• Sunday-What'sUP February 22 - 02:24 pm

As winter plods along here in Eagle River, deer have pretty much taken over the town. Last night around sundown we saw them scatter on the dunes down below our house, as a wolf or coyote approached. This inspired me to look for a Shoebox Memory involving deer here in the U.P.

Hundreds of photos taken by the Mackinac Bridge Authority can be found at the U.P. Digitization Center, and a search on the keyword "deer" yielded the two above. The first appears to be before it was opened to traffic, when folks could walk across (and animals, too) and the second picture is just *after* the opening in 1958. It is labeled in the archives as "First deer to cross the Mackinac Bridge". Now we know it was actually the second one.

Just now as I'm typing these words, a motion outside our window prompts me to turn and see the morning crowd begin to gather. No doubt some of their ancestors have crossed the bridge.

Think spring, stay warm, and order some pasties. This winter won't last forever. Have a good week :o)

In the first picture, looks like they are headed north, just about in the middle of the span (judging by cables). In the second it is obvious they are headed south. Wonder if it was the same deer? (One for Ripley's Believe it or Not.)

I love to watch the wildlife...and the deer are surely entertaining.

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Thanks 4 sharing these pics.

Deer overrun Hillsdale, wreak havoc,this is an article in todays Detroit Freepress page 7-c by sports writer eric sharpe. He speaks of hundreds roaming on the college campus and auto accidents downtown Hillsdale.

Eddyfitz, I read that article also. I believe that it said they had 400 head in the city. There are so many that the deer look both ways before they cross the street! They are culling the deer by shooting them!

One night this past fall when I was driving home after a night of dancing here in Lansing (I'm a poet and didn't know it), I saw a deer crossing Saginaw Street near Waverly Road, which, during the day is one of our busiest intersections. The deer was crossing from the golf course into a residential area. I had to look twice because it seemed so out of place. And not long before that, I saw three deer running across the road near the old post office on Michigan Avenue in Delta Township. Not a good place for deer.

Sounds like they need to put up some more of those deer crossing signs so the deer will know where it's safe to cross the road ;o)

Where we lived downstate, Auburn Hills, before moving to the u.p., we saw 3 deer in front of our apt. heading towards a wooded area. By the time we got the camera they were gone. We were also standing under the carport and a cyote,forgive the spelling, walked along the curb. At first I could not figure out what it was til the news reported one was spotted in an area by the apt. complex.

Charlie, not to be fussy, but I bet those kind folks in the first picture are shooshing that little doe BACK the way she came. That would make the the second picture the first deer to CROSS the bridge!

Eddyfitz, are you from Hillsdale, MI? I got a daughter going to school there, I LOVE that place!

Ricelake Alison

The only thing I'm wondering in the first pic is why is there a "No U Turn" sign on the bridge?? You do realise the only reason that sign is there is because someone actually made a U-Turn on the Mackinaw Bridge at some point........

Didn't the bridge open just in time for the 1957 deer season? I remember crossing it in early June 1958!

That 55 Fords' right front tire sure doesn't look too good!

Capt. Paul:
You are probably correct about someone making a U-Turn on the bridge. During one of the winters I was at NMU I was crossing the bridge during a nasty storm while traveling back north after a trip to the lower peninsula. There weren't very many cars on the road at the time, but there was a Volkswagen beetle following us across the bridge. When we got to the grated portion the wind was so strong it lifted the beetle up, spun it around and set it down in the southbound lane. Whoever was driving the beetle just kept heading south. We managed to make it across OK, but we heard later than they closed the bridge right after we crossed.

Capt. Paul:
This is obviously the southbound side. I can understand why southbounders might want to make a U-turn. They shouldn't need them on the northbound side.