By: Tom Lounsbury. One of my bucket list dreams has been to get lucky on the draw for a Michigan elk license. I have been faithfully applying each year since 1984, and getting long in the tooth, it was my hope to receive a Michigan elk license while I could still put one foot in front of the other. Needless to say, folks, I was euphoric to the core when I went online in early July and discovered my dream had finally come true. At the time, I didn’t know whether I had a bull … Read More
Michigan elk hunting today – winning the draw represents the ultimate adventure
By: Tom Lounsbury. This year marks the 102nd anniversary of elk returning to Michigan. This all began with 7 Rocky Mountain elk (from Yellowstone National Park) being released in 1918 near Wolverine in northern Michigan. Elk are native to Michigan, but they had become extinct around 1875 due to unregulated hunting and a major loss of habitat. The subspecies found here was known as the eastern elk and was once abundantly found from the East Coast all the way to the Mississippi River. It was also bigger than its Rocky Mountain cousin, with mature bulls … Read More
Springtime “Gathering” in the woods is an ancient outdoor pastime as old as humankind
By: Tom Lounsbury. The outdoor pastime of gathering “wild” edible plants goes back to the very beginning of humankind, in order to survive, and it is an atmosphere which truly goes hand in hand with hunting, trapping and fishing (hence the term “hunter-gatherers”). Mushrooms come to mind right away and when it comes to picking springtime mushrooms (of which there are a wide variety), I stick strictly to morels as they are the only edible fungi I’m truly familiar with and comfortable in eating. The fact is, I absolutely love eating morels which have a … Read More
Getting Kids Involved In The Great Outdoors
By: Tom Lounsbury. One of my greatest pleasures in life as a parent was getting my three sons involved with the various pursuits in the great outdoors, and mentoring them, one on one through the process which is truly the joy of sharing, and of course “passing it on”. As a grandparent, I’m even further pleased seeing my sons doing the same in passing it on with their children. This is something we humans as hunter/gathers have been doing since the beginning of time, although in today’s high-tech society, this fact in reality can become … Read More
One fine big game cartridge for Michigan hunting – the .450 Bushmaster
By: Tom Lounsbury. When the Michigan Natural Resources Commission passed the Limited Firearms Deer Season into law five years ago, it opened up a whole new avenue for southern Michigan deer hunters, allowing an array of straight wall cartridges (.35 caliber are larger, with a minimum case length of 1.16 inches and a maximum case length of 1.80 inches) in rifles during the regular firearms deer season (not to mention the Liberty, and early and late antlerless deer seasons as well). The new law is very well written, easy to understand, and it truly uses … Read More
Taming The Beast
By: Tom Lounsbury. Fire is no doubt a living creature of sorts which requires oxygen and fuel to survive. Primitive humans were able to ascend to the top of the food chain primarily due to being able to create and use fire in a constructive manner. There is no question they knew it could easily become a raging beast in its own near mystical might, whenever fire went out of control. Fire would ease humans out of the stone-age, through the various ages of metallurgy and even industry (steam and you name it) which remains … Read More
Plinking: “You’re a Daisy if you do”
By: Tom Lounsbury. The young boy avoided stepping on downed leaves and twigs and quietly eased up to the tree trunk for a steady brace, slowly shouldered his gun, took careful aim at the quarry as he eased off the safety, and then touched the trigger. At the shot, a little green apple lying on the ground several yards away rolled over with a direct hit. The boy re-cocked his little lever-action and shot the apple again to make sure it was down for the count. My 10 year old grandson Orlando and I were … Read More
Squirrel Dogs…like lightning in a bottle
By: Tom Lounsbury. The first time that I ever hunted with what I would call a “squirrel dog” was back when I was a kid. I was hunting near the Cass River with a friend the same age as me, and we were using his unique hunting dog that was half beagle and half Border collie. This stocky dog weighed about 30 pounds and looked pretty much like a beagle with the black and white markings of a Border collie. Crossbreds for a fact can often be incredible hunters, and this dog was no exception. … Read More
Wintertime Predator Hunting – A Great Outdoor Pastime
By: Tom Loundsbury. Winters just wouldn’t be the same for me without my annual varmint hunting excursions. The “varmints” (aka predators) I’m referring to are the fox and coyote, and my home Thumb area has its share of foxes (both gray and red) and coyotes to keep an avid varmint hunter occupied for a long winter’s stretch. My preferred method is using various calling techniques, and my most productive daylight timeframes are right at daybreak or near sunset, although I’ve called varmints in at high noon as well (especially when I’ve located fresh tracks). I’ve … Read More
Preseason Readiness – Deer Season is fast approaching
By: Tom Lounsbury. Ever since my wife Ginny and I became the 4th generation to own the family farm 20 years ago, we’ve put a lot of effort since then into creating our own little wildlife paradise, thanks to various conservation programs our farm is enrolled in. My main focus is providing proper habitat for wild pheasants, and in so doing it has worked to the benefit of all wildlife, including deer. The majority of the farm entails prairie grass fields, which have evergreen windbreaks all around the outer perimeter, and it didn’t take … Read More