Nov 6, 2018
For America’s earliest hunters, archery equipment was a matter of survival For archery deer hunters, November is the grandest month of the year. In Iowa, as elsewhere, bow hunting has enjoyed a tremendous surge in popularity during recent decades. More than 60,000 archers are pursuing deer in Iowa this year. Sporting goods manufacturers have responded to the...
Oct 26, 2018
Waterfowl hunters – perhaps even more so than anglers – are hopelessly susceptible to product advertising. New guns, improved ammo, quieter motors, lighter boats, warmer coats, better waders, you name it – all beg to be purchased and tested. Decoys are my personal weakness — the Achille’s heel of my outdoor pocket book. I’ve been...
Oct 20, 2018
The season is changing and white-tail bucks are beginning to shift gears. Along the edge of Iowa’s woodlands, fresh scrapes are beginning to appear as bucks mark territories and announce their presence. I normally don’t start bow hunting for deer until the first week of November. This year, however, I decided to do my own gear shifting and take...
Oct 12, 2018
A Year Like No Other – an early season duck hunt in Cerro Gordo County, 1979. Back row [left to right] Lowell Washburn, Earl Leaman, Sterling Washburn, Leonard Washburn, Ed Kotz, Jr. / Front row – Sandy the Chesapeake & Shad the Lab Photo By: Ed Kotz, Sr. Duck hunters love to reminisce. Recounting the great hunts of yesteryear is a popular and...
Oct 8, 2018
DULUTH, MN. — According to our calendars, autumn has officially begun. If you look to the skies, there are some undeniable signs that the season is changing. In America’s North Country, the annual raptor migration is in full swing. Although the grand passage can be viewed from a variety of locations, there is no better place to witness the winged...
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.