Wednesday, November 19, 2008

This and That (cont)

...seems this post picks up where the last left off,trying to remember how far back i remember...sounds funny saying out loud...anyway,always had a 'countryboy' upbringin'...about late 5th grade started teachin' those city boys how to shoot my BB gun,got in plenty of trouble offin' birds and other critters...later on took some of my 'freinds of color' to the woods,huntin' and fishin'...lots of those ol boys hadn't never been 'in the woods'...lots of those ol boys were 'fisherman' (i guess in some terms),90% of em only knew how to tightline...i taught em how to go for bass,bream,crappie,walleye and perch.For those that are unfamiliar,southeast michigan has one of the best fisheries in the world.The Trenton Channel(part of detroit river) has the most magnetic walleye fishin' i've ever seen,when ol marble eye aint hittin' you can catch yer limit in smallmouth...for the 'moneyman' there is pike,muskie,sturgeon you name it...too bad the city sucks...Huntin',on the other hand was a different story.

At the time i thought it odd,that lots of those ol boys had never fired a 'gun',let alone went huntin'...once i started driving(and prior,as couple friends were older and drove first)we never hung out in town...we hit the central and northern woods...everyone affectionatly called it something,but the usual was 'Up North'...(even when the trips ended in the central farm lands and woods) we were 'Up North'...in the 'sticks'...the 'boonies'...the 'hills'('hillbilly' means northern michigan farmer)...the'woods'..i was a 'redneck'...i LOVED it...anyway,i must have shown 30 different folks how to kill and eat critters...man what a hoot,watching those ol boys learn how to gut and skin rabbits and squirrels...most of the FNG's i took deer huntin' were too inexperienced(read loud/stinky/clumsy/noisy-you get the picture) to kill a michigan whitetail,those critters are (at the time,in perspective) the smartest dam thing on the planet...i've harvested all but two of my deer Up North michigan.

Living and working in the suburbs,had vacation property up state near Alpena,a little huntin' town called Hillman,in Montmorency County...had Houghton and Higgins Lakes,Fletchers 'pond',and about a thousand other waters worth fishin'...Thats basically where i got my 'survivalist' start(my 'preppin' didnt start 'till the Y2K thing...thats another blog post hehehe...)
As you may or may not know,northern michigan winters are hard,to say the least.They'll make ya,or break ya...but,in general,natures bounty was very much in abundance,even in all but the worst of winters.One could 'live off the land' very effectively...IF I KNEW THEN,WHAT I KNOW NOW...my twenty acres would be paid for...there is twice the resident population now,but they're still spread out pretty thin.My twenty acres got split into two,ten acre parcels,my in-laws own one of the 'tens'...the other to 'someone else'...local folks...sold it(twice really) during one of the PersonelSHTF...to top it all off...did it to save my mcmansion/trucks/RV's...IF I KNEW THEN,WHAT I KNOW NOW...

will type back later

2 comments:

treesong said...

Congrats on your blog Ken. I must say, though, that Lower Michigan (not northern Michigan) winters are not hard. Spend a year in the Upper Peninsula, the state's REAL northern Michigan and you'll experience "hard."

Sweetie has a niece who is building a place near Hillman and I was born to a US Coast Guardsman in Alpena. Today I live south of Kalkaska in the country but miss the U.P.

Look forward to reading your posts. Treesong

Ken said...

Thanks treesong...never said i was a 'yooper'...i was a troll(under the bridge)...lol...we did snowmobile and hunt the U.P tho...