Michigan’s osprey population – nearly absent from much of the state due to the effects of DDT, other pesticide use and habitat loss – continues to rebound. In southern Michigan, monitoring efforts are in place to track the revitalization of this species.

  This year, four osprey chicks from area nests were outfitted with “backpack” GPS telemetry units funded by DTE Energy, Huron Valley Audubon, Lou Waldock and Michigan Osprey member Barb Jensen. The GPS backpacks help scientists track the young birds’ daily movements and seasonal migration patterns.

  The chicks were hatched on platforms at Michigan State University’s Lux Arbor Reserve in Delton, at Kensington Metropark in Milford and on Fletcher’s Pond near Alpena.

  “We are very excited to have this opportunity to place GPS units on several ospreys this year,” said Julie Oakes, Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist. “This will not only provide the DNR with information on what migration routes the birds take, but will also give us insight into the perils they must endure on their migration.”

  One of those perils is predators like great horned owls. Just a few days after the transmitter was placed on the Kensington Metropark osprey chick, the youngster became prey, probably for a great horned owl. The backpack was retrieved and will be used again next year.

  Approximately 60 percent of the osprey chicks hatched each year do not make it to their second birthday. Factors that commonly cause mortality in young chicks include predation, collisions with buildings and other structures, weather, and shooting of birds in Latin America.

  Fortunately, a chick that was outfitted with a backpack in 2014 returned to the Midwest in 2016. Ozzie, a young female chick that hatched at Pointe Mouillee State Game Area, spent two winters in Colombia before returning to the U.S. and spent last summer in West Virginia.

  The exciting part is that anyone can follow along and find out where the birds have been just by looking at the Michigan Osprey website – www.michiganosprey.org. Move the cursor along the route to see GPS coordinates and time and date information for each leg of the osprey’s journey. The youngsters will begin their migration in early to mid-September, so log on to watch their travels.

  In 1998, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources began to relocate ospreys to southern Michigan. The program, supported by donations to Michigan's Nongame Wildlife Fund, removed chicks from active nests in northern Michigan and reared them in man-made towers in southern Michigan, a process called “hacking.” Relocation efforts occurred over a span of 10 years. In 2016, the DNR, along with volunteers from Michigan Osprey, identified at least 60 active nests in southern Michigan – a substantial increase from the single active nest reported in 2002.

  "This is a true wildlife success story," said Oakes. "Each year we have new nests, and we have already exceeded our original goal of 30 active nests by 2020. We have been able to remove ospreys from the threatened species list to a species of special concern and restore their numbers in Michigan."

  Partners in this tracking and monitoring project include the Michigan DNR, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services National Wildlife Research Center, Huron Clinton Metroparks, the Detroit Zoological Society, Michigan Osprey and the Huron Valley Audubon Society.

  Anyone who observes a nesting pair of osprey in southern Michigan is asked to report the sighting to Michigan Osprey online at www.michiganosprey.org.

  The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state’s natural and cultural resources for current and future generations. For more information, go to www.michigan.gov/dnr.

  Sometimes you wish the end of the story was something that just fades away, becoming a non-issue that never resurfaces. Such was my hopes for my skunk problem of a few days ago. Alas, it was not to be.

  After three nights and one near miss, that odious varmint that sought refuge under my house appeared to have vacated for less dangerous climes. I could not have been happier as I dismantled the brilliantly engineered skunk chute (It was never a skunk funnel as my wife claimed!), stowing the parts back in my storage building. Up went the flashing across the bottom of the house vent and finally the vent panel itself. End of story, right?

  Hmm, no.

  When I bought my home back in 1990, I had four towering hackberry trees to the east of my house and three statuesque grand pecans on the north side. These trees added a cool shade and quite comfortable air to the entire piece of property. The pecans still stand, elder giants reaching for the sky. The hackberries, on the other hand, took turns seeing which one could fall on my house! They met their demise in ice storms, cracking near the base where the inherently soft-hearted hardwoods tumbled straight for my home, just missing it with an angled shot or not quite being able to reach the house with enough of its weight to actually break something.

  One of them even split in half and just the side toward my house fell and while it touched the siding, it did no real damage. Hackberries have the will for mischief, but just not the stomach to actually go through with a real house smashing thank goodness.

  The last full tree fell in October prior to muzzleloader season. Like a good husband I assured my wife I would work over that tree posthaste, just as soon as deer season was over. All of the seasons. So here I am in March, a few days after the last day of deer season, cutting up this gargantuan hackberry that seemed to only be a few steps away from being the size of a red wood along the coast of California.

  A brush pile in my backyard waited to be burned and I had started pulling brush to the pile when I noticed a pair of dark beady eyes peering at me from within the brush. Malignant eyes, full of feral hatred and harboring recent memories of being evicted stared at me. If they had been human, they would have been criminal.

  I froze listening to the pat-pat-pat of his back foot, knowing from the lessons taught to me by my grandfathers that he was within seconds of spraying whatever threatened him! I stood motionless; the patting getting faster and faster until I realized it wasn’t his foot stamping the ground. It was the blood in my ears as my heart raced at this closeness to such a vile creature as this skunk. Seeking a large chunk of wood I tossed it on the wood pile screaming and running away from the pile in an attempt to educate the skunk in the actions I wished it to take!

  He did not move and I swear he actually backed up!

  Determined to roust this skunk I threw a larger chunk of tree trunk above him and in his best Bruce Willis rendition, the skunk exploded from his hiding place. Pieces of wood sailed everywhere.

  Strictly in the competitive nature of the challenge I foot raced this skunk across the back yard, me peeling to the left and heading around the house, the skunk peeling to the right and running right under my storage building. Yep, the same storage building on a pier and beam foundation, small cracks in the hard wood and housing the very traps, bait and steel chute pieces I used against him before.

  I noticed my neighbor sitting in his yard propped against a tree laughing so hard he could not stand. He has no appreciation for my respect for wildlife.

  He did not understand this lesson learned, but I am sure many of you will.

  1) The speed of a charging skunk is directly relative to how close you are too him.

  2) A high pitched yell (some say scream) emitted just prior to leaving your starting gate is ineffective in slowing down your opponent.

  3) Skunks are not slow-witted ambling creatures, but vicious animals, fleet of foot and devious in their abilities to plot mayhem in your yard.

  4) Throwing whatever you have in your hands (jettisoning all baggage) may not slow your opponents charge, but it does reduce wind friction as you build up speed.

  5) Don't battle a skunk in your back yard with a witness just across the street.

  I am not sure what I am going to do now, but I think I may go buy a can of sardines and entice my friend Donnie into going in the storage building to get the trap. Every man has his price!

  Instead of spending money on a laser rangefinder to use while bow hunting you can make one yourself that can mount on your bow. Here’s how.

  First take a couple of sheets of paper, copy paper works great, and tape them together so they are 17” high and the width of the sheet, 8½”. This will represent the top of the back and the bottom of the belly of a deer. Tape or pin this to your target with the 17” edge running vertical.

  Take another sheet of clean paper and clip it to a clip board. If you don’t have a clip board you can tape it to a piece of cardboard. A clip board is just easier.

  Measure off 20 yards from your target. You want to be pretty exact with your distance. Now hold the clip board up at arm’s length, like you were holding your bow, and site down to your target. Mark the top and the bottom of the “target paper” on the edge of the sheet on your clip board. Mark these marks, 20 yards.

  Next measure off 30 yards. Again hold your clip board up at arm’s length and mark the top and bottom of the “target paper” on you sheet. Mark these marks 30 yards.

  Repeat the process for 40 and 50 yards.

  You can use different color markers for the different distances if you want too. Green for 20 yards, yellow for 30, etc...

  After getting your distances marked, practice with your “rangefinder”. Walk off a ways from the “target paper” and hold up the clip board. How did the marks look against the target? Were they close to the 20 yard marks, 30 yard marks? Make adjustments to your marks if needed.

  The final steps are to cut the marked paper to the width of your bow limb and then laminate it. You can buy do-it-yourself laminating sheets at an office supply store. Trim as needed.

  Now tape your “rangefinder” to your bow limb beside your pin sights so it is easy to see when you hold your bow at arm’s length or when drawn.

  This may not be as detailed accurate as a laser rangefinder but it will give you a real close measurement when your batteries are dead, you can’t find the darn thing or there’s no time to pick it up when a deer sneaks in on you.

  You can also forget the paper and make your marks directly on the bow limb itself. Just use colors that contrast against the camo pattern so they’re easy to see.

  Now when you are out in the woods and you see a deer you can use the scale to measure from its back to its belly prior to your shot without a lot of unnecessary movement. You’ll have your bow up and ready to draw after “ranging” your trophy. Can be accurate to within 2 to 5 yards depending on how long you spend making it.

  Thanks to Archery Hunter for sending in this neat project to help us in the field.

  Send your Know-How projects to: mail@backwoodsbound.com and we’ll use them in a future issue of The Bullet.