According to the Field & Stream blog article by Scott Bestul Montana’s Dept. of Fish and Wildlife has decided that trail cams or game cams as they are often called are subject to the following:

“It is illegal for a person to possess or use in the field any electronic or camera device who’s purpose is to scout the location of game animals or relay the information on a game animal’s location or movement during any Commission adopted hunting season.”

     What bothers me even more is the chatter that this has created on F&S’s comments below the article.  Once again we see an elitist faction criticizing anyone for using a camera.  If you don’t want to use one that is fine, but don’t slam someone for choosing to do so.  If it is legal then I have no problem with it.  What I do have a problem with is the groups of so called hunters attacking each other!  This serves no good what so ever.  Once again something as simple as a camera is coming between us and dividing us!  Instead of banding together for the common good we find it necessary to tear each other apart!  When is this bull going to stop?  Our outdoor heritage is slipping away right through our fingers and we are the ones to blame!  There is no one else to point the finger at!

     Back to the law at hand, how can the state tell someone on their own land that they cannot use a camera to catch a trespasser, keep an eye on predators that might be killing their livestock, tell biologists that they cannot use them to do studies, see if a deer you took a shot at and couldn’t find is still around the area, watching the progression of growth on a deer’s antlers, or simply taking photos to enjoy them, etc…..?  This stupid law has more far reaching ramifications that I feel no one has even given any consideration to see what ill affects this might have on good law abiding outdoors men!

   For more information on this law, NRAhuntersrights.org has their take on it as well!

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.

     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!

     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?

     As of our last post we had just launched our new website and then we ventured out on our newest endeavour.  It was the culmination of years of dreaming and months of hard work finally coming to fruition.  I’m glad to announce the unveiling of our new Vidcast show “Beyond The Wild“! 

     This show started out as a dream then to the concept mode and finally to our first episode!  We have decided to maintain our weekly Up North Journal podcast along with this new monthly offering of a half hour outdoor video series show.  You can find the new show at the same place as our podcast, at our website www.upnorthjournal.com and it will play right from the site just as the podcast does now.

     The basic concept of the show will be about everything we do leading up to the hunt, the hunt itself and everything after the hunt.  It will show a year round synopsis of what we do to get ready for the upcoming seasons as well as what we do when we are not hunting, thus the name everything “Beyond The Wild“.  We will also have our prostaff members on the show as well as some of our friends and family members that help us do what we do in the outdoors.

     So sit back and grab a cold beverage and enjoy our first episode of Beyond The Wild where we take a first time turkey hunter out and watch him bag a double bearded tom as well as some food plot basics!

     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.

     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!

     Last weekend fellow Up North Journal Pro Staffer Matt Woodbury and myself conducted our soil sampling of the area we plan to plant and hunt this upcoming deer season.  We surveyed the area as to where the best places would be to put a plot, then we got busy.  We took several samples from just below the surface to obtain a good representation of the entire plot area.  After getting plenty of samples we mixed the dirt together for a good mixture, then shook off the dirt and headed home. 

     Today I got busy obtaining the information from the Michigan State University extension office for soil testing in our area.  I found out that they require just about a quart of dirt for the sample to send in to test along with a $12 fee for each sample sent in.  This fits right in with what Steve Scott of the Whitetail Institute told us a couple of weeks ago during the interview I did with him on the Up North Journal Podcast.  I also packaged up the samples to send to Whitetail Institute to see how they compare to the MSU extension office testing.  It cost $10 for the testing at Whitetail Institute along with $7.10 for postage on each sample sent in for a total of just over $17.  I sent in two samples since I obtained a soil sample from our property up north this weekend also.  We are going to plant a test plot on the property we hunt up north to see how it compares to what we are currently doing.

     So we are well on our way to getting ready to plant.  We hopefully will clear the local plot this weekend and get it ready to plant as soon as the results come back in from our soil test.  We will keep you updated on the progress!

Q: Why should someone use a food plot?

A: Number one reason is to attract deer to their property, secondly is to grow bigger and healthier deer.

Q: It sounds to me like food plots are not just something we think about for the fall hunting season, it sounds more like a year round process?

A: If someone ultimate goal is to attract more deer to their property then they would want to plant in late summer.  If they want to produce a high yeild and provide protein during the antler growing process then they want to plant right now in the spring.  Then there are annuals that last six months to one year, then there are perennials that last several years without having to re-seed the planting.

Q: What are the advantages of a food plot over a baiting site?

A: The benefits of baiting over food plots would be simplicity, food plots take a little bit more effort.  But the benefits of food plots over baiting are numerous.  Number one your providing something a little more natural and more spread out, so there is less chance of passing or spreading disease from one deer to the next.  Next, the food plot is there for most of the year if not all year as opposed to a bait pile that is there for just the hunting season.  Also food plots benefit all wildlife.

Q: We’ve now made the decision to put in a food plot, how do we go about choosing a site for the food plot, what are we looking for?

A: Your going to need a spot that is going to recieve a minimum of three to four hours of sunlight a day, ideally I would like to see people keep their plots a 1/4 acre or bigger.  Generally that is a good rule of thumb, but if you have a small clearing in the woods you can go in and in a couple of hours with hand tools you can create a food plot.

Q:  Now that we are going to do this, what do we need to do to put a food plot in?

A: No matter what we talked about before or what we talk about after, this is going to be the most important thing I’m going to say during this conversation.  The first thing they need to do is they need to do a soil test!  It is simple to do and takes a little time, but it gives invaluable information.  They need to take the soil sample and send it off to a reputable lab that will analyze the soil and give them a report that will tell the food plotter exactly what they need to do from a standpoint of how much lime they need if any and how much of each type of fertilizer they need.  It is basically a map to success.  There are numerous places that they can get soil tests done, at any of the agricultural universities, any of the soil conservation services, and we do them here at the Whitetail Institute.

Q: You just don’t go out and scrape the top of the ground and fill a bag of dirt, can you explain the process for proper soil testing?

A: When they send in a soil test, they are going to send in about a pound of dirt.  That one pound of dirt is going to be representing millions of pounds of dirt in an acre.  They need to get a clean five gallon bucket with a garden spade type shovel, go to different parts of the field.  Go to the sides or maybe crisscross the middle and in an acre field they may want to take eight or ten samples from different parts of the field and put it in the clean bucket and stir that dirt up.  Then take about a pound of that dirt and put it in the container to send off, then they have soil from various parts of the field so that it is representative of the entire field and not just one spot where they happen to dig.

Q: Now that we have got our report back, what do we need to do to get ready to plant?

A: The soil type is going to dictate what product they are planting in their plot.  Then they will go in and brake up that soil whether it be plowing, discing or tilling.  Then they are going to apply what ever lime is recommended from the soil test if they need it.  Then apply the fertilizer and cut that in with a disc or rough it in two, three or four inches deep.  At that point in time they are going to want to smooth the seed bed out with a cultipacker or a heavy roller that smooths and firms the seed bed up.  Then they broadcast the seeds right there on top, roll back over them with the cultipacker type device, their done!

Q: Talking about annuals and perennials, how do we make that decision and which one should we plant?

A: That is one of those beauty is in the eye of the beholder type thing.  But a good general rule would be somewhere between a 60% – 40% split, with 60 being in perennials.

Q: Typically we think of food plots helping antler growth, but herd health and antler growth go hand in hand.  How do these two go together?

A: On antler development research has shown that a buck is going to need 16% to 18% protein in his diet every day during the antler growing process roughly March through August.  So they need 16% to 18% protein every day to maximize their antler development.  Typically mother nature is only going to provide 6% to 10% of protein, so without doing something like supplemental feeding or food plots they are going to have a hard time getting that protein level up.  Imperial Whitetail Clover provides up to 30% to 35% protein year round.  So as a deer is growing his antlers he is browsing around on bushes, shrubs, and grasses but he will also be browsing on this food plot.  As he fills his stomach hopefully that 8% protein in that browse he is eating and the 30% protein in the Imperial Clover he is eating averages out to 16% to 18% that he is consuming that gives him the chance to express his full genetic potential.

As the does goes, we can’t improve the quality of the milk that they are going to be providing their fawns, but with a high protein diet we can improve the amount of milk that she has available for her fawns.  Your right people typically think about big bucks, but in reality it is those fawns that hit the ground in the spring and summer that are going to be the trophies we are going to be hunting in three or four years.  So the better shape they are born in, the better shape they will be at maturity.

Q:  Seeing that this is the time of year to get going on food plots, if someone puts one in, when is he going to see results meaning the number of deer on his property, how long is it going to be before he sees something substantial?

A: Let’s say this, if you’re going to put a food plot in are you going to see Boone & Crockett’s running all over the property this fall?  No probably not, but hopefully you might have one or two you might attract in.  But what you will see the first year is you will see more deer on your property and you will see increased buck activity.  You will notice more scrapes and rubs in the vicinity and around those food plots.  What happens is those food plots become the congregation area for those does and family groups and you know what happens when the rut starts, when the does gather in the food plots the boys will be there soon!  Also those fawns that hit the ground this spring will have a better food source available for their entire life!  From the day they are born they are going to have the best food source available and it will manifest itself with better quality antlers when they reach maturity.

     So if your ready to get started with a new food plot and want to know a little more about them, be sure to listen to the entire interview I did with Steve Scott of Whitetail Institute on Episode 108 of the “Up North Journal Podcast in segment 2.  If you have additional questions that need answering you can contact Whitetail Institute at 800-688-3030 or go to their website www.whitetailinstitute.com for more information.