Sep 25, 2014
All is not quiet on the Western Front. It is, in fact, getting noisier by the day. Across the vast expanse of the American West; the annual elk rut is in full swing. From the rugged slopes of northern Montana to the rim rock canyons of Arizona; majestic heavy antlered bulls have gathered to scream, bugle, and wage war. What began as halfhearted...
Sep 20, 2014
The morning duck hunt was off to a slow start. Although several teal had visited my location prior to legal shooting time, no birds had appeared in the twenty minutes since sunrise. That’s the way teal hunting often is; lots of flocks milling around in the half light of dawn with most birds settling in to feed by the time the sun comes up. Another...
Sep 16, 2014
Iowa’s bonus teal season has been running for ten days now and Iowa duck hunters have been enjoying some incredible “bonus fun”. But following several consecutive meals of grilled blue-wing; it was definitely time to change the menu. So, instead of placing the baked wild rice on the left side of the duck — we decided to serve it on...
Sep 13, 2014
No one will argue that the 2014 Iowa dove season is easily our best yet. So far, there have been five straight, back to back days of high intensity wing shooting excitement. Today was perhaps the most exciting yet. Plummeting temperatures and brisk NW winds triggered a mass movement of doves. But the morning got off to a slow start; only saw two doves...
Sep 7, 2014
The popularity of Iowa’s dove season continues to grow. This year, for example, there were actual “dove camps” on public areas. On the eve of Monday’s September 1st Opener, hunters’ campfires glimmered near the outskirts of favored sunflower plots — more reminiscent of traditional duck openers than what we’ve seen for Iowa dove...
Born in North Central Iowa, Lowell Washburn has enjoyed a lifelong interest in the out of doors. He began photographing wild birds at age 10, and outdoor photography soon became his passion and eventually a career. Washburn is best known for images that portray migratory waterfowl and other wetland wildlife in their natural habitats. His best photographs are often obtained after spending hours floating amid natural marshlands, half submerged within the dark confines of a floating muskrat house blind.
Upon completing military service as a sergeant with the Fourth Infantry Division in the central highlands of South Vietnam, Washburn returned to Iowa in 1970. His wildlife photos began appearing in Iowa newspapers in 1971 and he began authoring outdoor news columns in 1978. Today, his photos and writing have appeared in over 50 national and international magazines including Outdoor Life, International Wildlife, Field&Stream, Ducks Unlimited, Pointing Dog Journal, the NAFA Journal, and others.
After working as a naturalist for Iowa’s county conservation board system, Washburn was recruited by the Department of Natural Resources in 1984. His primary duties included statewide communication with Iowa newspaper, television, and radio news agencies with a primary goal of increasing the level of public awareness and appreciation for Iowa's natural resources. During his tenure he also served as staff member for the Iowa Conservationist Magazine and for the DNR’s Iowa Outdoors Magazine. Washburn retired from the DNR in 2010.
In addition to wildlife photography, his ongoing outdoor passions include falconry, traditional bow hunting, waterfowling, spending time with hunting dogs of all types, and herpetology.