# for the old guys 50+



## swampbuck62

remember when.... feel free to add your own

If it wasn't posted you could hunt it, this one goes way back.

There was a one buck limit and doe "permit" was next to impossible to get..

Not sure if there still are but there used to be snowshoe Hares all over the northern lower peninsula, used to kill quite a few around the Traverse city area where I grew up..

all of the small creeks and streams were full of brook trout, we used to catch them in 4 mile creek off east bay, Yuba creek, Mitchell creek and even kids creek in TC when they weren't full of salmon..

I remember smelt dipping especially in leland, you could litterally fill a trash can....sorry about that who would have known that 30 years later the big smelt runs would almost be gone..

And birds lets not forget the ruffed grouse and woodcock all you needed to do was find a thick woodlot somewhere and it would hold either every time..

we had a house on long lake south of TC , at the time it was an awesome small mouth lake, it also had large mouth,walleye, tiger muskie and northern pike plus lots of pan fish..

Land in the UP could be bought for around $300 an acre now it's rediculous and there is still nothing up there..

we used to get more snow also as best I remember well over 120+" a year..

opening day of deer season was magical schools and businesses would close. The whole family would meet at an uncles farm for a morning of sitting followed by mid day deer drives. And occasionally we even killed a deer...lol

I actually prefer to hunt solo now or with my son when I can get him to go..


I could add more......but what do you remember from days long past


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## gilgetter

I do remember, All I had to do was cross a fence, and I could go as far as my legs would carry me. we hunted, fished, camped ,trapped, to our hearts content.We had few rules to follow, some, but few. I started with a home made long bow, moved up to a shotgun around 12 or so what a life, during the summer it was rare to sleep indoors.We ruined alot of good food trying to cook over a campfire, we where pityful cooks
The Magic day was oct 20th small game opened that day, unless it was a sunday. We used to wearout dogs, now the dogs wear me out. to this day I wont start hunting on the 20th till after 10 am. I also hunt alone alot, not so much by choice, but the guys I used to hunt with moved, quit, or died. My son and oldest granson are waterfowlers,they make sure I get plenty of shooting at the ducks and geese, sad to say there are no birds around, see one or two each year, but sure not like they where. Dont know if I would kill one now or not. my youngest grandson is my project now, he just turned 7 and he keeps me moving pretty good.


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## Luv2hunteup

Let me first say I used to live in the Copper Country.

Your chains were put on your car in December and came off in late March.

I have shoveled snow in excess of 6" from September through May.

The icebreaker opening up the shipping channel between Houghton and Hancock Memorial weekend.

I have seen it snow in every month of the year.

I can remember filling my cooler with snow on 4th of July to keep my beer cold. The snow was there since October.

In the early 70s we got 28" of snow in 4 hours.

Have winters with more than 350 inches of snow.

Shooting a bear on your deer tag was legal.

Camp deer tags were available if you had 4 guys in camp.

Going to deer camp for the entire season was normal.

One of the first deer camps that I hunted out of in the banana belt was a 40 that was purchased for $800 and that included school bus.

The Gogamain swamp was being sold off at $60/acre in the 80s but that was for 1/2 sections plus.

A typical 80 in the 80s was still going for less than $200/acre.

Buying Strohs beer in a bottle for $1.05 a six pack Jim's market.

A shot and a shell beer at Shutes in Calumet was 35 cents everyday.

Eva's in Calumet had 16oz beers for a dime everyday in the 70s.

Saving the pull tabs from beer cans for the parking meters on US-41.

All of this took place before Al Gore invented the internet.  You had to be face to face before you called BS on someones story and be prepared to be punched in the mouth for doing it.

Oh yea one last thing calling the guys in their 50s young. :lol:


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## fish_AK

Good read sir! I am still in my 20's but can remember some of the things you speak of...


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## GIDEON

Gas for $.29 cents a gallon. And getting your windshield washed, oil checked, and tire pressure checked.

Limiting out on Pheasants in one morning.

Trick or treating, Halloween, in the snow.

Hoping for fresh snow, instead of just snow for opening

Baggies went over socks, before boots went on

Only one type of long johns, none of this layering stuff, you went to K-mart, Arlans, or Topps and bought thermal underwear

Down filled hunting suits.

Hunting with my dad and not being able to carry a gun cause I wasn't old enough.

My dad taking me hunting and not needing a special season to do it.

Cutting people grass for $1.50 a yard.

Actually taking two hands to handle a whopper.

Burger Chefs fix it bar.

Dalys

Drive in movies

Pizza was a treat.

Farrels ice cream parlor...the pig trough

Having to iron Levi's before they could be worn.

Having to meet dad before the first date.

Sir, Mam And thank you were common words.

Barber shops, barbers were for men, beauty salons, beauticians were for women............


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## multibeard

All the regulations for fishing were printed on a sheet off paper the size of the anterless permit digest of today. Same for hunting regs. 

Sure a lot simpler then. No all these hundreds of if and and buts to figure out if you wanted to hunt or fish.

Crows were open all year as were hawks and owls.

As was mentioned earlier brook trout were every where. The conservation department actually stocked some streams. This was before the planting of the first pacific carp and there spawing in the brookie streams. I wonder if the DNR even raises any brookies any more.


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## Bonz 54

I remember making my first bow out of a cherry sapling and twisting kite string for the bow string. We could ride our bikes up to the hardware store and buy arrows with real metal tips for a dollar. We had the "Big Woods" to hunt and explore.

I remember spending my summers at a friends family farm in Lapeer and calling Clarence down to see this weird track. Clarence had been raised in the area and said it was the first "deer" track he had seen in 15 years.

I remember being 10 years old on my first bow hunt. We were walking down a road east of the Pink Store on M-33 and hearing this incredible "thundering" noise in the woods. It took 6 years to finally find out what noise a Grouse makes.

I remember when Grouse and Woodcock Season opened on September 15th and the limits were both 5 aday.


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## micooner

Wow you guys are old LOL just kidding I'm right there with ya..I remember tagging along with gramps and dad behind our setters working the pheasants. If you didn't flush at least a dozen in a couple of hours it was a good "bad day"

Also not politically correct to admit but spearing pike at night always around good friday in the small ditches of monroe county and if we really wanted an adventure my friends mom had a place on evans lake in the irish hills and we would wade the swamp at the end of the lake and get some monsters out of their.


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## ruger 454

Being able to go to the hardware store and buy .22 bullets when I was 12 and they cost less than a penny a peice.


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## gilgetter

ruger 454 said:


> Being able to go to the hardware store and buy .22 bullets when I was 12 and they cost less than a penny a peice.


And any hardware would break a box of shotgun shells,I have hunted many days with only the shell in the gun.


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## DFJISH

I remember when....
*There were NO coyotes or opossums here (NLP) yet, but lots of red fox to trap.
* Your deer license went on your back and was worthy of collecting.
* You could post a photo of a BIG fish without some C&R priest scolding you for destroying the fishery.
* Sitting next to a tree or fence post watching a deer runway instead of spending the day in an office chair in a heated box blind watching a pile of sugar beets. 
* I could enjoy an afternoon trolling for pike without a bunch of skiiers, tubers, and JET SKIIERS running past constantly.
* A MOUNT on the wall was the real fish the owner caught and not a fake copy of one that someone else caught. 
* Hunters didn't ridicule and criticize each other for the size of the buck(antlers) they chose to shoot.
* There were lots of pheasants just about everywhere.
* The river at the Singing Bridge got huge runs of smelt.
* There weren't derbies, contests, and tournaments every weekend for every fish from smelt to salmon.
* Party boats from Pt AuGres and Brown's landing took customers out on Saginaw Bay to perch fish every day it was fit to go.
* The water on Saginaw Bay was deep enough to troll over the rock piles close to both Charity islands.
* Most of us and our kids enjoyed fishing and hunting for food and fun instead of for money, prizes, and attention. 
* No one took the people seriously who believed that animals were entitled to the same rights as human beings.


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## DRHUNTER

I started hunting (bow and small game) 1964 at age 12.

A Bear recurve bow, cedar arrows with feathers and Bear 145 gr broadheads. I saved my money digging gardens and cutting lawns to buy that bow and arrows at Gells in Universal Mall.

Those green rubber boots with a "steel shank" that claimed they were insulated but my feet always froze.

Going pheasant hunting up around Perry/Webberville and using my .410 bolt shotgun. We shot more pheasants in a day then you will see in a season now or several seasons. Rabbits were plentiful then as well and our beagles would keep us shooting all day.
I remember the first deer we saw up around Webberville while bird hunting not sure of the year but my grandfather and dad were amazed that one was that far south..They thought someone must have dropped it off in the area lol times have changed...

1965 started hunting Shiawasee for ducks and geese using a flat back Grumman canoe and 5hp motor, have hunted there almost every year since. Now using Mud Buddys, wenches etc.

Going upnorth for gun season, so excited I couldn't concentrate in school for weeks. Taking my homework up so I could spend the week.

1969 breaking my leg in a high school football game and going deer hunting using crutches and a full leg cast. 

Deer hunting with plaid wool jacket and pants 30-30 Marlin, metal deer tags. The guys that drew anterless tags all burning them in the potbelly stove the night before opener...Aunt Martha was the outhouse and no one wanted to be the first to use her in the morning as the frost on the seat was half an inch thick.

I remember vividly laying awake all night watching that potbelly stove glow red anxious to get up and go hunting opening morning....wearing your hunting license/backtag on your back

Baiting was unheard of as were treestands. Hot seats were high tech 
hunting gear as were Jon-E hand warmers. Blaze orange wasn't invented yet but when it was made a law that hunters had to wear it many thought it was a conspiracy by the anti hunters to cut back on the deer harvest as the deer would be able to see all the hunters, also so the DNR could fly around in planes and see where the hunters were...lol

Wrapping lunch in newspaper and putting it in your pocket no baggies back then. Can't tell you how many thermos bottles we dropped breaking the glass liner inside and rendering them useless.

I remember my first opening day I was 14 my dad and the guys dropped me off on a logging trail on some God forsaken state land at 5:00 am and I can still see that Chevy Suburban truck loaded with all the others driving away out of sight leaving me alone in the darkness. They came back after dark to pick me up and I was waiting with a pretty nice 6 point I had shot just after daylight... waited all day..no cell phones or walkie talkies back then...I was the only one with a deer and I thought I was the cats ass. Back then if your were old enough to hunt (14)you wanted to prove yourself as being worthy. My dad and all the guys hunting were a rough bunch, farmers, construction workers, and cops so I was initiated by being left to fend for myself. I didn't dare show any fear that would be worse than death. Dropping your 14 year old off now in the middle of no where would warrant child abuse...

All those guys are long gone.. but the memories are many. The big camps around the area with old army tents and big groups of hunters are gone as well I sometimes drive around that area and can still visualize the camps and the guys that occupied them. I remember sitting and talking with them around the campfires most of them we never saw them except every year during gun season. Boy how times have changed.


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## DIYsportsman

DFJISH said:


> * Most of us and our kids enjoyed fishing and hunting for food and fun instead of for money, prizes, and attention.


So true sometimes i think i am the only one who thinks this way...



Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


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## ESOX

Pheasant hunting in Sterling Township before it became Sterling Heights..

Bellaire had a brick powerhouse on the Intermediate River a medium length cast east of M-88 We used to get a mixed bag of brookies and pike in the tailwaters. 

We took our shotguns to school and went hunting after school.

There were actually houses in the lower east side of Detroit. Lots of them. And real neighborhoods existed.

There was a commercial and sport fishing ban in the Great Lakes for a couple years in the early 70's. After it was lifted no one looked twice at a 10# walleye in L St. Clair or the Detroit River. 15# would get a "Nice fish".

Before Zebra Mussels St Clair was more of a perch, walleye and pike fishery, after Zebras it is more of a rock bass (for me anyhow. LOL) Smallie and muskie fishery.

Shooting does was a huge NO-NO.

Lots and lots of ground nesting birds and rabbits. Very few coyotes. No turkeys that I can recall.

Big birds like gesse, cranes and raptors were not common at all.


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## on a call

I remember catching limits of 10, yes 10 walleye all casting on Lake Erie. 

In the evening with dad. 

Best fishing ever !!


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## 454casull

All of the above plus:
bear were legal on a deer tag
Salmon were plentiful in Lake Huron
4 buck limit (don't start)
Savora Broadheads
Easton Autumn Orange arrows
Green boots with the steel shank = frostbite for me!
Ice fishing before Christmas


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## HAFSHOO

I remember the big Perch run in Flat Rock on the Lower Huron every spring,used to catch two at a time. You could also dip a fair amount of smelt below the foot bridge. PHEASANT HUNTING was a local holiday.I was told when they built the BANANA DIKE it messed up the perch run.


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## ESOX

454casull said:


> Salmon were plentiful in Lake Huron


Ahh yes, the huge stinky alwife die offs of the early-mid 60's. Then the DNR planted Coho. First run in the Grand Traverse region was 1967....fishing the great Lakes was never the same. Even bigger changes after they planted Chinook some years later.


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## shoelessjoe

Yep, had a Yellow hunting suit for firearm. Rose City had a Pink Store at the corner of Hughes Lake Road.


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## ART

Hunting deer in camo on private land with a gun..doe permits allowed you to shoot a doe on your buck license....one deer and you were done. Back then getting a shot a deer was something- there just weren't that many around.
High tech shotguns meant open sights on a smooth bore, still only had foster slugs.
Handguns were not legal yet in southern Michigan, compound bows were still new tech, and people complained about how they would ruin deer hunting.


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## Barry

November 14, was bumper to bumper before 131 was built north of GR. There was always one trailer that held everyone to 35 MPH all the way. 

Deer were nearly extinct in the SLP. Kicked up my first doe somewhere around 1966 and had the same hesitation about making the claim as those who see a cougar today. 

Back then any mix breed dog was a hunter and we were glad to have them. Never knew if you would be chasing bunnies, fox or deer. Augh!

In seventh grade, speech class was how to clean your shotgun and home-ec was sewing a gun case. You kept your gun in your school locker to hunt pheasants after school. I will never forget the culture shock I felt when I went to college and was told I had to store my shotgun at the campus police and not in the dorm. "that was just plain Nuts". 

A six point was a big buck and the three inch spike rule had everyone squinting between the ears looking for a legal buck among the 10 - 30 bald heads on a typical gun opener. 

at 14 hunting deer with a bow and not believing it could be done. A year or so before I found a gut pile with an arrow head in it and repeated the story for the next five years. 

We had the old wool coat and pants but boots and gloves had not evolved.


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## ridgewalker

This is a great thread that brings tears to my eyes. I can relate to all of the above and then some:

The opener of pheasant season was as huge as the deer opener.
Pheasants and cottontails were abundant.
We went hunting and fishing after school with our teachers. The school fund raising contests had guns as prizes.
The older hunters brought Stroh's and Black Label beer to camp.
The outhouse was a three-holer. Once it was used as a blind and a deer was actually taken:lol:.
We took smelt by the 5 gallon bucket or cooler full. Perch were nearly impossible not to find and eight inchers were small ones. It was easy to rent a boat if a fisherman had his own outboard.
Traffic was a standstill on 23, 76, 70, and 65 the night before deer season. Jon-e hand warmers were high tech.
Hunting regulations did not use the words "if" or "but". The state of Michigan had no zones. Rules were on one sheet of paper.
Being allowed to hunt was the "coming of age". All of the game and fish taken were used for food by the family. We slept 15 hunters in a cabin designed for 6.:lol: To be invited to deer camp, it was expected that the fine points of euchre were understood.


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## fishmagnetmike

remember when we would set on the side of the road waiting for 10am so we could hunt pheasants always got first day of season off from school to go hunting. we could drive on the bay during winter in my dads old truck we would get buckets of perch. smelt dipping what a blast that was i could go on and on them were the good ol days


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## Tiarafied

Finally something worth reading. 

Great thread.


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## bucko12pt

Remembering all the beagles my dad had over the years, then later all the ones my wife and I have had.

My dad telling me over and over as a kid not to shoot the dog when we rabbit hunted, then him shooting "Doc", my alltime favorite beagle. As bad as I felt for the dog, I couldn't help but laugh at my dad at the time.

Being the "beer boy" in my uncles hunting camp for my dad and all his brothers when I was still too young to hunt.

Venison steaks late at night during the card game from the camp deer shot early in the season.

Hunting license back tags.

Wool plaid hunting suits.

Opening day of pheasant season at 10:00 am in Saginaw with my mom and dads family on the family farm. (first shots were generally about 9:52 am):lol:

Setting gill nets with my dad and great uncle, a commercial fisherman, in Omena and Grand Traverse bays for perch and whitefish.

Kicking myself today for not mounting a 4# 4 oz perch that came from one of the nets that was simply gutted and sent off to market.

First night feast of fish eggs, livers and fresh perch.

Last saturday of April and the opener of brown trout season on Lake Leelanau.

Turkey hunting with my dad in the late 60's and early 70's in the Baldwin and Mio hunting units.

My dads turkey box calls, several of which I still have today and some of the best calls I own.

My fishing spear, which was passed down from my grandfather, to my dad, to me and will soon be my son's. Likewise for several firearms and other hunting items.

Just a few things to remember the past.


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## TVCJohn

Alot of this if from growing up in Daytona Beach, Florida back in the 60's/70's. Some recollections, some humor. I remember.....

Pops had an old rusted out Willys jeep that he would take to the beach surf fishing
Pop's telling stories of going down to the fish camp after work and paying a buck to rent a row boat and already loaded with some live shrimp to fish with...all honor system and "pay up next time you see me"
Walking around the back yard at night and having an armadillo scare the bejeezus out of you as it ran across your foot
We could take our guns to school and hunt afterwards
We could hang our guns in the gun rack in the back of the truck and it was ok
WWI vet Uncle Ralph talking about his living and sailing on his sailboat
Gramma and Gramps coming down from Jackson, MI to spend the winter with us
Gramps talking about train hopping from Mass to MI before the Depression
Gramps talking about deer hunting at the Engadine deer camp with the fellas
Gramps talking about taking the ferry across the straights before the bridge was built
Gramma talking about milking the cows before school on the farm
Gramps taking me bluegill fishing at a small lake in Jackson and coming back to get me later...it was safe then
Gramps giving us kids a tablespoon of his heart medication (whiskey) and pissing off mom
My first snowfall in Traverse City
Throwing my first Michigan snowball at the wife
Ducking when one came back fast
Walking out on a frozen lake for the first time
Running off the lake the first time when the ice grumbled and I thought I was a goner and everyone was laughing at me
Learning a "pastie" is something you can eat and not just see at a nudie bar
Learning a Michigan soda is called a "pop". I thought pop was always the guy who got a card on Fathers Day


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## glen sible

First deer hunt, 1956 Dad put me on stand 'down back, in the woods and drove a nice 8pt to me that I dropped with a .410 slug. Had almost switched to a bird shot to take a poke at several squirrels. Learned a lot that first day.
Setting on a pail overlooking a valley with snow and wind chills that seemed at least 20 below.
Having at least 30 pheasants roost in apple trees not more than 80 yards from our back door.
Metal self locking deer tags. License must be worn on back.
Getting water by dipping milk cans in a beaver pee stream North of Rock.
Newbie status meant building the 'john' with a pail, lid, and wrapping tar paper around 4 trees, coffee can to cover the TP.
Learning to light both ends of the hand warmer charcoal stick.
Meeting before season and making the grocery list.
Dad telling me of the long wait for the ferry ride to the UP.
Wet red plaid.
Thanking someone for recommending a second set of boot liners.
Army tent camp ,snoring, cooking with the heat stove, always complimenting the cook no matter how bad it might have been.
All the weird names for landmarks around the area that seemed to make sense.
PorkiePine stew.
Chickadees setting on the gun barrel.
My Dad, myself and my oldest son each having a successful season 1979.
Loosing my Dad soon after the 1979 season.
Hunting now with my sons and grandsons.

thanks for reading and carry on

glen


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## cgc Zephyr

raceing home after school on the 15th of september and hoping to get 2 hours of opening day small game hunting with the crosman 760 bb gun. they were wood and steel. shooting surf scotters over wooden decoys on lake superior w lead shot (it was leagal). Spearing whitefish after cutting the hole with a hand ice saw 4 times in one day because it didn't have the right bottom. fishing the st mary's till your arms were sore because you had to get fish for the old folks on the block. breaking my buddie walt outa the house in a wheel chair for the opener of deer season 2 weeks after he broke both legs in a 3 wheeler accident, tieing him in the van and driving to his stand. Polling around on spring icebergs with the neighbors clothline polls while shooting cattails like arrows with our wrist rockets. fishing for whitefish with mayflies with my great uncle who was the best serogate grandpa. 1 last one. opening christmas presents and they were things you needed.:coolgleam


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## wallhd

Reading these threads sure brought back some great memmories. Back in those days in the deer camps there was much more to having a great time and successful hunt than today's measure by age of kill, inches between spread or class. I wonder how deer hunting in the next 10 years will be remembered?


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## cgc Zephyr

the coolest thing about deer camp was... it was deer camp and you could picture every story told, every shot taken and every adventure completed. mental pictures, not video games. debates about 30/30, 30-06 or the surplus rifles bought for less than 50 bucks and that was another discussion. How about scouting the woods while squirrel, bird hunting or just plain ol get outa the house your moms cleaning excuse. Day's spent riding the rode with dad, the dog and a faygo soda(red Pop) looking for deer, ducks or just to get out in the the woods because it feels its where you want to be, even if it's to just talk, walk or watch the dog run around with no care in the world except to be there with you and finding the stinkiest mud hole. life is simply that life, whether it's now or then, make it what we can talk about down the road, .......or on a forum with friends. :coolgleam


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## hillbillie

All the above+

A bonus covey of Bob-white Quail while pheasant hunting 
Farmers glad to give permission to respectful hunters without fees
Catching creek chubs for pike bait. 
Being able to carry a jack-knife in school. What boy didn't?
The smell of a fresh fired PAPER shot gun shell.
The sight of my Dad and his Buddy wearing their old army field jackets bird hunting and me tagging along with my Daisy. No orange necessary 
Lucky hunters with deer tied across their car's front fenders.No wonder i like venison better now 
The big traffic bottleneck @M76 and US 23 in Standish before I-75 was built. 
All the spearing shacks with smoke stacks on the local lakes.Could always tell if one was occupied by the kerosene or wood smoke.


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## swampbuck62

ridgewalker said:


> This is a great thread that brings tears to my eyes. I can relate to all of the above and then some:



yes indeed same here... Glad I started it...lol


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## hillbillie

The fields on state land where we once hunted pheasant are now brush and woods full of turkey and deer.A fair trade I guess.


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## swampbuck62

I read through most of the comments...did anyone mention Sorels? I remember my first pair, up till then I wore an old pair of air force bunny boots..


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## pike man

All of the above and then some!
Getting out of school when I was 14-15 and running home to get my dog and shotgun and walkng through town to get to the field to hunt Pheasants. ( try that today ).
Taking opening day of Pheasant season off from school but having to be back in time for football practice.
Bow hunting from a ground blind with a Bear Recurve.


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## swamptromper

Good post.

Tho' not quite being 50+ Many of these events are in memory.

Remember being able to read AND memerize the entire hunting/fishing regs. Including season dates.


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## old graybeard

Korean rubber boots and cotten socks.
liquid filled hand warmers or the solid stick ones
dipping water from an old milk can at deer camp
shooting any buck you crossed paths with and being congratulated for doing so.
getting opening day of bird season off from school and even having your shotgun out in your car on the other days so you were ready to go when class was over.
asking the mailman or milkman where he was seeing good bird numbers
cutting a deer track anywhere in southern Michigan


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## FINNyooper

Good thread, Just wanted to say, alot of these things still happen in my family as far as tradition goes. Camp is camp and always will be.

It was a rite of passage as a boy to go to camp the first time, my son is looking forward to going as well as my daughter. The youngest is still too young to know when Dad heads out to camp. But some of these old timer things are still trying to be held on to.


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## fishhuntfun

Chasing HERDS of monster bucks at Shiawassee with my 52" 50# Bear Kodiak Magnum and Bear cedar shafts with the original Converta-Point threaded adapter glued on and the original Bear Razorhead. Killing my first doe there in 1974 with that set-up. Seeing the first Allen compound enter the field there on the Johnson tract section north of the river...couldn't believe my young teen eyes! Had to get me one some day....I now hunt with a recurve again and have for the past 30 years.


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## hunting man

Walking out the back door and you were into the pheasants instantly. A limit was expected daily. We would all gather at my fathers place and hunt all daY. 

Started hunting deer with a bow and arrow before the compounds came out.I was the man when i took a deer with my Bear bow. Had to be inside of 30 yards as I couldnt hit a thing without sights to aim with. Just shot instinctively. 

Wool red 7 black plaid pants and coat that would weigh a ton on those wet snowy days. I was taught how to sit on one army blanket and wrap another around my legs to form a tent. Then dig a small hole between my legs for the coffee can with the candle in it for heat. Taught me to hunt all day along time before it became the thing to do. 

Always went dip netting on the Raisin River in downtown Dundee every April 1st. Had to get there early to get your spot on the rail. 

I could walk out the back door in any direction to hunt without having to ask for permission. Same for trapping. The neighbors all knew us and would always welcome the fresh cleaned pheasants I would drop off to the wife of the farmers we hunted ons property. 

A doe tag ment you were one in 10 that had applied. It was like hitting the lotterry. Funny thing is I always got drawn and shot my buck on opening day. One deer and you were done back then. The older men in camp would almost fight to tag my buck so they could use my doe tag. Opening day we would see 60-100 deer. Almost everyone was a doe. If another hunter stumbled on "your" spot they would quietly walk over and tell you sorry. You would never ever see them back there again. 

I never sat watching the 3 channels we got for TV. I would get off the school bus, grab a gun or fishing pole, my dog and I was gone till dark. I still dont care for TV. 

We used to hold a deer drive around Dundee Thankgiving mornings. We had to each have a woods to drive. One of our best is now the Cabelas woods, or whats left of it. That was the old Hiser farm. Every one had her for 6th grade math. 

Spring would have us out catching snapping turtles and spearing pike, chubs, suckers and carp for the old timers to smoke for us. Lake Erie was the dead seas. It had a pile of fish bones knee deep at the high water line. No one ate the fish. 

Every house along the Raisin river would have a sewage pile that dumped straight into the river. You can imagine how the water looked and smelled. The laundamat dumped right in to the river at the Ford mill on the dam in Dundee too. Huge swirls of soap in the eddies. 

When you turned 14 you went to deer camp. If you made it past the zilwaukee bridge without getting caught by the draw bridge you made good time. Other wise it could have you sitting for hours till the ship got through. 

I had to take the farmer back into his orchard to show him the first deer track we ever seen in Dundee.


I traded a od shotgun for a new Bear Kodiak Magnum bow at Johnsons sporting goods on US-12 near Ann Arbor Ypsilanti. .


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## Mvillecowboy

TVCJohn said:


> While reading these cool posts about recollections, it made me think of this suggestion.
> 
> In my post I mentioned my gramps and gramma. In 1975 or so they made a cassette tape telling their life stories. Gramps did one side and Gramma did the other. It started with their child memories right after the turn of the century (1900) uptil they made the tape. All of the grandkids got a copy. I listened to mine again a while back. I need to put it on a CD. Anyway....my suggestion to you old geezers, buzzards and coots is to put together a CD/DVD of your recollections to give to your young family members. Lots of good stories and history that maybe gone when we leave and you should preserve it for future generations. Now with CD's and DVD's, you can add pics to your bio too. I'm sure appreciative that Gramps and Gramma did that for us.
> 
> Just a thought.....


My great aunt did that for us with her and my uncle. It is a great thing to have as they have both been gone for almost 10 years now. 

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## cgc Zephyr

Mvillecowboy said:


> My great aunt did that for us with her and my uncle. It is a great thing to have as they have both been gone for almost 10 years now.
> 
> posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


 
what a excellent idea. one thing i did growing up was to ask stupid questions like... tell me astory about something you did... making snow shoes out of deer hide from the der they shot and they were snowed in and had to trek 30 mile to the train track and wait.. 3 weeks after the 2 weeks of hunting, in the secret spot... why we wear algoma bread bags in our boots. how to make ice set lines with no hooks, but Y sticks. i've told the stories told to me to the kids of the aunts, uncles, friends, and folks i have met... i'm so glad i can recall the exact words as they told the stories... i miss my friends and mentors, but i'm so glad i took the time to ask, sit and listen... asking a 80 year old man with a garage full of deer horn, fish lures and seasons past regulation in the 70s would get you hours of stories that could out shine the best modern day vid games. watching the ol man warm up, soften with time and stories to end with a thank you for asking, i've forgotten how much fun i've had. never thought it really mattered now.. i'm glad i grew up where men were men and being a Yooper was concidered cool.:coolgleam


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## whitetail trail

Priming the hand pump.Me and my twin getting 410s for are 10th birthday and roaming the woods as far as are legs would take us.Freezing because there was snow opening day. The bread bags to keep you dry.Hoping for the day when you could get a spot at the poker table.Set back.Feeding the fire place all day and night to stay warm.Hunting where ever. If you seen another hunter you nodded and just moved on down the way.


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## Birddogm33

Just the guys at deer camp.
Snowshoe hare hunting in the swamps where you actually had to wear snowshoes because the snow was waist deep or better.
Bounty on coyotes.
Getting to the cabin and getting the fireplace started because it was so cold in the cabin.
On that note, having to get up every couple of hours to refuel the fireplace.
Actually seeing deer!
Coveys of partridge that would fly a few hundred feet then kick em up over and over again.
Cutting wood for the fireplace.
How about the old green wool hunting suits the oldtimers wore.
Visiting the other deer camps.
Shooting does was a no-no.
Never thought about hunting out of a tree.
Poker games and drinking beer!
Am radio was your only entertainment.
MA-DEETERS!!!!! in Luzerne.


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## shotgun12

gilgetter said:


> And any hardware would break a box of shotgun shells,I have hunted many days with only the shell in the gun.





years ago they would break a box of shells, we used to go and buy 5 at a time, they dont do that any more,


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## gilgetter

At Hites Hardware in Tecumseh would would always sell what you had the money for.2,3 or a dozen all they ask for was a note from your folks.They had all my hardware business for years, till they closed up. good people.


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## aphess223

Growing up in the Alpena area

10 duck limits
Blue and Greenwing Teal were bonus ducks
Having a Black and White late season for ducks
Seeing thousands of Ducks Migrating on the lakes and bays,-Thunder Bay, Squaw Bay, Long and Grand Lake, Fletchers
Houghton Lake had rice beds, round island and the middle grounds, and you would bump up 50 to 100 thousand ducks 

A buddie and I taking our single shot guns 12,20,22cal. in the cases and riding our bicycles past the high school
to go hunting outside the city limits and the police didn't give it a second thought.

Staying at Deer Camp for the whole two weeks
Going to Deer Camp and Co. Rd. 452 was a two track and had to pull to the side so traffic could pass and after
deer season you were snowed in, no year round residents going to work in the morning.
Going from Alpena to Atlanta and counting over 100 deer being normal

There were No compound bows and few bow hunters Fred Bear was a legended.

Hunting the Woodcock Migration by posting up along a two track behind the cement plant a couple hours before dark
along with the rest of the town.

Sportsmens Island had a gun club

Getting on a horse at the Fair Grounds in Alpena and riding up past the Four Mile Dam or the Airport and the land 
owners not going balistic as long as you were polite

Catching 9" perch being the small ones


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## kracker

Great thread! Love hearing the stories from all the senior outdoorsmen. These are the kind of stories that got me interested in the outdoors years ago. Unfortunately I started in the outdoors at the tail end or maybe after the era you guys speak of. When I start to go to deer camp, there were tent camps and campers in every spot available (national forest in PA). After my first 5 years we were the only people left camping. True the hunting isn't the same for us but the company and traditions are. The best part of the outdoors are the stories of traditions and memories of years gone by. Keep them coming.


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## Trophy Specialist

When I first started duck hunting the predominant species in MI were black ducks.


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## melvvin

I remember seeing a beautiful bright colored duck when me and my high school buddies were riding around. I went home and got my shotgun and a couple of guys and headed back to harvest this exotic duck. We were sure it had to come from some far away place since none of us had ever seen one. I belly crawled to the edge of the lake and man was it cold. I got close enough and swatted it right on the water but it hung up on a lily pad and wouldn't drift to shore. I did what I had to do and stripped to my underwear and swam out and got it did I mention it was cold. Took it home and my Dad cracked up laughing and told us it was a drake woodduck not anything special. 


I also used to ride my bike after school to the railroad tracks with my 410 in tow and a pocket full of loose shells. I bought them 4 or 5 at a time too I couldn't afford a whole box. I would walk the tracks and usually get my 5 rabbits before dark. When I was old enough to drive to hunt the tracks my girlfriend would go with me. That young girl and I will be celebrating our 37th wedding anniversary in Sept. Hard to believe its been that long ago. Heck we are grandparents now!


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## Trophy Specialist

I remember using shotgun shells with paper hulls. They worked fine, but you didn't want to get them wet.:lol:


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## doogie mac

Opening Day of Pheasant season always started at 10am.


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## aphess223

Some additional thoughts after reading the other post. I forgot the AM radio and TV being so new. 

Sept.15 was the start of the hunting season, most of my family and friends were small game hunters and
the dogs we had were, Brittanys, Setters, German Shorthaired Pointers, Labrador Retrievers and Beagles.
I just pulled some of the books{you know before kindles,Ipads and PCs} off the shelve that have been 
collecting dust that I read;

Water Dog by Wolters
Training Your Retriever by Lamb Free
Wing & Shot by Wehle
Bird Dog Guide by Mueller

these post have brought back some of the unpleasant memories of the time also.


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## Petronius

Epps, Gells. Buying .410 shotgun shells at Kmart at 13 years old with no problem. 12 years old and riding a bike down the street with a BB gun that looked like a Remington .22 and waving at a passing cop. Walking a mile to school in the city with a friend carrying a shotgun so he can demonstrate how to clean it. Always carried a jack knife, even to school, and the teachers knew it. Hell, all the boys had one.


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## micooner

I forgot this one. There was a general store called Toutant's south of westbranch off of 30 that we went down to while at the family cabin on dollar lake. It always had this advertisment for years "send a buck to save a doe" There was also a bar back north by alger rd I think called orange lantern?? that was loaded with these coin operated music, dancing figurines machines which she would lets us play as a little kid, and of course the annual trip to shoot rats and dump pick off of ceder lake road. LOL


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## Luv2hunteup

Some of these threads reminded me that we played mumbley peg during elementary school recess. :lol: We didn't even need to hide it.

Paying $0.17 for gas when I left for a trip to Alaska in "68 and paying $0.75 an Imperial gallon in the Yukon on the same trip.

Mort Neff's show was the only outdoor programming on tv.

Going to see Greorge Pierott film about a poplar bear hunt in a school gym.

Picking up beer bottles for the 2 cent deposit for spending money.

This one is more recent but seeing all the beer cans along the highway when the snow melted in the spring. The bottle law sure made a difference.

65mph was the legal speed limit in the UP.

The campaign to have the UP become the 51st state.

Signing up for the draft when you turned 18.

The first draft lottery, one of my buddies was number 1.

The first Super Bowl game.

The first Monday Night football game.

Watching the Heidi Bowl and the Warren report on a battery TV out at deer camp.


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## GIDEON

I personally dont remember this, just remember wanting to go there:
[url]http://www.retrokimmer.com/2012/01/purp0le-gang-graceland-ballroom.html


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## JimP

GIDEON said:


> I personally dont remember this, just remember wanting to go there:
> [url]http://www.retrokimmer.com/2012/01/purp0le-gang-graceland-ballroom.html


It was amazing with all the intricate decking and log work...
The hunters ball would see a jam packed building inside, while roaming crooks rifled through cars and trucks for guns outside.
Big Airstreams and converted buses/motor homes parked in the lot with their compliment of hookers.
The State campground was well within drinking distance before the designated driver days.


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## JimP

Luv2hunteup said:


> Some of these threads reminded me that we played mumbley peg during elementary school recess. :lol: We didn't even need to hide it..............
> *
> The first Super Bowl game.*
> QUOTE]
> 
> 
> That's the same year we got married, in April.
> Easy to remember our Anniverary, I just count the Super Bowls, this year was 47, :lol:


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## Randar4401

All I can say is "The good o'l days!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Randar4401

Alaska!!!!!!! Oh I spent seven years up there. Good times, good hunting, great fishing. Priceless. People still don't believe me when I talk about the "True" King Salmon. Remember the Russian River? Salmon everywhere!


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## Demo410

Seeing old school buses converted to campers head north on I 75 Nov. 14th

Put n take pheasant hunting.

Smelt fishing at Point Pelee with a 15' seine net and cleaning smelt all night.

Mort Neff and Jerry Chippetta on Thursday nights at 7:30

Ice fishing Mitchell's bay when they pulled you out on the ice on a sled powered by an old model A Ford.

The smell of Hoppes no. 9 and my Dad cleaning his gun the night before opener. I still love smell of it.

Penny candy was a penny.

Coke in the Coke a cola cooler filled with ice and water.

Black braided nylon fishing line used on level wind reel.

Walleye fishing on the St Clair river when they rented the house boats that were anchored to bottom of the river. 

Gambles sporting goods.

Ace hardware sold shot gun shells.

Shotgun shell that were not color coded by gauge.








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## Celtic Archer

Shooting skeet behind the school in gym class.

Taking your gun to school so you could go hunting as soon as school ended.

Seeing a lot more pheasant cruising the back roads in a hour than I do in a year now.

Never seeing a turkey or coyote.

Going to the Fred Bear museum in Grayling.


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## HAFSHOO

jimp said:


> It was amazing with all the intricate decking and log work...
> The hunters ball would see a jam packed building inside, while roaming crooks rifled through cars and trucks for guns outside.
> Big Airstreams and converted buses/motor homes parked in the lot with their compliment of hookers.
> The State campground was well within drinking distance before the designated driver days.


They had nice pool tables there used to win a little money once in a while,hated to see it burned down.


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## Demo410

Graceland Ball Room - Lupton









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## Quad82

Waiting for the monthly Fur-Fish-Game. Than lyning on the floor behind wood stove reading it and eating ice-cream.

Sleeping in the back window of the Buick on the way north.

Going in any direction of the family farm fox hunting.

Driving the roads in the morning looking for new fox track in a fresh couples inches of snow.

Being pulled down gravel roads behind the family car on our runner sleds.

Cutting down a bee tree in the woods and collecting the honey.

Making tunnels in the bales of straw in the loft.

Playing tag on the beams in the barn.

Getting my butt kicked for shooting pigons in the barn. Dad had a keen eye for seeing daylight in the peeks!

It's a wonder we ever lived to tell!!!


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## Blaze

A sign on Mackinac Trail that read, " This is Mackinac Buck Country"!

Later someone crossed off "IS" on that same sign and wrote in " WAS" making the sign read, " This was Mackinac Buck Country".

Old Sofies...a watering hole of days gone by....

That should bring back some memories of days gone by....


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## old graybeard

Anyone remember Old Spikes in Grayling? We used to stop in there quite often on our trips up.


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## TVCJohn

Ok....another flashback that even goes back to my mom's childhood.

In Jackson, MI....there was a place called Loudon-Jackson's Dairy. It is now called Jackson's All-Star Dairy. They have an ice cream parlor that serves very large servings of whatever ice cream treats you order. I've been there a few times. My mom used to hang out there as a bobby-soxer back in the 40's and 50's. Aside from being the milk provider back then, it was a local hangout for the kids.


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## QDMAMAN

> TVCJohn said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok....another flashback that even goes back to my mom's childhood.
> 
> In Jackson, MI....there was a place called Loudon-Jackson's Dairy. It is now called Jackson's All-Star Dairy. They have an ice cream parlor that serves very large servings of whatever ice cream treats you order. I've been there a few times. My mom used to hang out there as a bobby-soxer back in the 40's and 50's. Aside from being the milk provider back then, it was a local hangout for the kids.
Click to expand...

I remember that place.
When I was 13 my step dad took us there and he allowed me to order the "Dare To Be Great!" It was good...for awhile!









I remember going to drive in movies and playing on the playground equipment under the big screen until dark, then changing into our jammies. When we got home I'd play like I was sleeping so my dad would carry me in the house and tuck me in bed.
Oh...BRIGHT ORANGE coveralls (head to toe)!


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## Trophy Specialist

Does anybody remember those hand warmers that used lighter fluid? Stinky things that I'm sure would be considered unsafe and illegal today.


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## Trophy Specialist

I remember when they first came up with the blaze orange clothing requirement. We were so concerned that that an orange hat would spook the deer that we would rub mud on our hats until the orange was mostly obscured.


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## Luv2hunteup

If you lived in the Copper Country do you remember..............

Civil defense drills?

Bosch and Sauna beer or even better going on a brewery tour?

Wonderful Dream Salve?

Piggy Wiggly markets?

The smell of Bunny Bread while driving into Marquette?

When it appeared that they moved the Schmidt's corner bar?

The buying hard boiled eggs in the B&B bar for 15 cents apiece or two for 35 cents?

Those yellow feathered ducks with the red liquid in them that would drink water out of a glass. I think every bar had them.

Everybody leaving their car keys in the ignition so you wouldn't lose them?


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## JimP

Blowin' stuff up with the gross of M80's the neighbor always brought us back from down south.

Fed one to a giant snapping turtle once... didn't get as much meat as we thought.

Tied a rock to one and dropped it in the creek, up floated plenty of chubs for pike fishing.

A lot of those car, plane, boat and army truck models we atomized are worth thousands of $$$ now.

If you aim it just right, an upside down paint can will go up almost out of sight with an M80 under it.

Never stick a bullet in a split tree and hit the primer with a nail and a rock...powder burns last a week.

M80 powder makes lousy fuel for those old Jetex screw together rockets you hooked over mom's clothesline...
Good thing we hid under the porch when *that* bomb went off.

Never, ever, ever toss an M80, then a golf ball, down a pipe with one end buried in the ground.
Golf balls were hard to come by, as were cyclone fence poles.

After losing a window and fence pole the neighbor never brought us M80's again.


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## multibeard

Luv2hunteup said:


> If you lived in the Copper Country do you remember..............
> 
> The smell of Bunny Bread while driving into Marquette
> QUOTE]
> 
> This one made me chuckle.
> 
> While hunting the Garden Penn with my old buddy, he had to stop and buy a loaf of bunny bread. His daughter had gone to tech and graduated as the first female mining engeneer. After having endured 4 years of bunny bread she HATED it.
> 
> We dumped the bread out for the critters so he could take the wrapper to Az with him that winter to refill so he could give it to his daughter as a joke.


----------



## TVCJohn

QDMAMAN said:


> I remember that place.
> When I was 13 my step dad took us there and he allowed me to order the "Dare To Be Great!" It was good...for awhile!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I remember going to drive in movies and playing on the playground equipment under the big screen until dark, then changing into our jammies. When we got home I'd play like I was sleeping so my dad would carry me in the house and tuck me in bed.
> Oh...BRIGHT ORANGE coveralls (head to toe)!


 
I just found their website. It's now called The Parlor and they have some more locations. The Dare To Be Great has 21 scoops of ice cream for someone(s) to eat.:help: They started in 1944.


EDIT ADDED: I heard from a neighbor a bit ago they closed up. I just called down there and found out the previous owners did close it. The new owners, local folks, just bought it and plan to open it back up real soon. They want to put it back in it's glory for what it was famous for. The alchemy website is the old one and not current. The new owners are currently developing a new website. It is on Facebook if you do Facebook.

http://www.mlive.com/business/jackson-lansing/index.ssf/2013/02/the_parlour_in_jackson_could_r.html


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## dwrobins

Reading a copy of g. Herters Alaska guide Manual.

Recurve bows from ground blinds.

Pheasant hunting damn near anywhere (and seeing pheasants).

Sylvania tract near watersmeet was an actual wilderness area, with fish.

Catching fish off a dock with a square fiberglass pole that was handed down, using worms or grasshoppers that where "caught" under red and white bobbers.

Jon-E handwarmers that made you smell like lighter fluid.

Mort Neff, Jerry Chipetta, And Curt Gowdy's American Sportsman.


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## DoubleJay

Trophy Specialist said:


> Does anybody remember those hand warmers that used lighter fluid? Stinky things that I'm sure would be considered unsafe and illegal today.


Yes, I think they were called "JON-E"; some kind of carbon based non-woven that soaked up the lighter fluid and burned slowly without a lot of air, after you closed the metal clamshell like halves. They stunk like all get out.....no wonder I didn't kill any deer with my bow (Bear recurve made in Grayling) from the ground.
Jay


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## DoubleJay

DRHUNTER said:


> I started hunting (bow and small game) 1964 at age 12.
> 
> A Bear recurve bow, cedar arrows with feathers and Bear 145 gr broadheads. I saved my money digging gardens and cutting lawns to buy that bow and arrows at Gells in Universal Mall.
> 
> Those green rubber boots with a "steel shank" that claimed they were insulated but my feet always froze.
> 
> Going pheasant hunting up around Perry/Webberville and using my .410 bolt shotgun. We shot more pheasants in a day then you will see in a season now or several seasons. Rabbits were plentiful then as well and our beagles would keep us shooting all day.
> I remember the first deer we saw up around Webberville while bird hunting not sure of the year but my grandfather and dad were amazed that one was that far south..They thought someone must have dropped it off in the area lol times have changed...
> 
> 1965 started hunting Shiawasee for ducks and geese using a flat back Grumman canoe and 5hp motor, have hunted there almost every year since. Now using Mud Buddys, wenches etc.
> 
> Going upnorth for gun season, so excited I couldn't concentrate in school for weeks. Taking my homework up so I could spend the week.
> 
> 1969 breaking my leg in a high school football game and going deer hunting using crutches and a full leg cast.
> 
> Deer hunting with plaid wool jacket and pants 30-30 Marlin, metal deer tags. The guys that drew anterless tags all burning them in the potbelly stove the night before opener...Aunt Martha was the outhouse and no one wanted to be the first to use her in the morning as the frost on the seat was half an inch thick.
> 
> I remember vividly laying awake all night watching that potbelly stove glow red anxious to get up and go hunting opening morning....wearing your hunting license/backtag on your back
> 
> Baiting was unheard of as were treestands. Hot seats were high tech
> hunting gear as were Jon-E hand warmers. Blaze orange wasn't invented yet but when it was made a law that hunters had to wear it many thought it was a conspiracy by the anti hunters to cut back on the deer harvest as the deer would be able to see all the hunters, also so the DNR could fly around in planes and see where the hunters were...lol
> 
> Wrapping lunch in newspaper and putting it in your pocket no baggies back then. Can't tell you how many thermos bottles we dropped breaking the glass liner inside and rendering them useless.
> 
> I remember my first opening day I was 14 my dad and the guys dropped me off on a logging trail on some God forsaken state land at 5:00 am and I can still see that Chevy Suburban truck loaded with all the others driving away out of sight leaving me alone in the darkness. They came back after dark to pick me up and I was waiting with a pretty nice 6 point I had shot just after daylight... waited all day..no cell phones or walkie talkies back then...I was the only one with a deer and I thought I was the cats ass. Back then if your were old enough to hunt (14)you wanted to prove yourself as being worthy. My dad and all the guys hunting were a rough bunch, farmers, construction workers, and cops so I was initiated by being left to fend for myself. I didn't dare show any fear that would be worse than death. Dropping your 14 year old off now in the middle of no where would warrant child abuse...
> 
> All those guys are long gone.. but the memories are many. The big camps around the area with old army tents and big groups of hunters are gone as well I sometimes drive around that area and can still visualize the camps and the guys that occupied them. I remember sitting and talking with them around the campfires most of them we never saw them except every year during gun season. Boy how times have changed.


Thanks for sharing; very well written and brought back memories for me that I haven't thought about since who knows when.....an emotional journey, for sure.
God bless you and your family (hug your grandkids daily!)
Jay
1951


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## jonesy16

Great thread guys....I enjoy reading all the stories! 

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## reddog719

I remember using the neighbors dog to bird hunt when ever I wanted to. Walking across the street and rabbit hunting in the cow pasture and it was in the village limits and nobody thinking twice about. walking down the road with a gun un cased to where I was gonna hunt and getting waved at while doing it.


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## ezcaller

Some of my best memories. Saturday morning rabbit hunts in lower Michigan and how both me and my uncle Bill were overly excited when we woke up to a new tracking snow. Man that guy could walk.My uncle Roy and the trips up to Gladwin in the back of his pick up under a tarp freezing our butts off because the adults rode in the cab.Man that guy could talk. My dad for allowing me to go with them because he was working six or seven days in the steel mill. Man I love that guy. Kerosene heaters and the great heat that greeted you when you came in. Water bowls on top of them to ease the hot air.Hand pumping the water for camp for years because I was always the youngest. Cars lined up along the roads on opening day of pheasant season.Any deer was a good deer.My uncle telling me to look on top of the deers head not between the legs after my first deer was a button buck. Trying to shoot woodcock in the front yard of the cabin at dusk as they went where ever a woodcock goes. Its tough trying to get forty plus years of memories into one reply.Thanks for the chance..


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## Anita Dwink

I remember 3 pairs of socks, bread bags and green rubber boots with steel shanks. Drinking beer, playing euchere at the Greenbush tavern at 17 . Having hundreds of acres to walk and hunt without issues . Skipping school to hunt the duck opener. Getting sent out on thin ice to retrieve a rabbit. The camper with hookers making the rounds before gun opener. We never saw it, just heard about it.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## kisherfisher

Great Thread. You kind of forget the memories you have to offer, as they didnt seem important until this thread. Pheasant hunting at 10yrs old, with beagles. Chasing the running pheasants behind them in the stubble. Bar burgers for lunch opening day.Pumping gas at .19cents a gallon and having to do the windows and check oil. Hunting Metro Airport, yeas it was legal, had a CO hunting the same area. First compund, Browning Explorer, xx 75 autum orange arrows/savora blades. Scouting /still hunting throughout the day for deer/sign, without offending any of the New rules pertaining to spooking deer,monster bucks.Learning from experience, not videos and sport shows. Being responsible at 13 yrs as 21 yr olds nowadays. Being a designated driver at 14, when dad and buddies had too many playing Euchre with the farmers at the local watering hole.Layout shooting from Strachs point in Lake Erie. Fivebluebills per day.Thanks for the trip


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## Petronius

Remember the yellow fiberglass bow and arrow set with suction cups on the end of the arrows from the 60's? We would pull the tips off, sharpen the arrows in the pencil sharpener and go hunting for birds in the fields near home.


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## Luv2hunteup

How many of you guys remember going down to Outdoorama at the State Fair grounds and watching Victor the wrestling bear or the log rolling competitions? I remember my Dad taking me down there sometime in the 60s.


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## Johnr

Great thread! Gotta love it!! Rememeber lookin fwd to and getting in shape for salmon snagging with silver spiders. I still have a mold for them. Seining garbage cans of smelt @ pt. Peelee. Having a few shots after ice fishing to warm up @ the nearest bar. The old kerosene stoves that never seemed to burn right? Knew places to fish by landmarks or feeling and kept your mouth shut about it! Mort neff? Couldnt wait for michigan outdoors to come on? Fish scaling?

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## multibeard

Balls and flags on car radio antennas so you cou see there was a cre behind the snow banks.

Out luck now as there are few antennas anymore.

I thought about this today as I was piling the snow at the end of the drive way by the road. It would be quite a pile if we had not lost all the snow twice this winter


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## JimP

Let's go earlier than hunting age...

How many tried to talk the parents into sending .50 cents for information on starting a Chinchilla farm? It was the going thing to make easy money, raising Chinchillas.
The ads were on the back of comic books, along with the X-Ray glasses, water monkeys, telescopes with the black ink pad on the eye piece to give your friends a black eye. Stamp "Approvals", a fascinating hobby, order your first 25 world stamps". Amazing gyroscope.
The toys in the cereal and Cracker Jack boxes...secret decoder rings.
They even had records stamped into the back of cereal boxes that you could cut out and actually play on your victrolla...maybe 3 times.:lol:
I remember a submarine that you put a pinch of baking powder in and it rose and sank as the powder emitted the gas.
The little boats that you wedged a sliver of Ivory soap in the back, and they scooted around the water filled cake pan by breaking the surface tension.

Kaleidoscopes. Viewmasters. Bat Masterson cane with secret compartment. Coal bins. Incinerators.
Horse drawn Shenny wagons collecting scrap metal and cardboard.
"Fanner" cap pistols. Wooden, cigar/finger "cutters" with both the locked & rotating blades.
Chinese finger "cuffs". The slide open and close box that turned a quarter into a penny. Mexican jumping beans, (got one stuck in my ear once, listening to it move around). 
And the less honorable:
Plugging coin returns on public phones. Chewing gum on the end of Popsicle sticks for newspaper coin boxes. Every body chips in and one kid pays the quarter, and opens the back door of the movie theater for his chums. 
Being really creative and nonchalant about putting your arm around back of the seat of a "girlfriend" at the movie.


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## JimP

multibeard said:


> Balls and flags on car radio antennas so you cou see there was a cre behind the snow banks.
> 
> Out luck now as there are few antennas anymore.
> 
> I thought about this today as I was piling the snow at the end of the drive way by the road. It would be quite a pile if we had not lost all the snow twice this winter


Put the antenna ball industry almost out of business...just a couple mfgrs left.
I sold thousands and thousands to Michigan Bell back in the day.
White ball with the blue bell logo if you ever had one...
Now it's the silicone anti slide phone pads and holders leading the custom imprint market.:lol:


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## crappielarry

I can remember hunting for deer all over Oakland County
Pheasants breaking windshields and radio antennae regularly
Gas 18 cents a gallon
TV went off air at 7:00pm
Soapy Williams as governor
Seeing a Canada goose was rare in Oakland County
Motorcycle ice racing was common
Ice fishing with wooden rods and black line
Deer hunting was bucks only
You could buy a lifetime fishing license
Cars looked different every year
M15 being solid traffic at deer season (no e-ways)
Music I could understand the words
Taking the feery to the YUPPER(no bridge)
Everything closed in small towns at noon on Wednesday and all day Sunday


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## shotgun12

reddog719 said:


> I remember using the neighbors dog to bird hunt when ever I wanted to. Walking across the street and rabbit hunting in the cow pasture and it was in the village limits and nobody thinking twice about. walking down the road with a gun un cased to where I was gonna hunt and getting waved at while doing it.




we could do that over here in the old days,you dare not do it now.3 of us with shot guns in hand.we looked like high noon.


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## Northwood lures

Funny how I had forgotten this stuff till you started telling about it. Lot easier time 



jimp said:


> Let's go earlier than hunting age...
> 
> How many tried to talk the parents into sending .50 cents for information on starting a Chinchilla farm? It was the going thing to make easy money, raising Chinchillas.
> The ads were on the back of comic books, along with the X-Ray glasses, water monkeys, telescopes with the black ink pad on the eye piece to give your friends a black eye. Stamp "Approvals", a fascinating hobby, order your first 25 world stamps". Amazing gyroscope.
> The toys in the cereal and Cracker Jack boxes...secret decoder rings.
> They even had records stamped into the back of cereal boxes that you could cut out and actually play on your victrolla...maybe 3 times.:lol:
> I remember a submarine that you put a pinch of baking powder in and it rose and sank as the powder emitted the gas.
> The little boats that you wedged a sliver of Ivory soap in the back, and they scooted around the water filled cake pan by breaking the surface tension.
> 
> Kaleidoscopes. Viewmasters. Bat Masterson cane with secret compartment. Coal bins. Incinerators.
> Horse drawn Shenny wagons collecting scrap metal and cardboard.
> "Fanner" cap pistols. Wooden, cigar/finger "cutters" with both the locked & rotating blades.
> Chinese finger "cuffs". The slide open and close box that turned a quarter into a penny. Mexican jumping beans, (got one stuck in my ear once, listening to it move around).
> And the less honorable:
> Plugging coin returns on public phones. Chewing gum on the end of Popsicle sticks for newspaper coin boxes. Every body chips in and one kid pays the quarter, and opens the back door of the movie theater for his chums.
> Being really creative and nonchalant about putting your arm around back of the seat of a "girlfriend" at the movie.


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## e. fairbanks

I WAS BORN Nov. 1918 2 years before women had the right to vote
I am the 2nd oldest prostate cancer patient in Rogers City, Mi.
When I was a boy we gave deer antlers to a colored lady who sent them to Chicago to be made into hair (and the male appendage) stiffeners


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## 454casull

shotgun12 said:


> we could do that over here in the old days,*you dare not do it now.*3 of us with shot guns in hand.we looked like high noon.


Remember this when we all start infighting about QDM, limits, hunting does what equipment we use. THE important thing is to safe guard and protect our ability to enjoy the outdoors...Now back to the thread....


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## JimP

Mind wandering while driving, funny how when you get on a track how many things start coming to mind out of the subconscious.

Horehound and Anise candy
Hot maple syrup poured into the snow for candy
Candy cigarettes and bubble gum cigars
Wrapping potato's in tin foil and tossing them in the burning leaf pile
First boy scout trip: NEVER wrap chicken in foil and roast in a PINE wood fire
Black Jack gum and Squirrels
All day suckers that really were
Ju ju bees
Mumbley peg or "stretch" with a rat tail file...still have that scar on the toe
Leaving you leg stick out from behind the concrete garbage bin during a BB gun war...still have that scar too
Watching "Soldier of Fortune" with John Russel, and trying to fabricate the exotic weapons they demonstrated from around the world.
Success with the Bolo, throwing knives and the throwing stars but failure on the boomerang.

Hm-m-m...TV:

Maverick
Johnny Yuma
Rin Tin Tin
Sugarfoot
Bronco
Have Gun Will Travel
Bonanza
The Deputy
Mr Lucky
Dragnet
The Rifleman
Sea Hunt
Topper
Zorro
Ed Sullivan
I Spy
The life of Riley
Kukla, Fran and Ollie
Hopalong Cassidy
Gale Storm
Gene Autry
Imogene Coca
Highway Patrol
Lassie
Lonesome George Goble
Wagon Train


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## Trophy Specialist

I remember a fun game we used to play and it was especially popular at deer camp around the camp fire. The game was called "Stretch". Each opponent would stand two paces apart facing each other with their feet together. We would take turns throwing a knife into the ground by your opponents feet. To be a "legal" throw, the knife had to stick within one hand-length of the foot and also the end of the handle had to be two finger widths off the ground too. If the throw was "legal" then the opponent had to stretch his foot out to the knife and then pick it up to take his turn. This went on until one of the competitors could no long stretch to the knife thus his opponent won the match. Of course we were likely inebriated at the time too making it all the more challenging and fun. It still makes my leg muscles hurt just to think about Stretch.


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## 7MM Magnum

I remember all of those,..

But you forgot some: *The Outer Limits,.. Twilight Zone,.. The Lone Ranger,... The Honeymooners,.. Sky King,.. Red Skelton,.. Smothers Brothers,.. Route 66*

I'm sure there's probably more but at the moment those came to my head :lol:


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## Johnr

Seemed we all carried pocket knives . Those black handle jack knives . Or slim jims like you bought @ silversteins or epps or, j.js or that gun sport shop gells. And never heard of anyone getting stabbed or something happening bad or anyone going beserk!

posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


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## JimP

Johnr said:


> Seemed we all carried pocket knives . Those black handle jack knives . Or slim jims like you bought @ silversteins or epps or, j.js or that gun sport shop gells. And never heard of anyone getting stabbed or something happening bad or anyone going beserk!
> 
> posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


From above, "Stretch" is where I caught the tail of the file through the shoe into the toe, it was a 14" file...:rant:

We would take a 1/2 cotter key and put it inside a Slim Jim near the hinge and a loop wire at the butt to make switch blades. If the wire slipped, instant air conditioning in your jeans pocket.

Oh how I loved Silversteins!
Anything you needed to jerry rig, repair or invent, they had something you could make work.
Built my first collapsible shanty with two sheets of plywood, some old ski's, and military oil cloth from there, long in the days before the new lightweight woven tarp material.


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