Recreating the 1956 image of a group of local hunters, (from left) Leonard "Ducky" Nelson, Joe Prout, John Rickley, and Jaime Massey stand with their hunting dogs and some of the predators they hunted this winter, including 19 coyotes, four bobcats, and one raccoon. Like the men in the 1956 photograph, these men are in Evergreen Shores, although the date is March 14, 2008. The older image features the snowshoes hunters use in the woods, but as shown at right, some snowshoes now are made of aluminum and synthetic materials. The men's modern GPS tracking system is in the picture at right, and some of the dogs are wearing radio collars. Jaime Massey, Leonard "Ducky" Nelson, Joe Prout, and John Rickley of St. Ignace use an eager pack of redbone and blue tick coonhounds, and mixes of the two breeds, to hunt predators during the winter months. As their name implies, coonhounds were bred for hunting raccoons and other small game, and were used historically in the south and Appalachian regions.

Here, hunters use the dogs about four months of the year, from December to March, to hunt predators. The dogs identify and track the prey for hunters, and scare some of the animals into trees, where they hold them until the hunter gets there.

This 1956 photograph of hunters (from left) Elliott Grondin, Chas Frazier, Jack Prout, and Sam Long, taken in Evergreen Shores, ran in the January 27, 1977, edition of The St. Ignace News. The image shows the men with their hunting hounds after a successful coyote hunt. (Photograph courtesy of Joe Prout) The men say they enjoy the sound of the dogs' excitement as they hunt for, find, track, and corner the prey.

"It's all about the dogs," Mr. Massey said. "It's a blast to hear them when they're running."

With the help of the dogs, the men took 30 coyotes, five bobcats, and one raccoon this winter. The hunts took a lot of hard work and a lot of miles, the men said.

"It took us since December to get all of these animals," said Joe Prout of Evergreen Shores.

Mr. Prout's father, Jack, and his father's friends taught him the family tradition of hunting with dogs. Mr. Prout guesses he has hunted with dogs for about 20 years, while "Ducky" Nelson has been hunting about 50 years. Both passed their knowledge along to their younger hunting partners.

"I wouldn't be as successful as I am now if it weren't for those guys," Mr. Massey said.

They hunt within a 15-mile to 20- mile radius around St. Ignace, seeking bobcats, raccoons, and coyotes with a pack of 12 dogs. Owing to the high likelihood of losing hunting dogs, the men have modernized their operation with radio collars and Global Positioning System units to keep track of dogs and find them if they cross a highway or disappear for too long.

Coon dogs are ambitious hunters that sometimes get lost in the hunt or wander too long past the time to go home. Distance trackers on collars show how far a dog has traveled, and Mr. Nelson said one dog in their group once traveled 25.5 miles.

A state bounty on coyotes once earned a hunter $15, but that was eliminated 20 years ago. Today, the men make a modest amount selling the pelts.

They do it mostly for enjoyment, however, of spending time with each other and the dogs, outdoors, in the winter.