Traveling With Eagles
With a significant snow melt currently underway, this year’s spring migration is pushing northward. Canada geese, a handful of white-fronts, and bald eagles are the most noticeable vanguards of things to come. While driving up the highway toward my home at Clear Lake, I spotted a distant eagle traveling in the same northbound direction. Flying at an altitude of 30 yards or so above the landscape, the huge bird was paralleling the paved roadway in the same manner it would follow a natural river channel. Once I caught up...
read moreSnow is Melting – The Hunt is On
One of the traits that sets white-tailed deer apart from all other forms of Iowa wildlife is the ability of bucks to grow antlers. Generally speaking, the older the buck the larger and more impressive its antlers become. Antlers have but one purpose. They are designed to duke it out with other males during the annual fall breeding season. Battles can become dangerous and impressive. When November bucks cross trails, the Iowa woodlands echo with the sound of clashing antlers. In terms of body weights and antler...
read moreHiking for Owls
There are a lot of good reasons to visit Iowa’s winter woodlands. Listening to the eerie, nighttime serenades of resident owls ranks high on my list of favorites. As is the case with any outdoor adventure, being prepared is key to success. It is, after all, the dead of winter. Dress too lightly and you’ll freeze. Wear too much and you’ll sweat; and then you’ll freeze. If your woodland has trails or contains open stretches of mature timber, then skis or snowshoes can save a lot of the huffing and...
read moreWinter Wildlife Survival
Sub-zero temperatures. Drifting snow. Winds gusting to forty-five. Near zero visibility. How’s that for a chilling winter combo? But those were the exact conditions we endured last weekend when a major winter storm system bulldozed its way across the continent’s midsection. I’m guessin’ there were a lot of Iowans who were wishing they were someplace else. A female cardinal endures the brutal winter storm conditions that swept across northern Iowa last weekend. Looking through my cozy dining...
read moreArctic Traveler from the Midnight Sun
PHOTO: Ready To Fly – Like all peregrines, Aurora loves to hunt and will chase just about anything she sees. Photo by: Carol Washburn If Jack Vooge had lost one more drop of blood; I should have called for a Medivac. I was springing a leak or two myself, but my injuries were nothing compared to the sight of Jack’s hands and wrist. Meat grinder was the term that came to mind. It was early October in northern Minnesota; and we were engaged in the painful process of removing an entangled peregrine falcon from...
read moreLovelock Cave Canvasback
The scene is timeless. At the edge of a shallow marsh, two hunters crouch in the cattails. The sunrise is fast approaching and a rising breeze is providing lifelike movement to the group of eleven canvasback duck decoys swimming out front. Anticipation is growing as the hunters anxiously await the arrival the day’s first flock. An ancient canvasback duck decoy constructed more than 1,500 years ago by Tule Eater Indians. The decoy, along with a basket containing ten others, was discovered by archeologists during a 1923...
read moreThanksgiving Turkeys
I was beginning to feel the pressure. With the Thanksgiving holiday less than a week away, my turkey dinner was still running wild and free somewhere in the big woods. Perhaps I should backtrack a bit and begin by saying that Thanksgiving is one of my all-time favorite holidays. Roast turkey, homemade dressing, cranberries, pumpkin pie – I can never get enough. I love Thanksgiving so much that we celebrate it twice. The first celebration takes place on the official Thursday holiday – a huge family event...
read moreHonkers for Heros
North Iowans Pay A Unique Tribute to America’s Veterans Honkers for Heroes organizers, Zane Kantaris [front left] and Jason Hahn [front right] admire a Canada goose bagged by Vietnam veteran Gene Hockenson [right rear] of Plymouth while Iraq and Afghanistan veteran and two-time Purple Heart recipient, Matt Macke [left rear] looks on. Staged last weekend, Honkers for Heroes was a two-and-a-half-day waterfowl adventure held to honor veterans serving in Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. Crouched within the tight confines...
read moreArchery Deer Season
After catching his breath, the victor seeming none the worse for wear. While pondering my next move, the deer suddenly turned and began moving up the trail, leading directly to my stand. For Iowa’s 70,000 archery deer hunters, November is the grandest month of the year. By now, the annual rut is slamming into overdrive. Restless, edgy, and itching for a scrap; high tined, broad beamed bucks are on the prowl. Everyone agrees that Iowa bucks achieve heart stopping proportions. Whether you judge them in terms of...
read moreIowa Wood Ducks
I heard the ducks before I actually saw them. Not the familiar quacking normally associated with waterfowl, but rather the screeching “Who-week, Who-week” that is the signature greeting of a female wood duck. Sitting atop a downed log, I was huddled within the tangled confines of a shallow wooded swamp where the birds — eight or nine of them — had come in from behind. Looking over my shoulder, I quickly spotted the web-foots. With necks arched and legs extended, the woodies were descending through the...
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