Waterfowl
The Poor Man’s Bucket List
The Poor Man’s Bucket List It is easy to get all juiced up about hunting out west after watching a half hour hunting show where a celebrity hunter whacks a monster bull, buck or ram. Just as in ancient mythology where the Sirens called out to Oedipus to come to their beautiful shores, the mountains […]
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Thinking Small
Thinking Small Hunting in Iowa has changed significantly during my lifetime. Four decades ago wild turkey and deer were scarce or non-existent in much of the state. Most hunters started out shooting squirrels and rabbits before moving on to pheasants and/or waterfowl. Only then did they graduate to larger game, if they had access to […]
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Bismuth Shot Fundamentals
Bismuth Shot Fundamentals Around the time I was born, lead shot used in waterfowl hunting began to be phased out. I vaguely recall my dad and grandpas grumbling about the lesser performance of steel shot for a few years preceding when I was old enough to know what duck hunting was. Nonetheless, this was the […]
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How to Hunt Iowa’s Wildlife
How to Hunt Iowa’s Wildlife I am a chronically late person. Church services, family gatherings, meeting up with hunting buddies, even this article is coming down to the wire on the due date. Besides the self-loathing for my poor time management, I worry that others who may notice my frequent tardiness will assess that it […]
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Getting Ready for the 2021 Duck Season
Getting Ready for the 2021 Duck Hunting Season When it comes to hunting and fishing, we all are at the mercy of Mother Nature. Cold fronts, pressure systems, winds, heavy rains, lack of rain…they all affect our hunting and fishing. However, I think that duck hunters are most at the mercy of Mother Nature. Year […]
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Top Ten Most Common DNR Violations
Through the Eyes of the DNR Top Ten Most Common Violations Seen During Hunting Seasons So, you went to school and you made it happen. After, you saw what you wanted, you jumped through the many hoops, and luckily became one of the few hired in this much desired profession you went through a lot […]
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What to Look for in a Hunting Lease
What to Look for in a Hunting Lease Let’s face it, finding places to hunt is becoming harder and harder to do. As a society, we are becoming more developed, and farm land is dissipating. For the remaining land, it is highly competitive to secure landowner permission to hunt their farms so hunters struggle to […]
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Your New Puppy Pt. 4: Starting our Gundog
Your New Puppy Pt. 4: Starting our Gundog Finally, we have reached part 4 of our mini-series covering how to bring our puppy home, what to focus on, and how to progress in our training program. At this point we are ready to introduce the electronic collar, begin introductory field work and conditioning our dogs […]
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Waterfowl Decoy Buyers Guide
Waterfowl Decoy Buyers Guide The waterfowl decoy business is competitive; there are so many choices and options where do you even begin? How do you know which brand to go with, what are (if any) the differences between each? Why are there different sizes? Do not overthink this purchase! I will simplify how to go […]
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Guns Out
Guns Out I believe that there are two types of gun owners. First, there is the ones that owns guns simply because they love them. These folks spend weekend afternoons firing off several boxes of shells at steel targets, followed by a complete teardown and deep cleaning, and end the day by researching custom components […]
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