HAP looking for landowners Pg. 13
Where a blade is born Pg. 9 Saying ‘no’ to outlawing the outdoors Pg. 11
Arenac County Independent Ogemaw County Herald Oscoda County Herald
Pg. 15
Pg. 18
Right in your own backyard Where a blade is born Saying ‘no’ to outlawing the outdoors HAP looking for landowners
Pgs. 7 & 29 Pg. 9 Pg. 11 Pg. 13
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Streamer junkies to hit trophy waters this fall By Tiffany Johnson
tiffanyjohnson@oscodaherald.com 989-387-8929
MIO — The Au Sable Angler Fly Shop will be hosting an event during the Streamer Weekend early this October. “It’s always free,” owner Bruce Graff said of the weekend event, which will run Oct. 7-9. “You come up, I don’t charge anything to do it. We try to get all the streamer junkies.” Although the shop has had this streamer event for numerous years in both the spring and fall, there will be something added to the list of events this fall: classes from area guides.
“There are people coming on three nights — on Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night — that are actually going to give presentations on how to tie streamers,” Graff said. “There is a charge to go to those classes for those three nights.” Alex Lafkas, a guide out of Traverse City, will teach the first night’s class. Jac Ford will be heading up the Saturday night class, and Sunday is scheduled to have Mike Schmidt showing how to tie his well-known streamers. “We had 40 people involved last spring, so this fall I expect probably 70-80 people,” Graff said. “There are guys that don’t care to fish those little flies; you won’t ever catch
them out here in the summertime fishing. They are here in the spring and the fall throwing streamers, and that’s why we call them streamer junkies.” This year, the weekend event will include Friday to allow more people to enjoy fishing on the river. “By adding Friday, anybody who has to work weekends has at least one day to come up here and do it,” he said. “I want to include everybody; I don’t want to block anybody.” Fishermen are each given a yardstick, which is donated from the local Ace Hardware, to include in a photo of their catches for an accurate measurement. There will be prizes given away including flies, fly
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 2
rods, reels and lines among other items. “It’s all catch and release,” Graff said. “You don’t bring any fish in here. It’s strictly catch and release.” To participate people must sign up beforehand. “There will probably be 1520 prizes before it’s all over with,” he said. “Jac always puts something in — Jac Ford. In fact he’s always been my biggest promoter. The last few years he’s given away to the winner of the thing a free guide trip. And a full-day guide trip costs, around here, $350.” To sign up or for more information, contact Graff at his shop by calling 989-8268500.
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2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 3
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2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 4
Pheasant habitat improvement the key component of MPRI
Success of the Michigan Pheasant Restoration Initiative starts on the ground level — literally
By Tim Barnum
news@arenacindependent.com 989-387-9140
Jason Myers, Michigan Pheasant Restoration Initiative biologist for Huron and Tuscola counties, said creating pheasant habitat — pheasants nest on the ground — is the driving factor behind the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ initiative. “The biggest thing is having a lot of grassland on the landscape as a whole, but we’d be looking at nesting cover, which is basically that plant mixture in more of a hayfield setting,” he said. Clover and alfalfa, considered coolseason grasses, pop up in the spring and offer good nesting cover for pheasants, as do grasslands that are not mowed and not used for grazing. Myers said another specific type of habitat needed for pheasants is a brood-rearing area. “That is a native grass mixture of big blue stem, little blue stem and Indian grass is the most common one,” he said. “It’ll have a bunch of wildflowers mixed in with it as well. The idea is that creates sort of like a summertime cover for them.” “The component with the wildflowers is that draws in insects and when they’re little pheasant chicks, the only source of food they eat are insects in the summer,” Myers said. Perhaps the most important habitat, though, is winter cover, he said. Switch grass, grain crops like corn, wheat and oats and cattails in wetland areas are all essential for pheasants in the winter, he said. “If we get a fair amount of snow, the grass will either bend over but not break; it won’t go flat as a pancake on you,” he said. Myers said the MPRI was established to help make pheasant hunting a viable economic and recreation option in the state. “There are a couple of big driving components behind it,” he said. “One of them is the economic value behind
Tim Restainer of Omer releases pheasants he raised for the Arenac County Fair in a hayfield near his home. Restainer’s pheasants were purchased by the Arenac County Independent. TIM BARNUM
it. Back in the heyday in the ’40s and ’50s, back when you couldn’t hardly walk without stepping on a bird, there were a lot of guys coming up to hunt.” “It really helped boost the local economies,” Myers said. “That’s one part of it, to kind of see that happen again. The other portion of it is what we call the three R’s or R-3: recruit, retain or reactivate. Trying to get small-game hunters going out. We’ve seen a big decline in small-game hunters going out.” The DNR is not going it alone, but with several state, federal and private partners. One partner, Pheasants Forever, helps people plant food plots and establish habitat areas. Robert Beyerlein, President of Pheasants Forever North East Chapter 415, said the chapter’s annual banquet each year helps provide funding for food plots and seeds. The chapter has been able to get a lot of help from the local agricultural industry, Beyerlein said. “We’ve got a lot of farmers that have helped us by planting different fields
that are not for their crops, but more for the improvement of their habitat, and by leaving some of the land unplowed so they have cover for the wintertime,” he said. Like Myers, Beyerlein said at one time, pheasants were abundant, but the birds’ habitat has eroded over the past several decades. “At one time years ago there was a large population of them,” he said. “With different things that have happened over the years, they lost that habitat. We’re trying to improve that habitat again, which directly coincides with the DNR’s program.” Although farmers are the primary landowners who provide habitat sources, Beyerlein said a person does not need a lot of property to get involved with Pheasants Forever’s efforts. “You don’t have to have 40 acres,” he said. “You can have an acre and plant it with different types of seeds. Beyerlein said Chapter 415 has
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 5
See PHEASANT, 31
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2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 6
Right in your own backyard Trail photos from Northeast Michigan
Location: Ogemaw County
Location: Ogemaw/Arenac County
Location: Ogemaw/Arenac County
Location: Montmorency County, Bone Hunting Club
MIKE PETTY, OGEMAW COUNTY
JANET SMITH, OGEMAW COUNTY
JANET SMITH, OGEMAW COUNTY
ROBERT GREENE SR.
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 7
More photos on Pg. 29
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2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 8
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Where a blade is born
A man who forged a passion for craftsmanship & making knives into a business
By Tiffany Johnson
tiffanyjohnson@oscodaherald.com 989-387-8929
BEAVERTON — Custom blades smith John Doyle has a love of knives that fuels his passion to make them. His creations have been sold internationally, and seen at accredited knife shows like the Blade Show and the International Custom Cutlery Exposition, but the main reason he makes these beautiful blades is simply for the love of the art. “A knife I’m working on now might take me a month. People see the prices and think, ‘Wow, you’re rich,’ but it’s actually the opposite,” Doyle said. “It’s definitely a labor of love.” Starting out as bars of specialty knife steel, his creations are forged first in his own mind with an idea sketched out, graphed and blueprinted. Once he has a knife created in his mind, Doyle starts the blade process. “There are many, many steps,” he said. “As I forge the blades and cut off the handles, the bar gets shorter. I leave as much as I can to hang on to because that gets pretty warm in the forge — I’m forging at like 2,000 degrees.” The blades are hammered and refined by Doyle, who now works mostly on commission. “They get added to the waiting list, which currently I am 18 months backlogged. Yeah, it’s growing,” he said. “I started just making stuff, you know, until you build your name, build your reputation.” The Blade Show in Atlanta, Ga., is one of the largest shows that showcase specifically handmade knives, according to Doyle. “That’s the biggest knife show in the world,” he said. “I do the International Custom Cutlery Expo — the ICCE in Kansas City (Mo.) — and then the International Knife Show in Seattle, Wash.” A lot of planning goes into a piece that appears at a show, according to Doyle. He puts in a month of preparation by stopping all other work and focusing on a knife or a certain set of knives before going to a show, he said. “I’ve won a dozen awards now at the
“That’s how I mark all my blades, with ‘J. Doyle.’” shows,” he said. “It is pretty much being judged by your peers. That’s a big honor considering at some of the shows there are over 250 knife-makers and they only have five or six awards, so to win, it’s a pretty big deal.” While he tries to stick to a Monday through Friday workweek, in preparation for a show Doyle will work anywhere from a 16-hour day to an 18-hour day, he said. “I went to the Blade Show in June and then in September we are going to Kansas City,” he said. “I was one of five makers that was chosen to make a knife for the Custom Knife Collectors Association Banquet. There are five knives on exhibit and collectors can go — they have a ballot slip and there is a box for each knife — and they cast their ballot in the box they want to win at the end of the night, and they do a drawing. Whoever gets the drawing gets to buy that knife.” “I’ve been making for about six years now. I’ve been doing three full-time, as a full-time maker. I did it part-time before but I grew up hunting and fishing so a knife was always a valuable tool,”
he said. “I’ve always liked knives so I started reading Blade Magazine and saw some of these guys making these handmade knives and I thought, ‘I want to do that someday.’ I guess I was about 12 when I knew I wanted to make a knife. I didn’t know if I would do it for a living. That part — to be able to do it for a living — was not something that I expected.” Doyle took a class in Ozark, Mo., to learn the art of knife-making in 2009. He was living in Montana at the time but it was worth the trip because it gave him a chance to build his skills. “(It) was kind of like an intro, beginner (course) from a professional knifemaker,” he said. “I was hooked from there.” After finishing the course in Missouri, Doyle immediately started looking for others from whom and with whom he could learn back in Montana. He found a man, Jon Christensen, who was a master blade smith in the American Blade Smith Society. Doyle started an apprenticeship under him, which later created a
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 9
See CUSTOM, 20
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2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 10
“It’s so, like I said, almost anti-outdoors — society and mainstream, but we’re part of nature, we’re part of this earth — humans managing animals.” — Tony Brindley
By Tiffany Johnson
tiffanyjohnson@oscodaherald.com 989-387-8929
ROSE CITY — Trapping his delight of animals into a job, Tony Brindley started his own business, Prior Creek Taxidermy & Trapping, around 2010 when he was encouraged by his son Jake to take a course in the art of mounting animals. “I’ve trapped since right around 10 years old, give or take, you know, just muskrat,” Tony said. “It’s actually part of our living now. We trap professionally actually. I worked in machine shops and different things and then the economy took a downturn and I had worked long enough, I figured, for somebody else.” Tony went to Hutton Valley School of Taxidermy in Iowa to take the course with Jake, who now practices the skill on the side.
“I went there for seven weeks, mounted 11 animals — fish, birds, deer, mammals,” he said. “Before I came home there were guys bringing stuff to my wife already — they knew I had handled fur for 40 years. I wasn’t sure how it was going to take off; it’s crazy how busy it is right now. I work 12, 14 hours a day — seven days right now.” Ogemaw County has many taxidermists, according to Tony, but there are always more than enough items to be mounted, which is what he says is keeping business good. “There is just a good demand because a lot of these guys shot a buck like this and might not shoot another one that big,” he said. “So they’re going to do something with it, even if money is tight they are still going to find a way to get it mounted.” Not only does Tony enjoy his work, but his passion for
all things hunting and outdoors is evident in other areas. “On the side — which I don’t get paid for it — I measure for Commemorative Bucks of Michigan, which is a recording-keeping club of the deer, turkeys, bear and elk all harvested in Michigan,” he said. “That’s just a strictly a 100 percent volunteer deal. Ogemaw didn’t have a measurer for this county so I went and took a course down in Lansing (at) Michigan State (University). I passed and became an official measurer.” While he encourages his customers to enter their game into a record, some prefer to keep their spot hidden, he said. “If a guy catches a big fish he isn’t going to tell you where he caught it because he doesn’t want you sitting there tomorrow,” he said. Tony, who specializes in mounting deer heads, explained that the process of
Tony Brindley works with a deer hide, placing it over a mold with a special tool. TIFFANY JOHNSON
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 11
mounting an animal starts out in the field. How an animal is harvested affects the timeline of mounting it, he said. “It’s more of a temperature thing. Let’s say it’s zero; you could go until it freezes,” he said. “Anything over 40 degrees, you should be concerned about spoilage. They say life begins after 40, so once your temperature gets above 40 your bacteria starts.” After the animal is harvested, it is important that it be put on ice, he said. “I take pride in everything. I actually enjoy bears and all that, but deer is what we do the most of and fish is right up there, but mainly it’s deer,” he said. “We skin them, take measurements and freeze them.” The hides are kept in the freezer to prevent spoiling. He then fleshes, salts and turns
See TAXIDERMY, 17 A deer mount is left to dry while tied and clipped to ensure everything stays in its place.
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2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 12
Hunting Access Program seeks landowners in Northern Lower Peninsula
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources encourages landowners interested in making the most of their property and supporting local hunting traditions to consider enrolling their lands in the DNR’s Hunting Access Program, which provides private-land hunting opportunities for hunters in Southern Michigan, parts of the Northern Lower Peninsula and the Eastern Upper Peninsula. The DNR is looking to expand hunting opportunities on private lands in the Northern Lower Peninsula in the following counties: Alcona, Alpena, Antrim, Arenac, Benzie, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Iosco, Leelanau, Manistee, Mason, Montmorency, Ogemaw, Oscoda, Otsego, Presque Isle and Wexford. “You can help promote wildlife population management, support the local economy, reduce wildlife conflicts, improve your land, and get paid to do it,” DNR Hunting Access Program coordinator Monique Ferris said. Landowners with at least 40 acres are eligible to enroll. “Providing access to hunting lands that are close to home is critical for supporting Michigan’s strong hunting heritage,” Ferris said. “Our commitment to providing access has more than tripled the number of farms enrolled in HAP the past three years. We now have over 170 farms and nearly 20,000 acres available for public hunting.” In the Northeastern Lower Peninsula, Ferris said the DNR is hoping for increased Hunting Access Program property enrollments as landowners see the benefit HAP provides, particularly in areas where deer population management is needed, such as those areas affected by bovine tuberculosis. The DNR received a $951,400 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program last year to expand HAP into the Northern Lower Peninsula to increase privateland hunting opportunities.
Michigan’s Hunting Access Program offers private-land hunting opportunities for hunters and the chance for landowners to get paid to help promote wildlife population management, support local hunting traditions and improve their land. MICHIGAN DNR/COURTESY PHOTO
The VPA-HIP encourages property owners to voluntarily allow outdoor enthusiasts greater access to their privately owned land for hunting. According to a 2013 study by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, outdoor recreation supports 6.1 million direct jobs across the country and $646 billion in spending each year. “The Hunting Access Program is good for the economy,” Ferris said. “Hunters taking trips to HAP lands contribute $1.7 million annually to Michigan’s economy. The majority of the HAP hunter trips are within 25 miles of the hunter’s home, making HAP lands extremely accessible.” Michigan’s Hunting Access Program was created in 1977 to increase public hunting opportunities in Southern Michigan, where 97 percent of the land base is privately owned. Landowners enrolled in HAP receive an annual payment, up to $25 an acre, for allowing hunters to access their lands. One of the oldest dedicated private-lands, public-access programs in the nation, HAP provides access to quality hunting lands close to urban properties and in agricultural
areas. Using funds from the new hunting license package and the new federal grant, the DNR plans to continue expanding the program over the next three years and now offers habitat improvement funds for landowners. Landowners have the ability to choose which types of hunting are allowed on their lands. Hunting options include: • All hunting • Youth and apprentice hunting only • Small game only • Deer only • Turkey only • Elk only Landowners may choose more than one option, such as deer and turkey hunting only. Maximum payments will be given for the all hunting or youth and apprentice hunting options. In order to control the number of hunters using HAP lands at any one time, hunters are required to register to hunt each time they visit the property. The landowner can select either a mandatory registration at their home or a hunter self-registration
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 13
See HAP, 31
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2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 14
Hunting for a Grand Slam
Woman becomes first to get a bear, deer & turkey in one year after 15 years of trying
By Tiffany Johnson
tiffanyjohnson@oscodaherald.com 989-387-8929
ROSE CITY — Linda Thompson’s hunting travels have taken her all over the states and Canada. Her journey started when she was a teenager and is continuing into her 60s. In 1990 Thompson was named the first woman to get a Grand Slam Award with the Michigan Bow Hunters organization. “I bought my first hunting license when I was 17, and I remember that because my dad had to sign for it,” Thompson said. She said she has hunted a variety of animals. “Mostly deer but I do a lot of bear hunting whenever I can. I’ve hunted elk, antelope, mule deer, small game — I do a lot of small game hunting.” Thompson’s tool of choice is a long bow, which is what she started with. There is a reason she prefers this weapon to a rifle. “The challenge,” she said. “That’s mainly why I like it. To see how close I can get to an animal, not how far away I can shoot. I’ve been bow hunting since I was 17 — 47 years.” Enjoying challenging herself, Thompson is still actively hunting with her bow. One of the things she enjoys most about hunting in general is a common theme in hunting — the quiet of the woods. “There are so many different things that make hunting so enjoyable for me. It’s getting out, becoming one with nature. I like watching the morning sunrise,” Thompson said. “Just
At left, Linda Thompson poses with a 340-pound black bear shot in Nakina, Ontario, Canada in 2013. Above is a collage of her shots that won her the Grand Slam Award in 1990. watching all the critters and being so quiet that things just happen around you that you would never see otherwise.” Her experiences have taken her all over the country and to Canada, but her favorite place is near and dear to her heart. “I’ve gone out west. I’ve gone to Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Alabama, South Carolina,” she said. “My favorite place of course is here, but I really like hunting up in Canada, and I also like — it’s a toss-up between Colorado and Wyoming. I want to go back to Wyoming here pretty soon.” The main differences between hunting with a rifle and a bow are proximity and tracking skills, according to Thompson. “There’s quite a bit difference of the skills involved,” she said. “With a bow, you
The hunter poses with a turkey she took this year on May 10.
have to practice. You have to be a lot closer to the critter that you’re hunting. You have to be a better tracker because tracking a bow shot kill can be much harder than a rifle. A lot of people who hunt with a rifle just try to
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 15
shoot them down there so they don’t have to look for them. Sometimes with a bow you can do that. I’ve had quite a few of them go down within sight or within
See GRAND SLAM, 23
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2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 16
Taxidermy:
FROM PAGE 11 them in a tumbler he made. “You have to keep all the detail of the face and dry them, then they come in to the tanning, which I prefer to do on my own,” Tony said. “Because you can send them out, and there are good tanneries, but once you send a skin to a tanneries you lose all control. You’re at their mercy — when you get it back.” His tanning process takes five days, which allows for the hide to go through an acid that pulls the fatty protein out of the skin, making the skin accepting of the tan, according to Tony. “It’s just like the big guys do. I just do it on a smaller scale but I have control of the process,” he said. “A lot of these guys, their kids will shoot youth bucks and they want them for their birthdays or for Christmas, and I can control that.” The complete process the skin goes through is a threeday acid soak, a tanning and a tumble through a custom drying machine, taking a total of about five days for solely the pre-mount work involved. “Once they come out of the tan then actually they have to be tumbled, oiled, thinned again, sewed — any repairs because of bullets and whatnot — then I ring them out,” he said. “It’s quite a process.” One of Tony’s passions is informing the younger generation about hunting and trapping. He puts together “school kits,” which are collections of furs to bring into school classrooms to give children a chance to encounter these types of animals. “What it is, it’s random pelts. I’m trying to get at least one of everything. I just got a fisher from an Indian fella in the U.P.,” he said. “It’s muskrat pelts, skunks, fox, coyotes — everything in
Michigan or wherever. I’m getting everything.” Besides taking the school kits into classrooms, Tony and his wife Theresa, who is a first-grade teacher at Surline Elementary School, bring the pelts to the yearly math and science night at the school as well. “We take them to the school and the kids can touch them and feel them,” he said. “And we take antlers and skulls, but the fur kits (are) just for education purposes, just to show the kids. It’s amazing what they don’t know. There are so many people trying to outlaw the outdoors.” Tony also uses a fur kit that belongs to an association, of which he is a member. “I actually borrow one. I am a part of a couple trapper associations, but Northern Great Lakes (Fur Harvesters), they have a huge fur kit,” he said. “They have wolverines and all kinds of stuff, from North America — lynx — they actually let me use theirs.” Teaching youth the value of the outdoors, animals and hunting or fishing is one of Tony’s main priorities. “It’s top, that’s what I worry about. It’s so, like I said, almost anti-outdoors — society and mainstream,” he said. “But we’re part of nature, we’re part of this earth — humans managing animals. Education is key because so many people are trying to outlaw everything, ban everything, restrict. It’s good for the kids because they just don’t have that exposure anymore. If we can educate them that’s even better for all of us down the road.” Taxidermy is now his main source of income, but at one time trapping was his main job. When talking to kids or anyone who wanted to know about his line of work, Tony would use the word “balance.” “You have to manage it, and manage it wisely. We’re not abusing anything,” he
Above, Tony applies a paste to the top of the mold, making a “cap” to ensure the final product looks as realistic as when the deer was brought to him. Right, a large black bear skin rests on a table after measurements were made to make a rug. TIFFANY JOHNSON
said. “I’ve got areas I have trapped for 30 years and I don’t over-harvest; I pull out and remove my traps.” “At the time, I had enough of the machine shops — it’s good but it’s the freedom,” Tony said about his shift in occupation. “I have the freedom now to, if I want to, hunt today or fish today or trap for a month. I usually take all of November off other than skinning animals. You can’t do that working for someone else.” Tony and Theresa encourage education about the outdoors not only in the schools but also with their own family. Their son Jake, who was the first to suggest the father and son duo take a class together, now lives in Indiana where he practices taxidermy apart from his main profession. Tony hopes the interest will continue into the third generation. “Four grandsons and I’m hoping one of them — I’m sure one of them will need a job — will want to do taxidermy,” he said. “So that’ll work out just about when I’m ready to retire or turn it over.” Tony and Theresa have two adult children and six grand-
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 17
children, including a granddaughter with a unique nickname. “I could see her doing taxidermy. That’s my daughter’s daughter,” Tony said. “She told me that when she grows up she wants to be a hunter of animals like her papa. I call her ‘Shecat.’ she just loves this stuff and she’s not afraid of anything.” Tony uses his 30-plus years of trapping knowledge to help out people and work with groups to manage populations. “I work with the (Department of Natural Resources),” he said. “They refer a lot of landowners to me for nuisance (when) they have beaver problems, and I don’t charge; I just go in and trap them.” Last year he put an addition on his shop because it was growing beyond what he had room for, but he keeps everything in perspective. “There is a lot of work involved but things are happening,” he said. “It’s like any job; you got to keep after it. You don’t know what is going to come in today or tomorrow. It’s a good business and I love it.”
Hot on the trail
Rose City tracking team adds two new recruits
By Tiffany Johnson
tiffanyjohnson@oscodaherald.com 989-387-8929
ROSE CITY — Between Kevin Hanus and Rick Martin, there are nearly 100 years of hunting experience. That knowledge came in handy when the pair decided they would put their skills to use helping hunters find their bleeding bucks. “Rick Martin, he’s actually the guy who got me into it,” Hanus said. “I have been hunting for many years.” The pair used both their hunting experience and Martin’s previous dog-training experience to start Rose City Deer Tracking Hounds, which is a free service to hunters who have lost their shot. Hanus, who also owns Non-Typical Taxidermy in Rose City, said he reached out to Martin because he heard he was training a dog to track. “He had a dog, before the one he uses now — that he trained to track, mainly deer, but our dogs will track anything,” Hanus said. Hanus remembers when he and his wife received his dog, who still tracks as a part of the team. “My wife came home with this little puppy; his name is Sparky — that’s my main dog,” he said. “He’s a mutt. He is half Jack Russell and half Basset hound. Well, I had heard that Rick had a dachshund that he was tracking deer with, so I got a hold of him but he had never met me. And he came right down to the house — he lives about two miles away — and we started training Sparky; he was just 8 weeks old. We trained pretty much every day for a few months with the little one, then once or
twice a week, then we started finding deer.” After using the dogs to find their own deer, they started helping friends find their deer. “Then we said, ‘You know, we could start helping local people,’” Hanus said. “So then I came up with the idea of Rose City Deer Tracking Hounds.” The team has two main dogs, Sparky and Squirt, and now has two new additions to the team — two purebred Bassets. “They’re young, they’re just over a year old,” he said. “We started them last year. They are doing pretty good but I only put them on deer that I’m pretty confident that we’re going to find. The hard ones we use the more experienced dogs.” The training process looks a little different now than when Martin and Hanus started in 2014. “We used to use blood. We (would) save deer blood and freeze it — we looked like vampires. We don’t do it that
Jake Vick, 11 at the time of the photo, Kevin Hanus and Rick Martin pose with a buck after the dogs tracked it during the 2015 youth hunt.
way anymore,” Hanus said. “Now we train just with deer hooves because the dogs have to be able to track an individual deer without blood. A deer has what is an interdigital gland in between their toes so every deer smells different, just like people. And when a deer gets wounded (there are) more hormones, it produces more adrenaline, things like that.” Trained in this method, the hounds can track and, in theory, find a specific deer that has been wounded even if there is no blood trail. “That’s the best way to train,” he said. “We have — scent shoes they’re called — they clamp on to your boots and then they have a connector on the back that holds deer hooves. So we have deer hooves in sets because it has to be the same deer. As you walk, it’s pushing that track into the ground.” When making a track, Martin and Hanus mark it with fluorescent clothespins so they know the exact track and if the dog is on it.
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 18
“You start them at the beginning and then at the end (of the track) we take a chunk of deer hide, preferably from the same deer, and then we’ll have a little bit of raw venison chunks for the dog to eat so they can think of it as a reward,” he said. “And they love it, the dogs love to do it.” Last season the team went out 72 times to track deer and found 41 out of that number. “The national average is about 35 percent, and the reason that seems low is because first of all, these are deer that people cannot find and when the dog doesn’t find the deer, the deer is usually not dead,” Hanus said. “If the deer is dead then there is a really good chance — as long as the hunter doesn’t screw up the track by having too many people out there. Our dogs over the past three years are over 50 percent on their success rate, but they’re just lucky I guess.”
See HOUNDS, 25
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FROM PAGE 9 friendship between the two knife-makers. From years of practice, Doyle has three types of knives he calls his specialty: Bowie knives, hunting knives and folding pocket knives. “It’s kind of a three-way split. I have a lot of guys that like these bigger Bowie knives and I sell a lot of hunting knives. And then folders,” he said. “If you made me pick one, probably hunters are what I’m most known for — I mean that’s where I started. I am a hunter; they are near and dear to me.” While he admits that his profession is a tough way to make a living, Doyle enjoys the pride in creating something he can give to a customer. “I like the satisfaction of making something with my own hands, like creating an actual, usable tool. I do like to see the joy on people’s faces,” he said. “I really like taking raw materials and making a functional tool or even a piece of art.” Doyle hopes his craft helps, even in
a small way, bring back handmade items. “Craftsmanship, in general, is going away. I hope I can pass it on to my kids. They don’t have to be knife-makers — I might actually encourage them not to be full-time,” he said with a laugh. “It’s cool to see them take an interest and someday want to make a knife.” John and his wife Jennifer have three children together, daughter Montanna Reinke and sons Reid and Ethan Doyle. Doyle makes the entire knife from the blade tip to the wooden handle with custom pieces; even the hardware is made in his shop. “I’ll cut a strip wide enough for a handle; I cut the shape of the handle out, which is what I do off my drawing,” he said. “I lay out and mark everything with hidden pins. So these locator pins keep everything going on in the right order and keep everything aligned exactly how they are supposed to be so that when it’s done everything is centered and symmetrical.” Almost all his handles are made from different variations of wood, but some are made from a synthetic that
gives the knife a tactical look, he said. “I have black and green from the Army and law enforcement guys. That is a fiberglass synthetic material, but most everything I use is wood,” Doyle said. “I would say 90 percent of my handles are exotic woods.” One technique Doyle uses in the heat treatment process adds a unique touch to his blades. “That is called Jomon and it’s a Japanese word, and it comes from how they used to make their samurai swords. They would coat the spine of the knife with clay prior to quenching in a ‘heat treat.’ What that did was the clay protected the steel in the spine and through the handle — through the tang — so that it couldn’t cool fast enough to harden,” he said. “The reason they did that was because they knew that on their swords, only the sharp edge had to be hardened steel. In a sense, any steel that is hardened is brittle, very generally speaking, so there is no reason to have your thinner tang and handle section hardened to where it was brittle. They would rather be able to straighten a bent sword on the battlefield than have one break.” Though Doyle has never considered
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himself an artist, his craft is an artistry that he enjoys manipulating, he said. “You will see it on almost all my blades. It almost becomes a canvas to work because you can try to influence that Jomon. You don’t know what you’re going to get until the blade is ground and polished,” he said. “You have to develop that, bring it out. It’s like a film, like someone when they used to develop film — that is kind of what it is like.” By forging his passion for knives and hunting, Doyle has grown his skill set into a business from the ground up. For more information or to see pictures of past knives, visit jdoyleknives on Instagram. Top photo, Doyle shows detail work of a guard that is in the process of being made for a client who requested that the ends appear to look like seashells. Bottom left, some wood blocks, including locally sourced maple, Madagascar rose wood and African black wood, wait to be made into handles. Bottom right, a custom knife illustrates the technique of Jomon on specialty knife steel.
“The blades start out from however I see them in my head, then I’ll go from there. I make a drawing, which this drawing will be actual real dimensions so I can pull measurements and layout from this drawing just like a blueprint.”
“I spend a lot of time sourcing wood from all over the world and I need to know that it’s the best of the best.”
Terms to know
tang: a projecting shank, prong, fang or tongue (as on a knife, file or sword) to connect with the handle Jomon: of, relating to or typical of a Japanese cultural period from about the fifth or fourth millennium B.C. to about 200 B.C. and characterized by elaborately ornamented hand-formed unglazed pottery
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2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 21
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Grand Slam:
FROM PAGE 15 20 yards, but I’ve also had them go a quarter of a mile. I had one that I tracked for over a mile.” While Thompson has the skills and likes to challenge herself with a hard track, she noted that her area has a great hunting community with people willing to help each other. “Here in Michigan, especially in this area we have some guys that have dogs, they’re allowed to have dogs that will track a wounded deer,” Thompson said. Over the years, her skills have progressed mainly because of the experience under her belt, she said. “You could read all you want to on how to track deer but (it’s) the experience because every deer is different, they do different things. You have to kind of analyze everything,” she said. “It takes a lot of skill and a lot of experience to get good at it.” The first shot Thompson got with a bow was not small game but quite the opposite. “The first animal I ever took with a bow was a black bear. That was in 1971, and I got that with a recurve bow,”
she said. “Well, I’ll tell you what, there is nothing like it.” Years later, she received the Grand Slam Award, which she had been trying to obtain for a while, she said. “I was the first woman in Michigan to get the Michigan Bow Hunters Grand Slam,” she said. “It consists of getting a bear, a deer and what they consider a three-point animal — so small game, which could be anything from turkey, goose, bobcat, coyote or fox — and I got a deer, a bear and a turkey — a fall turkey that year — all in 11 days.” Thompson poses with her eight-point buck Thompson had spent 15 years trying to get a Grand taken in 2014. Slam. Taking all these aniSome of Linda’s shots include: mals with a bow had its set of challenges, according to the hunter. “It’s not the easiest thing to get all those animals in one year,” she said. Thompson is what she would consider retired but keeps busy with hunting and owns a shop called Houghton Creek Archery Repair. She has plans to go out this upcoming season, she said. “Oh, absolutely,” she said. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
Area Season Dates
Deer: Early Antlerless Firearm: Sept. 17-18, 2016 Liberty Hunt: Sept. 17-18, 2016 Independence Hunt: Oct. 13-16, 2016 Archery: Oct. 1 - Nov. 14 and Dec. 1 - Jan. 1, 2016 Regular Firearm: Nov. 15-30, 2016 Muzzleloading: Zone 1: Dec. 2-11, 2016 Zone 2: Dec. 2-11, 2016
Zone 3: Dec. 2-18, 2016 Late Antlerless Firearm: Dec. 19, 2016 - Jan. 1, 2017
Wild Turkey: Spring Season: April 18 May 31, 2016 (see Spring Turkey Digest for applicable units) Fall Season: Sept. 15 Nov. 14 (see Fall Turkey Digest for applicable units) FOR A COMPLETE
2 Mule Deer 4 Black Bear 12 Turkey 46 Whitetail Deer
Bear: • The first day of the Red Oak, Baldwin, and Gladwin season (Sept. 18) is for bait-only hunting. • The first day of the Baldwin North Area season (Sept. 9) is for bait-only hunting. • The last two days of the Red Oak, Baldwin, and Gladwin firearm season
(Sept. 25-26) are for bear hunting with dogs only. • The Red Oak archery-only season (Oct. 7-13) is for bait-only hunting. Red Oak: Sept. 18-26 Oct. 7-13 archery only Gladwin: Sept. 18-26 Baldwin: Sept. 9-24 north area only. Sept. 18-26 all Baldwin
*OPOSSUM, PORCUPINE, WEASEL, RED SQUIRREL, SKUNK, GROUND SQUIRREL, WOODCHUCK, FERAL SWINE, FERAL PIGEONS, STARLING AND HOUSE SPARROWS MAY BE TAKEN YEAR-ROUND WITH A VALID MICHIGAN HUNTING LICENSE.
LIST OF SEASON DATES VISIT WWW.MICHIGAN.GOV/DNR
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 23
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FROM PAGE 18 The best part of the job is seeing the hunters’ reactions when their deer are found, Hanus said. “Just seeing the reactions, especially younger people,” he said. “Like the youth season, we went out five tracks — it was on a Saturday — five tracks and we found every one,” Hanus said. “We were out 14 hours.” The tracking can range anywhere from two minutes to five hours, according to Hanus. “Sometimes you got to just call it,” he said. “I did a track last year out of St. Helen in a — I call it a cranberry swamp — kind of like walking on a sponge. We went 1 1/2 miles without ever seeing a drop of blood. Sparky kept telling me he was tracking — you have to learn how to read the dog — and then I finally found one drop of blood. So I said, ‘OK, well, he’s right.’ Well, then we went another two miles. It was just a big circle so I told the hunters, I said, ‘This deer is alive. We’re just following a live deer.’ I said I was going to stop and they were disappointed, but about 10 days later they sent me a picture — it was the same buck
The two new recruits take a snooze.
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back on their game camera. The lady had hit it high in the leg with her bow, so the dog was right: the deer was alive.” All the dogs on the team are trackers, but just like people, they enjoy relaxing. “Our dogs, both Rick and I, our dogs are house dogs — all of our dogs,” Hanus said. “The more you track with the dog the more you become familiar because every dog is different. The two Basset hounds are very easy to read. Because as soon as they get off the track you can just tell they are confused and they’ll have to search for a minute to get back on it.” After 38 years of hunting experience and hundreds of deer taken, Hanus originally started this idea with Martin to find his own deer, but it has taken off as a service to the area, and now their experience is growing with two more dogs on the team. While the pair thoroughly enjoys tracking, they typically stick to running this service in the daylight, Hanus said. For information or to inquire about a track, contact Rick Martin at 989-984-4201 or Kevin Hanus at 989-6858017.
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 25
Local fly shop owner sees fly fishing as a kind of therapy By Tiffany Johnson
tiffanyjohnson@oscodaherald.com 989-387-8929
MIO — The Au Sable Angler Fly Shop, located in Oscoda County, has changed hands but not changed its roots. Taking ownership of the shop in 2014, Bruce Graff has continued the tradition of stocking U.S.-made products, specifically those made in Michigan. “This shop was originally owned by Bob Linsenman and then they were going to close it, and I couldn’t see losing it,” Graff said. “This stretch of the river is widely known as the trophy waters. It is managed for the large brown trout and I just thought we needed a shop run by fishermen for fishermen.” Graff, who also owns Au Sable Valley Inn in Mio, where the shop is now located, would say his shop is his hobby, not a business. “I’ve been fishing since I was just ‘wee lad.’ My dad built the first cabin on Tee Lake just south of Lewiston,” he said. “So we spent every summer up there and I would literally get up in the morning before everyone else, I would go fishing. Mom would leave something in the oven for dinner so that I would have something to eat when I decided to get my butt home.” Having a lifetime of fishing experience, including tournament fishing, Graff shifted from bass fishing to trout fishing. He is a full-time fly fisherman now, he said. “I’ve always loved to fish,” he said. “I live on the backwaters; I used to fish these backwaters a lot for pike and walleye and bass and then I got into this trout fishing eight years ago — on a full-time basis. I sold my bass boat and all I do is trout fish now.” All of the flies available in the shop are handmade in Michigan or in the United States, according to Graff. “I can order flies from some major companies that are all mass-produced overseas — and I could make a lot of money doing that because they’re really cheap — (but) my business is made up of everything I can purchase in
Michigan,” he said. “Normally when you see someone down here fly fishing as such they are using a fly that imitates the fly that is ‘coming off.’ The main one is mayflies.” One of Graff’s joys is teaching someone to fish, especially for the first time. “I can take somebody that has never fished in their life and out here in 10 minutes I can have them throwing a fly line,” he said. “Because it’s all new. I can get them in the rhythm. It’s real simple; anyone can fly fish.” The act of throwing a line is fairly easy to learn, but becoming proficient at the technical terms, the timing of mayfly hatches and knowing the waters takes about a year. There are always things to learn, according to Graff. “You never know everything,” he said with a laugh. “If anyone says they know everything, they don’t. You learn — it’s just a progression.” Fly fishing can take place on both rivers and lakes, but it is more known to be on flowing waters, like the Au Sable River. It is important to learn those waters, Graff said. “You’ve got to learn currents, how that affects your flies,” he said. “It’s like our drift boats — on the lake, if I’m out here in a rowboat I am the motor, I’m working the oars, I’m row-
ing that boat down the (lake). On the river, the river is the motor. Your oars are strictly for steering.” While a lot of guides he knows fish all around the state and the U.S., Graff prefers to fish right in his own backyard. “Most of my fishing is right here,” he said. “Bob Linsenman, who originally owned this shop, wrote a book on it — it’s a guide of all streams. The guys call it their bible. It actually gives you a trail road to drive down, which turn to make and where to get to a spot where you can actually go trout fishing.” Some of Graff’s best experiences on the river have been seeing wildlife, although it wasn’t always his first priority. “People laugh at me but I call it ‘river therapy.’ I may spend 50 percent of my time when I’m on the river fishing, but the rest I do enjoy the river,” he said. “When I was bass fishing, in fishing bass tournaments and that, you’re racing to an area, you fish it real hard then you get on a motor and race to another, you fish it real hard; you just keep going. You’re not enjoying anything around you or anything else.” Coming from the fast-paced world of
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 26
See FLY, 31
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 27
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Hours: Monday-Friday 8 am - 5 pm Saturday 9 am - 4 pm • Closed Sunday
989-826-3580
ur Yo ng on a H r ck Bu Ceda ! e Pol e h T ck Bu
2246 Shady Shores Rd., Lupton Parts & Accessories
989-473-3900
ATM
Hunt
where the game is...
On private Colorado Ranches. Non-guided, DIY hunts for Elk, Mule Deer and Antelope.
Hunts range from $2,000 to $2,600
HUNTING LAND
10 acres to 240 acres in size. Some with live streams, small lakes and homes. Several adjoin state land. Excellent small game and deer hunting areas. Contact our office for more details.
Pete Stanley & Associates www.RockyMountainHunting.com 970-439-1894 CO. Reg. #2689 Est. 1995
314 E. Huron Rd. (U.S. 23), Au Gres, MI 48703 989-876-8171 www.arenacrealty.com email: arenacrealty@arenacrealty.com
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 28
More trail photos Continued from page 7
Location: Oscoda County SHAWN RICHARDS, OSCODA COUNTY
Local fishing spots around Northeast fish you Michigan &canwhat find there
Ogemaw County:
Grebe Lake: bullhead, crappie, largemouth bass, northern pike, sunfish, yellow perch. Rifle Lake: crappie, largemouth bass, northern pike, sunfish, yellow perch, bluegill, walleye. Skidway Lake: bullhead, crappie, largemouth bass, northern pike, sucker, sunfish, yellow perch.
Oscoda County:
Mio Backwater: bullhead, carp, catfish, crappie, largemouth bass, northern pike, smallmouth bass, sucker, sunfish, walleye, yellow perch. Mio Pond: bullhead, carp, catfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, rainbow trout, smallmouth bass, sucker, sunfish, walleye, yellow perch.
Location: Ogemaw County
TAMMY PROULX, OGEMAW COUNTY
Arenac County:
Au Gres River: brown trout, bullhead, carp, catfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, rainbow trout, smallmouth bass, smelt, sucker, sunfish, walleye, white bass, yellow perch. Pine River: bullhead, carp, catfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, sucker, sunfish, white bass, yellow perch.
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 29
Whitney Drain: carp, catfish, crappie, largemouth bass, northern pike, rainbow trout, smelt, sucker, sunfish, walleye, yellow perch.
All information taken from www.michigan.gov/dnr
LOOKING
for land? ... Give us a call! TWO ADJOINING 20 acre wooded parcels plus an adjoining 10 acre wooded parcel for a total of 50 acres. Buy 1, 2 or all 3 parcels. Priced from $25,000 to $39,900. AU GRES RIVER waterfront canal frontage. $34,900. 40 BEAUTIFUL wooded acres. $80,000. 80 WOODED acres, city of Standish. $136,000. 74+/- WOODED acres with 3, possibly 4 bedroom home & 4 outbuildings. $199,900. 77 ACRES with approx. 40 acres that are wooded, remaining land is farmed. $154,000.
1517 N. Huron, Pinconning Honda Generators Call us for our current sales promotions on ATVs!
989-846-0013
www.olsenindependentrealestatellc.com
linwoodcycleonline.com
Largest Selection of
Cigars, Zippo Lighters, Stoker’s Chewing Tobacco and Glass & Wood Pipes
Monday - Friday 9a.m. - 6p.m. Saturday 9a.m. - 5p.m. Sunday Noon - 4p.m.
989-701-2500 136 S. 5th St., West Branch Next to West Branch Furniture Outlet
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 30
Pheasant:
HAP:
FROM PAGE 13 box, which the DNR will provide and install. The maximum number of hunters allowed on the property is determined by the total acreage, as well as the habitat type. Leases are on a two- to three-year period, with annual payments made each spring. To ensure landowner and hunter satisfaction, HAP offers landowner liability protection. Public Act 451 of 1994 addresses the concerns some landowners have over
Three young male pheasants stand alongside Hagley Road in Standish Township aug. 19.
TIM BARNUM/ARENAC COUNTY INDEPENDENT
FROM PAGE 5 several members and habitat areas in Arenac and Ogemaw counties. He said people interested in joining the group or helping improve pheasant habitat can reach chapter officers by sending a message to the Pheasants Forever Chapter 415 Facebook page. If several people in one area want to get involved in the MPRI, cooperatives are a possibility, Myers said. “It’s kind of similar to game management area co-ops where guys are hunting and trying to get
Fly:
bigger bucks,” he said. “It’s basically neighbors helping neighbors.” According to the DNR’s website, under MRPI frequently asked questions, a cooperative needs to have 1,500-2,000 acres of highquality pheasant wintering and nesting habitat out of a 10,000-acre area. The MPRI currently includes three high-priority restoration zones — Gratiot, Saginaw and Clinton counties; Huron, Tuscola and Sanilac counties; and Hillsdale, Genesee and Monroe counties.
sharing access to their land. In addition, HAP lands are patrolled by conservation officers, with an increased focus on patrolling during the busy fall hunting season. Visit mi.gov/hap to learn more about the program and to see a current list of private lands available for hunting in Michigan. The HAP web page includes details about enrolled properties, including types of hunting allowed and aerial photos of the properties.
Shop Owner Bruce Graff shows a 9-foot fly rod.
FROM PAGE 26 bass fishing Graff tried to take that same fast-paced approach to fly fishing, but he realized he was missing an essential part of fishing on the river — the opportunity to enjoy what was around him. Graff told about a time when he was fast fishing on a pontoon boat on a river. He cut his hand, which caused him to slow down and notice some wildlife. “I’m looking and I’m watching the eagle, then I
TIFFANY JOHNSON
see some osprey feeding ahead of me. Then I look over at the bank and I’m watching a mink run right along the bank near the kingfishers,” he said. “All this wildlife that I never seen because I was too intent on fishing. And that’s the biggest thing I tell people here: ‘If you take fly fishing as a business — you go out there and it’s all business — you’re not going to enjoy. You go to the river to enjoy the river.” Another thing fly fishing
offers is viewing sunsets, which is one of Graff’s favorite things, he said. “Most flies come off in the evening so I’m sitting there watching the sunsets going down the river,” Graff said. “If I can go down there and catch a nice fish, that’s great, but I go there just to relax and enjoy myself.” He said he also prides himself on having one of the largest streamer collections in Michigan. “Bob was always known
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 31
to have the largest streamer section in the state and I have far expanded on that,” Graff said. “I have the largest tied streamer selection in the state. Other places do have streamers, but that’s what this water down here is known for — the trophy waters and throwing the streamers — so that’s why they’re here. Bob wrote the book on streamer fishing, so by him doing it this is the legacy that carried down to me. This is streamer central.”
We Make the Outdoors Affordable
Northwoods Wholesale Outlet
989-879-1110
Exit 181
Then 2.5 miles to the light, just 2 blocks East of light off M-13 in Pinconnning then right on
www.northwoodsoutlet.com 229 W. 5th St., Pinconning, MI 48650
Van Etten St.
Open 6 am - 10 pm Every Day! CASH AND CREDIT CARDS ONLY Now accepting American Express
Come SEE THE NEW Northwoods WHILE SUPPLIES LAST - NO RAINCHECKS - Not Responsible for Printing Errors -We’ve enlarged a lot! • Wider Aisles • More Cash Registers - Checkouts • New Blacktop Parking Lot • Thousands of New Items
• • • HUNTING • • •
FREE cell phone card reader
Digital Cameras
2 Pack Game Cameras!
& 8GB SD card
FREE Buck Jam
with any camera* *Stealth Cam
w/Wildgame camera purchase* *see store for details
STC-CRV43
Good Things Come To Those Who Bait
$
1999
$
99
79
5 gal. bucket feeder
SAVE $50 Hex 225 Feeder
99 Terra 5MP
$
89
TR512DE4
2 pk
Game Spy Camera MCG13034
Feeder Code Red
$ 99 $
5
3 pk
99
89
$
99
49
30 gallon
Combo Pack!
$
99
129
Hand Held Viewer Trail Pad
FREE
Reg. $7900
Suit Digital Game Camera Blade XB
$
99
99
Reg. $19900 Mid Weight $199.99 Value!
with Purchase of Any Crossbow
Range Finder
Over $699.99
2016 Hunting & Fishing Guide • Page 32
Suit OR