The Michigan DNR's Wildtalk Podcast

Blue Jays, birding trails, white tails and enforcement tales

• Michigan Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division • Season 5 • Episode 10

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In this episode of the Wildtalk Podcast, we’ll shine our wildlife spotlight on the Blue Jay, find out what habitat work is happening in the Upper Peninsula, talk deer with Chad Stewart and Brian Frawley, hear listener questions answered in the mailbag segment and get a sample of conservation officer activity reports from the field.

Questions or comments about the show? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 (WILD). You can also email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov, and even send your question as a sound file that you record on your phone to be played on the air!

Episode Hosts: Hannah Schauer and Rachel Leightner
Producer: Eric Hilliard
Around the State Guest: Bill Scullon
Interview guests: Chad Stewart and Brian Frawley
Law enforcement segment host: Katie Gervasi

Questions or comments about the show? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 (WILD) or email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov.

Announcer:

You know what that sound means. It's time for the Michigan DNR'S Wildtalk podcast. Welcome to the Wildtalk podcast, where representatives from the DNR'S Wildlife Division chew the fat and shoot the scat about all things habitat, feathers, and fur. With insights, interviews, and your questions answered on the air, you'll get a better picture of what's happening in the world of wildlife here in the great state of Michigan.

Hannah:

Welcome to Wildtalk. I'm your host, Hannah Schauer, and with me today is Rachel Leightner. Hi Rachel, how are you?

Rachel:

Hi, Hannah. I am really excited for this episode. This month's episode, we'll be talking to Chad Stewart and Brian Frawley on what to expect with this year's deer hunting seasons. We'll also be hearing from some conservation officer reports from the field and then later in the show we'll be answering some of your questions from the mailbag. We'll also be revealing the winners of our Wildtalk podcast camp mug sometime during this episode and you can find out how you can win one, too.

Hannah:

We've also got Bill Scullon on the show to talk about what is going on for wildlife in the upper peninsula, but right now, we're going to shine our wildlife spotlight on the blue jay. I suspect many people in Michigan are familiar with the blue jay or have heard or seen them around before. These are beautiful birds with blue, black, and white coloration and a crest of feathers on their head. They're also quite noisy.

Rachel:

They are certainly the most vocal bird that I have in my yard most days. These blue jays are very common and they are a larger sized song bird and are found throughout the state year round. And they do frequent urban and suburban areas, especially if there are bird feeders around. They do have a particular affinity for oak trees, mostly because of the tasty acorns, so forested areas and backyards with forest edges and oak trees are places you'll find blue jays hanging out.

Hannah:

And in addition to acorns, nuts, and seeds, they will also eat fruits, insects, small vertebrates, and on occasion, eggs or nestlings from other birds' nests.

Rachel:

Blue jays are tree nesters and usually nest 10 to 25 feet off the ground and build a nest out of twigs, grasses, and roots. Their annual clutch size, so how many eggs that they have, is between two to seven eggs, and they only have one brood a season. Now, the female will incubate the eggs for about 17 to 18 days while the male provides her with food.

Hannah:

During the nestling period, the female will care for the young in the nest and the male continues to bring her and the babies food. The brood usually fledges, or leaves the nest, together at the same time when they're around 17 to 21 days old. Now, the parents will continue to feed the young birds for another month or two after they've left or fledged the nest.

Rachel:

Now, these species are considered to mate for life and they typically remain with their mate throughout the year. They do have strong family bonds and complex social systems and communications. And an interesting fact about blue jays is that both the males and the females have the same coloration. So oftentimes, in other bird species, the females will have like a duller coloration with browns and earth tones to camouflage herself to protect the eggs, but not blue jays. So it's difficult to tell the difference between males and females, but you can distinguish by the behavior if you really carefully watch blue jays, but just an interesting tidbit. Now, these blue jays will communicate with each other with vocalizations and using the crest of feathers on their head. Now, when they're caring for their young or their mate or members of their flock, the crest is typically down, but if the crest is held up upright, it means there's a higher aggression level.

Hannah:

You mentioned they also have a wide variation of vocalizations. Most commonly is their jay call, and probably my favorite thing about blue jays is that they can mimic other sounds. So in the wild they are known for mimicking the sounds of hawks, such as the red-shouldered hawk and the red-tailed hawk. Now, I got to experience some of this over the summer in my own backyard. I had been hearing a lot of red-tailed hawk calls in my yard and every time I'd run out to look for them, thinking that there was a hawk soaring overhead, I could never find it. I never saw one, but it always sounded like my backyard was being overrun with hawks, so I was very confused. And then one day I was out, and I saw a blue jay perching in the tree overhead where I was sitting and then I heard hawk calls coming from above me, and I was able to see the blue jay making the sounds. So, mystery solved there.

Rachel:

Yeah, it's really fascinating. So they're technically not mocking birds, but their ability to mimic is really incredible. I was reading about blue jays and there's a couple theories why they mimic the way that they do. One is to scare other birds away, to potentially leave their food sources available for blue jays to swoop in and snag them, which is very clever, and then the other is to check and see if other raptors are in the area. So if they send out a call, if any other raptors are able to call back because raptors are a big predator of blue jays ... Whatever the reason is that they mimic the way that they do it is really fascinating. These birds are certainly interesting to watch so you want to keep your eyes and ears open as you're likely to find them nearby. All right. Now, don't fly off. Next up, we'll be finding out what's happening in the upper peninsula.

Announcer:

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Hannah:

Welcome back to Wildtalk. Bill Scullon is joining us on the show today to chat about the happenings in the upper peninsula. Thanks for joining us today, Bill.

Bill:

Glad to be here.

Rachel:

What would you say is the biggest accomplishment that your region has tackled this quarter?

Bill:

There's been a lot of stuff happening. The staff across the region have been busy on a pretty wide diversity of projects. Probably the most unique projects is the staff in the Newberry office. Jane Rohrer and Kristie Sitar have been working on a shore to shore birding trail. Now, if you're not familiar with burning trails, these are specified routes where birders can go out. There's specified stops and they're in a special habitat where you may see different species of birds. Some of these exist in the state of Michigan, but there are virtually none in the UP, so they created one that basically goes from the Mackinaw Bridge up to Whitefish Point over Seney. It encompasses a lot of variety of habitats. I believe there's 20 stops on this route, covers 400 miles. It's a lot of territory. There's different species of owls that are noted on this species. Three species of grouse should be observed on this bird trail.

They had a kickoff in August at, let's see here, I make sure I get this right. It's paradise wild blueberry festival and they had over 250 people come there specifically just come there to talk about birds and unique ornithology they're going to encounter. And they had some speaker speakers there, they gave some tours, and it was a really cool way to embrace a very unique part of our communities on the up and nationally that travel to look at birds where they occur in their endemic habitats. So it's kind of a cool thing. It's such a neat project that a lot of other staff across the region are looking at doing similar projects but give it off to them for they put a ton of time and effort into it. There's a lot of partners.

They have a big long list of partners, Chippewa Mackinac Conservation District, High Alpha National Forest, Senior National Wildlife, Bay Mills, Indian Community to Saint Tur, Sioux Marie Tribe, Chippewa Indians, Sea Grant, Peninsula Regional Planning and Development Commission, local ornithology groups. There's a whole variety of people that they've worked with for a long time to make this come together. And if you want to look up details of it, you can look at shoretoshorebirdingtrail.org. So, that's where you find that.

Rachel:

That sounds like a really awesome project, and a lot of excitement around it with all those folks coming to check it out. I love that.

Bill:

And then staff in other areas, we just finished the wild rice planting season, so we work with the Keweenew Bay Indian community out of Lawrence, Michigan, by BARICA and they solicit and they actually procure the seed for us. The seed source is from Minnesota and we plant in the East UP, the central UP and the West UP at many different projects. And these are wild rice restoration projects that occur on state land and other water bodies. There's three in the east UP, they treat three in Marquette County and about eight to 10, depends on which year, in the Western peninsula. And they just procured, well let me make sure my number's right, 5,500 pounds of wild rice.

It's a huge shipment of wild rice. Last year we weren't able to plant any because drought conditions and other things, they just couldn't obtain any wild rice. This year was a pretty good harvest year and that's a lot of work if you can imagine how much rice... When you gather wild rice in the traditional methodology in a canoe... You know, put a couple hundred pounds in one canoe so when you got 5,500 pounds of wild rice, that's a freighter full. So it's a lot of effort by a lot of people. And then once we get the rice, as soon as they harvest, it's soaked, it's wedded, it's transported immediately to us and the next day it's put in the rice beds out in the lakes. So it's a lot of work, but it's a very satisfying project and we're doing this work for a variety of reasons.

From our perspective, it's to create waterfall habitat, waterfall love to feed on it, but also it's a really important part of the Chippewa community as far as their origin story, the people of the water. And they're here because of the food on the water, which is rice. And there's some gathering opportunities there. And we're looking to restore in many sites. So it's a long term product where we plant every year, couple hundred pounds, depends on the site, for five to seven years to try and get a rice bed established and get it so it's self sustaining. So some of our beds have been successful in that respect and we looked to identify new ones and we partnered with K B I C to do a lot of that work for us. And they're great partners because they have the knowledge and expertise.

And then related that we spent a lot of time, we've talked about this before, dealing with the net river dam. We had a dam that is an empowerment where we have wild rice restored, a very important wild rice bed that we had a partial failure of that dam, and we're looking to try and mitigate that and fix it. Part of that process is very, very involved with Eagle and engineering consultants and a lot of other folks. And we're looking at right now trying to get that dam to be sustainable through the wintertime. So we're doing a major construction project at that site where we're going to do a bypass channel constructed through the dam and a cofferdam and there's a lot of work ongoing and a lot of process involved with that. And then next year we look at reconstruction of the actual dam itself.

Hannah:

Besides that large ongoing project, do you have any other large looming projects on your horizon for the upper peninsula?

Bill:

Well, as we get close to thinking about winter, I mean it's not even fall yet, but officially we're starting to thinking about winter. We have a moose survey scheduled for January that'll involve all of our staff. So it's an all hands on deck opportunity when we do that. Well, anybody who can fly, let's just put it that way. So it'll keep people busy with that activity. Right now we're approaching deer seasons, so we're getting ready for that, figuring out how we're going to function through deer season. Bear season's ongoing, bear numbers are looking pretty good compared to last year. So we're looking at the harvest being about the same as was last year, maybe up a little bit in some areas and especially as we get some cooler weather approaching, we suspect that success from hunters will go up a little bit.

It's been very, very hot and bears don't feed as responsibly in the warm weather. Habitat work projects are wrapping up, everybody's wrapping up their projects for the fall. So they had a busy season doing a lot of tree plantings, opening maintenance, water, walking trails, gems work, all kinds of stuff all across the entire region. People spend a lot of time out in the woods doing that kind of work, and hunters will benefit from they see it and about on the ground. So it's a busy transition time we're getting to where we're we staffing the offices a little more for bear registration for bear check, and...

Rachel:

It's certainly an all hands on deck as we prepare for fall and all those hunting seasons. Are there any impressive individual contributions that some of your staff have made this quarter?

Bill:

They all work hard. I'm trying to think of anybody who stands out above the rest, but they all have done a great job. As I mentioned, Jane and Kristie did a great job with the birding trail. John DePue and Brad Johnson were working hard on the net river projects. John and Brian Roell worked really hard on the rice coordination. All of our folks, Ryan McGilvery, [inaudible 00:13:22], they've been really busting their behind. Don Brown, too. The habitat projects across the region. So there's a lot of stuff people have been working hard on.

Not to mention this the normal everyday dealing with nuisance wildlife calls. We had a lot of those this year. Crop damage calls. We've had a plethora of fox calls this year for whatever reason, it seems fox seems to be the hot item issue for whatever reason in communities people are seeing lots of foxes and they may not be used to having foxes in their midst, but we have a lot of that stuff happening. And one of the exciting things is we have a new staff member, we just hired a biologist in Escanaba, so we have Joe Sage who's joined us, he'll be in the Escanaba office, he's already started. So we're looking forward to getting Joe fully trained in as one of our team members. So that's exciting for us to have and we're moving forward trying to fill a couple positions we've had vacant for a long time, which will really help as well.

Hannah:

Lots of great things happening for wildlife in the upper peninsula. Thanks so much, Bill, for coming on the show and letting us know about all that's been going on.

Bill:

Appreciate the time.

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Hannah:

So deer hunting seasons are underway, and today we are joined by Chad Stewart, the Deer Elk Moose Management specialist, and Brian Frawley, a wildlife biologist and our survey coordinator. All right, so to kick us off a little bit, Chad, can you talk a little bit about what hunters can expect this deer season?

Chad:

Yeah, usually I like to break it down by region because Michigan is so diverse and so different, north to south. In the southern lower, it's where we have most of our hunters. It's where we have most of our deer that are taken, a lot of private land. We have a lot of deer in those areas and I would expect hunters to have similar experiences they did last year, which was another great year for hunters in Southern Michigan. Really no shortage of deer at all to be seen or had as long as you're putting in the effort. As you get into the northern lower peninsula, you do start to pick up some differences based on location. But some interesting data that came out of last year's season, we had about three and a half percent fewer hunters from 2020 in the northern lower, but our buck harvest actually increased by, I believe, it was over like 16%.

So typically what you see when you see trends like that, especially on the buck harvest side of things, is generally a trend of increasing deer numbers. And that makes sense because a lot of people want to go out, they want to shoot a buck, and if you're taking a lot more antler deer with fewer hunters, that typically means there's a lot more of those individuals out there. So we do see trends sort of on the increase in the northern lower. There might be some spots that are still hit or miss in terms of hunter's experiences. But all in all, I still expect it to be a really good year for hunters. And then as you get into the upper peninsula, we really have a wide range of potential experiences that hunters could have based on where they're hunting. So if you're hunting in the south central part of the upper peninsula, like places like Menominee or Delta County or Dickinson County, really good deer numbers.

Again, fully expect another great year in some of those locations. But as you get either into the far western part of the UP or, honestly, in recent years, some of the far eastern parts as well, we've been seeing declining trends in some of those locations. So it might be a little bit more challenging to run across a deer to be successful. So it really depends on the experience that you're looking for. You get a lot of great solitude in the upper peninsula with deer hunting, but you might not have quite the success levels as you see as you go further south in the state.

Rachel:

Great. Thanks for the overview, Chad. Let's chat about a new change this year for deer hunters and that is the mandatory deer harvest reporting. Brian, can you tell us a little bit about why we are requiring folks to report their deer harvest this year?

Brian:

Here in Michigan, we have a long history of coming up with our harvest estimate using surveying techniques. So since the 1950s we've been picking random samples of punters, sending that random sample a survey in the mail, asking them to report their harvest, their days of effort, when they were hunting, et cetera. But what we have found is that hunters are less likely to return those surveys over time. When we first started those back in the fifties and sixties, we were getting return rates up near 90%. Even 20 years ago we were up around 70% response rate. Unfortunately, this last year, we had a 33% response rate. So we see every year fewer and fewer hunters are willing to return those voluntary harvest reports. It's not a problem that's unique to our survey. It's a problem that affects all surveys that are done worldwide. People are just less likely to turn in those reports.

So, unfortunately we have found that the fewer responses that are returned, the less confidence we have in the estimates that we produce from those surveys. So as time has gone by, we have felt less and less confident that our harvest estimates are really accurate. So we did quite a bit of investigation. We looked around how other states come up with their harvest estimates, and we discovered that two thirds of the states already have mandatory harvest reporting and most of those are using online harvest reporting as their solution. So we looked at the reasons why those states have done that and we found out that they think that it's more convenient for our hunters to report their harvest that way. It's cheaper, it's more timely, basically for all the various reasons that we have been considering something different, the online harvest reporting that has been adopted by most other states seems to be a potential solution. So as a result, we have adopted Mandatory Harvest reporting, specifically online harvest reporting to come up with estimates that will be hopefully more accurate, more timely, and hopefully cheaper to produce.

Rachel:

All good reasons to make the change. Now, one of the benefits of the online harvest reporting is that it will provide real time harvest data, so we'll be able to see how many deer are being harvested as soon as they're reported. Can you tell us a little bit about that or where hunters might find that information?

Brian:

Sure. Again, formally because when we were doing the mail surveys, we typically didn't have a harvest estimate available until sometime in the June July, sometimes even August timeframe. So with this new system, we have almost real time harvest reporting available to the hunters. So if the hunters go online and when they do the report on our website, they'll find a link going to the harvest report summary and they can check, again, almost on a real time basis. Within 72 hours of the harvest, a hunter is supposed to report their deer. So they get information about how many deer are taken by county or DMU online 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Rachel:

That's awesome. I think you just mentioned it, but can you tell us the different ways that hunters can report their deer harvest?

Brian:

They can go online again to our website and there they can log in using the license number that's printed on their kill tag and also their date of birth. They can enter the access site using those two pieces of information. They can also reach the site by logging into the e-license website. So there they log in as they typically would put in their username and password and get in and they can find the option for harvest reporting there. And thirdly, they can report their harvest using our new Hunt Fish app. That app is available from all the app stores. So you can go to Apple Store or Google Play Store and download that. And there's an option within that app that allows you to do harvest reporting.

Rachel:

And if hunters need help reporting their harvest, how can they get assistance?

Brian:

We tried to design a system, they're very flexible, so if the hunter doesn't feel comfortable using a smart device or getting online on the internet, they can get assistance from a friend or family member. We know most of our hunters are hunting with friends and family, so it shouldn't be very inconvenient for most hunters to get assistance. If a successful hunter can provide their kill tag number as well as their date of birth, then anybody can enter the site and provide the harvest information for them. Additionally, we've made it so that a person doesn't have to report to harvest until 72 hours have passed or before they've transferred possession of their carcass. So again, we've given them a lot of opportunity and flexibility to get to a site where they have an internet connection, the ability to find someone who can assist them if they need it, so they can report online quickly and easily. And then in case they do need some assistance, they can always try to reach one of our customer service centers during normal business hours or some of our field offices as well.

Hannah:

All right. So it sounds like folks will have several different options to report their harvest, and we'll be sure to include some links in our show notes as well. Now, for folks who are interested in getting their deer tested for chronic wasting disease or bone mind tuberculosis this year, will there be some options available for testing?

Chad:

Yes, absolutely. Looking for diseases in our deer herd is one of our agency's top priorities. And chronic wasting disease and bovine tuberculosis are really the two that we continue to look for the most. Starting with bovine tuberculosis, which we have in the northeastern part of our northern lower peninsula and have had that there for really over 30 years that we've been identifying it. Things will look very similar to how they always have. Individuals will be able to come in and submit their deer for testing. We also have drop boxes up in many of those counties as well, very much status quo because we've been doing it up there for so long. And I think a lot of the hunters are conditioned to going to certain locations for testing. And with something like bovine tuberculosis, we have an agreement with the US Department of Agriculture to meet surveillance goals.

So we want to continue to have locations where that's going to maximize participation to help meet those goals. So when we have hunters accustomed to coming into some of those locations, we're going to keep that going because it seems to work for us. In southern Michigan, we've really adopted a new strategy in terms of surveillance for chronic wasting disease. So typically we've done a lot of looking very intensively around where we've identified CWD previously and then we continue to build on that data set over time. But we've been doing that for so long and CWD, while it's obviously still very much a risk long term to our deer herd, it moves very slowly throughout the deer herd. So we don't see changes dramatically year after year after year where we know it exists.

So from our perspective, it makes a lot of sense to start looking elsewhere around the state and if you can find it sooner rather than later, maybe before it has a chance to get established, maybe some of the management that we do to try to change the trajectory of chronic was disease can be successful in terms of altering how that spreads across the landscape. So we want to try to build up our knowledge base of where chronic wasting disease may or may not exist in the state. So throughout much of the Southern Lower Peninsula, we have disease sample sites and drop boxes. We're also working collaboratively with various processors and taxidermists to get your deer tested in some of those locations.

So the best way for hunters to understand or know where they can get their deer tested is to go on the website, which is just michigan.gov/cwd, and there's a link on there that says, for hunters, there'll be another link after that that shows you where you can look at all the sample submission sites in the state of Michigan. Additionally, as you report your deer, if you're reporting it in a county that has some of our surveillance goals or priority areas, you'll get a message essentially that says, we're asking you if you're in a location where we are looking for disease testing, either for TB or CWD, get a message. And then if you choose to move forward with it, you can click on links to take you to where those field sites and sample locations are located. So we've tried to integrate the disease surveillance piece with the harvest reporting piece that Brian just referenced.

Hannah:

You mentioned that folks will get a message if they're in a CWD area that we're looking for samples. Will that also be the case for folks in our bovine tuberculosis surveillance areas as well?

Chad:

Yes, absolutely. So any place where we are interested in collecting a deer for disease surveillance, whether it's CWD or TB, hunters that are reporting in those locations will get sort of a popup message and they can follow the links embedded in that message to find out where the locations are to submit your deer for testing.

Hannah:

Now, if folks wanted to learn more about deer season regulations and what to expect for the upcoming deer seasons, are there some resources to check out for those?

Chad:

Our website, michigan.gov/deer has a lot of really great information. One new thing that we have this year is a mobile app. So it's just Michigan DNR Hunt Fish. It's available on Apple and Android services, but you can download that app, set up your profile, have all your licenses linked to it, but also you can download the various hunting digests that we have available there as well. So once you download those, they can be viewed offline. So you're in your tree stand this year and not seeing any movement at the moment. You can pull up that app, go through and re familiarize yourself with some of the regulations that we have for all the hunting seasons that we have going on this fall.

Rachel:

Well, thank you so much for joining us today, Brian and Chad. Just as a reminder to our listeners, if you want to learn more about the Mandatory Harvest Reporting, we do have a list of frequently asked questions with all of the details you're going to need for the season, as well as tools to kind of walk you through how to rapport and then any resource you might need to answer those questions you still have. Those are available@michigan.gov/deer. Right in the top you'll see a banner in red that's got all the information that you're going to need. So please feel free to check that out. And we wish all of our hunters a safe and happy deer season.

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Hannah:

Welcome back to Wildtalk. Now let's dig into the bag and answer some of your questions.

Announcer:

One, two three...

Hannah:

So Jim asks, Can I use my universal antlerless deer license during the archery deer season to take a doe? Yes. The Universal Antlerless Deer License may be used on public or private land in any deer management unit that's open to antlerless hunting during all deer seasons. You do not need to apply for a universal antlerless deer license. They are available for purchase over the counter. But please be aware that some hunters in the upper peninsula, specifically deer management units 351 and 352 will need to have an access permit along with a universal antlerless deer license to hunt for antlerless deer. There are some deer management units in the upper peninsula, mostly the northern most ones, that are closed to antlerless harvest. Check out the Hunting Digest upper peninsula deer hunting section for specifics on those different areas for antlerless hunting. And remember, archery deer season begins today, October 1st and goes through November 14th. And then we'll open up again December 1st and we'll go through January 1st. All right, Rachel, did you get any questions?

Rachel:

I did. This is a great question. So Jamie sent us photos of a white bear that's been observed in the upper peninsula back in September and asked what makes this bears fur this color? Super great question, and it's certainly been fun seeing photos of this bear circulating. So back in early September, a bear with a full coat of blonde fur was caught on a trail camera. Now this bear is mostly a light blonde color with a cinnamon colored patch on the top of its head. And while it's very rare to see black bears be this color, it's actually just a genetic mutation. So it is a black bear, and this genetic mutation has led to it has led it to have a different colored fur. It's got a different color face. Now over the years, we have observed black bears with brown cinnamon and blonde color phases, but this is the first recorded all blonde bear.

So it is really exciting to see. And there was some speculation that this bear is a special type of black bear subspecies similar to the all white bears in British Columbia, but we can't confirm this without genetic information. And so it's most likely just a pair of recessive genes that were passed down from the parents creating this beautiful and interesting color phase. Now, there aren't any regulations that would prohibit harvest of this specific color phase of bear here in Michigan. So if a hunter has an opportunity to harvest a black, a chocolate, cinnamon blonde or other color phase they may encounter, that is legal to do so that the presence of this animal does likely indicate that there's genetic information present in our population to produce additional individuals with this coloration. So we may possibly see this color bear pop up again which is really fascinating.

Speaker 3:

That is so cool. And the pictures were really awesome. I think there have been some news articles out there, so folks want to search around and look for pictures, but very cool to see in Michigan. That's really awesome.

Rachel:

Did you have any other questions for us today, Hannah?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I've got one more. Jerry asks, When trapping, what species do I need a kill tag for? So if you are a Michigan resident with a fur harvester license and intend to trap for otter, fish, or marten, and if you plan to hunt or trap for bobcat, you'll need to request a free kill tag for those species kill tags are available anywhere DNR licenses are sold, or you can request them online. Please be aware that this year due to expanded season dates for bobcat harvest, bobcat kill tags are only available through October 24th. So you'll want to request those kill tags soon if you plan to hunt or trap for Bobcat this season. You can visit michigan.gov/trapping for more fur harvesting information and regulations.

Rachel:

That is good information for folks to know for the rest of the year. Thanks, Hannah. As we zip this segment to a close, remember if you have questions about wildlife or hunting, you can call (517)-284-Wild or email DNR-wildlife@michigan.gov. Your questions could be featured on the mailbag.

Hannah:

Now is your opportunity to win a Wildtalk podcast mug. As a thank you to our listeners, we'll be giving away a mug or two every episode.

Rachel:

Our September mug winners are Bailey Draper and Kyle Huntley. You'll want to check your emails. We'll be getting in touch with you soon. They answer the question, "How much does the great blue heron weigh?" So despite their impressive size, great blue herons only way between five and six pounds. Lots of feathers.

Speaker 3:

Lots of feathers, and hollow bones. Alrighty, so to be entered into the drawing this month, test your wildlife knowledge and answer our wildlife quiz question, "How many species of weasels do we have here in Michigan?"

Rachel:

All right, after you think on that, email your name and answer to us at DNR-wildlife@michigan.gov to be entered For a chance to win a mug, be sure to include the subject line as "Mug Me" and submit your answer by October 15th. We'll announce those winners and answer on next month podcast. So be sure to listen in to see if you've won and for the next quiz question.

Speaker 3:

All right, good luck. And now it's back to the show.

Katie:

Roger that. This is Katie Gervasi with the DNR Law Enforcement Division bringing you conservation officer biweekly reports from the field. Conservation officer Phil Hellmann investigated a complaint from the report, all poaching center of waterfall being taken out of season and Iron County. Hellmann contacted a witness and collected the waterfall that had been shot. Hellmann and conservation officer Alex Van Wagner went to the suspect's residence and interviewed him about the instance. The suspect admitted to shooting waterfall out of season. A report was forwarded to the Iron County prosecutor for charges of taking waterfall out of season. Conservation Officer Chris Lynch conducted several marine safety and aquatic invasive species patrols on the little and big Bay [inaudible 00:36:37] and Inland Lakes in Delta County. Several contacts were made and compliance was high. Conservation Officer, Sydney Collins, responded to a reportallpoaching complaint of a dead deer on a private property in Montmorency County.

Collins met with the landowner who stated his home was broken into and several items were stolen, including three guns and an off road vehicle. The home owner found a piece of venison in the back of one of his side by sides and a deer carcass in his field. There were several break-ins in the area and this one seemed to be related to the others. Collins did a necropsy on the deer in the field and was able to find a bullet and the deer. The bullet matched the caliber of one of the guns that were stolen from the residents. Later the suspects were identified and confessed to killing both of the deer along with several other deer over the summer. Conservation officer, Josiah Killingbeck, took a complaint of a boat running into a flock of geese and killing several of them. The people who recorded the complaint recorded video of the boat that struck the geese. Killingbeck interviewed numerous witnesses and was able to locate the boat responsible for striking the geese.

Killingbeck interviewed the subjects at the residents and they advised that another subject who had already left had been the operator. Killingbeck is working on interviewing the suspect and the investigation is ongoing. Conservation Officer, Anna Collin, was driving on US 31 southbound when she observed a vehicle in her rear view mirror approaching at a high rate of speed, weaving in and out of traffic. The vehicle flew by Collin's patrol truck and proceeded to pass the vehicle in front of her on the shoulder of the road. Collin activated her emergency lights and siren and was able to catch up with the vehicle and successfully stopped it. The driver was cooperative and admitted that they made a mistake and apologized for putting Collin in that position. A citation was issued for speeding. Conservation officers, Kevin Bons and Sergeant Rich Nichols, were on patrol in Eaton County when they received a reportallpoaching complaint regarding an individual live trapping and drowning gray squirrels in the backyard.

Upon contacting the homeowner, Bons and Nichols were informed that the squirrels had become overpopulated and were getting into the eaves of his neighbor's homes and caused damage to his landscaping. After admitting to trapping and drowning of the squirrels, the subject was advised of other more humane methods to maintain his backyard, while also keeping the gray squirrel population in his neighborhood in check. Conservation officer, Cindy Griffer, followed up with a wildlife report, all poaching complaint of individuals that were in possession of live raccoons. Griffer spoke with suspects and found out that they had been attempting to rehab five baby raccoons for a few months. They stated that a few died, a few were released, and that they were down to one baby raccoon. Griffer issued a citation for possession of wildlife without a rehabilitator permit. To read more conservation officer biweekly reports go to Michigan.gov/conservationofficers.

Hannah:

Well, folks, that is our October episode. We hope you enjoy Michigan's beautiful fall weather and we'll see you back here in November.

Announcer:

This has been the Wildtalk Podcast, your monthly podcast airing the first of each month in offering insights into the world of wildlife across the state of Michigan. You can reach the Wildlife Division at (517) 284 9453 or DNR wildlife michigan.gov.