Category: Wildlife

Goldfinch

Stealth Cam Digital Night Vision Monocular

Grand Prairie, TX- Stealth Cam, introduced in the year 2000, quickly became the leader in scouting camera innovation. Today, Stealth Cam introduces their new Digital Night Vision Monocular (NVM) that takes technology beyond cameras and into optics that illuminates and provides night vision. The new NVM is an excellent compact tool for low light or after hours scouting, nighttime boat rides, camping, search and rescue, and many other night time activities. Read more

Hunting, Wildlife

iON Cameras Introduces New Realtree Xtra® CamoCAM™

New York, NY, July 30, 2014 – iON America, the global consumer electronics company that brought Shoot/Share™ Wi-Fi connectivity to point-of-view (POV) iON Cameras, unveils the iON CamoCAM™, designed specifically for fishing and hunting enthusiasts, where camouflage gear is critical to success.

CamoCAM retails for $299.99 USD and is debuting in Walmart stores and Walmart.com this fall.

iON-CamoCAMwithMount-3

The versatility of the CamoCAM makes it the perfect addition to any outdoor activity. CamoCAM is skinned with official Realtree Xtra® camouflage and includes a Realtree Xtra camouflage mount at no extra cost. The mount’s easy lock technology makes it perfect to affix to the barrel of a firearm, fishing net and the stabilizer bar on a compound bow. In addition, the CamoCAM pairs perfectly with all of iON’s existing mounts including suction cups, helmet mounts and more, making the CamoCAM an essential part of all year-round activities and any hunting or fishing trip.

Outdoor sports enthusiasts can now shoot and share high quality video images, while benefitting from the compact size, light weight, fully-waterproof design (with no unsightly, expensive added case needed as with competitor products), Wi-Fi connectivity and ease-of-use benefits that have made iON Cameras so popular.

 

Read more

Hunting, Wildlife

2014-2015 Michigan’s Living Resources patch, featuring the threatened lake sturgeon, now available!

Lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) are a unique fish species found in Michigan. These fish primarily inhabit large river and lake systems in the Mississippi River, Hudson Bay and Great Lakes basins. An important biological component of the Great Lakes fish community, lake sturgeon are listed as a threatened species in Michigan and as either threatened or endangered by 19 of the 20 states within their original range in the U.S.

lake sturgeon patchLake sturgeon, the only sturgeon species common to the Great Lakes basin, are the largest freshwater fish native to that system. Lake sturgeon can be considered a near-shore, warm-water species preferring water temperatures in the range of mid-50 to low-70 degrees Fahrenheit and depths 15 to 30 feet (although sturgeon in the Great Lakes are often found at greater depths). Lake sturgeon are benthivores, which means they feed on small invertebrates such as insect larvae, crayfish, snails, clams and leeches they find along the bottom of lakes and rivers. Read more

Fishing, Wildlife

Threatened and endangered species feature: bald eagle

What’s brown and white and found all over Michigan? Bald eagles! The story of the bald eagle is a tragedy turned into a narrative of redemption and success.

 

bald eagleIn the earliest records of birds in Michigan, bald eagles were reported to be found nesting from Monroe County in the south all the way up to Gogebic County in the north. In fact, bald eagles were found from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from northern Canada all the way to Mexico, and their numbers were estimated to be as high as 100,000 nesting birds.

By 1950, however, the bald eagle’s numbers had been on a slow decline for a couple of centuries as people destroyed their habitat, ate their food and killed them to protect livestock and the small game animals that were part of their diet.

This decline accelerated dramatically in the 1950s due mostly to the increasing use of pesticides that contained DDT and increased industrial production that used PCBs. These chemicals became concentrated in the eagles’ prey and accumulated in the eagles’ bodies. They weakened the eagles’ eggs so that they were crushed when the adult birds tried to incubate them and also led to higher rates of death in adult eagles. Read more

Wildlife

Browning Camping Announces Improvements to Shadow Hunter Series Hunting Blinds

New Haven, MO – Browning Camping has updated the Shadow Series Pop-Up Ground Blinds with a new window curtain system for 2014. Designed for a wide range of window openings, it is sure to satisfy any hunter’s needs. The 4 models of blinds offered by Browning Camping (Powerhouse, Phantom X, Phantom, and Mirage) all now feature the Silent Track Window System.

“We wanted to keep the hunter’s viewpoint in mind and offer a user-friendly design that allows the ultimate window placement and customization,” said Zach Scheidegger, Browning Camping Product Manager. “We already offered some of the biggest windows on the market, allowing the hunter to have the best point of view without sacrificing the ability to stay hidden in the shadows. We have now combined those large windows with a curtain system that will be a huge benefit for all hunters in their different hunting situations.” Read more

Hunting, Wildlife

The Value of Hard Work

By Glen Wunderlich

Growing up in the ‘50s, my brother and I learned the value of hard work, courtesy of my father.  There was never any backtalk or debate when it came to household chores.  We took turns washing dishes, taking out the trash and mowing the lawn and were rewarded with a weekly allowance for our efforts.  Oh, how happy we were when we received our very first raise from 10 to 15 cents per week.

I also recall the old reel mower that certainly would have qualified for today’s green movement.  It produced zero emissions into the atmosphere, had no cord or batteries.  The only sound was that of the grass clippings falling back to earth.  We trimmed, edged, raked, and swept each week – all with no more than boy power.  Not so curious was my father’s purchase of his very first motorized lawn mower – one week after I had left the homestead for good.

Decades later – in fact only a week ago – those early life lessons would mean one more deer hunting stand.  The coveted hideout sits nestled along Osborn Drain (a tributary of the Looking Glass River) and overlooks some of the most productive hunting ground we have.  The soil is so rich that it needs no special fertilizer or lime to yield turnips the size of volleyballs.

However, there was one glaring problem:  our motorized machines could not navigate the rain-saturated ground enroute to our paradise.  The overgrown weeds were 3 to 4 feet tall, after having their way all season long and had to be cut down to begin the process of planting.  It was then that those boyhood lessons from over a half century gone by came to mind.

I pulled the mowing scythe ( an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or reaping crops) from the rafters of the garage to see if it was ready for the “green movement.”

Scythe

Scythe

To minimize effort, the long, curved blade was honed to a razor’s edge with a sharpening stone.  A loose handle was tightened and I ventured with it to the remote location with my friend, Joe, who had volunteered to spray the area with a backpack sprayer.

Joe thought it might be fun to give it a whirl, so I watched intently as he overworked himself into submission without having cleared much more than a patch large enough to stand on.  The laughter was getting the best of me,  so I put my experience and muscle together and promptly took over.

The tool works best without swinging; rather it is rhythmically drawn with the keen edge parallel to the ground.   Within an hour, the heat and humidity had won, but not before the mission was accomplished.

Oh, how much finer will be the taste of the venison that will be yielded from that ground and the wisdom of my father.

Hunting, Wildlife

Call Your Representative TODAY to Protect Your Hunting Rights!

Call Your Legislators Today!The Humane Society of the United States – the biggest anti-hunting organization in the country – is up to its old tricks again, sending its lobbyists to Lansing and threatening frivilous lawsuits against the citizen-backed initiative to protect hunting rights by making fish and wildlife decisions with sound science.

You worked hard to get this initiative before the legislature, collecting almost 300,000 signatures from registered Michigan voters. Just last week, the Board of State Canvassers approved the petitions. Now it’s up to the Legislature to listen to voters like you and pass the Scientific Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act.

But they’re getting pressure and robo-calls from the Humane Society of the United States urging your representatives to ignore you, the 300,000 voters who signed the petition, and the 750,000 hunters and 1.2 million anglers in Michigan.

Your state representative needs to hear from you TODAY that you support the Scientific Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act and they need to vote for it this August!

Don’t let the Humane Society of the United States take away your hunting rights; Find your representative’s phone number by clicking here and call today!

Drew YoungeDyke
MUCC Grassroots Manager
dyoungedyke@mucc.org
517.346.6486
Animal Rights, Hunting, Wildlife

Saginaw Bay Waterfowl Festival

The Department of Natural Resources will host the 19th annual Saginaw Bay Waterfowl Festival Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 2-3, at Bay City State Recreation Area. Festival activities focus on getting families outdoors to appreciate Michigan’s Waterfowl Legacy – wondrous waterfowl and the unique wetland habitat upon which they depend. The festival runs 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.  Read more

Hunting, Wildlife
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