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Bob Gwizdz

Bob Gwizdz: Michigan sportsmen and women set to bear brunt of resource management funding… again

6 Comments / Discussions, Featured, Fishing, Home Page News, Hunting, Michigan, National Fishing, National Hunting, Opinion /

Legislation will be introduced very soon raising the costs of hunting and fishing licenses in Michigan.
Department of Natural Resources insiders tell me they have identified legislative sponsors for the new fee package and quiet discussions with other legislators lead them to believe the new fee structure has legs. Generally speaking, the license structure will remain the same, but licenses will cost about $10 or $12 more each, if the package passes as proposed.

Bob Gwizdz: Michigan sportsmen and women set to bear brunt of resource management funding… again Read More »

Michigan DNR to consider revising state’s furbearer regulations next year

Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Michigan, National Hunting, National News, News /

In conjunction with its fur harvester user group, the Michigan Department on Natural Resources has identified a number of issues to explore next year to see if the current regulations are overly onerous.
For instance, the prohibition on year-round coyote harvest is causing some heartburn among deer hunters in the Upper Peninsula.

Michigan DNR to consider revising state’s furbearer regulations next year Read More »

Bob Gwizdz: Frustration of a Michigan bird season plagued by obstacles

Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Michigan, National Hunting /

Do bird dogs get frustrated?
I’ve been wondering about that lately as my English setter has exhibited some strange behavior. We were out the other day, mid-week, at one of the state game areas where they release pheasants in Michigan. I guessed that there’d be a fresh release, but I guessed wrong.

Bob Gwizdz: Frustration of a Michigan bird season plagued by obstacles Read More »

Bob Gwizdz: Can we improve pheasant hunting in Michigan?

Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Michigan, National Hunting, Opinion /

For the past 20 years or so, I’ve been opening Michigan’s pheasant season in the Thumb at my buddy Tom Lounsbury’s property.

It’s usually a large handful of guys (and occasional gals), many with ties to the conservation or sporting community – outdoor writers, sporting goods dealers, DNR personnel (or retirees), etc. It’s always a good time. This year, I broke my habit.

Bob Gwizdz: Can we improve pheasant hunting in Michigan? Read More »

Learning to love the ugliest fish in Michigan — the burbot

Featured, Features, Fishing, Home Page News, Michigan, National Fishing /

If you were to hold a beauty contest for Michigan’s fish species, you’ll get a lot nominees: brook trout, steelhead, yellow perch – especially pre-spawn hens when their fins glow bright orange – or any number of finsters. But if you were to hold an ugly fish contest, as soon as burbot were named, the nominations might just close.
Deep-water denizens that I would guess most anglers have never encountered, burbot are fish that even their mothers would struggle to love. Despite their relative rarity, burbot “have gained a lot traction in the last decade or so,” says Jim Chamberlin, a northern Michigan fishing guide.

Learning to love the ugliest fish in Michigan — the burbot Read More »

Bob Gwizdz: Celebrating autumn in Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula

Featured, Features, Fishing, Home Page News, Hunting, Michigan, National Fishing, National Hunting /

I am often surprised by how many of my fellow Michiganders say they have never been to the Upper Peninsula. The recreational opportunities – above and beyond hunting and fishing – are outstanding, of course.
Just looking around, especially in autumn when the maples are ablaze, can be inspirational. I am less surprised by how few have visited the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Bob Gwizdz: Celebrating autumn in Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula Read More »

Michigan’s venison donation program works through changes

Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Michigan, National Hunting, National News, News /

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is looking for a new vendor to run the venison donation program to feed the hungry after its long-time partner, Michigan Sportsmen Against Hunger declined to renew its contract.
Because of requirements that require all deer to be tested for disease (chronic wasting disease and tuberculosis in areas where those diseases exist) as well as X-rayed for metal fragments, the program is being run through a statewide food bank that distributes the venison to local food banks. The change caused some processors – who wanted the venison to be distributed through local pantries – to drop out of the program.

Michigan’s venison donation program works through changes Read More »

Stocking program provides a limited Atlantic salmon fishery in Michigan waters of Lake Huron

Featured, Features, Fishing, Home Page News, Michigan, National Fishing /

We were trolling in 130 to 170 feet of water in Lake Huron off Harbor Beach, Mich., and things were slow, when we noticed a big fish on the sonar right on the bottom. We figured it was a lake trout. Brandon Stanton, the skipper, immediately dropped one of the downriggers that was running higher in the water column to the bottom. And we connected just like that.
My brother, Phil, who grabbed the rod, pronounced this was “no lake trout.”

Stocking program provides a limited Atlantic salmon fishery in Michigan waters of Lake Huron Read More »

Bob Gwizdz: Double the fees for Michigan’s pheasant release program

Featured, Hunting, Michigan, National Hunting, Opinion /

I have, over the course of my career, attended what seems like about 6 million meetings and hearings on matters pertaining to conservation.
I have never testified; in the newspaper business your job is to report the news, not make it, though at times Keith Charters, the longtime chair of the Michigan Natural Resources Commission would occasionally ask me what I thought about a particular piece of business and, of course, I’d answer. I had every intention of breaking my silence when the state Senate recently held a hearing on reauthorizing the pheasant-release program (SB 803).

Bob Gwizdz: Double the fees for Michigan’s pheasant release program Read More »

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