Scott Rall

Scott Rall Column: What’s more fun than a good dive?

I was very surprised at the number of reader contacts I received about my column a few weeks back on the American Coot. I got lots of calls, emails and stops on the street. There are still plenty of them around town but they are no longer walking around in the snow.

SCOTT RALL COLUMN: Disappearing pasture land accelerates

All across Minnesota and the upper Midwest for that matter, pasture land is disappearing. It is not getting sucked up into an alien spaceship or anything like that but it is disappearing nonetheless. What is making it disappear? The answer is some more endless rows of corn and beans.

SCOTT RALL COLUMN: American coots are ugly, but cute

WORTHINGTON — I think it matters very little if you love them or hate them, this animal will always find a way into your field of vision. In fact, if you live in Worthington, you will very often find them under the wheels of your car.

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The American coot is regular at Lake Okabena

SCOTT RALL COLUMN: Why do we value our resources so lightly?

WORTHINGTON — So what is a walleye, a deer, or a duck worth? To me, they are worth thousands of dollars. Let me explain.

SCOTT RALL COLUMN: Trees, taxes, wildlife habitat all have deadlines

WORTHINGTON — The only person who isn’t neck deep in work today is the person who is not responsible for even one tree. I drove to my office on Thursday to write this column and I told my Mrs. that I had never seen anything like this in 50-plus years.

SCOTT RALL COLUMN: Thirty in thirty is a fabulous score

WORTHINGTON — There are some folks who can remember a weather event from 30 years ago, or if it snowed last Halloween. I, for one, cannot. If there is not a record kept, I don’t do well in total recall of those types of events.

SCOTT RALL COLUMN: Where on earth is Wally’s Wood Duck World?

WORTHINGTON — Where on earth is Wally’s Wood Duck World? This is the name of a pheasant hunting spot Thad Lambert and I used to frequent east of Worthington. It was a shallow slough that never had any water in it in the fall, but seemed to be a paradise for a large number of wood ducks in southwest Minnesota during the spring and summer months when it was still wet.

SCOTT RALL COLUMN: Gun safety: Don’t ask why, just do it

WORTHINGTON — Dad doesn’t hunt, mom wouldn’t even hold a gun and junior has no interest, why on earth would I send my child to a firearms safety training program? What a great question and one I would like to take a few paragraphs to answer.

SCOTT RALL COLUMN: SCI means more than its initials

WORTHINGTON — If you visit the Sioux Falls Zoo and, if you are like me, you will get wide-eyed when you get a chance to look over all of the different wild animals that are displayed in the lobby area. Many, if not most, of these large mammals will be from other continents.

Is there anything a dog can’t do?

WORTHINGTON — Training a dog is pretty fun stuff. When I see dogs do certain things, I just wonder how they can be taught the wide variety of tasks they seem to do so well. If you think about it, there is an exhaustive list of things a dog can be trained to do.

OUTDOORS: Tonight is the big night for Nobles County Pheasants Forever

WORTHINGTON — For some, today is a very big day. The 28th annual Nobles County Pheasants Forever banquet is tonight at the Long Branch Saloon in Worthington. The doors open at 5:30 p.m., and it is going to be a big and rich time if ticket sales are any indication.

OUTDOORS: Cottons, squirrels and other things September

WORTHINGTON — The dove season seems to have come and gone in about four days. The 35-mph winds that accompanied the first week of the season sent almost all of those birds a packin’.

It’s a plane, it’s a bird, it’s a turkey vulture

WORTHINGTON — It really amazes me just how many comments I get regarding the general interest outdoor column I write on a weekly basis.

OUTDOORS: Clean the gun; hunting season is upon us

WORTHINGTON — I wanted to start out with a reminder that the deadline to apply for the Minnesota DNR/Pheasants Forever youth/women mentor hunt is Wednesday. I have applications at my office at Rall Financial Services on South Shore Drive in Worthington if you prefer this to the online application available on the DNR website.

OUTDOORS: Don’t judge a book by its cover

WORTHINGTON — I love the old saying that “you should never judge a book by its cover.” When you make the mistake of doing so, it can really turn around and bite you in the rear end. There is no doubt we have all made this mistake more than a time or two in our lives.

OUTDOORS: Mosquitoes, by comparison, aren’t all that bad

WORTHINGTON — As the summer progresses, we can all look forward to the pleasures of mosquitoes, ticks and other insects that like to dine on the exposed skin of humans. As mosquitoes go, I think there have been a lot less of them in the past few years. I cannot explain it, but one of the non-scientific hypotheses is that with all of the aerial spraying now done every year to combat soybean aphids, it’s having a killing effect on mosquitoes as well.

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