Posted by MikeAdams on September 1, 2008
Summer May Be Over But Hunting Season Has Just Begun
Well we all know that it has to happen. That is the ending of the summer vacation! It is almost like a cold slap in the face and reality sets in, that we have to go back to work, school, etc. Summer is over as we know it! Today that reality set in for me and the rest of my family. So what did we do to bid this summer a fond farewell? We crammed as much as we could into this morning as we could before we headed back home. My wife and oldest daughter took in the Mackinaw Bridge Walk this morning. For those of you who don’t know, each and every Labor Day the 5 mile bridge that connects the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan is opened up for the community to walk it. They start in the Upper Peninsula and walk 5 miles to the Lower Peninsula. So that was my wife and my daughter Mackenzie’s morning.
As for my son Michael and I, we woke up at 5:15am and proceeded to get onto the water of a local lake in the Mackinaw City area to celebrate the opening of the 2008 Early Goose season in Michigan! This officially kicks off our fall hunting season here in Michigan! We hit the water just before day break and made our way across the lake in the mist and barely lit sky. The reeds that were poking their heads out of the water were slapping the sides of the boat as we slipped across the still water of French Farm Lake this morning. We got to the opposite shore where there was a gentle warm breeze blowing at our back! Perfect for geese to fly into our faces! We dropped the dozen decoys in the shallow water and secured the boat down the shoreline a ways. The mosquitoes were buzzing, so I grabbed the burlap camo cover and proceeded to look like a bush since I forgot the Thermacell.
Finally legal shooting light at 6:34am! We got loaded and began to wait out the geese. It wasn’t long until a Teal Duck came plopping into our goose spread! It hung around for a few minutes and figured out something was amiss since the geese never moved. It flew off and it wasn’t long until a Pintail Duck came zipping across the spread, but it never landed. We saw other ducks and birds zipping around and then it happened. We heard a flight of geese coming! We couldn’t see them and they never appeared but we could definitely hear them. We figured that they must have been about a 1/4 mile away over on the Lake Michigan Shoreline.
A few minutes after 7am we heard a few more, then we spotted them! Michael began to call with his new Foiles call he got from Big Sean Hammock at Cabela’s last week. The geese turned and headed for us! He kept calling and they circled around and cupped their wings and the landing gear was in the down position! All of a sudden they checked up and landed short of our spread, we figured they must have seen the boat down the shoreline. Mikey kept calling softly and coaxed them towards our spread of decoys. They had made about half the distance when we heard some shooting over on Lake Michigan! Within about 30 seconds we heard two Canadians honking their way across the tree tops and plopping on the opposite shoreline. Those three geese we were working began to swim towards them. I told Michael they weren’t coming any closer so we needed to flush them into the air so we could lower the boom on them. I stood up and they didn’t move. So I yelled at them and they just started swimming away. So I lined up a shot over their heads to spook them, and then they took flight. I lobbed two more shots at them and Michael did also, but our shots by that time fell short of them. In all the commotion they had swam out of range! That was the last of any birds we saw that morning.
Well we didn’t put any geese in the freezer, but we did end the summer in a fun and exciting way as did the girls. We made our way back to the cottage and packed up the belongings and made the 4 hour drive home. Summer may be over but hunting season has just begun! Get out and enjoy it!
This entry was posted on Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 8:31 pm and is filed under Hunting, Uncategorized.
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Sounds like you had some fun Mike and Mikey. That walk sounds really nice as well. Bev and I are going to do one of those tomorrow and walk the CT shoreline. Your hunting day sounds a bit like ours. Jamie (my 15 year old) and I went for squirrels (it was opening day) and there was a huge yote standing in the parking lot!! Never saw one there before. I came across him again on our way out. I nailed 3 squirrels and Jamie had fun shooting but wasn’t able to down any. Lots of action including busting a few deer along the way. I’m taking the day off tomorrow and heading out again before Bev and I take off. Not one other person was out there hunting all morning! I thought the lot would be full. Not many small game hunters around here I guess. More for me. You’ll get’m next time Mikes. See ya
September 1st, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Sounds like a great way to end the summer season. And don’t fret because now fall is just around the corner-the greatest time there is in our state of Michigan.
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:59 am