beached whale. I grabbed a sapling, pulled myself to my feet, and bent over to dump out  some water.

My butt plunked onto the bank as I pulled my waders off, and emptied them back into the river. The temperature was in the mid-20s with a 10 mph breeze, and I had to get my rod and head for the car. Shivering had already set in.

My rod was pulled from the brush, and as I reeled in my slack line, the rod came alive in my hands. One hundred yards downstream the steelhead bolted into the air, flipped its tail like a farewell salute, and we came undone.

There was a steep hill to climb, and as I reached my car another angler stopped to ask about the fishing. He then noticed I was soaking wet.
"Fall in?" he asked. Here was a man with a magnificent grasp of the obvious.

"Nope," I said, "a big steelhead took me water skiing. The problem was he couldn't pull quite hard enough to keep me up on top. He got away, and all I got was a short but wet and wild ride down the river."

It had been a neat experience. Mind you, but it's not one I wish to try again anytime soon, but one that has carved a special niche in my memory.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Dressing right for winter bow hunts

Winter weather means bow hunters must be prepare for cold, wet weather.

Some years ago I hunted with an old friend, and he rattled on and on about the benefits of bow hunter being properly dress for the cold December bow season.

His basic philosophy was that "only stupid people who don't dress properly get too cold to hunt." I've seen the guy out on days when only he and I would hunt because we knew how to stay warm.

A December hunt last year was a bitter cold evening, and I was able to take it in stride because many years ago I learned how to dress for cold, nasty weather. Before we left to hunt, I checked out the old gent, and we were dressed almost alike. The only difference was he had a wool scarf. Mine had been forgotten and left home.

I would have traded a couple of arrows for my wool scarf that night.

It was damp that night with a temperature in the low teens with a strong northwest wind that seemed to bite through clothing and chill a person to the bone. I used to suffer with cold feet, clothing that let cold winds blow over my back and chest, but with age comes some common sense. Hunting every night means being able to handle whatever nature dishes out, and that means dressing properly for the existing conditions.

I started with long underwear, light wool and heavy wool socks, and a heavy wool shirt and my jeans. Many hunters like bib overalls, and they work fine for many hunters but I prefer a heavy, soft and quiet suit of wool or some of that new insulation that doesn't make noise.

It is similar to a snowmobile suit in some respects but it is very quiet where snowmobile suits crinkle and make noise. The hard shell finish on most snowmobile suits make them impossibly noisy for bow hunting. My suit is just getting broken in after many years of continuous use.

Heat loss occurs through your head, and I wear an old-fashioned insulated hat with fuzzy ear flappers that tie under my chin. Insulated boots keep my feet warm, and it doesn't bother me to put hand-warners in each pocket, toe warmers in my boots, and I'm about ready to hunt.

This bow hunter heads for a ground blind. He's dressed for cold weather.

On this evening I didn't have a scarf but my buddy did. A heavy wool scarf is wrapped once or twice around the neck to keep those chilly drafts from blowing on a warm neck or down the back. Pull your hat brim down low, and you don't need a mask if you can sit still. That wool scarf is one of the handiest items of clothing a hunter can wear when cold December winds blow. I've found that when the winter chill factor is reaching for zero, I can wrap my nose and face in one layer of my scarf, and it stays warm too. A warm head, hands and feet make it possible for a hunter to keep warm lonh enough to shoot a buck.

Warm gloves are a necessity. If they get cold, you're all done.

A good pair of wool gloves help keep my hands warm, and a pair of insulated or leather mittens top everything off. This outfit works well for me although some hunters like the wicking qualities of polypropylene underwear. I own two pair of o-l-d wood choppers mittens.

I seldom carry a little tiny heater but my buddy does. It runs off a small canister of bottled gas, and that heater can be a lifesaver. He uses it to warm his fingers before taking a shot, and if hunting from an elevated coop, it can take the chill off a cold and drafty wood shooting box.

This heater is small, compact and efficient. It doesn't bring the air temperature up very much, but it takes some of the winter bite out of an icy wind in his hunting coop.

"The deer can't hear if, apparently can't smell it although I am downwind of the deer," he said, "and it doesn't cast a bright red glow inside the coop that could attract the attention of an approaching buck."

I can certainly remember the many evenings spent in an open tree stand, waiting for a good buck to walk closer. It's easy to recall the numbed fingers and toes, and my questioning my personal sanity for being out on such nights.

Dressing warmly, using a small heater, and knowing how to stay warm is one of the luxuries of attaining a bit of age. We learn from our earlier mistakes, realize we no longer have to prove how tough we are, and we can relax and be comfortable.

I'm not saying I never get cold, but the number of bitter cold days I experience now are few and far between. Hunting is supposed to be fun, and hunters who make themselves sick because they are poorly dressed, have no one to blame but themselves.

My buddy, more curmudgeonly than me, quickly dismisses people who get cold.

My buddfriend, several years older than my 71 years, told me that "only ignorant people get cold during a winter hunt. If they learned how to dress, they might be a close match for me and you."

Dressing warmly is within the budget of anyone who can afford to be a bow hunter. Me, I prefer being cozy warm. My days of freezing ended many years ago, and I still wonder why I put up with icy fingers and toes for so long.

If I can change, so can you. Warm bow hunters are more efficient bow hunters, especially in the December bow season. Ma Richey didn't raise no dumb kids, but I paid my dues in the past and now I can set out in the coldest weather for two hours to hunt winter whittetails.

That's plenty enough time to shoot a nice buck.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Changing weather patterns

Will changing weather patterns affect a trophy buck’s patterns?

Anglers and hunters who yearn for spring need only step outside. Our winter weather is so mixed up that no one knows what to expect.

Here it is, the end of December and the snow is melting tonight in 38-degree evening temperatures. The forecast is for possible rain showers tonight and tomorrow.

Possible snow? The chance for snow flurries? Chances are like betting on the roll of a pair of dice. Maybe it will snow a bit later this week, but perhaps it won't. Where is our normal cold weather.

It seems the possibility of a culprit may be at hand. The weather service hints that El Nino is at fault. It seems that several years ago El Nino took the blame for something else. Something must be wrong.

Predicting weather is supposed to be scientific but forecasts often are wrong.

Folks, the changing weather patterns are goofy, and have been for many years. Is it the fault of greenhouse gas? Is carbon monoxide to blame? How about flatulence in cattle? Some years ago they were blaming the gas used in aerosol spray cans caused weather changes.

Our planet is no bigger now than it ever was but there are more people on Earth than ever before. They breathe in oxygen (and smog) and breathe out carbon dioxide. More people, more carbon dioxide, and more diesel and gasoline fumes. More smog in our cities, and more weather problems. And less we forget, remember the cows.

The problem will only get worse. I read where ice is melting at a faster rate in polar regions, and the earth is warming up. So, what does this mean for you and me?

Will New York and Los Angeles soon be under water as ocean levels rise? Will more people be moving inland away from the oceans, buy land on a mountain, and stay high and dry? Who knows? Will an earthquake topple the Pacific Rim into the ocean, resulting in a staggering loss of life and trigger tsunamis?

Every time one of the world's many volcanos blows its top, and spews tons of ash, debris and smoke into the air, the worse things become. Every time an earthquake rattles the ground, and some buildings and bridges topple, things get progressively worse.

Is the weather all wrong? Is it changing or are people just learning how to adapt?

Should we be like Chicken Little and run scared? No, I don't think so yet, but as mankind continues to overpopulate the earth in an ever increasing manner, more people must breathe and travel to work. Hydrocarbons are released into the atmosphere vy the gazillion, and as more gasses pollute the upper atmosphere, the warmer it wil get.

There will become a greater need for water, and the arid southwest would like some of our Great Lakes. We have water bottling plants that suck millions of gallons of state water from the earth so people can pay Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestle money for their bottled water. As the earth warms, and water becomes more precious, this demand will grow.

Much talk was made of making ethanol from corn some years ago. We have lots of corn, but if the atmosphere changes, and the tendency for warmer temperatures increases, will the rain and snow pattern we've seen the past month continue? Most likely it will dwindle, and it's hard to grow corn in a dust bowl but people back in the 1920s and 1930s faced that problem.

Then the weather changed around, rain began to fall again, and soon corn grew where years before the ground had been baked solid. Are we in for more troubling weather ahead?

I'm not an alarmist but I think things will continue to change, and some of these changes may be irreversible. Weather has become quite unpredictable. It may become even more so in the years to come.

I’m more curious about future weather patterns than anything else.

Will this affect me? At 71, I doubt seriously it will have a major impact on me except for how the weather will affect my fishing and hunting.

If the weather continues to gradually grow warmer, there will be a greater desire among some fast-buck artists to sell Great Lakes water. If we start selling our water, we will have jumped onto a slippery slope that will dramatically lower water levels. For every change we see, there will probably be a greater impact on our weather patterns.

If South America's rain forests continue to be eliminated at a rapid pace as trees are cut, what will happen then? What will happen if springs start to go dry because water bottlers are taking our water? How long will it take for every human being in this state and this country and this world to be impacted by the consequences of any mistakes made now?

Once the springs that feed our tiny trout streams are sucked dry, where will our trout go? Where will we go?

Man, left to its own greedy devices, will eventually be responsible for despoiling this planet until there is nothing useful left. I won't be around to see it, and perhaps my children will dodge this climatic bullet, but future generations will suffer for the mistakes made by past, present and future generations.

And just think: here we sit griping about the weather. The winds of change are blowing today, and those costly mistakes will one day be the cause of the death of this planet.

It's not a cheery thought but I'll be gone by then, and thankful for what this life has given me. Writing about changes has been a way of life for the past 44 years.

Someone once said: the more things change, the more they remain the same. It's up to people to protect what we have, and move forward in a positive manner, if Planet Earth is to prosper in the future.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Cold-weather deer hunting

This is a good buck, quartering away and within easy bow range. Take him!

Yesterday was a bitter cold evening, and I was able to take it in stride because many years ago I learned how to dress for cold, bad weather.

It was cold tonight with a temperate in the 20s with a strong wind that bit through clothing and chilled a person to the bone. I once suffered with cold feet, clothing that let cold winds blow over my back and chest, but with age comes some common sense. Hunting every night means being able to handle whatever nature hands out, and that means dressing properly for the existing conditions.

I start with long underwear, light wool and heavy wool socks, and a heavy wool shirt and my jeans. Many hunters like bib overalls, and they work fine for many hunters but I prefer a heavy, soft and quiet suit of coveralls.

Scent-Lok camo is warm, dry and helps keep deer from getting your scent.

I'm also a big fan of scent control so this year picked up a great suit of Scent-Lok clothing that consists of heavy-duty (and quiet) bibs, coat, gloves and hat. I wear long underwear underneath, jeans and a wool shirt, and find that it's possible to set out in almost anykind of weather than Michigan can through at us during November and December.

Throw it into the dryer for 45 minutes to reactivate the garment's ability to prevent scent from forming, and I've had deer straight downwind of me, and they never caught my scent. I wear shin-high rubber books, and spray them with any scent-killing spray.

My Scent-Lok suit similar to a snowmobile suit in some respects but it is quiet and helps prevent human odor from drifting on the breeze. The hard shell finish on most snowmobile suits make them impossibly noisy for bow hunting. My suit is just getting broken in after almost two months of continual use.

Heat loss occurs through your head, and I wear a Scent-Lok hat, and a wool stocking cap that keeps my head warm and covers my ears. Insulated boots keep my feet warm, and it doesn't bother me to put hand-warners in each pocket, toe warmers in my boots, and I'm about ready to hunt.

I like a heavy wool scarf on my neck when conditions really get cold and nasty.

A heavy wool scarf is wrapped once or twice around my neck on really cold day to keep chilly drafts from blowing on my neck or down my back. That wool scarf is one of the handiest items of clothing a hunter can wear when cold December winds blow. I've found that when the winter chill factor is dropping near zero, I can wrap my nose and face in one layer of my scarf, and it stays warm.

I also carry a little tiny heater for those times when I hunt from a enclosed coop or ground blind. It runs off a small canister of bottled propane, and that heater can be a lifesaver. I use it to warm my fingers before shooting at a deer, and if hunting from an elevated coop, it can take the chill off a cold wood building.

This heater is small, compact and efficient. It doesn't bring the air temperature up very much, but it takes some of the winter bite of an icy wind out of my hunting coop. The deer can't hear if, apparently can't smell it although I am downwind of the deer, and it doesn't cast a bright red glow inside the coop that could attract the attention of an approaching buck.

I can certainly remember the many evenings spent in an open tree stand, waiting for a good buck to walk closer. It's easy to recall the numbed fingers and toes, and my questioning my personal sanity for being out on such nights.

The old days may have featured more deer but today’s clothing is far superior.

Dressing warmly, using a small heater when absolutely necessary, and knowing how to stay warm is one of the luxuries of attaining a bit of age and wisdom. We learn from our earlier mistakes, realize we no longer must prove how tough we are, and we can relax and be comfortable while hunting during nasty weather.

I'm not saying that I never get cold, but the number of bitter cold days I experienced over the years now are few. Hunting is supposed to be fun, and hunters who make themselves sick because they are poorly dressed, have no one to blame but themselves.

Dressing warmly is within the budget of anyone who can afford to be a bow hunter. Me, I prefer being cozy warm. My days of freezing ended many years ago, and I still wonder why I put up with icy fingers and toes for so long.

If I can change, so can you. Warm bow hunters are more efficient bow hunters, especially in December, and the Scent-Lok clothing certainly helps me control my human scent.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Forget the weather: get out & hunt

Some bucks are still trailing does as the rut winds down.

It's impossible for hockey players to play a game unless they are on the ice, and it's impossible for hunters to shoot a buck or doe if they are sitting indoors watching television.

So, that's settled, so what do we do when faced with inclement weather? You know: like some of what we've had so far this fall?

East winds, northeast and southeast winds, and rain. Some snow flurries today. Copious amount of rain two or three times. Strong blustery winds. Weather that even deer dislike.

Dress for it and get out in the weather. Hunt as often as possible.

If we were to set out every evening when inclement weather rears its ugly head, we may have been able to hunt only a few nights so far this season. The abundance of combined weather conditions has been noticeable to most hunters.

So, what can we do about it? The answer is to go hunting anyway. Some deer move even in bad weather although they may not move very much ir very far.

It only makes sense that if deer move for only 15 or 20 minutes, the closer one hunts to the bedding area should provide them with greater opportunity to be nearby when the animals do move.

Mild rain doesn't bother whitetails at all. They are out in it on a daily basis, and can't come inside out of the weather. If it is a soft rain, the deer often move well. They move less in a hard down-pouring rain.

Deer will move on an east wind, but most hunters have few locations set up where an east wind offers an advantage. A strong wind is much worse than a soft breeze.

There are good and bad hunting winds. All can be hunted.

Heavy winds put everything into motion. Trees, weeds, cattails and tall grasses move. Leaves (those that still remain on trees) shake violently on the trees, go blowing off the branches, and leaves are constantly in the wind at ground level and above. Deer detest such windy conditions because it removes their ability to see motion because everything within sight is moving.

Stands located closest to heavy cover offer hunters the best opportunity to see deer on these miserable days. The important thing is to get into a stand without being seen, smelled or heard.

Crow hunters say that these black birds can't count. I contend that deer can't count either, and that opens up one possibility to get into a stand even if the bedding area is downwind of the stand. A friend can drive you in by truck, park with the motor running while the hunter crawls into the stand, and then drive off.

Deer can’t count, and hunters working together can gain an edge.

A friend of mine and his wife leased land for many years, and each of them hunted a different parcel. My buddy would drive his wife 3/4 miles back off the road to her stand, walk with her to her ground blind while the four-wheeler idled nearby, and once she was in her blind, he would jump back on the machine and drive away.

She often saw deer while the sounds of the four-wheeler were still audible in the distance. The noise of the four-wheeler didn't bother the deer, and if anything, it gave them advance warning that people were coming. Two people get off, two walk to the blind, one walks back and drives away. Deer can't count, and this method works well.

The one thing to bear in mind is that deer are accustomed to seeing cars and trucks, tractors and other farm equipment in most areas. Deer will run from all motorized equipment heading in their direction, but they don't run far unless the hunters talk to each another. Human voices add another dimension to this equation.

Talking while dropping someone off at a blind or when picking them up should not be done. Deer also are accustomed to hearing people talk, but whether talking near a hunting stand is a good idea, I think it's best to drive up, drop off the hunter, and drive away without speaking.

One thing about weather: Any time there is a storm moving in, deer will usually move just ahead of the storm. If the weather forecasts a storm arriving about 4 o’clock, try to be in a good spot by 3 p.m. It can be a super time to be hunting.

Weather plays an important role in deer movements and travel. Rather than sitting indoors and not hunting, try to incorporate some other tactics into your hunting bag of tricks, and hunters may be pleasantly surprised at how well some of these will work.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors