Category: Hunting

Michigan: DNR Launching New License Sales System

System down starting Feb. 15; customers encouraged to buy licenses and permits early

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources will move to a new, more technologically advanced system for selling hunting and fishing licenses, hunting applications, and ORV and snowmobile permits online and at retail agent locations statewide. The new system will go live at noon Feb. 18.

The transition to the new license sales system will take place Saturday, Feb. 15, through noon Tuesday, Feb. 18. DNR licenses, permits and applications will not be sold in stores or online during that time.

To avoid any interruption to outdoor activities that weekend, customers are encouraged to buy licenses or permits before Feb. 15, if possible.

Anglers will not need a license to fish Feb. 15-17. No fishing license is required during the annual winter Free Fishing Weekend, Feb. 15 and 16, and the DNR also is allowing free fishing on Monday, Feb. 17, to coincide with the time the license system is unavailable. All rules and regulations still apply.

Snowmobilers and off-road vehicle riders can find a list of select dealers selling preprinted ORV licenses and ORV and snowmobile trail permits while the system is down at Michigan.gov/Snowmobiling.

Moving to the new system, which will replace a 26-year-old system under a vendor contract ending in April, allowed the DNR to upgrade its license sales technology, enhance features for customers and provide new equipment to license retailers.

“We’re always looking to improve our customers’ experience, and we designed this new system to improve the license-buying experience both online and in stores,” said DNR Director Dan Eichinger. “We spent more than two years planning and developing a modern license sales system that offers up-to-date, convenient and cost-effective services for our customers and retail partners.”

Features of the new license sales system include:

  • A barcode scanner wand at retailer locations, which will allow license agents to speed up the sales process by quickly scanning customer driver’s licenses – including nonresidents – rather than typing in customer information.
  • A more streamlined buying and selling process both online and in stores – for example, customers will only have the option to buy licenses for which they are eligible, meaning they shouldn’t be able to accidentally buy the wrong license and pay the wrong amount.
  • The opportunity for online customers to create a profile, access their order history, reprint previously purchased, non-kill tag items and set up voluntary auto-renewal of fishing licenses.
  • Purchases consolidated on the printed license, which means fewer licenses for customers to carry and potentially lose.
  • A QR code on the license to encrypt the customer identification number for increased security.

The DNR license sales system serves about 2 million customers a year, online and through 1,500 retail agent locations throughout Michigan, issuing nearly 4 million licenses and permits and processing roughly $77 million in revenue. Read more

Fishing, Hunting

Getting Outside

By Glen Wunderlich

Charter Member Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA)

“Get outside and blow the stink off!” were my grandfather’s harsh words when I got on his nerves some 60 years ago. I don’t know about the “stink” part of that command, but he had a way of chasing us kids outdoors. Back then it was perfectly natural to be physically active and I thrived on the competitive nature of sports and anything out of doors; it just wasn’t anything anyone really had to force us to do.

However, a disturbing trend ominously portends a bleak forecast in the well-being of our younger generation. Outdoor Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), released the latest Outdoor Participation Report, showing about half the U.S. population participated in outdoor recreation at least once in 2018, including hunting, hiking, camping, fishing, canoeing and biking among many more outdoor activities. Unfortunately, the report illustrates that half the U.S. population does not participate in outdoor recreation at all.

That sure explains why I see vacant baseball fields in the summer months now, whereas in the past we scrambled on our bicycles to claim these sandlot spaces for a pick-up game.

“Currently, 90 cents of every health care dollar is spent on treating people with chronic disease,” said Jeff Bellows, vice president, corporate citizenship and public affairs, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. “We need to attack the root causes of these diseases, for example, by helping people adopt healthier lifestyles to make sure they are giving themselves and their families the best chance at a healthy life.”

“At a time when Americans are experiencing an epidemic of chronic disease, it’s troubling to know that nearly half do not engage in outdoor recreation at all – something we know helps improve overall quality of life,” said Patricia Rojas-Ungar, vice president of government affairs at OIA. “

Troubling trends include the following:

  • Less than 20 percent of Americans recreated outside at least once a week.
  • Americans went on one billion fewer outdoor outings in 2018 than they did in 2008.
  • Kids went on 15 percent fewer annual outings in 2018 than they did in 2012.

Reversing these current tendencies begins at home and we need more adults like my grandfather, if ever we are to release ourselves from the trappings of physical inactivity.

Sometimes all it takes is a nudge or a simple invitation to participate in a simple fishing excursion or walk in the woods. Opening these conceptual doors can open eyes in a manner that no pretend-video experience has the potential to do.

Today, we see myriad TV commercials touting new wonder drugs to combat what ails us. “Tell your doctor…” they exclaim and take a pill. And, when a person gets too overweight and lazy, it’s the easy way out – that is until years later we learn about all the serious side effects of doing just that.

An ounce of prevention is still worth a pound of cure, so get out there and blow the stink off.

Fishing, Hunting

Montana hunters speak up in support of more public hunting access to better manage elk herds

More than 1,200 Montana hunters have spoken up in support of increasing public access to hunt elk on private and public lands during the late October and November general season in order to better manage our state’s elk herds.

That was among the findings of a survey of more than 1,200 Montana elk hunters conducted by the Montana Wildlife Federation to gauge public support for different approaches to elk management. The survey asked hunters several questions about management of elk in the state.

Eight in 10 respondents said in the survey it is very important or important to increase public access for hunting during the general season to achieve better elk management. Montana has the longest general rifle opportunity for deer and elk in the West, with a five week season. For decades, public hunting during the general hunting season has been the primary management tool for elk and Montana hunters said they want to maintain that, and return to an emphasis on the five week season. Read more

Hunting

Whitetails Unlimited Deer Camp Tour 2020 Just Getting Started

Whitetails Unlimited’s Deer Camp Tour 2020 is off and running with the first events taking place on January 4 in Fort Kearney, Nebraska and Austin, Minnesota. WTU plans on holding over 80 Deer Camps in 23 different states during 2020.

Tickets for Deer Camp events have become a hot commodity, with many events selling out quickly. “Each Deer Camp has a limited amount of tickets available,” says Whitetails Unlimited Program Services Director Russ Austad. “Attending a Deer Camp has become a tradition for a lot of our members so when tickets go on sale, they sell fast.” Each attendee will also receive a 2020 Deer Camp shirt at the event featuring the logos of WTU’s 65 Deer Camp sponsors. The shirts are redesigned each year, which has made them somewhat of a collector’s item. Whitetails Unlimited would like to extend a special thank you to the 2020 sponsors who help make the Deer Camp Tour a huge success. Read more

Hunting

Tanzania Leopard, Cape Buffalo, and Plains Game Hunt with Craig Boddington and Custom Blaser Rifle Offered as 2020 SCI Auction Package

San Antonio, Texas – Blaser Group is pleased to announce its participation in a special Safari Club International (SCI) Convention auction package worth an estimated $85,000. This leopard, Cape buffalo, and plains game hunt in Tanzania, with renowned outdoor writer and legendary African hunter, Craig Boddington, features a custom Blaser R8 rifle with optics and more.

Game Trackers Africa, Blaser Group and Craig Boddington Endorsed Outfitters have joined forces to offer this exceptional safari package.

Jaco and Magdel Oosthuizen of Game Trackers Africa have generously donated the leopard, Cape buffalo and plains game safari in Tanzania’s famed Selous Game Reserve, promising to deliver another incredible hunting experience in Africa’s most magical and largest game reserve. The 14-day hunt will be conducted from a traditional East African tented camp; included is a $5,000 credit toward trophy fees. Journalist and experienced African hunter Craig Boddington will accompany the winning bidder. The hunt may be taken on available dates in either 2020 or 2021. Not included: $9,550 government Hunting Permit, Dip & Pack and Conservation fees; Rifle permits of $300 per rifle; air charter from Dar es Salaam-camp; and hotels in Dar es Salaam before and after the safari. Observers are welcome at $450 per day; additional hunter is $2,850 per day plus government fees. (Safari value: $45,000.00) Read more

Hunting

Ducks Unlimited to auction off rare hunting opportunity

Helena event awarding Montana’s only state-wide Shiras moose permit

HELENA, Mont. – Ducks Unlimited is auctioning off a rare Montana Shiras moose license. Each year, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission (MFWP) allows one conservation group to auction off a permit that allows the winner to hunt in any moose hunting district in the state. If you want a chance to win this golden ticket, you can participate in the March 6, 2020, auction happening at the Helena Ducks Unlimited dinner.

DU holds the auction on behalf of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MFWP), and proceeds go toward moose research and habitat conservation in Montana. Participants may bid for the permit in-person during the dinner at the Helena Civic Center or over the phone. Ducks Unlimited receives up to 10 percent of the winning bid for expenses.

Register at www.helenadu.org.

“Last year’s winning bid of $37,000 provided much needed funding for MFWP’s moose research projects,” said Jake Hansen, chair of the DU moose auction. “Ducks Unlimited is interested in MFWP’s moose program because waterfowl also benefit from the same habitat. Much of the habitat Ducks Unlimited conserves not only benefits waterfowl, but moose as well.” Read more

Hunting

Hunting is the Best Management Tool

By Glen Wunderlich

Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park has reached a “tipping point” with the wolf to moose population according to references in Michigan House Bill 154 that proposes to develop a system of hunting to manage the dilemma. Such an idea is nothing new and neither is the conundrum of the delicate balance of nature and man on the island.

At its August 1923 meeting held at Rock Harbor Lodge, the Citizens’ Committee of Isle Royale discussed and expressed several grave concerns including the sale of 80,000 acres to an “Indiana corporation seeking pulp wood”; that the Michigan State legislature had recently defeated a proposal to “acquire the entire island for a state park”; and fears over a proposal to declare an open hunting season “for killing moose and caribou in the island, with the argument that there is insufficient feed for the subsistence of the growing herds and that large numbers of these animals must otherwise perish.” It is clear from the rest of the document that the organization viewed hunting as the threat and did not see a looming food crisis for the moose population as credible.

It certainly is credible today! In year 2010 a total of 19 wolves roamed the island along with 510 moose. In less than a decade, the moose numbers have quadrupled to an astounding total of 2060 with 14 wolves and more to be added.

HR 154 reads in part as follows:

“A resolution to encourage the National Park Service to establish a moose tag lottery hunt to assist in controlling the moose population on Isle Royale.

Whereas, Isle Royale National Park in Michigan is home to an exploding population of moose with an average growth rate greater than 19 percent annually; and

Whereas, Issues with the moose-to-wolf ratio over the last several decades have now reached a tipping point, with a current population of only 15 wolves on Isle Royale as of March 2019. Wolves are the only natural predator of moose on Isle Royale but the diminishing wolf population has not contained the moose population in recent years; and

Whereas, The increased and unsustainable moose population on Isle Royale has created an ongoing ecological dilemma as the moose feed on the park’s balsam fir trees and other vegetation. The rapidly expanding moose herd will devastate these slow-growing trees and could eliminate them from Isle Royale; and

Whereas, Previous attempts to introduce additional wolves to balance out the moose-to-wolf ratio have not resulted in a long-term sustainable balance of predator and prey; and

Whereas, A moose tag lottery hunt will benefit Isle Royale National Park and help restore ecological balance among moose, wolves, and vegetation. Approximately forty national parks currently allow some form of hunting as part of their wildlife management practices… “

Interestingly, in March 2019 I made just such a proposal on these pages: Hunters could apply for hunting tags through a lottery system with the cost of applications and actual license fees going to the effort’s expense similar to what Michigan does with its elk population. Unlike reliance on wolves, the number of moose taken could be strictly regulated. Plus, hunters could be required to take certain animals to balance the herd’s composition according to sound management principles. Wolves, on the other hand, are indiscriminate and have no off button.

While it remains unclear if the National Park Service will allow hunting as part of a broad management plan, something different needs to happen or we will face this dilemma until time to act has run out.

Hunting, Wildlife

American Hunting Lease Association Announces New Program to Protect Landowners

Fishers, IN — The American Hunting Lease Association, well known for their Hunting Lease Liability Insurance, has announced they are now offering a Timberland Liability Insurance policy. Also known as Vacant Land Liability Insurance, their new policy will be offered along with the first-class purchasing process and friendly customer service that their current members have come to expect.

While Hunting Lease Liability Insurance protects hunters and landowners who entered into a hunting lease agreement to access the property, many landowners were unprotected against unwanted or uninvited guests. Additionally, landowners that invite friends and family to hunt for free were left unprotected in the event of an accident. Timberland Liability coverage can now address all of their needs as owners of vacant timberland as they deal with trespassers and other uninvited parties. Read more

Hunting

2019 Michigan elk hunting season recap

Another exhilarating year of elk hunting has ended, and the 2019 season statistics are in. Success rates continue to be high for Michigan elk hunters.

Elk hunt period 1

Hunt period 1, which targets elk outside of their traditional range, was 12 days long, running Aug. 27-30, Sept. 13-16 and Sept. 27-30. The first four days of the hunt, temperatures were slightly cooler than normal with good weather, leading to early success. During the first hunt period, 96 state hunters harvested 71 elk (29 bulls, 40 cows and two calves). Additionally, all three Pure Michigan Hunt winners were successful during this elk hunt period. Read more

Hunting
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