Are there 100,000 tiny brown trout darting along the concrete raceway, inside the Manchester hatchery? Just take their word for it. The tiny, just hatched fry resemble a black wriggling cloud rolling through the water.

  These brown trout were spawned in the hatchery in November. Brook trout are worked up in October. Rainbow trout eggs are taken through December and into January. From previous years, hatchery workers know about how many eggs come from females of each species and their hatch rates. That provides a handle on, for instance, how many three-inch brown trout fingerlings will be on hand to stock this spring.

  In the wild, reproduction rates run well below one percent. In the labor intensive spawning and rearing world at the hatchery, survival rates clear 60 percent. The cost of doing business is covered—barely—by your $12.50 annual trout fee.

  "These take about three years to get to maturity; nine or 10 inches," outlined DNR hatchery technician Randy Mack. He had sorted and anesthetized a few dozen females already and—with hatchery manager Dan Rosauer—was now stripping eggs from them, to mix with sperm from brood males kept on the hatchery, too.

  "Anglers like these wild, stream raised fish. They are harder to catch. They’re prettier in color. They’re just a more wild fish," noted Mack.

  Having lost some of the larger brood fish this year, workers made do with 10-inch brown trout. Though still mature, each smaller female yielded only about 400 eggs, instead of 1,500. As a result, it took more of them--and more time--to reach 2015 quotas.

  Different fish, different sizes…but the process is much the same. Firmly stroking fish bellies, workers strip eggs from each fish into a fabric net, then a pan to be fertilized, mixed and poured into specially designed hatching tray. The trays sit under constant cold water from nearby Spring Branch. They hatch in 30 to 40 days, depending on the water temperature.

  The brown trout used for spawning are captured wild from French Creek in Allamakee County. They are held at the hatchery, across two spawning cycles. That guarantees wild, brown trout fingerlings going back into northeast Iowa streams to grow up that way.

  There is natural reproduction of brown trout in northeast Iowa’s cold water streams. However, it does not meet the demand from trout anglers who fan out across 50 or so streams through the year. Besides brown trout, about 100,000 brook trout…and 400,000 rainbow trout are stocked each year.

  The brooks are also from wild stock; out of South Pine Creek in Winneshiek County. The rainbow trout are from two hatchery developed strains. Those two species are reared for over a year—until they are 10-to 12-inch, half pound keeper-sized fish. They tend to be more ‘angler friendly’ in the streams as about 40,000 of us pursue them—primarily from April through October.

  As they grow, they go outside to larger raceways at Manchester or are trucked to rearing stations near Decorah and Elkader. As they hit stocking size, crews from all three facilities stock them in nearby streams.

  The brooks and rainbows are also stocked at nearly 20 urban locations through the cold weather months.

  You can find all of the information you need about the outdoor adventures in Iowa on their web site at http://www.iowadnr.gov/.

  It has been awhile since my last chapter of My Series of Unfortunate Hunts because quite frankly things had been going pretty up to last October.

  Late that month I was back in southeast Oklahoma for my annual muzzleloader deer hunt on my friend David Falconer’s ranch. My son Josh was with me for the second year in a row and we were anxious to repeat the success we had had the previous October where Josh took a large doe and a button buck and me setting, if only for a brief time, the record for taking the largest doe ever shot on David’s place. My record fell a month later by a mere two pounds. But that was with a rifle so I still have the largest with a smoke-stick.

  I digress.

  Of the four deer I saw during a week of hunting I can only positively identify one of them. It was a fork-horn that snuck in behind me one afternoon while hunting one of David’s stands. What alerted me to his presence was the sound of him jumping over a ditch and his hoofs making that double thump sound that we hunters know all too well. He was only fifteen yards from me so I got a good look at him. He will make a nice trophy in a couple of years when he matures.

  He stuck around for a few minutes but grew antsy and retreated back the way he had come.

  The other three deer I only managed to catch glimpses of at either a great distance or through the trees and shrubs. I couldn’t tell you if they were bucks or does.

  I did see four hogs one evening while hunting from my stand at Cripple Creek.

  It was about half an hour before quitting time when from my left this black “object” came into view. My first thought was "it’s a damn dog" since I’m used to seeing dogs on my property in southern Illinois where people just let them run amuck but realized it as a hog just as quick. Three more followed it into the feeder.

  "These blankety-blank hogs are going to eat every bit of corn out there" was my thought as they started nosing around.

  "I can shoot one for sure but then I’d have to chase it down in the waning light", I thought. "Then I’d have to clean the smelly bugger in the dark. It’s not worth it."

  Since I didn’t want to waste a shot I clapped my hands real hard to try and scare them off. With the topography of Cripple Creek the clap was real loud almost sounding like a .22 rifle shot.

  It was funny to see how the hogs reacted. They stopped dead still at the sound. Frozen like statues. One of them was in mid-stride and stopped with one its legs off the ground. I clapped again.

  At the sound of this second "shot" they took off as fast as a lightning bolt across the creek and up the hill. I heard them grunting and squealing as they busted ass through the brush and trees. Needless to say after that commotion the odds of seeing a deer were nil so I gathered up my stuff and headed to the ground. I stood on the edge of the field for a few minutes before heading toward the four-wheeler. I walked slowly just in case but…..

  Josh also had a run of bad luck. He missed a doe opening morning and the next due to troubles with his rifle. The first thought was the scope had crapped out but after removing it and some time at the “range” we all came to the conclusion the problem was with the bolt not working right causing the shooter to pull off for only a millisecond but enough to make you miss. Josh’s luck did turn though.

  Our buddy Brentt scored a small six pointer opening day and then a fat doe the next morning to tag out. The buck was Brentt’s first deer in several years. We were so happy that Brentt had ended his Series of Unfortunate Hunts that we didn’t give him too much business for the small buck. Didn’t matter as he took a huge buck a month later while rifle hunting. It was The Year of The Brentt!

  Since Brentt had tagged out he was kind enough to loan Josh his gun. Monday morning Josh took a nice doe to redeem himself.

  Tuesday evening David’s brother Ronnie shot a nice buck at last light. Long story short. After many hours of searching and David calling his buddy Jason to bring his dog Zeuss out to help with the tracking the buck was found.

  Since he had stayed up, Ronnie told Josh if he helped him dress the deer he would take the backstraps and give us the rest. Josh jumped at the chance for the free meat and his efforts were rewarded when they got done around 4:00 am and Ronnie being too tired to mess with it decided to give him the whole thing. So even though I never fired a shot we brought home two deer for the freezer.

  In a week of hunting I only saw four deer and the first sighting didn’t come until the third day of the hunt. Wasn’t what I was expecting as the guys sent me a lot of pictures showing bunches of does and a lot of really big bucks.

  I can’t wait for my next trip to The OK so I can try to add a new saga to My Series of Unfortunate Hunts. Until the next chapter, stay cool people. - Jim Bob.

  Every year there are numerous accidents involving people falling through thin ice that result in folks drowning or succumbing to hypothermia from the cold water. Many folks enjoy to fish, skate or just plain slide around on the ice but how do you know it’s safe? Here are some guidelines to go by but remember when in doubt, stay off! Safety is no accident.

  * One inch of ice: Stay off.

  * Four inches of ice: Needed for safe ice fishing.

  * Five inches of ice: Needed for snowmobiling.

  * Eight inches of ice: Needed to support the weight of a car or light truck.

  * Ten inches of ice: Needed to support a medium weight truck.

  We are saddened to report that Kenny Settle, a close friend of ours and a founding member of the Backwoods Bound team passed away suddenly last month. Back in the early days he wrote a column for The Bullet called Kenny’s Corner where he put his unique views on a variety of subjects.

  After a lot of searching through the file cabinets we found a copy of The Bullet with his very first Kenny’s Corner. Here it is exactly as it first ran in the October 2000 issue. Enjoy.

  Kenny’s Corner: A new feature in the monthly newsletters. Kenny’s Corner provides an editorial view of the Backwoods Bound experience!

  Why Do I Deer Hunt?

  I’m sure that many of you have asked yourself the same question. Is it because I enjoy sitting in a stand all day and not even see a deer? Is it because I like to be in sleet and freezing rain to the point that it is so miserable, thoughts of quitting start to creep in my head? Or maybe it is because of things like this.

  One year after taking a buck, I began to field dress it. While cutting off the tarsal glands I made a move with my knife that can only be described as stupid and stabbed myself in the hand about two inches deep. Pretty negative stuff, huh?

  Let’s look at some other reasons why I deer hunt.

  Getting in your tree early morning when it is still dark and watching the sun come up as the woods around you become alive is a pretty good one. What about the adrenalin rush as a deer approaches and you ready yourself for the shot? Another one of my favorites is sitting on stand after a couple of days and thinking about how much I love and miss my wife and daughters, then smiling because I know that when I get home whether I was successful or not hugs, kisses and open arms will greet me.

  I am willing to bet that every one of you have experienced at least one of the scenarios I mentioned above. I know this because if you are a deer hunter it just goes with the territory. I deer hunt for the memories and experiences that you cannot get unless you put yourself in a tree stand. Memories that can be shared with friends and family. Memories and experiences that burn into your very soul.

  What about you? Why do you deer hunt? I’m Kenny and I hope I have all of you in my corner.