Dale Kenning: Slowed up, but still shooting

HUTCHINSON - Dale Kenning ambled slowly in the lush prairie grass, cradling a 12-gauge shotgun in his huge bare hands, oblivious to the biting cold wind.

Despite a stroke last winter, the 76-year-old Kenning -- well-known in these parts as a longtime conservationist, avid outdoorsman and local character -- hunted pheasants Saturday on another Minnesota pheasant opener. The man nicknamed "Moose" -- because of his 6-2 frame, which once held 300 pounds -- hunted with his grandson and two friends on wildlife habitat he has groomed for decades on his farm.

A little snow and cold didn't stop him, though the stroke last winter nearly did.

"My balance isn't so good yet," he said.

Tagging along beside him was his 11-year-old golden retriever, Colonel, whose white face hinted that his best years afield were behind him, too.

Kenning knows he's in the twilight of his life, and the stroke will make hunting more difficult. He's not sure if he'll be able to climb into a deer stand next month. And Saturday, he had to be content with standing at the end of fields, hoping for a rooster to fly his way, instead of hiking through the thick grass flushing birds with Colonel.

"It's just fun to be out here," he said. "I'd rather be walking with them," he said, nodding to grandson Greg Wesenberg, 28, of Sauk Rapids, and neighbor Jeremy Bleil, 29, who pushed through the cover with their own dogs. "But I guess this is how it's going to be."

And the pheasant opener wouldn't be complete without his longtime buddy, Duane Peterson, 77, of Cokato, who patrolled nearby.

"We've been friends our whole lives," Peterson said. They attended the same one-room country school together as kids and started hunting together then. They usually open the pheasant season on Kenning's farm, where Dale has lived since he was 8.

Farming wildlife

He bought the farm from his dad and it now totals about 345 acres -- two-thirds of it is in wildlife habitat. Grasslands and rows of high-bush cranberry or plum trees sprout where corn once did. A small wetland, once drained, has been restored. And wildlife abounds.

Dale and his wife, Darlene -- as well as friends and relatives -- hunt deer, pheasants and turkeys. Two years ago, they bagged 99 pheasants, their best year ever. Last year, they shot 69. This year Kenning said it appears the ringneck population is down a bit.

His interest in conservation goes way back. In 1950 he joined the Gopher Campfire Conservation Club, which formed in Hutchinson in 1911 and might be the oldest such group in the state. Kenning, a carpenter, has cut bluebird houses for kids to assemble each spring for the past 22 years. For his conservation efforts on his farm, he was honored as Minnesota's Outstanding Farmer-Sportsman in 1987.

And he's long been an active member of the McLeod County chapter of Pheasants Forever, helping the group restore wildlife habitat.

Dead serious

Kenning has traveled to Alaska (where he guided caribou hunters), Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota to hunt a variety of wildlife, and he has plenty of tales to spin.

There was the time he and his buddies drove out west to hunt antelope, and a 75-year-old friend died there of a heart attack. Authorities gave them permission to take the body back to Minnesota.

"We put him in the back of his motorhome, on a sofa behind the driver's seat, and drove home," Kenning said. "There were three of us -- two alive and one dead."

And there was the time when six of them went to Wyoming and shot six elk and four moose in three days.

Or last year, when Dale and Darlene, 73, went moose hunting near Finland, Minn. "We both shot at the same time," Darlene said excitedly, bagging a 1,200-pound bull. Darlene later topped that by shooting four bucks last fall on their farm -- three in one morning.

Kenning, a bear of a man, is not above some merrymaking, either. He famously once dressed up as "Wheel of Fortune" letter-turner Vanna White -- wearing a low-cut evening gown and wig -- for a Pheasants Forever fundraiser.

"Look at his hairy cleavage," Darlene said, showing a photo of her husband. "Wasn't he cute?"

"Oh, I still hear about that every once in a while," Kenning said with a smile.

Another hunting season

Success on the pheasant opener varies from year to year. "Two years ago, five of us had our limits in a couple of hours," Peterson said. This year, in only a couple hours of hunting, the foursome bagged four roosters before quitting at lunch.

"It was better than I thought we'd do," said Kenning, who didn't get a shot but clearly reveled in being outside for another opener.

He's still hoping to go to Montana to hunt mule deer this fall. But with his health concerns and Darlene having knee surgery, it's uncertain whether he'll make the trip. Or whether she'll be able to hunt this fall, too.

"We don't know what's going to happen," Dale said.

There are no regrets.

"It's been quite a life," he said.

Doug Smith • dsmith@startribune.com