Wood Cutting at Jon's Cabin

The guys made the annual Winter Trip to Osakis and slaved in the woods, cutting down some trees for Jon's wood storage. For the first time in the six years we've been heading up there, the whole crew of Dad, James, Rob, Chris and Devon were available with Rob coming on his way out to Washington for his big new job.

We ate well but worked hard and removed over twenty trees, some from right around the cabin including one monster Basswood tree that was nearly completely hollow on the inside. No squirrels were harmed and everyone kept their fingers and toes. The weather was perfect and there was no snow on the ground to trudge through, making the work go fast.

The ice-covered lake looked both cold and beautiful, sometime we'll have to try to catch a fish through it but this time, it was all work, all day. The nights on the other hand were a different story. Jon's brother Pete (pictured) was able to attend this year as well and he and Dad re-crafted their bond as only they can, over a bottle of Canadian Whiskey and a deck of poker cards. At 3:00 am we were privy to hear such wisdom spouted as "They're no guarantees on yesterday." "Amen Pete.""Wait a minute, I mean tomorrow." and earlier in the evening "We need more mis-deals around here." (Ask Chris, he has a movie of this conversation)

Sunday morning after church and some Pete-cakes (the thickest, thinnest pancakes ever made), we walked through the woods before heading home and found next winter's project, a huge tree that has fallen in the back of the woods across Jon's trails that will take all of two days to remove, split and stack.

Hunter Kills 1,100 lb Hog Near Atlanta

(From Georgia Outdoor News - GON.com) When a 9-foot-long, 1,100-lb. hog was killed in Fayette County it became a story that spread like wildfire — literally going around the world on the internet and in the media. CNN, Fox-5 News, the local papers, radio stations from Seattle and Los Angeles to Jacksonville, and the Discovery Channel contqacted Bill, and even the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) called from London to get the details on a hog being touted as a new world record.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have a great hunting story,” said Bill Coursey of Fayetteville, who shot the hog in a neighbor’s yard.

Thursday afternoon, January 4, at about 3:30 Bill’s wife and son were driving home in rural Fayette County when they saw the huge black hog standing in a neighbor’s yard. The hog had come out of a field, crossed the road and was munching on water-oak acorns. They pulled into the driveway for a closer look.

“The man who owns the property said, “If y’all want to shoot this thing, shoot it,” said Bill.

Bill’s son went home to get Bill, who returned with his Ruger 7mm/08.

“When we came around the corner, it just about blew me away when I saw the hog,” said Bill, a life-long hunter. “It was huge. When we drove up, the hog just looked at me. It was like the deer around here, if you walk out in the yard they will just look at you as long as you don’t get too close.”

From 30 or 40 yards away, Bill shot the hog behind the ear with a ballistic-tipped round, and the mammoth hog crashed on the spot.

“After I shot it, it was like a circus around here,” said Bill. “I had the hog hung in a tree, and everybody was coming up with a camera. CNN called, and the New York Times. People I didn’t even know were coming up to take pictures of it.

“There was a lot of history of the hog around here,” he said. “Several people told me they had seen the hog, and three others nearly the same size, in the area. Apparently it was running a three- or four-mile radius in south Fayette County near Brooks, and it had been seen for years. I had one guy come up and thank me for shooting it. He said he had built a new house and all four hogs had come in and rooted up all his sod.”

The hog Bill killed had long coarse hair, big broad shoulders and a head that was “humongous.”

“His size made it look like he had a lot of domestication in him,” said Bill. “But I think it is a true wild boar.”

The bucket on a back-hoe was required to load the hog into a truck. The only scales Bill could find that would handle the weight were truck scales at a Fayette County waste-management transfer station. The truck was weighed with the hog in the bed, then the hog was removed and the truck was weighed again. Bill obtained a video statement from the scale operator and a printout of the weight: 1,100 pounds.

After untold numbers of photos were taken of the hog, and several days passed, Bill cut the head off the hog and preserved it in an old freezer. The rest of the carcass was buried.


“I am not really a hog hunter,” said Bill. “This is the only one I have ever killed. The interest in the hog has amazed me. I even got a call this morning from the BBC in London, that’s when it got unreal. Just getting it into GON was going to be a big deal — I was hoping just to get it in GON.”

Rare Deer "Spotted"

This piebald fawn was seen near Junction City, just Northwest of Stevens Point, WI. Piebald can over simplistically be viewed as incomplete albinism. It is a result of a recessive gene and may cause additional problems for the animal. This gene is found in all mammal populations. The gene varies in the way it is expressed in different individuals. There's evidence that the white coloration isn't the only "defect" that makes piebald deer more susceptible to hunting and natural predation. Their short legs and typically malformed hooves cause them to run more slowly and in a somewhat awkward gait. Their shorter snout is bowed and may result in reduced sensitivity to odor, and there is some evidence they may have especially bad hearing, making it likely it will be the first deer that is awake when Devon shoots it. However, it is okay to eat and still makes good chili.