-By Brandon Wikman

Summer is a time when hunters hone their archery skills and try to outdo their shooting performance from last year. It is an ideal time to tweak, tick, and twiddle with new gear or accessories. The summer drags most archers into their front yard or local shooting range to plunk away [...]]]> by Moultrie Feeders

-By Brandon Wikman

Summer is a time when hunters hone their archery skills and try to outdo their shooting performance from last year. It is an ideal time to tweak, tick, and twiddle with new gear or accessories. The summer drags most archers into their front yard or local shooting range to plunk away on bag, block, or 3D targets. I’ve learned that it is crucial to your practice regimen that you invest efforts into piercing arrows in the correct target at the correct time.

Several professional hunters and archers are quick to say that practicing is only as good as you make it out to be. These words and tips of suggestion are coming from people that practice every single day of their life. They constantly shape their form, mold techniques, and improve the ending result of their scores. Practice shooting life-sized animal targets improves a hunter’s success tremendously in the field, whereas practicing at bulls eyes primarily sculpts competitive target shooters.

Firing arrows into a realistic looking target trains your mind and sinks the recollection of crunch time into a practical perspective. Shooting at tiny round circles works great for dialing your bow into ‘hunt-ready performance.’ I use bag and block targets to gauge my accuracy, adjust my sights, and gain confidence in my shot. The only downer of shooting at the speckled dots is that they’re nowhere to be found on the chest of a real animal! Your trained archery hunting eyes must magically put the bulls-eye on a walking whitetail or drinking antelope. Practicing on life-sized animal targets train your shooting instincts.

Many bear hunters who dare hauling a bow and arrow into the woods never practice at a bear target. They spend there entire spring and summer simply plunking arrows into the center of their fluffy bag target until it erodes. Or they may have only jabbed a dozen arrows into the vitals of a deer target, which is completely different than the physical makeup of a bear. The importance of shooting practice is only as good as you make it out to be.

Many outfitters and guides have clients who’ve saved tons of green over the past couple years for an exciting trophy elk or mountain lion hunt but they have never punched arrows into anything that even closely mimics the vital organ placement, shape, or body of the animal there going to be pursuing. Each animal you plan on hunting must be scrutinized to the max. The knowledge and understanding of an animal’s vitals and anatomy is what slices the diehard hunter from the rest of the pack. Don’t be afraid to drop a hundred more dollars on the animal target that you’ll be hunting. There’s no sense spending thousands of dollars without taking a serious mental aim on what you will be chasing. You must put your frame of mind to the ultimate test by introducing new ways to stimulate better practice.

I’ve taken these game-chasing lessons and used them to my advantage. Last year, with the help of some friends and family, I constructed a virtual hunting experience in my woods. It is an archery-hunting course crafted for every hunter in North America. There are over twenty shooting stations that range from a distance of 10-yards to 60-yards. Each station has a different animal placed in a specific scenario. Whether it’s a bear climbing a tree, a moving fox, or a whitetail sipping an afternoon drink, the course gives people the most realistic practice experience.

Taking your archery practice to a higher-level is an essential step in building your killing abilities. Dedicate time to create your very own mock-hunting experience that you can share with your friends and family. You may want to implement tree stands, ground blind stations, and moving targets. There are endless opportunities and a mixture of fun situations to mock. It is a great way to increase your accuracy and boost your overall shooting confidence.

But better late than never!

I receive quite a bit of email about Deer hunting on public land. Having just came back from a Controlled Hunt on Public Land myself, here are some tips for [...]]]> I guess this should have been written ealier in the year seeing how many States deer hunting season’s are already under way.

But better late than never!

I receive quite a bit of email about Deer hunting on public land. Having just came back from a Controlled Hunt on Public Land myself, here are some tips for you that are heading out to hunt Public Land Deer.

1. Get a map. Preferably a topo map and an aireal photo of the area where you’ll be hunting. You can find good topo maps on the Internet at several areas or contact the USGS for an index. A good map will show you many things. Some of the things you’ll be wanting to look for are: where are other hunters parking, areas that will funnel deer into a tight area such as saddles in ridges, potential feeding and beddeing areas, waterways, old roads, etc.
2. Do your scouting. This should go without saying, but you’d be surprised at how many just pick a place and go hunting without ever setting foot on the place. Prepare for success by using some boot leather to get the feel of the land and to try and pattern both the Deer and Deer Hunters!
3. Pattern the Hunters. Since you’ll likely have company from other Hunters when visiting Public Hunting area, get to know where they park and the areas that they’ll likely be hunting. Use this information to determine Where Not To Hunt! You can also use this information to determine likely areas where these Hunters will push the Deer as they’re coming and going to their stands.
4. Hunt the Midday. It doesn’t take long for Deer to pattern the Hunters. They know that most Hunters will be out of their stands by 9 a.m. (many much sooner) and walking around before heading back to their vehicles for coffee, lunch and a nap. Plan on hunting during the midday hours. I can’t tell you how many Bucks I’ve seen from 11 to 3 on Public Hunting land. If you’ve done your homework and are set up away from the other Hunters, you may be pleasantly surprised at a visit from a Buck during the midday when other Hunters are back at their trucks taking a Siesta.
5. Call the Manager. Part of your pre-hunt scouting should be a call to the Manager of the Public land where you’ll be hunting. They can provide valuable information on Hunter access and likely spots to find a Buck during the Hunting Season. They can also let you in on how the Deer herd is doing and clue you into what the Deer are feeding on.
6. Plan on getting your Deer out. Many Deer Hunters never plan on how to get their Deer out once they have it down. They never think about it until they are faced with the daunting task of dragging a Buck out of the woods. It would be smart to invest in one of the Big Game Carts
   advertised in the Outdoor catalogs.
7. Think outside the box. As I said earlier, Deer pattern Hunters much better than Hunters pattern Deer. If most hunters are Hunting fields or easy to reach areas, do something different. Find thickets or other areas where Hunters will not hunt. Swamps and overgrown clear cuts are two of my favorite areas to hunt on Public land. I love to hear Hunters say “That area is too nasty to hunt, you can’t see very far in there”. That’s the kind of place I want to be. The group of guys I grew up hunting with were the first to hunt the flooded timber for Deer. No one else would put on wader and go in after the Deer. Now, many people will but few are successful because the lack the patience and experience to still hunt the flooded timber properly. Do and go where other Hunters will not!

Most public hunting is not easy. But with a little planning and thinking outside the box, your hunt can be successful. Just remember, these Deer are hunted hard so plan on outsmarting them. You can reason, Deer can’t!

Go to Source

EAR NEW TOWN, N.D. — The first sharptail flushed just four minutes after we had begun hunting. One minute later, a covey of Hungarian partridges burst into flight, filling the air with their wingbeats and peeping.

No shots were fired by Duluth’s Tom S. Bell, 38, and his longtime [...]]]> From the Duluth News Tribune
published Sept. 28, 2008

EAR NEW TOWN, N.D. — The first sharptail flushed just four minutes after we had begun hunting. One minute later, a covey of Hungarian partridges burst into flight, filling the air with their wingbeats and peeping.

No shots were fired by Duluth’s Tom S. Bell, 38, and his longtime friend Tom Schramm, 37, of Esko. The birds were just out of range.

But those early flushes were a sign of good things to come on this five-day sharp-tailed grouse and Hungarian partridge hunt in western North Dakota. Bell soon picked up his first sharptail of the morning in low cover near a dry wetland.

The real action on this mid-September hunt began in a nearby tree row along two stubble fields of harvested grain. One sharptail after another flushed, interspersed by the rise of two more coveys of partridges. Bell’s black Lab, Koya, kept busy retrieving downed birds. Bell and Schramm shot well.

Meanwhile, Bell’s dad, Tom Bell of Duluth, and his friend Dick Adams of Superior were working other treelines and stubble fields on the same farm. By the time we had finished that walk, our group had 14 sharptails — just one shy of a limit — and four Huns. We had been in the field exactly an hour. By noon, when the heat forced us to quit hunting, the tally was 15 sharptails and eight Huns.

“I’d say this is close to one of the best morning’s we’ve had,” the senior Bell said.

ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERY

Bell, 62, has been going north and west for sharptails for more than 30 years. He and others began hunting the prairie grouse in Manitoba and Saskatchewan in 1972. On one return trip from Saskatchewan, they stopped at a small-town cafe in this part of North Dakota and met a farmer who invited them to hunt sharptails here.

Now, Bell and friends make the 550-mile trip west annually, camping on the prairie, eating what they shoot and living close to the land. His son Tom has been making the trip for about 20 years now.

“Once you get it in your blood, you gotta keep coming out here,” the younger Bell said. “You can’t say it’s one thing because it’s so many things.”

“The land,” Schramm said. “The diverse hunting. The dogs.”

“And you’re out here, and you don’t see any ‘No Hunting’ signs,” Bell added.

FRIENDLY FARMERS

It’s easy to find land to hunt. Bell’s right. We saw little land posted “No Hunting” during our trip. If we had questions about whether land was open to hunting, we stopped and asked farmers.

“I’ve seldom been refused,” the elder Bell said.

One day, we stopped to visit with a farmer who gladly let us hunt and suggested two other parcels of land we might want to try. We found birds at both places.

Another thing you see little of out here is other hunters. Except for a group of Bell’s friends from Duluth and one farmer he already knew, we saw no other hunters in five days. The main source of blaze orange we saw were actual orange blazes at oil-drilling sites, where waste natural gas burned day and night. There’s an oil boom happening here that’s making some farmers millionaires and others — who don’t own mineral rights on their land — bitter about all the semitrailer traffic on once-quiet roads.

EXPANSIVE COUNTRY

Away from the roads, though, this is still the western North Dakota you remember — wheat and barley fields rolling to forever, broad grasslands where the eye can roam for miles, distant buttes and promontories. You can’t help thinking about a pioneer family, creaking across this country in a covered wagon, trying to decide how best to proceed west.

We would often split up and go our own ways, following our dogs wherever they would lead us. You’d look across the folds of land and see a tiny speck of orange on a distant hillside. Your hunting partner. And the sharptails we were hunting are native to this land, eking out a living on seeds of native grasses like little bluestem and side-oats gramma as well as crop residue.

“I like sharptail hunting,” the senior Bell said. “I feel close to the earth. It’s a native bird, natural to this environment. And I like walking.”

Our hunting was good. If one part of the day or one piece of land didn’t produce, another would. We hunted treelines and vast grasslands and Missouri River breaks and abandoned farmsteads that almost always held a covey or two of Huns.

LIVING ON THE LAND

We would walk all morning, then return to our little camp during the afternoon heat. Dick Adams had brought his pop-up camper, and some of us slept in tents. We ate sharptails at least once a day, sometimes twice — grilled and pan-fried and in stew.

Hunting sharptails was good. Living with them, camped under the prairie stars, listening to a great-horned owl oboeing in the night, was even better. Living on the land, and living off the land eating what we had shot, seemed to complete a circle. We felt completely immersed in the landscape, as much a part of the grand scheme as human beings could be.

At night, we lay in our sleeping bags listening to crickets singing, coyotes yipping and Canada geese honking. At dawn, rooster pheasants cackled from the knee-high grasses just beyond camp, stirring anticipation of the season to come.

In the mornings, we’d roust out, feed the dogs and pick a new piece of land to hunt.

Sharptail camp.

It’s a good place to live in September.

The Rev. Paul Larson, an ardent duck hunter from Deer River, remembers the good old days of bluebill hunting.

“It’s nothing like it used to be,” Larson said this past week with Minnesota’s duck season just around the corner. “I used to shoot — oh, from about Oct. 20 [...]]]> From the Duluth News Tribune
published Sept. 28, 2008

The Rev. Paul Larson, an ardent duck hunter from Deer River, remembers the good old days of bluebill hunting.

“It’s nothing like it used to be,” Larson said this past week with Minnesota’s duck season just around the corner. “I used to shoot — oh, from about Oct. 20 to the middle of November — I’d get bluebills all the time. Now, if I get two a year, I’m lucky.”

Minnesota’s 2008 waterfowl season opens Saturday, and with it comes new regulations on scaup, or bluebills. The scaup limit will be one daily except from Oct. 25 to Nov. 13, when two may be taken. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources protested to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which sets season frameworks, hoping to get a two-scaup limit for the entire season. The limit has been two in recent years. But the Fish and Wildlife Service didn’t change its framework.

Larson said the new scaup limit is reasonable.

“I can live with it,” he said.

So can Gene Olson, 54, an avid duck hunter from Coleraine.

“I’m in favor of it, if it helps us get our bluebills back,” Olson said. “The way duck hunting is going nowadays, we’re going to have to do something to get duck hunting back. I’m afraid before my time is up, they’re going to take duck hunting away.”

One problem with the restrictive scaup limit is that most hunters have difficulty distinguishing scaup from ring-necked ducks in flight. The ringneck is popular among hunters and a significant part of the annual bag in northern Minnesota. Ring-necked duck hunters may inadvertently take too many scaup, Olson said.

“I’m afraid we’re going to find a lot of ducks [discarded] in the weeds. That part of it’s going to be bad,” he said.

Larson, who has been out harvesting wild rice lately, says the population of ring-necked ducks, many of which breed in Minnesota, appears good.

“I’ve been ricing every year for 30 years, and this year I saw the biggest flocks I’ve seen in a long time,” Larson said. “Ringbills [ring-necked ducks] and also lots of teal.”

The question is whether the teal will stick around.

“If we have lots of teal on the opener, it seems to make or break the opener,” said Steve Cordts, DNR waterfowl specialist in Bemidji. “We’ll hope the teal here will stay.”

The scaup population has been declining across the continent, and biologists aren’t sure why. Some say the habitat along migration routes may be a limiting factor, Dennis Simon, chief of the DNR’s wildlife management section, has said.

Larson remembers the good old days, when thousands of bluebills rafted on Lake Winnibigoshish and on Bowstring Lake, both north of Deer River, and Cass Lake to the west.

“I purposely hunted bluebills,” Larson said. “That’s what I did. I’d rather hunt bluebills because of the excitement they’d provide. I enjoy watching them fly. I enjoy watching them twist.”

Olson, too, loves the late-season hunting of diver ducks despite dwindling numbers of bluebills.

“I would go duck hunting if they knocked the limit down to one,” Olson said. “I go right to the end of the season. If I have to find a trout lake with deep water, I do it.”

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources conservation officer reports for Tuesday, Sept. 16

District 5 – Eveleth area

CO Darrin Kittelson (International Falls) spent time on wetland issues within the station. Checked grouse hunters and archery deer hunters, very little activity with the rainy weather. Bear hunting activity starting to slow [...]]]> From the Duluth News Tribune
published Sept. 16, 2008

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources conservation officer reports for Tuesday, Sept. 16

District 5 – Eveleth area

CO Darrin Kittelson (International Falls) spent time on wetland issues within the station. Checked grouse hunters and archery deer hunters, very little activity with the rainy weather. Bear hunting activity starting to slow a bit. Handled an injured eagle complaint, the eagle was captured and later sent on a plane to Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota.

CO Lloyd Steen (Ray/Kabetogama) reports checking grouse hunters on the opener. Very few hunters seen in the drizzling rain and fewer grouse. Violations for juvenile hunters under 14 years of age, unaccompanied by adults, juveniles illegally operating ATVs, juveniles on ATVs without helmets, juveniles without ATV safety certificates, and adults allowing illegal operation of ATVs by juveniles were addressed. Also checked experimental regulation lakes of Kabetogama and Namakan where citations for illegal length walleyes, transporting filleted walleyes on the water, and reducing fish to more than two fillets were handled. Also investigated camper trailers left on state land for more than several weeks unattended with litter.

C0 Troy Fondie (Orr) reports assisting Ely conservation officer with work project monitoring boating and angling activities and working on various equipment up keep issues.

CO Brad Schultz (Cook) reports following up on a fire from last week, dealing with a problem bear and mink, requests for bear meat, bear hunting questions, deer hunting questions, grouse hunting questions, internal DNR questions, and checking for hunting activity.

CO Don Bozovsky (Hibbing) finished field training with COC Vollbrecht. Officers worked early goose hunters, the opening of the small game seasons, ATV’s, and bear hunting activity. An illegal fire investigation was completed with a citation issued, along with enforcement action for littering for another individual in the case. Enforcement action was taken on no federal duck stamp, no state duck stamp, operate a motor vehicle on a state trail, fail to register bear bait station, careless or negligent fires, and fail to display ATV registration.

CO Matt Frericks (Virginia) spent time checking bear hunters and their baits. Some unmarked bait stations are being watched. Unfortunately, while looking for bear baits, CO Frericks found some active deer baiting. CO Frericks located a fisher set from last season. The trap had the remnants of a large fisher in it. The conibear trap still had the trap tag on it and an investigation is underway for a trap tending violation.

CO Mark Fredin (Aurora) checked fishing activities on area lakes and found fishing to be slow, the fall bite hasn’t started yet. Bear hunters are having some success and report bait stations are just starting to get hit. Officer Fredin also gave a law presentation for the Moose Orientation in Ely, many questions were answered, good luck to all of them.

District 6 – Two Harbors area

CO Brandon McGaw (Babbitt) spent time in the woods and on the water. The fish bite has picked up a little since temperatures are dropping. Bear hunters are having mixed results and most have called it a season. Time was also spent in Ely giving a moose orientation class to some of this falls moose hunters. Grouse hunters hit the woods on Saturday and had trouble seeing birds due to the thick foliage.

CO Dan Thomasen (Two Harbors) kept an eye on bear hunting activity throughout the week. Opening of deer archery and small game seasons were greeted with some soggy weather, which dampened the outing for many. Angling pressure has slowed some after Labor Day, however many are still catching fish both on Lake Superior and inland. Officer Thomasen would like to remind people to give extra consideration to wearing PFD’s as the weather and waters become colder. It could save your life.

CO Tom Wahlstrom (Tofte) worked anglers on Lake Superior. People need to review their salmon and trout identification before heading on the water. Stealhead are to be immediately released. Officer Wahlstrom checked bear hunters and their baits; overall compliance was good. A few grouse were bagged during the small game opener. The hunters enjoyed the changing leaves but found it frustrating to see the birds.

CO Darin Fagerman (Grand Marais) reports that a bear guide stopped him on the road and showed him some digital pictures of garbage and furniture dumped onto Forest Service land. The CO recognized a recliner that he had seen at another bear camp a few days before. The CO made some phone calls and fingers were pointed in the direction of a suspect and the case was turned over to the U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement Officer. A citation was issued and the mess was cleaned up. The CO issued more citations this week for garbage in bear baits and for baiting with mammal bones. The majority of bear hunters do things right.

District 7 — Grand Rapids area

CO Thomas Sutherland (Grand Rapids) and COC Paurus spent the week on fishing and small game enforcement. They completed a dumping investigation where a large amount of garbage and vehicle parts were illegally left on public land. The officers also investigated wanton waste of some Canada geese.

CO Randy Patten (Northome) worked bear hunting activity, checked anglers, finished a required defensive driving training session, attended a trails meeting, and issued a cease and desist for a potential wetland violation.

CO Jeff Koehn (Grand Rapids – OHV Specialist) presented an enforcement report to the Itasca County Trails Task Force. CO Koehn helped train COC Vollbrecht in OHV enforcement efforts. They patrolled by ATV along trails and in known ATV use areas. Numerous deer stands were located and checked prior to the archery deer hunting opener. CO Koehn and COC Vollbrecht checked campgrounds common to ATV users. Enforcement activity for the week included, operate ATV with youth passenger no helmet, fail to display ATV registration, operate ATV without headlights, allow illegal juvenile operation of an ATV.

CO Gary Lefebvre (Pengilly) worked fishermen, watercraft, ATV’s, small game and archery deer hunters. He also checked bear hunters and handled several complaints during the week.

District 8 — Cloquet area

CO Randy Hanzal (Brookston) despite the rainy weather lots of sportsmen were contacted this weekend for the opener of small game and archery seasons. A district meeting was attended where current law updates and other issues were discussed. Bear hunters are reporting more activity at bait stations. A few ATV violations involving juveniles were encountered during the week. An informational visit was made to a local Game Farm and some of its neighbors.

CO Scott Staples (Carlton) attended a district meeting with other conservation officers and also spent time working on wetland cases in the area. One citation was issued to a person for failing to comply with a Wetland Conservation Act Restoration Order. Other time was spent checking small game and bear hunters in the area. Success rates are slow in the area. One hunter harassment case was worked and is still under investigation. CO Staples and CO Humphrey assisted with and taught the law portion of a trapper’s education class in Cromwell.

CO Jeff Humphrey (Kettle River) worked small game and archery deer opener and investigated complaints of trespass and deer shining. Officer Humphrey attended a district enforcement meeting and assisted at a Trapper Education class in Cromwell. Inclement weather put a damper on opening weekend activities in the area.

CO Kipp Duncan (Duluth) spent time working small game opener over the weekend. Several people were out chasing grouse, but the weather didn’t cooperate for most of opening weekend. Contact was also made with several archery deer hunters. All were excited about being in the woods again for another year. Some time was also spent checking goose hunting and fishing enforcement. Several calls have been taken during the week, with some requiring time and follow-up with possible enforcement action needed when completed.

CO Sarah Sindelir (Duluth) continued to investigate a dock complaint this past week. She also attended a district meeting in Cloquet. She spent time working early goose, bow, small game, and bear hunting activity. Enforcement action was taken for no license in possession.

Duluth Marine Unit

CO Troy Ter Meer (Marine Unit) attended a district meeting, worked on reports and paperwork from some past cases, and performed equipment maintenance. He checked boaters and anglers and assisted in area stations with early goose, small game, bear and archery deer hunters. Enforcement action was taken for a bear hunter who did not have his license in possession and investigation is ongoing into another possible violation.

CO Matt Miller (Marine Unit) checked anglers near Silver Bay and Tofte. The salmon and lake trout are cooperating with anglers much better now. Equipment maintenance issues were handled, and work areas were scouted for the beginning of hunting season. Enforcement action was taken for angling, boating, and controlled substance violations.

C.O. Keith Olson (Marine Unit) checked muskie anglers on the St. Louis River. One fish of +50″ was seen. Moved the Lake Superior boat for repairs. Attended a District 8 meeting. Calls of the upcoming deer season are on the increase. Small game hunters and ATV’s were checked over the wet and rainy weekend.

Minnesota bear harvest down

Minnesota black bear hunters have shot only about half as many bears as at the same time last year, said Dave Garshelis, bear project leader for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. As of Sept. 11, hunters had killed 1,267 bears this fall, compared with [...]]]> From the Duluth News Tribune
published Sept. 14, 2008

Minnesota bear harvest down

Minnesota black bear hunters have shot only about half as many bears as at the same time last year, said Dave Garshelis, bear project leader for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. As of Sept. 11, hunters had killed 1,267 bears this fall, compared with 2,452 at the same time last year, Garshelis said.

Minnesota’s bear season opened Sept. 1 and continues through Oct. 14. Garshelis suspects the abundance of natural foods in the woods has kept bears from visiting hunters’ baits as often as in some years.

“There’s a lot of natural food, and a lot of it was delayed all summer,” Garshelis said. “Stuff that shouldn’t be around is around now — berries like cherries.”

He also said the bear population may not be as large as it was a few years ago. The last population survey was done in 2002 and turned up an estimate of 20,000 to 30,000 bears. A new survey, using tetracycline baits that leave a trace in bears’ teeth, is under way this fall and next fall, Garshelis said.

Fishing pier ready at McQuade

With the addition of an accessible fishing pier, McQuade Small Craft Harbor now offers opportunities for everyone to fish Lake Superior, according to a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources news release.

The harbor facility, nine miles north of the Duluth Harbor entry, is fully accessible including parking, paved walkways, a pedestrian tunnel, docks, benches, drinking water and restrooms. The fishing pier has protective railings and is built out from the breakwater to provide for lake fishing.

Grouse brood count up in Wisconsin

The average number of grouse broods seen and the average size of the brood both increased 12 percent from 2007 levels in northern and central Wisconsin this summer, according to a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources news release. The primary range for ruffed grouse, the central and northern forest portions of the state, were mostly spared from the heavy rain events of June, according to the news release.

DNR field personnel averaged 1.03 broods seen during the 2008 survey period, compared with 0.92 in 2007. Brood size was up as well with broods averaging 4.7 young per brood, 4.2 in 2007.

Firearms safety instructors wanted

If you’ve ever thought of becoming a firearms safety instructor, here’s your chance. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will hold a Certified Volunteer Firearms Safety Instructor Training Class from 5 to 9 p.m. Sept. 22 at the Hermantown Police Department, 5111 Maple Grove Road. Preregistration is required. The class is free. Participants must be at least 18 and pass a background check. To register, contact Lt. Shelly Patten at shelly.patten@dnr.state.mn.us or (218) 244-8051.

Demand for firearms safety instructors is high, said Patten, a DNR conservation officer and regional training officer.

“In Minnesota, we have more youth than the national average who are hunting,” Patten said. “Nationwide, it’s about 11 percent. In Minnesota, it’s around 20 percent, and gets up to 25 percent in the Northland.”

Surplus turkey permits available Monday

Minnesota turkey hunters who were unsuccessful in this year’s lottery for the fall hunting season may apply for 2,243 surplus permits starting at noon Monday, according to a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources news release.

The DNR makes surplus permits available at all Electronic Licensing System (ELS) outlets and online at www.dnr.state.mn.us.

The Web site also contains information on surplus licenses availability and the status of lottery applications. The fall turkey hunt consists of two five-day seasons: Oct. 15-19 and Oct. 22-26.

Hunters who did not enter the lottery will be able to purchase any remaining surplus licenses beginning noon Monday, Sept. 22.

Minnesota pheasant hunters will have fewer roosters to chase this fall than last year, but the state’s estimated number of pheasants remains the same as the 10-year average, according to a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources news release.

August roadside counts, released Tuesday by the DNR, showed a 24 [...]]]> From the Duluth News Tribune
published Sept. 14, 2008

Minnesota pheasant hunters will have fewer roosters to chase this fall than last year, but the state’s estimated number of pheasants remains the same as the 10-year average, according to a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources news release.

August roadside counts, released Tuesday by the DNR, showed a 24 percent drop in the pheasant index. Biologists blamed the decline on a cool, wet spring, according to the news release.

The southwestern part of the state remains the best place to find birds, with many counties estimated to have more than 49 birds per square mile.

The annual August roadside count of wildlife showed a pheasant index of 81 birds per 100 miles driven. The index exceeded 100 birds in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The 2007 index of 106 birds resulted in a harvest of 655,000 roosters, the highest Minnesota pheasant harvest since 1964.

“Moderate winter weather throughout much of Minnesota’s pheasant range increased hen counts above the 10-year average,” Kurt Haroldson, DNR wildlife research biologist, said in a prepared statement. “But cool, wet weather from April to June resulted in only an average number of broods and fewer chicks per brood.”

This fall’s pheasant population could be higher than the 10-year average if nesting efforts were delayed and hens remained on nests — or were caring for young broods — during the first two weeks of August. That’s when DNR made its counts. Those nesting birds wouldn’t have shown up in the counts.

Minnesota’s pheasant season begins Oct. 11 and runs through Jan. 4, 2009. With the Minnesota corn and soybean crops behind schedule this year, a lot of corn is likely to be standing when the season opens. That means roosters will be harder to find in the early season. Once the corn is harvested, those birds will be more available to mid- and late-season hunters.

The pheasant bag limit was changed in the Legislature this past spring. The daily bag limit is two roosters, with three roosters allowed from Dec. 1 to Jan. 4. The possession limit is six through Nov. 30, with nine allowed from Dec. 1 to Jan. 4. Shooting hours are 9 a.m. to sunset.

SOUTH DAKOTA

South Dakota’s pheasant population is again at a record level, according to the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department. Surveys that measure pheasants per mile from brood routes put the 2008 index at 8.56 pheasants per mile, a figure that’s 64 percent ahead of the 10-year average and the highest recorded since 1963.

The Chamberlain area had the state’s highest counts, at 22 birds per mile. Winner had 10 birds per mile, Aberdeen just under nine, Mobridge 12 and Mitchell about seven.

The South Dakota statewide pheasant season opens Oct. 18 and continues through Jan. 4. Daily limit is three roosters, and possession limit is 15 according to the daily limit (15 after five days). Shooting hours are noon to sunset from Oct. 18-24 and 10 a.m. to sunset thereafter.

A number of rules have changed this fall in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. Here are the highlights.

1. A new deer-hunting season in Minnesota. As announced earlier this fall, the state will hold an antlerless deer season the weekend of Oct. 11-12 in four deer management units around and [...]]]> From the Duluth News Tribune
published Sept. 14, 2008

A number of rules have changed this fall in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. Here are the highlights.

1. A new deer-hunting season in Minnesota. As announced earlier this fall, the state will hold an antlerless deer season the weekend of Oct. 11-12 in four deer management units around and north of Duluth. The units are 178, 180, 181 and 182. This is a firearms season aimed at bringing down deer populations deemed too high. Your regular firearms deer license will work for this season, but you’ll need to buy special antlerless-only permits specifically for this hunt. They’re $7.50 each, available at license outlets, and they’re good for this hunt only.

2. Yes, bowhunters will have to wear blaze orange that weekend in those areas. If you plan to bowhunt in those permit areas (see No. 1) on Oct. 11-12, you’ll need to follow the firearms deer hunting requirements for wearing blaze orange, which means blaze orange “on the visible portion of your cap and outer clothing above the waist, excluding sleeves.” Blaze-orange camouflage of at last 50 percent blaze orange in each square foot is legal.

3. Yes, small-game hunters will have to follow the same blaze-orange requirements that weekend in those areas. Instead of the usual “one article of clothing above the waist” in blaze orange, if you’re hunting grouse or other small game in those permit areas (see No. 1), you’ll have to follow the blaze-orange requirements for firearms deer hunting (see No. 2) Exempt from the blaze orange requirement during the antlerless deer hunt in these permit areas are migratory waterfowl hunters on waters and in a stationary location. Also, trappers on water are exempt.

4. New Minnesota deer license choices this fall. Gone are the all-season buck license and the multi-zone buck license. Now you buy your deer licenses a la carte — one for bowhunting season, one for firearms season, one for muzzleloader season.

5. More opportunities for young hunters — In Minnesota, a person 10 or 11 may take big game without a license or firearms safety certificate if he or she is under the direct supervision of a parent or guardian who is within immediate reach and licensed to take the big game. Big game taken by the 10- or 11-year-old must be tagged with the parent or guardian’s license.

6. No more validating deer licenses. If you are fortunate enough to shoot a deer in Minnesota this fall, you won’t have to validate your deer license. But you’ll still need to validate your site tag at the site of kill.

7. Deer baiting clarified. The wording of Minnesota’s baiting law has been fine-tuned. It’s on page 71 of the 2008 Hunting and Trapping Regulations Handbook.

8. Early antlerless deer hunt in Wisconsin. After a two-year moratorium and not enough antlerless deer taken, Wisconsin’s early antlerless deer hunt returns in Herd Control units. Nearly all units in Northwestern Wisconsin are Herd Control units. The four-day antlerless hunt will be Oct. 16-19. Hunters may use any Antlerless Deer Carcass Tags valid in Herd Control units. The permits, $2 each, are unlimited. A December antlerless hunt (Dec. 11-14) also will be held again this year.

9. Blaze-orange requirement on Wisconsin ground blinds. Blaze orange (a minimum of 144 square inches) is required on ground blinds on Department of Natural Resources-controlled lands during any gun or muzzleloader deer season, and the blaze orange must be visible 360 degrees around the blind. Also, ground blinds must be identified with the owner’s DNR customer-ID number or name and address when not occupied during the day.

10. Donating deer heads for CWD research in Wisconsin. Hunters in 18 northern Wisconsin counties will be encouraged but not required to donate adult deer heads this fall. A sample of 500 heads from each county is required for CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease) surveillance. Hunters donating deer heads will be able to keep the antlers.

We know the facts: Ruffed grouse drumming counts were up modestly in both Minnesota and Wisconsin this past spring.

Here’s what we don’t know: How did the extended cool, wet weather in early June affect survival of nesting grouse chicks?

Mike Larson, grouse biologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural [...]]]> From the Duluth News Tribune
published Sept. 7, 2008

We know the facts: Ruffed grouse drumming counts were up modestly in both Minnesota and Wisconsin this past spring.

Here’s what we don’t know: How did the extended cool, wet weather in early June affect survival of nesting grouse chicks?

Mike Larson, grouse biologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources at Grand Rapids, isn’t worried. Yes, he says, weather can be a factor in local areas. But usually not regionwide or statewide.

Ruffed grouse hunting season opens Saturday in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

“I’m not a huge believer in weather having a huge effect on grouse,” Larson said. “They’re hardy birds. They’ve evolved with all this stuff.”

c/o Steve Fiske

Minnesota ruffed grouse drumming counts were up 9 percent in the northeast,

8 percent statewide, after large increases in the past two years. Last fall’s harvest dropped unexpectedly compared with the previous year, but that was an exception, Larson thinks.

“I’m optimistic that we’ll rebound on the harvest end of things this fall,” Larson said.

In Wisconsin, drumming counts were up 12 percent in the northern region this past spring. As in Minnesota, the grouse population appears to be increasing each year as it works toward the peak of its 10-year cycle.

“Drumming counts were up, but not as much as we expected them to be,” said Fred Strand, Wisconsin DNR wildlife manager in Superior. “Just talking with people who have been out, the results have been mixed. Some say they’re seeing a fair number of broods. Others say they’re not seeing much.”

Consider this as you look forward to this fall’s grouse hunting: Last fall, in Minnesota, hunters took an average of 3.2 grouse per hunter for the entire season. At the last peak in the grouse population cycle (1998), the average was 6.7 birds harvested per hunter. From the best year to the worst year — about three birds per year difference per hunter.

Which is why Strand reminds hunters not to get too hung up on the numbers.

“The most important part is to go,” he said.

Here are some anecdotal reports of ruffed grouse brood sightings this summer from people who spend a lot of time in the woods and on back roads:

Doug Nelson, Virginia, grouse hunter and backwoods angler: “This spring, I heard a lot of drumming. … Last Saturday, I jumped two [...]]]> From the Duluth News Tribune
published September 7, 2008

Here are some anecdotal reports of ruffed grouse brood sightings this summer from people who spend a lot of time in the woods and on back roads:

Doug Nelson, Virginia, grouse hunter and backwoods angler: “This spring, I heard a lot of drumming. … Last Saturday, I jumped two coveys, one with six and one with eight. The birds were small. I’m thinking [the hens] re-nested, so the birds haven’t had a chance to fully mature. I would say [those numbers] are about average.”

Chris Balzer, Minnesota DNR assistant area wildlife manager, Cloquet: “We never see too many broods in the summer when the foliage is thick. Generally, in the past, the drumming count data in the spring has been predictive of hunting success in the fall. We expect the hunting season to be an improvement over last year.”

Jeff Koehn, Grand Rapids, Minnesota DNR conservation officer and OHV specialist: “Some people are seeing young birds,. … In the last few weeks, I’ve seen several broods. From what I’ve seen, the west Range and south of Duluth have had good numbers. I’ve seen a lot of young ones. The young ones are pretty well grown.”

Russ Sewell, regional biologist for the Ruffed Grouse Society in Minnesota: “I’m still hearing from a few folks that there are holes out there. … There are probably going to be some areas that are a little less than what is expected. There will be other areas that are really good.”

Greg Kessler, Wisconsin DNR wildlife manager at Brule: “The summer brood observations are a real mixed bag. … Some people are seeing fewer, some about the same and a few are actually seeing more broods. It’s very spotty. There appear to be somewhat more birds in the Bayfield and Ashland county areas, just based on personal observation, nothing scientific.

“It appears that the cold, wet streak in early June had a pretty significant impact on those early broods. The later broods appear to have done quite well.”

Darin Fagerman, DNR conservation officer, Grand Marais: “A lot of people haven’t been seeing anything. … It doesn’t look too promising. I’ve lived up here since ’89 and hunted every year. I can’t remember seeing so few.”

Kipp Duncan, DNR conservation officer, Duluth area: “I’ve seen very few [broods]. … I did talk to someone who is a logger, and he was telling me he’s been seeing quite a bit from Isabella down toward Two Harbors on logging roads.”