Scott Rall
By Scott Rall, Outdoors ColumnistFebruary 04, 2026The dogs had such a sad look on their faces this morning when I was unloading my hunting vest. It was officially the end of the pheasant season in Minnesota. If you wanted to continue you can chase them in South Dakota which does not close until the end of January or a few days still remain in the state of Iowa. The Minnesota season was a stellar one. The bird numbers were much higher than the…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors ColumnistJanuary 07, 2026To some folks these two words are pretty scary. These two words are “silencers” and “suppressors.” To others they are just the common names for a firearm accessory. Suppressors or silencers were heavily regulated starting in 1934. This intense regulation was to prevent criminal and others of ill intent during the days of prohibition. They were and are still regulated as an NFA item. NFA stands…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors ColumnistDecember 30, 2025I really need someone to tell how much it is going to snow this winter. We got snow early on and in one weekend hunting pheasants in South Dakota it made it all the way to 12 below zero. I have a dog box equipped to handle this but it did not keep from checking on them several times throughout the night. The snow in this location was so deep that a group of 4 gave up after one morning of hunting…
By Scott Rall, Outdoor ColumnistDecember 23, 2025So how many of you can say that you actually stored all the summer gear that has a battery in it properly? How many of you know the difference between a standard and AGM battery. Can you charge a lithium battery with a standard charger? Lots of good questions here. The answer for many folks is no to all of them. It really did not matter all that much when a boat battery cost about $65. It lasted…
By Scott Rall, Outdoor ColumnistDecember 17, 2025I received a call last week from a property owner whose rural residence is located near a public land parcel. The parcel in this example was a signed Wildlife Management Area (WMA). He had questions about what rules were in place regarding gun discharge within 500 feet of his homestead. He was certain that it was illegal. The facts of the matter are a little different. The Minnesota hunting…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors ColumnistDecember 09, 2025As soon as Thanksgiving has come and gone, it is the Christmas shuffle that creeps up on me. I do not wait until the last day or two, but I am never way ahead of time. I get a bad taste in my mouth when I must default to a gift certificate when all else fails or the procrastination overcomes me. I am a “consumable-product-gift” kind of guy. Buying a gift that sits on a shelf or hangs on a wall…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistNovember 19, 2025The news is always full of car crashes and other accidents. Some are farm- or work-related or others might be as simple as a guy falling off a ladder or crashing to earth from a tree stand. Almost all of these have one thing in common: The name of the person who died or was critically injured is a name I have never even heard of before. That changed on Nov. 8 when Luverne lost a community…
By Scott Rall, Outdoor ColumnistNovember 12, 2025So, what do four guys from California, Washington, D.C., Oregon and Minneapolis have in common with three guys from Toledo, Ohio? They all made it to southwest Minnesota in the past two weeks to go pheasant hunting on public lands. There could not have been a more diverse group of outdoors enthusiasts than this group. Two sold mortuary services, one was a crane operator, one a political lobbyist…
By Scott Rall, Outdoor ColumnistSeptember 24, 2025Last week we started a conversation about which gun is the best choice for a youth hunter with little to no hunting experience. I pretty much put the kibosh on a break-open single shot shotgun with an exposed hammer and the reasons why it is a poor choice. When selecting a gun for a new hunter I think a youth pump shotgun is the best choice. There is a variety of reasons that make this the best…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistSeptember 10, 2025The numbers are in, and they are the best we have had in a very long time. The Minnesota DNR has released the results of the August roadside counts, and if you are a pheasant hunter you should be excited. I have been doing the Nobles County Roadside Count routes for about 15 years. It took me over 20 years of waiting to get that volunteer job. I had to wait until the current driver either…
By Scott Rall, Outdoor ColumnistAugust 06, 2025I was out on a wildlife ride yesterday to look at the native wildflowers at their very peak for the season. For whatever reason this is about three weeks later than a normal year. Nobody can really explain why that happened this year. During this trip I came across several monarch butterflies that were hanging out on a yellow cone flower that was in full bloom. As I watched these creatures, I…
By Scott Rall, Outdoor ColumnistJuly 09, 2025Since I was about 14 years old – that was 50 years ago, I have always been attached to the outdoors. I started on a bike as my transportation to and from the local lake in my town to go fishing. A kid with a rod and reel and an old-fashioned stringer hanging from the center bar with a few crappies on it if I was lucky that day. I believe that every human being has a magnetic attachment to wild…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistJuly 02, 2025It was that time of year again when I needed to take the herd of dogs I own to the vet for some routine shots. Not that this is a new thing by any means. I normally have had at least four dogs at my house since 1995. The most dogs I have ever had at one time was six, and at the low point in my hunting past I was for a short time down to zero. I had sold a starter dog in May of that year, and…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistJune 18, 2025It has been a very long time since I last laid eyes on a creature I saw last night. For the first time in over five years, I saw a small juvenile red fox. This animal used to be quite common around southwest Minnesota, but for reasons I mention a little later, they have for all practical purposes vanished from my area. The red fox is in the upper quartile of foxes for size around the world. They…
By Scott Rall, Outdoor ColumnistJune 11, 2025My four-dog team of pheasant chasers recently reduced to three as my oldest dog Tracer, now almost 14, retires to the carpet at my son’s house in Harrisburg, South Dakota. There are two granddaughters there, ages five and six, who lavish that spoiled dog with constant hugs and kisses. He is living large, and both he and I are pretty happy about it. This leaves me with an 11-year-old, a 10-year-…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistMay 28, 2025There seems to be a new sheriff in town when it comes to operating a boat or personal watercraft in Minnesota waters. There are new regulations starting July 1, 2025. These new rules require both youth and younger adults to be certified in watercraft safety if you were born after 2004. The new rules are being phased in. If you were born after 2004, the requirements begin on July 1 of this year…
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