By:  Ryan Foguth.

Being born and raised in Michigan, I grew up hunting, fishing and trapping and was blessed with my dad building a cabin in the eastern Upper Peninsula In 1999. I spent large chunks of my childhood at that cabin, hunting and trapping until I joined the Coast Guard in 2011. 

 

When I met my wife Nicole, who was also active duty Coast Guard, while stationed at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, she had never hunted before. With it being one of my life’s greatest passions, she didn’t have much of a choice but to at least tag along with me. Every year in November, we would use our saved leave to go back to my home state of Michigan for hunting season, where we spent a few weeks in the great outdoors. Over the years, we have shared some of our greatest memories at that cabin, including Nicole’s first deer harvest of her own. 

November of 2021 was one of those many trips to the cabin for hunting season, but was one to remember. It was our last trip to the cabin as an active duty Coast Guard family, as I would be leaving the Coast Guard after nearly 11 years of service. It was also our son’s first trip to the U.P., who had been born earlier that year in March. We were all so excited that we would soon be calling the Upper Peninsula our forever home. 

We had high ambitions, as Nicole and I would both be rifle hunting, in addition to setting a few coyote and beaver traps, which we were trying to cram as much as possible of into just 2 weeks of military leave. We arrived at camp on Friday, November 12th, and the crisp air and fall leaves promised tons of adventures and great things to come! 

We immediately set out to the woods to bait our deer spots, set beaver traps and scout for some coyote sets. Within the first few days, we were able to bag a grouse and 3 beavers, which was extra special with our little 9-month first timer! He was ecstatic to get up close and personal with some of nature’s greatest gifts! 

The entire week of the opener was quiet, with no deer and our coyote sets remained untouched, but our luck was about to change. When November 21 rolled around, we woke up to a surprising amount of snow, roughly 6-8”, with promises that it would put the animals on the move. We checked our sets, but still nothing. We went to bed that night hopeful that the colder weather promises of the day would come to fruition tomorrow. 

The next day, I woke up, poured a cup of coffee and set out to walk across the road to the state land to check the coyote sets. When I approached the spot, I immediately saw a large body of fur at the location about 50 yards away. I couldn’t yet make out what I had in my trap, but I could tell from a distance that it wasn’t a coyote. 

For the past 15 years or so of trapping I had never carried a catch pole or had a plan for incidental catches. This proved to be quite troubling when realized that what I had caught was a very well-fed and full grown bobcat in my Oneida-victor foothold trap. 

With bobcat season less than a week away I knew this very angry animal had to be released. The following year the Michigan DNR would increase the bobcat season allowing trapping to begin October 25th, but that did me no good in November of 2021. No matter the dates and unfortunate timing, I knew I needed to come up with a plan. Having no idea what to do, I contacted a friend, Gary Morgan, for suggestions. He was able to contact the CO in our area; however he was on a call out of county and wouldn’t be able to help, so it was up to myself, Nicole and Raylan to figure it out. 

I returned to the cabin and went to the shed looking for supplies. Speaking with Gary had proved very helpful and I was on the hunt for a board in which I could carve a notch into which I intended to use the board to place over the foot of the bobcat in order to release it. Unfortunately, despite an exhaustive search, I didn’t find a board large enough for the occasion. What I did find was two separate beaver stretching boards and a couple of 2x4s, which I used to screw into the stretches. This essentially made a large sheet of plywood, which we cut a square in the middle of for placing over the bobcat’s foot. Pro tip (or maybe not so pro), don’t do what I did and cut the square too large. 

We loaded my obnoxiously large release contraption into the truck, got Raylan in his car seat and drove a quarter mile to the set. Luckily it was directly off a two-track and we were able to drive down to the bobcat and back the truck up to the spot. With Raylan being woken from a nap he was a little on the fussy side. We kept the window down in order to shout-sing lullabies and nursery rhymes from 10 yards away while also figuring out how to release an equally irritable bobcat (sounds fun right?). 

Luckily the bobcat was caught on the front right paw, leaning back in a lunging position and conveniently exposing the trap and his leg, as I walked towards him with the board. The board was not the easiest to maneuver, and as I started to place the square hole over the trap, he let out quite the screech. In the moment and the current predicament we had found ourselves in, this squall seemed to emulate a much larger animal than a bobcat, and was enough to question whether this was really a good idea. Was I prepared to wrestle a big cat? I thought not. 

I knew we had to get the job done, so after a bit of gritting my teeth, I got the board in place. That was when I realized the square I had cut was a bit larger than needed for the occasion. The bobcat could have easily reached his other foot through, maybe even his head if he wanted to. There was no turning back now though (I was out of options, otherwise I might’ve), so instead of kneeling down and using my hands to open the trap (and losing one in the process), I decided to step on each side, forcing the levels down and opening the trap. Miraculously it worked without an issue! 

When the trap released, Nicole and I both tensed a bit, not knowing what would happen next. It took a second for the bobcat to realize it was free. However, once the realization hit, much to our relief he turned 180 degrees and hopped away through the snow disappearing into the cedar swamps. Guess he had a way worse time than us! 

With our morning consumed with the successful release of a bobcat, it left the afternoon open for hunting. Nicole was fortunate enough to draw a doe tag that season and it was her turn to head out. She had never hunted by herself before that trip, but with this being the first time at the cabin with a baby, we didn’t think there would be much chance of getting a deer if the 9-month old tagged along with us. So I sat beside the wood stove with Raylan and a walkie talkie by the window sill. The fire was roaring in the woodstove and the late afternoon woods were quiet. 

I didn’t anticipate her seeing much that evening with all the activity from the day, but about half an hour before dark, I heard Nicole’s excited voice chime over the radio “I got one!”. 

“Are you sure?!” I asked in disbelief. It isn’t that I doubted her capabilities, but after our morning with the bobcat, it just seemed like we had reached our quota of excitement for the day.

Laughing, she confirmed and I threw Raylan into his snowsuit, grabbed my pack and headed across the road. Nicole had made a great shot (she would argue spectacular) and the deer only went thirty yards.

 

Between releasing his first bobcat and tracking his first deer, it is safe to say that our 9-month old son slept very well that night! 

It’s always an adventure in the U.P.