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SPORTMAN'S REVIEW OF 2018 Supplement to the Pioneer
Jerald Higgins, 78, of West Olive, bagged an 11-point buck with 19 3/4-inch rack span on opening day to take first-place honors in the Big Buck Classic. (Pioneer file photo)
78-year-old hunter is Big Buck Classic firearm division winner BIG RAPIDS — Jerald Higgins turned 78 years old in November, and he’s been hunting long enough to not remember how many deer he has shot. But he probably won’t forget the moment he shot one on Thursday morning along Nine Mile Road and 170thth Avenue in Millbrook Township for a
long time. He used one shot from his Remington .257 to knock down an 11-point buck with 19 3/4inch rack span. He took first place in the firearm division of The Pioneer's Big Buck Classic. The resident of West Olive was hunting with family mem-
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bers. “This deer hit (a family member’s) pickup about eight weeks ago, they think so,” Higgins said. “It punched a hole in his windshield and bent the door, and trotted along side him and went back in the woods.” Higgins shot the buck around 8:45 a.m. He had been out at the spot more than two hours. “I thought I saw another deer earlier,” he said. “It was only just movement. It went behind trees and was gone. That was after daylight. This one came back and was down the ridge a little way from me. There was another deer with him. I was thinking it was a 4-point.” The 11-pointer was 50 yards from Higgins. “I thought I missed,” he said. “It went right through the heart. He didn’t flinch and took off running and disappeared. He probably ran 75 to 100 yards. I couldn’t find the blood. It went in the direction he was going and there he was.” Higgins said it’s the biggest buck he’s ever shot.
Colton Bowen
MORLEY — Colton Bowen had a fun hunting season in
the area. The 29-year-old Harrietta resident was hunting in the Stanwood area on Nov. 16 when he bagged a 7-point buck with 16 1/4-inch rack span. He used one shot from his 30.06. Bowen said it was the first time he had seen this buck. His dad saw the buck on the landowner’s trail cam. “We went out opening day and both saw a lot of deer,” Bowen said. “We went out the day after opening day.” He spotted a doe but didn’t see anything by it. “I turned around and looked in front of me and saw this buck,” he said. “I waited for him to come out from behind a tree. I took a shot, he ran 10 yards and went down.” Bowen said he was about 100 yards away when he took the shot. “We hunted on an 80-acre farm in Stanwood,” Bowen said. “Between opening day and before I saw that buck, we probably saw, between me and my dad and (another hunter) close to 100 deer in those two days alone.”
Rob Clark
Rob Clark was among the
successful rifle hunters on opening day morning. The Caledonia resident and Big Rapids native was hunting on private property west of Big Rapids when he used one shot from his rifle to down an 8-point buck with 13 1/4-inch rack span. It’s one of many deer the 34-year-old hunter has bagged in his lifetime. “I had seen that deer on camera before,” Clark said. He had been hunting 45 minutes before he saw the deer, which was the best of the ones he had spotted. “I put on my binoculars and could tell he was a shooter buck,” Clark said. “I realized he was big enough. I grabbed the rifle and got him in the scope and pulled the trigger.” The buck was about 40 yards away when Clark made the shot. The buck went right down. This one was kind of in “the middle” of other bucks he’s shot in his lifetime. Clark also went bow hunting, but didn’t have success. “Opening day (of rifle season), we saw 20 to 30 deer," Clark said. Since then, he said he hasn’t seen many deer, he added.
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SPORTMAN'S REVIEW OF 2018
Brian Wolak of Big Rapids took second place.
Big Rapids hunter takes second in buck contest firearms division BIG RAPIDS — It was a unique hunting season for Brian Wolka, 45, of Big Rapids. The veteran hunter bagged the 30th deer of his lifetime during the firearm season in late afternoon on Nov 24. He wound up taking second in the Pioneer’s Big Buck Classic. He was hunting in the Paris area on private property and used one shot from his .243. It was a 10-point buck with 19 1/2-inch rack span. “It was one of the biggest ones I’ve shot,” Wolka said. “For me in Michigan, it’s definitely the biggest. There’s one in Montana that was bigger.” Wolak said he "kind of" knew the buck was out there prior to his hunt. “We saw it on trail camera,” he said. Wolak said it was getting dark and he was checking legal shooting hours and was able to find the deer at the last second. “He came out and started walking right toward us,” Wolak said. “I was about 50 yards away. That’s where he stopped and I shot him. He ran and we didn’t see any blood and were basically looking for him on our own. But we found him 50 yards away.”
I think I almost saw this one on opening day. I could see movement, I saw antlers. All of a sudden there was a shot. Someone from another property had taken a shot at it. It appeared he had not hit it.” But the deer Jacobs wound up shooting had a broken leg. “That’s one of the reasons I shot it,” he said “I was in the process of closing up my blind because it was getting dark. It was behind a tree but I could see the antlers sticking out. It was a legal deer for that county. When it moved I could see it was crippled and I thought I should probably do him in. When he moved in front of my blind about 25 yards away, I shot it and he dropped right there. I
was surprised when I got to it how big it was. It did have a broken front leg.” Jacobs said he didn’t know if the broken leg was from a gun shot or if the deer had been hit by a car. “I didn’t look to see because my shot came from the other side,” he said. “Our camp was a success. Of the four of us, we got three nice bucks.”
Bailey Wandyg
Bailey Wandyg had a fun visit to the Mecosta County area for deer hunting early in the season. The 30-year-old resident of Wakefield, RI, used one shot from her .308 to shoot an 8-point buck with 18-inch rack span the morning of Nov. 16 in Mill-
brook Township. It’s the eighth buck of her lifetime. Wandyg grew up in the area but now lives in Rhode Island. She was hunting with her dad Jim Wandyg. She has shot all of her eight deer on the family’s Millbrook Township property. She saw a spike horn and 5-pointer prior to bagging the 8-point buck. Wandyg had seen a larger buck than the 8-pointer but didn’t have the opportunity to shoot at it. Then came the 8-pointer on the morning of Nov. 16. “I was sitting in the blind
and to the right of the blind there’s an apple tree,” she said. “I look up and there’s the deer coming up the hill and just standing there. I went to get my gun and I’m hyperventilating. I knew it was a big one, He’s looking straight at me. He turned a took a step and there was a big bush in the way. He took one more step and I thought if he took another one I wouldn’t be able to get him. He stepped into the opening. I grunted, I shot at it and that was it. He ran 15 feet and that was the end of it. “It was my biggest one by far.”
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The recently completed deer hunting season was a kind one for Jim Jacobs. He bagged an 8-point buck with 16-inch rack span on Nov 26 while hunting at deer camp in Osceola County near the Hersey area. He used one shot from his 30.30. He was hunting around 5 p.m. that day and said he’s shot many deer in his lifetime. “I had seen a few deer before this one,” Jacobs said. “In fact,
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SPORTMAN'S REVIEW OF 2018 Supplement to the Pioneer
Brett White, of Hersey, takes youth honors during deer season.
Hersey hunter wins youth division HERSEY — Brett White won’t soon forget the 2018 firearm deer hunting season. White bagged an 8-point buck with 15 5/8-inch rack span while hunting early Friday morning on Nov. 16. She used one shot for her seventh lifetime deer. The 17-year-old Hersey resident said she was hunting
on her home area on private property. “It’s definitely is the biggest,” buck she’s shot, White said. She was out around 6 a.m. and shot it less than two hours later. “I had seen some other ones, then I saw this one appear on top of a hill,” White
said. “I brought my scope up and noticed it was a big one and shot it.” She figured she was about 150 yards away and knew “it was a big bodied deer. I could see the horns pretty much,” White said. “My dad had a trail cam and had a video of it.” White was hunting by
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Charles Montgomery
Perseverance paid off for 13-year-old Charles Montgomery. The Big Rapids youngster and his father, Chad Montgomery, were hunting along Chippewa Lake Road in the Big Rapids area on Thursday morning, the opening day of the rifle season, when Charles shot an 8-point buck with 15inch rack span. It was the first firearm season entry in the Pioneer’s Big Buck Contest. Charles said it’s the sixth deer of his lifetime and the best whitetail he’s shot. He shot it around 9:05 a.m. while hunting on his grandfather’s property. He and his dad weren’t sure if it was the same deer Charles had previously shot at with a crossbow during archery season. “It’s hard for us to say,” Chad said. Charles said he saw the deer coming from a distance but didn’t initially realize it was a buck. “It was 150 yards (away) and hopped out,” he said. “We stopped it and I made the shot and I dropped it.” They got to their stand around 6:45 a.m. He shot the buck in the neck and it went
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herself. “I was very excited,” she said. “I’ve been out quite a few times. I’ve seen a few does but not anything like what I shot.”
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down. “We were getting ready to leave, it was so cold,” Chad said. “It was maybe low 20s or mid 20s. We talked about staying around another 10 minutes. And there he came.” They plan on continuing to hunt. “We heard a lot of shots,” Chad said. Charles also bow hunts but especially enjoys rifle hunting. Levi Snyder Levi Snyder was among the successful area deer hunters this season. He and his dad, Jeff Snyder, of Remus, brought his buck to the deer pole on Nov. 16 at Hinton Township, sponsored by the Southern Mecosta Whitetail Management Association. The weapon used was a 30.06. It was Levi’s first deer. His dad was with him. “We were pretty excited,” Jeff said. They were hunting on private land. They were out there for 20 minutes before seeing the buck. “We were sitting there, he came walking right out, Levi got the gun ready and got it. It was about a 20-yard shot,” Jeff said. “It went about 50 yards and dropped.” Snyder liked what he saw during the season. “We saw a lot of deer out there,” he said. “Best season ever. We let a bunch of them go.” The firearm season ended on Nov. 30.
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SPORTMAN'S REVIEW OF 2018
Don Morris took second in the archery division of the Pioneer's Big Buck Classic. (Pioneer file photo)
Big Rapids hunters take top two spots in archery division of big buck contest BIG RAPIDS — Not many bow seasons go by without Paul Cole bagging a buck. The 66-year-old Big Rapids resident bagged the 53rd of his lifetime on the morning of Oct. 26. It was an 8-pointer with 18 ¼-inch rack span and he used one shot from his Golden Eagle Carbine Hawk. Cole took first place in the archery division of the 2018 Pioneer Big Buck Classic. “I had seen that buck three days earlier,” he said. “I wasn’t really ready for it. It was trailing a doe at that time but it was moving fast. I did have a shot but it was right at its rear end. I didn’t want to shoot like that. I waited. It came around. On that Friday morning, a doe came through and was looking back. I was wondering if she was looking at that buck. “So I got out my bow and sure enough. He stepped out from a pine tree and it was a 45-yard shot. He went 75 yards and I got him. It was a good blood trail. He went right into the wind. It was exciting. I never thought I’d see him again. Three days he came around.” Cole said he observed a lot of smaller bucks and he let about 15 smaller ones go by.” “I was going for my 8-pointer,” he said. “There’s a lot of smaller racks which is good for next season.” Cole said he would be going to southern Ohio to do some hunting. “I do rifle hunt but the challenge is bow hunting,” Cole said. “You don’t need to bait, Find the trails, scope them out and see where the scrapes are at. When the rut
season starts, you have to be ready.”
Don Morris
Don Morris is among the area bow hunters who enjoyed success in the first month of the season. Morris, 77, of Big Rapids, shot an 8-point buck with 17 ½ in rack span on the morning of Oct. 18. He was hunting north of Big Rapids. He took second in the archery division of the Pioneer's Big Buck Classic. He shot it with a bow and found it on Oct. 19. “It looked like a liver hit according to the blood on the arrow,” Morris said. Morris had not previously seen the buck. “I never saw the buck and I’ve never seen one that big,” he said. “I was at the right place at the right time.” He was hunting on private property. “I’m lucky I was able to shoot at it,” he said. “I saw a couple of fawns. They came through around 6:15. They moseyed on out there after a few minutes. They were munching on some apples. A few minutes later, they were back. I could see another deer in the brush. She came out a little bit. There was a branch in the way. When she took some steps, she was spooked by something.” The fawns came back and a big buck was behind them eating apples. Then he saw the buck again 25 yards away. ”He came into an opening and I shot him,” Morris said. “He made it out of them the heavy brush and fell down in
the woods.” Morris went out the next morning and it took him 10 minutes to find the buck about 135 yards from where he shot it. “It was by far the biggest one I’ve shot,” he said. “I had him weighed and he was 185 pounds field dressed.” Morris strictly bow hunts. “I like the challenge,” he said. “I don’t use a crossbow. I’m 77 and I still use a compound bow.”
Paul Cole's 8-point buck with 18 1/4-inch rack span took first place in the archery division of the Big Buck Classic. (Pioneer file photo)
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SPORTMAN'S REVIEW OF 2018 Supplement to the Pioneer
Pat Craven (left) and his son Jaxon, share special moment with Jaxon's 8-point buck. (Courtesy photo)
Evart youngster has memorable Evart outdoorsman has youth hunt another special season It was another successful fishing season for Evart's Mark Sochocki. (Courtesy photo)
EVART — The state’s youth hunt was in September and among the persons taking advantage was Jaxon Craven, the son of Evart football coach Pat Craven. He bagged an eight-pointer south of Hawkins. “We hunted hard all weekend,” Pat Craven said. “We got home Friday night and got about four hours of sleep. Then we got up and hunted Saturday morning. Then we went and played two Pop Warner football games. We came back and hunted Saturday night and Sunday morning. Dad went to the football coaches meeting for four hours then came back Sunday night.” That’s when the Cravens struck paydirt with a 170-yard shot. “We shot it right before dark,” Craven said. “We were watching a bunch of deer. I had both of my sons with me. My youngest son was scoping the hillside and saw it walk out of the woods into the fields about 170 yards away. We got my oldest son to take the shot and he knocked it down.” It’s the second year Jaxon, 11, has hunted and was his first deer. “He’s pretty excited,” Pat Craven said.
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BIG RAPIDS — It was also a fun summer for Sochocki Sochocki, Big Rapids’ Housing Commission director, went to Nebraska recently for bird hunting with his oldest son. It’s an annual trip for Sochocki. “I went well,” he said. “We shot a lot of birds.” But bird hunting in Michigan was very bad,” Sochocki said. “Last season was pretty slow.” He’s also been busy watching his two sons play varsity and JV basketball at Evart.
Locally, “I didn’t do much deer hunting,” Sochocki said. “My son Lane did and shot a couple of nice bucks toward the end of the season.” Sochocki indicated it was a decent buck season around Osceola County. He’s a huge Saginaw Bay fisherman during the winter for walleyes and perch. “Once we get some ice, we’ll be making some trips over there,” he said. It’s been a fun summer for Evart outdoorsman Mark Sochocki. His fishing team and boat, Grey Ghost, won the
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Friends of Jerry Lee and Ludington Area Charter Boat Association $500 Big Fish Award in the Ruboy ShootOut Tournament last month. “This is a one-day tourney that begins the Ludington Offshore Classic and 63 boats competed.” Sochocki said. “The king salmon weighed in at 27.90 pounds and was certified as a master angler fish. We caught it by Little Sable Point Lighthouse on a 5-color lead core line on a rotator with a cut bait rig, commonly referred to as a meat rig.” Sochocki said it’s first time he’s won the Ludington event. “This was big for us,” he said. “It was exciting. It was a one-day tournament they have that starts off the whole weekend. There were 62 boats in it. We had our best showing ever in that. We won it by about two pounds. It’s pretty significant when you’re talking fish that big. “We’ve been doing some salmon fishing and a lot of walleye fishing this year. It was really good.” Sochocki said he’s been busy planning food plots for deer hunting. “We’ll be taking some trips to Nebraska for bird hunting and doing some duck hunting and grouse hunting in Michigan,” he said. “There’s a lot coming up for sure.”
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SPORTMAN'S REVIEW OF 2018
Turkey hunters enjoy some success Jacob Smith, of Remus, works with a youngster on the art of trapping at a September clinic at the Mecosta County Rod & Gun Club. (Pioneer file photo)
Trappers test their skills for another season MECOSTA — Trappers, like other sportsmen, are waiting for ideal weather to help them have success during the winter. Remus resident Joe Pugliese, among the area’s active trappers, feels that way. Pugliese, Vern Young and Carl Meissner do the annual trapping seminar the first Saturday of the month at the Mecosta County Rod & Gun Club. “We all do trapping,” Pugliese said. “We’ve all been doing it. Mecosta always has an abundance of beavers. The weather has been difficult with the bobcats with all the rain we’ve been having. Trapping has been doing fine. There’s a lot of bobcats around here. There’s a guy that came up from downstate. He was actually at our seminar. He never shot a bobcat. I set him up the other day and he got one.” The ideal weather for trapping is consistent temps. “When we set traps but it rains and freezes, we then have to reset our traps,” Pugliese said. “We get a consistent temperature that works good for us. We’d like some snow but not a foot.” Barryton’s Carl Meissner is an active trapper, who was impressed with the response to September’s clinic at the Mecosta County Rod & Gun Club. “We had 42 attendees and 18 of them were kids,” he said. “It’s done by members of the rod & gun club, including myself and Joe Pugliese. We work with other trapping instructors and other experienced trappers to do this seminar. We go with everything from the beginner to advance trapping techniques.” Wildlife biologist Pete Kailing also put on a presentation. “We also had an individual come up for a presentation on predator calling,” Meissner said. “(Kailing’s presentation was on) understanding the heritage of trapping and he public perception.” Trapping season started around the end of October, but typically November, December and January are optimal for either trapping for beaver, muskrat
and otter and land trapping for coyotes, raccoons and fox, Meissner said. “The fur markets are still down,” he said. “Most trappers are still doing it more as a hobby and fun of it, not necessarily for money. With lower raccoon prices, it’s harder to get trappers to spend the time and energy to get raccoons. The population is expanding and they carry diseases like distemper and rabies. “The season looks good. There’s nothing getting in the way, other than getting people out there. We have a pretty good trapping community. They do keep a lot of the nuisance animals at bay.” “Fur prices are low but dedicated trappers will go out anyway,” Kailing said. “We have a bumper crop of beaver complaints on private land. When fur prices are low, trappers tend not to pursue them as hard. It’s a lot of work. Traps are heavy and beavers are heavy.” Trapping remains a popular sport among some sportsmen in the area, although the numbers may not be as high as they once were. Tanner Havens, of Frank’s Sporting Goods in Morley, points out his business stocks trapping supplies. “We see guys who just want to trap for fun, all the way to guys who trap for 30 plus years,” he said. “Probably the most popular would be coons; looks like they might be up for a little bit this year, depending on the market. But it sounds like coons will be on the upward swing this year. “Probably the main thing people trap around here would be muskrat, fox, coyotes and coons. Beavers are pretty good ones. Probably everyone likes to go after the bobcat and otter. That’s probably the most elusive.” In other counties, “there’s tons of opportunities for trappers,” Tharp said “But nobody has put too much into it. The prices for hides hasn’t been good the past couple of years. We have beavers, otters, bobcats, coyotes and all sorts of things to trap.”
BALDWIN — Spring turkey hunting season ended with basically favorable results reported by participants This includes Big Rapids’ Buck Taylor, who said he bagged his turkey locally the first day of the second season on April 30. The turkey weighed 24 pounds with a 9 1/2-inch beard. It was hanging around with another turkey. “I worked it,” Taylor said. “I knew where they were.” Taylor has been hunting turkeys 26 years. He’s also an avid deer hunter and indicated deer sur-
vived winter weather just fine. Bill Walker of Canadian Lakes said he didn’t have success turkey hunting. Reed City’s Jim Maturen, president of the Pere Marquette chapter of the Michigan Wild Turkey Hunters Federation, said he had success during the third season in May, but it wasn’t easy. “After the first week of April, I started scouting,” he said. “I love to be out there right after daylight. My son had the first season so I went out there with him. I scouted the second season. I had the third season and I hunted
20 days before I finally got a gobbler (on May 29). I was out there for an awful long time. “I’ve got a lot of places where I have permission to hunt. There are farms that traditionally have turkeys and there aren’t none. I’m having a hard time, not that we’re completely out of turkeys but where I’m at in Osceola, Lake and Wexford counties, I think the population is way down.” As far as Maturen is concerned, “we’re not out of turkeys, but we certainly don’t have the numbers, at least that's what I’m finding.”
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SPORTMAN'S REVIEW OF 2018 Supplement to the Pioneer
Ice fishing challenges unique for Jerry Mondrella
Big Rapids' Jerry Mondrella checks his ice fishing notes. (Pioneer file photo)
BIG RAPIDS — The 2017-18 ice fishing season was one when anglers were challenged to combat various conditions such as not enough ice or too much snow. But for veteran ice fishermen like Big Rapids’ Jerry Mondrella, there’s been one challenge that can be frustrating for anglers at times: Getting the fish to bite. Mondrella said in an interview during the season he and other anglers are simply hoping to get fish in a mood to start biting. “It’s been terrible,” he said. “I can hardly catch anything. Nobody’s catching anything. It’s like there’s nothing in the lake.” Mondrella said he had been at Townline Lake three times and
was waiting to catch a bluegill. “I caught a few over to Burgess Lake,” he said. “I caught four one day and the next day I caught two. I went to Hillview Lake a few times. You can get half a dozen. But the last few times. I only caught two or three.” The ice thickness hasn’t been a problem and there could be enough yet for several weeks ‘There’s a good set of ice yet,” Mondrella said. “Usually it goes until the end of March, as a rule. But it depends. Several years ago, it went into April. Last year, it went until (late March). But right now, fishing hasn’t been good at all. We can’t seem to locate them.” Mondrella has been ice fishing for more than 70 years and
realizes the importance of waiting to go out until the ice is safe. Mondrella lives outside of Big Rapids and is an avid ice fisherman. He prefers fishing for pan fish on ice rather than open water. Ice thickness depends on where the fishing hole was at. “The best ice was six inches,” Mondrella said. “There’s some spots where you didn’t want to walk on. I couldn’t get to where I usually fish, due to the fact the ice wasn’t thick enough there. There’s no sense of taking a foolish chance of falling in.” Mondrella has been fishing since his youth when he would frequently go out with his dad.
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