Iowa Deer Blog

Really looking forward to August coming and heading up to see John at GreyWolf Lodge. I have been coresponding with John on a weekly basis. Recently he was admitted to the Hospital with a bad infection in his foot. John I hope you have a speedy recovery.

Our family is really excited about heading North and relaxing and enjoying the lake and lodge. I will keep you guys posted. Till next time.

John

Link: http://greywolflodge.com/index.html

It has been way to long since the Sable's have been on a vacation and we have never been on a family vacation. This year we are making the trek to Orr, Minnesota to visit Grey Wolf Lodge owned and operated by John Metsa and Carol Carlson. Grey Wolf Resort is situated on 34 acres on Pelican Lake.

Brian and I started Iowa Deer over 7 years ago. In that time alot of things have come our way so I am not suprised when something else comes down the channel. One thing I unfortunatley have learned operating this site is that alot of hunters are pre-madonnas. I have learned that hunters are really their own worst enemies. I have seen that alot of men find their identity thru and with their hunts. They know what they are doing and telling them otherwise really ruffles their feathers. I have also found that words typed on an internet forum can be twisted a million different ways by a half a dozen people. This is usually the side I deal in most often as a site owner. One of the things that makes alot of these type of forums fail and eventually become dead is by allowing the stuff I mentioned before go on and on without stopping it.

As I have found since Iowa Deer started more and more each year is that Brian and I are in the spotlight more and more. As a whole hunters are good genuine people that enjoy the outdoors and sharing their experiences.

The darker side if hunting seems to show it self from time to time especially when a big deer goes down. The rumor mills go up and the speculation runs crazy. Usually I am the one trying to track down the facts to put rumors to bed. Recently I found out , not first hand, that a member of this site was making accusations that I had either taken a deer illegally or tagged it wrong etc. These type of people don't have the guts to talk face to face about the claim. They choose to go behind the scenes like the cowards that they really are. I grew up with the idea that you make your own bed, in life. You stand up for whats right and you face things like a man. It really ruffles my feathers when I have to deal with weasles that don't follow the same code. The person in question knows who they are so I don't need to expose them here and give them any kind of fame. If you spend enough time at Iowa Deer you will figure it out.

I find it interesting and very telling when someone pretends to be something they are not and then later claim that they never like the site....then why would you invest your money to become a Field Staff Member? Kind of Crazy! Anyway the way I look at it I don't need to defend myself to someone that can't even face me like a man to make the claim.

I choose to live life for me and not because of others. Living with grudges like a few members have decided to do is like poison in your life, it will eventually be your own demise. Move on, Please.

I explain Iowa Deer like this. It is a glass of water each member is a finger in the water. When a few fingers are removed what happens to the space that those fingers previously occupied.........it gets filled pretty fast.

Happy Hunting

John Sable/Iowa Deer

Sitting here tonight wrapping some of the last presents for the little ones and kind of reflecting on the last year. It is hard to believe what are family has been thru. I look back on it and wonder why sometimes. Why my son had to be born with so many ailments, why my oldest son had to be robbed of some of his youth during Jacks life and why Jack had to die. It is still hard for me to grasp that one of my sons is dead.

Jack died a year ago this September. During his four short years of life our family went into survival mode in every sense of the word. I can remember when Amber and I found out she was pregnant with our second child...we were totally excited. After the first ultra sound we were pretty excited to find out it was a boy! You know they train those Ultra sound techs to be pretty non emotional with whatever they see so we had no idea that she was looking at our little son knowing that he had a heart problem even while we were so happy and un-knowing. It wasn't until later that we were told that Jack had some problems. At that time he alot more problems than they even realized. It wasn't until he was born that we learned so much more about the type of challenges he and our family would face. As soon as I saw his ultrasound photos I fell in love with him.

When Jack was delivered he was not breathing and I could tell by the concerned look on the faces of the staff in the room that not all was well. The delivery of your child is supposed to be a happy time not a time of fear and sadness.

Thruout Jacks life he never talked. I never got to hear him say "I love you Daddy". Maybe it would have made his death even harder for me. Maybe God designed it that way because he knew it would ruin me..I don't know. I think about that alot and sometimes it consumes me.

Jack died in his mothers arms, my wife. I will never know the pain the way she does. I held is little head in my hands and he opened his eyes and stared into mine as he passed. It was a special gift from God to me. All the Demons I carried with me in my life seemed to vanish at that moment and I felt the presence of Angels or something in the room with us.

Amber and I sat there for the next several hours holding him one last time. His little body was warm and he was very peaceful. Amber gave him his last bath in this world and dressed him. I carried him down to the morgue and said good-bye...for now.

That was a little over a year ago now and the pain comes and goes. Mostly around this time of the year. If you have ever read a book called "The Shack" you know what I am talking about when I say I carry the "Great Sadness" with me from time to time.

I have Luke (8) and Olivia (4) now that need a Father and a strong man to guide them and be a rock and it frightens me. When I am so damaged how can I possibly give them the love that they deserve but I am a fighter and I will go down in flames before I submit to that enemy that is trying to tear me down, tear my family down. It won't happen on my watch. Jack is looking down on us and encouraging us to go on, keep going, don't stop. "I am ok Daddy" he says. I know he is and I fight another day. It might be like that forever.

I gave my battered,beaten and undeserving life to God because of Jack. Thank You Jack, Thank You God for showing so much mercy on me.

Jack, Dad loves you and your such a good boy. You hold the fort down for us. We'll see you soon because this life is just a breath...just a short breath.

It's the best part in my opinion..well I like to put'em down too. Going over all of the last minute details. If you can imagine the amount of time required to just get yourself ready for a hunt and the quadruple it. A few years ago Brian and I purchase a Cannon XL1S. Awesome camera. We realized real fast how difficult it can be to get setup. Now that we are going to live stream hunts it is just as cumbersome. Brian has worked his rear off to get the equipment needed tp do a test run. When we are up and streaming you will see what I am talking about but that's the way it goes when you decide to do something that noone else is doing....YET!

Brian and I sat down to look at the topo maps and determine how to set up with the best chances. We decided to run a ground blind and decoy setup on the center hub of a wagon wheel. With the south to southeast wind expected tomorrow this should be reeeeaall nice. Brian is going to run/monitor the equipment while I try to connect on the Ghost of the Woods out there. We are going to use a Buck decoy for this hunt. We debated on the choice but after some scenerio talk thrus we decided at this time of the year we would do it this way. I think on this farm that the Does were locked down by the more mature deer last weekend. I think the big dogs will be back out there looking for the last of the hot does. I think a doe decoy would possibly pull a buck sniffing another doe trail and it could either be a giant or an imature buck where the buck decoy I hope will challenge only the kings of the timber whether on a doe trail or not.....hope my hunch is right.

We are set up in a nice open bowl at the bottome of a giant hill of CRP on the north side of the hub of a big wagon wheel. Anyway I could go on and on you get the idea..it's sweet.

It is going on 6pm the night before the first live stream and Sykes is still make last minute adjustments to the equipment. Where we are hunting it is remote and off the beaten path. We are using equipment that needs to pick up cell towers and so forth so it may not work out like intended but like I said this is a trial run. We are working on a shoestring budget.

Anyway it will be hard to sleep tonight but need to get some shut eye sometime. Stay Tuned!

John Sable / Iowa Deer