Wild Turkeys Provide A Lifelong Education
Blessed with extraordinary hearing, keen eyesight, and a profound ability to detect danger; the eastern wild turkey is America’s most challenging gamebird. The Long Beard’s instinct for survival is legendary. No other creature has been the subject of more hype, myth and folk lore than the elusive gobbler. In spite of major technological improvements to shotguns, ammunition, archery tackle and other turkey hunting equipment; the bird remains as difficult as ever to bring to bag. During an average year, only one in four Iowa hunters...
read moreSpring Turkeys – Nebraska Style
Turkey Season Kickoff: The great state of Nebraska is one my favorite destinations for pursuing wild turkeys. Nebraska’s early archery season begins in late March and for the past nine years, Dave Thomas and I have used the early days for our turkey season kickoff. Nebraska has some of the best turkey hunting in the nation. Over the years, Dave and I have enjoyed better than average success at bringing birds to bag. Nebraska’s rural roadways can be iffy during the best of years; with 2019’s late snow melt and widespread...
read moreIowa’s Spring Turkey Hunt is Just Around the Corner
PRESEASON SCOUTING CAN BRING EARLY SEASON SUCCESS The first segment of Iowa’s four-part, spring turkey season begins April 8. With snow drifts melted and mature gobblers currently making the timbers ring, hunters are already pacing the floor in anticipation of the upcoming season. But what a lot of hunters don’t realize is that there’s no reason to wait until opening day to visit your favorite woodland, practice your calling, and maybe even lure in an excited gobbler or two. There is a reason why so many turkey enthusiasts are...
read moreCooper’s hawks — Love ’em or hate ’em, you have to admire their speed and agility
It would be hard to think of a bird exhibiting more cunning, speed, and raw savagery than the crow-sized Cooper’s hawk. Equally at home in wilderness forest and suburban hedgerow, the highly maneuverable Cooper’s is perhaps best known for its surprise attacks on backyard bird feeders — raids that usually result in an unfortunate dove, cardinal, or blue jay becoming a fast food menu item. It’s an ongoing drama that flares tempers and raises the blood pressure of bird feeding Grandmas everywhere. I have a love-hate...
read moreVisiting Siskins
Considering the dramatic mix of weather we’ve endured during the past several weeks, I’m guessin’ that it would be hard for most of us to think of Northern Iowa as a Sunny South, winter destination. You know, the kind of place you’d go to escape unreasonably deep snow cover, extreme cold, polar wind chills and other winter unpleasantries. But for an energetic little finch known as the pine siskin, that’s exactly what Iowa is – a virtual Banana Belt of luxurious winter warmth and comparatively easy livin’. Siskins are...
read moreIowa Cottontails Present Late Winter Challenge
Rabbit hunting is one of my favorite winter pastimes. I especially love getting out in new snow. Fresh, crisp, and clean; the winter woodlands are never more beautiful. The rabbits sit tight, and every track is fresh. I’m not alone in my enthusiasm. An important link in the natural food chain, rabbits have been a time-honored menu item for foxes, owls and, of course, humans. When I first started tromping the winter thickets, it seemed that everyone hunted rabbits. By everyone, I mean everyone. Kids, dads, Grandpas; didn’t...
read moreFreezing Drizzle Threatens Wild Bird Survival
Tailless black-capped chickadee – Feb. 7, 2019 Here in northern Iowa, the first week of February has provided an incredibly diverse mix of weather – everything from 40-degree temps to double digit, below zero wind chills and new snow. On Feb. 6th, prolonged periods of freezing drizzle turned to snow during the overnight hours. As snow continued into the morning, the backyard bird feeders became predictably busy as goldfinches, pine siskins, house finches, and a host of other species appeared in droves. Nothing unusual. Feeding birds...
read moreWinter Weather Extremes Bring Bizarre Wildlife Sighting
No one will argue that our Iowa winter has been one of weather extremes. Gone but not forgotten, the month of January provided our most dramatic example; offering everything from unseasonable warmth to polar blasts of life threatening cold and minus 60-degree wind chills. The month included a rich variety of rain showers, freezing drizzle, fog, heavy snowfall, and at least one white-out ground blizzard. Across Iowa’s northern half, some of the weather’s most extreme mood swings seemed to occur overnight. During the last week of...
read moreSurviving the Cold
Regardless of Species – Winter is a Hard Time for Iowa Wildlife You probably don’t need a reminder that Iowans have just endured one of the most vicious mid-winter cold snaps on record. The multiday event began with significant snowfalls which quickly gave way to plunging temperatures, followed by winds gusting to 50 plus mph. As the storm raged, weather casters repeatedly described the system as “life threatening”; and it was. Across the state’s northern half, the mercury dropped to minus 30; wind chills reached an incredible...
read moreSnowy Woodland
Following a brutal three day siege of polar air and gusty winds, the North Iowa weather had finally moderated to a comparatively balmy minus twenty degrees. Winds had diminished to the point where wind chill values had risen to minus 46, according to the weather channel. At the Nature Conservancy’s Clausen’s Cove [located along Clear Lake’s south shore] deer and turkeys were emerging to feed in adjacent open fields by late afternoon – the first time most of them had been out since the storm began. As the sun dipped to the...
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