The Flat River chapter of Ducks Unlimited (DU) is set to stage its annual Sporting Clays Fun Shoot on Saturday, March 10. The event will take place at the Flat River Conservation Club, located six miles north of Greenville on M-91 (Greenville Road). Shoot registration is 8:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., with 50-bird shoots scheduled from 9:00 a.m. to noon. The last starting time will be 10:45 a.m.

A recent Associated Press article tweaked my thinking about camping in the Upper Peninsula. And yes, it included various outdoor activities that can be done in the winter as well as summer. I have a good friend who lives in the U.P., and he particularly enjoys the fishing and hunting there. He and his family do many other activities there as well, but most of those aren’t in the winter time. Fact is they’re living down in the Lower Peninsula right now!

Our Flat River Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation will stage its annual Hunting Heritage Banquet on Saturday, March 3. Troy Hopkins, chapter president, says it should be a great event and the chapter is working hard toward what will be a very enjoyable evening. He says ticket sales will be good and the forms are coming in as usual.

It wasn’t deer season. Rather it was a crisp January morning as I stepped out the cabin door and started walking up one of the local deer trails toward one of my favorite hunting spots.
An evening snowfall had made the trail a little difficult to maintain, as the snow clung to the overhead brush and trees, while occasionally falling to the ground around me as I moved slowly through the woods.

I’m looking upward at an old photo of my father. It hangs on the wall over my desk and is bringing back an old, warm memory. I’ve mentioned my dad before, but I feel like writing about him again. My father, Donald Gilbert, gone some years past, will always be my hero. He was the epitome of an outdoor individual, but that wasn’t all he was.

There are so many outdoor-styled shows coming up in Michigan that I can’t imagine anyone trying to attend all of them. But they’re starting soon and I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention those that are going to take place in our territory.

I don’t remember getting a year older, but I just glanced at a calendar and here I am.
And as I’ve heard said, “Wherever you go, there you are!” Ah, but rather than say that the glass is almost empty we can at least observe that it will soon be full again. A new year and a bunch of new experiences, good or bad, is soon upon us.

So where’s the snow? For many years we went snowmobiling before, during and after Christmastime.

Each year I like to give readers a story about what it may be like when Christmas arrives in the animal’s forest world. This story may also be found in my latest book, “A Brown Trout Bicycle,” or: “Once Upon the Woods & Waters,” available through Amazon or the Kindle link.

Ben Wickerham, who now works out of Flushing, Michigan, has been named the new regional representative for Michigan’s Pheasants Forever. A native of Sheridan, Wickerham earned a B.S. in Zoology at Michigan State University. And, although he will work out of his Flushing office, his roots remain deep in the Montcalm County area. For example, his father, Jay Wickerham, was a founding father of the Montcalm County Pheasants Forever chapter, one of the oldest chapters in the state.