Bootlegger leftovers?

[bigscoop]

On July 12th I'll be heading into the U.P. of Michigan for a week to hunt a couple of areas where bootleggers use to stash their goods that came in from Canada. Both of these simi-remote sites are documented holding areas so who knows what we might find?

[stefen]

You may very well find Ole Joesph Kennedy's stash...being the king of bootleggers, this is how he emassed his fortune

[lastleg]

Don't forget your kevlar.

[bigscoop]

These are two old cabin sites out in the sticks. Nothing obvious remains today. But we do know the proprietors use to hide fairly large sums of money at these two locations. So, we'll see what we can find? We also plan to hit a few old beaches that are no longer on the map. Should be an interesting trip.

[truckinbutch]

Well worth the time spent

[RON (PA)]

Sound like a great trip. I hope you find a bunch of old loot. Keep us posted.

[bigscoop]

Sound like a great trip. I hope you find a bunch of old loot. Keep us posted.

Hopefully I'll have a reason to take pictures on this trip. If nothing else I'll be out of this muggy heat for a while, right now it looks like mid 70's up there for that week. Great weather to be in the water or out. This will be our first trip to these isolated areas so I'm looking forward to it. Should be a fun little adventure.

[brand spankin newbie]

Those bootleggers probably used mason type jars to hide cash and/or coinage; since they were readily available

[bigscoop]

Those bootleggers probably used mason type jars to hide cash and/or coinage; since they were readily available

Funny you should mention that. I actually had dream last night that I found a mason jar full of gold & silver coins in the shallow water at the edge of the lake. I seldom remember my dreams but I sure remembered that one!

[travelingjack1]

Funny you should mention that. I actually had dream last night that I found a mason jar full of gold & silver coins in the shallow water at the edge of the lake. I seldom remember my dreams but I sure remembered that one!

Goodluck Brad, hope you find two masion jars full of gold coins! Make sure you take some pictures of your trip, and finds, sounds like a great time.

Be safe, HH! Rob

[Connecticut Sam]

Look out for snakes. Best of luck to all of you.

[lastleg]

Don't worry, Sam, there were no snakes in his dream/vision.

[bigscoop]

I'm out of here! See ya all in a week! Be safe!

[lastleg]

Don't bring back any wooden nickels

[CanadianTrout]

Man, I hope he remembered his bug juice. He's gonna get mangled out there.

[littleneckhalfshell]

yeah, bug juice, I don't remember if the UP has black flies, but I know we had them in Ontario in the wet bush areas. Black Flies can really ruin your day if you are not prepared for them.

[bigscoop]

Man, I hope he remembered his bug juice. He's gonna get mangled out there.

And we did! Rain turned to "very hot & muggy" and the mosquitoes, deer flies & horse flies had no respect for bug juice, couldn't get inside the woods we had planned to hunt because it was surrounded by swamp, which only added to the biting pain. So we opted for plan "B".

Our first night was on Andrus Lake, lots of coins, old fishing lures, and tones of copper and lead, but nothing special.

Our second night found us at the mouth of Two Hearted on the Superior shore and we spent part of that time hunting for agates and metal detecting, we did have one unexpected discovery while we were there.

Night three found us on the Lake Michigan shore but 15mph winds with 25mph wind gust prevented us from hunting that section of beach much, found a few coins and trinkets. Mosquitoes & deer flies were still on a rampage in the morning & evening.

By night four we had worked our way into the lower half and we camped at Shupac Lake, northeast Grayling, made one really nice recovery on a small lake about 15 miles from there.

If not for the two unexpected finds this would have been the least productive trip I have ever taken up north, and I've taken a bunch. It was very obvious that there are a lot more MDer's in the water up there then ever before, most small beaches were so clean you didn't even need an iron mask feature at all. Discrimination was seldom used.

And for your information, while I was on this trip I played with the Cobra Beach Magnet, so if you're even thinking about one of these as a second unit for friends, family, etc., as I did, "reconsider". While I was on the beach at Two Hearted I could not tone out the heavy meneral deposits in the rock up there which made the unit totally useless. While I was in Lake Michigan and working the heavy wave action the shaft on this machine also showed signs of stress and I suspect it will break if used for a prolonged period of time. On the other hand, it did find one of the above mentioned unexpected discoveries, so I am 100% certain it will find precious metals such as heavy, "platinum".

I also played with the Minelabs, Excalls & Sovereigns, primarily those with 10 inch coils and discovered a much easier way of pinpointed items. Basically if you move the coil around the target with progressively smaller circles you can dial the target area down accurately to within an inch or two on smaller targets.

This trip faced a lot of issues, probably the most defeating set of circumstances I've ever endured up north, and yet it was still worth it. The Surperior shoreline is always worth visiting as there is simply mile after of mile of gin celar water and vacant beach to explore, food for the senses as they say. The sound of the loons at night and a crackling campfire can also put you in a deep relaxing trance rather quickly, which I sorely needed. And I don't care what's for dinner or breakfast, it always smells & taste 100 times better when it's being cooked outdoors. On our second day of traveling we took two-tracks instead of the main roads and we encountered a small black bear along the way which is always a welcome sight. Including gas, food, ice, camping fees, etc., we only dropped about $250.00 each, or roughly $500 for the trip so even with all of the obstacles which limited our hunting time and increased our traveling plans we still came out ahead. And if we can get away, a second trip/attempt up north is being planned for late August, after the kids are back in school. On this trip we learned where a "very expensive" diamond ring was recently lost and it's just not in our nature to not give it a shot, and we also still need to checkout that old bootlegger camp.

[NHBandit]

So what were the "unexpected finds"

[Connecticut Sam]

What is the latest news?

[lastleg]

No news is good news, Sam.