eckermanmichigan.com Blog

22 Sep. ‘06

   Friday morning started a little earlier than we’d planned. Neither Doug nor I had been sleeping very well that night because it had got down to 30º. When I got up at 1:30 to take a whiz, I could see the constellation Cygnus flying down the path of the Milkey Way, and the same white was all over the grass. It was even colder at 4:30 when Doug and I sat straight up in our bunks, and found ourselves staring at each other and wondering why. It didn’t take long to find out either. A few seconds later, we heard a Whfuuufff right outside our tent. Our eyes grew wider and a few seconds later, another, and then another, this one louder and even closer. Doug’s shotgun and my rifle were on the other side of the tent, and we were both sure that bastard was about to tear itself through the wall and take a walk inside. From the sound it was making, it didn’t at all like the smell of either of us nor the bear hound that was locked up in the truck next to us. Don had brought along Maggie, his Black and Tan in case I wounded a bear; we could use her to find the animal instead of us. Doug and I also figured that if a bear came in the yard, she would raise holy hell once she got a snort of it, and would scare it off. Maybe if she were on her leash, she would have but she was locked up in her hutch in the back of Don’s pickup. All we got out of her was a little whimpering and the sound of her chain dragging around in circles. In that instant, I remembered a conversation I had with my brother Jim about a hunt he was on in Africa. They slept in tent’s made entirely out of mosqueto netting and he was told that a lion would never break through that screen. He’d be there at night and watch those cat’s circle his tent, with him kneeling behind his cot with a .300 Winchester hoping his guide was right. I was not only hoping his guide was right, I was hoping it pretained to bears as well. That animal made one more resounding snort and walked away. Doug looked at me and said; “Maybe we should put a pot of coffee on now Mike”. Not long after that Don woke up and turned on the light in the cabin. As soon as we saw that we headed in to the relatively warm kitchen and took the coffee’s with us. We filled him in on what happend, and he mentioned that the cabin was broke into once, because there was food in it. Luckily, we didn’t have anything to eat in the tent and I whole heartedly recommend that none of you ever keep any in one.

   We decided to head over to Highbanks Lake to catch us some breakfast and not long after, we were there. The lake was as smooth as glass with steam rising off of it to remind us it was truely a lake. The lake is lined with Sugar Maple, Oak, and White Pine and the combination of colors reflected off the surface was astounding. Every year I take a couple pictures of the colors and I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s more than capturing the colors but the feelings that went with it. The three of us spread out along the beach and watched the rod tips while we talked about the preceding years and the fish we’ve caught there. It wasn’t long before Doug’s pole almost bent into a “U” and a huge swrill appeared out in the lake. It took him a few minutes to finally get it in, but when he finally had it beached we knew it was a new group record. The old record was 18″, caught by B.B. a year or two ago but this one beat it by 2″. I took his picture just in time to have Don get one on, but Don’s was only 12″, and things calmed down a little bit. Doug ended up with two, Don caught two and I got one keeper. We also got a few sub-legal but we don’t count those. We could see from the gathering clouds that we were about to get dumped on again, so we headed back to the camp.

   In years past, we set up a tarp between some trees to provide ourselves with some cover, but this year we had a nice canopy. Carolyn, Don’s significant other, bought it for their new daughter but we were using it for an entirely different reason. Only twice in the seven years we’d been holding this event, did the sun shine hot. Mostly it came out furitively in-between rain storms and this year was no different. Lake Superior makes it’s own weather, and it likes the rain part more than the sunny. Don told us explicitly that nothing bad could happen to it, so we were carefull, and after a downpour or two, with a little gale thrown in, we took it back down.

   Don and I went back out to the tree stand around 4, for another bout with the bears.

   Normally, I don’t think people take friends along on their bear hunt, but I’ve got a somewhat iffy condition with my heart. The problem is when I become excited, my heart rate goes up, when the rate goes up, it goes into an arrhythmia, or an irregular heart beat. If that should continue for any amount of time, it fibrillates, or quivers. Now, when that happens I have an automatic defibrillator in my chest that fires, giving me a 750v DC charge into my heart to get it right again. When THAT happens I jump straight into the air and probably out of the tree. So what I needed was someone to drag my body out of the woods and Don and Doug were kind enough to help me out, and that’s why they were with me. It takes a lot of self control to keep that thing pumping right, and frankly, I wasn’t sure if I could do that or not.

   In any case, I was back in the tree, and this time I brought along a boat cushon to put on those boards. Doug was kind enough to loan me one of his camo jackets and a camo cover for my head. For all intents and purpose’s I was invisible. So invisible in fact, that I had a Kestrel hawk set down on the same branch as me and watched the same bait pile. I was looking for bear, he was looking for chipmunks. About 20 minutes later, I finally moved and scared the living daylights out of the poor thing and he took off. As we sat there, I saw an ermine visit the pile, three red squerrils and a couple chipmunks. Just before we left there were a couple Whiskey Jacks that came around and started feeding off the ground up grenola bars, but not a bear in sight. When the leg cramps started up again, and I started having trouble staying consious, I called it a day and we headed back to the camp.

   By the time we got back to camp, it was pouring again. We gave up trying to keep the fire going and called it a night about 10pm. This time there wern’t any bears but my snoring kept Doug up all night.

21 Sep. ‘06

   I got up at 1am Thursday morning, and not long after, Jan did too. We’d both been looking forward to this for a long time, and finally it was the day to go. Mark got up a short time later and after a cup of coffee, we headed for the Cherryland Airport. Their flight was to leave at 7:30 so we got there at 6 and they got checked in right away. Originally, I was going to wait until the plane left before I headed back to East Jordan but when Jan told me to go, I did. If it hadn’t been for the threat of hitting a few dozen deer, I would have made it home in 30 minutes, instead of the hour it took. As I was coming in the door, Doug was calling asking how I was doing, and I told him I was allready an hour ahead of schedule. I loaded up the truck, did one more walk-around to insure I had everything and met Doug at Fleet Landing here in E.J. We met up with Don north of Petoskey, at the day old bakery, and we finally had nothing left to do but get the hell out of Dodge. Don led, Doug was in the middle and I came up behind. If it had been the other way around all three of us would have gotten speeding tickets, but as it was, we didn’t and I saved about $15.00 in gas. It also gave me the time to think about how the next week was going to go and what I’d hoped to accomplish. As thick as those bear were in that neighborhood, I figured on getting my bear either the next day or Saturday at the latest. Since the taxidermist was closed on Sunday’s, I’d spend that day fishing and come back early Monday morning with the hide and then spend the rest of that day hunting squirrels. Sitting up against a huge Oak sniping those little critters was something I’d wanted to do since the very first trip. This year I had my very own truck so I wouldn’t have to talk someone else into going with me and I dreamed of reading a good book and waiting for those little rodents to start clucking. On one of the days, or maybe two, I wanted to head out to Seney to reconoiter a couple lakes I use to fish 30 years ago. A year or two before I saw them, they had been stocked with a brook trout developed (or found, not sure which) in Canada that grew to 20″+. When I fished Lost Lake, they were only about 14″ and too small to keep. In all honesty, we kept and ate them on the spot. We didn’t know about the restrictions, or even the name of the lake for that matter. I’d been up there ‘two tracking’ with a buddy and we happend across it while we were lost. We wern’t actually LOST, just temporarily misinformed. (Your not lost until you pull into a gas station and ask directions, and we were 20 miles from one of those). Anyway, I wanted to get back to Lost and Dutch Fred Lakes to see how much they’d grown, or if there were any left. I thought about getting back to High banks and trolling for those rainbows through the night, and over to Frenchman’s Lake and fish for Walleye under a coleman lantern. I figured it was a pretty ambitious schedule, but I had 11 days to work with, and looked forward to doing it all.

   We all got to the cabin at 11am and everything was pretty much set up by 1. Doug helped me set up my tent, which is 14′ squared, and when we got done it looked like a combination office/hotel room. I’d brought along my word processor, and that was in the corner, we had a table between our two cots with a lamp and a two burner stove on that. On the stove sat my coffee pot, and behind that was my CD player. Whenever I do my writing I listen to the Monks chant Gregorian hymn’s, so I thought I’d bring it along to inspire those heathens I was with. Just as we sat down to relax a bit, we had a character pull in to visit with Don.

   “Trout” is a fella that has been through some very hard times, but it doesn’t seem to have bothered him much. He doesn’t have a larynix nor a plug in his throat where the trach was installed, but he still has a sense of humor. He carries around a little microphone that he puts to his throat to communicate, and he sounds remarkibly like Stephen Hawkins but that’s all those two have in common. Trout is a native of Charlevoix but I’ll bet there are a lot more people who’ve heard of him than there are of those who’ve met him. As it turns out, there were a couple guys who came along later who did want to meet him, but he was gone by then. I’ll bet that happens a lot in his life.

   Right after Trout left, Don made up a breakfast of bacon and beans with a little onion mixed in. It really set in the notion that we were back were we all belonged. I asked him if I could put the receipe in this accounting and he said; “No fuc in’ way”. “If anyone wants to know how to make this stuff, is going to have to come across the bridge and watch”. Fair enough I guess, but I was there, and I still don’t know how to make it.

   After we ate, we started working on the camp fire. Some trees had been blown down a month or so before and all that wood was there, but it was green, and wet. We took a ride up to North rd, which is just a little north of us, but goes East. I wondered if they had a road up there somewhere’s named West, that went South… Anyway, Doug had brought along a chain saw and it didn’t take long to get a truck load of good wood. When we got back, we started on getting a real serious fire going. We don’t have any kindling with us so I use my little Burnz O matic torch which works even better. Usually, there’s a hellava wind blowing in that area, but on this day there wasn’t. I went back into the tent and brought out my mattress inflator and turned that on it. Instantly, you’ve got a hundred mile an hour draft to help it along. I was never a boyscout, but I’m always prepared. While we were doing that, Mrs Paul pulled in next door to do some pruning and yard cleaning. She had brought along her sister from down state to do that, and to plant some Hosta along the little creek there. When Doug mentioned that deer loved the stuff, she said she’d been coming up there for years and never even SAW a deer, let alone see some damage done. Personally, I think she’s a little lacking in her ‘Animal recognition skills’ but I could be wrong. Near as I could tell, there had been a couple deer who’d walked through her back yard the day before. I’d seen some tracks back there, but maybe it was from a de-formed red squirrel. The hosta may last the season, if none of them ’squirrels’ get a case of the munchies.

   Around 4pm, Don and I went out to climb that White Pine for some afternoon bear killing. We’d been out there earlier to bait the pile and put all the logs back, but since then there hadn’t been any activity. I got into the spot I’d tried out in the tree, but I’d made a HUGE mistake in choosing it. When I’d checked out the seat before, I hadn’t set there for more than a couple minutes, and didn’t realize how uncomfortable it was going to get. Back in the day when my ass was 20 years old, I could set in all kinds of contorted postions without any problem. 20 years old was 36 years ago! I wasn’t there 20 minutes before my ass started to object to what I was asking of it. Someone had attached a couple of 2 x 6’s over a couple limbs with zip-strips and I’d figured on using that for the next week. In recent years when I’ve been hunting, it was from a nice heated blind with a lawn chair, and now I was sitting on a board with pine boughs as cover. Stupid, stupid me. Don had been sitting on the other side of the tree, and I’m sure he could feel me jostling around too much. At times Don would reach a hand around the trunk and pat it once to get my attention, and then give me a little pep talk. It worked for a while. We had been hoping to hunt until dark, giving it our best try right off the bat, but my back and my ass just wasn’t up to it. Between that and me continually falling asleep then waking up instantly, I decided to get out of that tree. I sat on the end of the ladder for awhile, but it was too late by then to help much. Don motioned for a conversation, and he told me that there were three bears off to our right moving around to the front. It was a sow and two cubs, and the two cubs we of age to be on their own. It really didn’t matter though, because I never got a full view of them. I could tell where they were by areas between leaves turning black, then light again, but I never had a clear shot. There just wasn’t any way I was going to shoot for hide just to see what happend, and hope for a better shot. I don’t hunt that way, but it sure was exciting to listen to them animals occasionally stepping on limbs and have them go Scrunch. Don also saw a doe working her way off to our left but she never got involved with the bait pile, so I never saw her. About 45 minutes before dark, I decided that I’d had enough and headed back to camp. The day had started at 1am and I’d figured that that was pleanty enough, given that I still had 10 more days to go.

   We all turned in around 9:30 hoping to get a good nights sleep and then have at it again, first thing in the morning. ‘First thing in the morning’ started a whole lot earlier than anticipated though.

   It’s been a very interesting and inlightening 11 days, and I’m happy as hell to be back. I’m sitting here in my B.V.D.s and slippers with warmth all about. I don’t smell bad anymore and I can go to the can without looking for porcupines, and if you give me 24 hours to do my laundry and get some more bait and ammo, I’d be ready to go back. I kept a lot of notes on what I saw and how I felt at the time and I’ll convey them all here over the next couple of weeks. Instead of just posting the whole thing at once under the Eckerman catagory, I’m going to post them in the blog and when I’m done, Katrina can put it all into the story section.

“Trina, write in the blog that it’s still raining…the animals are lining up two by two…and not by the bait pile.”

He sounds disappointed.

Okay, a little more focused now.

Dad says on Thursday, he saw a sow with cubs, but he wasn’t up for shooting babies, so he opted out of that one.  The weather was good but going to hell.

Friday, there was a bear in camp around 4am that got everyone up.  They went fishing and Doug caught a 20″ rainbow and Don caught two 12″ rainbows.  Dad caught one of those as well.

Saturday, they went hunting with no luck.  Dad heard bears on either side of him, but then got thundered out.  They went fishing, caught a buttload, only kept two.

Sorry, guys. Dad asked me to write updates and last night he called but I missed the phone vibrating, so the update is a bit late.  I haven’t yet heard from him tonight (phone is on the charger, so I probably missed the call again) so I’ll go ahead and give the update from yesterday

As of last night, Dad was a bear hunter, not a bear killer, and all was well.  I think the weather was okay, and he mentioned something about fishing.  Now, we’re about to have tornadoes pass through, so I’m going to go duck and cover with my guests in the bathroom.  You guys take care till tomorrow.  After that…

   Last day and then a wake up.

   After I drop Jan off at work today, I’ll go over my list one more time and then take everything I’ve packed down to the Laundry room. If it has quit raining by the time I pick her up, I’ll load as much as I can into the truck. I’d load it all, but I have to save room for their stuff that’s going to Arkansas with them. Doug’s going to be here when I get back from Traverse City and he can help me load the rest. As I understand it, (at 5am) Don’ll be in Charlevoix waiting for us at his house and we’ll be on our way. I’m going to make one more stop at the day old bakery, to load on as much bear bait as I’ve got room for. The three of us should be in camp by noon with the tent set up, and a fire going. Since I got a good nights sleep last night, I may be in good enough shape to hunt tomorrow afternoon. The weather guesser’s predict partly sunny skies tomorrow, but after that, a weeks worth of rain, so I’d better make good use of it. From what I hear, bear like to move in the rain so that’s not a problem for them, but still…. In years past, our best fishing has been done in the rain, so this could turn out to be a banner year.

   I’ll be calling my daughter nightly to give her the talley of what was killed or caught that day, and she’ll post it on here. I’m taking along my word processer this year, so it may not take as long to get the full story, with pictures, posted in ECKERMAN 7, as yet untitled. Wish me luck ya’ll and take care…

   Three and a wake-up. I shouldn’t count today, but since it’s only 5am, this one hasn’t really started yet. I’ve been waking up at 3:45 for the past week now, but I won’t have to do that much longer. I’m almost afraid that when Thursday morning gets here, I’ll sleep in until 7 and really screw things up. Nah, not much chance of that. Mark, Jan, and I all have alarm clocks so I doubt very much that anyone will be late. At 9 this morning, I’ll call Northwest Airlines to make sure everythings hunkey-dorey with those guys, and then again on Wednesday, just to make sure. This morning, Jan’s still sleeping, but she’s been going through the same malady that I have. It doesn’t seem to be bothering Mark much, but come Thursday, I’m sure he’ll be ready to go. Mark and I packed our cloths yesterday and since Jan doesn’t go to work until 4 today, she’ll do her’s too.

   The list of who’s going and who isn’t, changes almost daily but as long as I’m on the list of the “is’s”, I don’t see a problem with it. It would be really nice to see all the guys sitting around that campfire, like the old days, but times change. As near as I can tell, it’ll be Don, Doug, B.B., Brian (with Hunter) and myself in camp this year. None of them will be there the entire time I will, but those guys still work for a living. I don’t think there will be any periods when I’m alone, which is fine with me.

   Doug and I went up to Eckerman today to re-fill the bait pile and we got some good news and bad. The good news is I’ll probably get a bear. The group that owns the cabin next door had seven hunters staying there and all but one has filled their license. Two were killed on opening day and they’ve been having some pretty good luck ever since. They were also kind enough to give me some of their bait, and permission to “get it as I need it”. They have quite the collection of chocolate’s so I think it should work out pretty good. The bad news came in the form of a photo, two of them in fact. One of the guys has a camera that attach’s to a tree and is set off with a motion detector. In the photo’s is a bear that looks to be over 300#, just a munchin’ away at all these chocolate covered cherries, and ground up candy bars. Also on the photo is the time it was taken. 0130. It seems that if these bear live through it’s first two years, it learns that humans try and kill them when the sun is shining, but when it isn’t, we don’t. Just like the deer, the smart ones sleep through the day and do all of their feeding at night. So, if by chance, albeit a small one, that bruin comes to my bait pile, I have a chance at it. Chances are much larger though, for an ignorant one to come up, and that’s what I’ll end up shooting. Am I going to sit there for 11 days on the off chance that the big one walks up and let a smaller one go by?  Not likely. Of the 6 bears that were taken by these guys not one of them was over 150#, so they feel the same way I do. Maybe if all I was up there for was to shoot this bear, I might let a smaller one go by, but there are many lakes I want to fish, and numerous Oak stands just full of squirrels awaiting me.

   The bait pile was torn totally apart when we got there, but with all the rain’s they’ve had, there wern’t any prints evident. I loaded the pile with the usuall bread and buns, and added some coffee cakes, molassis, and a dash of vanilla extract. We also sprayed the area with the extract and when I return next Thursday, I suspect that everything it was sprayed on will be gone.

   The leaves are turning at a pretty fast rate now, so by next week it should be absolutly glorious.