Field Notes

Rider earns top-10 finish

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK. — Crosby Boyd, a junior rider from Leonard, earned a top-10 finish in junior western pleasure at the FedEx Open at the American Quarter Horse Association World Championships, Nov.6-21 in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Boyd was aboard GoodCowBoy- Margarita, a 2006 bay American Quarter Horse stallion at the premier event for AQHA members.

“Congratulations to Crosby Boyd for achieving such a great honor with GreatCowBoyMargarita,” said Don Treadway, Jr, AQHA Executive Vice President.

The show is the largest, richest, singlebreed world horse championship with more than $2.7 million awarded to 3,464 entrants from 46 states, six Canadian provinces, Brazil, Germany, France, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Boyd qualified by earning pre-determined points in AQHA-approved shows that took place Aug.1, 2008-July 31, 2009. Firearm deer harvest drops 10-20 percent

STATEWIDE — Estimates released Dec. 3 by the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources show a deer harvest that fell 10-20 percent from 2008 numbers. Surprisingly, fewer deer were harvested in the southern Lower Peninsula and in the Upper Peninsula.

Officials point to the weather as a major factor with a harsh 2008-09 winter and unseasonably warm temperatures during the firearm segment of the state’s deer hunting season this year.

Biologist report harvest numbers down by 20-30 percent in the Upper Peninsula, 15-25 percent in the Lower Peninsula and 5-10 percent in southern Lower Peninsula.

“The season has gone pretty much as we expected in the Upper Peninsula," said DNR deer program leader Brent Rudolph. "We set antlerless quotas lower in anticipation of a smaller deer herd following last winter. We may have had fewer hunters in the Upper Peninsula. If you have fewer deer, fewer hunters, and deer moving less than usual, those factors are going to have an effect on your deer harvest."

Field Notes by Lisa Paine