Michigan Conservation Commission Beaver Island Sharp-Tailed Grouse Closure Order, 1941

Summary

The Charlevoix County Herald reprinted a State of Michigan Conservation Commission order signed and ordered published on July 14, 1941. It prohibited hunting, taking, or killing sharp-tailed grouse or prairie chicken on Beaver Island for two years beginning October 1, 1941.¹

The document names Joseph P. Rahilly as chairman, Wayland Osgood as secretary, and P. J. Hoffmaster as the countersigning Director.¹ This is the formal regulatory record behind a later report’s references to introduced sharp-tail grouse and changing bird seasons; it does not itself report a stocking count or a later population result.

Text and authority

The printed order states that “the Director of Conservation, having made a thorough investigation relative to hunting of sharp-tailed grouse and prairie chicken on Beaver Island, recommends a closed season,” and that the Conservation Commission, “by authority of Act 230, P. A. 1925,” therefore ordered that for two years from October 1, 1941, “it shall be unlawful for any person to hunt, take, or kill, or attempt to hunt, take, or kill any sharp-tailed grouse or prairie chicken on Beaver Island.”¹ The reprint does not include the underlying investigation, so the specific findings behind the Director’s recommendation are not established here.

One of a series of Beaver Island closure orders

The same commission issued at least two other dated closure orders for Beaver Island game found in the held corpus: a five-year deer closure covering St. James Township, effective November 15, 1938, and a one-year cottontail-rabbit closure effective October 1, 1952 — see Michigan Conservation Commission Beaver Island Deer Closure Order, 1938 and Michigan Conservation Commission Beaver Island Cottontail Rabbit Closure Order, 1952. P. J. Hoffmaster countersigned both the 1938 deer order and this 1941 order as Director of Conservation. Beyond the shared source, format, and signing office, the held record does not establish a formal administrative relationship — such as a single case file or investigation — connecting the three orders.¹

The stocking behind the closure

A separately held 1951 Charlevoix County Herald retrospective on the Beaver Island Game Club’s wildlife-stocking program records that “in 1940 sharp-tail grouse were stocked, with the co-operation of the Conservation Department,” a year before this order took effect — see Beaver Island Wildlife-Stocking Program from 1922 for the fuller stocking chronology.² The 1941 order does not itself refer to that stocking, but the timing is consistent with a closed season meant to protect a newly introduced population rather than a long-established one; the held record does not state that connection explicitly, and it is presented here as context, not as the order’s stated rationale.

Later reopening

A separately held October 1950 Charlevoix County Herald report states that “for the first time in many years a bird hunting season will open on Beaver Island,” permitting hunters to take sharp-tail grouse; ruffed grouse and pheasant hunting remained illegal that season, and the Conservation Department planned to observe the grouse population that fall to help set regulations for the following year — see Perch Fishing and Bird Hunting on Beaver Island in 1950.³ The 1941 order’s own two-year term would have run through 1943; the 1950 report’s “first time in many years” phrasing indicates hunting stayed closed well beyond that term, but no order or regulation extending or renewing the 1941 closure between 1943 and 1950 is held here.

Evidence and limits

The issuance date is the order’s signed-and-published date; October 1, 1941 is the stated effective date. The source does not give the commission’s full institutional history, the underlying investigation file, or the precise expiration-day convention for the two-year period.

Read the document

8 pages, rendered from the held scan.

All 8 pages

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Added 1 August 2026 · revised 3 August 2026. Recent changes