Mickey Z

After talking to Redcan on Super Bowl Sunday about how he and his buddies almost blew up Riverview. This winter blast, has reminded me of an article written by the former outdoor writer for the News Herald, Mike Zelinski. Mike was quite the outdoorsman and a fluent talker which was a perfect combo for his News Herald position. Mike could come up with 2 articles at the mention of any outdoor pursuit. The article that the cold front reminded me of was late season goose hunting on the Detroit River. Emphasis on late here, this year the season lasted until January 29th. There was good weather this year and from the sounds of shooting the hunters had plenty of action. You have to be a die hard to hunt in the conditions Mike wrote about.
Holy cow, as you can see from the picture the boys are just south of Sugar Island. That's not just a hop skip and a jump from Gibraltar, where Mike lived, but a white knuckled boat ride. These waterfowlers are a little different. I've been in a boat late in February on the river and even if everything goes right and ice flows aren't encountered there's always that uneasy feeling about getting locked in ice. Mike wrote well about the whole experience especially about safety in the case anything bad may happen. From the set up of decoys to the blind set up or just dressing in the white camo and laying on the ice somehow Mike made it sound like anyone could do it.
On the day Mike reported on there must have been a warmer front move in because a heavy fog surrounded them and they could hear the birds flying but couldn't see them until they had committed and were very close. So add another chance for disaster, a 20 pound bird flying in fog coming in to your calling and just being able to see a landing spot seconds before landing. A slight miscalculation by the bird and you could become an episode on Mythbusters. Oh those wildfowlers, a little different and die hards just like Mickey.

Get Outdoors Downriver