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
Wolf Shot In Self-Defense !
By: Richard P. Smith. Brian Krupla from Newberry, Michigan has a good reason for wanting wolves in the Great Lakes Region removed from the endangered species act. Last summer, he was forced to kill a wolf to protect himself and one of his dogs and he’s concerned about the safety of his daughter. Krupla could have been the state’s first instance of a wolf attacking a human in modern times on August 2, 2019, if he had not armed himself before trying to rescue his dog from a wolf about 10:00 a.m. that morning. … Read More
Natural Destination Areas
By: John Eberhart. As bowhunters we oftentimes tend to make things much more difficult than they need be. For instance from the late 60’s through the mid 80’s the amount of hours I spent on stand per kill was much higher than what it’s been since. In fact, since the late 80’s the amount of time I’ve spent on stand has steadily decreased whereas my success rate has significantly increased. How did I hunt differently back then compared to now? I used to hunt the standard short crop field edges, perimeters of marshes and swamps … Read More
Deer drives – an ageless and very effective hunting technique – Especially when whitetails go nocturnal and are hard to find.
By: Tom Lounsbury. A couple muzzleloader deer seasons ago, I was on a deer drive with friends and happened to be a “stander” at a likely location on the corner of a briar-infested woodlot bordering a hayfield. It was high noon (a good time to do a drive when deer are usually doing their daily “siesta”, often until dark in heavy cover) and according to all the deer sign, there were clearly plenty of deer seeking refuge in the thick and snarly cover, and I was anticipating plenty of action, which can be the case … Read More