Deer Hunting

Thanksgiving time is upon us yet again, and like every year, there are many things to be thankful for. Most importantly, families will gather this week to reminisce about the year and enjoy delicious turkey dinners together. The Green Bay Packers are currently 9-0, and they are putting on great performances week after week for fans to enjoy too. And lastly, the thing I am most thankful for is the opportunity to relax out in the woods while I wait for a giant deer to walk into my vision.

Deer hunting has been a tradition in Wisconsin for much longer than the 160 years in which it has been regulated. Every year men put on their warmest blaze orange clothing and make their way into the woods. They withstand the cold breezes, rain, and sometimes even snow. Regardless of the weather conditions, everybody has the same goal in mind, shooting a big deer.

This year I followed my normal deer hunting routine. Like usual, I didn't fall asleep until very late Friday night because of the excitement running through my body. I awoke at 4am tired, but ready to get out to my tree stand in the woods.

I sat all day Saturday waiting patiently for a deer to walk past my stand. There was a cold breeze in the air, but it was not cold enough for me to see my own breath. The rustling of leaves and breaking of twigs kept me on edge all day. Unfortunately, the only animals making noise in my woods were red squirrels.

I heard gunshots in the woods nearby, but no deer crossed my path. My hunting crew of 3 guys only managed to shoot one doe opening day. After shooting it, we gutted it and hung it up by its neck to drain the blood out of its body. Today, we will take the doe to get processed and cut up into steaks. The day wasn't a complete failure, but I still have 2 deer tags to fill. Hopefully when I go up north I will be able to see some deer and fill some of my tags too.

Cutting the Energy

When I moved into my first apartment, last year, I paid very little attention to my personal energy consumption habits. The only preventive measure I remember taking was changing the 60W and 100W incandescent light bulbs to 13W and 26W compact fluorescent bulbs. Lights and appliances were always running, but the only time I paid any attention was when the bills came. Strapped for cash, and inspired by Dr. Byrand’s Human Impact on the Environment course, I vowed to change my morbid consumption habits.

In the beginning, it was hard to break my worst habit of leaving the lights on. I was always walking back into rooms only to turn off lights, and the lights were only a fraction of the problem. It was almost painful breaking the bad habits. Constantly being disappointed in my own memory and having to walk back into a room was a pain. Constructive criticism from my roommate also powered my desire to break my bad consumption habits. It was a slow process, but eventually I started to care enough to always turn lights off.

The apartment began to have a more peaceful feeling to it as I started cutting back on energy. Birds started to replace the sounds of television as background noise, and sunlight began to supplement for much of the light I used too. I started using the bear necessities. Everything was simple and I enjoyed it. Seeing the price drastically reduced on my Alliant Energy bills was enjoyable too.

The battle to reduce my energy consumption has been rocky. I still sometimes leave appliances on, and my most recent major failure was allowing the air conditioner to run constantly. Central air is expensive! Every day is a day to learn though, and I must continue finding ways of making positive changes. The learning may be simply working on breaking bad habits in my mind, but its better than nothing.