Summary
A November 1951 report says the Beaver Island Game Club’s wildlife-stocking program began in 1922 with ringneck pheasants. It describes later releases of gray and black squirrels from neighboring High Island, 13 deer in 1927, sharp-tail grouse in 1940, ruffed grouse in 1948, and cottontail rabbits in 1950. The article says the program transformed the island’s game population and was carried out with state game officials.1
Evidence and limits
This record is a retrospective source-bounded program history, not a complete stocking register. Its deer figure and chronology differ from the July 1938 report, which says 17 deer were placed in 1927 and 1928; both accounts remain in the graph. Its sharp-tail and rabbit claims also sit alongside the October 1950 report’s more immediate description of introduced game and planned observation. The 1951 article does not provide release dates beyond the listed years, counts for most species, source records, survival measurements, or a complete account of the club’s work.
The later Conservation Commission orders are separate regulatory evidence: they preserve closure instruments for sharp-tailed grouse and prairie chicken in 1941 and cottontail rabbits in 1952, but do not prove that the orders describe the club’s stocking chronology or that stocking succeeded.
Open questions
- What club minutes, state game records, or Outdoor Life report document each release?
- Why do the 1951 deer count and chronology differ from the 1938 report?
- What were the outcomes of the 1948 ruffed-grouse and 1950 cottontail plantings?
See also
- Beaver Island
- Beaver Island Game Club (1951 conservation award)
- Announced National Conservation Award for Beaver Island in 1951
- Beaver Island Deer Hunting Reopened for the 1938 Season
- Perch Fishing and Bird Hunting on Beaver Island in 1950
- Michigan Conservation Commission Beaver Island Sharp-Tailed Grouse Closure Order (1941)
- Michigan Conservation Commission Beaver Island Cottontail Rabbit Closure Order (1952)
Footnotes
-
Charlevoix County Herald, November 9, 1951, “Beaver Island To Be Honored.” ↩
Sources
- Charlevoix County Herald, November 9, 1951, “Beaver Island To Be Honored.”Retrospective award announcement says the club’s program began with ringneck pheasants in 1922, followed by gray and black squirrels, 13 deer in 1927, sharp-tail grouse in 1940, ruffed grouse in 1948, and cottontail rabbits in 1950. It attributes the work to the club with state game officials and says the imported game had taken hold; these are preserved as this source’s chronology and assessment.
- Charlevoix County Herald, November 9, 1951, raw issue OCR.Held raw OCR preserves the retrospective stocking sequence independently of the normalized Markdown rendering.