Attention Bowhunters!

This is Mike Mitten with the best pike of our trip.  Mike works for Abbott Laboratories and lives near Lake Michigan just south of the Wisconsin/Illinois border.  He rode with me and we shared a great week at camp with the other guys.  Mike is a passionate bow hunter and basically only hunts with primitive weapons.  He was using a beautiful recurve for our hunt that he made himself.  He has hunted solo in the Colorado Rockies and his neatest trip was a three week solo backpack hunt in Alaska.  Mike has written a book entitled "One With The Wilderness---Passions Of A Solo Bowhunter"  and I'm looking forward to reading it in the next few days as I get time.  He is close friends with the Wensel brothers and Gene Wensel wrote the forward for the book.  They also have an excellent DVD out that is not your run-of-the-mill "kill type" DVDs.  I have already watched it and loaned it to a friend.  The book, DVD, and other items can be purchased through their website: www.brothersofthebow.com.  Mike couldn't sleep due to my terrible snoring and ended up sleeping in the cook tent most of the week!!!

[image]local://35/9508A3BD35E946FA8B6C16F29EDD62F3.JPG[/image]

Attached Image(s)

Mike Stephenson
aka Topgun----30-06

Hey, I might know that guy. My mom worked at Ab Lab, and I know a few others that worked there. That is the area I grew up. SE Wis. Did he happen to say if he belonged to an archery club? That is where I think I met him. A long time ago.

nice catch!

deadeye,
 Ever hear of Buck Rub Archery in Waukesha,Wi. I started out their working when it first opened up alot of yrs ago. It was atop an old grocery store when it first opened I think. The river was right behind it also.

Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

deadeyerik---You may know him because he has lived in that area his entire life and has been into bowhunting for a long time.  He is 50 and his wife just died of cancer several months ago.

Mike Stephenson
aka Topgun----30-06

I do know buck Rub. I never stopped there But I passed it on my way up to Hurley when I lived in Kenosha. Did you ever go to any archery shoots in the se wis. area? I belonged to Waukegan Bowman. I was often seen at Racine and Kenosha Bowman. Plus a few others like Lake Geneva and a few others I can't remember. I think it is in that circle that I met Mitten in. Seems real familiar anyway.

That's a decent snake ... whut, 6-7#? They're always fun to catch ...

Jeezely, you guys, does everybuddy know everybuddy? Startin' to sound like life in Nodak, where most of us are related to half the state ... or their brother-in-law ...

All of life is six-to-five against, just enough to keep you interested. (Damon Runyan)

Gravity makes all the important decisions ... (John R. Powers)

NRA, REMF, PF, NAHC-L, NAFC-L, KC, NPPA

Or the milkman, LOL!!!

Mike Stephenson
aka Topgun----30-06

ORIGINAL: O the Umanity

That's a decent snake ... whut, 6-7#? They're always fun to catch ...

Jeezely, you guys, does everybuddy know everybuddy? Startin' to sound like life in Nodak, where most of us are related to half the state ... or their brother-in-law ...

What exactly are you saying "O"? Are you saying that the "Family Tree" of people from North Dalota is shaped like a telephone pole??? (no branches?) LOL

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

or maybe the family tree doesn't branch - it just circles back around

I aint touching that one guys.  LMAO
 
Deadeye,
 The only club I have ever been in in Wi is the Wisconsin Bowhunters. We tried for yrs to have them allow us to go in and shoot the salmon as they were headed up river to spawn but had no luck. In my mind, what would the diff be, snagging is about the same thing or the indians being able to load truckload after truckload of fish. The salmon will die anyways, so why not give us something else to shoot at during the yr and keep the rivers clean at the same time?

Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

Gnaw ... y'all are deliberately tryin' to mislead the unsuspectin' public by alludin' to certain types of relationships sorta frowned upon by various segments of society ...

We'all'zun's Nodaks tend to be related to each other a bunch mostly becuz whenever one of the locals escapes for a while, and brings back a thread of new bloodline, that merely expands the connectivity ...

Most of the "related to" incidents are based on an "in-law" type of connection ... my cousin married your brother-in-law's sister's step-daughter ... stuff such as that ...

The nicest part of havin' all this alleged "kinfolk" is that ... if y'all don't wanna, ya don't really hafta claim 'em as a relative ... but if they're good folks, nobuddy questions you if you admit to havin' family ties ...

We're sorta accepting of various degrees of friendships and relativity, that way ...

All of life is six-to-five against, just enough to keep you interested. (Damon Runyan)

Gravity makes all the important decisions ... (John R. Powers)

NRA, REMF, PF, NAHC-L, NAFC-L, KC, NPPA

We were just kidding with you "O", nobody believes NODAK is any different than any other state.

I mean, it is like most states right? Or is it like the movies "The hills have eye's" (1&2).... (For those that have never seen either of those movies, they are very, very, very gross).

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

Tx, Yeah they are dieing anyway and they are sterile so what difference does it make?

OTU, It's your story, tell it the way you want. We are all friends here. Whatever it takes to make you feel comfy with your situation.

Lemme put that another way ...

There's folks here which I sorta hafta admit are kinfolk ... of a kind ... "in-laws" for the most part, but some blood connections as well ... and I doubt if I'll ever be "comfy" with bein' around 'em for more than about six minutes every couple of years ...

So ... yeah ... I'd say Nodak is perty much like all the other places frum which y'all came or moved to ...

Makes life interestin' ... but I keep one or two handguns loaded and handy, mostly all the time, in case ...

All of life is six-to-five against, just enough to keep you interested. (Damon Runyan)

Gravity makes all the important decisions ... (John R. Powers)

NRA, REMF, PF, NAHC-L, NAFC-L, KC, NPPA

Hey, sometimes those inlaws can come in handy if they have some good hunting land, LOL!!!

Mike Stephenson
aka Topgun----30-06

and gutting and dragging and skinning and cutting it up.  LOL  Works for me guys.

Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

did you say "in-laws" or "out-laws"?

or is there a difference?

Whatever, as the kids say nowadays, LOL!!!

Mike Stephenson
aka Topgun----30-06

Yeah, Orduck' ... there's a difference ...

Outlaws are Wanted!

(Kidding ... I've got some great ones ... one or more are less fun to be around, but that sorta takes care of itself ... and I'm the "in-law" that seems to be the one helpin' others find places to hunt, and helpin' 'em gut and drag their deer, and stuff such as that ... so ... p'haps they're takin' advantage of me? ... yeah ... whutever ... )

All of life is six-to-five against, just enough to keep you interested. (Damon Runyan)

Gravity makes all the important decisions ... (John R. Powers)

NRA, REMF, PF, NAHC-L, NAFC-L, KC, NPPA