Hunting page

Hunting is just around the corner starting in April 2001 with Spring Turkey Season. We should have photo's up of Turkey Hunts from this April 2001 so stay tuned.

For Spring 2000, Kay harvested Michigan's 4th largest turkey in Newaygo County.	Is Travis's turkey hunting career over? How can he get one as big as Kay's turkey?	Travis's turkey from Spring 1998 was big too - 22.5 lbs with an 11.5 inch beard.
You can find when the season opens for your favorite hunt in Michigan from last year's schedule. Year 2001 will be similar.

Hunting trip on Oct. 31, 2000.

On Halloween Steve Davis from Texas went hunting with Bruce and Travis Barkalow in Newaygo County near Hardy Pond. We had our German Shorthair Pointers Leni and Reb with us. Both dogs pointed a few Ruffed Grouse and several Woodcock. Some of the grouse were too wild and simply don't hold. They would flush up ahead (breeding stock for next year).

We started hunting around noon until it got too dark to see. We all had a fair amount of shooting and chances to get plenty of birds but we can’t get every bird we see (maybe some people can). After it was all said and done at the end of the day we shot three woodcock and zero grouse.

Steve Davis and Travis Barkalow enjoying their Diet Rite colas (sweetened with Splenda) while out hunting. The large woodcock (barely visible) was nicely pointed by Reb and harvested by Bruce (not pictured). Reb was steady to the point, steady to the flush and made the retrieve. He earned the "Champ" praise. Bruce used a 20 gauge Remington 870 LT with an improved cylinder choke and Remington #8 target load (low brass). He earned no praise because he shot twice.

Hunting in Hornepayne, Ontario for Sharptail Grouse. Because the Canadian government allows forest fires in this area to burn until they go out - unless threatening civilization and because of extensive logging, Sharptail Grouse have migrated into the open grasslands of Western Ontario. The area also supports an excellent Ruffed Grouse population particularly in the areas that have grown back with new cover.

In October 1998 Bruce, Mandy, and Travis Barkalow took the trip to Canada. It is roughly a 12 hour drive from Newaygo to Horne Payne, Ontario but well worth it. We stayed in our trailer at 4-Stevens Campground. The first day we did not see much as we hiked in strange open grasslands where you would expect a dense forest. The second day we began to find Sharptail Grouse signs where the flocks hang out. On the third day we found the prairie chickens and did quite well. It started off with hours walking when we decided to go to a spot where we flushed a covey of chickens out of range the day before. Our German shorthairs (Leni and Reb) did a great job finding the birds. Out of a flock of about 12 birds, we shot 3. One was hit out about 50 yards and hit the ground running. Leni did a great job tracking it down for an awesome retrieve. Later, Travis hit another bird and we saw the feathers poof out but it kept going. About 2 hours later we worked the area again going upwind. Reb found the bird. Because of these fine shorthair pointers, we did not lose any cripples. They made up for a couple of our bad shots. On the other hand, these grouse are tough! We would recommend a 12 gauge with high brass 5's. If you use a 20 gauge like Bruce, then you probably need 3-inch copper plated 6's. These grouse are all dark meat, but with Mandy's great recipes, we enjoyed our game dinners.

We also did some Ruffed Grouse hunting while in the Horne Payne area. Bruce was lucky getting four grouse one sunny afternoon. He claims he let a lot of grouse go that he saw on the ground. Leni has been trying to say something about that but hasn't fully mastered English yet.

Travis with our Sharptails from the Hornepayne area. Travis made several good shots in the high wind as the grouse streaked across the open fields.

Bruce and Leni with two Hornepayne Ruffed Grouse. Leni likes Ruffed Grouse. She likes to be sneaky and tries to get close to the bird without bumping it.

November 2000 - Munuscong Bay, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula. Phil Oakes, Tom Scholtens, Travis and Bruce Barkalow on our boys week out duck hunting. Up very early every day and out on the St. Mary's River that connects Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The hunting was spotty as the weather was mild. However, we did see a fair number of ducks and harvested several. Leni on the left and Reb on the right wearing their camouflage neoprene jackets. Leni made some outstanding retrieves. Also, it is a good idea to watch Leni as she spots the ducks way before we do. Reb is not quite the water dog, but seemed to enjoy himself immensely. He enjoyed sleeping with Phil. Phil and Reb fit nicely in a giant blind-nest of reeds while basking in the warm sunshine. They found the soft whispering of ducks landing in the decoys in front of them to be quite restful. Some of the shorthair odd behavior may be because both dogs do have some walleye DNA

Pheasant Hunting in Colorado - after Y2K. Left to right, Bruce, Todd, and Mark. Todd's fine Labrador Retrievers, Jake on the left and Katie in the soft bed did a fine job. It was one of those great days where the dogs worked perfectly, the guys shot with accuracy - it was all good. Missing from the picture is Gina who handled the dogs for the intrepid hunters.

Earlier in the day, Bruce hit 20 out of 25 trap targets. Applying this ratio to the pheasants means he harvested 9.6 pheasants on this trip.

Michigan's 2000-2001 Hunting Seasons
September 1, 2000 thru September 15, 2001	Early goose season
September 15, 2000 thru December 31, 2001	Small game season begins (Grouse, Squirrel)
November 15, 2000 thru November 31, 2001	Rifle Deer season
October 1, 2000 thru December 31, 2001	Bow season for deer
September 15, 2000 thru March 31, 2001	Rabbit season
February 1, 2001 thru March 31, 2001	Crow season

It was over 100 degrees in Central Montana in September 1998 when we hunted for these Hungarian Partridge. We carried a lot of water for Reb who was a real trooper. He hunted hard and pointed the birds in dense, difficult cover. Boy, was it hot! Where were we? GPS coordinates were: N 46 57 15.5 W 109 45 41.8