By: Tom Lounsbury “A great program for introducing women and girls to the outdoors!” 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 become one of the most remarkable shooters in history. She would pay off the mortgage on her family farm when she was only 15 years old and go on to become famous in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. Thanks to my late mother, I was introduced to hunting at the wee age of three when I was her “pooch” for pheasant hunting. She was a crack shot with her single-shot Iver Johnson 20 ga, having been taught to shoot by older brothers and hunting for her family larder during the Great Depression. Mom learned to make each shot count, because ammunition cost money, an attitude she passed on to me when she taught me to shoot. She also could care less about any status quo stuff about “men only” pastimes, and she passed that attitude on to me as well. Needless to say, when Ron Sting of the DNR asked if I would help with a wild turkey seminar/hunt for a Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) it was a no-brainer for me to jump right in. BOW was first created in 1991 and is now found in 44 states (including Michigan) and 9 Canadian Provinces. The recent BOW program took place at the Cass City DNR Field Office, starting with a wild turkey seminar there on Friday, May 12th, and a hunt with mentors on Saturday, May 13th. Ron Sting did an outstanding job arranging everything and the seminar involved every aspect of turkey hunting, with knowledgeable speakers on each topic. This was followed by actual shooting at “turkey” targets. Since I have a backyard shooting range and my home is only a couple miles from the Cass City DNR Field Office, the shooting portion was performed there. Some ladies had their own shotguns and some did not, and Ron Sting made sure all were fitted out and comfortable with shooting and putting an accurate pattern centered on the turkey target, entailing the all important head/neck shot. One (13 year old) young lady was totally unaccustomed to firearms and very nervous, and DNR Conservation Officer Seth Rhodea (who had earlier given a talk on turkey hunting ethics and safety) spent some one-on-one time with the young lady, off to the side and performing dry-firing exercises with an empty shotgun. As a result, the young lady was soon confidently hammering targets with a 20 ga and thoroughly enjoying it. In fact I could see all the ladies were enjoying it, and it was a real pleasure watching them all take their turn at eagerly shooting away at their targets, followed by examining the results of the shot, and the obvious confidence this created. There was no doubt in my mind, if a turkey hunting opportunity happened for any of these ladies, a gobbler was going down. Ron Sting had put the BOW information out with a cap for 10 ladies to participate, and in only two days he had an overwhelming response and it became a first come, first serve situation, with 11 attending, and some from as far away as Grand Rapids. Each woman had a mentor to take them turkey hunting and matters would begin with breakfast at 4:30 AM on Saturday morning at the Cass City DNR Field Office, immediately followed by hunters and their mentors heading out to pre-selected areas, some on state land and some on private land. I had two ladies riding with me in my Jeep; Debra Robinson of Macomb and Pam Walton of Lapeer, and we were heading out to meet with Bob Walker of Kingston. Bob had very generously agreed to lend a hand and had arranged a perfect spot for the two ladies to hunt. Bob would mentor Pam and I would mentor Debra and in no time we were all headed our separate ways into the woods. Deb and I would be in a wooden ground blind literally constructed into a hillside, which reminds me of a bunker with a shooting window. While Deb got situated in the blind, I set out two hen decoys with one at 15 yards and the other at 20 yards for a known range reference. I then quickly got back into the blind, because the gray light of dawn was fast approaching. Deb was sitting to the left and I to the right, and I told her to load her gun at he get go. She had purchased it used and it was dandy vintage Winchester pump 20 ga with an adjustable Poly-Choke at the muzzle, which she had cranked to the “full” position. We had learned the evening before that this shotgun was a great performer with #6, 3 inch Magnum turkey loads, which Deb had a great time shooting. I knew she and her gun were a perfect fit and she would do her part if I could do mine. To keep matters simple, I only had two turkey calls which were my “Ben Lee” box call (which I purchased in the early 1980’s and is a collector’s item) and a simple to use Quaker Boy “Easy Yelper” which only requires holding in one hand and pushing a wooden rod. I wanted Deb to see things could get done without a whole bag–full of gadgets and calls. My long recommendation to new turkey hunters is to only start with one call and learn to use it well before moving on to another call. I generally only take two calls out when I’m turkey hunting as it is, and I prefer only friction types including the pan/slate calls. I’ve found the mouth diaphragms don’t blend well at all with my chewing tobacco. After almost 50 years of turkey hunting I’ve developed some instincts which are purely gut-feelings which come out of nowhere and I can’t quite put it into words. All I can say is that when the woods lightened up and starting time was on I went to (hen) purring mixed in with an occasional cadence of (hen) yelps on my box call. I’ve heard it said that too much calling isn’t a good thing, but I’ve seen the occasion when you really can’t talk too much turkey, and my gut feeling let me know this was an occasion to really lay it on. We got an immediate response from left to right of 3 gobblers, and in a matter of seconds Deb and I knew the far right gobbler was incoming and closing the gap. That is when a fourth gobbler cut loose directly behind us less than 10 yards away. I immediately stuck my hand out the window (which the gobbler couldn’t see from behind us) and I let out a long drawn and very whining purr with the Easy Yelper to give the gobbler the idea a hen directly downhill was real interested in his advances. I was sitting with my back to the door when I felt the vibration a gobbler can send out as it drums, and I knew the bird was standing right next to the door while it looked over our blind’s roof at the hen decoys below. I whispered to Deb to freeze and not to even blink, and then the gobbler suddenly appeared at point blank range on Deb’s side of the window as it eased down the hill toward the decoys. He was one of the largest gobblers I have ever called in, with a long and thick beard. With its head up and moving around, this sharp-eyed bird had a 360 degree … Read More
A Wild Experience With My Father
By: Jim Kushner I first went deer hunting with my Dad when I was around 12, it was just a day trip & other than some deer that had been chased across a field we were driving past I don’t remember seeing anything. Over the years Dad & I hunted together a lot. I was with him and a younger brother on the opening day that I shot my first buck. He wasn’t close enough to help with the first field dressing job or dragging it to the truck but he congratulated me and helped … Read More
Bear Hunting When Conventional Wisdom Ain’t Workin’
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