I posted on, perhaps, a more correct topic space the following question: Anyone up here in Michigan's Upper who is into hunting traditional, ethical fair chase, and conservation who would like to get together and shoot the bows (or the bull) over a campfire now and then??
Dan
Where are you located ? I am from Madison, but have a camp near Escanaba.
ChuckC
Marquette area...
Dan
Are you two brothers, cousins?
I'm up there most of the late summer, early fall but I'm over in the eastern end.
I used to spend a lot of time down on the Stonington peninsula. But it's been a few years since I've made it up there. Beautiful country, but with several recent hard winters and add wolves to the mix, deer numbers are almost nonexistent.
Neither Pete, but odds are there is some distant relation somewhere. Yes the deer herd is down significantly and has been bucks only. I bet up north on the Superior side it is even worse. They really get snow up there. Great fishing still remains and the country is to my liking ( cept in late winter.
ChuckC
I wish I was back up there.
Heads up the ticks are horrible this year.
I'm in iron river.
I use to live in Iron River also.
I grew up in Ontonagon and lived most summers in Grand Marais just west of whitefish point. There was a big active club in Ontonagon during the 50's. It was all Trad then and was very social with get togethers and picnics regularly.
Doubt if you find much of that anymore. Seems like a lot of the wheel bow guy's just pull the bow out of the closet a few weeks before season.
...bummer. I think it would be great to do more of that club style gatherings like you describe. It would also be good to just get together with like-minded folks who shoot traditional and enjoy fair chase hunting.
Dan
I used to get to the UP twice a month for work. Sometimes over night. Not any more. I love Marquette. Not much here in the Straits area either
This is cool. A bunch of you should get together. I recommended a while back that the MTB should have chapters rather than one group that meets at a far away destination. Maybe it would help if you guys would speak up about this.
Dan, it is not necessarily out of the question to try to do some things together as a group. Are there any spots up there for hunting maybe bunnies or snowshoe hares ? Or a place we could camp for a night and stump shoot for a day ? At least one other trad site has been trying to do similar things and get folks together.
ChuckC
Snowhoe hunt might be fun. We have a cabin near Michigamme and it has a lot of thick hare cover. The cabin itself requires a walk off the road of about a half mile on your snowshoes to get into. Pretty rough inside but we always have fun when we stay there for a night.
I just wanted to see who was in the middle and west U.P. that might want to get to spend some time together as like minded folks. We'll have to stay in touch....
Dan Cote'
any of you MTB members?
kill shot, why do you need a "chapter" for a group to meet together?
Mr. Cote there is a traditional shoot held in Gould City on Sept 9-11 which is put on by a great bunch of archers. The shoot will have 30 3 D targets, 6 indoor 2 D targets, indoor night time black light shoot , which is great fun, turkey shoot and a vintage solid fiberglass bow shoot.
A group of us attended last year from the Muskegon area and had a great time. And I will add not "one" complaint on how the shoot was put on. If you would like a hand out for the shoot please PM me your address and I will mail you one.
MOST of the members of the Gould City Archery club are also members of the MTB.
You really don't need a chapter to meet together. It's just an idea to keep people in touch with each other. Just an idea. The fiberglass bow shoot sounds cool as it would really try your traditional shooting skills. Also archery club members being members of MTB is another good thing. So simple I never thought of it.
Kill, at a basic level, I very much agree. We really should support our state organisations. They help in a lot of ways including simply being there with a known number of members. It creates a sense of unity and of numbers ( power) when addressing issues with government. It also supplies a means of communication between members.
That said, if you aren't into joining such things, groups such as TG and TAS and others also allow for such communication.
I will also say this, from experience... Try, if you can, to take advantage of that communication. Go a little out of your way to attend some of the gatherings and shoots these groups put together. Friends are made, experiences, well, experienced and you just might become a bit more attached in your endeavors as an archer. And it is usually tons of fun.
As stated earlier, I have a camp near Escanaba and I am there fairly regularly. If I can attend at all, I will try very hard to be there.
Jon.... to which Mr Cote were you speaking ? :D I guess I have a little bit of extra reason to try to attend.
Chuck Cote'
CuckC, you are 100% correct.
The original poster is who I was addressing for MTB activity in the UP but you are welcome to join in. The more the better.
I had as much fun or more at the Gould City than I have in the past 60 years of going to archery shoots. Great group of people and had a different variety of shoots thru out the weekend. That fiberglass bow shoot was a hoot.
Sorry about the "Mr. Cote" post as I didn't realize it was a common name, lol
? ? ? I got a little lost in all that. I do have the MTB applicaton form on my frig and been gettin round to sending in a check her as I can.
But, seems like everyone is downstate (which can be 7-8 hours away for me) and I was just wondering who was around the middle U.P. and might want to communicate on a more casual 'over the fire' kinda level.
Dan
Dan, this is why I suggested the idea about MTB chapters. Not to divide but to make things easy for involvement,