The Ripple Effect of Hunting

Michigan was made for outdoor sports. Really, it is surrounded by the largest Fresh Water Sea’s in the world, thousands of miles of sandy beaches, old growth forests, more pine than anyone could ask for, hundreds of miles of snowmobile and ATV trails, thousands of acres of public hunting land, some of the most scenic hiking trails around, miles and miles of streams and rivers to fish, not to mention that you can go from flat agricultural land to rolling hills in just a few hours drive. What more could a sportsman need? Like everything else these day’s….. A better economy!

Studies have shown that hunting alone creates more than 700,000 jobs and supports 704,600 million jobs nation wide (or about 1% of the total civilian labor force), and annual spending by America’s 14 million hunters is around 22.1 billion. To put it another way, if American hunting was a corporation it would have ranked 35^th on the Fortune 500 list of Americas largest businesses in 1996, with the amount of hunters increasing every year since.

While pursuing their sport, hunters require goods and services that not only boost local economies but regional and national economies as well. Think about it. Hunters need a place to stay, camping gear, firearms, supplies, guide services, game processors, taxidermists, licenses, gasoline, the list goes on and on. Along with those purchases at the local level, it increases State coffers in the form of taxes, license fees, and ATV tags. In fact it adds about 1.4 billion dollars (Nationally) to state tax revenues on an annual basis.  

Each dollar spent by a hunter increases another person’s income enabling them to spend more, which increases someone else’s income, which allows them to spend more, increasing someone else’s income…. I think you get the picture. It’s like a small ripple on a pond; it gets wider and wider until it reaches all sides of the shore, or all areas of our economy. Compound that with other outdoor sports like fishing, camping, hiking, skiing, off-roading, shooting, and the rest and it’s easy to see how much something as simple as an activity can effect the country at large.

So, get outdoors, take your kids or a friend, and have some fun! It doesn’t have to be something extravagant, it could be something as simple as packing a lunch and going on a day hike, an afternoon hunt on some public land, or going to your favorite (local) fishing hole to float a bobber. Every time you do, you are enriching someone’s life and helping the economy at large. For myself, I think my kid’s and I will be taking a walk in the rain down my favorite hunting trail today.

(Statistics are from the report: “Economic Importance of Hunting” US Fish and Wildlife Service under Cooperative Grant Agreement No. 14-48-98210-97-G047)

Do You Carry What You Need To The Woods With You?

I had a conversation recently with a fellow sportsman and like most conversations this time of year we discussed our current past time…. Michigan’s Archery Deer Season! Any autumn in Michigan is a wonderful time to be alive, but especially during deer season! The woods are filled with brilliant shades or orange, fire red, crisp yellow, sage green and brown. The air is cool and always has a fresh clean smell. Add to that the thrill of setting 15 to 20 feet in the air strapped to the side of a tree watching the leaves sailing to the ground on the breeze when out of no where a 10 point woodland prince comes walking down the trail, head held high, surveying his kingdom….. I had better stop now or I will end up grabbing my gear, hopping in the truck and heading out for a few hours of solitude in the woods. LOL

Most of the hunting I do here in Michigan is with in a 35 minute drive from my house and very familiar to me. So I have never really had to worry about getting lost while I am out there. As a matter of fact I can’t really get lost in the areas that I hunt. What ever direction I choose to go I will eventually hit a fence line, house, road, or a river, all easy to follow back to my starting point. Does that mean I should be able to lighten my hunting pack by leaving the survival items and compass at home? I think if we ask all the hunters we know we would get as many yes’s as we would no’s! I, for one, would like to weigh in with the no’s. Even though I know the area I am hunting very well, there is always the chance of getting stuck out there for the night or pinned down by inclement weather.

I am not saying that I would carry all the same items that I would for a 3-4 day backpacking trip, but I would definitely carry some of them and the ones I do carry change with the seasons. For example, if I were to shoot a deer and ended up having to track it for a while after dark (which happens to every hunter eventually) and after field dressing it I started to drag it out when I realized that in my following of the blood trail I had lost sense of the direction I had come from. Would I just drag the deer around in the dark until I eventually found my way out? Would I leave the deer, find my way out, then go back and look for it in the morning, hoping a coyote or some other animal does not find it first? Or would I pull the compass out of my pack and get a general bearing to head toward. What if, after wandering around the woods tracking that deer, field dressing it and heading out my batteries died in my flashlight or in tracking that deer I fell while crossing a stream? All good arguments, I think, for carrying some type of kit in your hunting pack or pocket.

What should you carry with you?

That is really up to you to decide based on what you are comfortable with and your skill level. I can tell you what I carry and you can add to it or take away from it as you see fit.

What I carry on my person:

• A fixed blade knife with a 3 ½” to 4” blade.
• A Swiss Army knife in my pocket.
• My cell phone turned off unless I need it (If not it will always ring about the time that ten point is standing broad side to you at 25 yards).
• A lighter.
• A quick snack (trail mix, cereal bar, candy bar, etc.) something to keep your stomach happy until you can get home.

What I carry in my pack:

• Matches in a water proof container.
• A Ferro Rod
• A film canister or zip lock bag with cotton balls covered in petroleum jelly & pencil shavings for tinder (the amount carried changes due to weather conditions. I always carry more in the winter months).
• LED head lamp or flash light.
• Extra batteries for my light (I have had it go dead in the woods, and if it were not for having someone else with me I would have wandered about until I found my way out or ended up staying in the woods for the night).
•  A large piece of plastic 4-6 mil (can be used as a shelter or tied around your deer to make it easier to drag out).
• A drag rope with a web strap (helps save your back if you have to go a long distance).
• 25’ to 50’ of 550 Para cord (like the old American Express commercial use to say “don’t leave home without it”).
• About 10’ to 12’ of duct tape.
• A quart sized zip lock bag with coffee / tea packets, 2 granola bars, durable snack foods, & an instant soup mix in case I do have to spend the night in the woods.
• Extra wool socks (depending on the weather).
• Chemical hand warmer packets.
• Plastic water bottle with a sport top to rinse out your game after field dressing it and cleaning up your hands and knife, or you have it as extra water if your tag went unfilled.
• A military style canteen with a canteen cup and stove to heat water for soup or coffee.
• A compass.
• Small first aid kit.
• A small note pad and pencil.
• A field dressing kit (rubber gloves, hand sanitizer, 2-3 paper towels and a few wet wipes)

I put a heavy emphasis on being able to start a fire if I need one. If you are stuck in the woods over night being able to start a fire could be the difference between making it back home and dying in the woods. Add to that something you can use as a shelter to hold the heat of the fire, block the wind, rain, or snow and your odds are even better (specially in the winter). Water is a given, you have to have it and with a steel canteen cup I always have a way to boil water to sanitize it or melt snow to replenish my supply. You could go a night without a hot meal but having some way to make a warm drink or something warm to eat helps keep your spirits and core body temperature up.

I carry this in a mid sized lumbar pack and usually have room left over for extras I might want to throw in like a book to pass the time, an extra layer if the temperature is suppose to drop, lunch if I plan on being out all day, rain gear, a warm hat, extra gloves, or what ever comfort item I may want this hunt. I know a few guys that use a larger pack so they can carry a wool blanket and a thermos of coffee. Whatever makes you comfortable and confident in the woods is the best kit for you. I would recommend that you at least carry the basics:

1. More than one way to start a fire.
2. A good knife.

3. Something to use as a shelter.

4. Extra water or a way to make water safe to drink.

5. Extra food.

Have fun this hunting season, stay safe in the woods, and good luck!
You can watch the Youtube video that goes with this post at the link below.

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Fire Test - The Norseman's Challenge

Like most people that enjoy being outside, I tend to focus my “inside” time on pursuits that make my “outside” time more enjoyable. One of the ways I do this is by watching videos on Youtube about bush craft, self reliance, hunting, backpacking, and of course the countless gear reviews that go along with them. In doing so I feel that I am better prepared for my chosen activity, but watching the videos and never actually trying the things they are teaching really does me no good. For example, if I watched a video on how to make pancakes on the trail then 2 or 3 months later go on a 4 day hike with all of the supplies I needed to make pancakes but never tried to make them on my hiking stove at home first I would probably end up hungry or eating a lot of burned pancakes on my hike.  

The same is true for bush craft skills. If you never practice them at home before you need them what makes you think you could depend on them to save your life if you are stranded or injured in the backcountry. That is one of the reasons I decided to try the “Norseman’s Challenge” that Wilderness Outfitters Archery presented to one of its Pathfinder School classes recently. I did not attend the class, but had already watched the video Norseman had posted on the Fire Test a few weeks earlier, and thought it was a great way to hone your fire building / self reliance skills. Like any test, there was a time limit and some rules:

From start to finish the test takes 25 minutes.

1. You had to start with a Ferro rod (or less), water, and a GSI Glacier Cup, a canteen cup, Guyot Designs SS Bottle, etc.
2. You had to start a sustainable fire with in 5 minute.
3. By the 20 minute mark you had to have 2 cups of water at a rolling boil.
4. By the 25 minute mark you had to have extinguished the fire and erased all traces of it.

Sounds easy right? That’s what I thought too! I had a sustainable fire in less than 2 minutes and had my water on to boil… no problem! This was going to be a breeze! I had it all planned out, use small sticks and twigs they burn quick and would be less to put out and hide in the end. The only problem was they burned too fast to produce enough heat to get 2 cups of water to a rolling boil; in fact it never really came to a boil at all. I took it off the fire at the 25 minute mark and chalked it up to a good learning experience. I did take about 2-3 minutes to extinguish my fire and hide all traces before I left, again it was good practice. It was fun and I will be trying it again soon…. I really hate to loose…lol. Who knows, some day I may need to do that to save my butt. Granted, I doubt I would be trying to hide from some enemy soldier or something like that but I could be hunting or hiking in the winter and fall crossing a stream. God knows you only have a few minutes to get dried off before hypothermia starts, and putting something warm inside your body helps to keep your core temperature up where it needs to be. Well that’s it for now, check out the link below for my Fire Test / Norseman’s Challenge video or check out the videos posted here on my blog. Get outside, try something new… I think my next attempt might be with a bow drill….. No Promises.

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The Manistee River Trail / North Country Trail Loop in Michigan

Since blogging is a new thing for me I think I will start out slow and easy. I have a lot of ideas of what I want to do with this site but for now let’s just get started.

In June of this year my kids and I decided to hike the Manistee River Trail / North Country Trail Loop in Michigan for Fathers day…. Wow, I can not wait to do it again!

It was my son’s first backpacking trip so we decided to take slow and do as much of the trail as he was able, and leave the rest for another time. If you have never hike this trail I would highly recommend it. The scenery is breath taking, you have a decent amount of ascents and descents to get your heart pumping, and you will find several marked and maintained campsites along the trail as well as several stream and river crossings on sturdy fixed and suspension style bridges. I would also recommend that you remember your fishing pole. The water was so clear you watch the fish swimming along. It is definitely on my list of trails to hike again, and again, and again.

You can view the video at the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/v/Fr7JzYcO_0w?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US