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
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
Where Are The Brakes On Skiis !!?
By: Tom Lounsbury. This certainly has been an unusual winter here in the Thumb. The atmosphere mostly represented spring-like weather, and a lack of snow, which in turn may have prevented me from getting a few “lumps”. Then just recently over a foot of snow (my 14 inch rubber chore boots are topped out in the white-stuff) dropped down on our farm, almost overnight. Old Man Winter seems to be making up for lost time, which has me pondering taking advantage of it. I must admit I’m not much of a skier. I tried downhill … Read More
Listen! …for the Call Of The Wild.
By: Jim Kushner. I recently received an e-mail from my friend Gary Morgan. When I opened it I saw a picture of his place at ELO (East Lake Outfitters). There was snow up around the front door and no sign that anyone had been around recently. His message was that he had an urge to go up there and get a fire going in the stove and maybe start a small trap line…asking that I drop what I’m doing and join him. The image took me back to my own cabin in Ontario. I have … Read More
A Celebration And You’re Invited!
Celebrate National Winter Trails Day January 7th with Hiawatha Shore-to-Shore chapter (HSS) of the North Country Trail Association or on your own if you are adventurous. The celebration is designed to introduce the public to winter trail sport activities that are available to the EUP community and visitors all day long throughout the winter season. The event is planned so that participants can enjoy one or more of the event options from early AM to well after dark! Those wishing to begin their day early in the winter woods can ski the Hiawatha National Forest … Read More
Will Work For Food!
Many of us have booked a wild game hunt with an outfitter…at least once. There are many reasons for trusting our hunts to someone else’s planning and handiwork, but few will admit they most need a professional to cover their ‘back side’. WGD found a handful of some of the toughest hunting guides in the Midwest. We recently sat down with them to get a feel of what drives their ambition. “Most guides are in shape, physically…it’s the mental toughness that matters most”, says Ross Chambers, a professional guide in Michigan’s remote Upper Peninsula. Imagine … Read More
Old Tyme Hunting Adventures
By: Tom Lounsbury. I must admit that I have a strong passion for reading, and when it comes to reading material, I have a real soft spot for that relating to history and if it entails matters associated to the outdoors as well so much the better. I came across a real jewel some time back, “The Hunting Expeditions of Oliver Hazard Perry”, based on his hunting diaries from 1836 through 1855. An article in an outdoor magazine brought this literary work to my attention, and I first located it through my local library. After … Read More
Operation Injured Soldier – Disabled veterans healing through hunting
by: Tom Lounsbury Listening to 20 beagles howling at various places in the surrounding woods, accompanied by a crescendo of (shotgun) shots here and there on a brisk winter morning is certainly a very unique sound that was quite frankly, music to my ears. I was observing a recent rabbit hunt for disabled veterans through a program called “Operation Injured Soldier” (OIS) on 400 acres of excellent wildlife habitat owned by Dr. Richard Horsch of Mayville. Personally, I’ve been on a lot of rabbit hunts with beagles in my day (which is quite a few … Read More
The Sweet Flavor Of Spring
I always look forward to my annual spring pilgrimage to the Battel sugarbush located just a few miles northeast of Cass City (on Ritter Road – a couple miles west of M-53), to stock up on freshly made maple syrup, a very sweet flavor of spring I always yearn for. This usually occurs not long after the first day of spring, because the typical timeframe for gathering sap from tapped maple trees in the Thumb runs from March 1 to April 1. (I thoroughly enjoy the annual Battel Maple Syrup Open House the third … Read More
Enjoying The Journey
As the saying goes, “it’s not the destination, but the journey that is most remembered”. If this is true I hope to be constantly heading in that direction. It is notoriously where all the fun is…where expectations are held high. The Land Of Superior has offered that to a lot of folks – including those that live there, eh? As I headed towards one of my hunting spots one morning I was quickly reminded of one simple reason for enjoying the journey. It was early November and cold, but very picturesque. No need for ear … Read More