Thom, congrats again!  Who was all in camp, other than you, Rick and Sean?

QuoteOriginally posted by sticksnstones:
 

QuoteOriginally posted by ChuckC:
Did they do it " in da moonlight" ?

How many on here are from the UP ?  especially the Escanaba area ?

ChuckC

My pig was at ten in the morning, our moonlight pig is a whole different story. Will see if I've got a picture or two to go with my pig story when we get back to Michigan. Long trip ahead, you fellers might need a few more logs for those fires....
Thom [/b]

Here's one to keep it going...

One southern boy showed up, just to add a little class to the group.

Great meeting you Mike.

Hey Dougie, are you feeling any better ?

Doug, Really enjoyed meeting you folks too. Looking forward to seeing some pics posted.

Just a might taird Mike!

Made it back to Michigan safe and sound.  Stories to come.

Alright, I'm home too and will have time to start this story after a trip to my butcher's shop.
Thom

I can't wait for the stories and pictures Thom bring them on

Love huntin with the escanaba crew. They know each wallow and tree in that swamp by name.

Man, my gear is a mess! Been dealing with blood and mud all day. What a wonderful problem to have for a change!

Better introduce the crew:
 

Rick, Pop Soady?
Doug, Jimmers?
Thom, ??? (I just hope I'm not Remnar)

We all have places in the UP, but none of them are actually in Escanaba. I thought it best to remove that bit of confusion right up front. The only thing from Esky is the knife on my hip. BTW it did do a job on a pig in da moonlight this year, but not on the first pig so we'll have to get to that part of the story later.

I'm sorry but I gotta go meet the taxidermist, gonna have to start this story a little later.
Thom

     been waitin to hear this one

Ha ha, man. Get with it! An early congrats, can't wait for this one...

Naw Thom you look more like a Reuben.

what a weekend!!!!

I was thinking the same thing, Ray !!!

Well there were a few guys that couldn't make it this year, so our Michigan cast of characters is a bit short. Also in camp was Ray and the two Mikes: Mike - Squirrel Bait, and Mike - MCNSC.

So the three of us Michiganders arrive and we do our normal drill: slow trip up and down all the roads checking all those easily accessible trees, wallows, and crossing points that Izzy mentioned. Some by memory and some by Doug's trusty GPS.

We quickly realize most of Rick and Doug's favorite spots aren't showing much for signs of movement. We go and look in on some secondary points and they aren't looking too busy either.

A little frustrated we took a trip down to Blue Lake to consult with the Lady of the Swamp.
 

With lots of water everywhere we had less land to hunt and bumper crops of mosquitoes and alligators. We had 3 of them around 10' in Blue Lake swimming around to get a better look at us while we were taking a few pictures.
   

IF there was a low point in the weekend, it was realizing some of the old tricks weren't going to work and we'd need to shake things up a bit.
Thom

QuoteOriginally posted by Rick Butler:
Naw Thom you look more like a Reuben.

Whew, thanks for letting me know! I'd hate to be everything you'd expect from a guy named Remnar.
Thom

Now it should be said, I firmly believe there are resident hogs on every section of that property and there isn't a spot where you couldn't hook up with one. After the trip to Blue Lake Doug went deep into a pine thicket that showed ZERO sign on the surrounding roads and kicked up 3 of them at short range. We know it could happen anywhere, but wanting to really get into the thick of them meant we'd have to change our normal plans.

We sat on the porch a few minutes and reflected into some cool refreshing beverages. I thought hard about it, there was one section I knew about...

It's one I'd decided I'd have to give up on hunting because it's so hard to get too...

I spent months planning strategies and backup plans, and none of them included going back into that place again...

I thought about it some more, and finally I blurted it out "Hey Doug, remember that one spot we crossed paths last year way down on the river? How do you feel about taking a LONG walk?"

I saw a wince of pain in his eyes and I knew he knew exactly the place I was talking about.

Doug says "Yeah... I guess we better go look at that." We topped off on water and then grabbed a few more bottles as we hit the trail.

It's really too bad I'm not going to be able to finish this tonight.
Thom