Crow Man

BEARS IN THE WOODS

I grew up in a time when we camped all over Michigan. Like most kids, I can tell you I was always into something. One time in the State Park in the Upper Peninsula, our campsite was surrounded by woods. Once it got dark, we were having a bonfire. I had a flashlight and I faced it toward the woods. (I should explain my dad wasn’t there at that time, and my mom was in the camper.) When I turned my flashlight on, I saw two little bear cubs. I took the bag of marshmallows we had and started feeding the bears. I thought it was so cool! My mom yelled out from the trailer, and asked me what I was doing outside. I replied, “I’m fine, Mom, I’m feeding the bears.” I heard a scream from my mom to get into the trailer right now. As a little kid, I didn’t want to go and leave the bears, but I did. To top off the story, my dad came back and roared like a bear through the window. My mom jumped so high; it was really funny, and my dad didn’t even know the bears were out there!

Crow Man holds the Michigan Grand Slam title, as he finished fall/winter 2005 with an elk.

The Michigan Grand Slam is the title given for having the state record of the four Michigan animals that CBM recognizes as trophies by a single hunter. Those four animals are deer, bear, elk, and turkeys. The accomplishment has always been considered so rare. The added challenge of drawing a limited bear tag and particularly a bull elk tag, and to harvest animals that make the record book minimums seems insurmountable. However, it miraculously has been done by a select few. Crow Man is of that select few.