Outdoors

Biking, Boating, Camping, Fishing, Hunting and more

Cooler temperatures and rain by the weekend should help push the salmon, the Michigan Department of Resources said Wednesday in its weekly fishing report. Inland, anglers are taking advantage of the excellent bass fishing.

SOUTHEAST LOWER PENINSULA

Lake Erie: No walleye action to report but the perch fishing has been good in 22 feet of water off Stony Point and near the end of the River Raisin Buoys. A few perch were taken near the turn-around buoy but the action was not consistent.

Press Photo/Howard Meyersonfishing guide Leo Wright positions his drift boat so Scott Bowerman can cast in search of a smallmouth bass.

NEWAYGO -- It is mid-afternoon on a hot, steamy day, and Scott Bowerman has a good bass on.

It is 15 inches, a smallmouth with fight. It came right off the shallow bottom of the Muskegon River and smacked the living daylights out of a yellow popper on the surface.

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about," hollers fishing guide Leo Wright in his best pseudo southern drawl. "That's a nice fish."

Wright is an East Coast smallmouth nut, a good-natured man who grew up fishing the coast of Maine. He moved to Michigan from Tampa, Fla., in 1996, after accepting a job with Gerber.

You might wonder just what sick deer and Chickadees have in common. The answer isn't obvious unless you live in the country where deer gather under bird feeders.

Both will feed on sunflower seeds. That presents a dilemma for some people who like to feed birds.

Michigan Department of Natural Resources director Becky Humphries signed an emergency order last week calling for a ban on deer and elk baiting and feeding in the Lower Peninsula.

State wildlife officials hope an experimental September antlerless deer season on private land will make a dent in the state's burgeoning deer population. But just how big an impact remains to be seen.

"We're not sure how many will participate," said Rod Clute, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources deer specialist.

Press File PhotoFall is prime time for deer farm owners who sell breeding bucks and does.

GRAND RAPIDS -- Test results on more than 50 deer killed and taken off a northern Kent County deer breeding farm last week all have come back negative for chronic wasting disease, Michigan Department of Agriculture officials said Wednesday.

That finding means only one deer, a 3-year-old doe, was found to be infected with the fatal neurological disease. Officials are waiting for test results on four other deer taken off two deer farms, in Osceola and Montcalm counties. Both were breeding facilities that received deer from the Kent County farm, which has not been identified.

ROCKFORD -- A two-hour "town hall" meeting about chronic wasting disease is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the West Walker Sportsman's Club.

State officials say there is a lot of incorrect information being spread about the disease, which was discovered in northern Kent County and has led to wide-ranging impacts.

Journal News Service filesThree deer and a fawn eat at a feed pile in this file photo.

Could one sick deer end up costing millions in lost revenue for Michigan tourism, hunting and agriculture?

Some worry that could be the collateral damage from emergency measures enacted by the state Department of Natural Resources and Department of Agriculture last week to handle the state's first case of chronic wasting disease in a white-tailed deer.

CWD was confirmed Aug. 25 in a 3-year-old doe culled on a privately owned cervid facility, or POC, in Kent County in the western Lower Peninsula.

Archery: Shoot scheduled in Lapeer

The Lapeer Bowmen will host the Michigan Bowhunters Association Fred Bear Memorial Broadhead Silhouette Shoot and a 28-target 3-D animal target course Sept. 12-13 at the Lapeer County Sportsmen's Club.

Press Photo/Howard MeyersonArlen Matson, right, and John Heiam remove the flagging tape used to mark the new route along the North Country Trail. The trail is nearly complete and now open to the public.

MESICK -- We are walking swiftly, traveling light when Arlen Matson stops suddenly, turns and says, "This is spectacular."

John Heiam and I nod affirmative. The view back the way we've come, along the Manistee River, north of M-115, is precisely that.

Then Matson is off again. The rangy 74-year-old Traverse City man moves into the woods at a brisk pace, pointing out sights and collecting any flagging tape that remains.

The news about chronic wasting disease this week has given hunters and wildlife enthusiasts a lot to think about. Certainly a lot to talk about.

A disease deer hunters hoped would never show up is here. Only one case so far. And none outside the fence.

But there will probably be another. So, it's time for cool heads to prevail.