LONG LAKE, Wis.—The Big 4+ Sportsman’s Club held its annual membership picnic at its clubhouse in Long Lake on Saturday, July 21.
 Nearly 100 people turned out to enjoy of day of numerous raffles, spirited trap shooting and plenty of good food.
  Winners of the Big 4+ annual raffle were drawn at 4 p.m.
 Garry Glime (Oneida) won the first prize, a Stevens 30-06 bolt action rifle.

MARQUETTE—The DNR reminds hunters that applications for fall turkey hunting licenses are on sale through Aug. 1.
  A total of 50,050 licenses are available – 3,350 general licenses that may be used on public or private land and 46,700 licenses for private land only.

Largemouth bass in potamageton (cabbage weed) in an Iron County lake. (Ziegler photo)
By Bill Ziegler For the Iron County Reporter
IRON COUNTY—There are many lakes in Iron County that can be explored by snorkeling from either a boat or from shore.
 We are fortunate to have numerous clear water lakes where visibility is either very good or adequate to observe fish and the other features underwater.

Chicaugon Lake Association volunteers use nets to skim any broken plants on the surface so they wouldn’t take root elsewhere. (Joe Shubat photo)

IRON COUNTY—A number of Chicaugon Lake Association members recently organized a crew and gathered their boats for a Saturday morning work session on the lake to hand-pull Eurasian milfoil.
 A spokesperson for the association stated that Eurasian milfoil is a plant that aggressively grows and rapidly spreads throughout freshwater lakes once introduced. It harms lakes by smothering out native species of plants and clogging the shorelines with uninhibited plant growth, thereby reducing fishing and other recreational opportunities.

LONG LAKE, Wis.—The Big 4+ Sportsman’s Club will hold its annual membership picnic and trap shoot at its clubhouse on Settlement Road in Long Lake on Saturday, July 21.
 There will be activities for shooter and non-shooter alike. Trap shooting will begin at 8 a.m. Shooters participating in meat shoots can sign up at any time. Shooters participating in the 50-Bird Lewis shoot must sign up by 11 a.m.

The annual canoes races down the Paint River again drew a nice group of spectators to cheer on the canoeists, who made a mad dash from the Crystal Falls Power Plant to try to come in first at the end of the course. (More Bass Festival photos in next week’s Reporter.)

Crowd favorite Nick Stroud (left), originally from the area, plants a left hook on opponent Hector Mendoza from Crown Boxing of Lansing. Stroud won in the 190-pound senior novice division. The fight, held on July 6 during Bass Festival, drew a capacity crowd.

ESCANABA—In celebration of their 50 years of serving Upper Peninsula trappers, members of the U.P. Trappers Association are doing everything possible to make this their best convention ever and are also striving to make it interesting for trappers and non-trappers alike.

During the Total Woman in the Outdoors program on June 26, instructors assisted in the Kayaking 101 and boat safety. The session was one of 10 offered throughout the day at Bewabic State Park. The event was sponsored by NorthStar Health System to promote healthy and fun outdoor activities for women.

The Wittkopf family of Eagle River, Wis., traveled to the Porter Scholl Market Place in Alpha to learn fly-tying from Alpha resident Paul Kaylor on June 16. The Father’s Day weekend demonstration allowed Tucker and Grace Wittkopf and other fly fishing enthusiasts to try their hand at crafting a trout fly. Maddie Scarlassara, 12, demonstrated how to tie flies at the Porter School Market Place. At an earlier date, she had learned from Paul Kaylor the craft of fly-tying, and she was hooked.