When winter finally rolls in, I automatically begin pondering squirrel hunting, and there is little doubt in my mind that a highly underutilized outdoor pastime is pursuing wintertime bushytails. Personally, I thoroughly enjoy every opportunity to go squirrel hunting, and I have my favorite spots on both private and public land, not only in my home Thumb area, but also elsewhere in the state. A beauty about squirrel hunting is that you don’t have to travel far to find ample opportunities anywhere in our great state of Michigan, and with plenty of public land available, … Read More
ODE TO JOE – A Faithful Companion and Friend
Anyone who has ever owned a dog can appreciate the immense sense of loyalty a canine friend provides. This bond may be intensified when dog and man spend countless hours together in the great outdoors. Perhaps there’s no better example of this than upland bird hunting, when this finely tuned duo work in tandem to tag team their winged prey. This story is about Joe, a beloved German Short-hair Pointer (GSP). His owner, Barb, cared for him, or more likely spoiled him, and graciously allowed her husband, John, to be his hunting buddy. She said, … Read More
Hunting Michigan’s Wild Roosters
The annual opening of Michigan’s pheasant season on October 20th is a revered day for me, and has been since I was a kid. My first memories of hunting are of being in the fields of our farm with visiting pheasant hunters and their bird dogs. There were the sounds of dog whistles, shouts, cackling roosters rising and gunfire followed by the pungent scent of burnt gunpowder in the crisp autumn air. Yep, folks, to say this great outdoor experience is deeply engrained into my being to this day is an understatement. I feel blessed … Read More
A Very Memorable “Coontest”.
During the first weekend in March last year, the Ubly Fox Hunter’s Club held their first annual “Coontest” in which contestants can enter raccoons they have harvested in any legal manner, such as using dogs, calling or trapping. Bringing in obvious roadkill was not allowed. Seventeen 4-person teams had entered that contest but were in for some challenging conditions when a foot of snow suddenly hit the Thumb area. Just the same, contestants managed to enter 331 raccoons, an amazing feat considering the weather. Early March is a good timeframe because raccoons are usually out … Read More
Thumbs Up Women On The Wing
Hunting, nationwide, has seen steadily decreasing hunter numbers in recent years. States have been trying to recruit new hunters and Michigan, for example, has developed a mentor hunting license for youth hunters 9 years old and under, and an apprentice hunting license for10 years old and older, which includes adults. There are also special youth-related hunts focused on getting new generations involved, all of which I fully support. I also fully support a new trend in the hunter statistics which represents women becoming more involved in hunting, as well as other shooting pastimes. The fact … Read More
The Anomaly Grouse
Sometimes hunters and fishermen have a tendency to embellish their stories, or at least the stories grow bigger as time goes by. Who knows that the passage of time may cloud the memory which causes such delusions. More often than not we add to or take away from our experiences to make the stories more entertaining than anything malicious. With this in mind I am putting to paper the story about the “Anomaly Grouse”, as best I can recall it! Wink, wink! The word, anomaly means, abnormal, peculiar, something different; you get the idea. When … Read More
Nothing beats a day spent in good “rabbitat”
Growing up on a Thumb area farm, I have a long association with the cottontail rabbit, a wild, carefree critter which I much admire, and it was the first game animal I ever harvested. This occurred when I was a kid and had just finished my morning chores at the barn and was returning to our farmhouse. When I walked past the corncrib, a cottontail flushed from near it and headed lickety-split to our orchard nearby. I went to the house and grabbed up my single-shot .410 shotgun, and a couple shells. A fresh, fluffy … Read More
Hail To Thee Ole Michigan Grouse
By: Jeff Horn. The elusive one that causes the hunter to miss their shots, and say ugly words. The Historian and Geographer Herodotus called Egypt “Gift of the Nile”. Perhaps if old Herodotus had ever hunted grouse in the U. P. of Michigan he would have dubbed Michigan and the great lakes region “the gift of the grouse”. In a Grouse season so dry, that even the grouse packed water, I found myself ready to call the DNR and ask, where have all the grouse gone? My hunting party didn’t find the grouse in the … Read More
The true beauty of versatile Hunting Dogs opens the doors to many outdoor opportunities and adventures
By: Tom Lounsbury. The first dogs in my memory were the farm dogs we used for herding our dairy cows. This was back in the 1950’s when the Thumb had countless small farms, usually entailing milk cows in the mix. A common dog in the scene was a collie-type that had been brought into the Thumb by settlers, many from Canada (my great grandfather Townsend Lounsbury came to the Thumb directly from Canada). The dogs were what we in my local neighborhood called “coallies” due to the fact most were a longhaired dark brindle-colored affair, … Read More
Wintertime Predator Hunting – The Other Season
By: Tom Lounsbury. When January arrives, it marks the time for a favorite outdoor pastime of mine. The primary quarry these days for most Michigan hunters is the whitetail deer, which means when all the deer seasons end and winter settles in, many hunters hang it all up until the following fall deer seasons arrive once again. For a growing number of hunters however, there is the “other season”, wintertime predator hunting. In Michigan, predator hunting entails foxes (both red and gray), coyotes, and in the northern part of the state, bobcats. The red fox … Read More