seems pretty unlikely for a crippled deer living on public land.

bummer for this guy.
maybe i can put him out of his misery this Saturday. (WI gun opener)

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Opener was great conditions but a quiet morning in the woods north of Park Rapids. Cameras have been busy but only at night so that followed.

For the afternoon my son chose to stay in the woods with Grandad while I jumped out to a small field cut. Bad call for him, good call for me. Had to make a quick shot on him quartering away into the thicket, but “he didn’t goooo 40!”

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Family spot in area 241 northeast of Park Rapids.
The hunting’s fine, but it’s the hunting camp that matters most.

there was a nice burst of activity on camera last week when the front came through, but it’s settled down a bit again now.

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Jones got a very well-deserved welcome back. Mark Murphy (Packers team President) was the first person to give him a hug once he got out on the field and Brian Gutekunst (GM) wasn’t far behind.

really cool moment here signing some kids’ shirts. i mean, i guess it is if you like guys in purple…

Ripjiggen wrote:

Didn’t really crash the Eagles.

are you talking about Wentz?
he was on his rookie 4-year contract when he got hurt in 2017 which was only $26M over 4 years. even with his injury they like him enough to cut Foles and re-sign him in $2019. he famously underperformed after that.

JEREMY wrote:

Those numbers make me wanna barf.

because you’d rather that more of the revenue the NFL and the teams generate goes to the owners? right now it’s roughly a 50/50 split, with the player’s share being divided (unevenly) amongst the players and the other half covering staff and then mostly going to. the. owner.
if a business makes a lot of money, the people owning and working at that business get a lot of money. if people wanted to watch me do my work on TV i’d probably get paid more too.

BigWerm wrote:

Unless something happens to level off or even a decline in revenue I don’t think it will. The reason these haven’t bit anyone TOO bad yet, is the salary cap keeps jumping up, so locking in a QB at todays market looks good moving forward as the pie grows.

THIS.

two interesting trends to watch.
1) how the NFL continues to grow TV and streaming revenue
2) prevalence/percentage of guaranteed money in a violent sport

on the first one, i hope people are prepared for the day when all of the playoff games and even the Super Bowl are on a premium streaming network rather than standard TV. not now, maybe not in 3 years, but it’s coming.

on the second, a career-ending injury early in a QB’s guaranteed contract will crash a team harder than managing cap issues and the money itself for an underperforming player who stays on the field.

Dutchboy wrote:

If he’s a asshat he goes to the Jets. Life goes on.

…and shortly thereafter goes to the Vikings. Life goes on.

all of the eye-raising about contracts for star players overlooks the underlying fact that they’re paid as employees who contribute to the team’s revenue. and NFL revenue is very, very large indeed.

the NFL itself earned ~$20B last year, with tv-related money being the most.
they gave $400M of that to every team. in 1 year.
individually the Packers were 10th in the NFL for revenue last year at $577M.

but…Green Bay is 2nd most in dead cap money at ~$50M. ironically it’s the Vikings who are carrying the most at $57M. the good news for Green Bay is that they’ve gotten so much younger as a team that even with Love’s new contract they can weather it in 2024 and then their cap situation will clean up starting in 2025 when they’ll need to start making some decisions.

pay the QBs, they’re worth it, and everyone will be okay.

Oooh, they need to paint the Suzi cream to match the boat!

the idea of being “worth it” is very subjective.

do they do something that’s so different than less expensive versions? no.
do they catch more fish because they cost more than a similar lure? no.
is it worth supporting small basement bait builders? yes.

innovation comes from these craftsman much more so than larger companies who tend to chase the trends. this year’s two “hot” releases are both copies of baits made and proven by others – the 4-tail bulldawg is essentially a medussa, and the livingston tubebait is just a knockoff of the red october. the super hot bucktails over the years have all just been…bucktails.

if it’s within your budget, supporting craftsman is a choice that’s more about the art and artist than it is about finding a “magic” lure. it’s like buying jeans made in the USA, same pants at triple the price, but might be worth it to you. if a particular lure is outside your budget, find the similar bait that doesn’t cost so much and fish it with confidence.

muskie: 54″
walleyes: 31″ (me) and 30.5″ (son)
crappies: 17″ (me) and 15.5″ (son) caught back-to-back

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wow, those pics from Hawaii are gorgeous!

we are heading down to Missouri next week Friday to get a jump on the season.
Payne’s Valley on Saturday, then 4 1/2 rounds in Lake of the Ozarks.

can’t wait!

lots and lots of stuff for sale, yes.
it’s one of the best multi-species fishing expos anywhere.

i’ll be there mid-day on Saturday, it’s an hour drive for me. be prepared to pay for parking on top of the entry fee; the county owns the building so they charge parking separate from the event organizers.

Poe’s Jackpot.

basically a muskie-sized Spook. their best contribution for muskie fishing that they lead to other lure makers inventing better mousetraps with bigger, heavier walk-the-dog baits that had better hooking percentages.

yes, Poe’s awaker.
even if it’s an older one, it’s not valuable old.

and funny enough, at only 8″ long i consider that to be on the small side for modern muskie lures.

BigWerm wrote:

That is a weird thing to say about a coach, that recruits and then coaches said players. And BC is a mid-upper tier ACC school. His resume beyond BC is very VERY thin (co-DC for Ohio St., DB coach, assistant DB coach etc.), but you never know.

regardless of who the coach/recruiter is, Boston College is simply never going to recruit the same kinds of athletes that FSU, or Clemson, or Louisville gets. can’t make them “better” in the physical gift sense. let alone if they’re compared to teams in the actual power conferences such as the B1G or SEC or PAC-RIP.

his resume is thin if he’s compared to current / former NFL defensive coordinators. when he’s compared to other 1st-time defensive coordinators his resume is typical.

he’ll do a good job, or he won’t, we’ll wait and see. what i know is that they’ll be more aggressive as a defense under him and that’s what LaFleur was seeking.

BC’s numbers are probably influenced by the fact that they’re Boston College moreso than by who their coaches are…you can’t make your players better and it’s a decidedly uphill climb for a school like that one. and aside from 4 years as BC’s head coach, his full resume shouldn’t be overlooked as it is filled with defensive coaching experience on pro teams.

this is an interesting article – Gutekunst and LaFleur are asking him to run the defense based on what works best for the personnel they have, rather than trying to get those players to run some particular defense. refreshing.

https://www.packersnews.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2024/02/01/jeff-hafley-defensive-scheme-will-aim-to-maximize-green-bay-packers-players-abilities/72413296007/

The Pack missed yet another golden opportunity to make it to the Super Bowl. They were on fire going into SF, but they cracked under pressure.

i don’t know if i see the Packers cracking under pressure as much as just getting beat in a close game by a very good team. and it’s not like the missed field goal was a surprise as he’s not a guy who’d gone 67-67 on extra points and 39-39 on field goals during the season and then suddenly missed one in the big moment…

As a life-long Vikings fan -I’m now ALL-IN on the Lions and I hope Packer fans are, too!

definitely! the Lions are the lost step-child of the NFC North. they’re inoffensive with no real rivalries, they’ve consistently found ways to lose, and have simply not mattered. i think the worst indictment of a team is when you don’t care about them, either for or against. nice to see that change.

As much as we Vikings fans like to complain, we’ve at least been competitive most years since the mid-80s.

my contention is that simply making the playoffs is pretty easy and we should all expect better than that from a “competitive” team.

since the start of free agency in 1993:
Packers have lost 6 NFC Championships, won 3 NFC Championships, lost 1 Super Bowl, and won 2 Super Bowls
Vikings have lost 4 NFC Championships
Bears lost 1 NFC Championship, won 1 NFC Championship, lost 1 Super Bowl
Lions have made it to 1 NFC Championship (TBD)

we’ll all put the line for what’s acceptable at a different point, but it’s pretty clear that the Lions have not been competitive in 30 years. with free agency and the salary cap the playing field is very level in football. there’s 15 teams in the Conference, so any team that’s run decently “should” win a Conference Championship every 15 years, and win a Super Bowl every 30 years. anything short of that is an organizational failure; more than that is excellence. at this standard the Packers are just slightly above average, and the rest of the NFC North is below.

Love’s on-field play this year is a validation of what the team had seen every day in practice over the previous 3 years. it took a half-season for him to adjust his reads to gameday speed, but he did that in spades. that’s a different scenario than judging a true rookie’s performance when they have to play in their first year. i suppose that’s what informed the team in moving on from Rodgers and it’s what will inform the team in deciding on Love’s next contract.

sewing up your QB spot is money well-spent. a bad injury is the bigger risk than him suddenly forgetting how to play well. the more interesting decision to me is what they’ll do with Aaron Jones who – similar to Love – is entering the final year of his extension. he restructured before this year with a pay cut to stay with the team. i’d like to see them extend again for 2 years and get him his market value as he’s clearly one of the parts that made this late season run possible.

eyeguy507 wrote:

not with a firestick and certain applications. these “apps” are out there and they don’t always work and aren’t always HD but they are 100% ad free, on demand and work 90% of the time bruh.

when a guy walks into Fleet Farm, puts a Jiggin’ Rap in his pocket, and walks out the door everyone loses their damn minds about how he’s a POS thief.

but when a guy uses “certain applications” to stream “100% ad free, on demand, and work 90% of the time bruh” this is just a thing people do?

strange times.

chuck100 wrote:

glenn that is rather stupid to declare what ground your hunting.I think they are trying determine how many deer are shot on each.
Why,who knows.

it’s the bonus/antlerless permits that are based on the type of land being hunted; the standard buck (or choice depending on location) permit with your license is good anywhere. they provide more bonus antlerless permits for private land because that’s where the deer numbers are highest since that’s where hunting pressure is lower.

where i live in south-central WI you get your buck permit plus two antlerless when you purchase your initial license. i just put in for one of each, public and private (i mostly hunt public but occasionally get invited to private). you can buy essentially unlimited additional doe permits, so it’s not a limiting factor here at all.

in some areas further north where there are some antlerless permits available by draw, it’s more critical to know where you’re hunting as there are fewer available for public land.

slough wrote:

Fubo, YoutubeTV and Hulu+ are all pretty similar. Fubo is about $10 a month more last I checked. Fubo you get Bally for now anyway, who knows where that is going to end up.

on Amazon! i can’t wait.
the $190/year that Bally’s wanted for their streaming was crazy-talk.

BigWerm wrote:

7 seed is new this year, so tbd on that portion.

Actually that started in 2020.
#7 seeds were 0-6, now are 1-7.

I do chuckle a bit at the Packers official team social media congratulating themselves on being the only 7 seed ever to advance. There’s only been 8 tries.

with the exception of a Super Bowl win, i dare you to describe a more satisfying 3-week stretch than this:
wk 16: beat the Vikings in Minnesota 33-10
wk 17: beat the Bears at home 17-9
playoff: beat the Cowboys in Dallas 48-32

and as fun as this late-season run has been (including wins over Detroit and KC) i still think this team is positioned to actually be “ready” in 2025.

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the Packers (just like every team) are better when the offense is balanced. in the case of this year under Love vs last year under Rodgers, it’s so clear that they’re balancing run and pass better and even within the passing game it’s being spread around to so many different WRs. they’re much harder to defend as a result.

i grabbed Jones early for both of my fantasy teams too, so absolutely i believed in him coming into this season. it’s stellar to see his impact now that he’s healthy again late in the year paired with a stabilized O-line. i hope they keep him beyond 2024 too, just not too many years at too high of a price – do an extension through 2025 and re-evaluate a year at a time. pay the guy the right amount for what’s he’s doing not for what he’s done. the team needs to spend that money on defense.

Brad Dimond wrote:

Went to O’Shaughnessy Distilling Co. a couple nights ago, may change your mind about domestic distilling. A friend with us had recently been on the tour, an interesting background story. Among the things they’ve done to bring a first class distillery to the Twin Cities was hire Master Distiller Brian Nation, former Master Distiller at Jameson, Redbreast and Midleton Very Rare whiskey’s.

We tried all of the whiskies, they also distill gin and vodka. I brought home a bottle of the Keeper’s Heart Irish Bourbon Whiskey. I suggest giving it a try.

just for clarity, O’Shaughnessy has been sourcing their Irish whisky from Great Northern and their American whiskey from Ross & Squibb (MGP), so their current products show off their blending skills but are not yet an indication of their own distilling and aging.

with that caveat, those guys have a ton of capital and they did bring in one of the best Master Distillers for Irish whisky in the world, so it’s exciting to see how their products develop over the next 5 years. once they change to their own product i assume they’ll change to calling it Irish-style as well.

dirtywater wrote:

Aaron Jones is criminally underrated and historically under-utilized. Finishes the season with 3 straight 20+ carry / 100+ yard games…

…the passing game is at its best when 33 is getting touches.

the last 3 games were the Panthers (2-15), Vikings (7-10), and Bears (7-10), so it wasn’t exactly the toughest of sledding. seems a lot less likely that he’ll see big rushing numbers against the Cowboys (12-5) this week.

but your underlying point is dead-on. it’s very obvious that Jones’s return to full health allows the team to be more dynamic in both play-calling and execution.

he took a pay cut prior to the start of this season to stay with the team. reducing from $16M non-guaranteed down to $11M with most of it as an up front signing bonus. if he hadn’t done that and they’d cut him, there’s no chance that they would be in the playoffs right now.

he’s under contract next season for $12M. with that being his age-30 year, i doubt they’ll want to offer him much in terms of years, but based on his play right now i wouldn’t mind if they did another extension this off-season taking him out through 2025.

Good one from Charlie this week!

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/fueEaLMAKVL8smTZ/?mibextid=jaSYs6

Jake D wrote:

Anyone have any real life experiences with Browning cameras? I see they have some good package deals fairly regularly.

yes, mine are in the post immediately prior to yours…

here is such a great resource with articles that explain the features that matter for your needs with up-to-date reviews to find cameras that match.
https://www.trailcampro.com/

i’ve had very good success with the Browning cellular cameras.
great image and video quality, fast detection-to-image speed, a detection range that matches image range – so important for not getting cut-off pics!. i ran both of mine from early August to the end of November with video the last 5 weeks with uploads 4x/day and the batteries were still 75%. i never touched an SD card until after the end of the season. the cameras are very nicely priced and the cellular plans are scalable and reasonable. easy to use both the phone app and the website to review/delete/download images or video.