Michigan spring turkey season. There is perhaps no taste more bittersweet in the outdoors than that of a kill on opening day. Why is success bittersweet? Because one is then forced to wait an entire year before the pounding heartbeat is felt in one's throat as a majestic bird takes his final fatal steps. Here is my story of my opening day...

As is customary for me, my hunt began not as shooting light dawned at 6:10 am today, but rather weeks ago through hours and miles of scouting....

Winter is a great time to work on TSI or Timber Stand Improvement projects. By cutting undesirable trees and invasive shrubs, we can improve the overall quality of the timber stand and greatly increase growth of the remaining trees.



This particular project is being performed on State Forest controlled land where wildlife habitat is not a concern. DCNR's mission is to grow trees and they are very anti-deer.

As...

It's the smell of bacon grease and gun oil that hang in the air. It's the coffee perking one small batch at a time. Its the stories that get told time and time again, yet never grow old. It's the gathering of friends, new and old, all sharing a common bond. Whether you hunt or fish, you've been there. When it really comes down to it...
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I've taken my Grand Daughters for the last 5 years to the Oakwood Nature Center to attend the Tadpoles program. That's the park located just south of Michigan memorial Cemetery and is part of the Huron-Clinton Metro Park system along with Willow, Lower Huron and Lake Erie in this area. The $25 entry sticker gets you in all the parks in south east Michigan and is quite a bargain. Lake Erie is closer and has many attributes like the wave pool, boat launch and their own Nature center along with Luc...

Do you know what this picture is?

If you have looked at my past posts, you have probably picked up on the fact that I am an upland bird nut. More and more, I am feeling less inclined to sit in the woods and wait for a deer that never seems to show up. It is just more fun to get out with the dog and explore new areas. ...

My Michigan elk hunt had 8 days allowed for me to pursue the animal of my dreams. It was broken up into 2 parts, each consisting of 4 days. The first 4 day season encompassed the last 2 days in August and the first 2 days in September. The only real way to describe those 4 days of hunting is hot and miserable. Temperatures flirted with 90 on 2 of the days. Walking 10 to 15 miles per day in that weather, over terrain that was anything but flat, was about as fun as wrestling a hungry grizzly bear....

Usually, the first weekend I get to head into the woods is the woodcock opener. That again held true this year, and it was probably the best weekend of bird hunting I have ever had. The grouse were jumping in groups of 2, 5, and even 6 from one tree. It was amazing. My shooting was not so amazing. Fortunately, birds in the bag aren't all that make up a good weekend of bird hunting. The birds were still hanging in coveys, which makes for some action in the woods. I rarely find birds in the...

Without a doubt, one of, if not the most important factor in consistently harvesting whitetails with archery equipment is proper scent control. Most hunters are aware of this, but only a few actually put in the effort to minimize their scent “footprint”. Why doesn’t everyone go all-out with scent control when they know it will increase their odds at killing deer? The answer is simple. Most hunters are too lazy to put...

My girlfriend of 9 years , Lisa, was not a hunter when we met. She came from a hunting family where her father and brother hunted. She had never been invited to hunt until she met me. We fished together, both from shore and on the ice. She even showed a massive interest in flyfishing. Everything she picked up, she enjoyed. So it only seemed natural that we put a weapon in her hands STAT! She agreed to take hunters safety with fellow m-s member firefighters wife. That year, she decided turkeys would...

To say the weather has been a factor in this young spring turkey season is an understatement. With high temps hovering at least ten degrees below averages, snow, wind, rain, and clouds, all these factors have equated to an unusually late spring. With a late spring comes a delay in “normal” turkey activity, including but not limited to gobbling, hen nesting, and responsiveness to calls. The perfect storm has brewed up a heck of a hunt for those lucky enough (or unlucky enough in this instance), to...