Category: Wildlife

Goldfinch

Michigan Deer Habitat Improvements

Upper Peninsula – Western Mackinac County

Two DNR staff doing habitat workOver 1,300 oak saplings were planted in western Mackinac County this spring to increase hard mast for deer.  The plantings were focused on areas that have been hit hard by beech bark disease (BBD), and also in deer wintering complexes.  BBD areas will see a large loss of beech nuts, and the oak acorns that are produced in the future will help to mitigate some of the loss from BBD.  “We were able to get saplings planted to help avoid problems with deer browse, and as a bonus they’ll also throw acorns sooner,” said DNR wildlife biologist Dave Jentoft.  “We had great cooperation with our sister division, the Forest Resources Division, in making these plantings happen.”

Northern Lower Peninsula – Kalkaska County

Field work being done on a tractorThe Fletcher area in southern Kalkaska County is a great destination this fall for deer hunters. Over 1,600 acres of public land is available to set up camp during firearm, late archery or even muzzleloader season. This spring over 470 acres were prescribed-burned in an effort to kill woody plants that are closing in on this large grassland complex. Over 120 acres were mowed, and numerous acres were planted to winter wheat, rape and turnips. Visit Mi-HUNT to explore this area from home, and make plans to visit in person to hunt the fall and early winter seasons.

Southwest Lower Peninsula – Cass County

Fields where habitat work was completedOver the past year, staff members at the Crane Pond State Game Area have installed over 200 acres of food plots and other plantings for the benefit of wildlife on the game area. Food plots are placed in strategic locations to enhance recreational opportunities. The picture to the left shows a field border adjacent to a corn food plot. Such practices allow species such as deer, turkey and pheasants to have transitional and security cover adjacent to important high-calorie winter food sources. Field borders also provide valuable nesting and bedding cover and can greatly enhance the number of bird species using an area. This is just one example of the many habitat management practices implemented at the game area over this past year.

Southeast Lower Peninsula – St. Clair County

Funds from the license restructuring are helping the DNR Wildlife Division make habitat improvements for deer and other wildlife around the state. Port Huron State Game Area is no exception. With an increased budget for habitat work, more seasonal wildlife assistants were hired this year, allowing 9 additional acres at Port Huron SGA to be converted to food plots of corn and small grains. This brings the total acreage planted with food plots to 20. These employees also worked on improving parking lots and posting additional signage around the area to improve hunter accessibility.  Check out Port Huron State Game Area for an enhanced hunting experience this fall.

Hunting, Wildlife

Ithaca, N.Y.-This list of holiday gift suggestions from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology will appeal to the bird and nature lover on your list. These are gifts that improve the mind, create fun, and highlight the beauty of the natural world. A portion of the proceeds from all these items will support the Lab’s bird education and conservation efforts. To learn more about these and other “birdy” gifts visit www.birds.cornell.edu/BirdGifts. Read more

Wildlife

Agreement Reached in NC Red Wolf Lawsuit

GW:  Guess who’s behind the contrived issue…

RALEIGH, NC- An agreement has been reached in a lawsuit against the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, which will restore conditional coyote hunting in the five-county red wolf reintroduction area of eastern North Carolina.

The agreement will restore daytime coyote hunting on private lands in Dare, Hyde, Beaufort, Tyrrell and Washington counties by licensed or otherwise authorized hunters, with a special permit obtained from the Wildlife Commission and subsequent reporting of kill. In the other 95 counties of the state, coyote hunters may hunt during daytime or at night using artificial lights, and no special permit or reporting of coyote harvests is required.

The agreement stems from a lawsuit brought by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the Red Wolf Coalition, Defenders of Wildlife and the Animal Welfare Institute. The suit alleged the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission violated the federal Endangered Species Act by allowing coyote hunting in Dare, Hyde, Beaufort, Tyrrell and Washington counties where a non-essential experimental re-introduction of the red wolf is occurring. A court-ordered injunction issued in May halted coyote hunting in the five counties, except under extremely limited circumstances. Read more

Animal Rights, Hunting, Wildlife

DNR monitoring Upper Peninsula snow depths, assessing impact on deer herd

After receiving heavy snowfall across much of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula this week, the Department of Natural Resources is monitoring snow depths and assessing potential impacts on wildlife, particularly the deer herd which is still recovering from the two previous severe and snowy winters.

Supplemental feeding of deer is allowed on private land in the northern U.P. counties along Lake Superior each year beginning in early January and in the southern counties if accumulated snowfall meets established minimum depths by mid-January. However, if snow depths continue to rapidly climb this winter and exceed the supplemental feeding triggers before the January dates, the DNR will consider taking emergency action to allow feeding at an earlier date.

“With more than 20 inches of snow already on the ground in some of the southern U.P. counties and more than 40 inches reported in some northern locations, we are looking at ways to mitigate potential detrimental impacts of the early and significant snowfall on the deer herd,” said DNR Wildlife Division Chief Russ Mason.

According to Mason, the DNR’s Wildlife and Forest Management divisions are also evaluating current timber sale contracts to identify opportunities to retain tree tops at logging sites on public land for deer to forage on throughout the winter.
Read more

Hunting, Wildlife

NWF Calls for Hunters, Anglers to Protect Streams & Wetlands With Action Today

Public comment on proposed protections closes today!

Hunters and anglers want the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) to take action to better protect America’s streams and wetlands. That’s the message in a new letter signed by 210 hunting, fishing and sporting groups from across the country.

For the past decade, it has been unclear if two million miles of streams and many types of wetlands were protected under the Clean Water Act, the result of two controversial Supreme Court decisions. Since those decisions, the rate of wetlands destruction has gone up 140% nationwide – the first such increase in wetlands loss since the 1980s. Read more

Wildlife

Migratory Bird Conservation Commission Approves $28 Million to Conserve Waterfowl, Shorebirds and Other Species in 16 States

The Migratory Bird Conservation Commission yesterday approved $28 million in funding for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners to purchase, lease, restore or otherwise conserve more than 128,000 acres of wetland habitats for ducks, bitterns, sandpipers and other birds in the United States.

The commission also recognized the contributions of Rep. John Dingell, who is retiring after an unprecedented 45 years of service as a member.

“Our nation’s efforts to conserve migratory birds have no better supporter than Congressman Dingell, who has worked tirelessly over more than four decades to protect and restore the wetland and upland habitat so vital to them,” Jewell said. “Today, during his final meeting, we continued this legacy with the acquisition and conservation of vital habitat so important not only to birds but to countless other species of wildlife.” Read more

Wildlife

Food Plot Fencing Options

As gamekeeper’s, we are constantly preaching on the importance of spring and summer nutrition for whitetails. There are huge upsides for your deer herd when they are provided quality high protein groceries during the growing months. Anyone who has tried to grow a small food plot of soybeans, lablab, or other highly attractive warm season annual, has likely experienced a failure. Although there are a number of reasons for plot failure including, lack of rain or poor seedbed prep, the number one reason for warm season plot failures is over browsing. Even with low to moderate deer densities, a 1 acre soybean plot planted in the middle of hundreds of acres of timber, can be destroyed in a few days time. In the first few days after germination, popular spring plantings such as iron clay peas, soybeans, or lablab that are bitten off below the terminal bud are killed and will not grow. So, now that we have identified the problem, what are some solutions?

For the purposes of this topic, let’s take for granted that you are doing your part in controlling your deer density through good trigger finger management, but are still having problems with over browsed food plots. Physically keeping the deer out of the plots until they are established and mature enough to withstand the browse pressure has proved to be an effective tactic. This can be achieved by utilizing a number of different fencing options. After all, what sense does it make to go to the trouble and expense of planting warm season plots if you know they are going to be over browsed quickly and provide only a week’s worth of food? Take the time and make a plan to protect your crops so you get the most for your labor and money.

For many years, BioLogic has had a product called P2 Plot protector. This kit contains a woven poly tape that will protect an acre. After installing t-posts or rebar around the perimeter of the field, the tape can be put on. Also included in the kit is a small jug of concentrated solution to spray on the poly tape. This spray has an unpleasant odor to a deer’s nose and keeps them out of the plot for a couple of weeks after each application. After heavy rains, it is necessary to reapply the spray to the tape to refresh the smell. We have also found it effective to spray the tape from the outside with a backpack or atv sprayer and allow the overspray to fall on the crop you are trying to protect. In moderate deer densities, the P2 kit is often all that is needed to keep deer off the plots until you see the crop is mature enough to handle heavy browse pressure.

Another temporary fencing option is a 7.5 ft polypropylene material called Plot D-Fence. This UV resistant fence is very strong but lightweight and can last 10+ years in the field. With this type of fencing, when the plot reaches maturity you have a couple of options to let the deer in to enjoy the groceries. The Plot D-Fence is flexible and can be lifted up and folded from the bottom to allow your deer herd into the plot. The other option is to fold from the top and allow the deer to jump over the now shortened fence. This latter method however may still keep some lazy deer or fawns out of the plot from their unwillingness to hop the fence. This fence comes in 330 ft sections and can be rolled up and stored away and is lightweight enough for one person to carry a roll. This fencing system may be better suited for guys with heavy deer densities. Read more

Wildlife

Michigan Deer Habitat Improvements

Southeast MI deer habitat projectSoutheast Lower Peninsula – Jackson and Washtenaw Counties A lovely spot for deer hunting is Sharonville State Game Area in Grass Lake. With a combination of agricultural fields, forested ridges and open grasslands, Sharonville has outstanding deer habitat. With money from the 2014 Wildlife Habitat Grant program, extensive work has been done this spring and summer to increase hunter accessibility to the area, especially for hunters with disabilities as part of the Michigan Operation Freedom Outdoors partnership. Food plots have also been planted in several parts of the game area to improve deer habitat. Take a trip to Sharonville this fall!   

South Central Lower Peninsula – Gratiot County Gratiot-Saginaw State Game Area is seeing positive improvements for deer and deer hunters alike. Currently, within the Gratiot-Saginaw State Game Area, timber sales have created great young forest that deer will use as food and cover. Several areas also have been mowed for more accessible hunting places for hunters and grazing habitat for deer. If you’ve never visited or hunted Gratiot-Saginaw, you will find over 16,000 acres to explore. Take the time this deer season to expand your hunting range!    UP deer habitat project

Upper Peninsula – Southern Marquette County Several small openings, totaling 16 acres, have been planted to rye or mowed in southern Marquette County this year to provide a great food source for deer. The openings are located on a two-track used by hunters, just north of the deer wintering complex, and were last managed in 2009 with U.P. Whitetails helping to sponsor the project.  “This is great to be able to work these fields again,” said DNR wildlife biologist Brian Roell.  “Because of the new license structure, the fields have been put back into production, providing more great places for deer and deer hunters.”  

Northern Lower Peninsula – Isabella and Midland Counties Sometimes access to public land can be a big draw to hunters establishing deer camps and looking to find an area to hunt.  In both Midland and Isabella counties, thousands of acres of public land are available for those not wanting to travel too far north. Major highways and county roads can get you to these areas for a quick hunt after work or a weekend of hunting, not driving.  Recently road work was completed on two-tracks into the public land in order for the roads to be passable by vehicles.  “These counties can have some pretty wet low-lying areas, great for hunting, but hard to maintain good vehicle access,” said DNR wildlife biologist Bruce Barlow. “We try to make sure areas are accessible with a few roads, but balancing the habitat to provide a great hunting experience.”  Visit Mi-HUNT to see public lands in the area to plan your hunting adventure.

Hunting, Wildlife
1 … 237 238 239 240 241 … 360