LANSING — Everyone’s invited to join in the DNR’s annual Winter Free Fishing Weekend, Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 15 and 16. No fishing license is needed, although all other fishing regulations still apply. The weekend coincides with the DNR’s move to a new license sales system. Due to ...

“I look out my window and what do I see, I see a bird way up in a tree,” – Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller — — — MARQUETTE — In the relative light of the darkness, I stood with my arms stretched above my head, fingers spread open like the snow-covered branches of the trees, ...

Little Bay De Noc: The cold evenings had formed a crust on the snow layer with slush underneath, making travel difficult at times. Walleye anglers reported fair to good catches just south of Aronson Island with rapalas and minnows in 30 to 40 feet. Although this area is being fished, DANGEROUS ...

LANSING — This year’s sturgeon season on Black Lake (Cheboygan County, Michigan) ended at 1:40 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1 - not quite six hours after the day’s 8 a.m. start. The fishing season, which included spearing or hook-and-line fishing, was scheduled to run Feb. 1-5, or until the ...

HERMANSVILLE — Members of U.P. Trappers (District 3) will host the 15th Annual Young Trappers Workshop Saturday at the Community Center in Hermansville from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. CST. Each young trapper 11 years old and under will receive a free weasel trapping startup kit (trap, lure, ...

“When I was young I remember well, I’d hunt the wild turkey and bobwhite quail,” – Bob McDill — — — MARQUETTE — There was a time, not too long ago, when seeing a wild turkey in the Upper Peninsula, especially the more northern portions of the region, was indeed a rare ...

HERMANSVILLE — Members of U.P. Trappers (District 3) will once again be hosting its annual Beginning Trappers Workshop on Saturday, Feb. 1, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Central at the Hermansville Community Center. Although this event is geared toward youngsters, anyone interested in the outdoors ...

“In the wee wee hours, that’s when I think of you,” – Chuck Berry — — — On stormy winter days like this, if I’m given time and space, my mind tends to wander away – sometimes to summertime. I think about walking on the sand with the clear water rolling over my toes ...

HERMANSVILLE — Once again, the Community Center in Hermansville will be the site of the 15th Annual New Trappers Workshop Saturday, Feb. 1, starting at 8 a.m. and ending approximately 4 p.m. CST. There will be a number of local veteran trappers on hand, all of whom will be willing to share ...

“I’m a man of means by no means, king of the road,” – Roger Miller — — — MARQUETTE — If I were to walk down the middle of this windswept blacktop road on a fine day in July, I’d be taking my life into my own hands. The heavy traffic from those summertime travelers ...

Inland lakes across the region are producing bluegill, crappie, pike and walleye. Little Bay De Noc: With the colder temperatures, anglers were fishing the Kipling area and north to the Days River. Though there is ice, many areas were not safe for travel, so extreme caution needs to be used. ...

“I love the flower girl, was she reality or just a dream to me,” – Artie Kornfield/Steve Duboff — — — MARQUETTE — The first time I recall seeing her, she was standing alongside an old country road. I had just crossed a cement-railed bridge on a cold afternoon. I was ...

HERMANSVILLE — U.P. Trappers of District Three announce the annual Beginning Trappers Workshop will be on Feb. 1 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. CST at the Hermansville Community Center in Hermansville. This event has grown in popularity each year since Rick Arduin came up with the idea about 15 ...

“There’s a woman I long to touch, and I’m missing her so much, but she’s drifting like a satellite,” – Bob Dylan — — — MARQUETTE — I stepped outside the back door to find the treetops glazed in ice, clinking like windchimes as the breezes moved the branches back and ...

“The days they pass so quickly now, nights are seldom long and time around me whispers when it’s cold,” – John Denver — — — MARQUETTE — A pale and waning crescent moon hangs low in the morning sky as I’m on my way west and then south, thinking of things that have come ...

“Let me ride, I got to feel free inside,” – Kevin Cronin — — — MARQUETTE — On days like this, when I was growing up, with the whole countryside so soft and white, us kids rushed to get outside as soon as we could. It never mattered how cold, wet or snowy it was, nobody ...

LANSING — Everything looks a little different with a blanket of freshly fallen snow, and some things - like animal tracks - become even easier to see. It might be challenging to spot Michigan’s more elusive critters, but many do leave clues behind. That’s one reason winter is a fun time ...

MARQUETTE — Michigan’s snowmobile season kicked off Dec. 1, but a series of significant winter storms has temporarily impacted the state’s snowmobile trails system. Storms that began Wednesday, Nov. 27 have blocked trails with heavy snow and downed trees across the Upper Peninsula as ...

“But never have I been a blue calm sea, I have always been a storm,” – Stevie Nicks — — — MARQUETTE — With tremendous force, dumping a whole big feather pillow’s worth of snow down over the countryside, winter bared her big white teeth and snarled, scattering people and ...

NEWBERRY — The Michigan Department of Natural Resources Eastern Upper Peninsula Citizens’ Advisory Council is scheduled to discuss a deer season recap, off-road vehicle licenses, trail permits and a seasonal restrictions land use order, as well as an update on oak wilt when the council ...