The Department of Natural Resources, in partnership with Macomb County and the Detroit Zoo, banded two healthy, male peregrine falcon chicks last week. The banding occurred on the 11th floor of the Macomb County Building in Mount Clemens. The chicks, hatched on May 1, are the offspring of Hathor and Nick, longtime residents of the Macomb County Building.
Pictured above: DNR Southeast Regional Wildlife Supervisor TimPayne (left) and Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel. Read more
If you love bass fishing in Michigan, we’ve got great news for you! Bassmaster Magazine recently named Lake St. Clair the top bass fishing location in the nation! Read more
For a birder, being outdoors in the springtime can’t be beat. New sights and sounds abound and they just plead to be identified. But, on this day, we were seeking the main ingredient for a turkey soup recipe.
My friend, Joe, sat with me in the comfort of a large portable blind two weeks earlier but we could not entice a gobbling tom into our trap. It was time to try again.
For this session, we set up a large pop-up blind in the middle of a wheat field under the shade of a lone hickory tree. Even though the camouflaged material was totally wrong with its brown patterns, it had worked for me earlier in the season.
Conspicuous Contraption
This would be the ultimate test to learn if this conspicuous contraption could keep us concealed, while allowing us to get a mature tom close enough for a personal invitation to join us for dinner.
By 6:30 am several hen turkeys had flown down from their roosting trees 200 yards away. Previous observations found the turkeys poking around for hours in the burgeoning wheat after they had hit the ground, so we were content to let it happen.
A pair of sandhill cranes
Sandhill Crane
and Canada geese joined the festivities and made for some good viewing and photos. Finally, I spotted some bright red heads moving in their direction of the hens and determined that three one year-old male turkeys (jakes) were making their way toward the ladies.
In short order, we observed the jakes separate from the hens after their intentions were thwarted. Then, Joe alertly noticed a coyote staring at our decoy from 80 yards away. I spun the camera toward it, and off it went only to pause for one last glimpse at us.
The hens saw it too and all eyes were tuned to the imminent threat. At long last, things returned to normal and the birds began feeding, once more.
Joe and I lost track of the jakes until they reappeared directly in front of us in the company of our rubber decoy. Only 26 yards from our off-color hideout, they were oblivious to our presence, as they began an attempt to acquaint themselves with our teasing accomplice.
Joe had already made up his mind to let them grow to adulthood, so we took it all in, while I captured the interaction on video along with some still photos. Previously, the camera was set so that I could hear the shutter sound and I’m sure the young gobblers could hear it, as well. But, we remained motionless as their bird brains calculated.
Eventually, the stuck-up female’s total disinterest sent the love-struck losers away from us, but the excitement of the moment was well worth the price of admission.
We called it a day and one worth remembering, at that.
A publication of the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance 05-25-2013
The ongoing IRS scandal that is hitting Washington has yet another twist with new questions surrounding the number one group on our Dirty Dozen List, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The latest twist comes after the person at the heart of the IRS scandal, Lois Lerner, was found to have ties to this anti-hunting organization.
Lerner is the Director of the IRS’s tax-exempt organizations division, which has come under investigation for improperly targeting conservative groups. Lerner’s involvement might not stop there, however. Now questions are being raised as to whether the IRS ignored accusations regarding HSUS’s tax exempt status because of Lerner’s active membership with HSUS. Read more
From our friends at the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF):
NEWTOWN, Conn. — The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today dismissed a lawsuit brought by the radical anti-hunting Center for Biological Diversity and six other groups demanding the Environmental Protection Agency ban traditional ammunition containing lead components. Read more
Department of Natural Resources and local officials will be on hand Thursday, June 6, at 6:30 p.m. at the Blair Township Hall, located at 2121 County Road 633 in Grawn, to provide an update and take public comments on an area of state forest land commonly known as the Hoosier Valley Ranges.
These informal shooting ranges, located nine miles south of downtown Traverse City, have become popular with a full spectrum of gun enthusiasts, from those sighting in deer rifles to those recreationally shooting at exploding targets and using semi-automatic firearms. Local residents have voiced noise, safety, road congestion and litter concerns. Read more
GW: So go ahead and sign your meaningless petition. Hunters can minimize such occurrences as this attack and will pay for the privilege. If the anti-hunters want alternative controls, let them pay for it with their deceit-derived stash.
A Department of Natural Resources wildlife technician has confirmed that a third dog has been killed today by a wolf in the Atlantic Mine area (Houghton County), in the same location where another dog was killed last week. The dog in this morning’s attack was chained up in a fenced yard at the time of the attack. Read more
Lyman Products, your trusted source for Ultrasonic Cleaning, has just made weapons maintenance even easier. Now you can lube your firearms right in the same ultrasonic machine that you use to clean them. Simply drain the cleaning solution, wipe out the tank, and refill with Lyman’s Turbo Sonic Gun Lube. Read more
The Department of Natural Resources, in partnership with Macomb County and the Detroit Zoo, banded two healthy, male peregrine falcon chicks last week. The banding occurred on the 11th floor of the Macomb County Building in Mount Clemens. The chicks, hatched on May 1, are the offspring of Hathor and Nick, longtime residents of the Macomb County Building.
