Iowa is well known for its late season, often-spectacular March snowstorms. This year proved no exception when, on March 5th and 6th, anywhere from four to seven inches of heavy, wet snow descended on the state’s northern counties. Although the weather event didn’t exactly fit the description of an old-fashioned prairie blizzard, the snowfall was enough
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  Widespread and abundant, cottontail rabbits are an important component of Iowa’s natural food chain. I’m an active member of that chain. I love finding, chasing, and consuming rabbits. White, light and extremely nutritious, rabbit is one of my favorite entrees. There are lots of ways to pursue cottontails. I’ve hunted them with bow and arrow,
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    The swift and powerful group of raptors collectively known as goshawks reside in forested habitats across much of the planet. The northern goshawk is the subspecies nesting in northern North America. Large and aggressive, northern goshawks are fast enough to catch ruffed grouse and strong enough to easily subdue snowshoe hare.   Although certainly impressive, northern ‘gos
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  A Return to Traditional Flavor After tromping the woodlots for early morning cottontails or hiking onto the ice for daybreak walleyes, there’s nothing like coming home to a good hot breakfast. For my way of thinking, there is no better way to recharge your body engine than by tying into a stack of piping hot pancakes. All
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    The American mink is a highly curious, yet amazingly wary, aquatic predator. An outsized member of the weasel family, the mink is so crafty, in fact, that many experienced trappers think catching one presents a challenge equal to outwitting the fox or coyote. I don’t know if mink are really that smart or not, although
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  Last Chance Turkeys Once there is snow on the ground, the Iowa woodlands are never truly dark. Hunting for end of the season turkeys means getting there early – I mean really early -- and moving slow. With two full hours to go until sunrise, I was in the blind. It was going to be a
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To say that the 2018 New Year got off to a chilling start would be a gross understatement. Once the mercury started to drop, it seemed as if the temperature free fall would never hit bottom.   With wind chills plummeting beyond 40 degrees below zero, Iowa ranked as one of the coldest places on earth. The
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  The lead colored skies were dark and somber. Around two inches of new snow had fallen during the night and the weatherman was promising more on the way. Flurries, in the form of huge dry flakes, were continuing to fall. Wind chills were pushing minus twenty degrees. Up at International Falls, the actual temperature had
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  I trapped a prime red fox the other day. I don’t do much trapping anymore, and the fox came as a bit of a surprise. Although the set was located where I’ve seen fox or fox tracks in the past, I figured that I was most likely to catch a raccoon. In reality, catching the
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     Regal Canvasback Remains at Pinnacle of Fine Dining   The end was in sight. With only a handful of days remaining, the 2017 Iowa duck season was winding down. To make matters even worse, the southbound migration through northern Iowa had long since passed. Stale, refuge-oriented mallards and a few stragglers of other species was
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  It’s true that most people – myself included -- tend to forget things over time. But something that no one ever forgets is the day they bag their very first pheasant. For me, the milestone event occurred at the tail end of the 1959 Iowa hunting season. Anticipation had been building for days. After learning
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