I hate the Packers.

I’ll say it again.  I hate the Packers.   In fact I enjoy saying it.

Of course I don’t ever want to see the Packers leave because I enjoy hating them.  It’d wouldn’t be fun if they weren’t the big rival that they are.

That being said, I don’t mind the state of Wisconsin so much.   In fact the last couple of weeks, Wisconsin was pretty good too me.   Deer, geese, mallards, ruffed grouse and even a turkey all offered a warm welcome to the Dairy State.   Remember the old yellow license plates?   I don’t care how ugly they were, I think they should bring them back.

Our family has had a cabin in Northwestern Wisconsin for nearly 30 years and it’s become a tradition to fork over the non-resident license fees and layer up in blaze orange on the weekends bookending Thanksgiving.   With the surge in the turkey population, I decided to purchase a fall turkey tag to see if a bonus bird would come home in the cooler.

I can remember the first couple turkeys we ever saw around there not that many years ago.  Each year we’d see a couple more until finally we stopped keeping track.  They truly are a hearty and adaptable bird that has spread across Northwest Wisconsin like the plague.  If the plague was a tasty white meat that will soon spend a few minutes in my Fry Daddy.

Late season is always the best for waterfowl in our area and I was coerced into buying yet another nr license.  (Wisconsin, you owe me big time for the last two weeks.  I don’t even want to mention the “first time turkey hunter” fee I had to pay.)

We had some success knocking honkers down and then one day the mallards were thick!  We had a great shoot and then, BAM!  The season closed.

But that’s the way it goes…we discuss the possibilities with the waterfowl season during this weekends Minnesota Sporting Journal Radio.  I think the area states have done a good job trying to give everyone opportunities later in the season, but you just can’t predict when Mother Nature will force all the birds south.   It’s inevitable that you’ll see ducks after the season closes.

Whitetails seemed to have bounced back from last season.  At least for us, this year yielded more backstraps than the previous two years combined.  We didn’t see a large number of bucks, but we did find a small 8 and this 7 that was a first deer for a young hunter.

Some good waterfowl hunting and a cooler full of venison might be good enough to label this trip a solid “B”, but the first and last day of the trip bring it to an “A-“.  My first ruffy in about 20 years started the trip on the right foot, and a bonus turkey on the last day was the icing on the cake.

The only thing missing was a fat rooster-a bird that I did have walk by my stand one frosty morning.  Unfortunately I didn’t spend ANOTHER $10 for the pheasant stamp so he’d get to live another day.  Or at least until my next trip to Wisconsin.

Spending time with family of course was the best out of all of it.  It’s the old adage of whom you’re doing it with that makes it worthwhile, not how full your bag is.  That couldn’t have been truer for me.  Fortunately, the bag was pretty full too.

Thanks Wisconsin, but I still hate the Packers.

Bret T-Bone Amundson/bret@mnsportingjournal.com