18 minute read
Life on Our Links
DENNIS WOLFE PGA Golf Pro If you have questions about golfing in Canadian Lakes, call Dennis Wolfe at The Royal Golf Shop. 231-972-8979 dwolfe@clpoc.org
(231)972-8979 6898 Club House Dr E Canadian Lakes, MI 49346
(231)972-7155 11560 Belle Isle Canadian Lakes, MI 49346
(231)972-2900 10690 Pierce Rd Canadian Lakes, MI 49346
Canadian Lakes Hole-In-One Club Winners!!!
The 2021 golf season produced five winners in the Hole-In-One Club. Congratulations to Connie Boudreau (#3 at The Royal), Peggy Grybel (#16 at The Royal), Ken Olshewski (#3 at The Royal), Gloria Rogers (#7 at The Royal) and Michael Fierk (#1 at The Royal during the Firecracker Open). Each player will receive $308.00 in gift certificates for their “ace”. Always remember that you never know when the next shot is going in!
A Full Season of Inclusive Golf
We are grateful for the full season of golf we could enjoy in 2021. We started out with nearly 3,000 rounds of golf in April and never looked back! The following is a summary of our activity for the season.
OCTOBER
CATEGORY 2021 2020 2019 % CHANGE 2021/2020
Total Rds. 2,218 1,903 1,181 16.60% The Royal 1,693 1,094 1,025 54.70% The Highlands 175 638 0 The Pines 0 0 0 GroupGolfer 350 171 156 104.60% Highlands open 3 days this year vs. 16 days last year.
YTD Through OCT.
CATEGORY 2021 2020 2019 % CHANGE
Total Rds. 43,223 0 32,955 31.20% The Royal 16,489 0 15,838 4.10% The Highlands 12,089 0 8,140 48.50% The Pines 12,190 0 7,263 67.80% GroupGolfer 2,455 0 1,714 43.20% Not comparing 2021 to 2020 due to COVID closure (for YTD comparison). Will reintroduce in 2022. 2021 vs. 2019 does compare New Funding Model vs. Old Funding Model. GroupGolfer Redemption was 82% ... highest since inception in 2017.
Hats off to our golf maintenance staff for the wonderful playing conditions that they provided us this year. The greens were awesome all season long! We look forward to the completion of the bunker renovations at The Royal, and the cart path repaving at The Pines and The Royal.
Thank you to the members and their families/guests for the overwhelming support of our tournament programs. We had record turnouts for The Derby Dash Scramble, The Firecracker Open and the Chili-Dog Scramble. Our Canadian Lakes Cup qualifying events were sold out or produced record number of entrants. Our golfers clearly enjoy the competitive and fun events that we offer. The 2022 event schedule will be available soon.
As demand remains high, it has created the need for golfers to put more planning into booking their golf. The three major holiday weekends were the busiest that we have had in over a decade. We are at a point where people will be paired with golfers
they do not know (to accommodate this high level of demand). Consider it an opportunity to meet your neighbor and make a new friend. We desperately need an automated reservation system and are working towards making this a reality. This would be a wonderful asset to service the needs of our members.
GroupGolfer visits were at an all-time high. We sold just under 3,000 rounds in 2021 and produced 82% redemption of those rounds purchased. We have entertained many repeat customers from GroupGolfer since we started participating in 2017. The repeat customers and first-time visitors are very impressed with The Royal, providing many compliments. We plan to continue our GroupGolfer promotion, however, we are strongly considering reducing the number available for purchase to better accommodate our members.
Major Winners from the 2021 Season
Match Play Blitz: Larry Tucker/Doug Carroll Match Play Sixes: Dave Sheffer/Rick Colonna Men’s Match Play Champion: David Slagter Two-Man Match Play Champions: Bill Groat/Phil Reglin Ladies Match Play Champion: Lynne Edin Ladies Club Champion: Anne Pentecost Men’s Club Champion: Jim Omietanski Men’s Senior Club Champion: Phil Bouman Men’s Super-Senior Club Champion: Hal Raupp
Score Posting Guidelines for November through March
Cold climate golfers are now in the inactive season regarding score postings. Scores produced after November 1st in Michigan are not valid for posting. Warm climate golfers (south of the Mason/Dickson Line) remain in an active season environment and are required to post scores. All players need to remember that they are subject to peer review. Your peers know if you are playing, and they also know if you are posting. The United States Golf Association (USGA) provides full details on what are acceptable scores for posting purposes. This can be found online at usga.org under the handicapping section.
Hey ... there are Golfers on The Pines during the Off-Season
Yes, that is correct, people can play The Pines during our off-season. This Canadian Lakes tradition was started by Don Bollman (original Canadian Lakes Developer) when The Pines opened in the 1960’s. Until April 1st it is NO CARTS/ NO CHARGE/NO SERVICE. Please follow these simple rules during this time… *Stay off the course when frost is present. *No stationary practice. *Replace your divots. *Repair your ball marks. *Avoid using the tee box to eliminate turf damage and wear.
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WISHING YOU THE HAPPIEST OF HOLIDAYS AND A FANTASTIC NEW YEAR.
ROCKGATEREALESTATE.COM
Jackie Bissonette, Broker/Owner 231-937-1077
BY CHRIS ZIMMERMAN
Those aren’t pepper specks on Shorty’s snoot. They’re ticks.
Outdoor Mysteries
Ticks on the Rise
HALFWAY BETWEEN rinsing the shampoo out of my hair and grabbing a bar of soap, I noticed something stuck to my flank. At first, I thought it was a pine needle or a piece of forest duff. After all, I had spent the day in the woods doing what I love – chasing grouse and woodcock. It’s not uncommon for bits of the forest to get knocked off with my hat and end up under my collar, my tee shirt or stuck to various body parts.
The tiny object didn’t let go when I tried to brush it away. When I gave it a tug, it held on for dear life. Gritting my teeth and grabbing hold, I managed to pop the critter free of its death grip on my hide. Much to my horror, I quickly realized that the object of my angst was a tick, the size of a pinhead. Down the drain it went and up went my dander.
For most of my life, I’ve never had to worry about ticks on me, my family, or our dogs. Then about five to ten years ago, I started noticing ticks on our canine companions. Then “Shorty,” my Brittany, became ill. He had a fever, runny nose, he quit eating and slept almost non-stop. I took him to the local veterinarian who confirmed the macabre diagnosis: Lyme disease.
According to the Yale School of Medicine, Lyme disease was first discovered in Lyme, Connecticut back in 1976. The disease has since spread rapidly across the Northeast and Midwest because of suburbanization into wooded areas, where ticks like to live. Houses like mine in Canadian Lakes are smack dab in the middle of tick country. Thankfully for
Deer Tick
Shorty, and my family, the antibiotics prescribed by the vet worked. He’s back to his normal, canine self.
If you and your pets spend time outdoors, you’re bound to have ticks. Shorty got Lyme disease even though he was on a flea and tick repellent. The company whose repellent Shorty was taking returned our money but didn’t offer to pay for his treatment.
At Michigan State University Howard Russell is known as “the Bug Man.” Russell runs the diagnostic lab in the entomology department. “We have about 8-10 species of ticks in Michigan and the most common by far is the deer tick,” he said. “They’re also known as the black-legged tick.”
Of all the ticks in Michigan, deer ticks are the ones that carry Lyme disease. Russell said, “it takes about 48 hours of ticks’ ingesting host’s fluids before the disease passes from the insect to the host. Ticks swell in size as they ingest those fluids. They start out the size of a pinhead but become bloated to the size of a watermelon seed.”
Russell says neighboring states have also had lots of ticks. How did ticks find their way to Michigan? It’s a mystery easily solved by way of studying nature. Deer ticks hitched a ride on the backs of birds, small mammals, or whitetail deer. Birds’ unwittingly carry ticks from region to region during their annual migration.
Ticks are plentiful now, but anecdotal evidence in my travels suggests they’re worse in certain areas of the state. State land near Evart has to be the worst in my experience. I must have picked 25 ticks from Shorty last time I was there in mid-October. Near Grayling, I only found two to three ticks. West of Canadian Lakes—in Lake County— ticks are almost as bad as they are in Evart. Way up north, in the Upper Peninsula, three days of hunting yielded just a handful of ticks.
Fortunately for winter sports enthusiasts, ticks don’t like cold weather. In fact, temperatures below 50 degrees slows down their activity. Once the thermostat dips below 40, they go dormant.
“Ticks spend the winter as adults,” Russell said. “So, we think it’s important to keep your dogs on preventative medicine all year long.”
Dogs aren’t the only ones who should be on the lookout for ticks. According to the Bay Area Lyme Foundation in California, there are 400,000 new cases of Lyme disease reported each year. Every state in the union except Hawaii has at least one case.
Russell said that he has found ticks in his bed. Heck, I’ve had them in my bed, and as I said, the shower too. They give me the creeps. Every time I scratch an itch, I half expect to find a tick is to blame. When I think about the ticks in the carpet at home, the cab of my truck, the vacuum, it really gives me the willies. It’ll be a battle all winter long, indoors, and by the sounds of it, next spring outdoors. Not much we can do about it. Take precautions with your pets. Watch for creepy crawly things in the shower. Use bug repellent next spring.
Ticks aren’t going anywhere, or as Russell says, “It’s the new reality.”
CONNECT TO A WORLD OF CARE.
mclaren.org/carecentral
TAKING A WALK ON the Wild Side
By Joyce B. Wilcox
LIVING YEAR-ROUNDin Canadian Lakes for the last several years, I’ve seen my fair share of white-tailed deer, turkey vultures, and snapping turtles. But I’ve never been close enough to examine their fur, feathers, or shells. Okay, I admit I could have gotten fairly close to inspect the turtle’s shell, but I value my digits all too well. Besides, common sense told me to give the dinner-platter-sized creatures their own space, no matter how slowly they are rumored to move.
I never realized until recently that I was living within a twenty-minute drive of getting up close and personal with so many animals from around the world. I mean close enough to count the stripes on a zebra’s head, the points on a moose’s antlers, and each of the bands between the plates of an armadillo. Let me open your world and the door to the Card Wildlife Education Center, located at 826 Campus Drive on the grounds of Ferris State University (FSU) in Big Rapids; it’s where children of all ages are afforded the opportunity to walk on the wild side.
Opening their doors in 2000, the Card Wildlife Education Center is the dream and generous donation of FSU alumnus, Roger Card. Graduating in 1963 with a degree in Building Construction from FSU’s College of Engineering and Technology, big-gamehunter Card has always given back big-heartedly to his alma mater. As his hunting around the world increased and his trophy room expanded at Card Construction through the years, he began donating single showcases to be displayed in the lobbies of new buildings on the college’s campus.
Card always felt that only a limited number of people would ever get to appreciate viewing these exhibits because these showcases were so isolated at his company and on campus. The dream of a museum began.
“It took over ten years to develop the plan, negotiate the terms, and build our dream. It’s the accumulation of years of hard work by FSU and me to be able to open our doors,” Card said. “Basically, our agreement was that if the university would staff and maintain the facility, I told them that I would build it and donate the animals.”
The result of all those years of dreaming and planning became Ferris State University’s 5,000-square-foot museum dedicated to wildlife education and featuring 286 species of animals from 57 countries. The Card Wildlife Education Center serves as an educational resource for FSU students, K-12 school children, as well as the entire Michigan community. Over 9,000 visitors tour the facility annually and it’s become one of the primary draws to the university and Big Rapids. Visitors come from all over Michigan, from around the country, and yes, even from around the world to see these animals.
If you’re anything like me, where the only difference that you know of between a bongo and an impala is that one is a set of drums and the other is the car your father drove, you may appreciate the assistance readily available at the museum. There are many mounted informational plaques throughout the exhibits explaining facts about the animals and their environment. For any questions you may have, I found the FSU student guides to be personable, most helpful, and well versed on all things regarding the animals, the habitats, as well as the hunts. You may take all the pictures you want of these animals, but for preservation purposes, they ask that you please not touch any of them, no matter how tempting it may seem.
“When you take kids to the zoo, they might be disappointed to discover that some animals can’t be seen due to the exhibit’s habitat, weather conditions, or the time of day. And for the most part, you can’t get very close,” Card said. “But when you come to our museum, you can always see them, and you can get up close.”
Roger Card is very proud of his record as an ethical hunter. His emphasis has been on the integrity and fairness in hunting through the rules, restrictions, and guidelines within each country. Wherever he’s hunted, his hunting efforts helped feed the locals as well as those who would be hunting the same animals themselves instead of also being
Roger Card
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Deep sea, Coral reef, and fresh waters of the Amazon
paid to serve as his guides. He explained that these regulations help to maintain the balance in nature while preserving the natural food chain in the region. It helps to prevent one species from overpopulating and consuming the food source of other species. Part of the fees for hunting licenses also helps prevent ruthless poaching around the world, a cause which Card strongly supports.
For Card’s efforts and accomplishments, the Safari Club International awarded him the World Conservation and Hunting Award in 2009.
“This award is the pinnacle of my lifetime of participating in this sport,” Card said. “This trophy is one of only sixty awarded worldwide and is on display behind the entry desk of the museum.
With recent remodeling and renovations taking place at the wildlife center, the seven rooms have been reconfigured to realistically display the specimens within each room. You enter the museum at an ungulate (hooved mammals) exhibit, where you are greeted by the sheep and goats from around the world, as well as many of their predators such as cougars and snakes. Starting with those animals residing at the highest mountainous altitudes of 16,500 feet and descending until you reach those living in the rocky desserts, the exhibit is breathtaking. You get a sense of each animal’s habitat and the hunter’s experience.
To hunt the Himalayan blue sheep of China, Card had to ride a horse up the mountains to 15,000 feet.
“From that point I walked, if you can call it that,” he said. “I’m only doing ten feet every two to three minutes. The air is very thin and it’s hard to breathe at that altitude. That was my most challenging hunt.”
The Africa room comes next on your tour with a vast assortment of large and small wildlife literally ranging from A to Z, with everything from antelope to zebra. This exhibit includes what’s known to hunters as the Big Five: cape buffalo, lion, elephant, rhino, and leopard.
“When you hunt an animal that can hunt you, it becomes a whole different story,” said Card. “My most dangerous hunt was the elephant. We tracked for two days walking through a tunnel of tall grass created by the elephant. I was almost trampled when the elephant started backtracking.”
If it hadn’t been for his fast-thinking guide who grabbed Card by the collar to yank him out of the way, he’s not sure what would have happened.
Upon turning the corner of the Africa room visitors encounter a few transitional display stations featuring horns, antlers, jaws, skulls, and hides. This area permits visitors to examine, touch, and read more about the animals. There is also an adjacent area to learn more about Roger Card and other individuals involved in the creation and maintenance of the museum.
Next on your journey is the Canadian and Arctic zone, which even includes a polar bear and walrus. Walking through this exhibit is quite a bit different from Card’s hunting trip on a dogsled where he quickly learned about the rough ride and blizzard conditions in the area.
“You make the discovery that there are no shock absorbers or springs for your comfort,” said Card. “Traveling and hunting are very different here. You also
learn that all your clothing from sporting goods stores is impractical. Triple-layered moisture-wicking materials are useless compared to the locals’ seal-skin suits and mukluks.”
Stepping next into the Michigan room, visitors walk across a wooden floor constructed entirely of boards made from the various trees native to our state. This labeled pathway divides the room into a forest region of the Upper Peninsula display on the left and a marshy wetland area of the lower mitt on the right. In this room the wildlife ranges from black bear, mountain lion, and moose to white-tailed deer, possum, and beaver and virtually every other animal native to Michigan that you can think of. All of this is enhanced with a faux water display filled with various fish, turtles, and waterfowl.
Some of these Michigan animals were even added to the museum by chance. Such was the case when several years ago Roger Card’s father called to notify Roger that there was a deer on his property in distress. As he was watching the animal, the doe dropped a dead premature fawn. Roger told his father, “Put it in the freezer and we’ll add it to the Michigan room at the museum.” As you walk through the exhibit, look carefully in the Lower Peninsula section by the doorway to the next room and you’ll see this tiny creature delicately preserved.
From the Great Lakes region of the Michigan room, you next encounter the fish room. Here you feel as though you’re taking a walk underwater. The lights are dimmer, the iridescent glow of mysterious sea creatures surrounds you, and marine exhibits are on display at, above, and below eye level. This room has fabulous examples of what the environment looks like in three different regions: the deep sea, a coral reef, and the fresh water of the Amazon. This is definitely a mustsee exhibit to fully appreciate it.
The antler game room with its many deer and moose surrounds the conference/meeting room at the museum. In this area visitors may view a myriad of game, including the rack from the largest moose in the world ever shot. The room is also set up to house tables and chairs for several different interactive activities for children of all ages. Whether it’s a short multiple-choice quiz on learned animal facts, a scavenger hunt throughout the museum with clues, a museum word scramble sheet, or a variety of animal coloring sheets, there’s something for everyone to do.
The Card Wildlife Education Center is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. However, due to staffing shortages hours may be reduced – please check before you go. The location is 820 Campus Drive in Big Rapids and the phone number is 231-591-5387. The museum suggests that you call ahead to check if any tours are scheduled or if they’re closed due to a campus break.
So, if you’re hunting for somewhere interesting to go this winter and you want to walk on the wild side while staying inside, why not try visiting the Card Wildlife Education Center at Ferris State?
