There’s still time to get a turkey license. See which hunt units have licenses available and snag one before they sell out. You can buy a license from any license agent, online at Michigan.gov/DNRLicenses or through the Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app. Keep in mind, licenses bought online will be mailed to you seven to 10 days after purchasing.
Another great license for hunters wanting a little more flexibility is Hunt 0234. This statewide spring license is valid for public and private lands, except public lands in Unit ZZ (southern Lower Peninsula), and is valid to hunt Fort Custer military lands with permission. Season dates are May 4-31.
Hunting safely during spring turkey hunting seasons is easy if you follow tips below.
With the opening of spring turkey hunting, it is highly recommended for hunters to consider these safety tips:
Never shoot unless you are absolutely sure of your target and what is beyond it. Look for a beard as only turkeys with beards are legal during the spring season.
Never stalka gobbling turkey. Your chances of getting close are poor, and you may be sneaking up on another hunter.
Avoid red, white, blue, or black in clothing and equipment. A tom turkey’s head has similar colors.
Stick with hen calls. A gobbler call might draw in other hunters.
Avoid unnecessary movement. This alerts turkeys and attracts hunters.
Don’t hide so well that you impair your field of vision.
Wrap your turkey in blaze orange for the hike back to your vehicle.
Always sit with your back against a tree trunk, big log or a boulder that is wider than your body. This protects you from being accidentally struck by pellets fired from behind you.
Place decoys on the far side of a tree trunk or a rock. This prevents you from being directly in the line of fire should another hunter mistakenly shoot at your decoy.
Wear hunter orange while moving from set-up to set-up. Take it off when you are in position.
If you see another hunter, call out to them, but don’t move until they respond. You may ruin the hunt, but you may have avoided injury.
Make sure you know your effective range when shooting. For the most clean and ethical shot, make sure your shotgun is patterned and you are shooting within your effective range.
For new, or newly returning, hunters ages 25-45. Participants will review gun safety, practice shooting clay targets and then get into the field to hunt live pheasants. After the hunt, they will clean the birds to take home.
Cost is $75 per person, which includes three birds, refreshments and lunch. Participants must have prior shooting experience and bring their own firearm and ammunition.
This event is presented as part of a partnership agreement between the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Pheasants Forever, with DNR funding support.
Centerfire firearms .269-caliber or smaller can now be used at night in the Limited Firearm Deer Zone (southern portion of the Lower Peninsula; see hunting zones map) on both public and private lands to take coyote, fox, opossum and raccoon. However, centerfire firearms still cannot be used at night statewide during Nov. 10-30 or in state parks and recreation areas.
RAPID CITY, SD – Empowering bowhunters with knowledge and tools for success, the National Bowhunter Education Foundation (NBEF) offers its Advanced Black Bear Anatomy and Shot Placement Guide and Mini 3-D Durable Foam Bear Model. These informative items help increase hunting success and safety for all hunters. Bear hunters will reduce game recovery time with a well-placed shot.
The Advanced Black Bear Anatomy and Shot Placement Guide is an informative shot placement training aid with full color 8.5″ x 11″ transparent overlays. The bear muscular system, skeletal system, circulatory system, and vital organs are illustrated on separate acrylic overlays. The booklet includes shot placement information and illustrations for both firearm hunters and bowhunters. Hunting guides, hunter education instructors and informed hunters will appreciate this useful information in a convenient format. Responsible hunting includes knowledge of accurate shot placement for a quick kill and game recovery. This is part of the International Bowhunter Education Program Hunter Responsibility Series which includes anatomy and shot placement guides for white-tailed deer, turkey and elk. All guides are 3-hole punched making it easy to collect all four booklets. Suggested retail $12.50 each. Read more
GW: No discussion about the NRC’s maneuver to protect coyotes!
The draft agenda for the April 11 meeting of the Michigan Natural Resources Commission has been posted to the NRC website at Michigan.gov/NRC. The meeting will take place at 9 a.m. at Lansing Community College, 600 North Grand Ave., in downtown Lansing.
Meeting topics include a presentation to recent Pure Michigan Hunt winners, a discussion of falconry regulations, a look at Saginaw Bay walleye and yellow perch populations, an update on chronic wasting disease monitoring and surveillance, several land transactions and more. Read more
On Friday, March 29, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Law Enforcement K-9 team responded to assist with a search for a missing hunter within the Green Swamp East Wildlife Management Area.
The hunter was dropped off for a turkey hunt in the early morning hours of March 28 along a road inside the WMA. At approximately 2:30 p.m. that afternoon his party reported him missing when he did not return to the designated meeting spot.
Multiple agencies, including K-9 Units from Sumter County, Polk County and the Florida Department of Corrections, immediately began to search that afternoon. Five K-9 teams from various agencies including two FDC bloodhounds searched all afternoon and into the early morning hours of the next day.
At 7 a.m. FWC K-9 Officer Malachi Wilkins deployed K-9 Havoc and began to search the last known location of the missing hunter. FWC K-9 Havoc tracked for approximately half of a mile before locating the man sitting on a fallen tree at approximately 9:30 a.m. He was brought back to the check station where local EMS evaluated him and found no major medical issues.
As part of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Deer Management Initiative process, several members of the group have collaborated with a social scientist from the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University to craft a questionnaire for the public, aimed at assessing people’s opinions and perceptions about deer.
The initiative, established earlier this year, is working to address current and future deer-related challenges facing the DNR and the Michigan Natural Resources Commission. It brings together members of the public and representatives from various stakeholder groups to offer diverse perspectives on deer management topics.
As part of the 2024 Deer Management Initiative process, a subgroup of participants volunteered to work with a social scientist to formulate the questionnaire, which seeks input on current deer management practices and the overall significance of deer in residents’ daily lives. The data gathered will provide additional insights for future discussions and subsequent recommendations.
“We extended this opportunity to work on the questionnaire when the group initially convened, and many readily jumped in to help develop it,” said Chad Stewart, DNR deer, elk and moose management specialist.
“We recognized our proficiency in surveying hunters but acknowledged a gap in gauging general public attitudes and views toward deer more broadly,” he said. “We want to learn more about how important deer are to our residents, what trends they see in their local areas, and what concerns they may have about deer in our state.
“That’s why we’ve opted to make these questions available through an online survey that is accessible to everyone, albeit with certain limitations on interpretation. This data will remain valuable, offering insights into how residents across the state perceive deer.”
Take the survey
All residents, regardless of their interest in or knowledge of deer, are encouraged to participate. Completing the survey should take no more than five minutes.
Survey findings initially will inform members of the Deer Management Initiative team about Michigan residents’ attitudes toward deer and deer management, and eventually be made available to the public.
Safari Club International vigorously opposes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) final rule restricting elephant imports released on Friday, March 29. The final rule will make importing legally harvested elephant parts substantially and unnecessarily more difficult, and African wildlife conservation will suffer as a direct result.
SCI opposes the rule for one simple reason: these regulations will neither stop poaching or human-wildlife conflict nor protect biodiversity. This amendment will only hamper elephant conservation conducted by local stakeholders, indigenous communities, and the African range state governments that are stewards of the world’s largest elephant populations.
Elephant hunting is an important management and conservation tool for the southern African countries with the world’s largest elephant populations. In these countries, elephants can create real burdens for the local and rural communities who share the same land, often leading to human-elephant conflict such as crop raiding. Elephant hunting generates funds and incentives to reduce such conflict, combat poaching, and secure habitat in these countries. Read more
Transform any five-gallon bucket into a comfortable dual-purpose dream seat for your outdoor activities. ThermaSeat has produced a seat that adapts to any standard five or six-gallon bucket, giving you the comfort and added versatility you need, whether you’re in the woods, on the job site, or on the ice.
“The Spin Seat is great! I love it. I use it at my kid’s baseball games and while we are out hunting or fishing. It’s nice and thick making it extremely comfortable.”-ThermaSeat Customer Read more
