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Voices
Hunting Tips & Reflections By Mike E. Neilson Mike Neilson, longtime Danville High School teacher and longtime hunting enthusiast is sharing his hunting experience with our readers. He’s also shared his knowledge in book form with Class Dismissed: I’m Going Hunting! (2004); We’re Gonna Need More Arrows!: Hunting Adventurs Around the Country and Around the World (2009); and Pig Tails and Other Hunting Adventures (2014) ______________________________________________
Thursday, August 5, 2021
We offer Voices as a place to share a story, a memory, an idea, a comment, a criticism, or a solution. Contributors must include name, address & phone number.
ALLEN’S CORNER
ON THE MUSIC SCENE By Allen Kiger
House Work
So, my son got married this summer. To be good parents (and hopefully good in-laws) we offered to host a low-key hang out reception the day after the wedding. Then, kind of in preparation for that and kind of because it was long overdue, my wife and I undertook a series of Scouting and Other major renovations to the inside of our house. It was during Surveillance Skills the work of those projects that I had a lot of time to think about the nature of house work - that is, construction work Part 1 on my house. I’ve distilled the many recently learned, or Some of the greatest investments of time in the outdoor re-learned lessons into these three salient points. world is pre-planning, and scouting. The two go hand-in- Making things nice takes hard work. We’ve lived for hand. Today, let’s focus on scouting. Ah the gentle art of 20+ years in a house that’s over a hundred years old. We renovated before we moved in, although many of those spying out your quarry and the habitat they reside in. Good old fashioned personal observation is definitely original renovations were rushed or left incomplete. This hard to beat. Either with the naked eye or binoculars, what time, we wanted to try to do it right. New floors, painted you see is what you get. If I look across a field and see a walls and trim, new countertops, new appliances, etc. We deer or a turkey, I know where I saw them and at what tried to do as much of the work as we could, to save montime. If I’m lucky and can observe them for a long time, I ey and to try to get it done on time. It lasted a couple of might even get a chance to figure out what they are doing. months and was, frankly, painful and exhausting. But now, Are they eating? Are they fleeing from some danger or sitting in the completed rooms, we’re so proud and happy predator? Are they rutting? What’s got the game up and of the hard work we did. Work done out of sequence makes work harder. moving? Personal observation helps a great deal. Caveat here. If you are doing your scouting from the While looking at the beautiful new hardwood already inroad, be careful not to attract unwanted attention. The stalled in the living room, we decided to paint the living critter you might be looking at as you sit in your vehicle, room walls, and while we were painting those walls, we just might cause others hunting on the same property or decided to paint the living room trim. And when we decidnearby to take an interest in that spot as well. Yep, better ed to paint the living room trim, we decided that we really to do what I call a “drive by” than gawk too long. Just needed to apply some filler and sand it. So, while the paint make a quick mental note and move on. Heck, you can on the walls is still wet and all the furniture is clustered in even turn around a time or two if you are lucky. The is to the center of the room on the very expensive brand-new observe without being observed by either your quarry or hardwood floor, I’m generating massive clouds of dust that are spreading to quite literally every surface throughout other hunters. Game cameras have evolved quite a bit since the old the house. school trip-wire cameras. Now you can get game cameras Work done by professionals can be impressive. In that will alert you to your cell phone, when and where a the aforementioned renovations, we somehow ended up picture is taken. The advantages are obvious but the buy with five different types of flooring on the first floor of in can be a bit pricey depending on the features you would our house. We wanted (ok, I’m sure partially in thanks to like. I’ve used a couple of them, nothing fancy, and as HGTV) to reduce that number to two types of flooring, long as the date and time stamp are set correctly, can give max. We sprang for actual, honest to goodness, tongue and me some valuable information based on what’s running groove oak flooring. We weren’t about to try to install that around a particular area at a particular time. Now, granted, ourselves, so we had the pros do it. In this case, the pros if the pictures are in July, will the critter still be there in were three Latino young men, maybe around 20 years old. the fall? Maybe, but there is no guarantee. All this does is Over the course of two full days that ran past 6 p.m., these tell you at this particular time and date, a critter triggered three craftsmen installed our floor. They spoke little and the camera. I’m not against using them where legal, I just wasted absolutely no time. They worked so quickly that don’t have the experience or funds to go whole hog on sometimes their nailers sounded like machine guns, and these things. I’ve got family and friends who love them they shook the house. When they had a cut to make, they and the benefit is that you don’t have to go traipsing around walked with purpose, across the house, out through the gaand alerting the game to your presence. The downside is rage, directly to their saw, made the cut and walked even somebody that does wander around, just might walk away quicker back to put that piece into place. with your camera. You also need to keep spare batteries, The moral of the story, construction in general, is hard data cards and straps. Why do the squirrels and other ro- work but always worthwhile. Do it yourself or respect the hell out of those that do it right and choose to do it for a dents love straps so much? Word-of-mouth scouting. You heard from a friend of living. a friend, of a friend, or better yet, you read it on Danville Chatter, Facebook, Twitter, or some other form of social Scott Perkins media. This can be some good information if you trust Danville the source about a deer, turkey, fish or whatever critter or ______________________________________________ object you are interested in. (The Republican is of course, Hate Is a Big Word the exception. If you read it here, you know it’s Gospel!) Farmers are always a good source of information as well as landowners and friendly neighbors. Even unfriendly Hate: Intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from neighbors will sometimes drop little pearls of wisdom like, fear, anger, or sense of injury; to regard with active hos“Don’t you hunt that big 12-point buck, I’ve been seeing tility. in my neighbors field.” Thank you for that gem! However, if you have a team of scouters, fellow outdoorsmen and Early in my real estate career I crossed paths with a women you can trust, then sharing and swapping informa- unique real estate investor. Weinstein was his name. An tion can be a great advantage. Just remember it all comes older Jewish guy that lived in an established, stately part down to a trust factor. Most anglers won’t tell you their of Indianapolis. I have no idea why, but it felt like he was honey-hole for big fish. Same thing applies to anybody “old money.” finding morel mushrooms, turkeys, coveys of quail, and Quietly, over decades, Weinstein had patiently assembled over 400 platted but unbuilt building sites from surberry bushes. plus tax sales in Indianapolis, all in one area. (Continued Next Week) _____________________________________________ We clicked and got to know each other well. One day I jokingly mentioned that I hated people that take too long to order at McDonalds. The conversation stopped, the mood changed, he looked at me and said, “Hate is a big word that should not be used so easily.” It seemed a strange thing to say but the tone was serious and that was all he said about it. It stuck with me. Weinstein passed away not long after and we sold all his lots. In his obituary, it said he was a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps during World War II. I had not known that. Thinking back to that talk, it all made sense. “Hate” is a big word. And it is so easy to use. “I hate all the road work in Avon,” “I hate the color they painted the Dairy Queen,” “I hate people that mess up the double drive-thru at McDonalds,” “I hate all these new homes,” “I hate all these people moving here.” It feels like we are all using big words a little less carefully than we should these days. To my friend Mr. Weinstein, if you are watching, I will try to do better and be more careful of my words. I do not “hate” all the road work in Avon, but I strongly dislike driving in it. Much better. Jerry Vornholt ______________________________________________
love can Let us see what do. William Penn
Worth the Waite The weather was perfect Saturday evening for a night of music at the Indiana State Fair Free Stage. Frankfort, Indiana native and Matchbox 20 band member, Kyle Cook, took the stage first and played a few songs from his own upcoming album and a few Matchbox 20 hits. The audience then welcomed headliner John Waite. The band was dressed in their trademark black suits like the Beatles back in 1964 at the Indiana State Fair. They opened by performing a knockout version of “Midnight Rendezvous” which was a big hit for John when he was with The Babys. John continued to play hit after hit including his number one song “Missing You.” At the end of the evening, John said “We’re gonna go out with a bang tonight.” Kyle Cook who had been signing autographs and taking pictures with fans since he left the stage, returned to the stage to help perform a Led Zeppelin song called “Whole Lotta Love.” The crowd exploded with excitement with John singing, Kyle Cook on guitar along with guitar player Mark Ricciardi, Tim Hogan on bass, and Rodger Carter on drums. The audience had just heard a great version of the loved classic Led Zeppelin song. I realized that live music is finally back as I watched John entertain the audience for almost 90 minutes. And, it was worth the Waite!
A Squirrel About Town By Archy “How long does it take?” Archy asked. “To do what?” I asked, struggling to keep up with the squirrel’s train of thought. “For a stranger to become ‘one of us’ of course,” he answered. “Humans seem to have become very territorial around these parts. Quite a case of them v. us, it seems to me.” I began to see what he was getting at. “I can’t really give you an answer,” I said. “Maybe it takes humans longer to accept people they don’t know.” “Dogs do it in one sniff,” the squirrel said. “I suppose that won’t work for humans. Too many artificial scents.” I thought of people I know who pepper a stranger with questions until they reach some level of approval or cry “uncle” and head for the nearest exit. “Fear of the unfamiliar must be quite paralyzing, I must imagine,” Archy said with some sympathy. “I would have thought you would be skeptical of new people, what with four generations of bones in the ground here, but you don’t seem to view new people as a menace. I thought about it some more. “Sometimes I’m more skeptical of people I know than strangers,” I told the squirrel. “Yes,” Archy said. “I’ve noticed. The people you know have given you reason to be skeptical. Strangers are an adventure.” “Archy,” I said, “you’re the strangest friend I’ve ever had.” “Back at you,” the squirrel laughed. ______________________________________________
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