Ancient Heritage
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 boom by offering hunters an unprecedented array of products that all but guarantee the buck of your dreams. Obtaining the best in today’s gear and gadgets is as easy as making an...
read moreIn Search of the Perfect Decoy
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 fascinated with decoys for about as long as I can remember. If a new decoy hits the market, I’m compelled to try it. Right now, I’m in search of the perfect decoy — a long running...
read moreOctober Woodlands
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 advantage of what has recently turned out to be beautiful October weather. Settling into the edge of a mature woodland, it didn’t take long to realize that I had made a good...
read moreBest Duck Season Ever
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 time-honored tradition. Determining exactly which hunting season ranks above all others is purely a matter of perspective and is largely dependent upon when and where a person...
read moreDay of the Merlin
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 spectacle than in the famous Hawk Ridge region of Lake Superior’s northern shore. Lake Superior is the world’s largest freshwater lake. Roughly the size of Austria, the lake...
read moreSurprise Visitors
We’ve all heard that “Variety is the Spice of Life”. Although generally applied to other topics, the familiar saying can certainly hold true for the outdoors as well. One of the things I like most about duck hunting, for example, is that you just never know what’s going to drop into the decoys. Some visitors come as a surprise. Some of the surprises are small. Some are large. Some are very large – like the two deer who suddenly emerged from the shoreline willows at the edge of my spread. The breeze was in my favor and...
read moreBighorn Recovery
Black Hills Bighorn Recovery Inches Forward National Wildlife Federation Aids in Securing Safe Habitat CUSTER, SD —- I saw my first wild bighorn in the summer of 1959. Feeding near a roadway in the Black Hills of western South Dakota, the animal was a spectacular full curl ram. Perfect in every detail, the ram was far more majestic in real life than any of the wild sheep I’d previously viewed in books or magazines. For me, it was love at first sight. Since that first encounter, I’ve never missed an opportunity to observe or...
read moreCheeriest Bird in the Marsh
Iowa’s prairie wetlands are one of our richest natural treasures. Wetlands benefit everyone. They store runoff and reduce downstream flooding. Wetlands help stabilize water tables and recharge underground aquifers. Serving as efficient natural filters, aquatic plant life consumes excess nutrients and purifies water by absorbing harmful chemical pollutants. Those are the practical benefits of Iowa marshlands. But for most of us, wetlands are best known for their wildlife. Acre for acre, square foot for square foot; Iowa wetlands...
read moreFall Flavors are Currently in Season
Blue-winged teal are as fun to eat as they are to hunt. Likewise, for fall mushrooms. Fortunately for us, both Iowa delicacies are currently in season. Iowa’s teal season runs until September 16th. Migrating teal have been plentiful and hunters are bringing home plenty of birds. Fall mushrooms love wet weather, and local woodlands are harboring bumper crops of puff balls, chicken-of-the-woods, sulfur shelves, and others. Grilled teal and fall mushrooms make a great combination – they go together like a hand and glove. High on...
read moreDNR Officers List Weekend Teal Opener As Nothing Short Of Phenomenal
The 2014 reinstatement of the Iowa teal season is the best single change of waterfowl regulations in the past half century. For thousands of Iowans who participated in the September 1st teal season opener, the credibility of that statement was more than obvious. Although much of the state was blanketed by heavily overcast skies, fog, and precipitation that ranged from light drizzle to frog-strangling downpours; the adverse weather appears to have done little to dampen hunter success. Most parties bagged their fair share of teal; many left the...
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