On My Frozen, Snow Covered Soap Box

The Twin Cities have recently seem some of the coldest temperatures since 2003 in the last few days. Not including windchill, the temperatures were in the -20's last night and in the -18 range the previous two nights. I think we have spent almost 80 hours below 0 now. It looks like we have a few more days to go and then we are in for a heat wave in the +30's! We have also had a few snow events over the last couple weeks. I think we have a solid 10 inches on the ground with some drifting up to 30 inches. Here are the latest front and back yard shot to prove it! I know, I need to shovel!

Dad and I are also leaving to go on one of our annual snowmobiling trips up to northern Wisconsin, to the Larson Cabin. We spent a good part of the day, getting things ready and cooking duck chili (which is VERY tasty). We will be leaving at 0600 in the morning, picking up my friend Chris, and hitting the road. Hopefully it will be an uneventful drive up and we can hit the trails around noon!

Snowmobiling kind of segways into my rant for the day, my soap box. I tend not to be very opinionated on my blog, but this story got my blood boiling. Here is the link and the actual story:

http://wcco.com/pets/snowmobilers.kill.deer.2.906567.html

'Rogue Snowmobilers' Round Up, Run Over Deer
WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) ―

A group of snowmobilers in central Wisconsin herded and killed four deer and severely injured a fifth in what a warden called a senseless act of cruelty on Monday.

No arrests have been made in the Saturday morning incident about five miles south of Waupaca, said Ted Dremel, a state Department of Natural Resources warden.

There's talk of closing all snowmobile trails in Waupaca County until the "rogue snowmobilers" are caught, he said.

"It is senseless. I don't know how else to describe it," Dremel said. "It is probably something they thought was fun or humorous at the time. They did purposely run over these deer. The tracks in the snow were in a circular manner, almost looking like they were chasing the deer back to other snowmobile partners."

Randy Yorkson, who farms the land, said people cannot believe what happened.

"I am going to guess it is somebody who left a bar. They probably had been using that trail before, knowing the deer were out there," he said. "This is just some yahoos who don't have any common sense."

Landowner Virginia Niemuth, 80, immediately shut off access to her property, closing five miles of the main snowmobile trail across Waupaca County.

"There's sick people out there," Niemuth said. "I used to love to snowmobile, but this is too much."

Dremel believes three or four snowmobiles were involved in a roundup of deer in a moonlit alfalfa field where 30 to 40 animals were known to feed. Witnesses reported hearing snowmobiles in the area about 3:30 a.m., he said.

Three deer were found dead in the field. A snowmobile stopped atop one and ripped open its stomach, Dremel said. A fourth deer with broken legs was euthanized.

The fifth deer was dragged from the field and tied to a tree about 25 feet from a road. Investigators think someone may have planned to return for that deer, Dremel said.

"It looked like the deer wrapped itself around the tree and choked itself to death," he said.

Dremel said he has never heard of this kind of "cowboy-style" attack on deer with snowmobiles.

"Usually, it is an accident -- a deer standing in a trail and a snowmobiler can't avoid it," he said.

The dead deer included two bucks and three does. One was a fawn.

Investigators have no suspects. Six snowmobile clubs have offered a combined $7,500 for information leading to arrests, Dremel said. The Waupaca County Crime Stoppers and Fox Valley Humane Association in Appleton also have offered rewards totaling $1,500.

Investigators have received some leads but none from a witness or someone who talked to anyone involved, Dremel said.

Information can be phoned into the DNR's tip line at 1-800-TIP-WDNR.

"This is not characteristic of the snowmobile community in Wisconsin," DNR Chief Warden Randy Stark said in Madison. "Obviously, we are looking to get any public assistance we can in identifying who is responsible for this."

I don't know what these morons were thinking. Obviously they weren't at all. It seems like most of my hobbies that I enjoy, cherish, and respect are also full of complete idiots. This act of pure alcohol fueled stupidity reflects all snowmobilers. Now, all people who don't snowmobile are going to remember is this story about the poor deer that were killed and it will leave a bad taste in their mouth. I like to think the most snowmobilers are better than this, but a few bad apples can spoil the bunch. I don't blame that land owner one bit for shutting down the access to her land. Snowmobilers have been lucky enough to always have good land access, because in all reality, snowmobiles do almost no damage to the actual land, but if snowmobilers treat what lives on the land like this, then the sport is doomed! I really hope these morons either turn themselves in and suffer the public lashing and the embarrassment to their families or the local law enforcement track these crap-for-brains kids down and POUND SAND on them!

OK, I'm off my soap box now. I just needed to get that out. Thanks for listening and I will be sure to post when I get back from snowmobiling!

STAY WARM!