Stack's Slough Revisited
Another notable encounter with
Stacks was experienced by legendary mad Science-ist and inventor, Harvey
Bizek and fellow teacher Merle Robertson way back before my time. Bezik
came up with the brainstorm of fabricating a pair of strap-on foot
pontoons from which a pair of hunters with poles could push themselves
through the reeds with ease.. That proved to be exactly the case—except
for one small problem—recoil. The pair discovered that it was unwise for
both hunters to fire at the same time at ducks coming strait at them.
When the first such flock came in, both fired at once and the double
recoil was enough to topple them both backwards, overboard and upside
down. Somehow both were able to unstrap their feet and evacuate the
contraption without drowning. They left Stacks that day wetter and
wiser. Weather they hit anything with that volley, Rodger Bramel , who
told me the story, didn't say. Oh, yes, the hunters were able to
retrieve their shot-guns—after the dive.
The maiden dive was set for South
Turtle lake with either Merle Robertson or Dick Haskell manning the
safety rope and the air pump. They had a communication system set up
with the rope—One tug, routine work, two tugs, let out more line, three
tugs—pull me up. So Bizek was lowered, everything working perfectly,
down to about 30 feet-- air bubbles coming up-- all systems go. Then
suddenly the pump tender felt a number of alarming tugs one the line, so
'up' was the signal. But nothing would budge at first, then gradually
the ascent began. When he got into the boat and got free of his helmet,
Bezik was hopping mad; red faced he sputtered,”I was down there thirty
feet, stuck in three feet of loon s---t and you're trying to pull my
helmet off!”
Gene Pinkney 4/27/20/ For the
Daily News
A Follow Up from Previous Stack’s Slough Adventure
My article about Biology teachers
Johnson and Heath getting lost in Hankinson's notorious Stack's slough
garnered a couple of interesting replies. First, retired W. H.S.
Principal Clark Williams, called about some interesting deer hunting
outings had there. And then I received a letter from Bob Caspers Jr.,
retired classmate of both my wife in high-school and myself at NDSSS.
Telling of the scary encounter he had with a patch of mud so sticky it
sucked off one of his boots and nearly anchored him there for just
trying to retrieve a duck. He had hunted Stack's very successfully back
in the sixty's But when he returned later when the water had gotten high
the slough presented him with challenges not previously faced. Like I
said before there's some kind of evil spell on that body of reeds, muck
and water that can be quite a challenge for hunters taken unaware.
And, speaking of Harvey Bizek,
another of his inventions is worthy of comment. He put together a diving
helmet of sorts based on the principle that as long as a cup is kept
inverted it will retain the oxygen trapped inside it. So Bizek got an
air pump, attached it to some kind of helmet, I'm guessing an aluminum
bucket, with a plexiglass eye window, straps which fit under the diver's
arm pits and a weight belt to take the diver down.
Well, books might be written about Bizek's many
exploits. I'm told his farewell performance was a 4th of July
blast heard literally all over Ottertail Lake. I'll leave the details to
the “recollecters”. I could add here that “the Greatest Generation
supplied NDSCS with not a few memorable contributors not only to our
faculty but to our country's survival Roger Bramel is still with us, but
most of the others have joined the choir invisible along with Harold
Bruschwein, Warren Schuett and many others.
Ten years ago I had
my last duck hunt on Stacks slough, shooting from the road ditch of Hwy
3 that boarders the west end now. I had to drop my ducks on the windward
side of the road so the wind would blow them in for me to reach. Yes,
there was water on both sides of the road. Stack's is still growing. I
had a casting rod with a big Zara Spook plug on it for retrieving the
ones further out. Way too deep for a bootless, boat-less hunter to wade,
but if you timed your shot right, you could sometimes drop your duck
right on the road---if no car was coming and the game warden wasn't
looking.
uploaded 2021 8-18-2021