We finally made plans to hit the woods with the AR for a little coyote hunt this past weekend. I got with our Pro Staff Member Chico Lopez to see if he wanted to ride along and spend a day in the woods chasing the devil dogs. I picked him up around 1:30am and headed north, after a 2 and a half hour drive we arrived at our northern Michigan destination around 4am! After a little sleep we got our gear ready and hit the woods. As we were getting ready to take to the field, I noticed a beautiful bald eagle flying over a clearing next to the lake. I thought to myself, this is a good sign of things to come, or so we thought!  Read More

The Michigan DNRE issued a press release Feb. 11th about wanting the public’s help with sightings of gray wolves in Michigan’s lower peninsula.  Below is the statement issued by the DNRE!

Contacts: Jennifer Kleitch 989-785-4251, ext. 5430 or Mary Dettloff 517-335-3014 DNRE Asks for Help From Public to Detect Presence of Wolves in the Lower Peninsula The Department of Natural Resources and Environment today announced it will conduct a survey in the northern Lower Peninsula Feb. 16 through March 12 to detect the presence of gray wolves in this area of the state. Survey teams will be searching areas where the public reports observing a wolf or wolf tracks during the survey period. Priority will be placed on the most recent reports and reports with potential wolf evidence. “The purpose of the survey is to both verify the presence of wolves where we have previously confirmed animals and to detect new occurrences in other areas,” said DNRE Wildlife Biologist Jennifer Kleitch. “Given the low probability of observing a wolf or tracks in the Lower Peninsula it’s helpful to have as many eyes looking as possible. That’s why public reports are important.” The DNRE is asking the public to report wolf sightings that occur during the survey period to the Gaylord Operations Service Center at 989-732-3541, ext. 5901. Observation reports can also be submitted online year-round at www.michigan.gov/wolves. The Web site also contains identification information for wolves. “It’s imperative that observations are reported in a timely manner so we can work with fresh evidence. If the public finds what appear to be wolf tracks, they should preserve the physical evidence and disturb it as little as possible or take a photo of the tracks with a ruler,” Kleitch said. “If someone has a photo or video of a wolf in the Lower Peninsula, we’re interested in that as well.” Wolves began naturally returning to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula via Canada and Wisconsin in the early 1990s. Since that time populations have increased and continue to expand their range. Evidence of range expansion into the Lower Peninsula came when a gray wolf was accidentally killed in Presque Isle County in 2004. More recently, the DNRE verified two wolf observations in 2009 in the northern Lower Peninsula as a result of a video and trail camera photo taken by Michigan citizens. The DNRE is partnering in this survey effort with USDA Wildlife Services, the Little Traverse and Grand Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, and Central Michigan University. The DNRE is committed to the conservation, protection, management and accessible use and enjoyment of the state’s environment, natural resources and related economic interests for current and future generations.

     We are proud to announce that episode 2 of Beyond The Wild is now available for you to view!  You can get it by going to our website and view it on the video player or download a high quality version right off of the site as well at:  www.upnorthjournal.com  You can also subscribe to it by going to I-tunes and searching “Beyond The Wild”.  When you do, make sure and leave a comment to help boost our rankings!  Thanks for your support!

     This episode we take you out on the BIG waters of Lake Huron in Saginaw Bay to chase the tasty walleyes!  Next we get our hands dirty working the soil for the upcoming deer season by getting our food plots ready for planting, plus a few other odds and ends!

     Episode 122 of the Up North Journal Podcast is now available for your listening enjoyment for free at: www.upnorthjournal.com

     This week we cover goose scouting, deer season, hunting expos and which is faster an arrow out of a compound bow or a 4 second dragster?

     Yes I’m still alive and well!  To those of you who regularly follow this blog I know is has been over a month since my last post, but I have a very good reason as to why this has happened. Read the rest of this entry »

     The Up North Journal Team has launched their new website and they invite you to stop by and check out the new digs! You can find it at the same ‘ol place: www.upnorthjournal.com you will find a new interactive video panel that will play their most current video and will eventually have the most current episode of their upcoming new video show. You will also be able to click the link to take you to the archive page of all their videos. Not only does it have the video player but it also offers an audio panel that has the most current episode of their podcast with a scrolling banner with an outline of the current show. The link below the player also takes you to an archive page of past episodes for download or playing right from the site.     At the bottom of the page you will find all the Up North Journal Pro Staff members. By clicking their photos you will be taken to each members personal bio page which will host a video of each member talking about themselves and the game they like to persue. Included on their personal bio page is all the links to their own blogs, and other internet links they are associated with such as facebook, twitter, and email address’.

     The site is not 100% completed but the important items are there, so keep looking for further updates to the site and bios on the prostaff pages. When your finished taking the tour, be sure to drop them an email and let them know what you think about the new digs!

     After taking a few weeks off from blogging, I’ve got the urge to get writing again and today I have finished the first step in our new food plots.  Read the rest of this entry »

     Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing Steve Scott, the Vice President of Whitetail Institute of North America about the basics of food plots.  As you may already know, Whitetail Institute of North America produces seeds for various crops that are designed for wild game food plots.  Below you will find a few of the basic questions I asked and the answers he gave. Read the rest of this entry »

                                                                                   What a wild week for the Up North Journal Team!  Turkey season is in full swing and I had the opportunity to guide a first time turkey hunter this weekend.  I managed to call in not one, not two, but four toms for him to choose from.  He took the double bearded tom out of the bunch!  We cover that story this week along with a nice interview with the Vice President of Whitetails Institute on the basics of food plots and what they can do for the health fo the deer herd.

Mikey covers the basics of a do it yourself turkey fan taxidermy job in this week’s Mikey’s Game Bag, then I cover a few of the new crossbows we recieved to kick off our crossbow review this spring.  Check out what else the Up North Journal crew has been up to this week by listening to this week’s installment of the Up North Jouranl podcast.

     Many people consider Norwood Darling to be the father of what we know today as the Federal Duck Stamp.  In a press release this week, Delta Waterfowl explains that Darling might have been the first to create a federal duck stamp but there are others involved that lead up to the creation of the first stamp. Read the rest of this entry »