# Stories over time.



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

*Year 1968*

Opening day of deer season came during a very uncommon warm spell, some would say a heat wave not seen in so many years they could not remember another. The attire was summer farm jeans with no long johns and a red shirt. 
The dayâs high was 73F, no self respecting deer was moving about just lying in a shady spot to keep as cool as possible in the heat with their winter coats on. Even the hunters were not abandoning their stands to walk to warm up. They were also sitting to stay as cool as possible the heat wave continued for 4 more days. The 4th day the afternoon sky clouded over and by evening the rain was pouring from the skies. During the night it kept cooling off so by midnight the rain turned to sleet. By morning there was a good six inches of wet sticky snow on the ground and big huge saucer size flakes falling still. I chose my Winchester 94 30- 30 to take out that morning, it was known in the family as my slum gun as I always took it when the weather was nasty or there was a threat. We drive down the road in Robs 64 Mercury to the woods, drive in and park. We load up our rifles and let each other where we are going to hunt and a last good luck as we split up to go our own ways. I walk back the old logging trail thru our woods and enter the woods behind ours. I walk that road to what was known as camp 16 an old lumbering dayâs camp all gone except the clearing and some wild apple trees. Just past the West border of the clearing a hill drops off into a cedar swamp, I get part way down the hill and work to the south where I can see a little clearing a funnel from another cedar swamp to the big one over the hill from camp 16. I kick a spot clear of snow and spread my little plastic ground cloth and sit. I first check the muzzle of the 94 to make sure it was still clear after forging my way thru the stick hanging tree branches. I also removed the hood over the front sight and removed the snow and ice that was there. 
I was there about a half hour when a small heard of does came marching thru the funnel at a good clip. Well one looks like a buck sort of a odd looking deer but before I could make up my mind it was a buck they were gone. About another half hour and some of those does returned and with them was this odd looking buck, looked like he was running downhill more than the little hill they were on should have made him look. Even his little rack looked weird. I raise the 94 place the bead on his chest and settle the bead in the groove of the rear irons. I squeeze off the shot and the buck let out a squeal and came right in my direction. Swear it scared me half to death as he went by about 10 feet away to pile up in a fallen popple top, still squealing and threshing around. I am shaking so bad I can not hold the rifle still so walked up to the top laid the rifle on a lime and fired another shot into his chest. 
That one did him in but I went and poured a cup of coffee and drank it to settle my nerves before I drug him out and dressed him. He looked strange because someone had shot both front legs off at the knees and it was packed a good 6 inches with mud up the legs. He also had small palmanations in his four point rack. 
Once I had him dressed I gathered up my thermos and had another cup of coffee to ready for the drag up the hill to the clearing. Once on top of the hill I started going down the logging road when my brother showed up. We skidded him together down the trail to the beaver pond dam. I told my brother to go get his car and bring it back to the top of the hill east of the beaver pond. By the time I got up that hill Rob was there waiting for me. 
We skinned the deer that afternoon to clean up the front legs and see how much meat was ruined, I had hit him twice in the front just behind the legs One round had hit a rib and broke it, figure that was the first shot and it only took out one lung. Second shot took out the heart we believe. 
Nice deer dressed out 180 pounds but skidded so easy on that wet sticky snow. 


 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

*Sept ? 1958*

Two young boys had been given a quarter each by their father when he arrived home from work that Friday evening. Like many familyâs back then they got ready to go to town for the weeks shopping. They didnât go to town just because they had ran out of peanut butter or something like that. You always bought enough staples to last the week or went without. It was a big night as much familyâs met at one store or another and discussed the state of affairs. Young boys and girls would stroll the sidewalks and window shop unless they had some jingle in their pocket like the two young boys. 
The boys first went to the Moline tractor deal ship to ogle the new 445 sitting on the lot. Their dad had gotten a demonstration back in August and the boys were hoping to someday have it on the farm to work. Next they stopped and looked at the sleek new Desoto sitting in the window of the dealer ship. Right next door was the Gambles store where the boys intended to spend their hard earned quarters. They walked in the door and then down the aisle to the counter in the back of the store. Mister Gorthy was standing behind the counter and asked the boys if he could help them. Frank was his name and always treated the boys just the same as he would treat adults. The oldest boy who was 11 and soon to be 12 plunked his quarter down on the counter and said he wanted 5 16ga. Shot shells number 6âs, Peters if he had them. Frank reached be hind him and got a box of 16ga. Peters down and counted 5 into a small brown paper bag and handed it to the boy. The other boy said he wanted some 410ga 2 Â½ inch number 6 shot for his quarter. Frank told him if he would take 7 Â½ shot he could get an extra shell, 6 for his quarter as that is what he had left in the box of 7 Â½. Frank asked the boy what he was going to hunt with the shells and the boy stated Pats. Frank a hunter himself said the 7 Â½ would work fine on pats and also rabbits too. Frank asked the boys if they had been seeing many, the boys replied they had been seeing lots on the logging road the timber company had cut thru their dads wood lot to get to the timber on the property behind dads when they went to get the cows for milking. 
I donât think there is any place today that would sell a few shells to young boys. I think they canât sell ammo to anyone under 18 years old. But that was the 50âs when gun safety was taught in the home nearly every family on a farm had some sort of fire arm stashed in the corner of the barn, work shop and kitchen. 


 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Oct 1979​ Fall turkey season was open that year and there was not much information anywhere on how the hunt them in the fall. I had friend who had pulled permits in past fall hunts who called them. First thing they would do is locate a flock then have a couple of their dogs they had trained rush in and scatter the flock. Once the flock was scattered they would set up in a likely spot and start calling using the gather call turkey&#8217;s use. They did have a problem with the methods because they were targeting toms and adult mature toms are not normally a part of a flock.
So I decided I was going to use my bow with the turkey stop ad on to the arrow shaft. Scouting I discovered a flock of turkeys were feeding in one of my dad&#8217;s picked corn fields and then were going into the woods near dark and roosting in some huge oak trees about 150 yard from the corn field.
I set up my big Baker climbing tree stand about half way once I found the flock did have a couple mature toms. I would get back to the stand about 4:00 in the afternoon and sometimes earlier since I still had a bow tag for deer. Round about 5:00 the turkeys would come thru the area to get to the roost trees. Problem was they for starters were out of my range; I would adjust the stand before I left for the night. Finally on day 7 here comes the flock thru the woods and many went right under my stand. Finally a nice tom enters my shooting lane, I draw the bow and release the arrow hitting that time just below the neck in the body. Because of the turkey stop attachment the arrow did not pass thru with the broad head sticking in the ground. That tom is flopping around finally worked the arrow from the ground and tried to run only to go head over heels. Finally it stood up tall and was able to run and take wing. It is now flying and tracker string is running out of the canister like crazy. I watch that bird as far as I can see it then climb down.
I walk in the direction I last saw the tom. Finally came upon my tracker string about 75 yards from my climber. I started winding up that tracker string and finally came upon the turkey. Over all I believe it traveled 175 some odd yard before dying.
That was the first turkey I had ever harvested my first time hunting them. I never hunted them again with the bow. Watching that turkey fly off trailing that tracker string bothered me a great deal. I supposed that turkey hunting with a bow has advanced a lot since 1979 but I am not sure I want to use the bow again.
​ ​  Al​


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## brownegg (Jan 5, 2006)

Thanks Al, I love the stories. Yep back in the late 60's we always had our guns in the cars for after school hunts. Never was there ever a problem with us having them on school property...the hunts after school all those years ago have never left my mind, and yep respect for others was the norm then. Times have changed, but glad some good ol boys are still hanging and sharing thoughts.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Remberance.

My dad called the family together in March 2003 when he was 88 years old. He told us that he was not going to be fishing or hunting any longer and was dividing up all his things guns, rods and reels, lures and other equipment. He decided to just be the keeper of the camp. I had bought dad a Ruger model 77 243 for his 70th birthday because the Winchester model 88 284 was taking a toll on his face every time he fired it. Dad gave it to me along with a Ithaca model 37 featherlite 20 ga. I donât think dad ever shot a buck with that rifle although he had harvested several does. 
I decided to take dads deer rifle to deer camp in Nov .2003, I hunted 13 days of the fire arm deer season without seeing a legal buck. Early on a frosty Morning I set out for my favorite deer blind on the bay. Got in there and settled down with a cup of coffee and enjoying the view out over the bay as the sun started rising out of it. Soon the frost was melting and dripping off the blind roof and surrounding tree branches. I heard a road hunter slowly drive down the road glassing the cranberry bogs across the road from where I was. Just 60 yards down the road they would switch to glassing the beach on my side of the road even though road hunting in Michigan is not legal and the Property at that point on both sides of the road is private property owned by myself. About 9:00 AM I see a deer walking at the old waterline edge where the mini sand dune is. I grab my big spotting scope I use in that blind and see that yes it is a buck a 6 point. He is close to 300 yard away but walking and browsing along the edge my way. Finally he arrives at the cedar tree I have ranged at 100 yards from the blind. I set the scope cross hairs just behind his right front shoulder when he stopped for a drink in the tiny stream that flows into the bay. I squeeze the trigger and see him drop right on the spot typical for the 243âs I have shot with my reloads. I climb down out of the stand and walk out to him. He isnât not a heavy racked 6 point just decent and with the rifle dad gave me. 
I call my hunting partner on the two way radio and tell him if he isnât seeing anything He can bring my truck down the beach to pick him up. I get him dressed out as my partner gets there with the truck. 
I wrote the story and was told by friends I should send it in to Michigan Out of Doors Magazine, They published it in Nov 2004. I had not told dad I had wrote a story just that I got a buck with his rifle. I should have given him a copy of the story as he passed away in June 2004 before the story was published. 

 Alhttp://smg.photobucket.com/user/oldgrumpy/media/guns shooting and hunting/DCP_3665.jpg.html


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Muzzle loader deer hunting in southern Michigan.

The man steps out the door on to the screened in porch to be greeted by the whines from the chocolate lab that sleeps there. He tells her not today girl itâs a different game we seek. Stepping off the screened in porch his sight is hit by the hoar frost shimmering in the bright moon lite like a hundred thousand diamonds spilled from a diamond peddlers pack. He slowly walks across the lawn to the trail that takes him to the deer blind he has chosen to hunt that day over looking the creek and the old creek bed. It is nestled in a clump of wild dog wood bushes this year loaded with berries. 
Soon he settles in the blind and pours a cup of coffee to cool as he watches the day light breaking about him. He hears a flock of turkeys deeper in the woods come off their roost then a rooster pheasant cackles Probably kicked out of its bed by another hunter. 
Finally that huge orange orb starts peeking thru the trees and the first of the blue birds arrive to feast on the dog wood berries. Finally the first deer appears coming down the bank of the creek from the picked corn field next door. It is alert using its radar ears to listen to the sounds around it, licking her nose to gather fresh scent in to process for danger. Just seconds behind her is two more does a bit smaller than the first perhaps this springs fawns. They mosey along the creek going farther back in the woods where the pampas grass has a nice stand for the deer to bed in. 
With in minutes 6 more does arrive and head for that pampas grass bedding area. 
The radio the man carries cackles with the sound of his wife. She says there are two bucks out the living room window across the creek. One she says is a nice 4 point eastern count, the other is huge but she canât say just how huge. The 4 point decides to go up stream and cross the road the bigger fellow she says is heading for the corn field. 
Soon the man sees the big buck he is at the edge of the corn field private property. He watches it as it slowly travels in the direction the does have went but not on the creek bank. The man knows that soon that buck will be down as he has watched another hunter go to a blind about 200 yards down the fence along the corn field. He waited for the report of the gun as he watched the buck work his way along. By this time he had gotten a good look at the rack, not one with huge long tines but huge beams like the arms of a tackle on a foot ball team with 5 short tines about 2 inches long. 
The report never came as expected, did the other hunter fall asleep? Was he texting his buddies or a girl friend perhaps. 
That buck lived to show him self to the man one more time in the 15 day season but once again not allowing the man a shot. 
Such is muzzle loader deer hunting in southern Michigan. 

 Al


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## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

Before the steel shot regulations for waterfowl I was reloading the shells I used for hunting. My hunting buddy decided to try reloading too. 

We were hunting a small slough one morning and a beautiful greenhead drake came into the decoys. He was fully feathered out in mating plumage including the curly feathers on his butt. 

It was my buddy's turn to take the first shot so he shoulders the gun, swings with the bird, and pulled the trigger. The gun goes pffffffffft and the BBs rolled out the end of the barrel. The mallard got away because I was laughing too hard to shoot. We had to drive the wad out of his barrel with a cornstalk.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Squirrel trouble.

Some years ago I packed in a climbing tree stand to an area I had scouted for deer hunting. No sooner had I got up the tree I choose than those darn squirrels started making a ruckus at the base of the tree. I decided I would shoot one and that would put an end to all that racket. I took the shot and hit the one squirrel dead center right behind the head, arrow sticking nearly straight up with nearly half in the ground. Squirrel refused to die or lay still. It started running around and around that arrow but failed to work it's self free or the arrow loose from the ground. Finally deciding I would get no piece I worked my way down the tree, grabbed a short hunk of stout tree limb I went to the squirrel and clubbed it a mighty stroke behind the head. Squirrel instantly layed still, so I took it to a tree close by that had a low V branch I would be able to find in the dark as I left and placed the squirrel there. 
Back up the tree I went with my stand and had about 10 minutes of silence. That crazy squirrel was standing in that V yelling bloody murder. Finally I could not handle it any longer I decided I would club that squirrel again and this time take his head off with my buck. 
Appeared that the one foot of the squirrel was stuck in that V, but he kept dodging that club for what seemed half the afternoon. Finally I got a good blow in as my brother came walking up asking if I were having a boxing match with a bear or some thing. Said I had made enough noise to scare any deer with in 100 miles away. My answer to him was to hold up the squirrel and ask what he had to show for the afternoons hunt. 
Took me a really long time to live down the great squirrel killer badge I had hung on me over that hunt. 


 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

UP Deer Camp

We took a vacation In the Up in 1990 in the early spring. We were taking the Kids to all the normal tourist traps, like Castle Rock, Soo Locks and such. We camped all alone on the shore of Lake Superior one night just west of Brimley. We enjoyed the walks on the beach and being all alone in this camp ground that in just a couple of months would be crowded with people. We decided that in the morning we would break camp and go to Paradise for breakfast. Like many UP restaurantâs they had fliers in a rack with all kinds of stuff for trolls to do and see. While waiting for breakfast I decided to look at what all they had that was close to the area we would like to see in the short time we had. I saw a flier for property on Lake Superior for sale at what I thought was a reasonable price. My Brother and I had spent many a vacation day in that area of the UP and I liked it and most of the local people so it struck a cord. I took the flier back to the table and told my Kare that here was a place to retire where I could do all the stuff I liked, hunting fishing and snowmobiling. She said that If we were going to buy land on a lake in the UP it was going to be one she could swim in in June and September. 
I figured that was the end of that story and we would find that special place to retire when I did retire. But we still had that I want my own place to deer hunt problem to deal with. That desire had started in December of 1990 when I returned from deer hunting at my dadâs. I was really unhappy with how the later part of the season there had gone. I had people who just didnât want to listen to persons who had hunted there for nearly 30 years on how the deer travel and the routes they take and stay PUT.I kept having people invade what I considered my shooting lanes. Trying to sneak thru the very spot I had picked many years ago as my spot, just as Robb had picked the spot by the cedar swamp and the narrow alley the deer traveled thru. 
The summer came and then came Labor Day week end which seemed so quickly. Kare said we would go look for Property on Lake Michigan or some of the bays Like the De Nocâs. We started In Wisconsin on the Door Peninsula On Saturday Morning. Taxes there seemed to be about the same as Michigan as the property prices seemed to be also. Problem was the restrictions that seemed to be on all the property on the lake and many parcels were just to small. Saturday afternoon found us back in Escanaba Michigan with our list of property for sale along the HI way to Marinette Wisconsin. On the phone with realtors got us a narrowed down list to just a couple of places. Those places didnât pan out Sunday morning so we headed east past Gladstone past Rapid River to the Stonington Peninsula. We found the perfect place on Hunts point. Met the owners who said to call one them on Monday to get a price for the property we decided we wanted, they had just closed the deal on the whole parcel Friday. Turned out we were too late to get anything other than a get rich quick run around from those people. I started bowing out of week end over time work every other week to go to the UP and search for Property. I was really getting tired of all the reasons Kare didnât want this place or that one. The week end the Yogo Jumped off the bridge we went up to look at a parcel we had looked at before that was 56 acres on the garden side of Big Bay De Noc. The realtor In Manistique had called me on Friday and said they had sold 11 acres of that place. We looked at it Saturday afternoon. I was tired of eating at the Big boy in Manistique I told Kare so lets go to Jacks in Rapid River. Driving down US 2 to get there I see a side road going down the west side of the bay. I tell Kare we havenât been down that road yet, so we do a U turn and go down that road. We get down to a place near the bay and there is a 4x8 sign For sale by owner 1/2 mile of frontage. I tried calling the number before we ate at Jacks, I tried again when we got back to the motel, and then Sunday morning with no results not even an answering machine to leave our number. We went to the property for a little while Sunday morning to try and figure out just what the property lines were. We both liked what we were seeing. Hard woods cedar swamp a beach with sallow water for some ways out. I finally got the owner on Monday Morning. We talked a deal, we closed on Nov 3d 1990. I wasnât ready to hunt it that year but was the next. That is a story in its self. 

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

The squirrel hunt

Deer season 1995 I took a stand in the oak woods of the UP deer camp. One evening I was watching a whole passel of squirrels working the area for acorns. They were busy little critters then as dusk came about they started going hither and yon to their nightâs home. One big old oak tree had a knot hole about 3 to 4 inches in diameter about 20 feet up. I watched 6 squirrels go in that hole and heard the ruckus in side that hole as they settled in for the night. I made a note in my mind that there sure were a lot of squirrels in that woods and would be a good place to have a squirrel hunt. I went back to work at the end of deer season to a job I was stressed & tired of doing, I had been doing it for 10 years at that time. I resigned as of January first and took a long week vacation before I started on at my new position January 1st 1996. I took my Ruger 77-22 and headed to the UP deer camp. It was a very cold week there, so cold I couldnât get the pull start gen set to start so running the furnace wouldnât work all night. I hooked the truck up to the travel trailer and let it idle a couple hours every night while the furnace ran and disturbed heat thru out and charged the battery enough to run the furnace till about 2:00 AM. At 2:00 AM I would get cold and light the oven on the range and open the door to allow heat. It got down to a negative 18F the first night and it was the warmest of the 7 days I spent there. I would get up fix a hot breakfast fill my thermos with hot coffee dress grab the 22 and go fire up the ATV for the ride to the woods I had planed on hunting for the day. Leave the ATV on the edge and sneak in to a likely looking spot and sit. Usually took about an hour for things to get back to normal and the squirrels would move around. I would hear the ice on the bay expand with a loud pop then like a semi running down a wet HI way. Kept doing that all day long. Finally the squirrels were running about . I would pick off a couple then collect them and find a different spot to sit and wait again for them to get busy. At lunch time I had a few nice ones so returned to the ATV for the ride back to the trailer. I would start the truck to renew itâs battery and the trailers and get heat moving around in there. Once that was done I would clean the squirrels and put them in freezer bags. I only had to leave them in the shed to freeze up. I would fix a hot lunch and drink coffee to warm up before going out in the afternoon. What I got in the afternoon I usually would clean and cook for my supper that night. I even slow cooked them during the day while I was out and deboned them and put them over rice and biskets. By the time I was ready to come back home and go back to work I was pretty much tired of eating squirrel, I had squirrel for supper dinner and even breakfast. A negative 18F was the warmest day the coldest was a negative 22F. 
As soon as I got back home on a 30F day the gen set fired right up to get set up to be put away till we lost power or next deer season. I made up my mind I was going to get a electric start gen set as soon as I could afford one but ended up waiting 5 years.. Also decided I need to start getting ready to build a cabin and get out of that travel trailer which took another 4 years. 
Here at home I need to do a hunt for squirrels to thin them out some I figured. Then last fall they planted wheat next door to my woods. Sighting a squirrel became some thing harder to do than to see deer. 


 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

The Beech tree

1979 I had got to running around with a woman who I was spending a lot of time with. Soon it was almost deer season and I had not done any scouting to pick out a place where I wanted to have a stand for the season. I took a quick walk thru a woods across the fence from my Uncles place near the road where I had permission to hunt and liked what I was seeing. Opening morning I parked in my uncleâs driveway and made my way to the woods just as day was breaking. Crossed the fence and stood by a tree. Decided that wasnât the place to be so I worked to the west deeper in the woods away from the road more. Going up a long gentile sloping hill I still couldnât seem to find that just right spot to park my body for the day. Being on private property and near the road kept me from running into any other hunters. I finally reached the top of the hill and found a spot I fell was good and sat down on the boat cushion I carried to keep off the damp ground when sitting. Soon I hear the neighborâs tractor coming along the south boarder of the woods to enter the woods on a trail that would take them deeper in the woods near a cedar swamp. Wasnât long and I hear deer running thru the frosted leaves making a racket really. Finally they stopped and started taking it easy as they slowly worked my way. They were now close enough I could make out the brown hair and outline of their bodies as they disappeared into a depression on the hill about 75 yard out from where I sat. I could hear them shuffling thru the frost coated leaves moving away from where I was to my left. Soon I no longer could hear them so I poured my first cup of coffee of the day. As I sipped at that hot coffee I looked about and decided I still wasnât in the proper location to see about me very well. When I had finished the coffee I gathered my things and moved a tad higher on the hill. I had not been to the new location more than 10 minutes when I started hearing deer or a man shuffling thru the leaves. If it were a man he was older and had studied deer movements in dry or frost covered leaves. Men tend to walk slowly thru the leaves without stopping to listen about them as deer do. Deer will walk a very short distance then stop to test the air for danger and to listen. Soon I see a deer appear just at the crest of the hill to my left. It was a doe that angled away from me to an old over grown logging trail passing by me about 30 yards away. Shortly after she passed another deer came following the same route as the first one almost. Then a third deer appeared at the top of the hill but more in line with me. It must have seen me or smelled me as it stopped at the crest of the hill and began to bob its head then stomp. I could not tell what sex it was because of the brush it was in and how it was standing. It would move back over the crest of the hill then reappear again even farther to my left nearly behind me. It disappeared again only to pop up again more to my front then I saw the horns. I brought the scope on my Remington 700 chambered in 308 to bear and squeezed the trigger. The buck ran down the hill in front of me and dropped just a few feet away. 
I field dressed it then started the job of getting it to where I could load it on my jeep to take up to the barn to hang. As I got it to the fence my brother and cousin Norm came So getting it on the jeep was a breezes. It was Normâs first year of hunting with us and was acting funny I asked what the trouble was? Said he had only seen does all morning, so I told him to set on that hill and pointed out where I thought would be an even better place than I had been sitting. I took The buck up to the house and got my mom to go with me to town to the DNR office to get my buck aged and a patch they were giving out. When I returned to the woods I didnât see Norm so I whistled for him. He then called out to me and said where he was. I walked over there to find him with his first deer, a buck. I dressed it out for him then we got it to the fence and on my jeep. We took it into town for his patch and get it aged. When we got back from town I still had my second license to fill so I again went to the hill. I still hadnât found the spot I felt was perfect so began to search for that place. It was starting to get late and I felt I had better just sit down and finish out the day. I choose a big old beach tree to sit against near the top of the hill. That tree was perfect with roots far enough apart to cradle my rear like a nice form fitting bucket seat. That spot became my favorite hunting spot for the next 8 years when the land ownerâs son in law started causing me troubles. By 1990 I had had enough of the neighbors and my dadâs friends who seemed to want to always be walking in to my hunting spots and shooting lanes. Kare and I bought our UP property and closed Nov 3d 1991. I didnât start deer hunting there till 1992. 


 Al


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## brownegg (Jan 5, 2006)

Thanks again Al....I suppose folks read without reply....that's ok..... nothing better than enjoying life's moments, eh!


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I don't mind. I have found most can't read so auto well in the first place.

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

First bow buck

October 1981 canât remember the day but know it was the afternoon. I had always been hunting with my brother somewhere in the same woods but since we had both been laid off from our jobs in August we never seemed to have the time to hunt at the same time any longer. I had entered college in hopes of a better job when I finished and he was doing odd jobs here and there plus had met a woman and moved in with her. 
So here it is a sunny afternoon and Iâd had morning classes so decided to take the bow out for a spin. I had my Baker climbing stand the big one with the 24x36 platform as I am not at all comfortable with being high and on a little 18x24 platform like my brothers Baker. There are a few huge popple trees on the edge of a grove of birch trees a low area with high grass and scrub shrubby brush on the north side. Good heavy deer trails thru there and some not so heavy use looking trails. I get the stand set up to climb, tie the bow off to the cord I use to raise it then I go up. Once up the platform is not level due to the taper of the tree. I have laid on the seat part of the stand a hundred times and removed the wing nut and moved the bar to level out the stand. Doing it this time and I drop the wing nut and donât have a spare (have ever since then) I was able to get the cord the bow was on and tie it on a branch on the back side of the tree, kicked the stand loose from my feet and let it drop then shimmied down the tree to the ground. Looked in the leaf litter for that wind nut with no luck. Decided to work my way thru that scrubby shrub brush to a permeant stand we had built in a z shaped tree about 200 yards from that disaster with the climber. What a racket it made going down empty. 
I got to that stand, pulled the bow up and waited about 15 minutes when a buck appears from where I had come from but about 30 yards west from the trail I had used. I get set and he soon stepped behind a big maple tree so I drew, as he came from behind the tree I set the sight just behind the front shoulder and let the arrow fly. He just stood there for a bit and I had the sudden thought I had missed when he exploded down the trail going around a hill where I could not see him. I get down and go over where he had been and find blood. I decided to go pick up the climber and take it to my truck. When I get to the truck my brothers jeep is there so I know he is in the woods, probably in his favorite stand we call the pent house. I go back to where the buck had stood and start trailing him I got about 70 yards and there he lay a nice 6 point. Just as I go to field dress him I hear my brother call for me from the pent house. I walk over where he is about 200 yard away across a logging trail. He had shot a doe and hit the spine and was kicking around. He wanted help to get to where he could cut her throat I got in front of her while he came in from behind and got the job done. We went and dressed out my buck while his doe bled out then when and drove my truck up the logging road to pick up my first ever bow buck. Then we drove around to dress out Robâs doe and load her up. Couple days later we had a butchering party and put them in the freezer. 


 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Rob's hunting dog.

My brother wanted a hunting dog, he went to the Wexford county humane animal shelter. They told him they didn't have the type of dog he was looking for but to leave his phone number and they would call him when one came in. 
As fate would have it he didn't even have time to make it home when they called and said they had forgotten about one they had at a foster home. 
My brother called and got directions to go see the dog. 
It was at a preachers home and was glad to see my brother as he said the dog would get the chain tangled up and start a ruckus barking. 
She was a white speckled Springer Spaniel with a big black strip down the middle of her back. My brother liked what he saw so he loaded her up in his 1972 (the small one) Bronco took her into town and did the paper work. Once he got her home he let her out of the Bronco, she started smelling around the place so brother went inside to tell every one to come see his dog. We all went out and the dog was missing and wasnât coming to the calls of here dog. 
I jumped on my dirt bike and started riding the fields and pastures then the road I finally found her just down the road a little bit, picked her up and gave her a ride back home. She enjoyed riding on the dirt bike and the snowmobiles a bit latter. 
My brother named her skunk. She is the best dog I have ever had the chance to hunt behind. Many would not care for her because she was a hunting dog not a bird dog or a rabbit dog or a squirrel dog. 
Deer season came and went. I was going to college so didnât have much time to hunt at all. My brother every day would load that dog up and go hunting . I have seen her with balls of snow attached to her chest she could hardly walk let alone run. Brother would lay her on a old hunk of carpet in front of the wood burner to get those balls melted off. 
Now is the part that my brother having a Bronco comes in. One morning I was off school so brother and I decided we would go do some snow shoe hunting at a 3 year old clear cut project on state land.. That brat dog growled when I went to set in the right front seat of the Bronco, that was her seat and wasnât going to allow me to set in it. Brother finally got her in the back seat and made her behave. 
We got around six of those big old snow shoe rabbits. I could hardly believe it when I saw her retrieving one we had shot. Dogs only retrieve birds right. 
Another time after we had went back to work from a lay off we went partridge hunting with my dad one week end. One of us had shot a pat and the dog went and got it. She brought it to me. My dad said, Isnât that some thing. I feed her twice a day now you guys are at work Robb owns her and has hunted a bunch alone with her and she brings the birds back to Al. 

One year we were living on my uncles farm in the UPPER during a lay off while they went on a vacation and visited their out of state kids. We got skunk one morning and rode the snow mobiles to the back of the uncles farm where the cedar swamp was . Nearing the noon hour we decided to work our way back to the snowmobiles and go up to lunch. My brother got a bit behind with skunk as I got to the sleds. I was standing there when my brother shot then yelled he had missed and skunk was bringing it to me. As it crossed the open area I fired and decided I had missed too. Skunk went charging by me before I had time to even think about catching her. I started calling her back then my brother chimed in once he got to me. We had about decided to leave one of our coats there and go for lunch, water the cattle and come back for her when we saw her coming thru the cedars. Some thing looked wrong at first but soon we saw she had a snow shoe rabbit . Latter that day when we cleaned them we found one BB in that rabbit. 

Skunk got really old and lived the rest of her life at ease on a old rug in the family room next to the fire in the winter. She would still get real excited when we brought out a gun or one of our hunting coats. Then one morning she wasnât hunting with us any longer she is waiting for us to join her a the hunting grounds some day. 

 Al


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## RonM (Jan 6, 2008)

Great stories, very enjoyable....


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Taking sister hunting.

My middle sister wanted to go out deer hunting with me. She was the only sister of the 3 that ever showed a interest in hunting of anything. If I remember correctly she was 14 years old so that made it November 1970 when I took her out one morning deer hunting. We got to my ruff thrown together brush pile deer blind just as it was getting light enough to see plus be a legal shooting hour. She sat for a while but being a fidgety person to begin with she was soon bored and asked me how I could sit so still in the blind so long day after day of deer hunting. 
So I asked her what she had seen since we got in the blind. She said some birds that had flew by and that was it. I then pointed to the leaves on the ground I had kicked in a pile around the edge of the blind and asked if she had seen anything in that area. She said no she never saw a thing. I then told her to watch close, soon a little mouse poked its nose out of the leaf pile and ran to a different pile. I pointed out the clouds in the sky and told her what shape I thought some were. Soon she was telling me about what she thought the clouds looked like. Wasnât long after that I asked if she had seen any deer since she got to the blind, She said no. 
She was surprised when I pointed across the swale to the east facing hill side and said there were 5 does laying there. I had seen two of them get up and stretch then lay back down earlier. Wasnât long after that she is telling me about the different birds in the different trees and such, till it was time to leave for dinner at home. 
I am not sure just when she did start hunting I know she had got a Savage 99C, 308. I believe she was with Rob & I when she finally shot her first deer a nice buck about 6 days into the season. 

 Al


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

Great thread. 
First solo deer

It was about 25 years ago on a cold November morning. It was opening day of rifle season in the blue Ridge mountains of va. The night before my father had dropped me off at a dear friend of the families where I would hunt the next morning. It would be my first solo deer hunt. For a 10 year old this was a big deal. Of course I was always older than my age and had been shooting squirrels ands rabbits since 3. Well I walked through a cut corn field and sat down in a waterway overlooking a creek bottom. Just as the sky started to blue I skylighted a buck on the hill top about 90 yards from me. Knowing it wasn't a safe air I had to watch him pass. I was shook up. I had hunted with my dad many times and never seen a buck. Weren't as many around then. Heck a spike was s big deal then in my area. This was a good basket buck. So I sat until 900. Then started walking the creek. Just before reaching the property line and the end of my hunt i jumped a doe. She stopped 20 yards and looked at me. I put the savage 110 30-06 cross hairs on her shoulder and squeezed! She dropped! I was so pumped I ran to the house and got Mike the owner. He bright the tractor down and hot her. I called my mom and told her. She rode to town to tell my dad who was working on restoring the waterford va post office. He came straight over. We were all excited as we started cleaning the deer. Then we noticed. No hole in the shoulder. We looked everywhere. Nothing. Then dad noticed the head didn't look right. The eyes were bulged. Well that old Remington corlokt had hit her in the head and crushed her skull but didn't go in. So needles to say my nerves got me but I still got her. It is a day I will remember always.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I still get excited today when I get a buck. Can remain calm till I see the deer or hear it crash down.
Even when I am not hunting the deer excite me and we have them come right up to the door almost daily.

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Hunting with friends

guess it was about 1973 or 74 a couple of fellows I worked with we invited to go hunting (squirrels rabbits and Pats with Rob and I for a week end. It became an annual event held on the week end closest to Oct 20th when weather forecast called for good weather. 
Jim and JD were repair men like Rob and I, we worked the same shift mostly in the same area. They would drive up early Saturday morning after work but they had went home to gather their gear so were a bit later getting there than Rob and I. Rob and I were staying week ends at the folks place, Jim and JD were staying in my camper at our folks place also. By the time they arrived on Saturday Morning we would have a big pot of coffee ready to go. Once we had coffee and we visited with my folks we would drive to the state land usually. So we had some exciting times while hunting there. Once Jim got separated from the rest of us, got lost not knowing the area so well and ended up on a back country road that would go by my folks farm but not the house. As he is walking along on this beautiful Oct day with a pistol (single six) on his hip in clear view his big red Irish setter Alice and his Remington 870 shot gun a car stops beside him going in the same direction. They inquire about the hunting so Jim explained he had got separated and was going to Fredâs house. They said they knew where Fred lived and if he wanted a ride to get in the back seat, they delivered him to the door of Fredâs house. I bet that would not happen in that area today. Would probably have a visit from a LEO wonder what he was doing and giving him the 20 questions plus some. 
Another time we had finished hunting so Rob and JD were going to town to get some refreshments, I canât remember what they drove but I think Jims truck. Jim and I headed for home in the opposite direction. On the way out of the woods we came across two hunters walking along the trail. We asked if they wanted a ride. The said yes they would like a ride to the turn off on the north end of long lake a couple miles down the road. They dropped the tail gate on the pickup climbed on so off we went; we got to the turn off and stopped to let them off. No sooner did we get going again and a DNR guy came screaming around a corner in the road and slid sideways blocking our path. He pulls his weapon and orders us out of the truck. Once we are out of the truck he has us lay hands on the hood of the truck and pats us down. He then goes in the truck and finds Robs pistol case behind the seat (before extended cabs) and found it was not locked. Even though it was behind the seat and no ammo in the truck for it he placed us under arrest. He claimed he had stopped us because he had gotten a call about some people driving around in a black truck shooting at deer. I am real upset about the way he was doing us so told him to go find and check with the guys we had given a ride and since they had offered some beverages we had their address. He takes out guns and the keys for my truck after turning out pockets out to make sure we didnât have a spare key he leaves to check our story I presume. He comes back in about an hour. Gives us a big lecture about the pistol not being locked in the case and gave us all our stuff back he finally lets us go. 
He was a well loved CO who got the CHIT beat out of him one night.

 Al


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## no really (Aug 7, 2013)

Glad I found these stories, enjoying the read very much thanks


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## Elevenpoint (Nov 17, 2009)

alleyyooper said:


> *Sept ? 1958*
> 
> Two young boys had been given a quarter each by their father when he arrived home from work that Friday evening. Like many familyâs back then they got ready to go to town for the weeks shopping. They didnât go to town just because they had ran out of peanut butter or something like that. You always bought enough staples to last the week or went without. It was a big night as much familyâs met at one store or another and discussed the state of affairs. Young boys and girls would stroll the sidewalks and window shop unless they had some jingle in their pocket like the two young boys.
> The boys first went to the Moline tractor deal ship to ogle the new 445 sitting on the lot. Their dad had gotten a demonstration back in August and the boys were hoping to someday have it on the farm to work. Next they stopped and looked at the sleek new Desoto sitting in the window of the dealer ship. Right next door was the Gambles store where the boys intended to spend their hard earned quarters. They walked in the door and then down the aisle to the counter in the back of the store. Mister Gorthy was standing behind the counter and asked the boys if he could help them. Frank was his name and always treated the boys just the same as he would treat adults. The oldest boy who was 11 and soon to be 12 plunked his quarter down on the counter and said he wanted 5 16ga. Shot shells number 6âs, Peters if he had them. Frank reached be hind him and got a box of 16ga. Peters down and counted 5 into a small brown paper bag and handed it to the boy. The other boy said he wanted some 410ga 2 Â½ inch number 6 shot for his quarter. Frank told him if he would take 7 Â½ shot he could get an extra shell, 6 for his quarter as that is what he had left in the box of 7 Â½. Frank asked the boy what he was going to hunt with the shells and the boy stated Pats. Frank a hunter himself said the 7 Â½ would work fine on pats and also rabbits too. Frank asked the boys if they had been seeing many, the boys replied they had been seeing lots on the logging road the timber company had cut thru their dads wood lot to get to the timber on the property behind dads when they went to get the cows for milking.
> ...


We had to buy a half box, but I know old man Stoltz didn't sell anyone else a half box, he was our buddies grandpa. Hardware, sporting goods, feed mill. All gone now, five lanes, stoplight at every block, all commercial. Those were the days. Funny, where I live now the small town is just like where I grew up. Guess you can go home again.


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

We had a little country store that was our meeting and providing place. It was called Piercy's station. Charlie Piercy owned it. He was a good family friend. We would meet there in the mornings before going to the woods. He would have breakfast ready at 4. Everybody met there. Many ol timers who's time in the woods had come to an end would be there to fill the heads of youngsters like myself with stories of yesterday. It was a great time. Then about 10 we would all be back there to see the mornings fruits. Those were some great times as a kid. Sadly the area grew up and loudoun county became the richest county in the nation. Running out all the ol timers and farmers. Anti Hunters Bought It All up. I thought those kinds of days had passed for me. But thankfully we found a tiny village nestled in the Shenandoah valley of va. Were history and heritage still call this place home. We too have a country store. We meet before the hunt and after. We tell stories and share quary. And I now do this all with my son. I hope this tradition will continue for years to come.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Opening day deer hunting memories.

My first deer season opening day memory was waking up all excited like it was Christmas morning. The wait before we could go to the woods was horrible as there were cows to milk and other farm chores. I can still smell the wood smoke from moms cook stove and the old pot belly that kept the house warm. The gun I was given to deer hunt with was an old Ivers Johnson single shot 410 / 44 lug in one stamped on the single shot barrel along with 2 Â½ inch shells, I was given 5 slugs for it. I remember breakfast was sausage patties most likely made from pigs we buchetered earlier that fall and fried eggs. The woods was a mile roughly down the road so dad drove the Ford station wagon we had at the time rather than the farm truck. Not being born to a hunting family I was not well versed in just how to hunt the deer only from old magazines and books did I have a clue. It was cold also and since the law said you had to wear red at the time I had a red hooded sweat shirt in Luo of a coat. I walked a lot doing what I thought was still hunting, none of the rags I had read said that still hunting was moving something like a mile a day instead of the 4 miles an hour I was covering. I was working my way up to the car to go home for lunch when a doe ran across the logging road I was on, following her was a buck with a nice rack about as nice as I have ever seen. I pull that old 410 up and fire at the buck which stopped Iâm sure it was a total miss Break the gun and stuff a second slug in an fire again a miss again. My heart is racing hands shaking something awful I load in third shell fire and saw the head jerk and a blood spot appear in the neck as the buck charged off. Quickly load in number four and fire then number five and fire. All were misses I think and I am out of shells. I shaking badly half run half walk to the car and wait for dad. He arrives and I tell him about the buck, he gives me that adult your fibbing look and says we should get home for lunch. After lunch and a quick drive to buy more slugs for me we are back in the woods. I go back to where that buck was and find some blood and start to trail it. Wasnât much blood but did track it to the beaver pond and never found a drop after that. 
That was my first year memory. 
Many years after were similar even after I got a city job as I hunted dads woods. 
After I bought the UP deer camp property things changed up. Normally would start the day before season very early in the morning anywhere from 3:00PM to 5:00PM depending how long I had to work the morning of the 14th. I would drive to Ricks house where we would load his gear up He would drive so I could sleep. Ya right I hadnât seen him in a year so we talked about the past year and our past hunting trips. 
Once at the property it was usually day lite after the 6 Â½ hour drive. We would start with one of us getting a fire going in our wood furnace while the other started unloading gear. One the gear was unloaded and fire going for heat it was time to install the pump on the well and pump water to make coffee in the big 30 cup urn. By that time it was close to lunch so one of us would fix some thing or we made sandwiches. After lunch we would go check out the blinds and open the windows on the closed up ones to air out the musty smell. Once that was done we would walk to different area we might or might not hunt while we were there, depended on sign. In the evening we would usually drive to Gladstone, Escanaba go to a restaurant to have supper then to a grocery store to stock up on things we didnât bring like catsup, mustard, coffee, butter, dry beans and burger to make chili with and fill the 5o gallon barrel with fuel for the generator. Once that was finished we would head back to the camp lay out our clothing for the morning make up the coffee urn to make coffee in the morning then we would go to bed. Needless to say after being awake for more than 24 hours I slept very well. In the morning I would get up go full the generator with fuel and start it, Then I would go in the shed to light the heater in there so it would be toasty warm when we were getting dressed to go out. Meanwhile Rick had gotten up and put fire wood in the furnace and opened it up a bit to warm the cabin as well as reheat the coffee left from the night before. I would then set down at the table to cut up a loaf of homemade bread we had brought that Ricks wife had made. Rick would be at the range with his griddle frying eggs & bacon or sausage and sometimes ham. Once I got the bread sliced I would fill the thermoses with coffee and pour us some fresh stuff. We made sandwiched to carry afield with us for lunch or if we came back to the cabin it was get a bowl of bean soup off the wood burner or chili we had made the night before. It was my job to make supper, much was as easy as thawing the stuff made and home and froze in baggies and warm it, Latter I had gotten a bigger generator so we had a micro wave for me to do that. Since Rick passed away I stay home to hunt. I wake up in the morning opening day and make my breakfast, coffee no longer done as I how drink tea so make it sort of like coffee in a percolator. I fill a thermos with it and lace it heavy with honey. Then it is out the back door to one of the four blinds I built on my place and am in the process of doing a fifth one now. 

 Al


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

My first deer hunt was about the same. I was so excited. I was using my grandpa's marlin 35. We got to the woods early. My dad and I started walking up an old logging road. We got to a fork where the logging road meet a power line cut. We waited. At daylight a group of does came through about 150 yard away. Dad said pop one! So I steadied and squeezed off. Miss! We went up and no blood. While standing there another doe walked right up about 75 yards. I pulled up aimed and squeezed. She jumped. Hit! We trailed her for hours. Finding only specs of blood then nothing. I was so disappointed. About a week later we went back to the same spot to hunt. When we got there we seen a flock of crows. We walked over and 25 yards from where we shot her tucked under a lasurel thicket was the doe. She had made a huge circle and died right there. Gut shot. I was disappointed we lost the meat. I never counted her as my first successful deer hunt. But I still remember the feeling of squeezing off on my first deer.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Some times that happens to even experienced hunters.

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

The rabbit hunt
March 1978 Rob my younger brother and I got laid off for two weeks. Since rabbit season is going to end in a few short weeks we load Robs dog gear in my truck and head for a bit of state land they had been clear cutting on for the last 8 years. 
All the clear cuts over a year old had grown up in a jungle of berry briers and small sucker tree growth. It also held a lot of brushy tops the loggers left that made great hiding spots for rabbits so the area was loaded with them. Mostly the snow shoe hare were in the area. We park the truck in a clearing made when the loggers were loading the logs on semi trucks. We get out and load up the shot guns and head out. Wasnât long and Skunk (the dogâs name) had a rabbit going, soon it came around and Rob got it a nice snow shoe. About two hours later we had 10 nice bunnies to take to the cook pot. The limit then was 5 per day and 5 in the freezer, since we had none in the freezer we ate dinner and went back to a different place in the afternoon. This different place was real hilly with deep ravines, you could see across them to the top of the hill on the other side very easy. Also since it was mid March about half the snow had melted in areas that got sun lite most of the day. You could see those snow shoe rabbits sunning themselves on the opposite hillside. Wasnât long and we had a limit again so we head back to the house and clean the rabbits and get a bunch cooking. That evening after supper we were sitting around talking and decided we would try sniping the rabbits the next day with our rifles. I had an older savage in 222 Remington, Rob had Winchester model 70 in 225 Winchester.
Next morning dawned bright and clear leaving the dog at home we set out for the state lane and the same area we had hunted the afternoon before. Going to the hill with the sun to our backs we set down to take a look and see if we could spot any snow shoes. Wasnât long and we see one, hadnât learned all the trick in doing the spotting at this time. Rob and I had drawn cards at home for the first shot, so he drew first blood whit a snow shoe sliding down the hill a bit. Soon we see another and it was my turn. Took me two shots to get it, we were going for head shots. Marking the location of those two we go down the hill cross the valley and climb to the rabbits. Both head less with the body meat still intact, we decided that since we were half way up that hill we would finish the climb and see what we could see on the hill we had just left. With the rabbits in the shade they were still easy to spot if they were in a snow less spot. 
Took us about 3.5 hours to get our limit this time but we did get much better as the days went on. Like if you used bonicâs you could see then quicker and even spot that shiny black eye. On our next to the next to last day we were just getting back to the truck with our take and a CO pulled up. Asked us about the hunting so we told him it had been good all week. He then said he had been down the trail a bit and heard high power rifle sounds and asked if we had heard any. Rob started laughing and said we sure had and it was fun to make it. CO with a confused look said I thought you said you were rabbit hunting so we explained how we were doing it. CO got all red in the face and said we couldnât do that and he was going to ticket us and take the rabbits.
I say wait just a minute and go pull out the hunting rules and regulations for 1978. I turn to the page rabbit hunting. Ask the CO to show me in the rules as written where it limited us to shot gun, rim fire or a bow only to hunt rabbits with.
He canât find it to show us but decided he would not write a ticket unless he caught us again. I told him that sounded like a good plan and he best find that rule to show un and make sure it was in the 1979 rule book because we planned on doing it more in the future. Didnât make a friend that day, in fact we and others had to file complaint after complaint on his actions and manners.

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

When I was growing up I loved to go into the old gamble store in town. It smelled of harnesses leather and oil soaked floors that squeeked as you walked down the asiles. There were barrels of nails,screws small bolts and nuts. There was a little rack of new single shot guns mostly, with a rifle every so often mostly a Winchester 94 or for the afulant a Marlin 336. there was another rack that held used shot guns. Seen my first pump gun there a Winchester 97 I wanted one so very bad. I never could find one when I had saved enough to buy one of my own. My first one was a used Wards western feild 16 with a poly choke, 50 some years latter I still own it.There was a big shelf behind the counter full of different types of ammo. you could buy 3 boxes of 22 shorts for 50 cents Dad would tan our hide for buying them as target shooting was fround on. You could get 100 rounds of 22LR for 50 cents. Many a time I went in there with a quarter and walked out with four 2 1/2 inch #6 shot 410 shells, Yes you could buy just the number of shells for the shot gun or rifle you could afford. 
They had a corner of the store where they had the big old cane poles proped in it. and they had the fancy take down cane poles in a rack near by. 
They carried a few lures mostly south bend brand and top water ones at that. 

Todays hardwear stores don't have a smell most don't sell guns, ammo or fishing equipment. Last one I went into that sold ammo had it locked up behind the counter and you had to ask for what you couldn't see to even know they carried it. 


 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Oct 1970 opening day of duck season found me and my hunting partner, his brother skipping school and my partners two brother in laws dragging a 10 foot pram thru the woods to a beaver pond to hunt ducks. 

This beaver pond is really two separated by about 150 yards of head of a river. the lower pond covered about 25 acres or a bit more. the 150 yards of river was a hi bank narrow area the upper pond was about 20 acres. 

We decided to put the pram in the lower bigger pond, the two brother in laws Dale & Jim would hunt out of it. I would set up on the narrow high banks and my Partner Rick and his brother norm would cover the upper pond. We all got into position When 10:00 AM rolled around Jim and Dale launched the pram into the big pond to have a huge flock of ducks lift off and head for the upper pond. As they came by my stand in the narrows I got two mergansers. As they got to the upper pond Rick and Norm got a couple mallards each and a merganser. The ducks circled around and came barreling down the narrow cut past me where I down a pair of green wing teal to the lower pond. They were met with salvos of 12ga from Jim and Dale as they circled that big pond. Finally a settled down in the upper area of the big pond so Jim and Dale oared up there getting in flight again. 
By noon we had limited out with Mallards and Teal, so we decided to pick up our empty hulls floating on the water then take our duck to clean them and have lunch. After lunch we decided to hit several of the other beaver ponds in the area with just waders since they were small area size. We were sure that the ducks that had left the two morning ponds had settled in to a couple of those tiny ponds. We were right and within a hour we had our daily limit of ducks. 

A bit later I drove south and met the same bunch at a Michigan DNR flooding area of the Maple river. Again we chose to just wade and jump shoot That worked real well since a lot of the flooding was in wood lots and corn fields the DNR had paid the farmers locally to plant. In the flooded woods behind a slater house I was going to step over a sunken log I could see and it took off nearly dumping me into the water a big gar pike my buddy who saw it said. 
We filled out limit again that day. 
I drove home that evening to wait another week for Pheasant season to open then I would drive down there again to hunt. 


 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Squirrel season opens along with most small game in Michigan on the 15th 3 short days from now. this year how ever the squirrels and other small game will be getting a reprieve, Not just me either My brother also.
Normally just a few short years ago I would take a long week end from work since the 15th is a Thursday this year. I would meet my brother and a couple of very close friends, we then would drive to the state land just a few miles from Rob's place. Once there where they had clear cut it about two years before we would get dressed to attack the black berry canes and brush one of my dads friends described you had to shoot twice thru to get a rabbit. One shot would clear a path and second would get the rabbit 25 feet away. Any way earl in the season this was idea partridge (aka pat's) cover as they would be in there cleaning up old berries and late ripening ones. There would be a tangle of buggy whip popple, maples and oak shoots coming from the stumps and roots of the cut over trees. Yes we used flushing dogs with those tinkling bells so you could keep track of them And at least one had to be a good retriever. Rob had just suck a dog a springer named Skunk because her sides were mostly white and a solid black back. Can't say as We ever lost a bird we knew we made a good hit on. We also had dads dog a mutt named beaver because she liked to chew on chunks of wood till we started hunting. It would take a couple hours to fill our daily limit of Pats then we would go back to Robs house and clean the birds for that nights supper. After we had the dogs put away and watered we'd eat dinner and then head for the squirrel woods.
Lots of oaks back of my sisters house where we would start. Go in there and flop down on our butts cradling our 22's and wait for the squirrels to start moving again. The limit was 5 each but we set our own limit for the area, That little bit of hard woods behind my sister was good for 5 total but we mostly kept it to 4 or there would be no more later in the season. We would leave there and got top a farm where my brother got permission for us to hunt squirrels as he went to school with the owner. Now that place most years we could fill a 10 squirrel two man limit in about a half hour unless they had hay near the woods instead of corn. We would do that Thursday and Friday on Saturday friends would come and hunt with us pretty much doing the same except skip the squirrels at my sisters.
Since Archery deer started Oct. 1st we would get our bows out and start shooting targets On Sunday afternoon before every one headed home.

This year my brother is recovering from a cancer of the liver operation and doesn't have the energy to walk much, he just planed on walking to the hard woods behind my sisters for a while. Me with my knee healing and not being able to walk on uneven ground will just stay home and remember past hunts and friends who have found perment hunting spots never to be bothered again in Valhalla.


 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

My hunting partner needed new tires for his pick up, calls around and gets quotes. A couple days later he goes to get them put on, waiting room has magazine's of all kinds to read. Some as new as the 3 year old hunting magazine he picks up to read.

About a week later he calls me about planning our trip to deer camp and informs me he is going to try a new trick he learned from that rag. We make the drive to deer camp arriving in the evening to late to do much of any thing except un pack all the time he is telling me of his plan. 


Next morning with breakfast out of the way we go out to the changing shed and dress in our hunting togs which do not have the smell of bacon and eggs which the deer in my area don't seem to care for. Rick is all dressed and straps his climber on his back grabs his bag of goodies and rifle. Heads down the drive telling me he is going to the cedar swamp clearing. Every year around this small acre sized swamp is buck rubs and scrapes with trails into the swamp where there is a 30x40 foot roughly clear area filled with moss and old deer beds. Has always been a good hunting place for us but it is close to the federal land. 

Once Rick gets to the area he climbs up a Maple tree and gets every thing set in their proper place. About a half hour elapses when Rick starts his new tactic. using a small mouth tube he starts blowing grunts, banging a pair of deer antlers together hitting a limb hanging near his stand. He does this for a good 15 minutes then rested for about 5 minutes and scans the area. Starts in the second set and about when he was finished sees some movement coming thru the cedars, another hunter steps in the clearing with a baffled look as he starts scanning the are about him. He never looked up once but Rick said he about had a heart attack when Rick asked if he was lost? Guy said no he wasn't lost and Rick asked how he had gotten to where he was and not see the signs he was leavening federal land? So the guy said he had heard these two bucks fighting and was paying attention to where the noise was coming from and may be how he missed the signs and asked if rick had heard the bucks fighting. Rick sticks the grunt call tube in his mouth and starts clanging the horns together and beating that tree limb and stops, You mean those two bucks?

Rick never tried rattling at deer camp again said it worked to well to call other hunters in. He did use it to some success at home while bow hunting his own land with private land all around.

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

First UP Buck​ Came about in November 18th 1992. I had been sitting in a brush blind in the cedar swamp in the mornings then still hunting the edge of the swamp back to the camp for dinner. In the 3 day 17 I ran across a rub line and a couple of scrapes just outside of the cedars going up into the hard woods where there was a line of scrapes along a trail. I went back in the hardwoods after lunch and found a decent rise of ground a foot or so by a big old Oak tree. I gathered some dead down limbs and old stumps and piled them into a ruff blind after I kicked the leaves away. I figured about 75 yards from the cedar swamp edge and where those scrapes were from it. Finished up about 1:30 in the afternoon and waited seeing only a couple of does come up into the hard woods and paw for a few acorns that afternoon. Gave up at sun set and started sneaking toward camp. Next morning when I went out to start the generator it was all frosty outside. I go back in and tell Rick it is really frosty out there and I love to hunt it when it is like that and the leaves are crunchy, Iâm going to the hard woods this morning. Rick says he will go up on Hemlock hill as we call that place high on probably the biggest hill within 4 miles and covered with 80 and 90 feet tall trees. Just down the hill a bit is some big oaks for about 30 yards then a cedar swamp edge. With breakfast finished and dishes rinsed thermoses filled with coffee we head to the changing shed. Once ready we walk down the drive way with high expiations, when we came to the trail going into the hard woods I kept walking and Rick asked what I was doing. I said I was going to walk to the USFS trail and walk it back and go up the ridge to the blind I had built that way I didnât walk thru the hard woods over the trail with the scrapes.​ Get to my blind and settle in, about a hour went by and I poured a cup of coffee. I had just taken my first sip when I see movement coming out of the cedars, it is a buck a fair rack. I set the coffee cup down out of the way pick up my Remington 700 243 off the vâed stick I used as a rifle rest got in position and laid it on a cross stick of the blind for a rest. About that time I hear the first shot of the morning, I am still waiting for the buck to work up the hill to the first of the scrapes He got there and kept walking a quarting shot away from me, a good shot but still mostly broad side. He stops and starts kicking leaves up to make a new scrape as I snick off the safety and squeeze the trigger. As expected he dropped right there in his tracks so I was very surprised when he started trying to get back up. Lay the cross hairs back on him and fire again and he is down for good. Finish my coffee as I watch to make sure he is down then walk over to him a basket 8 point and dress him out. Went to the cedars washed my hands then went to the blind to retrieve my gear and have another cup of coffee. As I am taking the first sip I see Rick coming up thru the hard woods. I yell did you see anything and he holds up 4 fingers. I figure he has seen 4 deer. Finally he gets to me and I hand him the coffee cup, he takes a swallow then tells me I have a nice deer probably close to 200 pounds, was 205 at the check station on the way home 7 days later. Then he tells me he had a buck down to but couldnât find it. Said it had come from behind him then started to follow the road down the hill but something had spooked him so he jumped off the road and turned for a perfect broad side shot from Ricks 243 with factory loads. He knew it was hit good by the way it hunched up. We finish my coffee and drag my deer to the trail then walk to where Rick had been. I have him point to where he last saw the buck and walked to that area stood there a second and say here he is laying in a small depression in some ferns mostly covering him. I dress him out as Rick is pouring coffee from his thermos. Once finished I wash my hands in a water hole in the cedar swamp and we drag Ricks 4 point to the road where he waits for me to bring the truck. Once loaded we go and load my deer up and take them to the oak tree we hang our deer on for the next 3 years.
Later found my first shot had hit the front shoulder blade at a angle did not go thru just went along it and bent the bullet up. the second had went in and tore the lungs up. Ricks buck was a well shot buck exploding the heart. he had lost sight of it when it went behind one of those big hemlocks and so excited he didn't see the buck in that depression. 

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

The man steps out the door on to the screened in porch to be greeted by the whines from the chocolate lab that sleeps there. He tells her not today girl itâs a different game we seek. Stepping off the screened in porch his sight is hit by the hoar frost shimmering in the bright moon lite like a hundred thousand diamonds spilled from a diamond peddlers pack. He slowly walks across the lawn to the trail that takes him to the deer blind he has chosen to hunt that day over looking the creek and the old creek bed. It is nestled in a clump of wild dog wood bushes this year loaded with berries. 
Soon he settles in the blind and pours a cup of coffee to cool as he watches the day light breaking about him. He hears a flock of turkeys deeper in the woods come off their roost then a rooster pheasant cackles Probably kicked out of its bed by another hunter. 
Finally that huge orange orb starts peeking thru the trees and the first of the blue birds arrive to feast on the dog wood berries. Finally the first deer appears coming down the bank of the creek from the picked corn field next door. It is alert using its radar ears to listen to the sounds around it, licking her nose to gather fresh scent in to process for danger. Just seconds behind her is two more does a bit smaller than the first perhaps this springs fawns. They mosey along the creek going farther back in the woods where the pampas grass has a nice stand for the deer to bed in. 
With in minutes 6 more does arrive and head for that pampas grass bedding area. 
The radio the man carries cackles with the sound of his wife. She says there are two bucks out the living room window across the creek. One she says is a nice 4 point eastern count, the other is huge but she canât say just how huge. The 4 point decides to go up stream and cross the road the bigger fellow she says is heading for the corn field. 
Soon the man sees the big buck he is at the edge of the corn field private property. He watches it as it slowly travels in the direction the does have went but not on the creek bank. The man knows that soon that buck will be down as he has watched another hunter go to a blind about 200 yards down the fence along the corn field. He waited for the report of the gun as he watched the buck work his way along. By this time he had gotten a good look at the rack, not one with huge long tines but huge beams like the arms of a tackle on a foot ball team with 5 short tines about 2 inches long. 
The report never came as expected, did the other hunter fall asleep? Was he texting his buddies or a girl friend perhaps. 
That buck lived to show him self to the man one more time in the 15 day season but once again not allowing the man a shot. 
Such is muzzle loader deer hunting in southern Michigan. 

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

*The up land hunt.*​ It was still early in the morning even though the cows had been milked and turned out to a day time pasture. Breakfast had been fixed on the old pastel green wood burning cook stove, fresh made pancakes smothered with syrup I had helped boil down last spring so many months ago. There was also a couple of eggs with runny yokes just how I liked them to use a pancake to sop up and of course the sausage I had help make almost a year ago now.
Finally the man says boy we need to get a going if you can stop eating for a while. I liked the man, he wasnât my dad but dadâs brother a sworn old bachelor in his mid 50âs now and never married. He came to live with us every fall after he would get laid off from his job working in a gravel pit. Every year he came and took me under his wing to do work and do fun stuff like we were going to do today. 
We walk our side to his Studebaker Champion he tells me to let the dog in the back as he put his cased shot gun in the trunk. The dog is a beautiful 6 year old Brittaney spaniel. I got to spend many hours wither since Uncle left her in my charge all summer. The gun was so old SXS all shiny blue and polished walnut light frame 16ga uncle would tell people he met that wanted to talk hunting. WE drive down the road 3 miles to the trail going back into the state land, a lot of the private property had been clear cut in the last 5 years and some still having it done for the pulp wood prices were up. So high in face I could earn a nickel a 8 foot log peeling them with a draw knife.
We drive the trail back thru the woods till we come to a clearing just off the trail a bit. We get out of the car and uncle hands me the collar with the brass tinkling bell to put on the queen. I have come to love the sound of that bell as the queen works her way thru the hard woods looking for partridge, and still use them on my dogs today. We had not gone far when we come across a patch of wild black berry briers; I can tell the queen is getting a good snoot full of bird scent as her tail normally moving is now just a whipping, as she comes to a halt looking into the briers. Uncle slowly walks in there with the thorns scratching his canvas pants. Suddenly a group of what appears to be feathers explode almost in uncleâs face. He picks out a bird and swings the shot gun to follow thru as he shoots and the bird crumples. He quickly swings on another bird and it to crumples and breaks the shot gun to reload to be ready for the next flight. The queen brings back a bird to me and then goes after the second one just as the sun finally clears the tree tops. When the sun finally clears the tree tops all those brilliant fall colors come to life dancing in the breeze. Uncle looks at the birds and says this one is a male and that there one is a female. I still have trouble today telling male from female partridge. Finally we move on along the hill side I keep watching the queens tail for that telltale sign she is birdy again. Finally she is into birds again, same type of cover black berry briers, uncle again wades in and flushed a covey I count nine as they fly and follow their path of flight. Uncle only gets one from these as they had almost allowed him to walk by them before flushing and making the swing difficult. We go in the same direction the birds had flown and soon come to a bunch of bushes my uncle called grouse bushes as I still do today. Again a covey flushes and uncle gets two more. He has gotten his limit and it is also time to sit down and have a snack mom had fixed for us and uncle carried in his pouch.
Homemade bread spread liberally with homemade butter and a sausage patty snuggled between the two slices. I peel off my crust and give it to the queen who politely takes it from my hand. Uncle pulls an dapple from his pouch and cuts in 1/3s one for him one for me and the last for the queen. Uncle produces a bottle with a cork in it and tells me to tightly cup my hands as he pours water in for the queen, then we each take a drink. As we set there enjoying the sun on us the breeze and the beautiful fall colors. Finally uncle get us and says boy I want to you to be careful now as he hands me the 16 SXS, saying it is loaded and safety on. I am almost10 years old and a feeling of pride swelled my chest as we follow the queen. I have shot the shot gun at tin cans on fence post and ones thrown by my uncle as well as clay balls we had made.
Finally the queen is into birds again, my turn to wade into the briers and flush the covey, only to totally miss with both barrels much to my shame. Uncle says boy you cannot shoot at the flock you need to pick one bird out and swing in it. We again get in a bunch of those grouse bushes and the queen gets birdy again. I step in a a single bird flushes and I swing on it to see it crumple I didnât even realize I had squeezed the trigger. As it is falling another takes off and I somehow managed to collect that one two. I break the shot gun and reload and Just and I snicked the action tight as I had been taught the queen flushed another bird as she was bringing one back to us, again I missed. Uncle said I had not swung thru that one, ya have to lead them. Soon wa were back at the car, and on our way back home. I didnât have to many more years with my uncle as a short 5 years later he passed from colon cancer, a year later the queen passed too after we had some more great outings in the up lands. Took me 15 years before I was able to have my own brit, my shot gun had become a Ithaca pump, and my car was a 4x4 pickup.
 Al


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