Hunting & Fishing Guide

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HUNTING & FISHING

GUIDE

FALL 2014

A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO

MICHIGAN NEWSPAPER GROUP

• Fishing for autumn walleye • Put the boat away the right way • What a soldier misses most while deployed • Fishing from your kayak • Deer baiting dos and don’ts

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Page 2 | Sunday, September 14, 2014

Acorns the food of choice for deer in the fall Bud Congleton, a Midland bowhunter with more than a half-century of experience, of Deer hunting is largely his scouting research. Other based on food. That’s espe- hunters and woodswalkers cially true early in the series of back up his assessment of a seasons that, special seasons bumper crop.

That’s great news for deer: excepted, begin with archery the white oak acorn is said to hunting on Oct. 1.

Until the breeding season, be their favorite, most nutrior rut, kicks in at October’s tious food, red oak acorns secend, archers will pin much of ond. But, it poses a challenge their hopes on intercepting to hunters. They must find deer as they approach food, a productive oak or stand of or dine, or leave feeding spots them, and hope there’s not an equal or richer supply nearby. for bedding areas.

Congleton said a huntThere are three main and quite different ways to do that: ing friend who belongs to a finding natural or agricultural club up north has observed, areas that draw deer; estab- “When there’s a good acorn lishing ‘food plots’ to compete crop, you hear people saying with those; or placing bait, there aren’t any deer.”

It’s not that deer are scarce, food produced elsewhere, in areas to which deer will learn but that they need not roam, nor visit hunter-provided food to come.

This just might be a year sources, in search of food. when the first method shines. “They don’t come into the “It’s an acorn year,” said open fields,” where they’re easy to see, said Congleton. ’ “They don’t have to.”

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STEVE GRIFFIN | for the Daily News

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While glowing reports of acorns trickle in, apple producers are predicting massive harvests, too. Deer also love munching them, whether wild or cultivated.

Whatever the food, Congleton said he usually positions

his stands along routes deer travel between bedding and feeding areas -- although if he finds a heavily used stand of acorn-producing oaks, he’ll set up shop there. “It’s a lot of fun watching the deer come down the ridge, just crunching away.”

Soybean fields can provide productive hunting, especially early in the season, and corn is another deer magnet, providing not just food but cover. Hunters – especially firearm hunters, whose traditional season opens Nov. 15 – hope for widespread corn harvests before the season opens, so that deer roam widely and visibly.

Some hunters establish food plots, crops raised just for deer. For some it’s a yeararound pursuit, with an aim of growing healthier deer and bucks with bigger antlers, and involves tilling, smoothing, soil-testing, soil treatment, planting and seed covering.

Experts point out that to have bucks in your hunting area in the fall, you need to attract does that will in turn attract the males. And does have small home ranges compared to bucks. That means an area has to be attractive to them all season.

Many food-plotters maintain a season-long succession of foods, often working up a plot in late summer to replant with alfalfa, cereals or other crops.

Some hunters, though, boost their success rates with plots created in late summer, to green up just as natural and agricultural food sources are harvested or otherwise depleted.

Baiting has at least one major advantage over food plots: it can take place on pub-

lic lands, where food plots are illegal.

Baiting itself was illegal for several years, but is okay again in most of the state, under specific limitations.

In most of Michigan (not Alpena, Alcona, Montmorency or Oscoda counties, where any kind of feeding or baiting is illegal), baiting can take place between Sept. 15 and Jan. 1, with grains, minerals, salt, fruits, vegetables, hay or other food materials allowed.

Corn and sugar beets are especially popular, although apples can pay off, too.

You can place up to two gallons of material at a bait site at a time, only one site per hunting location, and the bait must be spread across an area at least 10 feet by 10 feet.

It can be scattered manually or by a mechanical spinner, provided the spinner doesn’t distribute more than the twogallon maximum.

The DNR asks, but does not require, that hunters not place foods repeatedly at the same place, and use it only when actively hunting, to reduce exposure of deer to diseases.

Eventually, by Halloween, the rut kicks in, “and everything goes crazy” said Congleton of the period when breeding tops feeding in deer priorities, and any place and any time can provide sightings and shots.

But until then, thinking about deer should include thinking about their appetites.

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Sunday, September 14, 2014 | Page 3

Blind hunter finds success with muzzleloader and laser rich harp for the Huron Daily Tribune

HARBOR BEACH — Jo h n B o u c h a r d i s l i k e many young men in the Harbor Beach area. He is outgoing, hardworking, and he loves to hunt. But there is one big difference between Bouchard and other men his age. He is legally blind.

A s a c h i l d , Bo u c h a rd realized he could not see writing on the blackboard in school. “ When I was 10 years old, my parents took me to get glasses,” Bouchard said.

The optometrist diagnosed him with pale optic nerves. He was taken for an MRI. “I l e a r n e d I h a d f o u r brain tumors,” he said.

After three years of chemotherapy and weeks of radiation, his health problems seemed to be getting better. Nonetheless, Bouchard received different types of treatment until he was 17 years old.

“The tumors were shrunk,” he said. “Everything is good now.”

But the tumors and treatments took their toll on Bouchard’s vision. By the time he was 12 years old, he was considered legally blind. “ I ’m 2 0 / 6 0 0 i n b o t h eyes,” he said.

Photo for huron Daily tribune by rich harP

John Bouchard is seen with his shotgun and scope in the field. He prefers to use a muzzleloader/laser combination, and he has used this combo for each of his three successful hunts.

His family had a tra - uncle always deer huntd i t i o n o f h u n t i n g , a n d ed,” he said. “I took hunter Bouchard fed off the fam- safety class when I was ily’s love for the sport.

11. I bow hunted for two “My d a d ( No r m ) a n d years but never success-

Outdoor notebook Another on-line Hunter Safety option

A third official Michigan online hunter education course is available, at www. hunteredcourse.com/state/ michigan, the DNR reports.

A Michigan-based company, Hunter Ed Course, offers its online hunter education course for $17.99. It features lessons on safe, legal and responsible hunting practices

and uses narration, closed captioning, interactive exercises and photos that replicate what a hunter will see in the field.

As with all of Michigan’s online hunter safety course options, after taking the online course, students must attend the field/skills day portion of a traditional class and take the student examination to receive their hunter safety certificates.

Students must pre-register for the field/skills day before taking the online course. Once

they pass the online course, they’re eligible to complete the field day with an instructor and take the written exam.

Students can find more information about Michigan’s hunter education program at www.michigan.gov/huntereducation Michigan hunter education is required for all hunters born after Jan. 1, 1960. A safety certificate is required in order to purchase a Michigan hunting license.

fully harvested a deer.”

He l e a r n e d t h a t b ow hunting was next to impossible for him. So he switched to a shotgun.

“When I was 14, I started hunting with a gun. I hunted with a shotgun with a large scope.”

Even with the scope, it was next to impossible for Bouchard to see well enough to hit something.

In fact, it is very difficult for him to see a deer even with powerful binoculars.

For a variety of reasons, Bouchard decided to take a respite from hunting.

But he couldn’t give it up a l t o g e t h e r. T h e n , 2 0 0 7 was his lucky year, when he decided to give it one more try.

“I purchased a new muzzleloader and decided to get back into deer hunting after taking a few years off.”

He a l s o p u rc h a s e d a laser for the muzzleloader.

Legally blind hunters are allowed to use them for hunting.

Also, hunters with physical challenges or who are legally blind are permitted to hunt in a special disabled deer hunting season, which is now called the Independent Hunt.

Bouchard tried his hand in that early-season hunt in 2007. He also hunted throughout the regular deer season.

Even with the new gun and laser, Bouchard had no success harvesting a deer. It wasn’t until the regular muzzleloader season that his efforts paid off. With the help of his father, the younger Bouchard shot a 7-point beauty. The muzzleloader, the laser, and his fortitude finally paid off.

The 7-point buck was his first. He remembers the hunt as if it were yesterday. As he pointed to the chest mount on the wall, he said, “It was the opening day of muzzle loading season in 2007 when I plugged that big one.

“I have to rely on Dad to see the deer,” he added.

“Even with binoculars, it’s hard for me to know what I’m looking at. When I was sitting there, Dad would tell me how far out he was from the deer blind.”

When the deer was in range, his dad told him to get ready.

“Dad told me which way to turn the laser (and gun).” When the buck was in the 80-90-yard range, B o u c h a rd k n e w i t w a s time to fire the weapon.

Bouchard admits it was close, but not a perfect shot. The buck took off running. It had been hit in the lungs, but did not leave a blood trail. Luckily for the father and son,

the ground was covered with snow.

After what seemed like ages, the two hunters came across the buck. In that defining moment, the years of waiting and wanting came to an end.

Bouchard had finally harvested his first buck.

Bouchard and his father have harvested two other excellent bucks together. And with experience, Bouchard has become a much better shot. He harvested the last two bucks with perfect hits.

The last two deer were taken in the special Independent Hunt. One, an 8-pointer, was taken in 2009.

“It was the biggest of the three. That thing was a hog,” Bouchard said.

His third deer was harv e s t e d i n 2 0 1 2 . It w a s another 8-point buck. All of the deer were hunted from the same property in the Bad Axe area.

Bouchard loves the sport and appreciates the camaraderie he has with his father during these fall events.

“Being able to harvest a nice deer and share food with family feels good.”

Norm Bouchard admitted that the first time his son shot a deer was exciting. But, he said, “All of the hunts have been exciting.

Ever y time we’re in the woods, it’s a riot.”

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Page 4 | Sunday, September 14, 2014

Put the boat away the right way Steve Griffin for the Daily news

It’s sad to put a boat to bed for the winter, but it’s reassuring to do it right and boost your odds of a pleasant wake-up next spring.

A good cleaning is a sound start: it not only removes any gunk, it encourages you to take a close look at everything. You can make repairs now – worn straps, missing snaps, walloped prop, torn carpet and more – to avoid problems later.

Ironically, given the environment in which boats are used, the biggest danger winter brings is water. Moisture left within the boat or the engine’s lower unit, water infiltrating the fuel system or boat itself during winter -- in water you’ve a hydra-headed threat to your spring fun and your boating budget.

Gravity helps get the water out of your boat; prop the trailered boat with the bow higher than the stern, open livewell and baitwell drains, and remove the hull’s drain plug. That should rid the rig of water that could otherwise freeze and damage plumbing or hull. (More complex plumbing systems, such as heads, call for more complex processes, and antifreeze.)

If you’re storing the boat outdoors, not shrink-wrapped, and/or there’s any chance of rain or snow getting in, resolve to check regularly to make sure leaves or other gunk haven’t plugged the drain. Otherwise,

Steve Griffin | for the Daily News

An end-of-season clean-up and inspection can reveal problems best attended-to now, such as a bow strap in need of replacement.

Steve Griffin | for the Daily News, file

Spring’s first launching often comes with a cloud of smoke as the engine burns off the oil used to protect you might discover a funky watercraft in spring, or suffer tire or springs destruction from overload before that.

Modern gasoline makes fuel a tricky question. Most gas has at least some ethanol within it, and in the presence of air, water can form and damaging ‘phase separation’ take place. (Many boaters now shop for ethanolfree “Rec” gas; www.pure-gas. org list sources by location.)

Some empty their fuel tanks.

Many experts advise filling tanks nearly full and adding

burns off the protectant.

An outboard motor, watercooled, will drain in an upright position. (Follow manufacturer directions for winter-prepping inboard engines and sterndrives, also known as inboard/ outboards.)

This is a good time to drain and replace an outboard’s lower unit lube. If water comes out with the lubricant, or the lube’s frothy, best to have a marine mechanic look things over, replace seals if they’re faulty, and do any other need-

and you can hook them up to a charger from time to time to top them off. And a weak or bad battery? Well, freezing it just means you won’t count on it on the water.

Some boating anglers, especially those with outboard motors and a penchant for waterfowl hunting or salmon, steelhead or walleye fishing, don’t retire their boats at all.They keep batteries charged and fuel tanks full, and make sure the boat and engine are drained water-free after each outing.

There’s another way to beat winter, too: Hire a marine shop to winterize your boat and shrink-wrap it; or, after winterization, put it in indoor storage. The cost is likely to be much less than a wintercaused repair, and make for the happiest of spring boating wakeups!

Hunters reminded that Consumers Energy land is private property

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a stabilizing treatment with ethanol coverage. Then, using a water tank or muff to provide cooling water, run the engine for 10 or 15 minutes to distribute the treated fuel throughout the engine. While it’s still running, spray fogging spray into the air intake. Disconnect the fuel line and keep spraying until the engine dies. That way, there’s no fuel in the carburetor to evaporate and leave behind gunk.

In spring, it’ll fire up with a satisfying cloud of smoke as it

ed repairs. If everything looks good replace the old lube with new.

Come spring, you might well not remember what you did in the fall. One solution? Tags on strings attached to the equipment you serviced: lower unit lube changed, with the date; wheel bearings cleaned and repacked, with the date; spark plugs replaced in fall or due for it in spring?

Covering a boat is a good idea, especially if the tarp is held up so rain and melting snow runs off instead of pooling. Vents will keep moisture from becoming trapped with the cover where it invites mold and other woes.

Top off batteries and disconnect them, or at least flip the circuit breakers if so equipped.

A good battery at full charge will survive winter just fine,

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As small- and big-game hunting seasons get underway in Michigan, Consumers Energy is reminding everyone that hunting is not allowed on its property.

“We are asking Michigan sportsmen and sportswomen to remember that Consumers Energy property is private land, not public property,” said Mike Williams, Consumers Energy’s director of corporate security. “We appreciate the vast majority of hunters who follow the law and do not trespass,

and we ask everyone to help keep this a safe hunting season in our Great Lakes state.”

The ban protects the safety of neighbors, the company’s employees and others. It also addresses the concerns of neighboring landowners that irresponsible hunters will use Consumers property to trespass.

Anyone observing hunting or gunshot vandalism on companyowned land is asked to contact local law enforcement or Consumers Energy’s corporate security office at

1-800-760-3295. Consumers Energy offers cash rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those who damage company equipment or property.

Consumers Energy is one of the largest private landowners in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The company owns more than 12,000 miles of electric and natural gas rights of way, and maintains easement rights on another 86,000 miles of rights of way.

Special provisions apply to Consumers Energy-owned lands bor-

dering its AuSable, Manistee and Muskegon river hydroelectric plant reservoirs, where hunting is allowed.

However, constructing blinds, target shooting, baiting, burning and fire pits are strictly prohibited on all Consumers Energy lands. The cost of removing blinds is charged to the blinds’ owners.

A brochure,“A Guide to Consumers Energy Land: To Our Michigan Neighbors,” provides information for landowners, developers and others on use of Consumers’ property.

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Sunday, September 14, 2014 | Page 5

Kayak angling offers wide range of options STEVE GRIFFIN for the Daily News

STEVE GRIFFIN | for the Daily News

Morgan Promnitz, a kayak pro who works with Hobie Kayaks, works a fly rod from his pedal-powered boat. An electronic fish finder, mounted just ahead of him, helps him find likely haunts. and salmon rivers.

In the South, especially, paddlers on stand-up-andpaddle (SUP) kayaks sneak around in shallow water while standing tall to spot likely haunts and fish and cast to them.

And then there’s Great Lakes kayak fishing, a thrilling slice of the sport in which an angler, usually trolling, waits for the strike of a big salmon or trout and the Nantucket Sleighride (what whalers called the frantic period after harpooning a whale, when the creature dragged the small boat across the seas) that follows.

Your preferred fishing style should be considered when choosing a boat; otherwise, you’ll need to match your angling to your craft.

Now you can enjoy the

Midland Daily News

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Nearly all kinds of kayak fishing are easiest from a sit-on-top boat, rather than one in which you sit. You can cast easier, reach gear easier, and boat your fish easier.

(A partial cockpit can work almost as well, but unlike them, sit-on-tops are self draining, too; you get wet but waves breaking over the boat don’t fill it.)

C o n s i d e r h ow y o u’ l l reach your launch point.

Car-topping, you’ll need a rack or foam blocks, and a boat whose weight exceeds neither the rack’s or roof’s capacity, nor your lifting ability. Otherwise, figure on the bed of a pick-up (with a red flag or light) or a trailer. Several companies now market super-light trailers designed specifically for kayaks.

➟

Never have there been more options available to the kayak angler and wouldbe kayak angler — boats powered by paddle, peddle and electric motor; electronics, baskets and coolers made just for ’yaks; clothing made just for ’yakkers.

Ironically, in some ways it’s tougher than ever to enter the sport: There are so many choices!

That came home to me this late summer as I stood in the Racine, Wis., showroom/ store of Johnson Outdoors, parent of Ocean Kayaks, Old Town and Necky. Suspended above us and lining the walls were kayaks of every description, several specifically made for fishing.

Boats from a dozen to 17 feet had rod holders built-in or mounted on them. Some boats were relatively narrow, for easy paddling. Others were wider, to accommodate bigger loads or provide better stability. How stable? Some had pulpit-like rails so one could stand and cast! In some, the seat could be raised for fishing, lowered for traveling.

Then came the weights: Some you could lift and carry with one hand. Others were too heavy for most car-top racks, let alone the lone kayaker who might hoist them.

It’s all because kayak fishing isn’t a single pursuit.

There’s paddling (or pedaling) on an inland lake or slow-moving stream, casting lures or bait, or trolling.

On a swifter stream, a kayak might bear the angler to a spot no one else can reach; that’s become especially popular on steelhead

the fish on the active one.

I’ve done best leaving the idle one in the rod holder, bending the active one into the fight with one hand, and cranking the idle line with the other. (It’ll make more sense on your second or third big fish.)

You figure it’s going to be a frantic tussle when you get a big Chinook salmon to the side of the boat, and sometimes it is. But more often, by the time the fish is tired enough that you can bring it within reach, it’s pooped, having expended all its energy pulling you and your kayak around.

Net it and slide it partway into the cockpit; if it seems to have any life left, thunk it with a billy. You don’t want a flopping 20-pounder, with two or three sets of treble hooks dangling from its jaw, leaping about on your lap: That’s more excitement than even a kayak angler wants!

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Kayak fishing calls for adaptation. Fly-fishers,

unless they have a boat and the balance to stand and cast, generally aim their backcasts a bit higher to keep them from slapping the water.

In l a n d a n g l e r s o f t e n find that deploying a small anchor, on a pulley system so they can send the line to the stern and retrieve it later, makes working a bluegill or crappie hotspot easier.

And then there’s trolling, especially salmon trolling, with its own set of challenging moments. One is the switch from paddler to fishplayer: make sure you have a tether on your paddle so it doesn’t slip overboard and leave you up a creek ... well, you know the rest.

If deploying two trolling lines (with some lures you’ll need to, to keep a single lure from digging in and pulling the boat off course) you’ll need to somehow retrieve the idle one without losing

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Page 6 | Sunday, September 14, 2014

Ubly Fox Hunters Club still going strong after 50 years DAVE SHANE Huron Daily Tribune editor

UBLY — A big grin grows on the face of 80-year-old Jerry Longuski when he recalls the days of his youth fox hunting with his dad, brother and friends.

It was one thing to tell your friends you shot a rabbit, and it was quite another to say you got a fox.

“You tell them that you got a fox, and that was a lot different,” said the longtime Ubly resident.

The Ubly Fox Hunters Club was started 50 years ago, and still is going strong with about 240 members, according to club President Melvin Hessling. He said he believes it is the largest hunting club in the Thumb.

And, while many of the members today hunt deer, coyotes and rabbits, there still are a few that prefer to track and take a Thumb fox.

Longuski, one of the origi-

DAVE SHANE | for the Huron Daily Tribune

Longtime Ubly Fox Hunters Club members Al Wagner of Bad Axe, left, and Jerry Longuski of Ubly examine one of the displays at their club. nal members of the club, said there was a time when the fox were pretty much

hunted out of existence in the Thumb.

“When I was a kid, there

was not a fox to be seen,” he said.

But a few years later, when the red fox came back and began wiping out all the rabbits and pheasants in the Thumb, both the county and state provided a bounty for every dead fox. They were worth $8, and that didn’t count what you could get for the pelt.

“ T h e y we re s o t h i c k , we hunted them with airplanes,” he said. “We took 17 in one day.”

Fox hunting consists of tracking the animals in the snow into a confined area and getting dogs to help drive them out. While most fox hunters owned hunting dogs (Jerry’s family had 13), airplanes were sometimes used to help spot the foxes.

Eventually, local fox hunters who met regularly in the 1960s decided they should form their own club. The group got started by meeting in members’ basements.

The club received a donation of land just north of Ubly and began building a clubhouse in 1966 — adding and expanding many times over the years.

Today, the Ubly Fox Hunters Club has a clubhouse with banquet facilities for about 300 people, one of the finest dance floors in the Thumb and a 43-acre s p re a d t h a t i n c l u d e s a pond where you can catch a bass or two. The interior is adorned with hunting trophies, such as fox, deer and elk. There also is a 200pound blue marlin hanging near the dance floor that Longuski caught off the

coast of Florida.

Earl Longuski, who was Jerry’s brother, was the first club president in 1964. Jerry was the group’s third president, from 1968-69.

Growing up, a fox hunt meant Jerry Longuski might go out and cover an area, waiting for a fox to come out.

After waiting sometimes for two or three hours, he said, you would realize that your hunting partners had cornered the fox far from the area where you were waiting.

With GPS technology on dog collars, hunters today are able to know exactly what is going on by keeping track of their dogs’ movements.

The red fox has been joined by the gray fox as a Thumb target for hunters.

But many outdoorsmen now prefer hunting coyotes, which are larger and more plentiful, Longuski said.

After two scarce years in a row, farmers and hunters are calling for a plentiful winter for coyotes, Longuski said.

And when they are done, they have a nice club to meet at and tell their hunting stories — all because a few fox hunters thought it would be a good idea to get organized 50 years ago.

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Groups promote firearms safety message The National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) has joined the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s (NSSF) Project ChildSafe to promote firearm safety messaging and the “Own It? Respect It. Secure It” (ORS) initiative.

Safely securing firearms in the home, the groups say, is the leading preventative measure for firearm related accidents, thefts and misuse. They cited a National Safety Council report that showed accidental firearm fatalities dropping 22 per-

cent during the years that Project ChildSafe has been in effect.

NSSF launched the project in 1999, calling it Project HomeSafe until 2003.

Through partnerships with more than 15,000 law enforcement agencies, the program has provided more than 36 million free firearm safety kits to gun owners.

Far-ranging kings Tiny Chinook salmon released in Lake Huron two years previously have swum through the Straits of Mackinac and down through Lake Michigan to the Racine, Wis.,

area, the Wisconsin DNR reported.

Brad Eggold of the Wisconsin DNR said that 400-mile lake trek illustrated the benefits of various state fishery agencies coordinating their management programs.

Evidence of the journeys – and of other salmon lifestyle facts – come from recovery of coded wires implanted in the snouts of young fish and recovered when the fish are harvested. The Wisconsin agency added that the evidence also points to natural reproduction rates of more than 50 percent among the Great Lakes’ salmon.

Compiled and edited by Steve Griffin

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Sunday, September 14, 2014 | Page 7

What a soldier misses the most while deployed Brandon Hodgins for the Daily News

When Staff Sgt.Travis Povey lays his head down to sleep at night at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan, he thinks of what he misses the most.

He thinks about his wife, Jessica, who waits for him back in Gladwin. He thinks about their four children, A l a n i s, 5 , Ca d e m a n , 4 , Vada, 2, and Dominic, 1.

He dreams about his return home and the outdoor adventures he has planned for his family.

Povey is with the U.S. A r m y Na t i o n a l G u a rd , 1460th Transportation Company out of Midland. He spends his days operating large trucks to haul equipment, food, ammunition and other cargo back to the airfield. His mind and body are acting as the security NCOIC (Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge), but his heart and soul are back home in Michigan, outdoors with his family.

There are a lot of things that Povey can do during his downtime on base. He’s learned to play rugby and he’s been hitting the gym.

He enjoys watching online episodes of Michigan OutOf-Doors T.V. and he scours YouTube looking for hunting, fishing and trapping videos.

Povey can spend his free time watching NASCAR, cycling, and movies, or singing karaoke, and he can even get a good stretch on the yoga mats if he feels like it.

But what he can’t do is exactly what he misses the most.

“Almost everything I can imagine can be done here.

The one thing I can’t do is walk into a forest and smell the cool fall air or hear a turkey gobble as the sun rises,” said Povey. “I can’t hear the zip of a fishing reel as you cast a lure under a log. I can’t wait to be covered in camo holding my kids to keep them warm as we wait for that big bruiser to walk

by. I can’t wait to hear my wife’s laugh echo over the lake when there just doesn’t seem to be any ducks hitting the water.”

Povey has big plans to get outdoors with his family upon his return. Much of his pre-deployment training took place during his favorite hunting and trapping seasons including goose, small game and bow season. His deployment started just before opening day of the 2013 rifle season, which has him feeling like he has some making up to do. He’s looking forward to doing some waterfowl hunting with his wife. To buying his oldest daughter her first .410 shotgun for her birthday shortly after he gets home, and spending plenty of time practicing in hopes of getting her in the turkey woods this spring. To camping, fishing and hiking, playing in the grass, climbing rocks and snuggling up to his loved ones for some much needed movie nights. Then, it’s time to trap.

After Povey has soaked himself in quality outdoors time with his wife and kids, he’s going to start scouting hard. He has access to nearly 1,600 acres of private land to trap on this season.

Most of it is farm property where the owners need a bit of wildlife management done. He’s working with farmers to help them with problem animals like nestrobbing foxes and raccoons.

He plans to trap coyotes that threaten livestock and local people’s livelihood. Critters like these are killing farmers’ corn and hurting other wildlife populations like deer, turkey and pheasant. He sells the pelts. But his trapping pursuits aren’t about the money. They’re about being a steward of the land he loves, while spending time in the place he loves; Mid-Michigan’s outdoors.

“I simply enjoy getting out into the woods, tromping through swamps and

enjoying the peaceful tranquility of nature,” commented Povey. “Learning an animal’s habits, devising a plan to counter those habits and seeing your success is rewarding.”

For the coming season, Povey is focused on the canines and raccoons. For fox and coyotes, he plans to employ dirt-hole sets using leg-hold style traps. For coons he’ll be setting dogproof style traps, commonly referred to as “coon cuffs.”

Although the water access near his trapping grounds is slim to none, he plans to do some wet sets wherever he can. He’ll use body gripping traps for beaver and muskrats. He may try some new methods this year as he continues to learn from another member of his family: his father-in-law.

“Thanks to my fatherin-law, I have a personal trapping instructor,” said Povey. “His years of experience have made him like an encyclopedia for my outdoor endeavors.”

Povey plans to continue the tradition of introducing his kids to the outdoors while working a trap line.

His oldest daughter is no stranger to checking a trap.

Her grandfather used to bundle her up, plop her in the sled and trudge out to the swamp to see what kinds of critters they caught.

As Povey secures the perimeter of the Ammo Supply Point, he’s dreaming of the day that he, too, can wrap his kids up in camo and take them outdoors with him.

He’s lying awake at night, imagining ducks flying overhead of the marsh that he’s nestled into with his wife.

He’s planning his quest to trap coyotes, foxes and coons for farmers who need a helping hand. He’s going to turn off the TV, log out of Facebook, put the cell phone in the drawer and get outdoors with the ones he loves.

That’s what this soldier misses the most.

Photo Provided

Staff Sgt. Travis Povey with his wife, Jessica, and their four children — Alanis, 5, Cademan, 4, Vada, 2, and Dominic, 1.

SEE A PHOTO YOU LIKE? To view more or order photos go to mdnGalleries.com.

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Page 8 | Sunday, September 14, 2014

Some of the best fishing in Saginaw Bay is in the fall Steve Griffin for the Daily News

You haven’t heard about the autumn walleye bite on Saginaw Bay? Mark Martin isn’t surprised. Nor is Jim Baker.

Baker says it’s because the fish aren’t quite as hungry as earlier in the season, and have plenty of food available. Martin says it’s because people just aren’t trying for them.

Walleye pro Martin, of Twin Lake, has fished his way into seasonal championships every year but one since 1985; he won the first Professional Walleye Trail championship in 1990. He knows Saginaw Bay well.

Baker is the Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist whose southern Lake Huron unit includes Saginaw Bay. Baker said walleye fishing slows “way down” in late summer and fall. “What you

STEVE GRIFFIN | for the Daily News

A prize in any season — a Saginaw Bay walleye. have is a veritable smorgasbord of all the forage fish that were produced this year and are now big enough for walleyes to become interested in,” at the same time that cooler water temperatures have slowed fish metabolism and appetites.

“That makes competing (with those forage fish) for walleye interest very difficult,” Baker said.

Difficult, maybe, but the characteristically optimistic Martin says, “The only thing keeping people from catching fish is that they’re not going out after them.”

Those who go, he said, can expect to sort out keepers 15 inches and longer from abundant sub-legal fish, with keeps up to about five pounds.

Martin said trolling crankbaits such as Rapala Husky Jerks, Tail Dancers and Hot ‘n Tots, 35 to 75 feet behind the boat pays off, as does pulling night crawler rigs behind one-ounce weights, about 20 feet behind side-planing trolling boards at speeds of 1 to 1.4 miles per hour. That puts them down about 10 feet, he said.

Many fishermen think of walleyes as near-bottom

feeders, but Martin said that now the most active often feed in the top half of the water column. As fall deepens and winter approaches, the active level will move toward bottom, said the pro. “When first ice comes — now you’re on bottom.”

He said fall anglers should start at the edges of weed beds, in 10 to 14 feet of water, moving out until they find fish. Martin called the Linwood area a good bet, offering everything from weeds to deep water within five miles.

Baker said another approach is to watch for latefall movement of walleyes into the Saginaw and Tittabawassee river systems, on the heels of large upstream migrations of gizzard shad on which they feed.

“It usually develops about (firearm) deer season,” which begins Nov. 15, Baker said, and “die-hard guys who’d rather fish than hunt get them

by vertical jigging,” until ice forms, continuing after the rivers are ice-topped.

The Bay’s other signature fishery is for yellow perch.

“Last year the peak of the perch fishery was in early October,” said Baker, “off the mouth of the Saginaw River, and in the dead navigation channel. Then, as the season progresses, there’ll be movement to the river mouths, places such as the Kawkawlin, Quanicassee, Sebewaing, Pine and Au Gres rivers, from mid-October on.”

Perch, he said, follow emerald shiners, which have spent the summer far offshore.

“They move inshore for the winter and they bring perch with them,” into shallow Bay waters and the rivers, Baker said.

“It’s from deer season to first ice,” Baker said, “and it can be some of the best perch fishing of the year,” available to shore anglers as well as

those in boats.

Another fall opportunity comes on the outside of the Thumb, at the Lake Huron ports of Harbor Beach, Port Sanilac and Lexington, Baker said, where steelhead trout move in from mid-October right up to first ice.

“Actually,” wrote Baker in an email, “some of these fish are a domestic strain of rainbow that we plant annually at Lexington and Port Sanilac, but these fish don’t know they’re not (anadromous) steelheads and we don’t tell them.”

Anglers connect, said the biologist, by casting spoons, spinners or crankbaits, especially in orange or pink, or by still-fishing with minnows or spawn bags beneath floats.

The area might get a return this year, too, on Atlantic salmon planted at Lexington in 2013; anyone catching one with a clipped adipose fin is asked to save its head and take it to a DNR office.