It’s silent, aside from the swollen raindrops pinging on the metal roof of the cabin, like dimes being dropped on the floor, and the steady hiss of the old gas lantern that envelopes the small space in its warm light. Soothing.  Peaceful.  A cool October evening in Northern Michigan. My only company comes in the form of Harrison in hard cover, Jameson in a tin cup and thoughts of tomorrow’s float down one of my favorite rivers with a friend. I finish my drink and my chapter, extinguish the ...

You hear it all the time, hell, I’ve even said it myself: “it goes fast”. But nothing can really prepare you for how fast life actually goes. How you can be in your twenties and blink and you’re in your forties, blink again and sixty will be staring you in the face. Or how fast the life of your favorite dog can pass by, or how quickly your kids can grow up literally before your eyes. It goes fast. All of it. When I was younger, my thoughts were always to the future, to what’s next. As I get ...

What do you get when you make it harder for the DNR to acquire public land and easer for the DNR to sell public land? Less public land. And in a death of a thousand small cuts, that’s exactly what Senate Bills 302 & 303 propose. As the sportsmen’s voice for our wild public lands, waters and wildlife, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is committed to keeping Michigan’s public lands in public hands. That’s why we oppose these bills, which passed the Senate last year and are scheduled for a House ...

The following is an Op-Ed written by Kyle Burleson.  Kyle Burleson is the education committee chair of the Michigan Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, formed to promote access to public lands and to protect them. Michigan has more than 4.5 million acres of state lands open to hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, equestrian activities, mountain biking and other forms of outdoor recreation. Michigan sportsmen are invested in ensuring that the state is able to responsibly manage those ...

States manage their lands to make money, not to provide opportunities for recreation. States can’t afford to manage our public lands and would be forced to either raise taxes (a nonstarter) or sell them to corporations or wealthy individuals. Public lands are good for the economy. Currently, many state lands across the country don’t allow hunting or camping…or even hiking. You already own them. As a U.S. citizen, you own our public lands. The government is just the caretaker. Once you lose ...