the outdoors
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.…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistMarch 12, 2025My phone has pretty much been ringing off the hook the past few months as people see dead geese decomposing on the ice of area lakes. The bird flu is not a new thing, but a pathogenic avian influenza outbreak has been working its way across Minnesota since it was first reported in 2022. The danger to humans is very low, but you should avoid contact with infected animals and use protective gear…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistFebruary 26, 2025This is one of those times of the year when a dog guy gets kind of bored. The ice conditions have been so sketchy that I don’t really feel all that great driving on the ice of the area lakes. More about this next week. So with no seasons open, I took to observing one of the only ways yet available to harvest a pheasant. How do you do that when all of the hunting seasons are closed? You find a…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistFebruary 05, 2025Can you remember the very first game animal you ever harvested? I certainly can remember the first goose I ever shot, and I can tell you exactly where I was when I harvested my first duck. But for the life of me, I cannot remember my first rooster. I can remember my first rooster shot over a trained hunting dog. I have been blessed to have been part of many firsts for other new hunters. Most…- By Scott Rall, Outdoor ColumnistJanuary 29, 2025So, what does a lawsuit in Utah have to do with the citizens of Minnesota? The answer is “plenty.” The state of Utah recently took their case to the United States Supreme Court to force the 18.5 million acres of Federal Land in Utah to be turned over to the state. The lands in question are managed by the Federal Bureau of Land management for grazing, mining and public recreation — including…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistJanuary 22, 2025The winter we never had last year has appeared this year, at least in the form of decent ice as a result of day after day of below zero temperatures during the overnights. Most of the local lakes in my area are at 14-15 inches of solid clear ice in most locations. I was up in northeast South Dakota a few weeks back, and the ice conditions there were very good. You will still see a few someones…
By Scot Rall, Outdoor ColumnistDecember 31, 2024So, how many of you reading this column today know what the North American model of conservation is? If you don’t know, don’t feel bad. I would guess that 80 percent of the general public has never heard of this term before. After a little explanation most of you will say that you have heard bits and pieces of it and generally understand its principles after all. The way that game fish and…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistDecember 18, 2024With about 10 days before the big Christmas holiday, I suppose I should start to think about those on my Christmas list. I never fail in this department, but I won’t fight the crowds on Black Friday or any weekend day, for the most part. I really try hard not to buy gift cards. Sure, they work and get the job done, but they do show limited effort to match a gift to the recipient. So, I made up…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors columnistNovember 26, 2024I saw a dead deer on this spot and then I saw another deer dead in another spot, and overall, this pheasant hunting/deer hunting season I have seen at least a dozen dead deer that were not as a result of a deer hunter’s bullet. The reports of dead deer in large numbers are circulating in my hunting circles, but I cannot confirm with any of my sources more than just a sporadic deer here or there…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors columnistNovember 20, 2024So how is your pheasant hunting season going? Mine has been pretty bleak, but this is not the result for all hunters who chase ringnecks on the pheasant range of Minnesota. The weather has been so nice I can find no way to complain. The higher-than-normal temperatures in November certainly make the winter shorter, and I am all for that. What it also does is make getting a rooster into gun range…
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 Scott Rall, Outdoors columnistNovember 06, 2024With the pheasant season underway, it is pretty easy to get so concentrated as to forget that the firearms deer season opens on Nov. 9 and runs thru Sunday, Nov. 17. I was reading some research results of a whitetail deer fawn study that was released recently, and the numbers are pretty eye-opening. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources collared 103 deer fawns in the spring of 2023. By…
By Scot Rall, Outdoor ColumnistOctober 30, 2024The reports are all over the map about pheasant hunting success in the first few weeks of the pheasant hunting season. My efforts were pretty solid for the first few days and they have tailed off greatly since. There is a whole list of possible excuses, but I will start with the ones that I think can actually hold water from a pheasant and dog biology perspective. The crops are pretty much gone…
By Scot Rall, Outdoor ColumnistOctober 16, 2024What is the fastest-growing segment of new hunters being added to the ranks of outdoors people? If you guessed women, you would be right. They still make up a small percentage of the total, but that number is increasing every year. I have developed a close bond with a group of lady hunters who range in experience level from novice to polished. They come from the metro area every year to hunt in…
By Scot Rall, Outdoor ColumnistOctober 09, 2024Some folks spend months planning where they are going to take their next vacation, researching here and there and trying to come up with a location that can best all of their friends. Should it be an all-inclusive or some other format? I can say that in all of my years the only free time planning I have ever spent any amount of time on is where I might want to go bird hunting, and even then,…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors columnistSeptember 25, 2024Every morning I get up about 5:30-6 a.m., open my garage door, and share my morning coffee with three Labradors that keep watch for anything and everything that might walk by. Seems like only in the last week or so when I open the door, it is no longer light outside. This is a sure sign that the pheasant hunting season will soon be upon us. The opening day of the pheasant season this year will…
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