The late Bob Brislawn is known by the USDA as being the founder of the Spanish Mustang as an American horse breed. I can remember a large picture of him in Life magazine in January 1969, in which he was wearing his trademark large Stetson with a small American flag protruding up out of the hatband. The Life magazine article about wild mustangs featured a bit of Bob’s history and his dedicated efforts to save the Spanish mustang as a breed. He had worked for the U.S. Geological Survey during the early 20th Century as … Read More
Red Black Bear Killed In U.P.
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 Quest For A Grand Slam Began Near Spring Training
By: C.J. VanWieren. Several months ago I received a text message from my dad asking me if I would be interested in a Florida turkey hunt. Without hesitation, I said I was absolutely in for a hunt. One, I have never hunted the Osceola turkey and would need that feather in my pursuit of the Grand Slam. More importantly than that, it was the last feather that my dad needed for his Grand Slam and I wanted to be a part of that moment. My dad had waited 27 years to complete his slam and … Read More
The Hunter, The Dreamer
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?
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
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
The “Vampire Buck” – A rare & very unique trophy
By: Tom Lounsbury. Ken Martin of Cass City truly enjoys hunting local Thumb whitetails, something he has been doing since he was a kid. Having taken his share of deer over the years, he isn’t a trophy hunter, but like many deer hunters, he always has his eye out for the “big one”. Little did he know when he went to his hunting blind on the second morning of the 2020 Michigan Firearms deer Season, he would soon encounter a dandy buck, and actually a real trophy too, in more ways than one. Daylight was … Read More
Wolf Management Badly Needed In The U.P.
By: Gary Gorniak. First, let me introduce myself. I am Gary Gorniak, President of the Straits Area Sportsmen’s Club (SASC), Vice President of The Upper Peninsula Sportsmen’s Alliance (UPSA) and Vice Chairmen of the Eastern U.P. DNR Citizens Advisory Council (EUPCAC). I am not anti-wolf; a gray wolf has a place in wildlife. But like all wildlife, the gray wolf has to be managed. You can’t pick and choose to manage one without affecting the other, especially a skilled predator as the wolf. Our 2020 deer season in the U.P. was a disaster and will … Read More
Handgun Hunting Memories
By: Tom Lounsbury. Certain memories stick with you, no matter how many years pass by. It was in the winter of 1974 I thought I’d buy myself a Christmas present and travelled to Williams Gunsight in Davison. My goal was to purchase a .44 Magnum Ruger Super Blackhawk revolver, which was referred to as the “New Model”, since Ruger had upgraded all the Blackhawk models in 1973 to have a transfer bar system which allowed revolvers to be safely carried fully loaded. For safety reasons the “Old Model” required an empty chamber to be under … Read More
Remembering Michigan’s only documented wolverine – The wonderful visitor of the Thumb
By: Tom Lounsbury. There are some theories of how Michigan became known as the “Wolverine State”, but the most plausible, in my opinion, relates to the “Great Toledo War” during 1835-36. This was regarding the boundary, called the “Toledo Strip”, entailing 468 square miles, between the State of Ohio and the Territory of Michigan, which was in the process of petitioning for statehood. Both were claiming the “strip”, and militias of both sides, were called out and even confronted each other on opposite banks of the Maumee River, near Toledo, although there fortunately was no … Read More