the outdoors
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…
By Scott Rall, The OutdoorsSeptember 18, 2024I am one of those dyed-in-the-wool property rights kind of guys. I would never – and I mean never – set foot on anyone else’s property without permission. I think that any person who trespasses on another person’s property without permission should be held to the highest extent of the law. I hear of many landowners who might go out and shoo a trespasser away and never take any real action with…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors columnistSeptember 11, 2024How many times do you hear folks say that the summer just got away from them and they cannot believe it’s almost fall already? I am getting to be a pretty old man, and I realize I am most likely living in the last quarter of my life. I spend considerable effort doing my very best not to be one of those other folks. I spend every waking moment I can outside. I hustle to finish at least part of…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors columnistSeptember 04, 2024How many times do you hear folks say that the summer just got away from them and they cannot believe it’s almost fall already? I am getting to be a pretty old man, and I realize I am most likely living in the last quarter of my life. I spend considerable effort doing my very best not to be one of those other folks. I spend every waking moment I can outside. I hustle to finish at least part of…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors columnistAugust 28, 2024My fiancée Joan Holles is signed up for a Women’s Learn to Hunt workshop for next weekend. When visiting her daughter in Orlando a few weeks back, she shared this little tidbit with her daughter and son-in-law. The first words out of their mouths were, “How could you ever even consider shooting a pheasant?” This is a question often asked by the non-hunting public. They could not conceive of an…
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 columnistJuly 24, 2024For the most part, every creature in nature is totally cute when it is born. I do have a few exceptions, and the strongest one on my list is a baby robin. They do not look at all cute. They are all fuzz and two huge eyes. On the opposite end of that spectrum is the fawn of a whitetail deer. I don’t know anyone on this planet that doesn’t agree that a deer fawn is adorable. I am seeing a less…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistJuly 17, 2024With a break from the rains, I was willing to venture outside a bunch this past week. My rain gauge in Nobles County had 15.2 inches of rain over the past few weeks. The grass is tall, the mosquitoes are as big as fighter jets, and there are certainly a lot of them. With all of my food plots tended to and much of the “to do” list completed, I opted for an afternoon of clay bird shooting. A…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistJuly 10, 2024There is nothing else to talk about in southwest Minnesota except flooding. I have lived in this part of the state for 50 years and have only seen it this bad a few other times. Lives are changed and fortunes ruined. The only light at the end of this tunnel is that the waters are receding and most of the roads that were once closed are now open again. I was blown away about how fast the gravel…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors columnistJune 05, 2024I made my annual trip up to Upper Red Lake last week, and for the first time in a very long time we caught very few fish. The main reason for the dismal catch rates was the weather. We had high winds two of the three days that we tried to fish that kept us off the water. I have an old, sturdy Alumacraft boat that has been on some pretty rough water, but even for me this was just too much. We…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistMay 29, 2024I am so glad May 15 has come and gone. This date is the deadline for many of the projects I engage in for conservation purposes. When you light prescribed grassland fires for habitat regeneration, this needs to be done by May 15. This allows the habitat interruption to take place before the onset of the primary nesting season. The same is true for mowing newly planted CRP acres. These are…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistMay 15, 2024When it comes to luck, mine is normally pretty sour. Even my closest friends call me the character on the “Snoopy” cartoon who has the rain cloud following him around. When my friends have bad luck, they refer to it as “the luck of the Scoot” (Scoot is my nickname). I needed to get my boat ready for the fishing opener and had about a dozen things to check on before heading out on the road. One…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistMay 08, 2024Minnesota fishing opener is just right around the corner. This special day will have more Minnesotans out and about than any other outdoor opening day. The season opens at 12:01 on May 11. The season for pan fish stays open year-round but for walleyes and other game fish there is a regulated season in order to allow these fish to spawn unmolested. I used to be one of those folks out at midnight…
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