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Beaver Island Game Club

Also Beaver Island Game Club

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

Locator map: Beaver Island highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago
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Locator map: Beaver Island highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago
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Beaver Island

Summary

The Beaver Island Game Club administered the island’s wildlife-stocking program, documented from a 1922 release of ringneck pheasants through decades of deer, grouse, and rabbit introductions, and received a National Conservation Award from Outdoor Life magazine in 1951.1 Beaver Beacon coverage traces the club from a fund and standing committee of the Beaver Island Civic Association in the 1950s through named presidents, including Rogers Carlisle, Alvin LaFreniere, Sheldon Parker, and Karl Heller, who ran habitat projects and an annual Hunters’ Dinner into the mid-1980s. In 1984 the club joined other island organizations petitioning the state over a vacant Department of Natural Resources position; in 2006 its president testified to a legislative committee on cormorants and the Lake Geneserath fishery. No held source gives the club’s formation date or shows whether it is the same organization as the present-day Beaver Island Wildlife Club.

History

Beaver Island had almost no big game when island sportsmen began releasing ringneck pheasants in 1922; a November 1951 retrospective in the Charlevoix County Herald describes the island before then as having no resident game beyond snowshoe rabbits. The pheasants died out over a severe winter, but the attempt led to further releases: gray and black squirrels from High Island, and deer beginning in 1927, brought by Harry Bundy of Detroit. The first open deer season followed in 1938. Sharp-tail grouse were introduced in 1940, ruffed grouse in 1948, and cottontail rabbits in 1950.

This record brought the club national recognition. The Charlevoix County Herald reported on November 9, 1951, that Outdoor Life magazine had chosen it for a National Conservation Award and that Governor G. Mennen Williams would present it on November 17 at the club’s annual Hunters’ Ball, with a cash award and a bronze plaque of the magazine’s Conservation Pledge. (The announcement misnames the magazine “October Life” in one paragraph and Outdoor Life in the next, which also names its field editor, Ben East, as author of a forthcoming article on the club’s projects.) Expected attendees included Michigan conservation director Gerald Eddy, regional supervisor Harry Aldrich, Hilding Carlson and Harry Gains of the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, and executives of the West Michigan Tourist and Resort Association. The ceremony is recorded here as announced; no source confirms it took place.

Through the 1950s the club operated as one of three funds inside the Beaver Island Civic Association’s published financial report, alongside a general fund and the Medical Center fund. For 1956 it reported receipts of $257.05 against $51.58 in disbursements, leaving $228.37 on hand; by 1959 receipts had grown to $1,124.67, spent partly on a harbor fish shelter, a coyote bounty, and a $25 prize for the season’s biggest deer. By March 1961 the Association listed “Game Club” among its standing committees, with Bud McDonough as chairman; the club kept its own name, dues, and officers even as its finances ran through the Association’s books.

Named presidents recur across three decades of Beacon coverage. Rogers Carlisle, who retired to the island in 1946 and helped establish the Boat Company, the Medical Center, and the Civic Association, was remembered at his death in October 1971 as “a member and past president of the Beaver Island Game Club.” Alvin LaFreniere held the presidency that same November; Sheldon Parker had succeeded him by October 1972 and wrote the Beacon’s “Game News” column through at least 1976; Phil Gregg gave the club’s annual report at the 1975 and 1976 dinners, and Karl Heller held the office by 1984. The club marked deer trails with paint in 1960, distributed mineral blocks in 1961 and 1974, and test-netted the harbor through the ice in March 1974, finding no wintering perch. That April it worked with Troy Yoder and Herb Johnson of the state’s McMullen Conservation School on plans to reintroduce wild turkeys, stock Mackinaw trout in the harbor, and cut state timber near Miller’s Marsh. In 1976 it began matching the state coyote bounty for members only, funded by a $5 fee that included a shoulder patch.

The annual Hunters’ Dinner, usually held on or near November 17, was the club’s central event: 160 people fed for a $157.96 profit in 1960, over 140 in 1971, and 132 in 1973. Attendance had fallen to about 90 by 1976; by 1984, under Heller, about 130 people ate a wild-game menu of venison, antelope, elk, rabbit, fish, and game birds. It hosted Conservation Department speakers and doubled as the occasion for the club’s annual report. The club also cooked charcoal-broiled whitefish for the island’s Fly-In, feeding about 450 visiting pilots in 1974.

In October 1984 the club was named, with the Civic Association, Boat Company, and Volunteer Fire Department, as supportive of a campaign urging the state to fill the Department of Natural Resources representative position left vacant by Bill Wagner’s retirement; islanders met the following month with DNR Deputy Director Jim Cleary and state Senator Mitch Irwin. In 2006 club president Jeff Powers testified before a Michigan House Appropriations subcommittee meeting at Peaine Township Hall, citing an estimated 11,000 nesting pairs of double-crested cormorants in the archipelago and voicing the club’s concern for the young walleye fishery in Lake Geneserath.

Evidence and limits

This remains an episode-qualified record built from newspaper and newsletter coverage, not club minutes, a charter, or a membership roster, none of which are known to survive. No source gives a formation date; the earliest documentary trace is the 1922 stocking program the club is later credited with beginning. The 1927 deer count is contested: the 1951 Herald retrospective gives 13 deer, while a 1960 Beacon account gives three bucks and two does that year, with four more does in 1928, a total of nine not reconciled here. The 1951 award announcement also misnames its own subject, calling it “October Life” in one paragraph and Outdoor Life in the next — a reminder that newspaper scans transcribed by machine can carry the original’s own typesetting errors into the record. The club’s 1950s–60s finances ran through the Civic Association’s own published reports, blurring how much independence it had as an organization against functioning as one of the Association’s standing committees. Beyond the 2006 cormorant testimony, no held source connects this club to the present-day Beaver Island Wildlife Club, documented from 2024; a shared subject and a similar name are not evidence of institutional continuity.

Significance

The club administered a wildlife-stocking program that Outdoor Life magazine recognized nationally in 1951 and sustained the annual Hunters’ Dinner as a documented community event from at least 1957 through 1984. It joined other civic organizations petitioning the state over Department of Natural Resources staffing in 1984, and its 2006 president gave legislative testimony on cormorant management — a documented role that widened over time from hunting and habitat work into fisheries policy.

Open questions

  • When was the club formed, and who were its first officers? No held source predates 1922.
  • Which 1927 deer count is correct: the Herald’s 13, or the Beacon’s nine?
  • Did the November 17, 1951 award ceremony take place? Only the announcement survives.
  • Is the “Beaver Island Sportsman Club,” named as a separate applicant in an April 1974 federal cost-share notice printed alongside Game Club news, another name for this club or a distinct group?
  • Does a charter or other record connect this club, active through at least 2006, to the modern Beaver Island Wildlife Club?

See also

Footnotes

  1. Charlevoix County Herald, November 9, 1951, “Beaver Island To Be Honored.” ↩

The dated record

96 dated events · 1922–1985 · peak 9 in 1959These years on the timeline →

Sources

  1. The club announced a Fire Hall meeting with agenda items covering a rifle raffle, Hunters Dinner, habitat planting, wild turkey, the township airport deer issue, and cormorants. This is contemporaneous organizational evidence, but it records an agenda rather than attendance, minutes, decisions, or proof that the club is institutionally continuous with the modern Beaver Island Wildlife Club.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 00 · t000738
  2. A contemporaneous community notice identifies a Beaver Island Wildlife Club involved in supplemental winter feeding of the island's wild turkey flock and connected to the Michigan Wild Turkey Hunters Association. This supports the existence of a similarly named island wildlife organization in 2006, but does not establish that it is the same body as this historical Game Club or the modern Beaver Island Wildlife Club, nor does it document the feeding program's scale or outcome.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 00 · t000705
  3. Charlevoix County Herald, November 9, 1951, “Beaver Island To Be Honored.”
    Names the Beaver Island Game Club as recipient of the announced National Conservation Award and attributes the island wildlife-stocking program to the club with state game officials. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    charlevoix · Charlevoix_County_Herald_1951-11-09
  4. Reports completed apple-tree pruning, improving results from earlier pruning, and ten bushels of sweet clover and rye sown under a Bill Welke plan; it does not establish the club’s officers, work sites, budget, or wildlife outcomes.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1971-10_Beaver-Beacon
  5. The held eight-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1971-10_Beaver-Beacon
  6. Reports the November 17 Hunters’ Banquet, more than 140 attendees, approximately 90 percent support for continuing bucks-only hunting, proposals for turkeys and Reaves pheasants, and a $2 membership fee; it does not provide minutes, formal votes, or wildlife orders.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1971-11_Beaver-Beacon
  7. The held ten-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1971-11_Beaver-Beacon
  8. Reports Sheldon Parker taking over as president, completed volunteer clear-cutting, mineral blocks, apple pruning, clover-and-rye seeding, and proposed continuation; it does not provide minutes, maps, budgets, or wildlife outcomes.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-10_Beaver-Beacon
  9. The held eleven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1972-10_Beaver-Beacon
  10. Reports seasonal observations of partridge, woodcock, rabbits, deer, and migrating geese; it does not identify the Game Club as author of every observation or provide wildlife counts.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-09_Beaver-Beacon
  11. The held eleven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the combined September–October publication; it does not expand the published source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1973-09_Beaver-Beacon
  12. Reports the November 17 annual Hunter’s Banquet feeding 132 hunters and names Dick De’Rosia as head chef; it does not provide a financial ledger or complete volunteer roster.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-11_Beaver-Beacon
  13. The held ten-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1973-11_Beaver-Beacon
  14. Reports Sheldon Parker’s winter wildlife observations, an ice bridge toward Garden and High Islands, a rabbit-hunting visit to Garden Island, and about ten acres of poplar cut by Bill Wagner and Dick Burris for deer and rabbit browse; it does not provide a map, formal work log, wildlife census, or later outcome.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-02_Beaver-Beacon
  15. The held eleven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-02_Beaver-Beacon
  16. Reports aerial salt-block placement on Garden and Hog Islands, D.N.R.-approved test netting through harbor ice, and conditional plans to plant grain and clover for wildlife habitat. The notices do not provide maps, minutes, budgets, complete crews, or later outcomes.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-03_Beaver-Beacon
  17. The held nine-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-03_Beaver-Beacon
  18. Reports a special meeting with Troy Yoder, Herb Johnson, and local members and proposed turkey, pheasant, Mackinaw trout, timber, controlled-burning, and deer mineral-block projects. It does not establish approvals, funding, completed work, or later outcomes.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-04_Beaver-Beacon
  19. The held seven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-04_Beaver-Beacon
  20. Reports fall rabbit, partridge, and deer observations, the November 17 Hunter’s Banquet serving nearly 150 hunters, and a bucks-only season expected to produce a total in the sixties; it does not provide a wildlife census, complete roster, receipt ledger, or final season statistics.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-11_Beaver-Beacon
  21. The held eight-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-11_Beaver-Beacon
  22. Says the Game Club prepared a charcoal-broiled whitefish dinner for about 450 Fly-In visitors and Cole Fisheries supplied the fish; it does not provide a menu ledger, attendance register, or financial record.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-11_Beaver-Beacon
  23. The held eight-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-11_Beaver-Beacon
  24. Reports the completed deer season, rabbit hunting, possible winter perch fishing, trout recovery, and Paul Kenwabikise’s whitefish catch. The article is a Game News report and does not explicitly attribute every observation to the club or provide harvest, fishery, or wildlife records.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-12_Beaver-Beacon
  25. The held nine-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-12_Beaver-Beacon
  26. Reports the Game Club’s $25 largest-deer prize, the 190-pound buck taken by E. R. Bergau, and a total of 172 deer killed on the island during the season. It does not provide the club’s full prize ledger, a legal harvest return, or complete season records.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1960-01_Beaver-Beacon
  27. The held four-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1960-01_Beaver-Beacon
  28. Publishes the 1959 Game Club report with $1,124.67 in credits, $465.72 in listed disbursements, $658.95 on hand, and named work including a fish shelter, road projects, a 14-coyote bounty, and a largest-deer prize. It does not provide minutes, maps, receipts, or the trapper’s name.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1960-02_Beaver-Beacon
  29. The held seven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1960-02_Beaver-Beacon
  30. Reports the unofficial 112-deer 1960 season count, biologist checks, proposed wild-turkey planting, Game Club deer-prize winners, completed Hunters' Dinner with 160 people fed and $157.96 profit, $190 in memberships and arm patches, and the marked trail/color-map plan. It does not provide formal harvest, financial, wildlife, or trail records.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1960-12_Beaver-Beacon
  31. The held five-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1960-12_Beaver-Beacon
  32. Reports Rogers Carlisle’s 900 feet of 16mm promotional film showing deer herds, coyote hunting, and other island subjects, with free loans to responsible promoters. A separate summer-activities reel is described as planned, not completed.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1961-03_Beaver-Beacon
  33. The held six-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1961-03_Beaver-Beacon
  34. Charlevoix Courier, 2006, reporting Beaver Island Game Club testimony on cormorants and Lake Geneserath.
    The held newspaper reports Jeff Powers identified as Beaver Island Game Club president in a cormorant-control hearing and quotes the Club’s concern about the Lake Geneserath walleye fishery. This is a newspaper report of stated testimony, not a charter, membership roster, verified population estimate, fishery study, or proof of institutional continuity with the modern Beaver Island Wildlife Club. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    charlevoix · charlevoixcourie2006unse
  35. Reports September game conditions and announces a November 17 Hunter’s Dinner at Holy Cross Parish Hall. It does not provide a wildlife census, complete harvest record, or completed-dinner accounting. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1975-10_Beaver-Beacon
  36. The held issue confirms the game report and dinner notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1975-10_Beaver-Beacon
  37. Reports the 1975 deer-season observations and the completed November 17 Hunter’s Dinner, including Herb Johnson’s question-and-answer period and Phil Gregg’s Game Club presentation. It does not provide a harvest register, attendance count, or audited dinner account. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1975-11_Beaver-Beacon
  38. The held issue confirms the game report and completed dinner.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1975-11_Beaver-Beacon
  39. Reports the Game Club’s received salt blocks and planned winter distribution, and prints the 1975 deer-season table. It does not provide minutes, a complete membership roster, a completed distribution log, or an official harvest ledger. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-01_Beaver-Beacon
  40. The held issue confirms the Game Club report and season-results table.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1976-01_Beaver-Beacon
  41. Reports spring Game Club observations and planned apple-tree planting after May 1. It does not provide minutes, a complete membership roster, planting records, or wildlife outcomes. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-04_Beaver-Beacon
  42. The held issue confirms the spring Game News report.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1976-04_Beaver-Beacon
  43. Reports fall wildlife observations, the Game Club’s matched coyote bounty, member-only eligibility, and plans for the November 17 Hunters Banquet. It does not provide a census, harvest register, membership roster, or banquet account. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-10_Beaver-Beacon
  44. The held issue confirms the Game News and banquet announcement.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1976-10_Beaver-Beacon
  45. Reports the deer-season results, annual Game Club report, November 17 banquet, approximately 90 hunters, roast beef dinner, and Lorraine Palmer’s $80 50/50 prize. It is a newspaper account, not a membership roster or club ledger. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-11_Beaver-Beacon
  46. The held issue confirms the November Game Club report.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1976-11_Beaver-Beacon
  47. Reports the Game Club fund’s 1956 receipts of $257.05 (Hunters’ Ball proceeds, a $100 county allotment, and $14 in memberships) and disbursements of $51.58 (seed and freight, and a $20 bounty on four coyotes), leaving $228.37 on hand; it does not name officers or give a formation date. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1957-04_Beaver-Beacon
  48. Names the Beaver Island Game Club, with the Civic Association, Boat Company, and Volunteer Fire Department, as supportive of an island campaign urging the state to fill the vacant Department of Natural Resources representative position after Bill Wagner’s retirement; it does not describe the Game Club’s specific role beyond stated support. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1984-10_Beaver-Beacon
  49. Reports the November 17, 1984 Hunter’s Dinner at Holy Cross Hall, about 130 people served a wild-game menu, names Karl Heller as Game Club president estimating 65 to 70 bucks taken that season, and reports a November 21 meeting between islanders, DNR Deputy Director Jim Cleary, and state Senator Mitch Irwin on replacing the island’s DNR representative. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1984-12_Beaver-Beacon

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

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Island Game Club”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/organizations/beaver-island-game-club-1951/, accessed [date], citing Bob Tidmore, “Beaver Island Wildlife Club Meeting,” Beaver Island Forum, September 13, 2006. (and 47 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-03. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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