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....

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....

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...

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...

“In the school that is the outdoors, there is no graduation day”. Never before has this truth been so evident as it has become this spring, the year 2010.

I’ll preface this by saying I used to consider myself an above average turkey hunter. In a state where success rates hover around 33%, I have never had to hunt more than 2 days to bag a gobbler, sans my first season. I took the hard lessons of that first year and turned them into consistent success through hard work, persistence,...

The cool damp woods of Michigan in early May are one of my favorite places to be, and today was no exception. I found myself situated against an ancient fallen oak, soaking up the sounds and smells in the early morning mist that words just cannot give justice to. I was hunting with my good friend Jason Blitchok, President of Michigan Hunter’s Alliance. The spring...

It’s April 15th and I’m up well before light frantically gathering my things and rushing out the door to meet a very important deadline. Taxes you might think? NO! I’m flying out the door to start the final week of fever-pitched turkey scouting before opener. Until this point, all my efforts have encompassed locating flocks, solidifying permission on private lands, and of course, practicing my calling. Lately though, a magical change has come about the forests of Michigan. With the first sprouts...

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

That's the seconds ticking away until full blown archery season opens on the 1st! An entire off-season of scouting, target practice, and hard work all boils down to this. Don't wait until Thursday morning at O' dark thirty to work out your kinks. You still have one more day to climb up in that tree in your front yard and throw a few more arrows. And don't forget to practice in full hunting gear, including your gloves and facemask.
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April 25th, 2006. Another turkey season had dawned on Michigan the day prior, and with little success, myself and my hunting partner Adam were still hard after the birds. We enjoy hunting state land, as it can hold large numbers of birds, but with public access comes heavy pressure. After an unsuccessful first light hunt filled with rain, Adam and I found ourselves cruising the backroads and checking some of our favorite spots. It was 10 am, and most other hunters had already given up and were either...