Local wild man raises Santa Claus’ helpers

By Forest Mullins
Sun investigative reporter
Can Reindeer fly? “Well Duh. That’s why we live so close to the Empire Airport,” says Kevin Kelly, who shakes his head in disbelief at my foolish question. “You skeptics. We have to cover the local district for the Big Man (i.e. Santa Claus).”

Can you remember expecting Christmas with anticipation and the captivation of its many mysteries? As a child did you ever look for reindeer tracks in the Northern Michigan snow on Christmas morning? Well right here in Empire we have found hard facts confirming that reindeer are real.
When local adventurer Kevin Kelly is not fighting forest fires, skiing 50k races or crafting signs for the National Park Service, he is home on his family’s ranch, where he raises a couple dogs, a horse, some ducks and five reindeer. It’s true, This reporter saw them with her own eyes — reindeer, otherwise called captive caribou. These animals are larger than the native whitetail deer and can easily grow two antlers weighing a whopping 30 pounds each, on average.
Kevin said he was already tied down owning a horse, and didn’t want deer or elk, so he researched reindeer for about a year. He had never seen a live reindeer, himself, until he went to Interlochen to investigate a local newspaper advertisement.
Bamn! Kevin came home with two females named Blossom and Tundra. Both were pregnant with calves inside. From the beginning he learned the highlights and disappointments of raising reindeer. Blossom bore a healthy male calf named Müse, but Tundra lost her baby premature. Kevin and his wife Jenny spent a lot of time with the reindeer right after their births so they would become as comfortable as possible around humans.
Tundra is now five years old and Blossom is seven. Müse has become the largest reindeer on the farm and the most difficult to work with during his season in rut. The Kellys own two other reindeer: Pyky and Jükka, which was born this year. Their names are Finnish.
Kevin recalls the time he had to saw the antlers off of Müse. After giving him three shots Müse conveniently plopped his more-than 200-pound body right in the manure pile. Kevin straddled the reindeer and began sawing off sections of the antler to prevent infection. Meanwhile, a drowsy and subdued Müse began lifting his head from time to time. As Kevin cut the last section of the velvet-covered antler – a difficult task because of the large amount of blood everywhere — Müse awoke. Kevin was surprised, but kept on sawing. At that moment the veterinarian called, inquiring on Kevin’s progress with Müse. Looking out the window, Jenny saw Müse running around the yard, blood squirting all over and Kevin on his back still trying to saw off the antler. The Kelly’s won’t soon forget that memorable image.
When asked what Müse is like during his season in rut Kevin responds “Would you ever kiss a grizzly bear? I would never pet that bugger on his side of the fence when he’s in rut.” Müse, like other full-grown bulls, could easily kill other reindeer and even humans. But life is a challenge on both sides of the fence because bulls tend to live shorter due to their high stress levels during the four-month rut, or hormone-driven mating season.
The saying, “It takes one to know one” fits Kevin Kelly and his reindeer like a glove. Kevin believes he was once a reindeer and that he must have done something pretty naughty to have returned to the world in human form. “The two bumps on my head that my mom claims are signs of the devil are nothing more than stunted antlers,” he claims.
Kevin makes no secret of the five-star menu he chooses for his reindeer. “It’s a mixture really,” he says. “Besides the candy canes, hot chocolate, buttered rum and peppermint schnapps, I give them alfalfa, maple leafs, cedar bows and grain mix.” His reindeer also eat 600-800 pounds of apples a year.
Was it really necessary to ask what he does with what comes out the other end? With Kevin, yes. If you still don’t believe in reindeer you definitely won’t believe what Kevin does with his large supplies of reindeer droppings. He makes “Cari-POO-lery”. Kevin needed some cash in his pockets, so he sold his first reindeer drop earrings in the front of Art’s Tavern in Glen Arbor. Soon the word got out like wildfire, and Kevin was selling them faster than his animals could produce them. “Honestly, I don’t know what the big stink is about!” Some people still claim they are (crappy, -Ed.) earrings, but Kevin isn’t offended. Each year people receive Cari-POO-lery as presents or stocking stuffers. Even Jay Leno owns a pair.
Earrings aside, the time has come for the Kelly family’s reindeer to pay dividends. Kevin may introduce his beasts at a “show” this fall, and you may even find them giving rides at public venues like the Grand Traverse Mall or Crystal Mountain Resort when the snow comes. Or just wait until Christmas Eve (it’s coming soon, folks) and listen for a clatter on your roof. But only if you’ve been good this year, of course.