Explore the Northern Wilds
An urban immigrant to a lake home in the small North Shore community of Schroeder, the author writes short vignettes about her new lifestyle. Walks in the woods, kind neighbors, cold weather and picking berries are among her topics.
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A hefty compendium containing more than 950 varieties of trees and shrubs for cold climates, this book has a clean layout that makes it remarkably easy to use. Color photography shows the flowers and foliage of many varieties. Specific information about how to plant and care for each variety is included, as well as a general section with chapters for planting, propagation, pests and other topics. Backyard horticulturists throughout the Northern Wilds will find this is the gold standard for information about trees and shrubs.
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Marlin Bree finds wonder in a bird many folks take for granted. This tribute to gulls looks at their natural history, interactions with humans and the lore associated with the birds. With photos and drawings on every page, Amazing Gulls is a visual delight. Although by no means a traditional bird guide, anyone who enjoys birds will like this book.
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On a recent morning I stepped out with the dogs at daybreak. Beneath a clear, dawn sky, the air was crisp and calm. When we came inside 20 minutes later, I thought it was pretty nice outside. Glancing at the thermometer, I saw it was 16 below.
While the rest of Minnesota has experienced a warm, snowless winter, up here at the Tip of the Arrowhead, we've had snow and cold temperatures. True, even our weather has been unusually mild, but proximity to Lake Superior and the Canadian border means we get always get a real winter with snow and ice and below zero temperatures. That's why moose live here.
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Recently, a chef who wrote a book about hunting and cooking was interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio. She talked about making a recent trip to Colorado to do a cooking demonstration. While there, she was taken fly-fishing on a local river, where the guides and other anglers refused to keep fish for her to use in her demonstration. She told the MPR interviewer she was miffed by their catch-and-release ethic.
"I don't believe in catch-and-release," she said. "It's playing with your food."
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For more than 20 years, the Minnesota DNR has kicked off the New Year by hosting a Roundtable for groups and individuals interested in fishing, hunting and conservation. For years, the event was intentionally held outstate in St. Cloud, but it was moved to a metro location a few years ago. This year, for the first time, the Roundtable was held in St. Paul, just a stone’s throw from the DNR’s central offices and the State Capitol.
The tone and content of the Roundtable varies somewhat from year to year, but it is fair to say the event is a finger on the political pulse of Minnesota outdoor issues. The big news at last weekend’s Roundtable was the announcement of a new wolf hunting and trapping season beginning this year. After nearly four decades of federal protection, Minnesota wolves are scheduled to be removed from the Endangered Species List on January 27.
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Last July, Minnesota's state government shut down when the Governor and Legislature couldn't agree on how to balance the budget. Our duly elected met in St. Paul, presumably to resolve budget issues and reached agreement on, of all things, wolf hunting. While taxpayers worried about such mundane topics as public school funding and rising property taxes, lawmakers made sure the state could open a wolf hunting season as soon as the animals were removed from the federal Threatened Species list. In recent news reports, DNR officials have said they may hold a wolf season as soon as this year.
The hunting authorization alters Minnesota's existing wolf management plan, which called for a moratorium on hunting and trapping during the first five years of state control. The moratorium was recommended by a citizen's committee convened in the late 1990s to provide balanced public input to the DNR's wolf management plan. As a member of the citizen committee, I can say killing or not killing wolves was the core issue we confronted.
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Will a nuclear waste storage facility be constructed in the Lake Superior Basin? The answer is: possibly. Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is presently looking for a site to construct a storage facility where nuclear waste will be buried in rock 500 meters to one kilometer underground. Based on geological features, areas near Lake Superior are suitable for such a facility and some communities on the Canadian North Shore have expressed interest in the project.
Recently, officials from Nipigon, Ontario, traveled to Toronto and met with representatives of NWMO for a detailed briefing and a tour of the Pickering Waste Management Facility where nuclear waste is currently stored on an interim basis. The visit was called a “Learn More Opportunity.” Mayor Richard Harvey emphatically states this does not mean Nipigon tossed its hat in the ring as a potential nuclear storage site.
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The last Ford Ranger rolled off the St. Paul assembly line last week, marking the end of an era for manufacturing in Minnesota and for small, light-duty trucks. Feeling a little wistful, I half-considered buying one of the last Rangers, but my 2001 model is doing just fine. Still, it’s sad to know that when the time comes to replace it, I won’t be able to do so with another Ranger.
In 1987, I bought my first pickup truck, which was also my first new vehicle. As pickups go it wasn’t much—a gray, four-cylinder Ford Ranger with a standard transmission and two-wheel drive. But it was a big step forward from the cars I’d driven previously. High clearance and good gas mileage made the Ranger a truck well suited to my lifestyle.
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Inspired by time spent in the woods with her grandchildren, Bolinger, who has a cabin on Tom Lake north of Hovland, wrote a book about going for an ATV ride and encountering northwoods wildlife along the way. It is colorfully illustrated by Rhonda Weitzel, her sister-in-law.
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The Lake Superior agate is a gem even a child can recognize and find, which is one reason agate picking is so popular. Another reasons is because many folks are fascinated with these beautiful rocks. This is an excellent book for anyone who shares that fascination. This slim volume is a compendium of agate information, including how to identify various agates, where to look for them, a list of local lapidary shops and a gallery of famous agates.
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Hank Shaw has a wild appetite. His award-winning blog, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, taps into the burgeoning locavore movement, teaching people how to gather and prepare wild foods. Unlike many outdoor cooks, Shaw’s experience is nationwide, which means he covers everything from saltwater mussels to High Plains pheasants, as well as a long list of unusual creatures you won’t find in a typical fish and game cook book. There is also a section on edible wild plants.
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Many people dream of moving to a lonely island or a remote cabin in the woods. In 1949, Art and Nan Kellam did so, building their home on an uninhabited island off the Maine coast, where they lived until 1985.
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The wolves on Isle Royale are in trouble. They must leave the island to attract new blood to the pack. To do so, they need human assistance. Duluth author Zhuikov’s first novel blends science and science fiction as wolves and the werewolves they create work together so the wolves can reach the mainland.
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On a dark and snowy night, a wayward cat shows up at the door of an old folks home. So begins Bill McDonald’s warm, offbeat tale. As always, the book's cast of characters—residents of the home—may or may not be based upon real people. We come to know them through Oscar’s eyes as he tells of his life at Gull’s Wing Sanctuary.
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About a year ago, veteran dog musher Tim White of Colvill graciously shared an interview he conducted with the late fur trapper Mike West, a patriarch of Minnesota mushing, which was published in Winter 1972-73 issue of Northwoods Journal. West ran long, canoe country traplines and trained sled dogs and drivers for the Army during World War II.. The entire interview was a bit long to reprint, so, with full credit to White, a paraphrased version follows here.
Mike West grew up in Worthington. In 1921, he acquired his first Malamute puppies in Shelby, Montana, from a man in Shelby, Montana, who brought a pair of dogs back from Alaska. A chance meeting in a barbershop with Benny Ambrose, a trapper who lived most of his life on remote Ottertrack Lake along the Canadian border, introduced him to the canoe country. Ambrose said there was money to be made in fur trapping.
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They say the best trait for any hunter is patience. Hod Bolinger of Albert Lea has plenty of it. In 1971, the first year Minnesota held a modern moose season, he applied in the lottery for a hunting permit. He continued to apply for permit every year a moose season was held since then, but was never drawn for a permit.
“I always applied for the zone near my cabin,” says Hod, who has a place on Tom Lake north of Hovland. “I knew the country and thought I could get a moose there,”
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The recent deer season taught me something many hunters already know: Deer bleat calls work. Nearly every deer I encountered while sneaking through the woods responded to a bleat call--a small canister that makes a noise similar to the bleat of a lamb. Some approached me, including the doe and buck I killed on separate occasions, and others remained in my near vicinity for 30 minutes or more.
You could say the call worked like magic. Sure, some skill was involved. I was able to sneak near the deer in the first place and be positioned so they couldn't detect my scent. I also had the ability to be extra-patient and to not over-use the call. But without the bleat can, it's very unlikely I would've had the same hunting experiences.
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This quilted 800-fill goose-down jacket is a stylish layering piece that provides serious warmth. Weighing in at just 9.9 ounces, the Nitrous Jacket was perfect for chilly days.
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Don’t let the darkness of winter stop you from getting outside. The TIKKA XP2 CORE headlamp has two light sources: a white highoutput LED and a red LED with maximum light (60-meter beam of light) and strobe-light settings.
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