Family-Outdoors

MADISON -  Migratory game bird hunters are reminded that Sept. 1 marks the opener for Wisconsin's mourning dove, early teal and early goose hunting seasons. Canada Goose Canada Goose hunting begins with the early season Sept. 1-15, with a daily bag limit of five geese during this time. Goose hunters are required to complete registration within 48 hours of harvest. During this early goose season, regulations apply statewide, with no zone-specific regulations. With the transition to  Go Wild  (exit DNR), the Canada goose harvest registration phone number is now consistent with all other species registered in Wisconsin - this new system also provides for online registration. Hunters can now register online at gamereg.wi.gov or via phone at 844-426-3734 (844 GAME-REG). In addition, Early, Exterior and Horicon Zone goose permits are now printed on regular white paper, rather than green thermal paper. While afield, hunters must carry their Canada goose harvest permit -...

Ann Freeman, of Elk City, has been monitoring eastern bluebird nest boxes for 29 years as part of the Oklahoma Nest Box Trails program. She stands with her very first nest box. (Jena Donnell/ODWC) Just west of Elk City is a bluebird's paradise. Pastures brim with insects, scattered trees offer branches from which to perch and hunt, and a trail of bird houses is waiting should the birds decide to build a nest. This oasis is no accident; Ann Freeman and her husband have been maintaining these bluebird boxes, 22 in all, for 29 years.    "I remember the first time I saw a bluebird," said Freeman. "One September day in 1986, I caught sight of these brilliant flashes of blue in our yard. The birds would perch in the trees and then fly to the ground. I watched them a long while and was so intrigued that I called my parents who lived nearby to see these brightly-colored birds. Being unfamiliar with this kind of bird, I later spoke with the lady who wrote a bird column ...

Opening weekend of quail season lived up to the high expectations of most hunters in Oklahoma, especially those hunting in western and northwestern areas of the state.     "It was as advertised," said John Bellah, president of the Central Oklahoma 89er Chapter of Quail Forever, referring to the annual roadside surveys and the 2015 Quail Season Outlook produced by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation indicating that the number of birds was higher this year.     Bellah, who has hunted quail the past 24 years, said this season's opener was "the best I've ever seen." He was with a large group of hunters in the Oklahoma Panhandle on    Bobwhite numbers in Oklahoma are up about 60 percent from last year, and field reports from hunters on opening weekend are supporting that report. (Jennifer Benge/ODWC) Saturday and Sunday, hunting on private land and on a wildlife management area. Altogether, several groups he was with moved about 20 coveys. ...

PIERRE, S.D. –  South Dakota’s “army of orange” was out in full force for the opening day of pheasant season.  With the annual pheasant brood survey up 42 percent from 2014, friends and family shared plenty of pheasants, fun and fellowship. “The traditions of South Dakota’s opening day of pheasant season are known worldwide,” said South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Secretary Kelly Hepler.  “It’s one of the reasons I came back to the state.  The comradery, the laughter, the food and the chance to chase the wily ringneck with lifelong and even new friends is a special occasion.  It is really second to none.” According to GFP’s survey, traditional pheasant hunting areas such as Winner, Pierre, Mobridge and Mitchell all showed at least 40 percent increases in the pheasants-per-mile index.  Other popular pheasant destinations such as Chamberlain and Huron had well over 30 percent increases.  All areas evaluated in the brood report showed a minimum o...

Oak savanna sunset. Photo by USFWS. In honor of Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge’s 50th birthday, we wanted to reflect on what makes this Minnesota refuge so special. Celebrated both for its wildlife and for its extraordinary recreational opportunities. This 30,700-acre refuge is defined by dynamic upland habitats that range from grasslands to oak savanna. The refuge lies on the  Anoka Sandplain  and consists of a mosaic of habitats including oak savanna, wet meadow, big woods, prairie, and wetlands. Additionally, the refuge has the St Francis River meandering through it as well as several natural lakes that are popular for paddling. Focusing On Oak Savanna Oak savanna is partly what makes Sherburne unique. This rare plant community used to cover 27 to 32 million-acres of the midwestern landscape. Today, this globally endangered habitat is fragmented and only .02 percent remains. Sherburne has one of the largest intact parcels of oak savanna, with 95 percent of th...

More than 600 waterfowl carcasses discovered at Nelson Lake in Oliver County in March are a result of  avian cholera , a bacteria that is readily spread in areas where waterfowl congregate in large numbers. Dr. Dan Grove, wildlife veterinarian for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said the initial inspection on March 10 revealed the presence of primarily mallards and Canada geese, already in varying states of decay. “Based on carcass decomposition, it looked like the onset was likely weeks earlier,” Grove said. Whole carcasses were shipped March 11 to the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis., for necropsy and disease testing. The lake was surveyed a second and third time on March 11-12, when carcasses were again collected and shipped. “Birds were tested for multiple diseases, including avian influenza, which came back negative,” Grove said. “Typically we do not see die-offs in wild birds from AI.” A midwinter survey in early January had indi...

BOONE  – Based on the positive comments that filled Todd Bogenschutz’s email and voicemail, Iowa pheasant hunters saw more birds last fall and after last winter’s below normal snowfall that good vibe should continue this season. Bogenschutz, the upland wildlife biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, uses winter snowfall and spring rain totals along with historic trends to predict pheasant population swings. For five years in a row, heavy winter snow followed by cool wet springs sent Iowa pheasant numbers into a free fall bottoming out in 2011. But after more favorable winter/nesting seasons, including most recently in back to back years, things are looking up for ringnecks. “We had a good winter and should have had good pheasant and quail survival.  Every region in the state was below normal for snowfall, except the east central region and it was only one-inch above normal so we should be poised for an increase in bird numbers as long as we have a go...

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) By Joe Wilkinson Iowa Department of Natural Resources A week of subzero cold early this month—and more yet to come—provide a quick jolt of Iowa reality.  It gets uncomfortable in the winter! Still, we humans can escape the elements when needed. We just go inside. Not so, with wildlife. Some take the easy way out. “Waterfowl are smarter than all those other critters. They have wings. They fly away,” explains Al Hancock, of Clear Lake. Of course, he would feel that way. He’s an Iowa DNR waterfowl specialist. “It’s a simple balancing act. Geese need very little open water. As long as they can find fields to feed in--windswept, bare crop fields—they will remain,” says Hancock. “When it takes more food to maintain energy to survive up here…they fly right out.” Some look for a cold weather oasis. “Ducks do it even more so,” says Hancock. “A ‘micro climate,’ say a city waste water lagoon, a stream or the drainage just below? If it’s out of t...

Annual roadside quail surveys have been completed for 2014, and the results are good news for quail hunters in Oklahoma. The statewide quail population index increased 66 percent from the previous year. Quail counts conducted in August and October showed higher numbers of birds in all of Oklahoma except the South-central region.    "We documented outstanding reproduction, and it looks like it will be one of the best seasons in a decade," said Richard Hatcher, director of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation .    Scott Cox, upland game biologist with the Wildlife Department, said the weather plays an important role in quail production. The past two years, Oklahoma has seen model years for rainfall and cooler temperatures during the spring and summer months, after previous years of hot and dry conditions.    The recent favorable weather conditions helped more birds carry over into the nesting season, and allowed those birds to have a chance f...

Ospreys, large fish-eating raptors,  are experts at spotting fish in water from high above. They fold their wings back, thrust their large talons forward and smash into the water, snatch a fish, then take flight again.  Larger than most hawks, but smaller than eagles, they have made a comeback in southern Michigan over the past 20 years. Ospreys were initially listed as a threatened species in Michigan, but were removed from the list in 2009. One important reason osprey were delisted is because of  the 10-year-long Osprey Reintroduction Project that took place from 1990 to 2000. This project involved moving 50 chicks from the northern parts of the state to areas in southern Michigan, and there are now more than 30 known nests in southern Lower Peninsula plus dozens of nests in the northern Lower and Upper peninsulas .  The species is known to be very faithful to historical nesting grounds, which made the osprey's return to the southern Lower Peninsula progress...

If the Department of Natural Resources were in the television business, it would have one sure-fire, prime-time drama on its hands: “Cooley, M.E.” Tom Cooley is the DNR’s pathologist. When wildlife – both game and nongame – are found dead from unapparent causes, it is Cooley’s job to figure out what happened. “We get specimens from the public, our own agency personnel, the (U.S.) Fish and Wildlife Service and USDA Wildlife Services,” Cooley said. The DNR’s pathologist for 35 years, Cooley spends several days a week in the necropsy room at the DNR’s Wildlife Disease Lab (located at the Michigan State University Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health), working on everything from skunks to eagles, looking for what killed them. Sometimes the job is fairly easy; an animal, found by the side of the road with broken limbs and contusions, was likely hit by a vehicle, he said. Sometimes, the cause of death is much more difficult to determine. Take eagles, for instance. Last year, Co...

 (Photo credit: Vicki's Nature ) Turkey Number One didn’t cooperate, but a second chance tom was just fine for Caelan Johnston. The 12 year old Cedar Rapids boy bagged a 20 pound gobbler during Iowa’s Youth Turkey Season. Set up before dawn in a Benton County blind with his dad, Dan Johnston, they heard one gobble right off the bat. With the nearest roosting trees about a quarter mile away, though, it was quiet for a couple hours. Eventually 15 or 20 deer moved toward them. A little later, two turkey hens showed up in the field behind the blind…with a tom following. “We tried an alarm ‘put’ to get the turkey to stop and hopefully raise his head for a look around. Instead, he ran off,” explains Dan. With such a tough target, Caelan’s shot missed. However, 30 minutes later, their luck changed. Dan told Caelan they’d try one more call before wrapping up for the morning. In the distance, a gobble returned. “I saw a black object, walked right into our clearing,” recalls...

by Doug Reeves, assistant chief, DNR Wildlife Division Do you want a good activity to get you thinking about spring? Then build a bluebird box or two and put it/them up in a good place. Do it now. It really is only a matter of weeks before bluebirds will be looking for nest sites again, and you want to be prepared. Early migrants may use the boxes as roost sites even before they are ready to nest. My son, Greg, just sent me a note from his Houston-area home. A pair of eastern bluebirds is making a nest in a box that we put up along his fence line last year. This will be the fourth nesting of bluebirds in that box since we put it up. Greg’s note reminds me that it is time to clean out my bluebird boxes, evict the mice, repair boxes that need repairs and build new ones to replace those that are beyond repair. It really is time to think spring, even though it is snowing and the temperature is in the single digits as I write this. I will likely be on snowshoes as I do some of the ...

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s annual midwinter waterfowl survey in early January indicated 71,500 birds were in the state. Mike Szymanski, migratory game bird biologist, said an estimated 40,700 Canada geese were observed on the Missouri River, and another 12,000 were scattered on Nelson Lake. Lake Sakakawea, declared iced-over on  Dec. 14 , had no geese on the lake itself. Szymanski said after summarizing the numbers, a total of 52,700 Canada geese and 18,700 mallards were tallied statewide.  “Conditions leading up to this year’s survey were colder than normal, resulting in fewer birds in the state compared to the past couple winters,” Szymanski said. “Most waterfowl were pushed from North Dakota just prior to Thanksgiving, with the exception of those using the Missouri River System.” According to Szymanski, early December cold temperatures and strong winds pushed most Missouri River birds from the state. Conditions remained the s...

It’s  10 o’clock  on a summer night along a gravel road anywhere in Iowa. In the farm pond next to the road a raucous chorus of male frogs are making themselves heard as they vie for mates.  A volunteer stands clipboard in hand, ear cocked, mentally sorting out each of the calling species and the number of individuals using this seemingly ordinary pond.  Skip to a Saturday morning by the river where another volunteer has binoculars trained on the tallest tree in the area.  In this tree is a one ton nest, home to two bald eagles and their young.  Are there two or three young in that nest?  Hard to tell and a follow up visit will be needed; in the meantime, notes are taken and a peaceful hour is spent watching one of the most spectacular birds in North America.  These volunteers collecting data were trained through Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Volunteer Wildlife Monitoring Program.   “We don’t have enough staff in the D...