Michigan’s bear hunting permit system can challenge anyone’s patience ..including mine. After all, it is managed by the Dept. of Natural Resources. Most of us spent years reading the online results: “try again next year”. For one mid-Michigan hunter, Tony Dodak, he knew his efforts of getting a permit inside of the Red Oak bear management unit (BMU) was a work in progress. Nine years to be exact. He and his (hunting partner) brother, Aaron, began the planning process of unsuccessful permit draws back when the U.S. was in the midst of a financial crisis … Read More
Confessions Of An Amateur Dog Trainer: A NOT So Tough Nut To Crack
By: Amy Gauthier Kids today would probably consider my childhood to be a part of the “electronic dark ages”. We didn’t have tablets or cell phones to keep us out of the adults’ hair AND out of trouble. Leave it to my grandparents, though, to find an analog way to achieve this delicate balance. They would gather hickory nuts from under the trees, place them over newspaper at their house, and give us grandkids hammers to have fun extracting the tender morsels. I remember eagerly cracking open the shells, and the feeling of accomplishment when … Read More
Michigan Bucks and Bears
By: Richard P. Smith. Do you want to see more bucks or bears in Michigan during the future? Before you answer that question, some background information about both species of big game is important. Due to the use of a method in 2012 to estimate the UP bear population that is prone to errors, the DNR thought bear numbers were declining and reduced bear hunting licenses by 32% from 2012 through 2014 to allow the bear population to increase. The number of bear licenses issued to hunters in the Lower Peninsula (LP) were cut back … Read More
Becoming An Outdoors-Woman
By: Tom Lounsbury. For a long time, hunting especially was pretty much a “men only” pastime, although there were certainly exceptions, women who ignored status quo and went hunting. Annie Oakley is a prime example, who ventured into this atmosphere at an early age when her father died, leaving her mother and large family destitute. She would start hunting, first to feed her family, and then to provide an income (market hunting was legal in her era). Annie would sell game to a growing list of customers and because ammunition cost money, she learned to make each shot count, causing her to … Read More
The Unconventional Fish Story
By: Adrian Zarantonello My adventurous wife, Rachel, and I planned a backpacking excursion on the Manistee River Trail this spring. We both agreed to pack our fishing poles in hopes of catching some trout. The weekend arrived and our trek to our camping spot began. After setting up camp we decided to wet a line. I caught a small brook trout and lost a nice one so I gave my spot up to Rachel and slid downstream so she positioned five feet upstream of me, right behind a nice slack water eddy. After casting for a while with no action we noticed a big fish splashing around, swimming in … Read More
Mid-Michigan Magic
By Keith Kinyon. I was fortunate enough to get permission to hunt a 160 acre piece of property in Northern Midland County for the 2017 turkey season. The owner of the farm did not want me to use a pop up blind, decoys, or a turkey call. “You don’t need all those gimmicks,” he said. The sharp-eyed 70 year-olds farm held a huge number of turkeys and I felt lucky to be able to hunt there so I was not about to question him too much. The first evening I ignored his advice on where … Read More
Wild Turkey Fever
By Tom Lounsbury. When April arrives I automatically develop a case of “wild turkey fever”, an annual spring malady that has been afflicting me for almost 50 years now. I find myself habitually sorting out turkey hunting gear, practicing with various turkey calls (when I do this indoors it eventually nets a rather blunt complaint from my wife) and patterning my turkey shotguns, of which I have a few favorites, at my backyard shooting range. Although I already know how each shotgun patterns, I need to assure that I am still in tune with them, … Read More
The illustrious Ruger .44 Mag. Carbine
By: Jim Kushner This little semi-auto carbine is easy to carry and fast to get on target. especially if you hunt thick cover or from an enclosed blind where room to move is limited. It is only a little longer overall than a yard stick and weighs about 6 lbs. It has an 18 1/2 inch barrel and holds 4 rounds in a tube magazine that loads from the bottom similar to a pump action shotgun. A friend of mine used one of these successfully from his pop up blinds until his daughter started deer … Read More
A Classic Michigan Bear Hunt (w/video)
Black bear hunting in da U.P…..eh. On September 15th, 2016 my dream of bagging a Michigan Black bear came true. My name is Nick Grillo and I am an avid Outdoorsman. I have always been around hunting but I started out deer hunting when I was 14. Deer Hunting has always been one of my main passions in life, that is until I sat 7 yards from a black bear, face to face at ground level. Man….now that was a rush. I still love deer hunting, but definitely gained a huge respect and passion for … Read More
My First Michigan Bear
“This was my first Michigan black bear hunt and it was everything I hoped it would be. Wild Game Dynasty was exceptional! My hunting partner and I arrived at camp a day early to an excellent dinner after a long road trip. Prepared food was exceptional each morning & night.. The area is beautiful. There is a reason why the U.P. is called “God’s Country”. I could not believe how hard our guides worked for all of the guys at camp. I did shoot a nice Michigan black bear! The bear came in exactly how … Read More