Literary riches from other writers

Men like Ben East & Gordie Charles worked to build deer herds.

Studying the history and high points of a person's lengthy literary career can be an informing and a somewhat behind-the-scenes look into that person's life.

It has been my great good fortune to obtain a great and wonderful gift from my longtime friend, Gordie Charles, of Traverse City after his death. This gentle and kind man was a rare breed; he gave more than he took from his outdoor life, and I've tried to emulate him.

A few years ago he told his wife, Dorothy, that he wanted me to have his files and papers from over 55 years of outdoor writing in Michigan and South Dakota. Years ago, my late friend Ben East of Holly, Michigan, made the same gracious gift to me after his death. The late Mark Dilts, also an outdoor writer, gave me some things.

Many years ago, my  good friend Russ Bengel of Jackson, honored me with a library of fine books. He knew I loved good fishing and hunting books, and he left me his sizable library. None of these people owed me anything, but knew I loved the history of fishing and hunting in this state.

Russ Bengel was a giant when it came to improve duck habitat.

Each man left behind a treasure trove of Michigan history concerning fishing and hunting in this state. After having sifted through it, and gathered what seemed important from a writer's standpoint, it is my task to make a contribution of the remaining material to the Bentley Historical Library in Ann Arbor in their respective names.

Ben East kept voluminous files, notes and published book manuscripts and newspaper articles. Gordie Charles did much the same. All but three file drawers of East's material has been donated, and much of Gordie's files have been donated to the same research library.

Gordie's files covered the gamut of fishing and hunting, as well as resources management, in this state. Reading through his notes, and his newspaper columns, adds still another dimension to this multi-talented man.

He was well known for his head-slapping puns and corny jokes, but he also was a man deeply in love with the outdoors. In fact, he was so captivated by the beauty of nature that he vowed as a teenager to write a future column for the Traverse City Record-Eagle newspaper.

Ben East and Gordie Charles fought for resource protection.

That he not only did that, and did a wonderfully fine job of it for many years, he also syndicated a newspaper column to 50-some state weekly newspapers, wrote magazine articles and still had time to research and write six books.

How does one measure value? If going through these old files of men like Charles and East, there is nothing of a monetary value to be found. What is valuable, though it is not tangible, is a close-up look at the history both men helped record for the enjoyment and protection of Michigan's natural resources.

I found numerous things in Gordie's files that have been returned to the Charles family such as family photos that had been lost or misplaced. What isn't needed by the family, or by me at the moment, was donated to the Bentley Historical Library.

Some files, from a historical viewpoint, are rather important to me at this time. I have permission from both families to keep these files until my death at which time all of my files (and theirs) may be donated to the same research facility.

There they will join the files of Charles, East, Harold (Opie) Titus, of Traverse City, an editor for Field and Stream magazine; Jack VanCoevering, past outdoor writer for the Detroit Free Press; and Corey Ford, an U of M alumnus and well known outdoor writer and the author of many books.

These files now give me a look at what has gone before. It allows me to determine the thinking of the Department of Conservation, the forerunner of today's Department of Natural Resources & Environment, about topics that affect our resource management and the fish and game we  seek.

It allows me to learn about different fish plantings that were tried but failed, such as the grayling and kokanee salmon. They let me know what the collective thinking of sportsmen were in earlier generations, and let me compare them to what the current thoughts are. I even found the deed and abstract for Ben East's home and property, and promptly returned it to Ben's late wife, Helen, so she could sell the family home. That was an unexpected find.

My passion is historical papers from top conservationists.

It also enables me to determine the effectiveness of biologists from an earlier period against those of today. The differences, in most cases but with some rare exceptions, indicate that earlier fisheries and wildlife biologists were in much closer contact with sportsmen than they are now.

I sifted slowly through Gordie Charles' files for nearly a month with the blessings of his late wife, Dorothy and their children, and some files have gone on to Ann Arbor. Others will go after I've spent more time examining them.

Gordie Charles was, as all outdoor writers should be: a man with an inquisitive mind, a willingness to dig deep for a story, and to put our resources ahead of everything else, especially politics. The stacks of correspondence lauding his work far outweighed the few crank letters sent by people with some imaginary axe to grind.

I see Gordie as a man who was born at the right time to do what had to be done to help protect our resources. I, for one, appreciate his hard work and the unique genius of this man who spent his adult life writing so that others could enjoy and better understand the outdoors.

Going through old files, and studying such history, must make me an historian. Hopefully, it also will make me a better writer ... even after plying my trade for 45 years.

It's when we stop learning that we stop being effective outdoor communicators. I am still learning, thanks to these gifts from other outdoor writers who helped to pave the way of today's outdoor communicators.

Two deer stands for each hunting spot?

East-wind stands must be properly placed for them to work.

It's certainly not an original idea. Many hunters, myself included, have long toyed with the notion of having two stands for each hunting spot. One for the prevailing wind direction and another that would work well for most other winds.

I've thought about it at great length, and have pretty much decided that the most problematic wind is from the northeast, east and southeast. Such winds can stall deer travel.

Would a stand for a prevailing westerly-northwesterly wind, and one for an easterly wind work? What are the pros and cons?

Is the two-stand idea adaptable for most deer hunting?

It probably would work if  the cover (meaning trees for tree stands) were available for those winds. The reason most of us never have put up stands for an east wind is that we never used to get as much of them as we have over the last 10 years.

I have a few places where I can go when an east wind blows. One is a pitblind at the base of a small hill, and an east wind blows right into the opening where bow shots are taken. Deer, as a general rule, do not approach from behind the pit blind, and it's very difficult for a deer to wind the hunter.

A couple of elevated coops are situated so an east wind isn't too bothersome, but many of my stands are placed strategically for the prevailing westerly wind direction.

However, going back to the plausibility of two stands for each hunting area. It could work, if the terrain features and available trees are present, but there is the additional cost of doing so.

Say we're hunting a big buck and we want to set up on him when the wind is out of the east, it can be done but it's not something one jumps into when we already have some stands out. If we could, that would mean building or buying many more stands.

 

The cost of buying or building more stands can become cost-prohibitive.

Most of our stands are permanent fixtures, especially elevated coops built into trees. If we were to do it at all locations, the woods would lose its good looks and begin looking like a scattering of urban tenements in the trees. That would spoil the aethetics of the hunting area.

What probably makes more sense than anything is to build four or five stands for use strictly on an east wind. That might mean two or three new stands along the western edge of our property where the likelihood of a deer catching the hunters scent would be minimal.

If two or three stands were positioned with the west fence line just a short distance away, the chance of a deer circling next to the fence and picking up human odor would be minimized.

The other alternative would be to build an air-tight coop with one shooting window strategically placed. If it was just large enough to shoot through, and could be opened without a sound, it would probably work.

Too many windows in a coop allow the hunter to be silhouetted against the light entering another window. And, the more windows there are, the more likely someone will try a shot at a circling buck or open the windows to look around. All this would do is distribute more human odor.

 

Fighting an east wind is becoming more prevalent. This could solve the problem.

Fighting the east wind is something bow hunters must put up with, and in some cases, we can do something about it. In other cases, the wind may beat us.We're putting our collective heads together this winter, and are trying to figure out how to beat the October east-wind problem. Will it be two blinds in one hunting spot or air-tight blinds with only one small shooting window?

Will it be one or two more pit blinds that back up to a hill? Will it be stands close to our line fence to keep deer from circling behind the hunters?

It may well be a combination of all of these things although having two blinds covering one hunting spot is not one of my favorite ideas. If one was an elevated coop and the other was a pitblind, it could work without cluttering up the skyline.

One thing is certain: whatever we do must be accomplished during the spring, or at the very latest, by June or early July. I like all changes to be made long in advance of the bow season.