She been a little more quiet here on the shores of upper red lake. There has been a few fishermen out there everyday that I can see from shore. I have also heard from the grape vine that there catching some fish, We do have some guest starting to arrive today through out the weekend so I should have a few more first hand reports coming . I did talk to Buddy Hillmen yesterday, Hillmen’s is going to” HOLD OFF” allowing single axel ice house out due to the 3 inches of snow we received last night. Wheeler/side by sides/ sleds are a go. He does ask that you stay on this side of a active crack out 2 miles or so. He also still has some on shore lodging. I also ask about the behemoth, his giant double decker house. The plans are to again have it rentable on the ice this year. If I remember right it will sleep 10. There number is 218 647 8504. I’m looking at possible getting on the ice towards the end of next week but mother nature may throw a wrench in our plans with this snow. I did have a customer take me up on my roast in the oven with taters,carrots and onion when you arrive. It will be interesting to see how that turns out. I expect they will walk in and say man does it smell good in hear. our plans this week are again to work on getting organized for the season. We have to go over to Davids in gather some 2×4 for blocking. They need to be cut up and that’s always a chore since I do not operate a chain saw. White lightning needs a water pump ,but I need to put that off for a bit. Blue thunder got her first work out as I had to go plow the gas station out this morning as well as our property. I was sure hoping we would not get any snow un tell I had the houses out on the lake . I knew I should of did the no snow snow dance. Oh well you would think I would learn but I realize after 17 years mother nature is and always will be the boss here on such a grand lake. Jonny boys buddies were up last weekend and snagged a elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie. My plans are to give it another shot with the bow and arrow this weekend. I picked up some new gloves, and a couple hand warmers. Years ago I had built a deluxe deer stand up where the greek and I hunted for years.. Yes here come another lesson in not what to do. I had gotten to the stand before light . a lite snow was coming down but as day broke it turned into a mix of snow rain and ice rain. I was hunkered down in my stand with my bow hanging on a branch, The bow was completely covered with a thin coating of ice. A nice 6 point buck magically appeared coming straight towards me. I slowly grabbed my bow as the deer had no clue I was sitting 9 feet up in the air. He was walking right at me so I had no shot. After what seemed like a eternity he was standing right under my stand. My heart was pounding . I thought for sure he could here my heart thumping 10 feet away. He slowly started to mossy away from me . I was going to have the perfect shot quart ting away from me. As I raised my bow, I drew back, it sounded like a broken chandelier hitting the ground as the ice shattered. A sound a deer wants no part of has he bounded away in two giant leaps. Lesson learned if its ice raining you might want to keep the bow from freezing into a popsicle.