Wolves on Drummond Island

[les guynn]

rick, sorry to here about jazz, she was a good dog.I have been to the island 5 times with no problems. but i was told by a old gentleman, on my second trip, and he told me that there where wolves on drumond, and they had came across on the ice from canada. I think that rick and russ have been in the woods enough to know wolves from coyotes,,by looking at the bite on the dog and hearing the wolves yell. Russ is a good trapper and he grew up in the woods.

[bill (flint river )]

one thing i have learned over the years running hare. i will only run 3 dogs at a time up north, since trying this we have never had dog get away from each other. when we use to run bigger numbers we would get a pac split and thats when things go really bad.

[briarycreek]

Fella's There is another problem on Drummond, in a category of HUNTER HARRASSMENT, there is an IDIOT that lives on the Plains, to the right of the dead end
Whle we were there the week of Oct 26, just beore we got there this IDIOT, locked a hunters Beagles in his Van and demanded $100.00 from the hunters, not sure what te outcome was, l heard that the DNR and Sheriff's office was involved.
Let's face it, we are more and more been harassed and looked down on, The harrassment started on Beaver in the mid 90's from new people moving to Beaver along with a lot of the full time residents, l know from first hand becaus l would get back in their face however, l finally sold out, l just could not enjoy myself any more it seemed like every time l would run my beagles, l would have some type of run in with some idiot.
I hope this is not the beginning of the same thing on Drummond.
If l choose to go back to Drummond l would definetly check in with the DNR and the Sheriff's office.To see if there is any problems, l hope this is just a isolated problem and not wide spread.
The business people on Drummond needs the hunters to help the economy.

We were the guys that ran into the Village Idiot at Drummond. I
found out that he is well known to the Conservation Officers up there.
He is just an isolated case for the folks at Drummond but if you run
much on the Plains you will probably run into him one day. Yes he
did try to exhtort money out of my buddy but thankfully he didn't pay
anything. We never intended to get on his land but it was not properly
posted and we were only a few yards over on his families land when
he showed up. Here is the story he told us. This guys name is Chad
Cameron and if Drummond Island ever needs and enema Cameron is
where they will put it in at.
1. We were trespassing on private land and had no buisness there but
when I asked where the posted signs were he shut up and said no more
to me. We didn't realize at the time we were just a few yards in on his
land so to quiet the situation we unloaded our guns and followed him
out as he wanted. In Michigan to properly post your land it has to be
posted on all four sides, his wasn't and the Game Warden told us it was
not properly posted. Camerons land is surrounded by state owned land
and it is not too hard to get over on him even if you are a mile or so
away because of the way these hare run. I think the hare know this. LOL

2. He had caught up three of our dogs and put them in a van at his
hunting lodge and left the keys to the van in the ignition. He had
closed up the van with the windows all the way up and no one in the
van but the dogs. It was a nice van with power door lock and you
can guess what happened next when three frantic patch beagles were
found they were trapped in the van with no ventilation. Cameron didn't
have any keys with him so he called someone to come and unlock the
van. Well someone had to walk to get our truck which was about
two miles away so since I needed to walk off some steam and just to
get away from this nut I voluntieered to do the walking to the truck.
When I got back about 45 minutes later with the truck we loaded the
dogs and drove off but not before I got the license numbers of the
two vehicles at the house. One was the van and the other was Camerons
truck which proved to be useful to the authorities for a positive
identification of who this guy was to the authorities. While I was gone
Cameron tried to extort $900.00 from my friend that is a retired
63 year old man. He told him that Michigan law says that he has the
right to kill the dogs or "hold the dogs for ransom and he choose to
hold them for ransom." Both the sheriffs department and the DNR
officer told us that was wrong. My retired buddy didn't know the law
but didn't have that kind of money and asked him why he thought that
he could pay that. Cameron's reply was I see electronic collars on all
these dogs and how much did you pay for these dogs? Of course that
was none of his buisness. This according to the Conservation Officer
was Hunter Harrassment which Michigan does have a law against and
we could have charged him with it but didn't because it would have meant
a trip back up to Northern Michigan. We chose not to do that. The
Conservation Officer did let us know that it was only a matter of time
till he would have this guy anyway because he regularly breaks the
Michigan Game laws. He had recieved a couple of violations last year
for illegal trapping and illegal deer killed. The guy is really the black
sheep of Drummond.
I would like to warn anybody going to Drummond about him because
he is a big six foot four man in his late thirties or ealry forties. He has
no idea of what the law is and he will have signs going down the road
to his lodge that there are conibear traps set. This is one of the things
that drew attention to the DNR because those types of traps have to
be set a special way at least four feet off the ground or if they are set
on the ground have to be in a wooden box not accessable to a dog. The
Conservation Officer walked his property looking for those traps to see
if they were set properly three different times and was going to go back
again to check but has not found any such traps. Cameron by his size
and tough talk tries to intimedate people. If you run across this guy
stand up for what you know is right and demand if there is a problem
for him to call the game warden. He won't do it because he is on
their black list. He is much more BARK than he is BITE. If I got to
choose I am glad that my incident on Drummond was dealing with
him than the wolves. Sorry about your loss of Jazz. Hope that this
helps anyone going to Drummond.

[merv]

WOW THANKS FOR THE GREAT INFO. I GUESS I WILL HAVE TO TAKE MY 6 FT 5 -300 POUND BUDDY WITH ME NEXT TIME I GO TO DRUMMOND. I DOUBT CAMERON WILL MESS WITH ANY BODY AGAIN IF WE RUN INTO HIM AND HE WANTS TO ACT STUPID. WHERE EXACTLY IS THIS CABIN LOCATED.

[briarycreek]

Merv,
I must say that the people that we meet at Drummond were some of
the nicest folks you could meet anywhere. The local folks were real
nice to us. Bonnie Papins and her husband are great people to rent
a cabin from. She checked with us every day about lost dogs and
called her friends if we were missing one. I think the folks at Birchtree
were much like Bonnei at Papin's Resort. We talked to several
Bow Hunters up there when we were looking for lost dogs and they
were super nice and helpful. Most of them were from Michigan and
would look out for your dogs if you notified them and tell you if and
where they saw them. Since they were mostly morning and evening
hunters we invited several to join us if they like for a bunny hunt.
There were some bird hunters on the Island and we told them where
we had seen birds and exchanged information on hare and birds seen.
Everyone seemed great but we knew that every place has to have one
and we found him down on the dead end road that turns to the left off
the Plains road. Avoid him if you can but if you run into him be sure to
respect him as a land owner but don't let him scare you aff like he likes
to do to the rabbit hunters.

[Dave Roop]

Hey Guys:
l agree with the latest post, l found the people on Drummond is just like you described, very friendly and helpful.We stayed at Birch Tree and wanted to go fishing and since they had pulled their boats out , they called over at
Wa Wren and they brought a boat over for us to use,we all realize that this is their lively hood, but it sure does make a person feel good when they show how they appreciate our busines, we had a very good trip, ran a lot of hare and caught some jumbo perch as well, Beaver was like that for a good many years, l started going to Beaver in 1972, and the people and busines people could not do enough for us, and then when the big money people started coming in the 90's
the business people started catering to them and for got all about the Hare hunters that spent a lot of money for the 15 to 20 years that we did, oh well l guess all good things must come to an end, they call that progress,
l have a good feeling that the Drummond Island people will not turn on us like the Beaver people did, Enough said l will support the Drummond Island people and at the same time respect the property owners .

[briarycreek]

Dave,

It sounds like if Papin's is booked up Birch Tree would be another
good choice for a place to stay. Was there any problems with wolves
on Beaver Island? I never went there but know folks who did and
enjoyed it for a few years but didn't like getting stuck out there if the
weather got bad and of course the land owners started posting all
their land. The Game Warden told us that 70% of Drummond is
state owned land. I guess Beaver Island doesn't have that much
state owned land.
I am not sure whether the people of Drummond cater to the rabbit
hunters or put up with the rabbit hunters? LOL The number one
buisness on the Island is tourism or what ever brings the outsiders
in and in our case it is hare hunting but I saw just as many bow hunters
as I did rabbit hunters. There were guys Duck hunting and some folks
fishing and a real nice golf course is also on the island. A lot of stuff
goes on there. Bonnie Papin's told us in the summer there are twice
as many people their vacationing. I am sure that if you went to
Drummond this week you would find almost everybody there is Deer
hunting. I did see alot more rabbit hunters there this year than last
year. It seemed that there were twice as many rabbit hunters this
year than last year and also twice as much game this year. It seemed
to me that deer, snowshoe hare, and grouse were plentiful. Maybe
this is why the big increase hunters.
The biggest concern that I had this year was the disapperance of so
many dogs. Sorry about yours. We suspected something was different
this year than last year for so many to be missing. For me I am thinking
of going to a more hound friendly place next year. If hounds continue
to disappear on Drummond like they did this year that will keep me
away. I must say the residents are most helpful in helping you with
a lost dog. They go out of their way to help a lost dog.
One other thing for anyone going to Drummond. The Sporting Goods
Store that is beside the Gas station/Convenient Store sell a map of
Drummond that shows all the state land and the private land and that
will be a big help in locating places to hunt. It costs $2.00 and is well
worth it.

Dave DeLong

[merv]

HEY GUYS I AM TOTALLY AGAINST TRESPASSING AND WOULD NEVER EVER DO IT ON PURPOSE. I OWN A SMALL PIECE OF PROPERTY AND HAVE BIRD HUNTERS VIOLATING A LOT. I LOVE DRUMMOND ISLAND AND HAVE MUCH RESPECT FOR THE PEOPLE WHO RESIDE THERE. I WAS JUST SAYING THAT I WOULDNT BEABLE TO HANDLE A GUY LIKE CAMERON TRYING TO BULLY ME OR MY FRIENDS. IM KIND OF IMMATURE FOR MY AGE AND I DO HAVE A BUDDY THATS 6-5 AND WEIGHS 300 POUNDS. I WILL MAKE SURE TO STAY AWAY FROM THAT END OF THE PLAINS IN THE FUTURE.

MERV

[briarycreek]

Merv,

Sorry if you thought that anything I said was directed toward you.
No way did I mean that or direct anything your way. I just think that
Michigan really caters to the outdoors person with lots of state owned
land to hunt on. No need to trespass as I am sure you know Merv.
They also have a nice bunch of folks living in Michigan from all that I saw.
Of course every place has that one individual that is outside the norm.
Sorry Merv if you thought that I was saying anything bad about you.
Your from Michigan and I am sure one of the good guys and the next
time I see a 6 foot five 300 lb. guy on Drummond I'm gonna ask him if
he know Merv I'd like to say hello and maybe we will hunt some together.
Just to keep the bad guys in there place.

Dave

[merv]

IF YOU DO SEE A BIG RED HAIRED GUY LIKE I DESCRIBED HE WILL PROBABLY BE WITH ME. YOU CANT MISS ME EITHER I HAVE A BALD HEAD AND 2 GAUGE TITANIUM HOOPS, I IN EACH EAR. IT WOULD BE NICE TO MEET SOME OF THE GUYS ON THIS BOARD UP THERE.

TAKE CARE-MERV

[briarycreek]

Here is another update on the wolves. Just had friends that got
back from Drummond and they had dog attacked by wolves. They
could not get the dog back the night before and went out the next
morning and heard the dog running but heard crys from what they
first thought were coyotes. One of the guy in the party that was from
up in Michigan told them what they were hearing was not coyotes
but wolves. They moved in to get to the dog but heard some terrible
cries from the dog and by the time they got to the dog she was laying
there wheezing and having a hard time breathing. There was a large
bite mark across her spine and her lungs were puctured. The friend
with them from Michigan said there is a difference in the cry of a wolf
and that of a coyote. The dog died shortly afterwards. Another sad
story.

[merv]

I CANT BELIEVE THIS. AS MUCH AS I LOVE DRUMMOND IT SOUNDS LIKE THERE MIGHT BE A PROBLEM UP THERE.

[jt&z's dad]

Just curious, did your buddy report the attack? Sorry to hear about the dog. I have some friend that live on the Island and they are members of the local sportsman club. Usually the DNR comes to there meetings and dinners. I will ask the if they are mentioning anything about the wolves.

[briarycreek]

I honestly don't know but seriously doubt that any of these
folks have reported it to the DNR. I agree with you that they should
be made aware of it. The folks on the island in the past have always
reported to us that most folks get there dogs back and that they
almost always show up somewhere. Never heard reports of this
until this year about the wolves. Earlier groups never reported
any problems that went up the first of October.

[bill (flint river )]

how many dogs were in the pac they were running??