Doug Whitley has a monthly shopping date for dinner fare, and the main course is fowl.
Whitley, a Northport resident, hunts for game birds at least once a month in fall and early winter. As Leelanau County isn’t known as a haven for bird hunters, his hunts turn into adventures that have taken him from New Mexico plains to Argentina corn fields.
“You see things on these trips that are so memorable that they put you in awe,” Whitley said. “It’s not the hunting that makes the event. It’s the ambiance, the geography, the people you’re with, and the memories you make as a hunter.”
Well, there’s a bit more. Whitely”s wife, Joanne, completes the field- or woods -to -table cycle by turning her husband’s game pouch into delicious dinners for two.
“One time after I came home we had quail on a bed of leeks. She made it again two days later. That’s when I knew she was on board with my hunting. We continue to make it. That was the turning point between a hunter and his wife, and she is a much better cook than I,” Whitley said.
His favorite recipe isn’t for an entree, but for appetizers. He grills the breasts of doves, which are legal to shoot in all states touching Michigan as well as those south of the state. Michigan is the exception in not allowing dove hunting, which is popular over agricultural fields.
Whitely soaks the dove breasts overnight in Italian dressing, wraps them in bacon, and “for a little variety I put a little jalapeño or jalapeño cheese on top. You eat them right off the grill. Great food.”
Whitley, who recently returned from waterfowl hunting in Arkansas and Illinois, has planned a couple put-andtake pheasant hunts in January followed in February by a quail hunt in Georgia. In March he hopes to shoot chukker at Thundering Aspens preserve near Mesick.
His trips are generally guided because he’s hunting unfamiliar land, which has given him the opportunity to follow some of the best bird dogs in the world. Finding traveling mates involves sending emails to a tight group of about a dozen hunters asking who is available on dates with openings. Through the years those inquiries have resulted in hunts in 14 states and four foreign countries, including:
• A waterfowl, Guineafowl and Franklin Partridge hunt in South Africa. “That part of South Africa reminded me of Nebraska. The fields are long and flat. We would hunt in one lodge for two to three days, then move to another.”
• Dove and duck hunting in Argentina, where game birds are prolific and plentiful. “There is no limit; in my case once I got to 100 I laid off. Birds were retrieved and given to nonprofits that canned them.”
• Separate hunts from Ontario to Montana to Nebraska and back home to Michigan for blue grouse, spruce grouse, ruffed grouse and sage grouse along with prairie chicken, which is a type of grouse. The only grouse Whitely hasn’t taken is Gunnison grouse, a protected species.
After growing up hunting with farm kids on the outskirts of the Illinois town where he grew up, Whitley hasn’t soured on so much as lost a zeal for pheasant hunting. He prefers hunting smaller birds with smaller caliber shotguns, his favorite being an over/under Wetherbee in 28 gauge.
For whatever reason — perhaps the lack of an introduction — he’s never hunted for big game. He’s never sat in a deer blind.
The Whitleys became seasonal residents of Leelanau County decades ago, moving to full-time status upon Doug’s retirement eight years ago from being an executive in Chicago for nonand for- profit organizations.
He moved away from bird hunting for 20 years after college while helping to raise kids and advance his career.
“In 1993 a friend invited me to South Dakota to hunt pheasant. When the weekend was over I asked myself, ‘Why in the world did I get away from this?’ I enjoyed the hunting, I enjoyed the walking, I enjoyed the smell of gunpowder, I enjoyed the camaraderie. That’s when I made a point to get back into it, and I’ve enjoyed it ever since,” he said.
Whitley carries his love of bird hunting into Christmas giving, having presented pheasants prepared by Gabe’s Country Smoked Meats as gifts to his friends in Leelanau County.
