Youth Wins Restricted Hunting Opportunities

By Jonathan Kleyer

A Kalamazoo County seventh grader was among three winners of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment’s first Pure Michigan Hunt drawing.

Luke Haynes, a 14-year-old who attends Vicksburg Middle School, said he was “so excited I can’t even explain it,” when he heard he was chosen from among the 12,693 applicants. An already accomplished deer and turkey hunter, Haynes said he was especially looking forward to hunting for elk in Michigan this season.

Actually, all three of the drawing’s winners said they were excited to have the opportunity to go elk hunting. Haynes’ fellow winners were 63-year-old Mario Chiesa, a lawyer from Dearborn and 59-year-old Joseph Serafinski of Macomb.

The Pure Michigan Hunt winners were selected by random drawing for the opportunity to participate in every limited-access hunt available in the state - elk, bear, spring and fall wild turkey and antlerless deer. They will be allowed to hunt in any hunt area open in the 2010 season until their tags are filled. In addition, those chosen in the drawing will have the first pick of a hunting zone in a managed waterfowl area reserved hunt.
Applications for the Pure Michigan Hunt costs $4 and individuals can buy as many as they like. Serafinski bought 21. Chiesa bought five.

Hayne won after buying just one. In all, there were 33,758 Pure Michigan Hunt applications sold for the first drawing, raising more than $135,000 for the DNRE’s Game and Fish Protection Fund.

In addition to the right to buy licenses for all the state’s restricted hunts, the winners received “Nuge Java” brand coffee from The Evelyn Bay Coffee Company; archery hunting equipment from Ten Point Crossbows, Horton Manufacturing and Darton Bows; and vests and callers from National Wildlife Turkey Federation.

“We are thrilled with the interest the hunting community has shown in this new opportunity,” said DNRE Wildlife Division Chief Russ Mason. “We believe this is a hunt of a lifetime and we still need to do more to get the word out to all Michigan hunters.”

Anyone who is 12 years old or older was allowed to participate, as long as the courts had not suspended their hunting privileges. According to the DNRE, success in the Pure Michigan Hunt drawing does not affect any preference points for bear licenses or weighted chances at elk tags. In addition, hunters who are not eligible for an elk license because of past success are eligible for an elk tag in the Pure Michigan Hunt drawing.

For more information, visit the website at www.michigan.gov/puremichiganhunt.