ThinkingAfield.org

With the start of the fall hunting seasons, now is the time for hunters to sight in their bows, rifles and shotguns at one of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment’s staff-operated shooting ranges.

The DNRE oversees six shooting ranges in southern Michigan, including the Rose Lake Shooting Range in Bath (Clinton County); Sharonville Shooting Range in Grass Lake (Jackson County); Island Lake Shooting Range in Brighton (Livingston County); Ortonville Shooting Range in Ortonville (Lapeer County); Bald Mountain Shooting Range in Lake Orion (Oakland County) and Pontiac Lake Shooting Range in Waterford (Oakland County). An archery range is not available at Island Lake.

During October, Ortonville, Pontiac Lake, Rose Lake, and Sharonville ranges are open six days a week, closed Tuesdays. From Nov. 1 – 15, the ranges are open daily.

Hours at Ortonville and Pontiac Lake ranges are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Rose Lake and Sharonville ranges.

Range fees at Ortonville and Pontiac Lake are $4 per day for each shooter age 16 and older. Children under 16 are free. Rose Lake and Sharonville have no fee. The Bald Mountain and Island Lake ranges are operated under contract by Michigan Shooting Centers, LCC. Please contact Island Lake at 248-437-2784 and Bald Mountain at 248-693-0567, or visit their website www.mishoot.com/ for hours and fees.

For more information on DNRE operated shooting ranges, please call the ranges. The telephone numbers are:

Bald Mountain: 248-693-0567

Island Lake: 248-437-2784

Ortonville: 248-627-5569

Pontiac Lake: 248-666-5406

Rose Lake: 517-641-7801

Sharonville: 734-428-8035

Hunters are encouraged to check out Ortonville’s new 3-D archery range and Bald Mountain’s new sporting clays course. Please contact the ranges for more details.

Shooters are reminded to bring eye and ear protection and approved targets with either a bull’s eye pattern or a depiction of legal game. Shooters under age 16 must be directly supervised by an adult.

Information about the DNRE shooting ranges and other public and private shooting ranges can be found on the DNRE website at www.michigan.gov/shootingranges.

GW: Good advice for any state. And the bullet point about not loading an arrow while carrying the crossbow could have saved a life already this season, if it had been followed. A crossbow hunter stabbed his friend, who was walking ahead of him. When his friend stopped suddenly, his back was pierced and he bled to death.

RALEIGH, N.C. – With crossbows now legal for hunting in North Carolina, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s Home From The Hunt campaign recommends some safety guidelines.

“Many of the safety considerations for using a crossbow are the same as a longbow or compound bow,” said Travis Casper, state assistant hunting education coordinator. “Or even a rifle, for that matter. Hunting safety is exercising caution, following manufacturer’s instructions, obeying regulations and putting into practice what you’ve learned in hunter education, no matter what you’re using.”

As with any method of hunting, always point your crossbow in a safe direction; only shoot after positively identifying your target and what’s beyond it. Know your crossbow’s capabilities and limitations, Casper advised.

He also stressed:

* Never carry a crossbow cocked and loaded with an arrow.
* Keep fingers and thumb below the rail at all times.
* When cocking, be sure that your foot is firmly planted in the cocking stirrup.
* Never dry-fire a crossbow (firing without an arrow can cause sudden breakage).

While using a tree stand, all hunters should maintain three points of contact when climbing up or down; wear a full body safety harness; and check belts, chains and attachment cords before use. With a crossbow in a tree stand, Casper said hunters should:

* Cock the crossbow on the ground before climbing.
* Load the crossbow only when in hunting position.
* Always use a haul line to raise or lower an unloaded crossbow.
* Keep the haul line away from the trigger mechanism – haul stock-first.
* Clear away any tree branches before taking a shot.

By Glen Wunderlich
Outdoor Columnist
Member Professional Outdoor Media Association

October 1st is opening day for archery deer hunters in all of Michigan and that means there is little time to finish necessary preparations. The yellow snow, provided by the local whitetail population in February, has been cold filtered and packaged neatly in 8-ounce pump-spray bottles for truly unique cover scent. Old treestands have been inspected and secured with new ratchet straps and new pull-up ropes. All that was left to complete prudent readiness was to sight in the new crossbows.

My friend, Joe, and I began the session shooting at a Block target from a benchrest. Crossbows have several advantages over vertical bows (and some shortcomings, as well) and one of them is the ability to be fired from a solid rest, as can be done with firearms. There is no better means to make critical sight adjustments than from a rest to minimize the human wobble factor. So, we began at 30 yards with 100-grain practice points.

The 30-yard mark used to be my maximum range with my vertical compound bow but no longer. In fact, I learned early on with the Horton Vision that shooting multiple arrows (or crossbolts, if you will) at the same target was a bad idea. (Don’t ask me how I learned.) Another thing I discovered was that the aluminum arrows, that came with the crossbow package, were slower than advertised. And, to top it off, one of the inserts with point attached was disengaged from the arrow and left inside the layered Block target. So that little bit of misfortune led to an upgrade with a new set of Carbon Express Red Hot crossbow arrows with built-in weight forward design.

When we weighed the new arrows, we found that they were somewhat lighter than advertised but all were within fractional grain differences. It was time to let ’em fly. Whack! A little scope adjustment and the next one was in the center of a 3-inch circle. And then the moment of truth: The first shot with my chosen NAP Spitfire, 100-grain expandable, 3-blade broadhead. No difference! A few more shots and the new broadhead had been promptly converted to a practice-only test device. It sure was hard on that expensive Block target, as a few cut layers of the material came loose behind it. Oh, well.

Joe was using a new Reign 100-grain broadhead and had similar results powered by his 352 feet-per-second Parker powerhouse. At 40 yards both of us used the third horizontal line on our range-finding reticles and kept all shots in the 3-inch circles.

Because neither of us anticipate a lot of hunting from the ground, it was onward and upward some 20 feet to a roomy tree ambush platform. We ranged the target at 30 yards and slammed the arrows into the tiny bull’s eyes. At 40 yards same thing. Of course, the tree fort has a shooting rail and all we had to do to duplicate results from the benchrest was to put a sandbag under the forearm section of the bows. Since 40 yards was more than a satisfactory distance for me, my testing was concluded. But Joe took it to the next level: 50 yards!

Once again, the arrows flew true. By using the fourth aiming line on the scope, Joe whistled 2 arrows one inch directly above the black circle on the target – still within our self-prescribed 6-inch kill zone.

Before we left, we staked out perimeters of 30 and 40 yards around the tree so that yardage estimates will not pose a problem.

This getting-ready business couldn’t have culminated more perfectly. All that is left is for the precision aspects of the new hunting tools to prove themselves afield.

North Haven, CT – Mossberg International introduces the Tactical .22–an alternative firearm for those shooters and enthusiasts who want the look and feel of an AR-style .22 rimfire with an affordable price. With the rising costs of centerfire ammunition, the new Tactical .22 rimfires are a great choice for recreational shooters, as well as those searching for a cost-effective training platform.

The lightweight and fast-handling Tactical .22 parallels the look and feel of today’s AR-style rifle while being built around Mossberg International’s reliable .22autoloader. Taking cues from their proven 702 autoloader, the Tactical .22 matches an 18″ barrel to a quad rail forend allowing the operator to fit the rifle with lights, lasers or other tactical accessories. Two stock configurations will be offered in this series: a six-position adjustable and fixed stock. The six-position polymer stock adjusts the length of pull from 10-3/4″ – 14.5″ accommodating youth and smaller framed shooters up to adults. The fixed position stock has a standard 13″ LOP. The Tactical .22 is integrated with an A2-style carry handle and an adjustable rear sight aligned with a front post sight. The Picatinny handle mount is included, allowing versatility in scopes and other optics while providing the clearance necessary to utilize the AR-style sights. Other features included with the Tactical .22 are sling mounts and a ten round magazine.

MSRP: $276

ANOKA, Minnesota – September 20, 2010 – Federal Premium® adds the Swift® A-Frame® to its Vital-Shok™ handgun hunting ammunition line. The proven A-Frame gives hunters another bullet option sure to hold up in a variety of big game hunting situations. New offerings are now available.

Handgun hunters know the Swift A-Frame for its toughness. Its bonding process ensures the jacket and core will hold together to get great penetration and ideal weight retention. This translates to great stopping power on big game.

“The A-Frame is a great addition to our handgun hunting lineup,” said Brand Director Rick Stoeckel. “It has a reputation, and a proven track record, as a first-class bullet. It will give hunters another great option for their favorite handgun.”

The A-Frame gets controlled expansion on impact. And this bonded-lead hollow point will be available in popular handgun hunting calibers from .357 Mag to .500 S&W.

Available Now

Part No. Description

P357SA .357 Magnum 180-grain Swift A-Frame 1130 fps

P41SA .41 Rem. Magnum 210-grain Swift A-Frame 1270 fps

P44SA .44 Rem. Magnum 280-grain Swift A-Frame 1170 fps

P454SA .454 Casull 300-grain Swift A-Frame 1520 fps

P460SA .460 S&W 300-grain Swift A-Frame 1750 fps

P500SA .500 S&W 325-grain Swift A-Frame 1800 fps

For more information on the new Vital-Shok A-Frame offerings, and the entire Federal Premium line, visit www.federalpremium.com.

By Glen Wunderlich
Outdoor Columnist
Member Professional Outdoor Media Association

This weekend is a big one for any Michigan youth deer hunter, because they have their own special season. And, the little town of Perry celebrates the occasion in a big way hosting the 7th annual Perry Youth Hunt Extravaganza. You’ll find all the necessary details below.

While many traditional American values are going the way of the streetcar, not so in this case. In fact, hunting ages have been lowered in recent years, and for the first year, youths as low as 10 years of age can even hunt with crossbows (firearms cannot be used until they reach 12 years of age, and then, only on private land.) Our youth hunters and those across the nation have proved that they are actually safer than the adults, too.

We members of the Perry Sons of Amvets have worked hard since last year’s Youth Hunt saving 10 percent of our dinner and breakfast event proceeds and put them to work for the kids. It’s commitment and dedication to carry on the great Michigan hunting heritage that speaks volumes and it’s unrivaled anywhere else in Michigan. There are no entry fees, no qualifications to bag a deer – only enthusiastic youngsters that want to hunt.

The 7th Annual Perry Youth Hunt Extravaganza is an event whereby young hunters are provided with an opportunity to display deer taken in the two-day Youth Firearm Deer Season, September 25 and 26 and the chance to win valuable prizes. The Youth Firearms Deer Season is open on all lands in Michigan.

A youth 10 to 16 years of age with a firearm or combination license may take an antlered or antlerless deer during this special two-day season. Archery and junior archery licenses are not valid for this hunt. The bag limit for the season is one deer.

Youths 10 and 11 are restricted to archery-only hunting. Youths 12 and 13 can use firearms but are restricted to firearm hunting on private land only. All youth hunters must wear Hunter Orange and must be accompanied by an adult at least 18 years of age or older. An adult accompanying a youth firearm deer hunter cannot possess or carry a firearm or bow and arrow and does not need a deer hunting license. It is unlawful to use bait during this season.

Deer may be brought to the Perry VFW at 601 S. Main St, Perry, MI 48872 beginning at 10 am each day to register for the prize drawing on Sunday. It is not necessary to harvest a deer to be eligible for the prize drawing; only a valid deer hunting license is required to register, but unsuccessful hunters will only be registered between 7 pm and 8 pm Sunday.

Prizes are provided equally to successful and unsuccessful participants on Sunday beginning at approximately 8:30 pm. Local businesses and individuals are encouraged to support this worthwhile event through charitable contributions. The Perry Youth Hunt Extravaganza is a function of the Perry Sons of AMVETS Post 4064 and all gifts and donations are tax deductible. Discounts for goods and/or services being offered by businesses are not considered as prizes.

Donations are to be sent to or dropped off at the Perry VFW c/o Glen Wunderlich. Make sure to mark them Perry Youth Hunt. Checks are to be made payable to Perry Sons of Amvets.

If you have any questions, contact Chairman Glen Wunderlich during daytime hours only at (517) 404-7737 or via email at glenway@acd.net. Come join the fun and excitement and support the future of a great Michigan heritage.

BELLEVUE, WA – The appointment of anti-gun rights former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels as an alternate representative to the United Nations has removed any doubt about the Obama administration’s intentions regarding global gun control initiatives, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

Nickels, a founding member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns and the author of Seattle’s failed attempt to override Washington’s state firearms preemption statute, was sworn in Wednesday to “help represent the United States in the UN assembly,” according to the Seattle Times.

“Putting an extremist gun banner in any position to represent this country at the United Nations amounts to renting a billboard for advertising against the Second Amendment,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “While he was Seattle’s mayor, Greg Nickels supported every anti-gun scheme put forth by Washington CeaseFire, the Northwest’s most active gun prohibition lobby.

“Nickels is a gun ban proponent,” he continued, “so his appointment as an alternate to the UN is a clear signal of Barack Obama’s intention to rubber stamp the UN’s global gun ban agenda. We had to sue Nickels while he was still Seattle’s mayor to overturn his illegal city parks gun ban. Now he gets to push his anti-gun philosophy on a world scale. It hardly seems a coincidence that Nickels has been appointed by the Obama administration at a time when the UN is considering treaties and initiatives that pose a serious threat to the Second Amendment.”

Nickels was turned out of office in 2009, which was something of a feat in a liberal enclave like Seattle, Gottlieb recalled. His defeat in the primary demonstrated the degree of alienation voters felt from a politician who once epitomized the Seattle liberal establishment.

“By naming Greg Nickels as an alternate representative at the UN,” Gottlieb stated, “President Obama has essentially told America’s 85 million gun owners that their firearm civil rights are in jeopardy. Nickels cannot be counted on to defend the Second Amendment because he would like to see it erased from the Constitution.”

“Serious Grouse Hunting: Book 1” is about one thing: Improving your ruffed grouse hunting. New tips on finding habitat and parsing the habitat you do find, walking-up grouse (with and without a dog), getting grouse to flush, the best ways to get a shot, gun and shell choices, modern gear pros and cons, and much more. Serious Grouse Hunting takes a 70-year old conversation about grouse hunting and brings it into the 21st Century.

All bird hunters will enjoy this book, and those who aren’t yet Serious about grouse hunting will be after reading it!

Readers will:

* Improve grouse hunting abilities
* Understand countless new hunting strategies and age-old secrets with easy-to-understand illustrations and entertaining, down-to-earth explanations
* Learn how to harness the power of technologies like Google Earth to advance hunting skills
* Discover which time-honored grouse hunting tactics are now debunked

“We wrote this book for several reasons,” explained author Jay Kumar. “One is we love to grouse-hunt. Two is that we wish we’d read a book like this, and since no one had written one, we did. Three, the how-to info in the sport seriously needed updating. And a fourth reason is that we’re eternal students of the sport, and really want this book to start some new conversations about grouse hunting and upland hunting generally. We’ll keep those conversations going at our website, SeriousBirdHunting.com. We just can’t get enough bird hunting info, and we know we’re not alone!”

Co-author Brendan Haines added, “As Serious Bird Hunters, we love hammering ditch chickens just like everyone else. But to us, ruffed grouse hunting is the pinnacle of serious bird hunting. If you hunt grouse, you may not agree with everything in the book but should learn at least one thing that will help you bag more birds. If you haven’t hunted grouse yet, reading this book will make you want to.”

“Serious Grouse Hunting: Book 1″ has 200+ pages with photos and illustrations. Available now for purchase atwww.SeriousBirdHunting.com, the cover price is $29.95 – much cheaper than hiring a guide for the day and hunters will learn much more from the book. In fact, grouse books were selling for more than $20 two decades ago!

PRATT – For those who love butterflies, September is the month to watch for masses of migrating monarchs in Kansas. The weather has cooled, and many people are seeing this regal butterfly in backyards, parks, and in the field. A familiar and popular insect species, monarch migratory behavior is much like that of birds. Navigating on instinct, every monarch east of the Rocky Mountains flies toward a specific area of central Mexico to spend the winter.

Several generations separate the southward-migrating monarchs from those that flew south the previous year, so they do not have elders to guide them on this 1,000- to 3,000-mile journey. The monarchs that live north of Kansas begin moving south in late August. The trigger for their trek south is thought to be the declining angle of the sun as the days get shorter, and this “sun compass” also guides them as they travel.

As the migrating monarchs progress south, local monarchs join them, making the group larger. The observed peak for the Topeka-Kansas City area typically falls about the second or third week in September. The peak for the Wichita area may be a week or so later. On the right day in the right location, careful observers may see hundreds or even thousands of monarchs moving in a south-southwesterly direction on their journey to Mexico. During resting periods, tree branches may be so loaded with monarchs that branches bend and appear almost completely orange. Those lucky enough to have seen this display have witnessed one of nature’s marvels.

However, don’t expect to see such gatherings in the same place every year. Monarch movement is strongly affected by prevailing weather patterns, so their migration routes vary annually. A good way to attract monarchs and help them refuel on their fall migration is to plant September-blooming plants around home. Asters, sunflowers, goldenrod, and sedum provide blossoms with nectar monarchs need.

The right habitat nearby may even attract overnight roosts of monarchs. They cease flying in the evening and look for sheltered sites in trees to cluster together for the night. These sites often have an easterly exposure, so the monarchs can warm up quickly in the morning sun and resume migration. Such overnight roosts are, in miniature, just like what may be seen at their over-wintering site in Mexico, where acres of trees are so blanketed with butterflies that the branches of trees bend low with their weight.

Monarchs head back north again in March, but they are seldom the same ones that went south the previous September. It is the first generation of their descendants, and they begin arriving around the second week of April. Nor are those that begin the migration the same butterflies that complete the spring migration. Spring migrating monarchs may only fly a few hundred miles, then lay eggs and die. These eggs hatch into caterpillars, pupate, complete metamorphosis into butterflies, and continue the migration. Thus, the spring migration is often a leapfrog of generations moving as far north as Canada. Some may end their northward migration in Kansas, as well, laying eggs and producing more monarchs throughout the summer that stay in the Sunflower State.

Because the spring flight north is a dispersal with the purpose of laying eggs on newly emerging milkweed rather than the mass retreat from winter that occurs in the fall, large numbers of monarchs are not seen in spring.

For more information on monarch butterflies, including where to look for monarchs and their amazing migration, contact the Monarch Watch program at the University of Kansas online at www.monarchwatch.org.

BELLEVUE, WA – For the third straight year, violent crime has declined in all categories while gun sales climbed, gun ownership expanded and more citizens are carrying firearms for personal protection; proof positive that gun prohibitionists have been consistently and undeniably wrong, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

The FBI released its 2009 report on Crime in the United States, showing that murder declined 7.3 percent, robberies fell 8 percent, aggravated assault dropped by 4.2 percent and forcible rape has declined 2.6 percent. Meanwhile, the National Shooting Sports Foundation notes that gun sales in 2009 were up dramatically.

“What the data tells us is exactly the opposite of what the gun ban lobby has predicted for several years,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Their dire predictions that America’s streets would run red have been shown up as a fraudulent sales pitch for public disarmament.

“No matter how gun prohibitionists try to spin this,” he continued, “the bottom line is that they have been consistently and demonstrably wrong, and they know it. On the other hand, gun rights organizations have been consistently right when we argued that increased gun ownership would not lead to higher crime rates, and might even have a deterrent effect, because even property crimes are down, according to this year’s report.

Gottlieb is co-author of America Fights Back: Armed Self-Defense in a Violent Age and Assault on Weapons: The Campaign to Eliminate Your Guns.

“America has turned a corner on crime,” he observed, “and it is time to turn our backs on the failed liberal gun control agenda. Their gun ban policies were wrong and the courts have said so. Their gun prohibitionist philosophy has clearly proven itself bankrupt, and for the third consecutive year, the FBI data says so.”

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation’s premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States. The Citizens Committee can be reached by phone at (425) 454-4911, on the Internet at www.ccrkba.org or by email to InformationRequest@ccrkba.org.