I'm hearing from a lot of Iowa turkey hunters who are getting more than a little bit anxious for spring.  Apparently, Iowa's wild turkeys are feeling the same.  Under the influence of lengthening days, our local woodlands are starting to echo with plenty predawn gobbling -- even saw my first turkey rumble this morning.  Immediately
Read More

Here in the Heartland, the cottontail rabbit is one of our most important links in the natural food chain. Prolific to a fault, cottontails are the bane of summer gardeners, preferred menu items for foxes, and time honored fair game for young human hunters packing a pocket full of ammo. Although cottontail rabbits were once a
Read More

At long last, spring has finally arrived. Well, maybe not for you and me. We’re going to have to wait awhile. But for resident great horned owls, the change of seasons is here. Often referred to as ‘Hoot Owl’, the great horned is the very first bird to begin nesting in Iowa each year. The species’
Read More

For a lot of folks, the appearance of the year’s first robin is an exciting event -- a sure and welcome sign of spring. Or is it? For a growing number of North Iowans, catching a glimpse of the year’s first robin has already been checked off the 2016 Outdoor Bucket List; and I think
Read More

It was a classic encounter of predator and prey.  When a hen turkey was approached by a foraging fox, she immediately moved into the thickest cover available which in this case, wasn't all that much.  At a distance of mere feet, the advancing hunter stopped as the two animals sized each other up; both obviously
Read More

  With the November rut long past, Iowa white-tails have no further need of their magnificent antlers. So what do deer do with something they don’t need anymore?  The same thing we do; they throw it away.  Bucks annually accomplish this task through an involuntary process called shedding.  Sudden spikes in stress levels may hasten the
Read More

  My first encounter with the Gray Faced Buck occurred on November 1st, 2014.  It was during my first bow hunt of the season, and the annual rut was in full swing. Prior to first light, I had set a ground blind along a strip of hay ground bordered on one side by an oak woodlot and
Read More

  At first glance, the blue jay-sized northern shrike looks pretty harmless. But for resident mice, shrews, and juncos this slate colored songbird is anything but harmless.  In reality, the shrike is a complete carnivore -- as brutally predacious as any raptor could hope to be.  The shrike’s list of fair game includes just about anything
Read More

  Overcast skies, chill winter wind, rural landscapes cloaked in nine inches of new snow. Absolute perfect conditions for an end of December goose hunt.  But for hunting companion Curt Stille and I, the anticipated slam dunk outing was rapidly turning into the proverbial wild goose chase. The dilemma wasn’t for a lack of birds. There were
Read More

Today's magnificent snowstorm delivered the kind of weather I wait all year for.  The noisy crusted over snow was quickly buried, the woods became completely silent again, and the landscape soon resembled an upside down Christmas globe on steroids.  Best of all, resident white-tails were on the move.  With three unused deer tags still in
Read More

  It’s rumored that when throwing important dinner parties, some of our local high rollers like to impress their guests by having live lobsters flown in from Maine or gallons of jumbo shrimp delivered fresh from the Gulf.  And although I’m not likely to receive an engraved invitation to any of those social events any time
Read More

  Across Iowa’s northern tier, the signals are clear.  This year’s duck season is rapidly winding down.  Smaller ponds and sloughs – even the larger marshes -- are completely iced over – have been that way for more than a week now.  Winter is at hand and even the largest lakes are on borrowed time. But for
Read More