Well, my friends, deer season is behind us. The snow is gone, and those toms will soon be gobbling away in the woods this spring. Your chance to put in for a 2025 turkey hunt has come and gone but, not to worry because there will be plenty of over-the-counter tags available for purchase and that late hunt can be a good one. Last year, I told the story I called “Double Trouble” in which my good friend Andy and I doubled on a couple of nice toms. Well would you believe me if I … Read More
2023 And Me: A Year to Remember
Author: Rodd Little. Anyone who hunts or fishes has years where everything he does falls right into place, while other years it seems like no matter what you do nothing goes right. In 50 years of hunting I have never had a year like 2023. It started during the spring turkey season with my 9 year old grandson Connor. I took Connor on my property in northern Bay County on opening day of the 2023 turkey season to a portable (tent) blind in a Grandpa Ray’s clover plot I had frost seeded in March. I … Read More
1968 – The year my annual spring turkey hunting adventures began
A very popular TV show when I was growing up was Michigan Outdoors, which was hosted by the late Mort Neff and aired every Thursday night. I looked forward to watching it each week because Mort Neff was always covering and promoting Michigan’s fantastic outdoor opportunities. A topic he kept tabs on was the reintroduction of wild turkeys (from Pennsylvania) to the Northern Lower Peninsula during the mid-1950’s. Limited Spring turkey hunts began in 1965 and getting a “gobbler tag” was done by applying through the mail to a special drawing. This was very similar … Read More
Trophy Wild Turkey Hunting
By the time the 20th century arrived, wild turkeys could only be found in isolated pockets of North America. This was due to the major destruction of habitat and unregulated hunting, with some states, such as Michigan, having its wild turkey population completely extirpated. Michigan began transplanting wild turkeys from Pennsylvania in the Allegan State Forest during the 1950’s. Efforts were made to successfully expand the wild turkeys’ range across the northern Lower Peninsula, and the first limited turkey hunt was held in 1965. This would continue with other northern Michigan areas having a limited … Read More
The Third Time is The Charm
“At last, the skies above are blue” …. And he’s not blue anymore. Hmmm, of whom could I be speaking? Well of one who finally landed his dream turkey, of course. What started out as a hunting opportunity soon escalated into somewhat of an obsession. This is his story through his wife’s eyes… The time it takes to shoot a turkey is brief, but when you consider the time involved with getting to that point, there’s much more to be said. This story takes place in Montmorency County, in what is known as big timber … Read More
Foul Weather Gobblers Can Be A Challenge
Walking into the Cass City DNR Field Office at 4:30 am just prior to going turkey hunting is always a delight for me, because ladies all clad in camouflage, will be having donuts and coffee while excitedly anticipating heading out with their mentors during the annual 2-day Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) Turkey Hunting Workshop. I greeted the 2 ladies who I was going to mentor, Anna Bucholtz, and her 10-year-old daughter, Delilah and we were soon headed out in my Jeep to some private property I had permission to take them hunting on and … Read More
Gearing Up For Spring Gobblers
There is no other atmosphere which can compare to spring turkey hunting in our beautiful state, and Michigan offers an abundant bounty of opportunities. It ranks as being one of the top turkey hunting states in the nation, something I truly appreciate, and sure do enjoy! The fact that spring turkey licenses can now be purchased over the counter certainly works for me. A real nice offering for southern Michigan turkey hunters is the ZZ Unit which runs for the entire April 20 – May 31 season this year on private lands only and is … Read More
The ever-unique atmosphere of spring turkey hunting
Spring of 2023 was a very lucky timeframe for me. I had purchased a raffle ticket from the Cass City Gun Club, for a turkey shotgun. I’ve been none too lucky when it comes to raffles and look at purchasing tickets as generally supporting a good cause and have no expectations of winning anything. However, my ticket was drawn for a Winchester SXP Longbeard 20 ga shotgun, which has turkey hunting written all over it. Being able to use this specialized shotgun a couple weeks later to bag my largest gobbler ever in over 50 … Read More
Doubling Down On Turkeys
What have you been doing since the close of the last deer season? Maybe you’ve been doing a little rabbit or coyote hunting? Maybe you’ve hunkered down in your nice warm house for the winter. Well a spring turkey hunt is a great reason to head back to the woods and get that blood flowing again and of course being in the woods again is good for the soul. As we approach turkey season each spring, my thoughts always seem to drift towards the fond memories of turkey hunting with my good friend, Andy. Of … Read More
Playing By Ear
The walk through the darkness and silence was eerily exciting, like when you step into a lake and something unseen brushes past your leg. The cool rain wasn’t falling hard enough to discourage the adventure but just hard enough to make zipping up the jacket a good idea. In so many ways it was the same. Yet in several ways it was different. About 20 years had elapsed since my previous wild turkey hunting in northern Michigan. For a couple of reasons I stopped, mainly the nuisance of interlopers sneaking in hours after I had … Read More