the outdoors
By Scott Rall, Outdoors columnistOctober 18, 2023As is part of my normal pheasant hunting opening weekend activities, I made the drive to the 2023 Governor’s Pheasant Hunting Opener event in Owatonna. This area is not necessarily known as the hotbed of pheasant hunting opportunities in our great state, but there were about the same number of birds harvested by attendees as any other events of its kind since 2012. So I guess you might need to…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors columnistOctober 11, 2023Hunting wild stuff, be that antlered animals or fowl of any sort, is usually a result of an introduction made by one special person who took the time to expose a youth to the outdoor lifestyle. The number of people who hunt today only make up about 11 percent of the United States population and that number is falling. I have been hunting since I was 14, almost 50 years now, and I can say there…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors columnistOctober 04, 2023I find it interesting that no matter where you live or what kinds of outside activities you enjoy, there is always a desire to see and experience new things. I never get tired of a good wildlife ride exploring the prairie landscapes in my state. Even with this deep appreciation for this kind of ecosystem, I still find a need to explore further from home. I make these explorations to different…
By Scott RallSeptember 27, 2023This is the final installment of a public land acquisition process. We have covered a lot in the last three columns, and this will get us to the end zone. Last week we left off at the appraisal review process. I have never had an appraisal review that ended up changing the value of a parcel, although the purchase agreement signed earlier does openly state that the PA is subject to an appraisal…
By Scott RallSeptember 20, 2023In the first two columns about public land acquisition, we covered how a parcel is selected and how these sales originate. Appraisals are then completed and surveys finished and then reviewed by a second party. After these are finalized, you can actually get close to having the seller and buyer sign a purchase agreement. But there are still a few more steps until that takes place. Once the…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistSeptember 06, 2023I was asked a while back about what goes into the decisions made when land is purchased for habitat restoration. This is a topic many folks are curious about so I thought I would explain in a multi-week column just what happens when new public lands are added in your county. When you see a new Wildlife Management Area pop up in your area, it’s hard to believe that many of them have been in the…
By Scott RallAugust 22, 2023As I was walking through some native prairie with my gal the other day, she commented on how cool it was that all of the different plants all seemed to get along so well together. She wondered why they all seemed to share the same space without trying to out-compete each other. It got me thinking just how rich a native prairie can be. Almost all the native prairie that once existed across the…-
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistAugust 15, 2023Finally, some rain showed up across much of southwest Minnesota and everyone was more than happy to see it. I certainly didn’t need it to make a living like many others, but it was still a welcome sight to me for a different reason. The first two weeks of August is the timeframe when the Minnesota DNR conducts their annual roadside counts for a variety of species, but the king in all this is the…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistJuly 18, 2023A few weeks back I spent some time in this column running through the basics of shooting at long-range targets. I am no expert on this subject matter but certainly have gotten bit by the long-range-shooting bug. What prompted my entry into this discipline was an introduction to a gentleman by the name of Todd VanLangen. Todd is a 25-year veteran of the Army Special Forces unit where he spent 13…
By Scott RallJuly 11, 2023If you are a regular reader of my columns, you will certainly know by now just how much of a public lands advocate I am. When I was 11 and my parents got me a new bike, I was a roving fisherman. I rode that bike all over my neck of the woods trying to find and catch whatever kind of fish I could. When I got a car and could then drive to a fishing or hunting spot, I was sure that my desire to…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistJune 27, 2023I was driving to work today in my small-town USA and saw a sight that is so common, one that just causes me pain. It is one of those pains that I don’t actually suffer from but feel it when I see someone else suffering from it. My route parallels a walking path that weaves its way through my town. The sight I saw was a lady of smaller stature walking her dog down this path. About 50 yards ahead…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistMay 23, 2023The biggest outdoor day of the year in Minnesota was May 13. The fishing opener, to many, is better than any of the other holidays when you don’t have to go to work. Minnesota sells more fishing licenses than any other state per capita. There will have been long lines at many boat ramps across the state and especially at the most popular walleye lakes in the state. There will be a larger than…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistMay 09, 2023Which way is the wind going to blow today? There is little doubt why southwest Minnesota is covered up with wind towers. Worthington has been the site for the National Wind Surfing Regatta several times over the past 10 years with Lake Okabena, considered the second windiest place over water in the state, right in the town of Worthington. Almost everything I do in April and May is affected by the…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistFebruary 21, 2023The 2023 legislative session in Minnesota is underway. They have many items on their plate this session, and the one that will get the most attention is what to do with the many billion-dollar surplus the state has from the Recovering America Act that sent billions to the states. Unfortunately, this multi-billion dollars of federal money was borrowed and was added to the national debt of over 34…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistFebruary 07, 2023I just got back from a few days in northeast South Dakota from a pike spearing trip. I had been to the location last year, and the group I was with had probably the best spearing trip they will ever have. There were large numbers of pike, and the average size was very good. I am not the kind of spear anger may other folks are. I think that once you have speared a pike in the 40–42-inch range,…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistJanuary 17, 2023There is nothing better than a great photo of an outdoor experience. As an old-school kind of guy, the new current trend of everything being digital makes my life a little harder. I actually have a wall of fame in my garage. I have a collection of printed pictures from years of different experiences printed and stapled to this wall. It seems today an actual print is kind of like a dinosaur.…
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