Hunting with Mike

My wife Lorna with boxing coach Joe Giarmo getting ready to dig into a yellow perch dinner.  This is the first batch of perch we’ve had this year, and it doesn’t get much better than this.  We had baked potatoes, with butter and sour creme, and fried zucchini along with the fish.  It was good, very good!  I like walleye, sunfish, trout and salmon, but my favorite is Lake Erie yellow perch.

Regular readers know that my friend Joe is 93 years young, and a local legend due to his 60 years of coaching young pugilist.  Joe stays active, and the day after this picture was taken, he came over and fixed my broken lawn mower.  He told me he was up all night thinking about what could be making my throttle stick wide open.  He had the problem taken care of in about 10 minutes.  Joe is one remarkable guy, and a great friend to have.

We are leaving tomorrow for 16 Mile Lake in the U.P. for about 9 days, and if I can’t find access to a computer, my post will be down for awhile.  The weather forecast is calling for 10 straight days of rain and thunder showers, which kind of bums us out.  We could of picked any time this summer, and looks like we should of opted for a different week.  Oh well we’ll take our rain gear and pray we see the sun occasionally.

My son-in-law is taking my Polaris up, and I will do some scouting for possible bait sites.  Also we plan on doing some fishing, especially some brook trout fishing!  They rank right up there with the perch.  Hopefully I can get into the library and do a couple post, but family and fun may push those plans to the back burner.  “Later.”

Mike

Take a good look at these non-human killers. They slaughtered (murdered) this poor oppressed and exploited being in a disgusting and perverse way.  There cowardly and callous act ended the life of this magnificent animal, due to the blood-lust of these so called “humans!”   This disgusting and barbaric act could only be perpetrated by sub-human idiots who have no compassion for the world they live in!  Whatever it takes to stop the insanity of killing these helpless and defenseless creatures must be done in order to protect the planet from the likes of these barbarians!

If you were somewhat taken “aback” by the preceding paragraph, you really shouldn’t be.  There are countless web-sites and blogs out there that hate your (our) guts, and will do whatever it takes to bring the hammer down on the hunting sports.  They read our blogs, and then distort the pictures, and quotes, to further their own agenda.  Recently while doing a search about Teressa Hagerman (first women to take and elephant with a bow) I came across hundreds of anti-hunting blogs.  The blogs contained the adjectives in the above paragraph to describe what they think of the hunting community, and their plans for making us “go away!”

As I searched further I came across numerous web-sites and blogs spewing their anti-hunter venom.  I was kind of taken back by the sheer number of those “hunting” the hunters!  They are organized, driven, dedicated and have a definite goal.  My question is “are we?”  Sometimes I think we are staring into the eyes of a rattlesnake, and it has us mesmerized just before it strikes.  Lets be aware, fellow hunters, and spread the positive message of family, adventure, good healthy food, (game) and the fact that hunters provide more funds for taking care of animals and their habitat than anyone.  We are not ruthless killers, but wildlife managers, habitat restorers, land and water conservationist, and passionate animal lovers.  The traditions of past hunters and gatherers stir in our bones, as we honor the age old quest of outwitting our “supper!”

In Scripture Acts 10: 11-13 it says, “And Heaven opened and a great sheet, tied at the four corners, descended to Peter from heaven.  In it were all kinds of four footed animals of the earth, wild beast, creeping things, and birds of the air.  And the Lord said to him from heaven ‘ Take Peter kill and eat!”  If hunting and obtaining food through hunting was (is) such a abomination, why is it recommended by the Creator of us and the animals He put here?

Mike

On July 24 my wife and I are leaving for 16 Mile Lake in the Upper Peninsula.  It’s about 10 miles from Munising located on the shores of Lake Superior.  We stay at Gary and Nancy Baldwins “summer retreat” and what a “retreat it is!  They aptly call it Sunset Cove, and that’s exactly what it is.  You talk about some gorgeous evening sunsets!  We haven’t been up there in several years, and we’re really looking forward to our stay.

The place is right on the water, and we have a canoe and a pontoon boat at our disposal.  There are Pike in the lake and eagles that fly overhead.  I once watched an eagle circle the lake above, and then suddenly go into a dive!  Just before he hit the water his talons smacked the surface and he flew away with his dinner.  It was a good sized fish and I could actually watch him struggle as the vise like grip dug claws deep into his flesh.  It was also a “duh” moment for me as I was standing there with my movie camera in my hand.  What a once in a lifetime shot that would of been, except I was too mesmerized by what I was watching, to think about the camera.

We have a lovely public beach in Munising we go to, and can even go in the water on some years!  Actually Lake Superior is cold, I mean real cold, but there are the occasional years that the water is tolerable.  Hopefully this will be one of those years.  We plan on taking a cruise along the shoreline of the Pictured Rocks National Seashore.  The water is emerald green and the cliffs are very colorful.  If your real adventurous you can rent a kayak and paddle out to Grand Island.  There are several falls in the area, and Miners Castle is a rock formation that is a huge tourist attraction.

Some of the kids and grand-kids plan on coming up, but we don’t know just who for sure.  No-matter we plan on having a good time in Wild Michigan.

Mike

My wife, grandson Kyle, son-in-law Glen, and oldest daughter Tara getting ready to enjoy our barbecued chicken and spaghetti while at the cottage.  The deck overlooks Lake Diane, and it makes for a very serene and peaceful setting.  Lorna and I stayed the weekend, and then drove over to Middlesbury Indiana and visited Amish country on Monday.  Tara, Glen, and Kyle just visited for Sunday and did some fishing.  Kyle must of made 5000 cast with his little rod and reel.  He caught a couple small sunfish which made his day.  Glen had a huge largemouth on, but lost it at the boat.  Don’t you hate it when that happens?  My brothers Brett and Brad own the cottage (4-baths) and let us use it in return for some plumbing I did for them.  Its a beautiful place, and we enjoyed it to the “max!”

We had dinner at Das Essenhaus while we were in Middlesbury..  I checked out a few Amish built log cabins, and they are really well constructed, but kind of small.  The biggest one is only about 800 sq. feet.  Still they would make a perfect hunting get-away in a remote corner of the Upper Peninsula.

On the way home I stopped and checked out a 40 acre piece of property for sale.  I’m going to post a picture I took of one of the runways criss-crossing this deer haven.  This was prime deer habitat, and has all the ingredients for producing big bucks.  I’m trying to get my son-in-law “fired” up about it, but he says I need to work on my daughter not him.

Were in the process of collecting bear bait for our fall hunt.  It looks like were going to have to find a couple more freezers to keep things cool. 

And this years winners in the Michigan bear hunting lottery are Derek Ansel, Justin Ansel, (first week) Dean Ansel, and Mike Ansel (third week.)  We haven’t had that kind of success since Michigan went to the draw system.  Derek and Justin are my nephews and Dean is my youngest brother.  It was Justin’s father Randy who scored last year on a nice white “V” chested boar.  This year Randy hopes to film his son’s first bear.  Derek is an old hand at bear hunting, and has taken several with his bow.  He works as one of the store managers at the Dundee Cabala’s.

It will be somewhat different this year as our hunt dates are separated by two full weeks.  I can’t afford to go for three weeks, so it looks like we’ll have two separate hunts.  I hate to miss those first coupe days, as that  hunt is always exciting!  Most bear are taken during the first week, so Dean and I will have our work cut out for us.  We’ll be able to use the baits after the nephews are done, but we plan on having a couple new ones also.  We are fortunate enough to have a big chunk of private property to hunt, so hopefully that will help.

The above picture is of Derek’s dad Darryl from two years ago.  He had the third hunt, and came home empty handed.  We had a great set-up, but the berry crop was way to plentiful for the bears to visit the bait piles on a regular basis.  It’s been somewhat dry lately, so maybe the berry’s won’t play such a big roll in who comes for dinner.

My wife and I are going away for three days, so it will be awhile until I post again.  I’ve been having a hard time with writers block anyway.  Been doing this for two years and sometimes its hard to keep the stories rolling.

Mike

I live about 2 miles from our local shopping malls, gas stations, convenience stores, ect. but I’m still in the country.  I do live in a small sub-division with woods and farmers crops surrounding us.  I would venture to say that most of my neighbors don’t have a clue as to what goes on, in these fields, once the sun goes down.

Take for instance last evening.  One of the closest neighbors, to our sub-division, raises lambs, goats, pigs, and a few geese.  Well a pack of coyotes got one of his sheep last night, and yipped it up for several hours.  My brother-in-law Dave heard the ruckus, and got his powerful spot-light out.  His house borders the field where the killing took place.  The beam of his light picked up seven coyotes as they gorged themselves on their victim.  It didn’t matter to them that the sheep belonged to someone else.  In fact it was probably an easy kill for them, and they no doubt will hang around this little “zoo” for awhile.  The farmer (who is actually a lawyer) better come up with a plan if he wants to stay in the domestic animal business.

Why didn’t I see any of those varmints when I had my 22 magnum in my hand?

Mike

Whittaker’s Berry Farm in Ida Michigan is the place to go pick your own fresh strawberry’s.  We picked about 6 quarts, and couldn’t wait to make some strawberry shortcake.  This was the first time we tried this particular farm, and it is top notch.  Mr. Whittaker (above) was very organised, helpful, and pleasant all at the same time.  We went on a Saturday, and they were quite busy while we were there.  The berry’s were plentiful, plump, and sweet, just the way I like them.

My wife made shortcake Sunday afternoon, along with home made whipped cream.  We put shortcake on the bottom, poured strawberries on, then topped it with Bryers vanilla ice-cream and whipped cream.  Oh it was so good!  What a great summer delight.

On a side note I received an e-mail from Albert Rasch telling me that a guy named Mark Osterholt has been stealing my blogs.  Has this been happening to any others?  Any suggestions to what can be done about it.  I don’t like the idea of someone else taking credit for my work.  Let me know if you have any insights to this problem.

Mike