March 2007 – Issue 24
Coyotes
You have to admire the little wild canines. In spite of being shot, trapped and poisoned, there are more of them than ever.
My first real experience with coyotes came on an archery hunt to Colorado back in the seventies. Packs of coyotes were running deer twenty-four hours a day. Their yipping and howling became so constant that we began to tune them out.
So you think this is your land II – The tale of two 40’s
In the last issue of Turkey Tracks we reported on the recent Department of Natural Resources decision to dispose of surplus state owned property that “does not meet their mission”. Their bureaucracy has established “project boundaries”. Any property outside of these so called boundaries are fair game to be disposed of. We have objected to their disposal of many parcels.
The award
I am going to take editorial privilege in writing the following article. One very ruffled feather deserves another. This really doesn’t have to do with Wild Turkeys but it has a lot to do with the natural resources that we leave for following generations.
Traverse Bay Chapter – Spring 2007 Update
The fall was cooler and wetter than normal, but extreme cold and snow has held off except for a short stint in early December, which helped an excellent, but still late crop of poults in Area J put some fat on those skinny little bones to help them make it through the winter.
2024 Turkey Hunting Patch Available
The Grant Gobblers MWTHA Banquet was a huge success and a terrific event. There were many games, bucket raffles, guns won (Gold Star Guns out of Edmore), great food (Chris and Leeann Hesse of PorkNStien) and five scholarships given out. Congrats gentlemen another fine event.
In the April 2024 issue of Woods and Water News there’s an in depth article by Millard Holton about apple tree cultivation. This got me to thinking about lending some hard learned things about apple trees that we have. We have about 26 apple trees I’ve planted on my property for personal use and what hits the ground the animals get. Millard is right about the mice, etc. wanting to eat the bark on young trees, for this we put repellent granules around the base at the beginning of winter. We have lost a few to this before putting the repellent down; it’s worth it. Repellent is a small price to pay, replacing the tree and start growing a new one is needless tree growth time lost. Also, we found out we need to put 6 foot high chicken wire fencing around the young trees with supporting posts. Again, chicken wire cost vs tree growing time when you need to replace a young tree that was eaten to the ground by deer… your call! By the way, keep the fencing up permanently to avoid the tree being a buck rub. Losing an older producing tree is a tragedy. ![]()
I’ve learned to plant the trees that come in dirt in roughly 5 gal containers; bare root trees never worked out real good for us. We make a fairly big hole for the new tree and we found the best results by mixing about 10 bags of top soil like material into the existing dirt as we have predominantly sandy soil. Thanks, Millard for getting me thinking about this, I’ll bet your cider was delicious.
MWTHA State Chapter is going to have a general membership meeting May 19th, 2024, at the Clare Jay’s Sporting Goods in the Outback Room at 12 noon. The meeting will address, not limited to, the Charitable Gaming License rules, after banquet reporting “musts” and elections. Hope to see you there; Happy Hunting in the up-coming Turkey season. Gary Maas / MWTHA Pres.
What a great time we all had at the 26th Annual MWTHA Banquet at the Clare Church of the Nazarene last night. We handed out three scholarships: (pictured left to right) presenter Mark Todd - Morgan Bowers from Clare HS, Jaiden Sharrow from Farwell HS and Blake Davenport from Harrison HS. Also pictured is a small part of the kids who lined up to go across the stage to pick out their free gifts, and pictured is lucky “Polly” who was the first picked for the women’s free raffle table and decided to take the gun which was about as big as she is, lol. And, of course, we had a delicious dinner catered by Mack’s on Main from Gladwin. I must give a special shout out to “Johnny” from the Church of the Nazarene for all his help - he’s the best. Ask around and you’ll find out this is a great family oriented banquet night out. Thank you to everyone who came and to all our sponsors and workers who helped make this event possible each year. Certainly couldn’t do it without your help and support.
It is that time of year again. The Grant Gobblers are having their annual banquet March 22nd at Grant Community Church, doors open at 5:30 PM. For more info call Chapter President Brian Heminger at 616-291-1626. ![]()
Also, of course, the North-Central Chapter is having their annual banquet March 2nd at the Clare Church of the Nazarene, doors open at 5:00 PM. For more info call Gary Maas at 989-588-1193.![]()
We look forward to two great MWTHA banquets and thank you for your continued support.