Category: Wildlife

Goldfinch

My Avery Lake Campout

By Glen Wunderlich

Charter Member, Professional Outdoor Media Association

We’ve all been tested in ways we never imagined in this fight against an invisible enemy equipped to kill.  The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed us around and cooped us up and everyone seems to be searching for some relief.  As I headed north for the opening day of small game season, Martina McBride’s Independence Day came over my truck’s radio and I had to turn it up; this was my personal day of independence.

I had no plan to fill the freezer with partridge or squirrels.  The adventure was to be a solitary one – not because it wouldn’t have been more fun with a pal or two, but they all are compelled to work in their retirement.  Some retirement.

I had my sights set on camping at Avery Lake State Park Campgrounds on the fringe of elk country in the rolling hills of Montmorency County.

Avery Lake

It’s a rustic camp with a hand pump for water, a community vault toilet plus one picnic table and one fire pit per site.  Since there are no reservations, my apprehension was soon allayed when I pulled in to find the park was almost vacant.

First order of business was to set up the tent.  Within a few minutes the tent was up and before I could begin driving the stakes into the ground, I couldn’t help but notice some ants were already climbing the poles.  Hundreds of ants!  I had invaded their space and now they were returning the favor.

Carpenter ants running up a pole sleeve already at the top

I had to do something before the insects owned my tent, because each second of indecision meant more trouble; one ant in the sleeping bag would be too many!  And, then I remembered a secret weapon:  soapy water spray.  Fortunately, I had packed the liquid solution as a means to clean up my hands.

Also, I’ve come to appreciate the effectiveness of dish soap on insects – all types of insects flying or crawling.  A short spritz on flying insects – including bees and wasps – changes their plans and puts an end to their diabolical ways.  For ants, it also destroys their scent trails so other industrious agitators cannot follow.

Like a madman I kept up the spraying duties until I had won the war, but what if I were to run out of soapy water and more ants volunteered for duty?  Perish the thought and into town for more dish soap – just in case.

After some exploring and a solitary meal around the campfire, I zipped myself into the cozy shelter for the night.  But, sometime in the hours of darkness, I was awakened by some type of commotion close at hand.  Camp raiders in the form of raccoons, I surmised, were frolicking in my stuff left outside.  I was simply too comfortable and warm to go out and run them off, so I just made some noise from within and it seemed to work.

At first light, I could see my metal-clad cooler had been breached and the lid was wide open; apparently,it’s better not to be lazy and to snap the latches closed than to leave the invitation accessible to intruders.  Although they made a mess of things, I found they only ran off with my raw breakfast sausage and scrambled a few raw eggs.  I policed the site for remnants of their raid and picked up wrappers from the trash bag, also left outdoors for their entertainment.  Lessons learned.

Thief in broad daylight with the metal cooler

And, you thought this was going to be about hunting.

Wildlife , , ,

Arizona: Mexican Wolf Pups Successfully Cross-fostered into Pack

PINETOP, Ariz. — On Aug. 24, Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) wolf biologists using remote trail cameras documented eight Mexican wolf pups, an endangered subspecies, in the Hoodoo Pack in the northeastern Apache Sitgreaves National Forest. In April, AZGFD and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) cross-fostered four genetically valuable wolf pups into the Hoodoo Pack from a litter in captivity at the Sedgwick Zoo in Wichita, Kansas.

After cross-fostering was completed by AZGFD and USFWS, there were five wild Mexican wolf pups and four cross-fostered pups for a total litter of nine pups in this Hoodoo Pack litter. At least three of the pups observed are cross-fostered. Biologists are working to determine if a fourth pup may also be a cross-fostering success. Read more

Wildlife

Arizona’s Annual California Condor Release Will Be Virtual This Year

Covid guidelines on crowds and social distancing preclude public from watching in-person at viewing site; release can be viewed virtually on Peregrine Fund’s YouTube channel

VERMILION CLIFFS, Ariz. – Every year thousands of people gather at Vermilion Cliffs National Monument to watch one of conservation’s biggest spectacles – the release of captive-bred California Condors to the wild.

The Peregrine Fund will release up to four California Condors atop the spectacular ledges of the cliffs in northern Arizona at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 26. This year, with Covid-19 affecting our ability to gather in large groups, we will not be able to hold an in-person public release at the Vermilion Cliffs, but the celebration will go on. Since the public is unable to watch from the annual viewing site, we are excited to offer the opportunity to observe the release virtually on The Peregrine Fund’s YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/PeregrineFund.

This day is a celebration of the dedication and tenacity that hundreds of people have put into bringing the iconic California Condor back from the brink of extinction. In the 1980s, there were only 22 individual birds left on the planet, yet today they stand at nearly 500. Read more

Wildlife

Michigan: fall camping is here, with plenty of availability

We know you’re already familiar with the sights, sounds and smells of Michigan’s most colorful season, so we can’t help but plug fall camping.

Summer crowds have dispersed, nights are a little longer, temperatures are cooler, insects sing a little quieter, you can hear the crackle of campfires and then, of course, there is fall foliage. Crimson, orange and yellow leaves line trails, skylines and campsites.

Although the busy summer season has come to a close, there are plenty of campsites and lodging still available this fall. Keep in mind that some parks offer WiFi, and many campers have been using mobile hotspots to work remotely.

Convinced? Visit MiDNRReservations.com to book your next trip. Or, check out our many rustic state forest campgrounds.

Wildlife

BirdCast: Live Migration Radar & Forecasts

Many birds migrate at night when we are unable to view their flights, and some species fly at elevations so high we could not see them if they did migrate during daylight periods (Common Nighthawk photo by Paul Konrad).
A stopped-action image of a live bird migration map featured on BirdCast during the night of September 7, showing the intensity and direction of migrations across the Lower 48 States.

BirdCast develops and maintains some remarkable tools that allow you to monitor bird migration and inform yourself about migration forecasts. Information gleaned from weather radar were essential to develop and maintain BirdCast tools. One tool provides live radar bird migration maps that show where birds are migrating in real time. Another tool maps forecasted bird migration that predicts where and when migration will take place during a given night. A third tool provides migration alerts that you can subscribe to and find out when bird migrations are forecast.

Fall migration is an exciting period for all birders, and the synchrony between weather conditions, especially wind and the movements of fronts, can be helpful in understanding and appreciating nightly bird migrations and predicting upcoming migration activities. Birders will enjoy checking in on these interesting migration maps periodically, if not nightly.

Live Bird Migration Maps: Real-time analysis maps show intensities of actual nocturnal bird migration, as detected by US weather surveillance radar network from local sunset to sunrise. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology currently produces these live maps that you can refer to anytime online (link below).

Bird Migration Forecast Maps: Bird migration forecast maps show predicted nocturnal migration three hours after local sunset and are updated every six hours. These forecasts are created by computer models trained with the last 23 years of bird movements in the atmosphere as detected by the US NEXRAD weather surveillance radar network. In these models the Global Forecasting System (GFS) is used to predict suitable conditions for bird migration occurring three hours after local sunset. Colorado State University and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology currently produce these forecasts.

Local Bird Migration Alerts: Search with the local migration alert tool to determine whether birds are passing overhead near your home tonight in low, medium, or high densities. BirdCast provides live and local bird migration alerts throughout the continental United States by employing real-time analysis of bird migration activities detected by radar.

For more about these exciting BirdCast features and other elements that are sure to enhance your interest and understanding of fall migration as its happening, see https://birdcast.info/migration-tools/

Wildlife

Food Plot Basics

By Glen Wunderlich

Charter Member Professional Outdoor Media Association

Attracting and holding wildlife requires a few basic ingredients:  food, cover, and water.  Fortunately, most Michigan deer hunters have little trouble locating habitat that produces at least one of these necessities, and therefore, whitetail deer.  However, if one wants an edge, food plots can tip the scales.  In the process of establishing these magnetic environments, things don’t always go as planned.

To minimize the use of herbicides is a worthy goal for many reasons; to do so takes work.  Herbicides, such as glyphosate, have the ability to cut time afield, as opposed to tilling repeatedly from spring to planting time in August for fall food plots.  Applying only one spray before planting would mean I’d have to count on my 72 year-old Ford 8n tractor to do its part.

The work began in early spring before the weeds were able to fight back.  The old tractor has a weak battery that should have been replaced long ago, but my innate cheapness coaxes it to cooperate with the assistance of a trickle charger.  Two of the tires need a shot of air.  Check, check.

Out to the field where the 6-foot disk harrow would chop, cut, and pummel the weeds into oblivion – at least for a little while.  The process would be repeated numerous times through spring and summer before the weeds gained an upper hand.  Along the way, fertilizer and lime were broadcast

1956 Allis Chalmers IB with rigged spreader

and allowed to break down well in advance of planting time.

Unfortunately, my ATV is temporarily out of commission, so I called on another old tractor to step up.  My 1956 Allis Chalmers IB is an industrial tractor, not typically suited for field use, but I’d have to give it a go to keep on schedule.  After all, it’s the only machine I have that can power the electric motor of the spreader with its 12-volt configuration.  With a bit of redneck engineering, it worked as planned – not counting the soft soil where the turf tires almost failed to plod through.

To seed the first part of August means a certain amount of management is in order to pull it off.

A look at turnip seed inside the hand spreader

One last disk operation in July followed by some finer grooming with drag implements made to “fit” the field were successful.

Then, it was time to wait for the weeds to germinate, so they could be zapped with the glyphosate.  The idea was to get the field as “clean” as possible.  Again, the old Allis was rigged with a sprayer sitting atop a carrier attached to the receiver. To make the sprayer fan out properly, it had to be at the correct height.  Success was gained again and the job was complete on August 1st.

Once the spray was dry, I became the motor for a broadcast seed spreader strapped onto my shoulders and walked the plots and cranked the handle.  Then, before the pending rain washed out our plans, my pal, Joe, pulled an 8-foot cultipacker behind the old Ford and pushed the seed into the soil.

The timing couldn’t have been better, as Mother Nature pitched in with the missing ingredient: rain.  Although we’ve had some hot and dry weather since, enough of the precious liquid from above has made this attempt at farming a success, as evidenced by the healthy brassicas.  Believe it or not, the seed had begun germinating in less than 48 hours and nothing will stop it now – except those nibbling deer.  But, that’s the whole idea.

Brassica foliage trimmed by deer. Plants less than one month old.

General, Hunting, Wildlife

Virtual Miles for Monarchs Event Set to Coincide with Fall Migration

Engaging the nation to raise awareness and support for monarch habitat

St. Paul, MN –Coinciding with the fall monarch migration, Pheasants Forever and the Monarch Joint Venture are hosting a national virtual Miles for Monarchs event September 5th-12th to raise awareness around the spectacular fall migration of monarch butterflies, while raising much-needed funding to support population recovery.

Miles for Monarchs is an exciting way to support monarch butterflies and associated pollinator habitat through athletic activities. By way of running, walking, biking, hiking, or paddling through monarch regions of the United States, individuals and teams can support funding for research, education, and habitat projects for monarch butterflies across North America. Funds raised through this virtual event will support national scale efforts through the Monarch Joint Venture and Pheasants Forever, as well as more localized support for their participating chapters and partners.

“Miles for Monarchs is such a fun and easy way to enjoy any type of exercise you love and see if together we can collect enough miles to simulate the migratory journey of monarchs each fall,” says Wendy Caldwell, Executive Director of the Monarch Joint Venture. “Please join our campaign to help spread awareness and inspire action in your community to support our pollinators and the habitat that they rely on.” Read more

Wildlife

Use onX Hunt’s CWD Map to Fight Spread of Deadly Disease

ATHENS, GA (August 21, 2020) – Traveling out of state to hunt this fall? Do you know if you’ll be hunting in a chronic wasting disease (CWD) zone? You can easily find out using the free CWD map layer in the onX Hunt App, the leader in mobile mapping technology for outdoor adventures. The Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) partnered with onX in 2018 to create the information layer that can help deer hunters fight the spread of CWD, and the group works with onX to update the layer immediately whenever CWD is detected in new counties.

The CWD layer is included free for all who purchase the onX Hunt App. When the nationwide layer is activated, it highlights in red each county where the disease has been confirmed. Tapping or clicking inside any affected county will pull up the QDMA’s CWD web page for additional information.

For more information on the CWD map layer: https://www.onxmaps.com/hunt-app/features/cwd-map Read more

Wildlife

AZGFD assists thirsty wildlife during extreme heat, drought

Public can help by texting “SENDWATER” to 41444

PHOENIX — Water is the essence of life, and it’s just as precious for Arizona’s wildlife.

For that reason, the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) has trucked and airlifted about 250,000 gallons of life-sustaining water to catchments throughout the state since January.

Trail cameras document the results of this critical work, with footage of elk, deer, bighorn sheep and other species leaning over for a refreshing drink at one of 3,000 catchments maintained by AZGFD.

“Water catchments don’t discriminate; they’re used by all wildlife from big game to some of the smallest squirrels, lizards, birds, bats and even bees,” said Joseph Currie, AZGFD habitat planning program manager, who oversees the department’s water-catchment efforts.

“Our crews typically stop hauling water in August after monsoon rains refill much of our water catchments. However, due to this extreme drought, we haven’t stopped. We anticipate having to haul more than 800,000 gallons of water this year.” Read more

Wildlife

Michigan: application period open for urban and community forestry grants

Michigan communities have an opportunity to provide education, improve management and help people connect to forests in towns and cities through grants from the DNR’s Urban and Community Forestry program.

“These grants support management, education, maintenance, planting and awareness of community forests,” said program coordinator Kevin Sayers.

A total of up to $100,000 in federal grant funding is available. Applicants may request up to $20,000 in reimbursable, matching grant funds, based on project type. A one-to-one match is required and can be non-federal cash and/or in-kind services. Read more

Wildlife
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