WI: A Gun at the Wayside Inn

Gun Watch ^ | 9 October, 2014 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

The Wayside Inn is a sports bar in Northern Wisconsin.  It has been around as long as I can remember, and is in the neighborhood where I grew up, on Highway 63 a few miles North of Hayward.   I had dinner there recently with relatives.   They have a traditional fish fry on Friday (it was very good).  While there, I noticed a new semi-automatic shotgun on the wall.   I have often seen wall hangers elsewhere, but there are nearly always non-functioning items of art rather than modern firearms.   I went back to determine what the state of the art Browning was all about.

The Browning is a lovely bit of the gun makers art, but it was not there for mere decoration.   It was there to celebrate the local gun culture.   The Wayside holds a raffle once a year where they raffle off a firearm.   They sell 200 tickets at $10 each.   I was told that they only had 10 tickets left.

The Hayward Hawks are a local baseball team.  

This is not the only gun raffle that the Wayside Inn participates in.   They also sell about a hundred tickets a year for this raffle:

This raffle lists 50 guns that are being raffled off to benefits wildlife conservation efforts by purchasing land and stocking fish and other wildlife.

The bartender asked that I include a picture of an 82nd Airborne banner on the ceiling.   He said that the Wayside was pro-military.

A patron, Eric, volunteered that he had a concealed carry permit, but was not carrying.    He indicated that he was imbibing alcohol, by lifting his beer glass, and saying, "This is why I am not carrying".    In Wisconsin, it is illegal to carry in a bar if you are drinking alcohol.   Eric's attitude is typical of those with concealed carry permits.   They are extremely law abiding, more so than police officers. 

The Wayside Inn is just one of the interconnected nodes of the gun culture.   In Northern Wisconsin there are a lot of guns, and the crime rate is very low.  I believe that it is not entirely because of the guns, but because of the culture that widespread legal gun ownership thrives in.  

It is a culture of individual responsibility, independence, foresight, and consideration of others.   These are the values that gun ownership fosters.  A Thomas Jefferson quote confirms that he shared my view:

A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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[marktwain]

The gun culture permeates much of the United States. It is only in the deep blue cites, academia, and the old media that it has been mostly purged.

[Mears]

I first thought this was about The Wayside Inn in Sudbury,MA.

:-)

.

[Big Red Badger]

Great Story,

I’m moving.

[smokingfrog]

Can you get me a couple of tickets while you’re there?

[Shady]

Northern Wisconsin still is an oasis in a land of whack jobs.

[Tupelo]

Moving to northern Wisconsin? If it were me, I would check what the average high & low temperatures on January 15 were before I made that decision. That and the average snow depth.
My guess is both resemble what you would find in Frozen Moose Jaw, Maine.

[marktwain]

Pretty close to Anchorage, Alaska, I believe.

[Big Red Badger]

Moose Jaw,,,

that’s on the list too.

[buffaloguy]

Is there anyway to get in on that wildlife raffle from Texas?

[hondact200]

Come to the UP of Michigan, just cross the border from Hayward, WI. Just remember Hayward is in the snowbelt from Lake Superior Lake Effect Snow. But this past winter season Lake Superior froze over, just got a little cold for about 98 days straight.

[bigbob]

It could also be used to deal with any errant Bears fans...

[marktwain]

Here is a name (probably an officer) and an address.

Richard J Kulas

PO BOX 41, Eleva, WI 54738-0041

This phone number is for the business that shares the P.O. Box:

Phone: (715) 287-3341

[TurboZamboni]

WI and MN are also know for their bar meat raffles,but I think a pairing of 5 LBS of bacon AND a shotgun would be the ultimate pairing.

[marktwain]

Here is a phone number that I found for the Wayside Inn that is north of Hayward:

(715) 634-4144

I believe they are closed on Mondays. Best time to contact them would be in the afternoon.

[BeadCounter]

You have deer and you have DEER, some of the Deer in that area get huge compared to some other areas of the country hunters say.

[BeadCounter]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_elk

“The Irish Elk stood about 2.1 metres (6.9 ft) tall at the shoulders carrying the largest antlers of any known cervid (a maximum of 3.65 m (12.0 ft) from tip to tip and weighing up to 40 kg (88 lb)). In body size, the Irish Elk matched the extant moose subspecies of Alaska (Alces alces gigas) as the largest known deer. “

A bit off topic but I once did some research on deer, the largest there has been was as stated above but still about the size of a large Alaskan Moose.

Moose seem to be in the deer family, strange looking animal, big body, matchstick legs.

[Gandalf_The_Gray]

Moose seem to be in the deer family, strange looking animal, big body, matchstick legs.

They spend most of their lives wading in swamps with the water up to their bellies. Primary diet is waterlily roots. Remember, you are what you eat, so shooting a moose gets you a trophy to hang over your fireplace and little meat fit to eat. It's an acquired taste as it's reminiscent of rotting vegetation. Of course you can grind it up for sausage but few really need 1500 pounds of sausage.

I grew up in northeast Wisconsin, just south of Iron Mountain MI. Snow got to be a lot more fun when the snowmobile (AKA snow machine) was developed. Cold didn't seem so bad either if you dressed properly (layered look to be sure). We have four seasons just like the rest of the lower 48: almost Winter, Winter, still Winter & 3 months of really bad skiing conditions AKA road repair!

If you try Copper Harbor (northern end of US Highway 41) in January or February, you just might see 35 to 40 feet of snow on the ground!

I left at 18 and moved to go to college in Milwaukee, got two degrees and stayed in SE WI. I missed the north woods (God's Country) but finding a good paying job was nearly impossible.

Regards,
GtG

PS No moose in Wisconsin, we do have some good sized white tailed deer, smallish black bear, and the DNR has been releasing gray wolves. Trout fishing is a pretty good way to wile away the summers.

[marktwain]

The bears are not so “smallish” anymore:

http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2014/09/bear-hunt-in-northern-wisconsin.html

Every year the DNR weighs several over 500 lbs.

Most people that I know who have tried Moose say that it is delicious.