The turkeys that have been paddling daily through deep, fluffy snow to munch on birdseed behind Chuck Bond’s house in Cleveland Township might be more accurately called Pennamites than Michiganders.

Can you have too much of a good thing? Apparently if the good thing is lake-effect snow, which on Saturday blanketed the Empire area to the point that it buried the cross-country trail groomer for the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail. “It was a blizzard around Empire, and it stayed there all day,” reports Kerry Kelly, chair of the Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes organization.

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.

Click. That’s the sound of a firing pin striking a centerfire bullet that didn’t show up for work.

The deer harvest appears headed for an off year in Leelanau County and the state, with the worst outcome coming from the Upper Peninsula. According to figures provided since the MDNR instituted a mandatory deer-kill reporting program in 2022, the harvest is down nearly 11% in Leelanau County from a year ago with only a few days left in deer seasons that run from September through December.

A warm colored sunset over Lake Leelanau is seen at Bingham Boat Launch on the evening of the winter solstice last Thursday. The celebration of the winter solstice marks the shortest day of the year and the longest night in the hemisphere.

Opening day of hunting season was lucky for Nicole Aboudib of Grand Rapids. She bagged this dandy nine point buck on private property in Leland Township. It was her first buck since she started hunting alone a couple years ago.

Ron Reamer of Traverse City shot this 8-point buck on private property in Leland Township.

The annual newsletter for the Friends of Sleeping Bear nonprofi t lists a litany of accomplishments as well as plans for projects to come. “It was a very successful year,” said Friends chairman Kerry Kelly, who can reel off the work of volunteers like they were written in front of him.

Participation levels in public deer hunts held on North Manitou have grown and stabilized as word spreads about hunter satisfaction. “It’s certainly become more popular,” said chief ranger Phil Akers of the National Park Service.