The typical timeframe for gathering sap from tapped maple trees, at least in my neck of the woods, is March 1 to April 1. This year, however, folks I know in the maple syrup world were tapping their trees by mid-February. I’ve also seen times when maple sap hardly ran at all, so it is pretty much up to fickle weather conditions. Last year, the early sap-flow in February caught many folks by surprise, and due to the ensuing balmy weather, which caused maple trees to start budding out sooner than expected, sap-gathering ended in … Read More
Murphy Lake’s 16 th Annual “Pike Pull” ice fishing contest
Located near Millington in southwestern Tuscola County, (manmade) 209-acre Murphy Lake has long offered some bountiful fishing opportunities. It was created during the 1850’s by lumbermen to be able to float logs down Goodings Creek to the Cass River near Vassar. Small creeks were vital during the lumber era to readily access the forest and more easily remove winter-harvested logs. Damming the creeks was a common practice to build up enough water depth to send a flotilla of large logs in a controlled downstream rush when the dam was opened in the spring. Goodings Creek … Read More
My First Year In The Tree Saddle
Are you thinking about getting into saddle hunting but just haven’t been convinced that it’s right for you? Last weekend, my hunting partner, Steve and I took to the woods with my two black labs and removed our climbing sticks and bow hangers from the last three of the five trees we prepped for bow season last fall. Our season was very successful. In fact, even though Steve did not harvest a deer from his saddle, he did fill both his Michigan buck tags for the very first time in his life. As for me, … Read More
Backpack into the Ontario “bush” for Lake & Brooke Trout
Matt and I would become lifelong friends after the two of us made our way into the Ontario wilderness for several days of hiking, camping, and fishing. We shouldered our packs, aluminum canoe, and walked from the truck to the trailhead marker, which was nothing more than a small weathered wooden box & sign mounted on a post. If you didn’t know where to look you’d never see it. We signed in with the date we were going in and our expected date of return. I had been hearing about this adventure from Matt for … Read More
MI Shed Hunter Kills Black Bear in Self Defense
Twenty-three-year-old Kyle Nelson from Norway, Michigan killed a black bear in self defense while looking for shed antlers on April 12, 2024. He shot the bear with a CPX2 9 mm handgun made by SCCY that he has with him every time he goes in the woods. “I was walking along a swamp bottom where I got a buck last fall to try to find antlers from bucks that made it through hunting season,” Nelson said. “At one point I heard a noise by a big pine tree. When I looked toward the sound, a … Read More
Enjoying Wintertime bushytail hunting adventures
Michigan offers a generous squirrel hunting season which runs from September 15 to March 31, and you don’t have to travel far in the state to find good squirrel hunting opportunities. While I thoroughly enjoy squirrel hunting during the earlier fall season, I also always look forward to wintertime “bushytail” hunting. Due to the recent late deer hunting seasons in January that I enjoyed participating in, from February to the end of March will have me put a frequent focus on squirrel hunting, pending weather conditions, of course. Stormy and blustery winter weather doesn’t offer … Read More