Yoopers and Lowpers

The Yoopers and the Lowpers don't really hate each other you know, it's just good natured kidding. Ever since the Mackinac Bridge was built in the 1950s, people have been crossing back and forth with alacrity and even intermarrying. People around here just call it "The Bridge", as if it was the only one in the world. I think there are two bridges connecting Michigan and Canada. One is up by the Soo (Sault Ste. Marie), and the other is down by Detroit. It's the Canadians who are famous for saying "ay", although it's usually spelled "eh". Some Yoopers might say it too, but they're not famous for it.

Before I forget: You have asked me twice what I do with my deer hides, and I keep forgetting to answer you. I have never gotten into tanning hides. I understand that it's a laborious process and the finished product is not useful enough to be worth it. I have given a couple of them to people who wanted to try tanning hides, but I don't think either one of them ever successfully completed the job. Commercial tanners are not interested unless you have a semi load of hides for them, they don't want to fool around picking up one here and one there. We used to have a group that collected deer hides each season, sold them all at once, and gave the money to a local charity, but they quit doing that some years ago. The guy I talked to said that they couldn't find a market for them anymore. What I do with mine now is just dump it in the woods with the other deer scraps. It's not littering, it's feeding the critters.  Everything gets eaten up by spring, even the hides. They somehow chew the skin up, leaving only the loose hair, which the birds like to use for nest building, so nothing is really wasted.

I think we talked about shooting preserves before. Some of them are more sporting than others, it depends how they are operated. Some of the bird preserves are for target practice and dog training, and others offer a more natural hunting experience. I don't think there are any big game preserves around here, but Texas is famous for them. Some of them even offer exotic species from Africa, Asia, and Europe. They have thousands of acres fenced in and people pay big bucks to shoot their big bucks. It's just like real hunting except you see more game than you would in the wild. There is a hound club not far from here that has a square mile fenced in and all the deer have been removed. (Deer hunting with dogs is illegal in Michigan.) These guys run coyotes and foxes with their hounds, and they seldom kill their quarry. It's all about the thrill of the chase and the hound dog music. Some of their foxes have even learned that, when they get tired of this foolishness, all they have to do is lead the dogs back to the parking lot and the hunters will collect them and go home.

Northern woodlands like ours do not support nearly as many deer as the agricultural areas farther south. The reason people come up north to hunt is that there is a lot more public land, not that we have more deer per square mile. To hunt private land, you either have to pay and/or make friends with the landowner. There are clubs you can join that either own or lease hunting land. Some of them are more elite than others. My father was a member of a club that catered to the working man but, with some of them, if you have to ask how much it costs to join, you probably can't afford it.