Munuscong Bay- Duck camp

RLLigman

Well-known member
I posted some exterior pics of this duck camp three or four years ago. It consists of a US Army Corps of Engineers quarters barge used to house dredging crews that were working waterways to engage in maintenance dredging of the shipping channels. Paul Sabatini purchaed it at auction in the early 1980's. A retired realtor, Tony Andary, Sr, owned the land which was part of a keyhole development he invisioned for this water frontage, but the Michigan statutes eventually blocked this type of water access for all lots approach. His son retained the waterfrontage lots where the barge was initially moored after the remaining 284 acres were sold. Tony, Jr. provided legal services for the out-of-state owner of the property who allowed us exclusive deer and grouse hunting rights over the years I lived over there in the 1980's. Tony eventually sold his membership somewhere through the years. I hunted there in 1985-86.
I promised a snapshot of the interior of the club via some old photos I had, but my scanner was no longer compatible with the current Windows software on my notebook.

Jimmy Gretzinger is the host of a PBS affiliated outdoors show titled: Michigan Outdoors a contraction of Mort Neph's original weekly hour long show: Michigan-Out-of-Doors; a staple in our house while I was growing-up. Apparently, Jimmy arrived up there a few days after Steve and hunted the bay. There was a strong cold front that arrived as our trip ended, blowing out the shackle on the stern anchor on Steve's Crusader our last hunt. There is a State Forest Campground complex located upstream from the Munuscong River's mouth on property that used to be the site of the Dodge Hunting Lodge, which now is marked by only the foundation site of the old lodge. When i worked for MSU, we had a contract with the USACE and the UFWS to enage in a series of baseline monitering studies to determine the potential impacts of running commercial shipping throughpout the year on the upper reaches of the St. Lawrence Seaway and the connecting channels waterways of the upper Great Lakes.I lived over here for nearly five years. In those days the ratio of black ducks to mallards was about seven to three, now that has shifted to about 2 blacks for every mallard seen.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt-Wq3RqMVU
 
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Rick,
I too hunted Munuscong Bay at one time, but not on Opening Day: too many other guys. Thanks for the link. What a cool resource in the UP.

Larry
 
Larry, I recall you knew Tom Pink well and hunted that area when you lived in sourthern Michigan. Steve and I used to rent Sam Lightfoot's cabin on Neebish Island. Tom is Sam's father-in-law.WE used to rent three of the log cabins at Jen's Resort on the mainland. Dr, Ludwig, a surgeon in the Soo purchased the site from Boyd Nutting, the current owner of my old Herter's Duck and Goose pond boat. Ludwig had the cabin raised, but kept the ramp to enable him to launch his BW 27' Offshore to moor at his home on Sawmill Point.I first met Jim Wick's and his groupof hunter/carvers while hunting out of these cabins.


It was nice to see that the current members have made a concerted effort to maintain the woodowrk and trim. I wish Jimmy had panned a shot of the kitchen to include thewalk-in cooler, replete with trhrough door beer taps and consisting of an entire wall of oak and brass trimmed access doors with brass hinges and hasps. Bill Cleary, Jr. was one of the original members He owned Soo Vending. He reworked the refrigeration "innards"but he did leave the large back access door, enabling members to hang deer in it. Tony and I stopped at his dad's home, located below the "rock cut" about a mile north of the Merganser one night after working on our deer blinds. His home was essentlially a non-descript two story square blockhouse surrounded by asphalt. The first floor was essentially a bar with a mountain of memorabelia arrayed on the walls and hanging from the ceiling, including four 8 and 10 gauge doubles.
 
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