Christmas Jerky

You may have read about the mammoth spotted near Flatrock in a past article. The second part of Chase's program about early inhabitants of the area led us to the range again this time with bow and arrow in hand. The ancients relied on the atlatl probably until they decimated the mastodons in the area or some cataclismic event killed the beasts off. Evolution brought on the advent of the bow and arrow, high technology for the times. So off to the range we go again, this time the target is a large deer but it has many items adhered to it for added incentive to hit the target. Everyone got a chance to archer some treats from Chase.

Stella hit her target, a bag full of jerky. Nice shot Stella, hopefully Santa will come thru with a bow of your own.

The retired outdoor writer from the Toledo Blade wrote on his blog about  a tradition he has for the winter solstice. Steve likes to build a bon fire on the night of the solstice and just imagine what it would be like without all of the comforts of home. No house, no funace, no phones, no car and so on and so on. What better way to spend a new winters evening, plus you could catch a glimpse of someone flying thru the sky.

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2012 Deer Hunting

This year was typical for deer hunting for our group as far as hunters and participation goes. It was a Thursday opener so not everyone could make it opening day but by the end of camp we had 10 hunters in our 1 room cabin.

This is a bare bones hunting camp but with all the comforts of home.

The weather on opening day was perfect, frost on the ground no wind and high anticipation. The xmas morning feelings were due to a trail cam pic taken a week earlier from a nephew that has the deer hunting fever bad.

This was a first for the camp, not the sight of a big deer but the trail cam. It had many pics of the big brute and also many pics of does and other animals. So the memory got filled in 2 days but surely the deer was still around. Alas no one spotted the big deer or many deer for that matter. After opening day the hunter man hours per day slipped below 10 and watching deer and deer hunting videos became the main interest in camp. Thanks Jeff for bringing the 46 inch view finder and sorry about your trail cam. Damn slob hunters.

We did see more deer coming home this year on vehicles than in years past but it seemed there were more atv's than deer coming home.

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Mammoth Found Outside of Flatrock.

Archaeologists recently found one of the behemoths outside of Paris and the scientific community was abuzz. Now one was spotted just west of Flatrock in the Oakwoods Nature Center. It was speared 6 or 7 times to subdue it before we ran out of time and Chase finally put it down. The cardboard looked to be in good shape so maybe it can be used next year for atatl practice.

We take a lot of things for granted in our industrialized civilization and besides water we must have food to survive. If you're hungry you can go to a super market or any fast food chain. It was quite different a few millenia ago. Invention helped humans develope and survive in the harsh real world. The atlatl was one of those inventions allowing hunters to throw their spears farther and with more force. This allowed them to bring down a beast as large as the present day elephant. Now we have high powered rifles for deer.

The art of using an atlatl is difficult to come by as you can see. The atlatl becomes an extension of the users arm allowing more force to be applied. The point when you let go is very important and hard to estimate. Some are better than others and Brendan picked it up fairly easy. After the explorers had a few turns the parents tried it and Brendan's mom was able to put a killing shot on the big beast. Dad boasted that he could cook a bronto burger of the kill that even Fred Flintstone would enjoy. A good time was had by all, except for the mastodon.

If you're interested in experiencing the atlatl throw look up: http://www.michiganatlatl.org/
or visit the Oakwoods Nature Center and ask for Chase.

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What's a Snood?

There were many questions that Mrs. Kopera's class had and I tried to answer them all. A snood though? This was last spring when I visited Mrs. Kopera's class at Allendale School in Melvindale.

I was there to do a turkey hunting demo. The students were really interested in turkeys and why would that be. Mrs. Kopera was selected as a teacher of the year from the National Wild Turkey Federation for her work in using the turkey as a focus of 3rd grade education. You may have seen the article about her accomplishment in the News Herald last year as I did. This led me to volunteer to do a demo on turkey hunting and as luck would have it use my experience last season with "A Hot Blond" to explain some turkey genetics.



I showed the students how I use a pop up blind when I get to a spot or locate a gobbler by using calls.

A blind is essential for hunting turkeys since they can spot movent like no other game animal. This was proven to me while hunting with my cousin Jojo who usually talks while we're hunting and uses his hands to do so. I've read where a human can see the second hand moving on a clock fairly easy while a turkey can see the minute hand moving just as easily. Another aid in tricking these birds are decoys.

Calling to the toms can bring them close but the right decoy can bring them into shotgun range which for me is about 35 yards. Sometimes it's hard to judge the range in the wild so the closer the better. This year the range was right, the gun shot straght and I got a tom. I almost didn't shoot him because at first it looked like he had a small beard.

As you can see this is a very light colored beard, blond as I would call it. One of the reasons for this could be a genetic disorder due to overcrowding, which was being covered in class. I also showed a picture of a smoke phase turkey which has a lot of white colorings. Because they don't blend in well to their suroundings they usually are the first ones to be caught by a predator. If there is overcrowding then their genes can be passed on because of safety in numbers.

It was a great time with all the students getting hands on time with the beards and my calls, right Kyle. With help from Ray's Prime Meats in Taylor all that wanted a taste of wild turkey sausage got it.

I left a turkey tail fan, a beard and wings for Mrs. Kopera to use as a teaching aid.

 However, I couldn't leave a snood. They're not very eye appealing.

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Hunt MI

The Michigan DNR is offering to help any deer hunters in Michigan find a spot to hunt and answer questions about deer hunting. For the info go to  www.michigan.gov/mihunt , here you'll find topo maps of any area in the state. Another great place to look for info is at :http://links.govdelivery.com/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTIxMTA3LjExODUxMzAxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDEyMTEwNy4xMTg1MTMwMSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3MjQyMDU5JmVtYWlsaWQ9cHRha21AbHljb3MuY29tJnVzZXJpZD1wdGFrbUBseWNvcy5jb20mZmw9JmV4dHJhPU11bHRpdmFyaWF0ZUlkPSYmJg==&&&106&&&http://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MIDNR/2012/11/07/file_attachments/173817/Deer%2BHunting%2BStatus%2B%2BProspects%2B2012.pdf. This covers everything from hunting regulations to the deer forcasts in your area.

Deer hunters and others interested in deer hunting in Michigan are invited to join the Department of Natural Resources at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13, for “DNR Live: Deer” -- a one-hour online forum designed to answer questions from the public about the state’s deer population, hunting seasons and regulations.


The video event will stream live on the DNR’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/midnr. A Facebook account is not required to access the page and watch the livestream event.

The online forum’s panel of DNR experts will include the Wildlife Division’s deer and elk program leader Brent Rudolph and wildlife veterinarian Steve Schmitt, along with Law Enforcement Division Assistant Chief Dean Molnar.

The public is invited to post questions in advance on the DNR’s Facebook page, send via Twitter to @MichiganDNR using the hashtag #DNRlive, or email to dnr-facebook@michigan.gov, no later than 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 12.

If your research comes thru you could bag a buck of a lifetime.

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Nightmare Gone but Donated.

As reported in the Indystar. A 47-year-old Brownsburg man was charged Monday with a felony and three misdemeanors in a poaching case involving a local whitetail buck so large and elusive that local hunters had nicknamed the deer "Nightmare."

According to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case, just after 5 a.m. Oct. 2, Tom Miller was asleep in his Fishback Road residence near Eagle Creek Park when he was jolted awake by the sound of a rifle shot.

Miller got up, hopped into his vehicle and followed a pickup to a nearby parking lot. The driver, later identified as Don Ward, told Miller he was looking for deer on his property but didn't shoot one.

Miller called Hendricks County Sheriff's Deputy Jesse Fulwider, who had permission to hunt on Miller's land and had been pursuing the giant buck there for years. Fulwider had given the 10-point buck, which weighed close to 300 pounds, the nickname Nightmare.

Fulwider found the buck's carcass on Miller's property and called Department of Natural Resources conservation officer Jeff Wells, who lives nearby.

Wells said in the affidavit he knew Ward well because he had "received previous complaints about being involved in unlawful taking of deer."

Wells confronted Ward at his home. At first, Ward denied shooting the buck, but Wells said in his affidavit that Ward later confessed after saying, "If I admit I killed it, can I keep the rack?"

Ward told The Indianapolis Star earlier this month he was so taken by the size of the deer that he couldn't stop himself from shooting it.

Wells said the meat from Nightmare was donated to a Hendricks County man who had signed up for a program to receive venison from fresh roadkills or poaching cases. The antlers are being held as evidence.

Ward is charged with criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, a Class D felony, unlawful taking of a wild animal, a Class B misdemeanor, and hunting without the consent of a landowner and hunting from a public highway, both Class C misdemeanors.

If convicted on the felony count alone, Ward could be ordered to pay up to a $10,000 fine and could be sentenced to up to three years in prison.

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Sandy Blows

Frankenstorm Sandy has allowed most outdoorspeople to have a break. The pounding wind has kept just about everyone indoors. The wind beating against the house sounded like thunder and it just went on all night. Coming in to work this morning I had slush formed on the sides of my windshield where the wiper blades stop. So much for Indian summer and now a chance to take a break from all of the outdoor action.

The Lindberg Flash reports good perch catches north of Grassy Island. When pressed about how far north he would just say anywhere south of the Ambassador Bridge.

Fr. Walleye, Capt. Nick and Muskrat Adventures all report good catches of walleye in the Trenton channel. Some adjustments in shanks and leaders may help the bite but the fish have been very receptive.

Or jig with a Bondy bait for one of those. After this brief resprit there will be so many choices along with pheasant hunting, turkey hunting, deer hunting...

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New State Record Muskie

Species: Great Lakes Muskellunge. Weight: 58.00 lbs. Length: 59 inches. Caught in Lake Bellaire, Antrim County on October 13, 2012 @ 10:30am. Method: Still-fishing with a minnow. Angler: Joseph Seeberger of Portage Mich. Verified by: Patrick Hanchin, Charlevoix Research Station

These guys were out fishing for smallmouth and hooked into this thing. It took Joe 2 hours to reel it in as he was using 8 lb. line for smallmouth, but faced an even bigger hurdle when it came time to land the fish. It took three adults, two nets, two life jackets, and a dock line to get the behemoth into the boat. Once the fish tired, two bass-size nets were used, one at the head and one at the tail, in an attempt to scoop the fish into the boat. “But both nets busted as soon as Chuck and I tried to lift the fish up,” said Orbeck. By this time, another fishing buddy, Derek Barnes, had hopped aboard Seeberger’s boat in an attempt to help land the fish. Now with no usable nets, two life jackets were tied together in an effort to make a cradle. “But they were too buoyant and we couldn’t get them below the surface enough,” Seeberger said. Finally, one of the boat’s dock lines was lassoed around the fish’s head, slid to its middle, and tightened down. With one man grabbing the head, one grasping the tail, and a third pulling up on the line, the fish was brought safely into the boat at 10:30 a.m.

As soon as the crew got the boat out of the water, a county sheriff was waved down, who incidentally measured the monstrous muskie with a crime scene tape. Once the fish was brought to shore, Seeberger drove for an hour in search of a scale. He finally found an industrial-sized certified scale at the Ellsworth Farmer’s Exchange. The fished weighed in at exactly 58 pounds, and measured 59 inches long, with a 29-inch girth.







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Watch Out and Be Careful

You never know what wild animals are going to do. Try as you might to harvest a deer, go up north, tromp thru the woods or sit on a prime spot, it's hard to do for the average person. Most times just to see a deer is a big deal, not so in Wyandotte recently.

As seen from the USS Friendship this 4-6 point buck was looking for a new home. After a quick flyby of the McDonalds carry out window his freedom was achieved.

Soon he was roaming the streets of Wyandotte and ended up on 22nd near Eureka. The police escorted him to the tracks and left him to his own devices. It's exciting to see wildlife anywhere unless you're traveling in a vehicle or jogging. If you're hunting this is when you need to be careful. Always make sure you know what you're hunting and what you're shooting at. Recently there was a tragic accident when a coyote hunter shot another person that was scouting for deer. The excitement of seeing your quarry can cause you to see things that aren't really there.
  This brings me to a report from Utah that states an avid goat hunter recently dressed up as a goat and was seen trying to invade a tribe of goats in the mountains. The hikers that spotted the "goat" were at first startled and then became very concerned after they could discern that in fact the "goat" was a person.

 Coty Creighton, 33, spotted the goat man Sunday during his hike. He said he came across the herd, but noticed something odd about one goat that was trailing behind the rest.


"I thought maybe it was injured," Creighton said Friday. "It just looked odd."

He said he pulled out binoculars to get a closer look at the herd about 200 yards away and was shocked. The man appeared to be acting like a goat while wearing the crudely made costume, which had fake horns and a cloth mask with cut-out eye holes.
The Utah DNR has contacted the goat actor and the two have come to an agreement that the charade will not happen again. SNL however is trying to contact the man/goat/boy.

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Bring It On

Finally some cool temperatures are cooling the local waters and fishing is heating up. There were many reports already of perch limits coming from the lower river but I was skeptical. It seemed there were more skunks that limits. Now the water temps are in the 60s and the fish are gearing up for the long winter. The usual spots are producing from the Nicholson docks to Grassy Island, right across from Portofino, Mamajuda, and down to Celeron Island. The hardest part is finding the shiners and you need to call all the bait shops to find out who has them. Get the numbers from the bait shop link.

Typically I just use a spreader. If the fish aren’t hitting well you can switch to the Lindberg flashes method of a small spoon suspended on a bobber or a perch jigging spoon. Jerry Hinton the perch Champion from the DWF uses a special set up that can induce some bites. With this he can detect the lightest bites.

Another consideration is where your're fishing and what regulations you need to consider. If you fish with minnows make sure to keep your reciept to prove they are VHS free. If you have a Canadian license you'll need to buy minnows in Canada and this entails many regulations that I don't wish to get into. To get around the minnow issue you can try a perch jig. Slab Grabbers are good for this.

No minnows needed with these things but you still need to call in and tell the Queen you're fishing in Canada.

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