Monday morning, the final day of November.  A significant winter storm was brewing and you could feel it in the air.  A light skiff of snow had already fallen during the night and area weather forecasters were all but guaranteeing that more snow and maybe even some ice was headed our way.  With more than
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  Migrators:  Boring into the teeth of a 30 knot NW wind at sunrise; arriving flaps down over the decoys at seven; into the apple wood stoked Weber by 5:30 and onto the table [medium rare] promptly at six.  Long grained rice, mushroom & orange segments, and baked cabbage on the side.  No frills; no fuss
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    Home Wrecker. That’s how my friend Brandon Stark has labeled the monstrous white-tailed buck currently haunting our local woodlands.  The handle stuck, and now it’s the name everyone is using when referring to this nerve shattering, four legged antlered giant. High, wide, and handsome; Home Wrecker is the kind of buck that deer hunters dream of.
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  Migrating Blackbirds Provide Choreographed Air Show   For those who relish the outdoors, the month of November is one of the busiest and most exciting times of the year – so busy and so exciting, in fact, that making a list of all the things to do would fill pages. One of the things I eagerly look
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North Woods Hawk Trapping    Falconer’s Phone Call Launches Superior Adventure   The big female goshawk was growing weary. Drifting southward above the Ontario wilderness, the hawk had been on the wing for a long while. Although she had killed and eaten the better part of a snowshoe hare the day before, the energy gained from that
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  The annual fall migration of raptors -- eagles, hawks, falcons, and ospreys -- is one of Iowa’s most popular wildlife shows. Regardless of whether the habitats are grassland, forest, marsh, or open lake; there is no natural ecosystem that will not be visited by traveling birds of prey during the next several days. Humans have long
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  It Should Have Been A Slam Dunk But Hunting the Wild Goose Does not Always Go as Planned   Three o’clock in the morning and the anticipation was building. I was so wound up, in fact, that I literally couldn’t sleep; which is how I happened to know it was three a.m. The excitement had begun the day
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                        Iowa waterfowl hunters enjoyed overall good success during the the October 3rd kickoff to this year's regular duck season.  According to DNR Conservation Officers, hunters encountered good to excellent numbers of ducks statewide during Saturday's opener.  Although a scattering of other species were reported, the flight was clearly dominated by mallards, teal and wood ducks. 
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  When I was a kid, most of my grade school classmates had two favorite days -- Christmas and their birthdays. The reason was simple. That was when everyone got presents. I was different. My favorite day of the year occurred early each fall when, arriving home from school, I would discover the top half of my
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          No matter how many trips I make to the marsh, it seems there is always  something new to see.  No two days are alike.  Although this year's special teal season ended yesterday, there was no reason for not going to the cattails with my camera.  The place I chose was a shallow, quiet pothole that
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Iowa’s second installment in a series of three year, experimental Early Teal Seasons has concluded. Timed to coincide with peak migrations of blue-winged teal, the September hunt was reauthorized by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 2014. The season has been offered to Iowa waterfowlers as a 16-day free bonus and does not subtract
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  The fall bird migration is gaining momentum.  And although the annual travels of all bird species are fascinating, perhaps none is more intriguing, or more often overlooked, than the autumn migration of ruby-throated hummingbirds. Regardless of where you live in the state, this year's migration is currently at its peak.  After a somewhat lackluster performance
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