Scott Rall
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…
By Scott Rall, Outdoor ColumnistMay 21, 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…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistMay 14, 2025So how many of you have even heard of the Land and Legacy Amendment? Of those of you who recognize the term, how many of you are familiar with what it is and how it operates? I am so surprised how the average Minnesotan is so disconnected from this title. Let us give you a little background. It was during one of the biggest recessions of the past 40 years that the citizens of Minnesota made a…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistMay 07, 2025The smoke is in the air. Anyone who has been driving around the countryside lately will have seen lots of smoke. The different departments of wildlife agencies have been very busy doing prescribed fire. Yours truly has been doing the same, mostly for private land owners who have acres enrolled in CRP. It seems that no matter how many times I include the rationale for spring burning, I always…
By Scot Rall, Outdoor ColumnistApril 30, 2025I will open with a question. How many walleyes do you think an angler should be able to keep each day? Across the state of Minnesota that would largely be six walleyes per day. Lakes with special regulations do vary from this number. The possession limit, the total number of fish that can be in you possession at any one time, is also six walleyes. If I catch six walleyes today, in order to be…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistApril 23, 2025I can remember many decades ago that my local chapter of Pheasants Forever decided they needed some kind of a local project to let folks know we existed and to maybe get a little bigger footprint in the local community. We decided that if we adopted a section of Highway 60 between Worthington and Bigelow, Minnesota, we would get our name on the sign the Minnesota DOT would put up. It worked, and…
By Scot Rall, Outdoor ColumnistApril 09, 2025There are so many things I have done in my life where I was absolutely terrible. I had to try over and over until I got to the point of being recreationally proficient. Take shooting sporting clays as an example. My first effort resulted in a score of seven out of 50. My second try was a mere 15 out of 50. I kept at it and after 40 years I can now normally shoot in the low 40s most of the time.…
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