Author: Rodd Little. Anyone who hunts or fishes has years where everything he does falls right into place, while other years it seems like no matter what you do nothing goes right. In 50 years of hunting I have never had a year like 2023. It started during the spring turkey season with my 9 year old grandson Connor. I took Connor on my property in northern Bay County on opening day of the 2023 turkey season to a portable (tent) blind in a Grandpa Ray’s clover plot I had frost seeded in March. I … Read More
1968 – The year my annual spring turkey hunting adventures began
A very popular TV show when I was growing up was Michigan Outdoors, which was hosted by the late Mort Neff and aired every Thursday night. I looked forward to watching it each week because Mort Neff was always covering and promoting Michigan’s fantastic outdoor opportunities. A topic he kept tabs on was the reintroduction of wild turkeys (from Pennsylvania) to the Northern Lower Peninsula during the mid-1950’s. Limited Spring turkey hunts began in 1965 and getting a “gobbler tag” was done by applying through the mail to a special drawing. This was very similar … Read More
Trophy Wild Turkey Hunting
By the time the 20th century arrived, wild turkeys could only be found in isolated pockets of North America. This was due to the major destruction of habitat and unregulated hunting, with some states, such as Michigan, having its wild turkey population completely extirpated. Michigan began transplanting wild turkeys from Pennsylvania in the Allegan State Forest during the 1950’s. Efforts were made to successfully expand the wild turkeys’ range across the northern Lower Peninsula, and the first limited turkey hunt was held in 1965. This would continue with other northern Michigan areas having a limited … Read More
Becoming High on the Hog
One of the most widespread mammals in the world is “Sus scrofa”, the pig, also known as swine or hog. Its presence has been known in the “New World” since Columbus introduced them to the Caribbean islands during his second voyage in 1493. Hernando de Soto introduced them to what would become the continental United States in 1539, and during his 3-year expedition through what is now 14 states, pigs brought along as a steady food source, would often escape, and quickly adapted to the wild, and became what is known as “feral”. Wherever they … Read More