Hunting & Fishing 2011

HUNTING & FISHING

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE WADENA PIONEER JOURNAL/INTERCOM SEPTEMbER 17, 2011

Robby Grendahl belongs to a vanishing breed called “diver hunt-ers.”

The Wadena teacher’s love is duck hunting for the northern birds that migrate through Minnesota in October and November – redheads, canvasbacks and bluebills.

“The divers are willing to dance with the decoys and I guess that’s what drew me to it,” Grendahl said.

There are tough men and then there are diver hunters. Given a choice a tough guy will probably step inside when the weather goes sour and have a cup of coffee. Not diver hunters. They will happily sit in a cold wind with a spray of wa-ter beating their bobbing decoys, stinging their faces and freezing their hands. They rise well before dawn to find good spots to hunt, they put out several dozen decoys in “J” hook patterns and with the first light they are peering into murky morning skies listening for the jet engine roar that announces diving ducks. The most popular symphony of all time can never compare with that roar. It is a sound that sends chills up and down a per-son’s spine – especially if they hunt divers.

“If there is something I enjoy more in October I haven’t found it,” Grendahl said.

Grendahl hunted with his dad, Bob, and some of his friends when he was a kid but their favorite bird was the mallard, a puddle duck, known much more for its caution.

After becoming a father Gren-dahl gave up duck hunting for several years until one day he lined up a golden retriever pup. That dog made him realize how much he still loved duck hunting. He had grown up without a hunting dog in the family. His dad’s friends owned the dogs they hunted over. Having a retriever of his own made Gren-dahl realize what a sin it would be not to use him on divers.

Grendahl had grown up listen-ing to Wadena duck hunter Wally Mueller’s stories about the glory days of diver hunting on “Tennis Shoe Pass,” a strip of land that sep-arated Rush Lake from Buchanan. You had to be quick to get your ducks on that pass, which was fre-quented by many Wadena hunters.

Bluebills are the daredevils of diver set. They will hit your decoys like a Banzai charge if conditions are right. The dog can be out re-trieving a downed bird and a dozen more will barrel right into the set. These hunts can be over in five minutes.

Grendahl is in the process of teaching his 11-year-old son to hunt ducks.

“Duck hunting is a lot of work and part of that is having a good partner,” Grendahl said.

Grendahl likes to set up on big water and put out a gang line of redhead, canvasback and bluebill decoys.

There is a competition factor to be considered and Grendahl is an early riser when the divers are in.

“My son, Ryan, understands that I want to be the first one on the

water,” Grendahl said.Ryan once walked up to a group

of diving duck hunters and after listening to them for a couple min-utes asked a question that broke them all up in laughter.

“Are you guys addicted to this like I am?” he asked.

Worried one time that his son was not having much fun on a slow duck morning, Grendahl asked him if he was OK with the lack of shooting action.

“I don’t care,” said Ryan. “I just like to be out here.”

A shared history of adventure is what Rob and Ryan Grendahl are

Grendahls share a passion for diversBrian Hansel [email protected]

Photos by Brian HanselRobby and Ryan Grendahl inspect their duck decoys for the 2011 Minnesota duck hunting season.

Robby helps his son put a new barrel on his 20-gauge Mossberg shotgun.

See DIVERS on PAGE 12

PAgE 2 HUNTING & FISHING GUIde SEPTEMbER 17, 2011

DNR predicts best fall color season in 10 years

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Minnesotans are encouraged to keep the camera batteries charged and to not put the tent or the picnic basket away just yet, be-cause the upcoming fall color season could be the best it has been in 10 years, accord-ing to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Wondering when and where to schedule weekend getaways to catch the colors as they peak? Visit the DNR website for fall color reports provided by staff at Minnesota state parks and recreation areas from across the state. Starting this week, reports will include percent of color change, peak color projections, flowers and grasses in bloom, and three state parks considered “hot picks” of the week. The reports are updated by noon every Thursday.

Thanks to a mobile website developed by the DNR last year, fall color information also can be accessed from mobile phones. Android and iPhone (also iPod Touch and iPad) smart phones are both supported. Peo-ple can also use any WebKit-based browser (Chrome or Safari) to view the website, which features real-time access to fall color reports and integration with Google maps. Colors typically peak between mid-Septem-ber and early October in the northern third

of Minnesota, between late September and early October in the central third, and be-tween late September and mid-October in the southern third (which includes the Twin Cities).

Many Minnesota state parks have planned programs and special events to co-incide with peak color projections in their area. Examples include:

■Saturday, Sept. 24, a Harvest Festival featuring guided lantern-lit hikes, music and a variety of children’s activities from 6 to 8:30 p.m., at Itasca State Park in Park Rapids.

■Sept. 24-25 and Oct. 1-2, Leaf Days at Maplewood State Park in Pelican Rapids.

■Saturday, Oct. 1, autumn ATV ride and picnic lunch on the Moose Walk/Moose Run ATV Trail near Tettegouche State Park on the north shore of Lake Superior.

For more information about these and many other free programs and special events, visit the online calendar or call the DNR Information Center at 651-296-6157 or toll-free 888-646-6367 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

State park visitors are invited to upload their photos to the DNR’s fall color website.

By Jay JohnsonDNR hunting recruitment and retention

coordinator Ever hunted ruffed grouse?If not, this is the year to start.The tasty, fast-flying forest game bird is at

high population levels. This means opportu-nities to see and harvest grouse are about as good as they get.

And when they get good in Minnesota, they are the absolute best in the nation. Min-nesota, which offers more than 11 million acres of public hunting land, often has the highest ruffed grouse harvest in the country. In fact, Minnesota is to grouse hunting what South Dakota is to pheasant hunting.

So, if you aren’t hunting ruffed grouse, you are really missing out on the best upland bird hunting in the state.

Here is some practical information to get you on your way:

■The season opens Saturday, Sept. 17, and runs through Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012. The daily limit is five and the possession limit is 10.

■You’ll need a small game license, 12- or 20-gauge shotgun (preferably with an open choke) and No. 7½ target or field loads.

■Round out your equipment needs with a blaze orange hat and vest, a comfortable

pair of boots, a pair of gloves and shooting glasses.

■Next, you’ll need to locate a general area to hunt. Top counties in the state include Aitkin, Cass, Itasca, St. Louis, Beltrami and Koochiching. Still, there are quality hunting opportunities across much of the northern half of the state. Grouse are also available in the heavily forested portions of southeastern Minnesota.

■Once you decide on the general area you plan to hunt, search the internet (you can find hunter walking trails, wildlife management area maps and other useful grouse informa-tion on the DNR website.

■Talk to the DNR area wildlife office or visit the county courthouse to view a plat book that identifies lands open to public hunt-ing.

■Once you’ve pinpointed a hunting area focus on the best available habitat; ruffed grouse prefer young forests, especially the subtle transitional seams and edges of these forests.

■As a rule, try to find places where the tree size at their base is between the diameter of your wrist and your calf. Trees of this size will be between 15-30 feet high. The type of tree although important, is less important than the size and how close they are together.

Great year to start hunting grouse

SEPTEMbER 17, 2011 HUNTING & FISHING GUIde PAgE 3

(The following article is re-printed with the permission of the Minnesota Conserva-tion Volunteer)

By Tom Dickson Most deer hunters dream of doing just

once what Bill Lewno of Forest Lake has ac-complished seven times: kill a trophy-sized whitetail buck. On the walls of Lewno’s tidy two-story home, set in an oak grove near Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area, hang magnificent mounts of massive deer, including some of the highest-scoring bucks ever taken by bow in Anoka County. One is a thick-necked buck with a “typical” (left and right antlers mirror each other) rack of three 1-foot-long tines on each main beam. Another buck is crowned with a massive “non-typical” (asymmetrical antlers) rack sprouting a total of 16 tines.

Lewno, 57, has also shot a huge 8-pointer, a 9-pointer, and three 10-pointers. Admiring a 10-pointer mounted above his fireplace, Lewno says, “That’s about as perfect a rack as you’ll ever find.”

Such remarkable mounts are showing up more frequently over mantles throughout Minnesota. As deer populations have in-creased and hunting success rates have risen during the past two decades, many hunters have set their sights on big bucks. The num-ber of record-book entries is soaring; pay-to-hunt ranches are doing a brisk business; and hunting magazines adorned with monster buck covers crowd newsstand racks.

To trophy hunters, this big-buck boom reflects strong interest in deer hunting and recognition of the whitetail’s many admi-rable qualities. Some other hunters fret about the possibility that antler mania could hurt hunting by making it more exclusively for the rich and less palatable to the non-hunting public. Meanwhile, Department of Natural Resources deer managers search for ways to appease a small but vocal number of hunters clamoring for more big bucks.

Bonkers for antlersInterest in large deer stretches back thou-

sands of years. The Lascaux cave of south-ern France contains images of large-antlered deer painted by Stone Age hunters 12,000 to 40,000 years ago.

From the 14th to 16th centuries, Euro-pean nobles “went bonkers for huge antlers,” according to Valerius Geist, retired professor of environmental science at the University of Calgary and a world-renowned expert

in ungulate biology. European nobles lined their manor halls with mounts of huge red deer. They viewed the massive animals, says Geist, as an “expression of the quality of their land, the ability of a lord to produce something exceptional.”

Unfortunately for peasant farmers, this antler obsession led to widespread destruc-tion. According to Geist, hunting parties of 30 to 40 drunken nobles on horseback tram-pled standing crops, orchards, and vineyards as they followed their hounds in pursuit of stags. Often they forced peasants to abandon their harvest and help with the hunts. Geist says it was “an abuse so prevalent that it eventually led to a major eruption in social order.” The ensuing Peasant War of 1524-25, he explains, set off a chain of revolts that dis-rupted Europe for 300 years and eventually led to the French Revolution.

Today’s big chaseAs was the case in Europe, trophy hunt-

ing in the early United States was undertak-en primarily by rich sportsmen. After World War II, hunting for food became less impor-tant to an increasingly affluent middle class, and interest in trophy hunting picked up. Then in the 1970s and ‘80s, as deer popula-tions mushroomed because of improved deer management, a trophy boom began. DNR wildlife biologists estimate that roughly one deer in 100 qualifies as a trophy — a subjec-tive term that roughly translates into a rack with at least four 7-inch-long tines on each main beam.

The Montana-based Boone and Crockett Club, which keeps North American records of big game taken in the wild, has seen a surge of entries as more hunters shoot tro-phy-sized animals. For example, more than one-fourth of Minnesota’s entries into the club’s 150 years of whitetail records have come during the past 10 years.

Though deer shot in fenced game farms don’t qualify as Boone and Crockett records, bucks hunted in unfenced preserves do, if taken according to the club’s fair-chase ethic. And some hunters will pay top dollar for the chance to hunt private preserves man-aged for big bucks. For example, one hunt-ing ranch advertises that for $4,800, “trophy hunters will have the opportunity to harvest the buck of their choice.”

Deer breeders have begun mating and even artificially inseminating whitetails to produce super bucks with gargantuan antlers. In 1996, Louisiana game breeder Larry Barger paid $150,000 for the world’s

highest-scoring live buck, with a 30-inch-wide rack and Boone and Crockett score of 3012/8. The buck’s semen was drawn and divided into 50 doses, which Barger sold for $1,500 apiece to breeders who hoped to pro-duce new world-record bucks by artificially inseminating does.

Some whitetail fans use a checkbook rather than a rifle to bag a trophy. Hunting magazines advertise replicas of famous mounts, such as the “Kansas King,” one of the largest trophy deer of all time. The repli-cas of the king sell for $995.

Collectors such as Wisconsin business-man Larry Huffman spend tens of thousands for authentic top record-book racks. Huff-man has amassed a collection of legend-ary mounts, including the Jordan (world’s second highest scoring) and Breen (world’s sixth highest scoring) bucks. An avid deer hunter who considers the whitetail “the greatest animal on this earth,” Huffman says he hopes to create a museum for his collec-tion.

As the price for trophy heads has gone up, so has the number of periodicals and products touting images of big bucks. Until the late 1970s, newsstands only occasionally displayed deer-hunting specialty magazines. Today, hunters can find a dozen different deer-hunting publications. The covers of North American Whitetail, Buckmasters, Bowmasters, and others feature huge white-tails with massive antlers--deer that few hunters will ever see, much less kill. Inside, sandwiched between how-to articles and profiles of lucky hunters, are pages festooned with ads for electronic deer-monitoring de-vices, human-scent eliminators, doe-urine attractors, and other potions and gadgets promising to deliver a “wall-hanger.”

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See BUCKS on PAGE 10

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A season of change is coming for Min-nesota waterfowl hunters.

Opening day, opening day shooting hours and the annual youth waterfowl hunt all will be earlier than in the past. Bag limits for wood ducks and hen mallards will be higher than last year. And north and south hunting zones have been added to provide additional hunting opportunity.

“We needed a change,” said Tom Land-wehr, commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). “We heard from waterfowl hunters that they supported these changes, and with waterfowl hunter numbers at record lows, we don’t expect season changes to negatively affect breeding populations.”

The 60-day, six-duck limit waterfowl season will open Saturday, Sept. 24. Opening day shooting will start one-half hour before sunrise. Duck bag limits are consistent with most other states in the Mississippi Flyway.

“The changes are designed to maintain Minnesota’s waterfowl hunting tradition by increasing opportunity and better utilizing the federal regulatory framework set by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under which we operate,” Landwehr said.

The changes reflect input from a recently formed citizen waterfowl hunting focus group.

This year’s earlier-than-usual opener will allow hunting when greater numbers of mi-grating wood ducks and blue-winged teal are around, yet maintains late-season opportuni-ties.

Hunting north of Minnesota Highway 210 – the North Duck Zone – will be al-lowed continuously through Tuesday, Nov. 22. Hunters in the South Duck Zone – any-where south of Highway 210 – will have a split season. Hunting will be allowed Sept. 24-25 to take advantage of early migrations then close for five days. The season in the south will resume on Saturday, Oct. 1, and

continue through Sunday, Nov. 27, Thanks-giving holiday weekend.

“As we set this year’s season, we looked hard for ways to improve hunter opportu-nities and satisfaction while maintaining healthy waterfowl populations,” said Land-wehr. “I believe this framework strikes that balance.”

Legal shooting hours on Sept. 24 will be one-half hour before sunrise rather than the 9 a.m. start that has been in place for the past seven years. Shooting hours end at 4 p.m. daily statewide until Saturday, Oct. 8, when hunting will be allowed until sunset.

Hunters will be able to keep up to four mallards, two of which may be hens, and three wood ducks. The hen mallard and wood duck limits increased by one compared with recent years. Daily limits for pintail, scaup and redhead remain at two. Hunters may still take one canvasback and black duck. The possession limit is twice the daily bag limit.

Minnesota’s 2011 mallard breeding population is estimated at 283,000, which is 17 percent higher than last year’s estimate of 242,000 breeding mallards, 3 percent above the recent 10-year average and 26 percent above the long-term average. The continen-tal population is 9 percent above 2010 and 22 percent above the long-term average.

“While we are very concerned waterfowl hunter numbers have been in decline in Min-nesota, the Dakotas and Canada,” said Land-wehr, “fewer hunters has resulted in lower duck harvests. In Minnesota, we are confi-dent our mallard population is strong enough to absorb an increase in harvest, given the reduced pressure.”

The special September Canada goose season will remain similar to last year. Sep-tember Canada goose season opens Satur-day, Sept. 3, and runs until Thursday, Sept. 22 statewide, with a bag limit of five Canada geese per day.

The opening of the 85-day regular Cana-

da goose season coincides with the opening of duck season on Saturday, Sept. 24, and retains a daily bag limit of three. Hunters north of Minnesota Highway 210 may hunt continuously through Saturday, Dec. 17. Hunters in the south zone may hunt Sept. 24-25 and resume on Saturday, Oct. 1, continu-ously through Thursday, Dec. 22. Another goose zone near Rochester will provide ad-ditional late hunting opportunity.

Minnesota’s traditional Youth Waterfowl Day will be conducted Saturday, Sept. 10, two weeks before the regular duck opener. It is timed to provide youth with an oppor-tunity to hunt abundant early migrating teal. To participate, youth 15 and younger must obtain a free small game hunting license, a Harvest Information Program (HIP) certifi-

cation, and be accompanied by a non-hunt-ing adult. Duck limits will be the same as the regular season and youth will be able to take five Canada geese.

“I’m really looking forward to this wa-terfowl season, and I hope Minnesota’s duck hunters are, too,” said Landwehr. “Given favorable weather conditions, Minnesota hunters should see more birds in the sky and more in their bag. And if that happens – and the entire conservation community contin-ues to work together on providing the food, cover, nesting and refuges areas that water-fowl need – it will be a good thing for hunt-ers, waterfowl, and the businesses whose livelihoods are linked to hunting.”

Duck season offers more options, opens one week earlier

Photo by Brian Hansel

Hunters will be going after waterfowl one week earlier.

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Early records suggest that sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) were common residents south and west of Minnesota’s forested region until the mid-1870s. Ecologically speaking, cranes employ a “slow” life-history strategy: they are long-lived, defer breeding for several years after fledging, exhibit very low reproductive rates and experience high annual survival. As a result, crane populations are more vul-nerable to exploitation than species exhibiting “faster” life histories. Therefore, it’s not surprising that rapid human expansion in the 1880s and settlement of Minnesota’s prairie region resulted in the extirpation of cranes in much of their former range. Once com-mon, the sandhill crane was considered rare by 1900 and it has been esti-mated that only 10-25 pairs were nesting in Minnesota in the mid-1940s. Since then sandhill crane populations have made a steady, if not rapid, recovery.

Distribution and population

The recent distribution of sandhill cranes in the state consists of two separate popula-tions, both of the greater subspecies: cranes in northwest Minnesota belong to the mid-continent population while those in central and east-central Minnesota belong to the eastern population. Crane populations will continue to expand throughout the state over the coming decades. The highest densities are expected along the transition zone be-tween Minnesota’s forest and prairie regions where wetland densities are high and upland

habitats are dominated by agriculture. The current population size within the state is unknown, and a monitoring program is needed to track long-term population trends.

Eastern population cranes that breed in Minnesota winter in north and central Flor-

ida, and mid-continent cranes from northwest-ern Minnesota winter along the Gulf-coast of Texas. Cranes generally return to their breeding areas from late-March through mid-April, and depart on their fall migration in early-Sep-tember through mid-No-vember. Resident cranes are impossible to differ-entiate from non-resident cranes during migration periods. In central and east-central Minnesota, nesting habitat consists of lowland emergent marshes and meadows dominated by sedges and grasses, often with

stands of phragmites, cattails, bulrush, and wild rice occurring in deeper water in larger basins. These lowland areas are interspersed with upland wooded ridges, open prairie knolls, oak savannahs and agricultural fields. Suitable breeding habitat can include any shallow, flow-through or isolated wetland adjacent to open, upland foraging areas. In areas with healthy crane populations and low availability of breeding territories, large non-breeding flocks (50-200 individuals) seek out large, disturbance-free shallow wet-lands with soft bottoms and open shorelines as roosting sites. These non-breeding flocks often remain in the local area throughout the growing season.

Controlling property damageStaging fall migrants feed in agricultural

fields, primarily small grains and waste corn. Concentrations of fall migrants in the north-west can cause severe depredation problems, especially during wet autumns when farmers are unable to harvest swaths before Septem-ber. Principal crops affected are wheat, oats, barley and rye. Spring damage to emergent small grains has also been reported. In cen-tral and east-central Minnesota most depre-dation by cranes occurs on sprouting corn, and has been documented around the Little

Falls area since the late-1980s. This damage is limited to the first 14-17 days of growth, when gymnosperm is available in the seed, and usually involves minor losses of up to 1 acre adjacent to individual crane breeding territories. However, more severe losses (up to 40 acres) to non-breeding flocks of 25-100 cranes have been documented up to 15 miles from roosting sites. As the crane population continues to expand, prevalence and severity of damage, and increased demand for depre-dation control should be expected.

Various measures have been utilized to reduce agricultural damage with limited success. Propane exploders, helium kites, flagging, scarecrows, scare balloons, and py-rotechnic scare devices, if successful, tend to relocate feeding cranes to another location. A combination of scare and harassment tech-niques along with lure crops may provide some temporary relief, and success often requires significant effort (sometimes annu-ally if cropping patterns remain unchanged) since cranes become easily habituated to hazing. However, hazing is essentially the only practical option for growers in emer-gency situations.

Sandhill cranes will continue to expand range in Minnesota

Photo by Brian HanselSandhill cranes are not hunted yet locally but their numbers are good. Some compare their meat to steak.

Once common, the sandhill crane was considered rare by 1900 and it has been estimated that only 10-25 pairs were nesting in

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A severe winter followed by a wet spring contributed to a significant decline in Minnesota’s pheasant counts. According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the pheasant population index declined 64 percent from 2010 and is 71 percent below the 10-year average.

Contributing factors include:• A second consecutive severe winter,

resulting in hen counts 72 percent below the 10-year average.

• Cold, wet weather during the April through June nesting period, resulting in brood counts 75 percent below the 10-year average.

• Loss of nearly 120,000 acres of grass habitat enrolled in farm programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) since 2007.

Severe winters combined with cold, wet springs are doubly hard on pheasant popula-tions. That’s because fewer hens survive the winter and those that do are less successful in producing broods.

Pheasant hunters are expected to harvest about 250,000 roosters this fall, the lowest harvest since 1997. This compares to har-vests that have exceeded 500,000 roosters five of the past eight years. The 500,000 bird harvests correspond with a string of mild winters and high CRP enrollment.

“We expect hunters to harvest a similar number of birds in 2011 as they did in 2001, which was another year with a severe winter followed by a cold, wet spring” said Kurt Haroldson, a wildlife biologist for the DNR’s Farmland Wildlife Population and Research Group in Madelia. Haroldson noted survey results indicated an unusually low ratio of hens to roosters.

This suggests hen mortality was high or hens were nesting or caring for young broods during the survey. If the late nest-ing effort was greater than normal, the 2011 pheasant population and the fall harvest may be higher than forecast. Pheasant popula-

tions can rebound quickly given good habi-tat, mild winter weather and favorable spring nesting conditions.

Minnesota is not the only state to see pheasant index declines. Wildlife officials in South Dakota reported a 46 percent popula-tion index decline. North Dakota’s spring population survey showed a decline, too.

The pheasant population estimate is part of the DNR’s annual roadside wildlife sur-vey. The survey summarizes roadside counts of pheasants, gray (Hungarian) partridge, cottontail rabbits, white-tailed jackrabbits and other wildlife observed in the early morning hours during the first half of August throughout the farmland region of Minne-sota.

The highest pheasant counts were in the east central region, where observers reported 51 birds per 100 miles of survey driven. Hunters will find fair harvest opportunities in pockets of south central and southwest Minnesota, but harvest opportunities in most of Minnesota’s pheasant range are rated poor to very poor.

This year’s statewide pheasant index was 23 birds per 100 miles driven, the low-est index since 1986. The pheasant index in southwest Minnesota, typically the state’s best pheasant range, fell 82 percent from last

year to 19 birds per 100 miles driven.Haroldson said the most important habi-

tat for pheasants is grassland that remains undisturbed during the nesting season. Protected grasslands account for about six percent of the state’s pheasant range. Farm-land retirement programs such as CRP, the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Pro-gram, Reinvest in Minnesota and Wetlands Reserve Program make up the largest por-tion of protected grasslands in the state.

High land rental rates and competing uses for farmland diminish the economic attrac-tiveness of farmland conservation programs. During the next three years, contracts for 550,000 acres of CRP lands are scheduled to expire. If not re-enrolled, this would reduce CRP acres in Minnesota by 36 percent.

To help offset continued habitat losses caused by reductions in conservation set-aside acreage, DNR has accelerated acqui-sition of Wildlife Management Areas in the farmland region of Minnesota. DNR also supports habitat conservation on private lands by working with a variety of partners in the Farm Bill Assistance Partnership and Working Lands Initiative. Also, nearly 10,000 acres of private property will be open to public hunting through the state’s new Walk-In Access program.

The August roadside survey, which be-gan in the late 1940s, was standardized in 1955. DNR conservation officers and wild-life managers in the farmland region of Min-nesota conduct the survey during the first half of August. This year’s survey consisted of 166 routes, each 25 miles long, with 148 routes located in the ring-necked pheasant range.

Observers drive each route in early morn-ing and record the number and species of wildlife they see. The data provide an index of relative abundance and are used to moni-tor annual changes and long term trends in populations of ring-necked pheasants, gray partridge, eastern cottontail rabbits, white-tailed jackrabbits and other select wildlife species.

The gray partridge index was similar to last year but 75 percent below the 10-year average. The cottontail rabbit index was also below the 10-year and long-term average. The jackrabbit index was 96 percent below the long-term average. Finally, the mourning dove index was 26 percent below last year and 29 percent below the 10-year average.

The 2011 August Roadside Report and pheasant hunting prospects map is available online.

Brutal winter, wet spring hurt pheasant numbers in Minnesota

Photo by Brian HanselPheasants dig down for corn in deep snow.

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They are clumsy, fun-loving and irascible. They are also one of the best hunting partners on four legs.

Labrador retrievers are the most popular breed of dog in the United States, according to the American Kennel Club. Their popularity is also high in Canada and the United Kingdom.

What makes them so popular? Having owned six labs and two

lab crosses I would like to know if there is a better dog.

Where do you fault them? The typical lab loves attention, they love people and they love to hunt anything.

There are few hunting breeds that are so versatile.

A good lab will go after pheasants or grouse with the same gusto they show in go-ing after a duck that has just gone down in the decoys.

My latest lab cross hunts butterflies, frogs, mice and even water bugs. It is easy to see that the skillet will never get rusty with her around.

Labs are considered great drug-busters because their sense of smell is so keen. They are also a favorite guide for the blind. For in-telligence there is only one hunting breed that beats them – the Golden Retriever.

Each August dog-loving hunters hold a two-week party at the Armstrong Ranch in Ramsey called the Game Fair. Dogs are invit-ed. Thousands and thousands of hunters and their families attend the Game Fair. You can find every sporting breed under the sun at the Game Fair – pointers, setters, retrievers and spaniels. There are even many non-sporting breeds to be found. But of all the breeds the one that stands out the greatest in number is the Labrador. Chocolate, black, yellow and white, they are all there. Hollywood has its red carpet, but when was the last time you saw Angelina Jolie retrieve a rubber dummy from a pond?

Labs have a tolerance for kids that parents really go for. Some dogs will bite if they are pestered by a child. I have never seen or heard of a lab hurting a tot no matter how much wrestling or ear-pulling they have to put up with.

Our first lab would not let a 4-year-old boy cross the street because she was afraid he would be hit by a car. My mother always ap-preciated her for that.

Our second one did not like the city so we gave him to a friend of mine. It was the only dog my pal’s mother ever let into the house.

The third one was professionally trained and would only bark if extremely provoked.

A drunk shot him one night after he slipped his leash.

When I got married and started a family in Fergus Falls a married co-worker convinced me to take a purebred lab off their hands. The pup had a bro-ken leg and was in a cast. When he did not improve my wife or-dered the vet to take the cast off. It was like letting a bird out of a cage. Pretty soon he was one of those labs that will play Frisbee with you all day. He was also known to chew through a one-

quarter inch steel leash to gain his freedom.The lab we had the longest was Kip. He

had an unfortunate hatred for raccoons and he was afraid of cracking ice, but what a friend! The kids could shake a rope tied to a plastic saucer sled in his face and he would chomp onto it and spin them around on the snow.

One of my current dogs is a yellow pure-bred lab. He will not let my other dog do any retrieving. I took him to Canada duckhunt-ing last year and he received a first-class education in the marshes. One night we were invited to a big party and King came along (probably for the food). He had done the work of 10 dogs that day and before too long there he was, fighting to keep his eyes open in the middle of a noisy crowd.

We worked King hard in Canada and he was always ready to hit the hay at night. He slept next to my bunk in the bus we stayed in and after we had gone to bed one night he let out a long howl in his sleep. The guy across the aisle bumped his head when he sat up and exclaimed “what the hell was that!” The guy in the bunk above him laughed so hard that he started to choke.

King’s popularity rose quickly despite his midnight serenades. On one of the last morn-ings we hunted we were heading out to a spot and I was driving. I put King in the back seat of my car and then had to wait while a couple of my two-legged hunting companions debat-ed who would ride in the back seat with him.

I like pointing dogs for grouse and pheas-ant hunting because they will hold a bird for you until you are ready. There is a breed of lab called a “pointing lab” but the natural instinct of this breed is to put the bird in the air right now. They are the same way about food. They know what to do when it is offered.

Perhaps the greatest lesson labs teach us is to love life and not take it too seriously. You can bawl a lab out for some mistake and a minute later there they are, licking your hand or doing something else that makes you mad – or makes you laugh.

A celebration of Labrador Retrievers

Brian HanselStaff Reporter

Photo by Brian HanselA chocolate lab retrieve a pheasant dummy. Labs are extremely versatile and intel-ligent gun dogs.

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Deer River fishing guide Jeff Sundin says he can no longer count on his favorite lakes to be empty of anglers in the fall, when the grouse season opens and the Minnesota Vi-kings play the Packers.

He has noticed that today’s well-equipped and tech-savvy anglers are more likely to push their fishing seasons past Labor Day—some-times past Halloween—in pursuit of walleye, bass, pike, and muskies.

“The popularity of fall fish-ing has definitely increased,” says Sundin. “These days my clients and I will fish until just before ice-up, which usually coincides with the deer-hunting opener.”

Fishing guides and resort owners say fall anglers mean extra business. “I have one customer who comes up each fall just to fish big pike,” says Don Beans of Ely, who guides many fall fishing trips into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. “Last year we landed 12 pike that were between 12 and 16 pounds.”

Department of Natural Resourc-es fisheries managers are keenly aware of the growing popularity of angling in the fall. Though they haven’t studied the phenomenon, DNR fisheries managers say they have noticed a new breed of anglers launching boats once the leaves turn colors.

“I’ve lived in Bemidji 15 years, and around 1990 you’d see the occasional boat on Lake Bemidji in mid-September,” says Henry

Drewes, DNR northwest regional fisheries manager. “Now on a late September day, it’s not uncommon to see 15 boats or more on the lake.”

From a fisheries management perspective, Drewes doesn’t see a downside to fall angling—there still aren’t enough anglers on the water to hurt fish populations, he says.

However, increased fall fishing can have a negative impact on wa-terfowl on some lakes.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that fall fishing is increasing the dis-turbance of migrating waterfowl,” says Ray Norrgard, DNR wetland program leader. “I think it’s a real is-sue for our north-central lakes such as Bowstring, Winnibigoshish, and Leech Lake. While we don’t have hard evidence, there is little doubt [fall angling] use on those lakes has gone up.”

No single factor is contributing to the growth in fall anglers, ob-servers say. Rather, the boost is the byproduct of some major shifts in angling, including the widespread availability of better equipment and a better understanding of fish behav-ior.

The Comfortable AnglerWhen Sundin began guiding in

the 1980s, fishing boats were not as big or powerful as they are today. “It was common to get wet from the splashing waves on a breezy October day,” Sundin says. Today’s larger boats offer a dry and comfort-able ride to a favorite fishing hole.

Anglers can also fish more com-

fortably on chilly fall days because they stay warmer and drier in high-tech clothing made of materials such as Gore-Tex.

Sophisticated depthfinders and navigation tools, such as GPS, have “made it easier to find both the fish and fishing spots,” Sundin says.

An angler himself, Drewes agrees. He adds that sophisticated boats and motors don’t require as much skill and time to winterize, so anglers are using them longer into

the fall.Also, Drewes speculates that ex-

pensive boats are likely to spend less time in the garage and more time on the water. “It’s nothing for folks to spend $35,000 on a boat, motor, and trailer,” he says. “And with that kind of investment, they’re going to want to use it more.”

The Savvy AnglerWith a vast fishing media to

educate them, anglers have become

smarter about lake ecology and fish behavior in the fall. Drewes says anglers today better understand the ecological mechanics of lake turn-over between late August and late September. Turnover occurs when the surface-water temperature cools and becomes denser. Water becomes heaviest at 39 F and sinks, forcing lighter water to the surface. This continuing shift, along with wind

The New Fall FishingFall fishing is fine—just don’t disturb the ducks

Photo by Brian HanselFall fishing is becoming more and more popular with anglers

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action, causes the lake water to mix from top to bottom. The topsy-turvy change makes the lake one temperature and causes fish to scat-ter and become harder to catch.

Once the wa-ter cools, says Sundin, fish begin to congregate in deep water and feed aggressive-ly—making them easier to catch. Pike and muskies begin to feed heav-ily on tullibees and whitefish—oily and fat-laden prey that are schooling and preparing to spawn. Walleyes, which in the summer are caught on leeches and night crawlers, seek out minnows that they find near 18- to 30-foot drop-offs and points.

“It’s a time when anglers should concen-trate on lakes with water temperatures of 57 to 65 degrees,” he says. “Minnows become more important; and by season’s end, we’re fishing entirely with minnows as bait.”

Muskie anglers, in particular, have taken

notice of fall baitfish habits and the fact that muskies are on the prowl for prey.

“I was at a meeting of the Fargo-Moorhead chapter of Muskies Inc., and I met a gentle-

man there who caught 30 legal muskies after Halloween,” Drewes says. “I know that muskie fishing is a part of our fishing busi-ness that has certainly grown into October and November.”

Fall anglers have also been lured to the water by Minnesota’s more frequently mild and dry fall weather, which some see as a sign of climate warm-ing.

“These mild falls are extending our open-water season into December,” Drewes says. “You have to factor climate change into the equation.”

The Careful AnglerIt’s not a coincidence that the north-

central lakes Norrgard frets about are also popular muskie and walleye fishing lakes.

Bowstring, Winnibigoshish, and Leech are not only popular fishing lakes, but also im-portant waterfowl-hunting lakes. Norrgard says duck hunters are increasingly worried about fall anglers and their boats disturbing late-migrating ducks such as scaup (blue-bills), ringnecks, and goldeneyes.

To avoid disturbing ducks, Norrgard sug-gests, “Anglers could take a lot more care when they see a large flock of ducks on the water by going way around them.” To re-solve potential angler/duck hunter conflicts, he suggests, “The obvious solution would be for anglers and hunters to show courteous behavior to other lake users.”

Fishing guide Beans offers fall anglers another precaution: Beware of cold water and

rapidly changing weather before venturing into the wilderness. An unexpected plunge into a remote lake in October could spell hy-pothermia and death.

“You should put a lot of care and thought into your fall trips,” he says. Still, one of his best recent memories is an October journey into the Boundary Waters for brook trout with his son. They encountered three bull moose courting a cow. They also caught a limit of trout.

“It’s just a great time of year to be out,” Beans says. “I guide all summer, but when fall fishing comes around, it’s just a real treat.”

(Article reprinted from the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer magazine).

FISHING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

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“Minnows become more important; and

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BUCKS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3


cosmetics and other products to help female readers achieve that elusive image on the cover, deer-hunting magazines sell an ideal to their mostly male audience.

A link between antlers and male fertility has long been be-lieved in some Asian cultures, in which many men still ingest powdered horn or antler to cure impotence. Some North American hunters acknowledge that showing off large antlers can be a metaphor for displaying male virility.

“I think [trophy deer interest] has much to do with the male fascination with nature’s most ex-travagant and beautiful secondary sex characteristics,” says Steve Grooms, an outdoor writer and past editor of the Minnesota Deer Classic Record Book, a compila-tion of trophy whitetail records and hunting stories.

Another explanation for killing large deer: It advertises a hunter’s talents in the field. “Today, we no longer measure our abilities as outdoorsmen by the weight of the game bag,” says Hugh Price, coordinator of the Minnesota Deer Classic, an annual exposition of trophy deer mounts. “A trophy deer is a way for someone to say, ‘I’m a skilled hunter who’s able to take the most elusive of big-game animals. I’ve put in my time. I’ve acquired a certain level of crafts-manship.’”

Some hunters believe that killing and then displaying a big-racked whitetail pays homage to the species’ exceptional quali-ties. Jay McAninch, a DNR deer expert who once viewed trophy mounts with disdain, has changed his outlook in recent years. “After meeting with many big-game tro-phy hunters, who have an almost reverence for the animals they’ve killed, I now look at [the mounts] as a way of honoring the best na-ture has to offer,” he says.

But others question the value of pursuing trophy deer. Rob Wegner, a deer-hunting historian and past publisher of Deer and Deer Hunting magazine, fears that emphasis on trophies could erode public acceptance of hunting.

“Most people don’t approve of killing an animal just to put it on

the wall,” says Wegner. He cites the research done by Stephen Kel-lert of Yale University, who found in the late 1970s that 82 percent of non-hunters disapproved of hunting for trophies. A 1992 DNR survey found a similar response, with 78 percent of Minnesotans surveyed saying they disapproved of hunting for a trophy or a mount.

An increase in trophy hunt-ing also could lead to less private land available to most hunters, says Keith McCaffery, a senior deer research biologist with the Wisconsin DNR. He points to southwestern Wisconsin, where hunters lease more than 25 percent of private land. Each hunter pays as much as $1,000 per season to hunt private land in a part of the state nationally renowned for big-antlered deer.

“We have a tradition of access to private land in this country,” McCaffery says, “and I see [the leasing of land to trophy hunters] as a loss of hunting opportunities for the average hunter.”

Record-breaking statesRegardless of their views of

trophy hunting, no hunter can dispute that Minnesota and other upper Midwest states produce the most big deer in the nation. The combination of northern latitudes, fertile land, and wooded farm-lands and river bottoms makes this the nation’s top trophy-producing region. Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin rank, in that order, as the top four states for whitetail entries in the Boone and Crockett record book since 1984. Minneso-ta is number one in entries dating back to 1830.

Despite these impressive statis-tics, some hunters are urging deer managers to refashion deer herds to produce even more big bucks. Advocates of what is called “qual-ity deer management” believe that Minnesota and other states could produce more trophy deer if natural resource agencies would restrict the kill of smaller bucks.

The theory, similar to that behind increasing the size of walleyes and other game fish, is biologically sound. Because most hunters want to shoot a buck, even

a small one, they crop off the 2- and 4-pointers that would have eventually grown up to be 8- to 12-pointers.

“We could have some incred-ible trophy whitetail hunting down here if only the DNR would do something to restrict the harvest of small bucks,” says Michael Sieve, a wildlife artist and big-buck man-agement proponent who lives in Houston County.

Hunter success ratesBut the price of producing

more big deer would be fewer deer to hunt, say DNR deer managers. “We’d have to limit the number of buck hunters, have a minimum antler size, or limit the number of days that hunters could harvest bucks,” says Dave Schad, DNR forest wildlife program leader. In other words, to produce more large-antlered deer, many hunt-ers would have to forgo killing a deer some seasons. “We strongly believe that most hunters wouldn’t go for that,” Schad says.

As a result, the DNR plans to stay its current course, which is to manage deer to provide the high-est hunter success rates possible while keeping the deer popula-tions at goal levels.

“We’ve got success rates of over 40 percent, equal to those of the so-called golden years of the 1960s,” says Schad. “Most hunters appear to be happy with that.”

Schad points out that landown-ers and groups of hunters can in-crease the percent of trophy deer in their hunting areas by agreeing among themselves to kill fewer small bucks. He also notes that the DNR has discussed developing a pilot project to see if managing for trophy deer would work in Minnesota as it has in other states such as South Carolina. Such an experiment would be conducted at a federal refuge or other large public area where hunter access and harvest could be closely con-trolled. But Schad says that the DNR doesn’t have money enough to do the experiment right now.

Perhaps that’s not such a ter-rible loss for deer hunting. After all, a trophy can be any deer sig-nificant to a hunter, whether it’s a

doe, a forkhorn, or a 16-pointer. Ultimately, most hunters cherish the memory of the hunt more than the reminder hanging on the wall.

Whatever satisfaction hunters take in acquiring trophies, they could learn something from the deer themselves, which are appar-ently less attached to their bony crowns. Each winter, after put-ting much energy into producing these splendid accessories, male deer “jettison their debt,” writes Rick Bass in his essay “Antlers.” With breeding season over, battle-weary bucks need not carry the

heavy antlers during the difficult winter months. And so the antlers drop off, like leaves from a tree. Bass writes, “The richness of the antlers, the extravagance of them, cannot be sustained.”

(Article reprinted from the Min-nesota Conservation Volunteer magazine).

Photo by Brian HanselRobby Grendahl of Wadena bagged this trophy buck while hunting near Sebeka.


Although game animals and hunting gear needs vary across the country, there is one aspect of hunting that is universal — the topic of safety. The combination of powerful weapons and the thrill of the hunt can lead to injury or death if safety precautions aren’t taken or mistakes are made. Before you grab your gun or bow, take a refresh-er course in hunting safety and follow these tips:

• First and foremost, always treat your disarmed bow or gun as if it were loaded. Never assume that the weapon is completely safe.

• Never point your weapon in anyone’s direction, even if it is unloaded. And don’t rest a weapon on your toe or foot, or up against a fence or tree.

• Know your safe zone-of-fire and stick to it. Your safe zone-of-fire is the area or direction in which you can safely fire a shot. (It is called the “down range” at a shooting facility.) Be sure you know where your companions are at all times. Never swing your gun or bow out of your safe zone-of-fire.

• Keep the safety engaged at all times until the time when you are ready to shoot.

• Clearly identify your target before shooting. Ev-ery year, people are shot because they are mis-taken for deer or other animals. Until your target is fully visible and in good light, do not even raise the scope of your rifle to see it, but use binocu-lars, instead, to clarify the target. Know what is in front of and behind your target. Never take a shot at any animals on top of ridges or hillsides since you don’t know what is behind it. It is a good idea to scout out your proposed hunting area to make sure there aren’t homes or roads close by.

• Know the range of your weapon: how far it will shoot, what loads you have in the chamber and how accurate you are with a bow or gun. (It’s a good idea to visit a gun range prior to hunting season and fire your weapon to gauge accu-racy.)

• When hunting from a tree stand, use fall re-straints, like a shoulder harness or safety belt, to prevent you from falling.

• Keep your emotions in check. No trophy buck or pheasant is worth risking making a mistake.

• Hunt only during the state-allowed hours, usu-ally from dawn until dusk. Never hunt at night or in weather where visibility is compromised.

• Make sure you are hunting on state-approved land. Avoid areas that are “Posted” as private property.

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camouflaged, bush-like object that prevent ducks from spotting you in the water) or into or out of a tree stand with a loaded weapon.

• Practice ear and eye safety. Many hunters damage their ears by repeatedly firing a weapon without proper ear protection. If you must listen for game approaching, put a soft earplug in the ear closest to the weapon to acquire some protection. Wear protective eye goggles as well.

• Keep your weapon clean and well maintained. The smallest amount of debris lodged in your weapon (even a small amount of snow in a rifle barrel) can cause a misfire and potential injury. Always dismantle and check the weapon carefully after each use, and any time it is dropped.

• Wear conspicuous-colored clothing, like bright fluores-cent orange, so you’ll stand out in thick foliage and not be mistaken for an animal. If you live in a rural area, dur-ing hunting seasons (which vary by state and weapon), have family members protect themselves by dressing in bright colors as well.

• Clean your gun. Guns should be cleaned after every time they are used, and a gun brought out from pro-longed storage should be cleaned prior to shooting. Ac-cumulated moisture, dirt, grease or oil can prevent the gun from operating properly. Before cleaning ALWAYS make sure the gun is unloaded.

• Store guns so they are not accessible to unauthorized persons.

• Never drink alcohol or use drugs before or during a hunting trip.

DIVERS CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE


Photo providedConservation officer Greg Oldakowski addresses a trapping class at Dewey’s Taxidermy near Wadena. Members of the 2011 class include Trent Hagen, Dakotah Revering, Luke Schmitz, Isaac Schmitz, Sean Jager, Ryan Grendahl, Matt Goeden, Cody Wegs-cheid and Joey Schmitz.

Trapping class

Robby and Ryan Grendahl have read many books on duck hunting by well-known outdoorsmen.

building.“You get to see some neat things,” Gren-

dahl said. The Grendahls ran into an old-timer

once that was with two younger men. When Grendahl told the old man he was a teacher he was thrilled.

“I was a teacher for 35 years,” said the old man.

What Grendahl got a kick out of was that the old man’s companions were not his relatives, they were a couple of his former students.

Grendahl also likes the history of duck hunting and has collected some fine books on the subject penned by men like Nash Buckingham, Jimmy Robinson and Gordon MacQuarrie.

Those precious days of late October and early November when the northern flight wings into Minnesota are coming and the Grendahls will be out there rain, sleet, snow or shine. If a good wind is blowing all the better.

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Hunting & Fishing 2011