Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

November 18, 1998, Page 23

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

IN THE Good Old Days

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

Deer Hunting Facts and Tales

 

November 1954

 

Twelve deer were the kill as the amount registered in Clark County for Tuesday, Nov. 23, in the heart of the deer season of 1954.

 

This kill is probably the smallest of any in the hunting history of Clark County.  It is consistent with the record of the entire first half of the season, which had, up to Tuesday night, brought only 211 registrations in the county.  Of these, 25 registrations were for deer killed in other counties.  It is relatively certain that all the deer killed in the county up to Tuesday night would not exceed 200.

 

In the all-deer seasons of a few years ago, the kill ran up to 8,000.  After three all-deer seasons, the kill dropped to 338.  It looks as though 1954 may not be much, if any, better than that.

 

The first deer of the season to be registered in Neillsville was shot by Chester Turville of Neillsville.  He got a beautiful eight-pointer and was registering it about nine o’clock Saturday morning.

 

Fred Lunn, of Galesville, became the hunted.  Lunn has a trick knee.  He stepped into a hole about three miles west of the Stables Club (now Wildcat Supper Club) and gave the knee a wrench.  He was one of a party of hunters and knew his friends would be looking for him.  So he settled down to care for his leg, and awaited rescuers.  His friends reported him missing, and the search for him lasted from 6:30 until 11 Saturday evening.  Five or six officers helped his friends in the search.  His condition was not serious, when he was found.

 

November 1951

 

The oldest hunter in Clark County got his deer on opening day this year.  George Frantz of Neillsville, who is 87 years young, credited shooting success to his shotgun.

 

“Best luck I ever had yet,” the spry octogenarian told the Press.  “Guess I’ll go hunting with a shotgun from now on.”

 

“I’ve been hunting that Pray country (where he got his deer) since I was 13 years old and I think I have walked every foot of that ground.  Why, it was us hunters that named that area – Bushy Ridge, Twin Hills, Saddle Mound and the rest.”

 

What does his wife think about his hunting?  “Why, every year she puts up a fuss about my going out, but I’ve been going since I was a kid and I’m going to keep on doing it.  Besides, she doesn’t really mean it.” 

 

How did he get his deer?  “Well, we parked the car in a fire lane on Bushy Ridge and walked about 20 yards into the woods.  Then I took up my ‘homestead’ on a stump and waited.  About 20 minutes later a deer went past and I got it.  My partner (Bob Thompson of Neillsville) helped me drag the deer out to the fire lane where we cleaned it.  Then I built a fire and waited until the others came back empty-handed.”  His hunting partners were Harry Roehrborn and Rudolph Frantz of Neillsville.

 

If you can’t shoot ‘em, ride ‘em!

 

That’s the deer hunting strategy employed by Ole Sage of Neillsville to get his buck this year.

 

Ole wounded a buck in one leg while hunting near the Stables Nite Club in the Town of Hewett about 2 p.m. of the opening day.  The buck went down then got up again.

 

The buck took off running on three legs cross-country.  Sage went three more shots after him and missed each time.  He dropped his gun and sprinted after the retreating buck.

 

He caught it, hopped on its back and grabbed the horns, wrestling it to the ground, hollering for help all the while. 

 

Sage held on to the animal until Chris Vandeberg and Frank Nauertz, both of Neillsville, came to his rescue.  All three admit the story’s strange, but all swear it’s true.

 

What would you deer hunters say if a man told you he shot a deer 400 feet away with a 20 gauge shotgun slug?

 

That’s what Dick Albrecht, Neillsville, is afraid of. And that’s why he isn’t too anxious to have the fact mentioned. But we have confidence in his truthfulness – and somewhere around there are two hunters (strangers to Dick) who paced the distance off, and know it’s a true story.

 

Albrecht tried twice as the eight-point buck stood on the railroad bed just east of the Green Bay & Western Railroad Bridge at Hatfield.  Both shots apparently were high. But for some reasons unknown to any but the buck, he did not move. Albrecht took a third shot.  It hit the deer in the neck and knocked him down.  He rolled down the slope at the side of the tracks.

 

When Albrecht approached the buck it still was moving and he took another shot but missed!  Anyway, the deer is at Albrecht’s house.

 

Evelyn Walk has only a cherry-red, right-thumb joint to show for her three shots at the deer.  Walk became very excited when she saw a big doe jump and clear a fence.  Not being able to throw off the safety catch she injured her thumb in the three attempts to fire the rifle.  When she finally got the gun’s hammer back, the deer was too far away, but she fired a shot anyway, to make it run faster.  Walk and her dad were hunting in the Columbia area.

 

Lowell D. Schoengarth, local barrister, tells his deer story with a straight face.  It seems he had a wonderfully easy broadside shot at a standing deer, not over three rods away and in a clearing.  He took careful aim and had plenty of time to shoot.  Then he pulled the trigger.

 

“The shotgun made a noise like a muffled .22,” Schoengarth said, and the slug drizzled out the end of the barrel.

 

Three out-of-town hunters, who have a cabin near Rock Dam, were reported missing about nine o’clock Saturday night when they failed to return home after a day of hunting.  A search party was organized by Lorris Dusso, traffic patrolman; Al Covell, county forester; and Frank Doves, county sheriff.

 

However, the men returned to their cabin before the search could get underway.  They had wounded a deer and continued tracking it through the woods.  They came walking out of the woods dragging the deer between them, never having been lost.

 

Among the hunters who made the coveted honor roll of deer hunting by getting their deer are: Bob Shaw, Walter Brown, Earl Magnuson, Charles Hubing, William Yenni, Herbert Smith, Harold Gault, Henry Hubing, George Frantz, Billy Hill, Matt Gassen, Frank Brown, Carl Olson, George Hubing, Al Sollberger, Alvin Eisentraut, and Lawrence Drescher.

 

November 1948

 

Bill Hrasky was reminiscing just before the season opened on how little target practice really means.  It seems that Hrasky went out with another hunter and engaged in some target shooting.  He tried the other fellow’s gun but couldn’t have hit a bull at five paces with a shovelful of peas.  Then he took his own gun – with equally poor success.

 

The outlook was discouraging but Bill went on the hunt anyway.  It wasn’t long after the opening of the season that Bill got a shot at a deer – and brought down a nice buck.

 

Rooms were at a premium here last weekend, as out-of-town hunters flocked into Clark County to hunt.  Every spare room in the city was filled, and many of the farm houses adjacent to the deer area were crowded.  Reports were that room-and-board prices were as much as $7 per day.

 

It may not have any significance; but it seemed like there were more red wool jackets on the Neillsville streets Friday than on any eve of the opening of the deer hunting season in recent years.

 

Two visiting hunters came up with an idea on how they would break the monotony of hunting.  They bought several balloons and were planning to use them for target practice in case they hunted much longer without seeing a buck.

 

Just how “alive” the woods were was indicated by the report of Millard F. Cole, who made an ambulance call into Tioga Country Sunday morning.  “There must have been 500 cars parked along the road between Tioga and the Abbott ranch,” he said.

 

(A great part of the deer hunting sport seems to be the “story telling” in relating to the many experiences while on the hunt.  D.Z.)

 

Buy your Thanksgiving Turkey at Lewerns (Lewerenz) Locker Plant at the rear of the Sweet Shop, corner of Hewett & Fifth Streets.  Ready-for-the-pan Turkey - 60¢ per lb.; Dressed pork, whole or half, 34¢ lb. Also, we have all kinds of Sea Foods, Aged Cheese, fancy meats, our own hickory-smoked ham and bacon.  We do custom curing and smoking of meats.

 

Flitter’s Grocery has Schwann’s Lutefisk and fresh oysters.  Also for deer hunters – herring, lunch meats, bacon, pickled pigs feet and candy bars.  They deliver groceries daily, phone 220.

 

Attend the annual Turkey Dance at the American Legion Hall in Neillsville.  Music by the Howard Sturtz Orchestra.  Turkeys, ducks and chickens to be given away.  Admission 50¢ per person.

 

Gluck’s Shoe Store has hunters’ footwear specials: Heavy duty Arctic overshoes, 4 buckle $5.69, 5 buckle $6.39, Felt shoes with felt soles, $4.98.  Gluck’s store is located 2 doors west of the Neillsville City Hall.

 

If there is righteousness in the heart

There will be beauty in the character.

If there is beauty in the character

There will be harmony in the home.

If there is harmony in the home

There will be order in the nation.

IF there is order in the nation

There will be peace in the world.

--Chinese proverb

 

A small boy making – believe he is a deer slayer, in the early 1900s.

(Photo courtesy of the Schultz Family Collection)

 

An open creek, with water cascading over a small dam surrounded by fresh fallen snow; – a scene of early winter.  Also a scene that the deer hunters are hoping for on opening day.

 

 


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