the outdoors
April 08, 2026I follow. I research. I investigate. I cross reference. I consult multiple sources and when I am all done, I can’t say for sure what, if anything is going to happen with gun laws in Minnesota this session. I can certainly remember the old adage, “don’t believe everything you hear and only half of what you read.” Today I have changed that saying to, “don’t believe absolutely anything you hear and…
By Scott Rall, Outdoor ColumnistApril 01, 2026It’s really hard to balance a person’s conservation dedication against all of the other issues in the nation today. I am an adamant supporter of public lands and the recreation that they provide. Especially, considering they are the only places for many rank-and-file outdoor users to hunt, bird watch, photograph or just exist to drown out all of the white noise in our lives. In my neck of the…
By Scott Rall, Outdoor ColumnistMarch 25, 2026I attended an important meeting while I was at the 2026 National Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic a few weeks back in Minneapolis. There was a lot going on in the Minnesota metro area over the past few months, but it did not seem to interfere with the attendance greatly. The Minneapolis location normally has about 32,000 visitors, and this year it was 28,500. I thought that was pretty good…
By Scott Rall, Outdoor ColumnistMarch 11, 2026I sure wish I could explain why one of my dog’s teeth are super white with no tartar or build-up and the other one’s teeth are kind of yellow and need veterinarian dental attention. The very last thing a dog owner wants to spend a lot of time or money on is dog dental work. It truly is one of those areas that most dog owners pretty much ignore. You can ignore it but, in the end, you will likely…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistFebruary 18, 2026At my tender age of 65 I have seen exactly two wolves in the wild. Both were in northern Minnesota and both were by pure accident. They were both seen running across the road in front of my travel vehicle. The timberwolf in Minnesota has had more of its share of litigation over the past 45 years. They were added to the endangered species list in 1978. In 2011 they were removed from the list…
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, 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 ColumnistOctober 29, 2025When is the weather so bad that you will just not go hunting in it? That answer is different depending on who you ask. I, for one, will not chase my favorite ring-necked pheasants in a steady rain. The only other time I will take a voluntary pass is when the wind is above 25 miles per hour. Then just add in the fact that you have visitors who have traveled a long distance, and then these two…
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, 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 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…
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