Outdoor commentary and legislative issues.
GW: No excuses!
Conservation officers with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources urge deer hunters to engage in an ethical hunt and be aware that Michigan’s new hunting licenses carry certain conditions. The new licenses approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder in 2013 took effect March 1, 2014. Deer hunters should be aware of the two options they have for licenses: Read more
It’s firearm deer season: Expect delays on northbound I-75 and I-675 through Saginaw County Fast Facts — Northbound I-75 remains detoured to northbound I-675 in Saginaw County. — Traffic delays are expected and motorists are advised to allow extra time. — Choosing an alternate route may require driving additional miles, but could save you time overall by avoiding expected delays on I-75. Read more
It may not happen to everyone, but I believe sometime in a whitetail mangers tenure, the satisfaction and enjoyment of growing bigger and healthier deer surpasses the actual hunt. I’m pretty sure I’ve reached that point. I guess now I’m as much a Game Keeper as I am a hunter. Make no mistake, I love to whack does with a bow and still hold a deep passion for trying to find an old mature buck making a wrong move, but I’m truly obsessed with growing deer…big ones. For ten years I managed a piece of property and we at BioLogic have used it as our Proving Grounds for five years. After years of very selective buck harvest, supplemental feeding, and an intense food plot program, I grew a true Southern Giant. While we have been growing and killing above average deer for the area for a long time, this particular buck was a man among men.
To say that the dirt that this buck grew up on is a little rough and rocky is a vast understatement. The majority of the food plots on the Proving Grounds were primarily wide places on the top of steep ridges that I cleared with a dozer and some were once logging decks from the 1980’s. Most of these fields have very shallow or no topsoil and some are almost pure chert gravel with low tilth and organic matter. Growing good crops on this ground was very challenging, but it could actually produce some excellent groceries for deer with hard work, patience, and plenty of lime and fertilizer. Looking back over old soil samples and records, I spread somewhere in the neighborhood of 350-400 tons of lime on these fields over a decade of working the dirt. Read more
GW: Here is what Michigan deer hunters are expected to know. No excuses!
As opening day of Michigan’s firearm deer season on Saturday, Nov. 15, quickly approaches, hunters are busy preparing gear, scouting, choosing hunting sites, and making sure everything is in order for the day that some Michiganders revere as a state holiday.
Amidst the flurry of preparations, hunters will also want to take some time to read up on hunting prospects and become familiar with new deer license options for the 2014 season. Read on for the pre-hunt information all deer hunters need to know this year. Read more
GW: Liberals have attacked those that supported Michigan’s increased licensing fees, as if it even matters to those that don’t hunt; it was no more than a ploy to discredit honorable lawmakers. (Yes, there are some!) Interestingly, sportsmen and women were the ones that agreed to increase hunting fees marginally so that management efforts could be enhanced. Below is another example of how it’s being accomplished, as promised with those dollars. 
Upper Peninsula – Ontonagon County A grant program in the U.P. between the DNR, sportsmen’s groups, concerned citizens and partners has shown three great benefits – production of on-the-ground deer habitat, education on the importance of habitat work, and great relationships built by like-minded people. Wildlife Unlimited of Ontonagon County planted multiple wildlife openings as part of the Deer Habitat Improvement Partnership Initiative.
Northern Lower Peninsula – Alpena County and Presque Isle County The state forest land around Alpena, and also near the Onaway and Millersburg areas, has an additional 126 acres of wildlife openings available for hunters to target this deer season. The openings had not been farmed the last several years, but this year, with the help of the recent license restructuring, more openings in this area have been planted to buckwheat and rye, ranging from 0.5 acres to 20 acres in size. 
Southwest Lower Peninsula – Montcalm and Ionia County Several DNR State Game Areas are seeing great habitat improvement projects deer hunters will enjoy. Edmore, Langston, Flat River and Portland State Game Areas created many small openings, to provide not only feeding areas for deer, but better access for hunters. The result of recent timber sales at several State Game Areas in this region is providing great cover and browse for deer, with the young, dense forests that are created. The DNR’s partnership with the Ruffed Grouse Society has been instrumental in achieving these improvements.
Southeast Lower Peninsula – Sanilac County With an “up north” feeling in the thumb region of Michigan, Minden City State Game Area just south of Minden City is a great location for deer hunting. Wildlife biologist Don Bonnette said that “extensive timber cuts have been conducted to create mixed-aged aspen stands with plenty of young shoots for deer to eat.” The DNR recently acquired 200 additional acres for the game area, all with excellent deer habitat. About 75 percent of the game area is naturally swampy, making for good winter cover for deer and a challenging hunt for adventurous hunters. Be sure to check it out!
GW: The issue is well defined here and imagery continues to blind the least affected populace. As in Michigan’s wolf conservation, those in the big cities can always stomp those in rural areas, if well duped. “Some… don’t want to see wildlife managed or game killed by hunters. Those who make a living opposing hunting are capitalizing on this public unrest and uncertainty, if not creating it.”
MISSOULA, Mont.- Maine voters rejected Question 1, a ballot initiative to ban sportsmen’s use of bait, hounds, and traps. If passed it would have negatively affected Maine hunters and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s ability to manage the states black bear population. But the vote was really about more than just bear hunting methods, said the Boone and Crockett Club today.
“We’re living in a time when conservation and wildlife management are being challenged and the motives are not always what’s best for wildlife or people,” said Boone and Crockett Club President Bill Demmer. “Somewhere along the way we have lost the meaning of what conservation is and the full measure of its benefits. It has always meant wise and prudent use without waste. As Theodore Roosevelt once said, it means development as much as it does protection.” Read more
By Glen Wunderlich
The whitetail action is hot and furious in mid-Michigan! If you’ve had enough of political mudslinging, how ‘bout doing some slinging of your own! I’m talking arrows or bolts, whatever your flavor may be, before the gaggle of gunners descends upon the land in less than two weeks.
It’s no secret that whitetail bucks are prone to lose their wariness during the rut, or breeding period, if you will. It is that time. I’ll focus on a particular strategy that can produce heart-pounding excitement and effectiveness, although very few hunters may have attempted it.
The concept involves a portable blind, a vertical bow or crossbow, and a deer decoy. For those with conventional archery gear, blinds tall enough to accommodate the upward limits of a bow may be used, although natural ground blinds or even treestands will do. However, a more particular method involves compact, one-person chair blinds and reverse limb (aka reverse draw) crossbows such as the Horton Fury (or older Vision), the Barnett Vengeance, or Scorpyd models.
Although chair blinds may have been intended for firearms, they can serve double-duty for the above-cited, narrow-design crossbows. The unique design of chair blinds makes for easy concealment, shelter, comfort, portability, economy, and strength to stand up to the harshest elements over the course of a season. Ameristep makes them in one and two-man configurations and other manufactures produce them, as well.
Chair Blind
The totally portable one-person models are quite restrictive, however, and allow no more than a 90-degree field of shooting opportunity in the forward direction. Although such limitation may seem too slight, the tight maneuverability can be an asset at the same time with compact reverse draw crossbows. Here’s why: Because a hunter’s only option is to shoot almost directly in front, there is no need or possibility to be spinning around looking for a shot, only to be busted by wary whitetails; it simply cannot be done.
Experience has demonstrated to me over the years that deer will pick off a portable blind and look directly toward it, if they get within sight of it. By tucking it into cover some 10 yards or so, it can be undetected until the cautious critters are in a hunter’s sights. Because the hunter remains neatly seated inside with the compact crossbow in the ready position, the bow can obstruct a deer’s view of the hunter’s face, thus adding a level of camouflage, which is especially useful for hunters wearing eye glasses.
Since decoy tactics abound online and in print elsewhere, I’ll only add a few recommendations: Place them in a position that assumes bucks will get downwind of them; silhouette decoys such as Montana decoys work well, but only without strong winds; and, finally, dispense cover scent around (not on) the decoy – and, your boots, while positioning the accomplice.
In one startling moment, the action can be in-your-face, adrenaline pumping, nuts. In fact, this past week, I’ve had two deer actually touch the decoy with their noses. Another doe ran half circles within feet of the decoy in an obvious attempt to get a reaction. It’s totally unpredictable!
Our northern whitetail’s narrow window of conception is upon us, and if you haven’t got the shivers with the quivers yet this season, check with your doctor to make sure your heart can take it.
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (Nov. 6, 2014) – SkullHooker™, the company that revolutionized the way hunters display their European skull-mount trophies, has introduced the new Skull Cap cover to create an affordable, clean and stylish presentation for sawed-off skullcap trophies. The Skull Cap is molded in a lightly textured and stylized brown polymer that also can be easily painted to suit the users needs. Designed for small to mid-sized antlered or horned game animals, the Skull Cap can also be trimmed to fit larger species.
The Skull Cap is designed to be used with or without the newly revised SkullHooker Bone Bracket hanging mount. The new Skull Cap is the easy and attractive answer to dressing up an ugly or poorly cut skullcap. It is available at sporting goods retailers nationwide and conveniently online at www.skullhooker.com for a suggested retail price of just $9.99. Read more
GW: If ever a single individual has been good for the outdoors enthusiasts’ interests, Jim is it.
CODY, WYOMING– Jim Zumbo, former Hunting Editor for Outdoor Life magazine, Book Author, television show Host, and Seminar Speaker, launched a revised website www.JimZumbo.com, to include a new blog and online store. Zumbo’s interest and desire to launch this new site was sparked by an overwhelming number of emails, phone calls, and conversations from dedicated fans, as well as hunting, fishing, shooting, and outdoor enthusiasts with a plea to share his knowledge in a public forum. “I’ve been an outdoor writer all my adult life, and I’m excited to get back into the routine of writing on a regular basis,” said Jim Zumbo. “I think writing is a calling that you never really can leave behind, and I’m looking forward to getting back into it through my blog.”
Zumbo will take his 50+ years of outdoor experiences to educate and inspire others to pursue their passions. In his blog, he plans to share how-to tips through posts & short videos on various topics including hunting, fishing, survival techniques, camping, game processing, and outdoor cooking to name a few. Zumbo will share thrilling encounters, gee-whiz facts, and useful knowledge in the entertaining manner for which he is known through his writing. Read more
In a ballot initiative with national repercussions, Maine voters once again sent an unmistakable message to animal-rights extremists: stay out of our state.
For the second time in 10 years, Maine voters resoundingly rejected a ballot initiative backed and bankrolled by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Throughout the battle on Question 1, which would have banned the use of bait, dogs and traps when bear hunting, sportsmen and professional wildlife managers who opposed the initiative continually maintained a double-digit lead in the polls.
“This is a great victory for sportsmen. It shows that scientific wildlife management can withstand a direct attack from the well-funded anti-hunting movement,” said Evan Heusinkveld, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USSA) vice president of government affairs. “Despite pumping more than $2.5 million into this campaign, HSUS received a loud and clear message from Maine voters that their radical agenda is out of touch with modern wildlife management.” Read more