Going North

[Max1]

Well, I am gonna be gone until late next weekend. Hunting season opened in Michigan Oct. 1. Gonna see if I can score me a white tail.

Got my hunting licenses the other day. Got my bow out over a month ago and have been shooting it on a regular basis, not that I need too...... Yeah I am that good!

That's right they are nocked!

Dead center ever shot at 50 yards. Really not gonna get a further shot than that in Upper Michigan, woods are too dense. I may pop on every now and then, but yeah I doubt it. Don't worry I plan on cooking every day that we are away, and let the women folk do the dishes.

Will have plenty of pictures to post when i get back.... I don't leave until Sunday though.

 

[Vermin999]

Your going to the UP deer hunting? Good luck and don't forget to take pics!!

 

[Max1]

No not that high. Going to my families property in Grayling. It is about a hour and a half North of Saginaw. Don't worry I plan on taking pictures. :P

 

[bbquzz]

We've been down to Gaylord Elk viewing a couple times recently but no luck so far. Good luck with the White Tail, looking forward to the pictures.

 

[bigwheel]

Try not to hurt one. Just shoot close and scare it off. Bambi has a Mama ya know?

 

[Max1]

I don't go after yearlings..... But there will be pictures. Leaving in about 10 hours.

 

[Bosko]

Good luck:partyman:

 

[Max1]

I am back, have a few pictures to show you all, I have to get setteled in then I will post them up.

 

[bigwheel]

Ok..we will be waiting with breathless anticipation.

 

[Bosko]

The best part of this thread is where the pics are posted............5 star thread, will tell my Grand Children all about them!!

 

[Max1]

Been busy

 

[Vermin999]

I am back, have a few pictures to show you all, I have to get setteled in then I will post them up.

The best part of this thread is where the pics are posted............5 star thread, will tell my Grand Children all about them!!

Apparently it takes others a little longer to get settled in!!!

 

[Bosko]

Apparently it takes others a little longer to get settled in!!!

 

[Max1]

Sorry, I have been very busy with pressing life issues that are a bit more important than pictures, at this moment.

 

[Bosko]

Just havin fun man.....sorry to hear I hope things work out....all my best

 

[bigwheel]

Whats going on with those pressing life issues?

 

[Max1]

First off I would like to apologise to everyone for how long it took me to post up these pictures. My family has been having a really tough time, with a few different things, but that is as far as I am going to go with that.

For all that live in the North, and especially Michigan, you know that when October comes around, you, or someone you know will be going hunting. It is a big to do here.

My family has a long history with Bow hunting. We always have. I picked up my first bow and arrow when I was 4 years old. Later that year was the first time I attended a hunting session with my father and older brothers. At this time my family owned property in Grayling Michigan. I was hoping to still have the land when I had children of my own, but that flew out the window when my grandmother passed. Her kids argued over the land, and money that she left. With that the land was sold, and any future of going there was gone.

As far as bow hunting goes, my father taught me how to shoot. He was an instructor at Detroit Archery Club for years, this was before I was even thought of. He also competed on the Juniors League when he was younger. The Archery Club was founded by none other than Fred Bear. We still have a few bows that were hand made by Fred Bear. These have become a family heirloom, at which no one is allowed to touch but my brother and my self. My dad about had a heart attack when I bought a, Hoyt Compound Bow for the league I was involved in for my work at the time. I have pictures of it, but they are on my other computer, will post them up later.

Well anyway enough of me yammering on, and on.

The first night we got there, we (I) had to set everything up. We just went out and got a burger. However the second night I cooked. I had a fire going and though the hell with it start up some charcoal. I had to burn in my new Jumbo Joe. I have a Smokey Joe 14" too but, for more that 2 people it really is too small.

Here is the State Parks version of a fire pit, I hate these things. They make it so hard to keep a fire burning without airflow.

With the fire going, I decided to start some charcoal for dinner. Could not find a piece of news paper, and did not have and starting cubes, so I Jerry rigged something. It worked that's all that matters.

Let the charcoal go for a few minutes then moved it out the fire. Don't want to have to buy another chimney.

Got the charcoal in the new grill, and let it get heated up.

While the grill was heating up, got the steaks ready to cook up.

Had my little helper working on some things while I was tending to the protein. She was salting some napkins I think.

Cooked up some sirloin steaks for the women folk. For some strange reason they don't like Ribeyes, I don't get it, I just don't.

I had to try the steaks to make sure that there was nothing wrong with them......

Finally got to cook my brother in laws, and my steaks.

Women folk like their steaks well done. You know leather type. I told them they could eat my shoe, they didn't like that.

Mike just could not hold out, he had to eat......

Since we were only about 80 miles to Mackinaw City, we took a day to go there. We had some crazy weather on the way there.

Sun was out here.

Snow in the distance, and a bit right on us.

Just a menacing clouds in the distance, but sunny right on us.

And finally rain, which stayed with us for a couple of hours.

Riley testing out her new shoes. Is it me or when you are with women, do you stop at every rest area.

We finally got to Mackinaw City, and decided to grab some food. Nah we didn't eat there. Just thought it was funny. A big damn hotdog. You don't see that everyday.

Here are a few plaques, the first one is about the Bridge Authority(The workers that keep up the bridge), and the second is a memorial plaque for the men that died during the building of the bridge.

There was some amazing weather while we were at Mackinaw. The actually slowed all the traffic down to 20mph crossing the bridge, and stopped all semi traffic. The winds were sustained at 50mph, and gusting to 75mph. In some of these pictures you can see the spray from the rain blowing off the bridge.

Here is the only picture of Fort Michilimackinac(pronounced Mich-a-mil-la-macinaw) JUST FOR YOU BW......(I know it looks like a shed)

Riley showing me a Christmas Tree through the window of the Fort gift shop, which is directly under the Mackinaw Bridge, actually built into the bridge.

Here is Old Mackinac Point Light, it was built in 1892, and decommissioned in 1957. It became open to the public in 2004 for tours, along with the Fog Signal Building. These are a great place to visit, I have been there multiple times. Each time you learn something new. I love learning about history, there are just so many things to learn.

Tried to get a few pictures of Mackinaw Island. But at the time the weather was not working for us.

Here is a picture of the island south east of Mackinaw Island Bois Blank Island. Here you are allowed to drive cars, on Mackinaw Island you can only ride bikes, or in horse drawn buggies.

Here is a picture of a lake freighter, this was about a mile away from me, and you can hardly make it out. In the second picture the freighter is about 4 miles out, and you can see it a whole lot better.

Here is a great picture of my niece Riley.

The weather did clear up after a bit, so I took some pictures while it was nice out. The bridge is 552ft. from the water to the top of the towers, but it extends another 210 below the water to bedrock. The bridge spans what is known as the Straits of Mackinaw, and the bridge is span over water for 26,372ft, or 4.994miles. The center of the bridge serves are a divider between Lake Michigan to the West, and Lake Huron to the East.

I wanted to test my new 400x telephoto lens for my camera, and since the weather cleared, I snapped a couple of pictures of Mackinaw Island. This time with my lens fully extended you can see the Grand Hotel, and the rest of village a mere 5 and a half miles away. The lens was not fully extended either.

Here are a few pictures of the Ice Breaker USCGC Mackinaw WAGB-83. She was decommissioned in June 2006, and has since become a museum. She was laid down in 1943, and Commissioned in 1944. Her designers made her too big, so she could not be taken out of the Great Lakes. Sorry I am a Navy Brat. Even Puddle Pirates boats are cool.

Here is a ferry leaving for Mackinaw Island.

Here is a picture of people taking pictures.

We took the scenic route home. These are a couple pictures of Lake Huron a little bit down the road. There are lake side parks about every 10 miles that have terrific views. This was closer to Rogers City, where some of my family lives. We went to their house but they were not home at the time. Found out later that they went to Alpena.

This was as we were leaving, the trees finally started changing colors.

Here is my niece Kaitlyn, with here daughter Riley.

Final place we went on this vacation was Little Bavaria, otherwise known as Frankenmuth. Frankenmuth is known for it's family style chicken dinners. Normally we go here about 3 to 4 times a year, this time the service was terrible. The waitress was horrid, really she was a straight up bitch. Needless to say she did not receive a tip. I wrote the company a nice little email to the family of the company, they sent me basically a refund, well a gift certificate. It's all good, we will use it. We go to the Bavarian Inn, the family does not really care for Zenders, although both are now owned by the same family.

When we finally got home we had a guest waiting for us. I have never seen a Bald Eagle around our area before. I have seen them up north, but never seen them this far south around a metropolis area.

Hope you all liked my trip to the hunting grounds. It's too bad that I did not sack a deer, then again, I didn't even see one. That's all I got.

 

[Bosko]

Well done, excellent photos very in-depth coverage of the trip

 

[Vermin999]

Very cool pics and trip Max, it was worth the wait!!! My Dad lives about 100 miles south from where your were at and bald eagles are there too. They were never around that area when I was growing up.

 

[bbquzz]

Great shots Max, you were in my "hood," next time you in Mackinaw City hit the Keyhole Bar, super restaurant, great burgers.