Greetings and welcome!
The past few weeks have found me insanely busy trying to make a living. I am acutely aware that things slow down a lot once the snow and cold comes, so I am getting what I can.
Looking at the DNR numbers it looks like the 2017 deer hunt was up a little in Forest and Marinette Co, and down slightly in Oconto Co. In my travels I though that I heard more shooting than the past few years.
The lakes are slowly freezing up. They make ice overnight and loose some when the sun comes up and it goes over 40. When I drove by Waubee Lake yesterday it had thin ice over about 80% of the lake with the shoreline open between the Beech Club and Waubee Lake Lodge. I could see the different areas where it froze at different times. Going over the Hwy X bridge yesterday I saw very thin ice trying to make it out of the bays, but the sun probably ate it later in the day.
I did see on Facebook where a couple of guys walked a short way out on one of the bays and did a little fishing. Sheltered bays should have an inch or two of ice, but danger Will Robinson. It hasn’t been all that cold lately.
I have an event for this weekend, an antique snowmobile show. This one is always the first Saturday in December, and it used to be held at the Gateway Bar in Crivitz. This year they moved it a few miles north to the Middle Inlet Fire Department at Hwy 141 & Hwy X.
They have some awesome old sleds there. I have been to this show many times and hope to make it again Saturday.
Just a few miles west on Hwy X Koch’s Performance will be having an open house. They have an amazing collection of vintage Yamaha snowmobiles there, including quite a few classic racers. According to their facebook post they will be having some of the old time great Yamaha racers there along with the sleds that they raced. It is a vintage snowmobile double header, and a real treat for old Yamaha fans.
Looking ahead at the weather snowmobilers don’t have a lot to get excited about in the next 9 days. We will mostly be in the upper 30s through the weekend. There is a storm for early next week, but I’d expect that to be mostly rain. It does show it cooling down next week so at least we will advance the ice on lakes and the frost in the ground.
The TV showed a quick snow coming Friday night a little after midnight. It looked like it could be an inch of accumulation. The NWS does not mention it, and my forecast models only show a little snow up by Lake Superior.
This is being cross posted between the NorthernDestinations blog and the Big Snow Page. After December 1 I will put the NorthernDestinations blog into hibernation for the winter and start updating on the Big Snow Page. Eventually that will turn into just about daily updates once we get close to the season. With no snow likely for over a week I need to focus on other things like finishing my cars, plow truck, and firewood. When it gets close to being time to snowmobile or if any snow storms come I will be right there.
That is about it for today. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB