outdoors

Early fall is one of my most favorite times of the year because hunting season is in sight. My only apprehension is that I know my shooting skills have taken a dip from not exercising those skills over the summer.

That summer shooting league I meant to join and those trips to the range I put off suddenly have some urgency to them.

Every time I visit the range I am reminded by how much fun it is just to shoot for recreation. In my opinion, trapshooting, skeet and sporting clays are a much better way to spend money than with golf. I’ve never been much of a golfer anyways, but even the worst day of shooting beats the best day of golf.

Smacking a ball around for a few hours just can’t compete with firing on clay Frisbees flying through the air and exploding into pieces. Besides, away from the gun range I can use those skills while I hunt. Smacking a ball into a hole is hardly a skill outside the golf course.

If you haven’t kept up with your shooting this summer, then this is a great time to find that gun range near your house and get into shape. Bring the shotgun out, buy a case of target load shells, and commit yourself to not hunting until you’ve blown through all of them.

Practicing your shooting is critical for avoiding embarrassing situations like that miss on an “easy” shot. It’s also an essential part of being a true conservationist. It’s a waste of an animal to make a less than lethal shot that can lead to unnecessary suffering. Anti-hunters love inaccurate shooters because they make the sport look bad in the eyes of others.

On a selfish note, being a good shot makes hunting a much more enjoyable experience. Few people feel good lobbing three rounds of steel shot into the lake with nothing to show. At a dollar a shell, on average, those range fees quickly pay for themselves when you pound out a double on three shots.

Not only that, but the impressed applause you receive from the others in your hunting party provides for an added bonus. An inflated sense of self is not to be underrated!

In the past week, I’ve shot two rounds of skeet at the LakeShore Conservation Club near Brainerd and two rounds of five-stand sporting clays at Hunts Point near Pequot Lakes. Total investment of time? Just over an hour. Improvement of confidence for the fall? Tremendous. Cost? For everything from shells to range fees and gas costs, about $100.

The clubhouse at Hunt's Point is as nice as any country club

My Dad came along with me so that only added to the fun and at the skeet range, my kids hung around near the clubhouse under the watchful eye of their grandmother. A two-year-old and four-year-old are hardly ready to shoot just yet but being around it, seeing it in action and learning gun safety are valuable experiences.

As the calendar hits September, and the opening morning of the early goose season arrives, I’ll definitely be a better shot and have more confidence in my ability to knock down a few feathered cows.

A few more trips to the range are definitely in store. There’s also the need to put a dozen or so rounds through the deer rifle and get the muzzleloader in shape as well. The time it takes is minimal as is the cost, but the payoff and fun are well worth it.

You have art hounds and coon hounds. Fine art hunters and big game hunters. 

Seems like an odd combination but it all works out at Game Fair over two weekends every August in Minnesota. 

They say that politics makes for strange bedfellows and that seemed to be the case in 2008 when the arts and outdoors were joined together in a Minnesota Constitutional Amendment to raise the state sales tax a small fraction to benefit the two. 

Four years later and millions of dollars have been put to good use by both the arts and the outdoors...but that's not what this blog is all about. 

I contend that the arts and outdoors are no strangers to each other. The obvious reason is that most outdoors lovers also possess a fair amount of art that reminds them of the outdoors. Paintings, sculptures, photography, pottery, carvings and more are quite commonplace even at the shabbiest of shacks. Taxidermy is not just something dead mounted on a hunk of wood, well some of it is, but the finest taxidermy is definitely a work of art. Snooty art hounds might disagree, but when they realize how much work goes into properly mounting an animal (not to mention how much money is costs), they definitely respect the artistry of a taxidermist. 

All of those things converge in one place each year--the Game Fair held this year from August 10-12 and 17-19 at Armstrong Ranch Kennels in Ramsey, MN. In addition to all the exhibits related to hunting, dogs and other outdoor pursuits there is a lot of art. Enough to fill a barn and then some. 

No really. The Game Fair Art Barn is a very popular destination that has long been a draw. There's sculpture, paintings and taxidermy all under one roof. The Wildfowl and Decoy Carvers conduct daily demonstrations of their woodcarvings, and there are antler carvings created by Game Fair hostess Loral I Delaney herself. 

Some of the finest artists in the country come to the Game Fair to meet their biggest fans (and customers). Attendees to Game Fair are thrilled to meet the artist of the print on their wall and the conservation stamp in their pocket. The person who has brought all of these renowned artists to Game Fair each year is Chris Knutson, owner of "Art Barbarians" in Rogers, Minnesota. Not only does he bring them out to chat with Game Fair attendees, he tells them to bring their brushes and canvas and let the paint fly. 

This year, Knutson will have renowned artists Scot Storm and Tom Moen in the Art Barn all six days of Game Fair. These guys are highly respected wildlife artists with numerous awards and publications of their artwork. Both are Minnesota artists and Knutson has worked hard over the years to especially promote Minnesota artists. Visit his www.artbarbarians.com website to see some of the galleries he has and videos with numerous artists. 

Storm has won the Federal Duck Stamp contest as well as numerous state duck stamp contests, including the Minnesota Duck Stamp in 2009 and 2004. Moen has won the state MN Duck Stamp contest twice as well in 1998 and again in 2007. Come to the Game Fair, look at their work and you'll know you've seen their work. Both guys are very nice, down to Earth and are there to chat with the public so come on out and meet them. They paint because they love to capture the moments in the field they experiences themselves and share with the world. 

Also in the Art Barn is the United Special Sportsman Alliance (USSA) Taxidermy Competition. Game Fair attendees can vote for their favorite taxidermy mounts and support the USSA as they raise money to grant fishing and hunting trips to children and veterans with disabilities and life-threatening illnesses. Taxidermists will be on hand throughout the six days demonstrating their unique and highly skilled craft. Like painters, taxidermists capture the moments in the field so people can live them over again and again. 

Check out www.GameFair.com and be sure to follow GameFairUSA on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates on who is out at the Game Fair. Other artists routinely drop by for the day and updates will be posted as developments occur. 

Since we cannot always be in the outdoors, we purchase art to remind us. 

Since we are not always successful in bagging our quarry, we purchase art so we can dream. 

Because we want to remember our successes, we preserve our trophies as we define them. 

Art and hunting are quite comfortable together indeed. 

 Calling all callers!

            Men, women and children who know how to purse their lips together on their favorite duck or goose call and make the sweet sounds of waterfowl are invited to the first ever Game Fair $10,000 Duck and Goose Calling Championship held Saturday, August 18 and Sunday August 19.

            Visit GameFair.com for details on payouts and prizes totaling more than $10,000 including a $1,500 top prize in each the Game Fair Open Duck Calling Championship and Game Fair Open Goose Calling Championship. Top prize in the Women’s Duck and Goose Calling Championships are $500 and $750 in the Two-Person Duck and Goose Calling Championships.

            Game Fair is a great event for the outdoors and preview to the fall hunting seasons with a lot of visitors who are awesome waterfowlers. “We have call manufacturers here, avid waterfowlers and lots of men and women who know how to sound like a duck and goose. This contest is a way to honor the sport and all entry fees will be donated to Minnesota Ducks Unlimited,” said Chuck Delaney, host and owner of Game Fair.

             The grips of winter are rapidly slipping across the southern two-thirds of the state. This is bad news for ice anglers who have been cheated out of a typical Minnesota winter this year.The good news is that, normally, it takes a lot more than a few warm days to put ice anglers out of commission along the northern edge of Minnesota.

            I wouldn’t dare venture out on most lakes in the metro area but there was little concern driving the truck several miles onto Lake of the Woods, specifically Muskeg Bay, this past Saturday morning to do some late season trophy pike fishing.

 

            While the walleye and pike seasons are closed on nearly every one of the 10,000 lakes, they are open on Lake of the Woods. Spring is still in the air and the fish are beginning to transition from their winter haunts to their spring spawning grounds.

   

         My guides for the trip were Bryan “Beef” Sathre of Fathead Guide Service and his good friends Tim, Sandy and Sabin Rasmus. The Rasmus family staked a claim on the ice with a sleeper house while Sathre and I were land-lubbers who commuted to the ice Saturday and Sunday from Warroad.  

            One of their secrets for big pike success is the use of dead baits rather than live minnows. Smelly dead baits with lots of natural oils are their favorites like herring. These deadbaits can be purchased from baitshops and bait dealers who much follow very strict guidelines with regards to packaging and size.

 

           Pike of all sizes roam Lake of the Woods from little 12-inch “hammer-handles” all the way up to monster pike beyond 50-inches in length. By most angler’s standards, anything over 30-inches is a high quality pike and anything over 40 is a trophy.

            This size-class of pike is a rarity these days throughout the nation which is why it is such a phenomenal fishery. There is a protected slot limit on the lake and any pike between 30 and 40 inches must be immediately released. A needle nose pliers with a wire cutter, jaw spreader and multi-use tool are the essentials for assuring a quick release of these big pike.

Just make sure to pack your sunscreen—that sun is as intense in March as it is in September. When it’s sunny on the ice you can get a burn twice as fast because of the reflection. You won’t need much, just enough for your face.  Trust me on this one!