Rall
By Scott Rall, Outdoor ColumnistOctober 08, 2025The first day of fall has just passed us. This is my favorite time of the year and I can bet that most of you who have read my stuff already knew that. The waterfowl migrations are only a few weeks away, and as often as you might have marveled at that, there is one other creature that passes through Minnesota that many of you may know very little about. That is the sandhill crane. These birds…
By Scott Rall, The OutdoorsOctober 01, 2025I can only wonder what it might be like to own vast expanses of land covered with pheasant habitat. When the opening day bell rings, you could drive up to your favorite spot and go hunting. You would know for sure that there would not be a parking lot full of other trucks all waiting to hunt the exact spot you intended to hunt. I must be asleep because for me this would certainly be a dream.…
By Scott Rall, Outdoor ColumnistSeptember 03, 2025I was watching the sunset a few nights ago, and as the light faded, I was able to enjoy the tail end of the firefly season. Who as a child was not enthralled by the glowing green flashes these creatures emit? I can remember one specific night when my now 40-year-old son Brandon and I sat on the tailgate of my Mazda pickup at the boat landing of Little Spirit Lake when he was about seven years…
By Scott Rall, Outdoor ColumnistAugust 20, 2025I can remember back in the mid ’80s when seeing a pheasant was a really big deal. This is how my life worked back then. If you went pheasant hunting and saw one bird, it was a total success. It did not matter if you saw it fly across the road on your way to a spot or if you flushed it. Just seeing one was a win. Years progressed, and as small fragments of grasslands returned to southwest…
By Scott Rall, Outdoor ColumnistMarch 26, 2025I was just talking to my wife the other day and we were discussing how excited we were for the warmer weather that is soon to arrive. Her response with a laugh was that we could start our 2025 tick count again as a result. Last season we kept count of how many wood ticks we removed between the two of us. That total was 39. Most of those were not attached but a few were. The ticks we have in…
By Scot Rall, Outdoor ColumnistNovember 13, 2024The big deer hunting opener is Saturday, Nov. 9. The firearms season runs nine days in southwest Minnesota, but that is far from the end of deer hunting for the season. Muzzleloader hunting starts a few days after the gun season and runs for a few weeks, and bow hunters can continue until Jan. 1. I was able to track down my local conservation officer, Dustin Roemeling, for a short question and…
By Scot Rall, Outdoor ColumnistOctober 23, 2024What an interesting weekend I had at the Governor’s Pheasant Hunting Opener! The event started in 2011 when Congressman Petersen talked Governor Dayton into a hunt. It has matured over the years and is hosted by different communities who all vie for the opportunity through an application process. My home town of Worthington, Minnesota, has hosted the event twice since its inception. I have…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors columnistAugust 14, 2024My decision on the next dog to join the dog pack at my house is getting closer. I have been bringing you into my decision-making criteria for the past two weeks or so. I have narrowed the choices from about 30 down to three. The dog breeds that are still on my short list include the small Munsterlander, the English setter and the German shorthair pointer. The pros and cons of each as I am able…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors columnistAugust 07, 2024Last week I started a conversation about the possibility of adding a pointing dog to my pack of flushing Labradors. I was pretty uneducated about where to start on this endeavor. I looked up a group of dogs called versatile breeds and found 28 different breeds that all fall into this category. The general description of a versatile dog is one who can point and retrieve game on both land and…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors columnistJune 19, 2024By Scott Rall I find it quite unbelievable that some folks can recall facts and figures from 40 years ago. I can remember the snow storm of 1976 like it was yesterday. Names and faces appear to often be chiseled in granite. I can only wonder if those same facts and figures are truly accurate or just the dispeller’s version of an event that I can’t prove fact or fiction one way or the other.…
By Scot Rall, Outdoor ColumnistApril 10, 2024It is sure starting to feel good outside. Temperatures in my neck of the woods this weekend are going to be in the high 60s. It makes me want to go fishing. The Minnesota opener is scheduled for May 10. Time to double-check to make sure the boat registration is up to date and that the motor starts without issue. I find it perplexing how you can put your stuff away for the winter, and without one…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors columnistMarch 06, 2024This column is being written solely to generate discussion surrounding some proposed gun legislation being floated at the Minnesota State Capitol these days. I repeat, this is to create discussion and not explode the virtues one way or the other of these proposed legislations. Now, I am a gun guy and regularly spend time on the range participating in all kinds of recreational shooting, from…
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 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 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 RallJuly 02, 2023I planted a tree in my front yard about two years ago. It received more attention than any other tree I have ever put in the ground. After I watered and nurtured the tree for two years, the winter of 2022-2023 finally killed it off. The tree had a tube on it to keep the rabbits away. When the snow got taller than the tube, the rabbits started in. Each additional snow allowed them more access to…
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