Blog

“A quiet crowd,” mused Dale Garner, pondering the nearly 400 people crowded into Johnson’s Reception Hall in Elkader Perhaps the hunters, landowners, and others who’d come to learn more about the recent discovery of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Clayton County were simply resigned to the fact that the deadly deer disease had arrived. With […]

    Variety – is the spice of deer hunting. What fun would it be if all a hunter had to do is wait patiently for an hour or two, shoot a deer, and be done for the season? The reality is, well, never what you expect. You heard a pileated woodpecker – but did

Grandson Isaac and I were thinking “turkey” as we quietly sneaked along the ridge on the way to our chosen spot to sit and wait. But Isaac’s young eyes spotted a patch of gray that said “deer” instead.   We froze and watched briefly before the huge buck sensed us and bounded away. We both

    Have you ever snacked on goldenrod grubs? They’re slightly sweet, says my daughter, Emily, who HAS tasted them!   Crazy? Finicky folks might think so. But this sort of behavior is not a surprise to her parents – who proudly raised this “mud and water daughter.” We’re also proud of her new book,

adapted from Iowa’s Natural Heritage, Spring 2016 www.inhf.org     A textbook example of partnerships among private landowners, conservation organizations, and government agencies has protected an UN-ordinary natural area in an extraordinary corner of Iowa.   More than 3,000 acres of wild lands – centered on the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ 680-acre Iverson Bottoms

  Black flies!   Some people might curse the little devils and cringe at their arrival. But I prefer to look on the bright side and note that the first bites from the mini-monsters also signal the coming of merrier miracles of May.   Morels, for example! OK, so some of you probably found your

Sunrise As much as I struggle to get out of bed when it’s still dark outside, the spring turkey hunting season reminds me that waking up TOO early invariably is worth the effort. Maybe we should take a cue from birds and animals, with their unbounded enthusiasm for the break of day. A white-tailed deer

  Despite occasional setbacks, it’s SPRING!   On one sunny day, pasque flowers bloom on a ridge in a northeast Iowa goat prairie. Then – hardly 24 hours later – your flowerbed crocuses seem to shiver under an icy jacket left by a late-winter storm.   Ice also coats the swelling buds of an ironwood

  “Cheer! Cheer! Cheer!” proclaimed the cardinal, announcing his delight at the approach of spring.   You may have scoffed at that happy song a few weeks ago, with temperatures in the single digits and calf-deep snow in the woods – but Mr. Cardinal knew what he was singing about.   OK, it’s still February,

  Cold. Snow. Ice. Spring is still a month away. The easy-to-get food already may have been consumed. The sun’s rays – if they peek through the overcast – pack only marginal warmth.   That’s why some Native Americans called February the time of the “Hunger Moon.”   You have to empathize with wildlife’s struggles