It’s that time of the year! If you are not getting out there you are missing the boat! The big boys are starting to rub. The bulls are rutting hard and on the move in search of receptive cows. The grouse hunting is way better than predicted. The bears are getting ready to go down and they have the feedbag on. Fall color is absolutely fabulous and it is now coming down.
Find a way to get out there. Even if it is just for an hour. Go! Skip out of your commitments early. Apologize in advance. Take a kid with you. But, get out there. This time of year is so fleeting you have to make time before it is gone. You never get it back.
October - you can smell it in the air. You can see it in your mind’s eye. It is that time of year when you day dream about the fall flights of ‘bills coming down on the northwester ahead of the cold front, scouting and setting up your traditional trap line, matching wits with another old swamp buck, missing that gimme shot... Go!
You can see October all around you. The woods look as fine as they will all year. The underbrush is opening up. There is a bumper acorn crop. Everything is feeding. The woodcock are coming down. The partridge broods are splitting up. The teal are still here. Quit making excuses. An old friend is waiting for your call.
Take a quick trip to the cabin. There is wood to cut. Trails to brush back. Stands need attention. Blinds need work. The shack needs to be opened. You gotta scout for sign and sets. You need a reason? It’s October. Put the shotgun in the trunk…
And make some time go!
Tom Rusch is the Tower Area Wildlife Manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' Division of Fish and Wildlife headquartered at Tower, MN in northern St Louis County. His dedicated 4 person staff covers 3.1 million acres of State, County, National and private forest land in northern St. Louis and northern Lake Counties. He hunts, fishes, camps, traps, bikes, hikes, snowshoes and shed hunts year round in the swamps, forests, wetlands and lakes of the northwoods of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ontario. He is a 24-year veteran of the Minnesota DNR and has worked in the wildlife management field for 30 years in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri. He has lived on the Iron Range with his wife, Deb, since 1991. Tom can be reached by phone at 218-753-2580 ext. 240 or by email at tom.rusch@state.mn.us.
