the outdoors
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistNovember 15, 2022There is just never a dull day in the field when you share it with four Labradors. I have a great start to the 2022 pheasant season. Bird numbers are far higher than last season and the only challenge has been the high temperatures. The first weekend of the season we hosted the Minnesota governor in Worthington. That was a pretty big undertaking. The second weekend of the season we hosted 17…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistNovember 08, 2022I have never really been much of a deer hunter. I have purchased a Minnesota firearms deer license for the past 37 years and have never pulled the trigger on a Minnesota deer. I have participated and helped in the harvesting of many deer over that same time frame. A few years back I set a record of five youth, all ages 12-13, who all shot their very first deer out of my box stand in a single…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistOctober 25, 2022So, the 2022 pheasant opener was a few days back, and I had a very unusual one. Worthington was selected for the location to host the 2022 Governor’s Pheasant Hunting Opener. We were selected late and only had about 100 days to put the weekend event together. It may seem like not a very big thing, but to have the governor out and about only three weeks before the election is a very big deal for…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistOctober 18, 2022Open day of 2022 pheasant hunting season was Oct. 15. I hosted Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in Worthington that weekend. It was quite an event. There were media outlets of all kinds in town for the event. Many of those hunted on the public lands of southwest Minnesota. Finding a good hunting spot on opening weekend is not possible. The weather is usually pretty good, and this weekend probably…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistOctober 11, 2022This is the fourth installment of the do-it-yourself obedience training for your own dog. Prior columns have covered the basics of getting the sponge in the obedience bucket level of obedience outcome when training in your own dog. The steps covered in the first three articles should have taken about 4-5 weeks to get really ingrained in your dog to the point where their compliance to known…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistOctober 04, 2022We are working our way into the third installment of a four-part series in the subject of training your own dog. We started with owner commitments and expectations and moved into how easy it is to get your dog to go for a relaxing walk with you or another member of your family. Today we start with the most basic command of “sit.” You can do “sit” first and “heel” second, but all of them need to…- By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistSeptember 13, 2022Writing about dogs is my favorite subject. If you have been a reader of my column for any length of time, you can already tell this by the number of times they occupy this space. Dogs, especially hunting dogs, are a 12-month-a-year effort. Whether it’s training a new dog or keeping the older dog sharp as a tack, both take consistency, time and commitment. With dove season opening a few days back…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistAugust 16, 2022It took me until I was about 35 years old to realize that each time you purchase a firearm it should be “in addition to the one I already have,” instead of trading in the one I already had. It was more a case of having enough funds so I could afford the new gun without the price offset of trading in the one I currently owned. I visit all the time with parents who are considering a gun purchase…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistAugust 09, 2022I was sitting in my garage the other night with a couple of guys who had just finished up shooting on their trap league for the week. They are both avid hunters and both have hunting dogs of differing ages. It seemed like only about an hour had passed when in fact more than four hours had turned off the clock. Outdoor lifestyles and passions have always been my most vivid memories. As I recalled…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistAugust 02, 2022A pastime I never tire of is recreational shooting. I can kill helpless clay pigeons all day long and never tire of the recoil of my shotgun. Off-season shooting really makes a difference on opening day of pheasant season, and if a rooster gets up within 25 yards of me, he will most likely go home in my hunting vest. I recently had the opportunity to help a friend do a little rifle shooting on a…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistJuly 19, 2022I moved to Worthington at the age of 13 and after my folks bought me a new bike, I was the traveling fisherman and hunter. I would ride my bike to the local lake in my town almost every day. When I reached the age of 14, which is when you can hunt without an adult, I would ride my bike about six miles out to the Lake Ocheda Waterfowl refuge and try to shoot a Canada goose. I would often ride home…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistJuly 05, 2022The fishing season is underway, and the reports have been better than I can remember for the past five years or so. As always there are certain lakes that do better than others, and your location and how much time you have to fish often dictates where and how long you can stay. I make an annual pilgrimage to Upper Red Lake with my son and son-in-law and just a few others. This is a tradition that…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistJune 28, 2022How much are Minnesota’s natural resources worth to you? To me they are priceless, but when it comes to those who steal or abuse those resources, the laws in Minnesota must not think so. I have followed many different prosecutions regarding gross violations of Minnesota’s game and fish laws, and in every case I’ve researched, the penalties for violators are not even high enough to be a measurable…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistJune 21, 2022I often wonder what life would be like without a dog or dogs in it. I have written many times about my four Labradors and how much they mean to me and my outdoor way of life. Tracer is going on 11, Sarge is almost 9, Raider is pushing past 6 and my little guy, Ghost, was 2 in March. When you hunt as much as I do, it is more work than one dog can handle, especially if the temperatures are high and…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistJune 07, 2022I called my son Brandon on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend to thank him for his military service. He was deployed twice to Afghanistan and Iraq back when things were pretty hairy for our service members. I asked him if he wanted to take his two daughters fishing for any part of the weekend, and we started reminiscing about one fishing adventure we had when he was little. Brandon and his twin…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistMay 24, 2022It is that time of year again when I need to purchase my new licenses for everything from the early light goose season to a spearing license, deer license, small game license and then the gamut of special stamps needed to hunt some of those seasons. Deer licenses come later into the summer. About 10 years ago I decided to make this seasonal expenditure a little easier. I decided to purchase a…
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