Popular deer rifles and calibers in southern Michigan’s Limited Firearms Zone

Tom LounsburyBucks n Bears, Friends of ELO

By:  Tom Lounsbury. November 15th is definitely a very special and popular day for a whole lot of Michigan deer hunters. It is a day that I have been enjoying for nearly 60 deer seasons, and my annual anticipation is such, that I usually have a sleepless night before the long-awaited opening morning. It was that way when I was a kid, and six decades later, it remains to be the same. There is no question that deer hunting is a distinct passion of mine, especially local, close to my home deer hunting in Michigan’s … Read More

The “Sacred Doe” Of The Forest

Tom LounsburyBucks n Bears, Friends of ELO, Tips for Beginners, Youth Hunts

By:  Tom Lounsbury. Probably one of the most daunting tasks for the MDNR, is to get deer hunters to harvest a doe. The last time I checked, only 40% of Michigan deer hunters ever purchase an “antlerless” deer tag, and when you check out the data of the overall annual deer harvest, antlered deer always way outnumber antlerless deer.  It is readily apparent that decades of a hunting tradition passed down through generations of Michigan deer hunters, that a female deer is the “sacred doe” of the forest, and therefore never, ever to be shot, … Read More

Using Dogs to Locate Wounded Bear or Deer

Jacob VanHoutenBucks n Bears, Friends of ELO, Uncategorized

By:  Jacob VanHouten. “I can’t believe I lost that buck, with a good shot and strong blood trail… I just don’t get it” was the depressing thought swirling around my mind as I recalled events to my family and friends in deer camp. If you are a deer hunter, the loss of a deer has or may happen to you or someone you know during your hunting life. If so, you may want to now consider an underutilized method to increase your odds of recovery by the use of a tracking dog.  As of 2019, … Read More

Red Black Bear Killed In U.P.

Richard P SmithBucks n Bears, Friends of ELO

By:  Richard P. Smith. Ed Groom from Saline has always been lucky when it comes to hunting. One of the first turkeys he bagged was a smokey gray gobbler and he got a bull moose in Ontario with antlers that had a 58-inch spread. Then, on his first bear hunt ever in the UP during 2020, he shot a black bear with a red coat while hunting with guides Susie and Roy Little. Almost all bears in the state are black in color, but there is an occasional bruin that turns up on which the … Read More

The Hunter, The Dreamer

Wild Game DynastyBucks n Bears, Friends of ELO

By:  Bob Morgan. There is movement.  Rich bronze against a maze of greens The muscled neck swings gracefully upward and intelligent eyes search the difference. Nose raised to the air, a search for unfamiliar scents. A slight snort, sharp hooves paw the earth and the whitetail moves back into the maze of green, completely obscured.  I, too, am obscured. From my stand high in a tall oak, I have watched the buck reveal himself, then once  again hide. His wariness, his wiliness impress me.  I did not move, I could not have been seen or … Read More

Are You Scouting For Success?

Wild Game DynastyBucks n Bears, East Lake Buzz, Friends of ELO

By:  Gary Morgan. Much has been written about ‘scouting whitetail deer’ causing a pause before I chose to partake in ‘just one more’.  Of course, my hunting friendships offering me that phrase have rarely caused me to decline…so I shall embark.   My Peeps know where my home range is but for everyone else let’s focus on Michigan …particularly the upper peninsula.  I’ll affectionately refer to this land mass as big timber…thus, Big Timber Whitetails.  My journey for a different kind of hunt began in the late 90’s when family and work constraints had formed my…”my … Read More

Rare (Michigan) Bear Behavior

Richard P SmithBucks n Bears, Friends of ELO, Uncategorized

  By:  Richard P. Smith. After more than 50 years of bear hunting in the UP, I experienced something I’ve never seen before during the 2021 bear season. Before discussing that rare event, some background information is important. I drew a bear tag for the third hunt in the Baraga bear management unit, as did some friends from the Traverse City area who I usually hunt with out of Lac La Belle Lodge in Keweenaw County. The group included father and son Amos and Doug Esman along with father and sons Kent, Shamus and Seth … Read More

Atlanta Muzzle Loading Adventures

Keith KinyonBucks n Bears, Friends of ELO

  By:  Keith Kinyon. For the 2021 muzzleloader season I headed north to Atlanta Michigan, just like I had for the previous two seasons, to hunt with Gary Morgan of Wild Game Dynasty.  The 2019 season Gary acquired a new 40 acre piece of property to hunt and what a surprise that turned out to be for me!  I shot a nice 9pt. that is the biggest buck I’ve taken during muzzleloader season.  The 2020 season is a blur, not having had as much time to go up and hunt, I did not harvest a … Read More

Another U.P. Deer Hunting Experience

Bruce TerBeekBucks n Bears, East Lake Buzz, Friends of ELO

By:  Bruce Ter Beek. It has been almost ten years ago since I first contacted Gary Morgan at Wild  Game Dynasty and scheduled my first hunt with him.  In my previous article for Wild Game Dynasty I wrote about my first deer hunt  with my dad at age ten. He taught me to be a steward of the land and of our  game resources, to hunt ethically, and how to practice conservation. For nearly  the next six decades November 15th was our “new years day” as we prepared  for the next season. After his passing, … Read More

A spring black bear hunting season in Michigan would be a great alternative

Tom LounsburyBucks n Bears, Friends of ELO, Spring Fling

By:  Tom Lounsbury. The black bear is a very adaptable critter and can be found in a wide variety of habitats. Its range goes from Canada, south to northern Mexico, and is found throughout the United Sates, with the only exception being Hawaii, which has no bears. Michigan has a steadily growing number of black bears with over 11,000 in the Upper Peninsula and around 3,000 in the northern Lower Peninsula, where the range is steadily creeping south. A black bear was recently captured in Grand Rapids and taken back up north and released. Typically, … Read More