The
smell of Fall is in the air! Fall colors
are turning fast up on the Canadian Shield.
We had our first hard frost this week and overnight temps in the 30s
have been common throughout September. With bear, goose, archery deer and
ruffed grouse seasons open, hunters are heading out to their familiar haunts. A
common question I often hear is “where can I find a good place to hunt?”
With the internet exploding with new information every year, the answer to that
question is literally at your finger tips.
If you want to find prime hunting spots in northeast Minnesota, the
resources out there to do so are more available than ever.
The old fashion way, maps, have not taken a back seat on the information
highway. They are available on a number
of excellent websites so you can literally scout for great hunting spots from
home, office or camp. Topographic (www.mytopo.com)
and aerial photos (dnr.state.mn.us/airphotos/index.html) are still
the two best tools for finding, and learning, new hunting ground in a short
amount of time. If you have not checked out Google Earth (www.google.com/earth)
you are missing out. The photo quality
is awesome, the photos are typically very recent, and they are free.
If you want to stay a step ahead of the competition, virtual
scouting is a great way to do it. You
can see new timber harvesting from the last couple years to help locate prime
food sources for bear, deer and moose, a mixed timber age classes for finding
the best ruffed grouse coverts, remote new beaver ponds for duck hunting and
trapping or a low profile access route.
The
Department of Natural Resources web page (www.dnr.state.mn.us/index.html)
is another tool many savvy hunters use regularly, but most have never
seen. They are missing the boat! Why?
Let’s say you want to find some new grouse hunting spots. The DNR has a “Hunter Walking Trail” (www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/hwt/index.html) page
where you can find dozens of mowed hunter walking trails in St Louis
County. Each trail is high-lighted on an
air photo that you can print and then hit the woods with confidence.
How
about “Wildlife Management Areas?" There
are 1.4 million acres of WMA’s (www.dnr.state.mn.us/wmas/index.html)
managed by DNR wildlife managers specifically for ducks, pheasants, grouse,
bear, and deer. A quick scouting
mission, on-line, can tell you just about everything you want to know about a
specific WMA--before you go. How big is
it? Big game? Small game?
Cover types? Air photos? Parking?
Wildlife manager’s phone number?
Yep, all there. Free .
Before you hit the woods.
Take
the time to do a little virtual scouting before your next hunting trip. It will save you time and money and put more
wild game in your freezer. That’s money
you can take to the bank, cabin, or the taxidermist.
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.
