hunting

Each year thousands of people enter a lottery to hunt elk in northern Michigan, but only 200 people win tags.

To ensure success, most hunters hire a guide. Increasingly, elk guides are breaking hunting laws, so hunters are guaranteed a shot. Some guides are now worried the rule breakers are damaging the sport’s reputation.

At the elk park in Gaylord, guide Preston Casselman watches elk chew cud and relax.

This week on Points North, we dissect how many elk were poached this winter and why that number has increased. 

Plus, guides are illegally helping hunters bag an elk. What’s next for the guide industry?

Last month, three more elk were poached in the Pigeon River State Forest.

It was the latest in a series of elk poaching that has made the past few months some of the worst in recent memory for Michigan’s elk herd.

This week on Points North, we’re talking about baiting and hunting, and the ongoing debate about whether to keep deer healthy versus taking away a tool for hunting. 

Plus, a turkey hunter tells us why he loves the sport.

This week on Points North, Native American tribes have treaty rights to hunt, fish and gather, but many face racism and harassment when they use them. Plus hear some pet peeves of people in northern Michigan.

For April in the western Upper Peninsula, it’s a pretty warm day. The Little Carp River, surging with snowmelt, winds through a forest of hemlock trees.

Robert Rajacic is scrambling up and down riverbanks, expertly carrying a spear in his right hand. He’s hoping to use it on some rainbow trout.

This week on Points North, a hunter was shot and killed by another hunter on opening day of deer hunting season last fall. It was ruled an accident, but it became apparent there was more to the story. Plus, the bond between a hunter and his dog.

Last year, two people were shot and killed in Michigan while deer hunting. One of the victims, Justin Beutel, was hunting on family property near Torch Lake. 

It was Nov. 15, opening day of firearm deer hunting season, when another hunter shot Beutel from about 50 yards away. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources investigated the case. 

“We would classify it as an accident at this point,” says Lt. Jim Gorno, a DNR conservation officer.

This week on Points North, after school bonds fail, some districts keep asking taxpayers again and again to change their minds. One small district in northern Michigan is renewing their attempt. Plus, more religious discrimination allegations against Bay View and local musicians play a violin that made it through the Holocaust.

A bill introduced in the State Senate earlier this year would reverse the ban on deer baiting in Michigan.

Hunting boosts the Michigan economy by $2.3 million annually, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. And Hunting Works for Michigan estimates 34,400 hunting jobs are created in the state.

Large urban deer populations have become an issue for many cities in Michigan, but finding a solution to that problem has proven to be complex.

Hunting groups typically advocate for hunting rights within city limits to curb deer numbers, but members of some communities have shown a distaste for this approach.

Wildlife officials say the elk population in northern Michigan is stable.

The state Department of Natural Resources uses two small airplanes to count the elk herd near Gaylord. This year, DNR estimates the herd at about 1,300 elk. That compares to about 1,000 elk in 2012.

Biologists say wild elk had disappeared from Michigan in the late 1800s. The elk herd that can be found today is descended from seven elk that were released in 1918.

For duck hunters and competition duck callers, sounding like a duck is important. And these duck callers are pretty good. Want to hear them? Here's a person pretending to be a mallard duck.