A walk to the dam is a walk down a half mile path to the Grand River Marsh Wildlife Area. This is a area owned by the Department Of Natural Resources. During this time of year the road is closed and you can only access this area by foot. John has a few mink traps along the river below the Dam, so Gambler, Glory, Nellie and I went along today to see what he might have caught. It was snowing and winding today not making for a very good walk. Here is John with the gang walking down the path to the dam.

Walking to the dam.

The memorial sign at the dam.

Grand River Wildlife Refuge.

Because of the snow you can’t really see the words. Basically this said this area is A Wetland Restoration Project hence there is no hunting allowed during certain times of the year. This is where the wildlife can go for safety. You can’t hunt in this area during the waterfowl season with the exception of the 9 day gun deer season. After the last day of goose season which is sometime in December you are allowed in there to hunt or trap. The road is open the first weekend of May, which is the opening of the fishing season then the road is closed again the first of September which is the first of early goose season. The whole DNR public property including the refuge (the refuge is about slightly more than half of this total) is about 7000 acres. The public portion of this land is where people can go and hunt. The DNR will release pen raised pheasants in this area so this is where I go to do most of my pheasant hunting.

Above the dam.

The dam was put in the refuge in 1969 to hold the water back to give the wildfowl a place to go and seek safety and food as well as breeding grounds.

Below the dam.

The waterway is The Grand River. The Grand River flows into the Fox River which then Flows into Lake Puckaway.

Gambler falling threw the ice.

Gambler decided he wanted to see how thin the ice was near John’s trap, needless to say it was thin and he fell in.

Getting out of the water.

Glory taking a break.

Glory taking a break and watching Gambler fall in.

There were no critters in any of the traps. On our way out Gambler spied a wounded coot swimming below the dam, of course he couldn’t help himself and had to jump in the water and see if he could catch the bird.

Gambler swimming out to the coot.

He swam and swam and swam without getting the bird.

Swimming out to the coot.

No luck so might as well get out and shake off.

Shaking off.

By the time we were done the wind really picked up and the snow was like sleet. It was a long walk back to the truck. The dogs slept good this afternoon and so did I.