Lakes Journal June 2020 by Daily Journal

Ready to set the line Fishing licenses see increase in 2020 spring

INSIDE Tordenskjold: The former county seat Music in the park returns to Ottertail Fergus Falls high school fishing team to return to the lake

A swan family swims along at Maplewood State Park in Pelican Rapids. PAID

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JUNE 2020 | MONTHLY NEWS AND EVENTS FROM THE OTTER TAIL AND GRANT COUNTY LAKES AREA | FREE

Detroit Lakes, MN Permit No. 14

MATHEW HOLDING EAGLE / LAKES JOURNAL.

PAGE 2 | LAKES JOURNAL | JUNE 2020

ometimes we need to retreat to a place that is unfamiliar to us, reconnecting with a lifestyle our ancestors lived daily. Back to a more simple time without the majority of electronics and more peace and quiet. It was time to travel back into the woods. So about a week ago, I went camping for the first time in years. I don’t want to say that ZACH I was excited for the propo- STICH sition, but I thought that it Banter would be good to get outside, and Boxscores get some fresh air, unplug and spend time with my kids. As a family that is involved in Cub Scouts, I thought that I should take as many opportunities to camp before I have to do it for real. My family and I went camping on some land owned by my in-laws. It was a very wooded area that they had created hiking trails, a small cabin and a solid tent camping site. After years of

roughing it, my in-laws had recently made the site accommodating for those that were less venturous (my daughter and I) and allowed them to camp year-round without having to pack everything just to do so. The first thing we did when we got to the campsite was head out on the trails. My motherin-law was busy cutting brush to clear another trail and we were told that she was down the trail. My son, ever enthusiastic, sprinted down the trail aways in hopes of finding his grandmother. We followed at a slower pace, walking and taking in the scenery. When we didn’t come across him after a minute, I went ahead at a brisker pace to see where he had gone off to. Worry didn’t set in, despite being told that bears and other predators had frequented the camp recently, and we found him roughly 20 seconds later returning back up the path after saying “I went really far and couldn’t find her.” We later discovered her down the trail and went walking past large swatches of poison ivy (great … ). None of us would get it but we were

family tent with the “they don’t make them like this anymore” disclaimer) and called it a night. My wife, son and I each slept on an air mattress, while my daughter slept on foam padding. This type of camping was better than the sleeping bag on the ground in a pup tent. The worst part of the experience was the morning. While I understand that it is usually cooler in the morning, I didn’t expect it to be hovering in the low 30s. My wife had packed sleeping bags for both our kids, but we only had blankets and it was a chilling awakening. I felt like a Popsicle inside a freezer when I woke up, despite sleeping in a long-sleeve shirt and sweatpants. That morning, my phone blew up and I had to get back to town due to the news. It was nice to have a few hours away and just enjoy nature. I envy those people that can go for a week or more on vacation and know that when they return things will remain mostly the same. Also with the pandemic, being cooped up had worn on us mentally and made it great to get outdoors. I hope that everyone gets an opportunity to get outside and experience a stress-free experience. For me, it did wonders. Zach Stich is the managing editor of Lakes Journal and Daily Journal.

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Getting campy

clearly glad we showed up in pants and shoes and not shorts and sandals. While my daughter stayed close to my mother-in-law as she learned about different plants in the area, my son was climbing whatever trees he could. Most of the afternoon we got familiar with our surroundings. Sitting in our lawn chairs and catching up on our weeks, we occasionally would do a few things like set up our tent and eat dinner, while the kids used a metal detector to search for treasure (actually a missing tent stake was what we were looking for). Time seemed to fly by as we had no stresses or things to do. Later that night, we sat by the campfire and enjoyed the night sky. The kids learned how to build a fire from their uncles and roasted marshmallows to make s’mores. My daughter requested that we tell spooky campfire stories, this brought on jokes from the adults saying “there will be no Social Security when you grow up,” “you will have to work a 50-hour work week” and “your company won’t make your 401K.” My daughter was not amused, so I pulled out the phone and looked up suitable children’s campfire stories. After telling two or three (which actually were darker than I thought they would be), my family began to get tired. We headed back to the tent (an old-school

LAKES JOURNAL | JUNE 2020 | PAGE 3

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PAGE 4 | LAKES JOURNAL | JUNE 2020

ANGLERS TAKE ADVANTAGE Fishing license jump triggered by need to get outside Lakes Journal

The spring fishing season has been a good one for fishing license sales in Minnesota. “Back in April we were up 40% from our 2019 sales,” Fergus Falls fisheries manager Jim Wolters said Friday. Were there more fish in Minnesota lakes? Had catching them suddenly become a snap? Give the credit to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a former high school teacher from Mankato. An executive order by Walz to stay at home suddenly meant working from home for parents and children alike. Schools closed down. Sporting activities were banned. In drawing the battle lines for all Minnesotans in the fight against the coronavirus, Walz told the state’s 5.6 million citizens they could still indulge their love of fishing. People must have thought Walz showed a lot of wisdom that day because they stormed license dealers.

Fishing became more than a hobby, it became a reason to get outdoors after a long winter. “Things shut down and yet there was the encouragement to get out,” Wolters said. One of the biggest jumps in license sales came from 17- and 18-year-olds. As spring has rolled slowly along fishing has been one of the more visible outdoor activities. The ice had hardly gone out on some lakes when the spinning reels started to sing. Wolters has been particularly encouraged by the number of families he has seen out fishing. South Ten Mile Lake has been one of those family fishing spots. The latest figures show that the DNR fishing license sales increase has slacked off to about a 27% increase in recent days. Why? “Restaurants and other businesses are opening up again,” Wolters speculated. In addition to fishing, the ex-

Mathew Holding Eagle | Lakes Journal

FISHING OPENER AND BEYOND: Two anglers enjoy the fishing opener in May at Orwell Dam. Fishing licenses have seen an increase this spring with the stay-at-home order put in place. ecutive order Walz issued back in March has bolstered state park attendance. Park facilities are not open but the opportunity to get outside has been a compelling one for winter-weary Minnesotans.

Special regulation sunfish limits could be coming The DNR has been hearing from anglers for some time that something about the sunfish population is really coming up short. Sunfish limits on most Minnesota lakes have been 20 a day for years. While sunfish numbers are not in jeopardy, the average size of the aggressive gamefish has been dropping. Wolters believes the reason is a combination of different factors.

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at 10 and studies are showing the smaller daily limit is working. To build a pound of sunfish filets, DNR studies have also shown that six, eight-inch sunfish are the equivalent of 15 7-inchers and 25 6-inchers. There are 13 lakes in Otter Tail County being considered for a special regulation limit - Bass, Deer, East Lost, Fish, Franklin, Long, Prairie, Red River, Stuart, Wall, West Lost, West Silent and two Fish lakes. The DNR is planning to post signs on the public accesses of the proposed lakes. A comment period and public meetings will be held. The proposal will go through if it gains both public backing and DNR approval. Those changes would go into effect March 1, 2021.

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First, technology has put a lot of pressure on sunfish. Underwater cameras and fish locators are putting anglers on sunfish schools faster. Second, some sunfish habitat has been lost. Finally, more big sunnies are being harvested. The fact that sunfish only grow an inch a year is also seen as a factor. The DNR’s answer is the quality bluegill initiative. Bluegills generally grow to be the largest member of the freshwater sunfish family. Through the initiative, the fisheries managers are giving serious thought to increasing the number of special regulation lakes for sunnies. The special regulation limit in Otter Tail County would be five. Star Lake’s sunfish limit is already set

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LAKES JOURNAL | JUNE 2020 | PAGE 5

Shallow water June bassin’! are prime forage for bass now, bluegill patterned jigs and trailers often produce fish. Experimenting with color patterns and letting the fish determine the “color of the day” is always sound advice. This style fishing calls for baitcasting gear. I have had very good success recently fishing swim jigs on a 7-foot Lew’s Mach 2 baitcast combo. This combo features a sensitive rod with a Winn splitgrip handle and has a reel that is smooth casting, lightweight and durable. Spooling the combo SUBMITTED with fluorocarbon line completes my swim jig CATCHING JUNE BASS: Swim jigs catch bass holding along pencil reeds! setup. Fluorocarbon is nearly invisible in clear water and has low stretch which allows for solid hooksets when bass hit at the end of long casts. to stop aquatic hitchhikers P-Line Tactical fluorocarbon in 14-pound test is my Aquatic Invasive Species choice because it allows THREATEN our natural resources. for ultra-long casts and is PROTECT our waters for future generations. abrasion resistant for fishREMOVE the drain plug for travel, ing around cover too. DISPOSE of unwanted bait in the trash. Hooking big bass at the end of long casts is one of my favorite early sumottertailcountymn.us/department/aquatic-invasive-species mer fishing tactics. Using the tips just provided can probably help you get in RIP RAP on some of this fast, early summer fishing action as SEPTIC SYSTEMS well. As always, good luck on the water and rememGENERAL ber to include a youngster EXCAVATING in your next outdoors adventure! Shane Finkelson, owner 12572 273rd Ave Dalton, MN Mike Frisch hosts the popular “Fishing the Midwest” TV series. Visit Licensed & Bonded fishingthemidwest.com to 218-770-3183 • 218-589-7494 • sfconstructmn@gmail.com learn more!

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When targeting docks, boat lifts, and trees, I position the boat so that I can swim the jig along the sides of the dock, lift or tree, and then also make casts to the covers’ outer edges. It pays to make note of where the bites are coming from as oftentimes a pattern will emerge. For example, maybe most fish are holding close to shore along the shaded dock sides, and so making multiple casts to those areas results in the most bites. My swim jig set up consists of a skirted style bass jig particularly designed for the technique and then tipped with some form of soft bait action tail. I like ¼ or 3/8-ounce “Hack Attack Heavy Cover Swim Jig” which has a stout hook and weed guard that works great when fishing around reeds, docks and trees. I often tip the jig with a “Rage Swimmer.” This bait has a soft-ribbed body and pancake-like tail that provides vibrations that work great for attracting bass and triggering bites. When the fish are very aggressive, or when fishing a bit deeper water, I will opt for the heavier jig, while the shallowest waters often call for the lighter offering. In the clear waters that I usually fish, natural color patterns often shine. For example, a white or sexy shad jig works great when paired with a similar colored trailer. Also, because shallow water bluegills

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arly summer is a great time of year to chase largemouth bass. Many fish are now recovered from the spawn and are feeding aggressive- MIKE ly. And, FRISCH many are Fishing still roam- with Frisch ing shallow to mid-depth waters and can be caught throwing a swim jig, which just happens to be a favorite “bassin’ ” presentation for many anglers, this one included! Early summer finds bass roaming shallow to middepth flats, often those featuring cover like pencil reeds, other emerging weeds, and fallen timber. Also, shorelines with lots of manmade cover like docks and boat lifts are other potential hotspots. When fishing reeds, I like to move along throwing a swim jig to the edges of the reed patches, or right through them if they are not too thick, and quickly retrieving it back. Often, as the bait caroms off a reed, an aggressive bass will come up and eat it, and then it’s game (or should I say fish) on! One tip for effective casting in reeds is to observe the way the wind has blown the reeds and to fish that direction. Fishing “with the reeds” is usually more productive and results in a lot less “reed hookups” than fishing across the reeds!

PAGE 6 | LAKES JOURNAL | JUNE 2020

TAKING A SEAT

Two centuries ago county seat was Tordenskjold By Brian Hansel Lakes Journal

This summer will mark the 150th anniversary of a Fourth of July picnic at a tiny, unplatted settlement called Tordenskjold. While the COVID-19 crisis will cancel many Fourth of July gatherings this year, in 1870 a large gathering was seen as a very fitting event to hold at Tordenskjold. Five months earlier the Minnesota Legislature had recognized Tordenskjold as the new seat of Otter Tail County. Fired by the opportunity to acquire free land under the Homestead Act of 1862 signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln, immigrants were arriving in west-central Minnesota by ox cart. It was a time of tremendous change for Otter Tail County. In 1870 the official population of the county was only 1,968. Ten years later records show the county’s population had already increased nine times. According to a 1916 history of Otter Tail County, penned by J.W. Mason, Tordenskjold’s ascendancy began when the city of Otter Tail, located 21 miles to the northeast, lost its bid for a railroad line. People who were interested in the formation and permanent organization of the county started to look around for another county seat. At the time the largest concentration of residents in Otter Tail County was found in the neighboring townships of St. Olaf, Tordenskjold, Tumuli and Dane Prairie.

BRIAN HANSEL | LAKES JOURNAL

AUTHENTIC PROOF: A marker placed along County Highway 39 northeast of Dalton by the Otter Tail Historical Society gives a brief history of Tordenskjold as the county seat in 1870.

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Lien does not know exactly what attracted people to the four neighboring townships but he suspects the sawmill was one good reason. “It was probably because of the river,” Lien said. Mills were once plentiful in Otter Tail County because of the abundance of lakes and rivers. There were those who saw Otter Tail County becoming the greatest milling area west of Minneapolis. Tordenskjold’s main business was a sawmill operated by the Hoff brothers, Helmer and Ole. The sawmill was built on Helmer’s farm. The Hoff’s created power for their sawmill with a dam on the Pomme “Selling Lake Property in Otter Tail County Since 1995!” de Terre River that linked Hansen Lake with Stenerson Lake. The property where the sawmill stood is now situated along County Highway 39 on a farm owned by Harlan Lien. Harlan’s son, Toby, presSue Mohagen www.mohagenrealestate.com ently lives in St. Paul but he BRIAN HANSEL| LAKES JOURNAL Office: 218-998-4400 has a keen interest in local MARKING HISTORY: Travelers on County Highway 39 east of Dalton history. Cell: 218-731-7376 Lien noted that many of pass through what 150 years ago held the greatest concentration of the families who attend- Otter Tail County’s population.

LAKES JOURNAL | JUNE 2020 | PAGE 7

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was short-lived for the settlement. The Legislature had recognized the city of Otter Tail as the first county seat in 1858 when Minnesota gained statehood. A new legislative body took the distinction away from Tordenskjold in 1871 because the residents of the county had not been given a chance to vote on the question. It slipped away from Otter Tail in 1872 when the Legislature moved the county seat to Fergus Falls. During its brief time in the spotlight Tordenskjold functioned as a county seat. The county commissioners held eight meetings at Tordenskjold. At an Oct. 18 meeting a resolution was offered and approved to build a courthouse and a jail, at a cost not to exceed $1,000. Time has erased all manmade remnants of Tordenskjold. A small statue near the Lien farm is now the only landmark that commemorates Tordenskjold’s historical importance in Otter Tail County.

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ed the Fourth of July picnic in 1870 have descendants that still live in Otter Tail. Mason’s history of the picnic refers to men like Alleck Johnson, Knud Peterson, Christ Hansen, Peter Larsen, Tyge Tygesen, Nels Nelson and families like the Beardsleys, Hammers, Kinners, Frones, Dahls, Branvaldts, Hoffs, Ihlsengs, Juelsons, Lees, Skjordals, Bjorgos and Jensens. Exactly how many attended the picnic is not known but it was a gathering of considerable size — with a lot of good food, plenty of patriotic spirit but no long-winded speakers. Lien has found stories that the river was more to the people of the area than just a spot for a sawmill. Just below the Tordenskjold Dam was a big swimming hole where kids would gather in the summer, many of them making the trip from Dalton, 3 miles away. History records the distinction of being one of Minnesota’s county seats

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PAGE 8 | LAKES JOURNAL | JUNE 2020

CUTTING EDGE SPORT Ax throwing coming to Ashby

By Brian Hansel Lakes Journal

four seasons of the year. Ax throwing migrated into the United States from Canada about eight years ago according to Mickelson. Mickelson’s business will be tied to the World Axe Throwing League and scores established at his range will SUBMITTED be eligible for registration. ‘AX’CELENT IDEA: Troy Mickelson is bringing the sport of ax throwing to Ashby as the city council green-lit “We’ll be a hub here,” a 40-by-60 foot structure. The ax throwing business has already broke ground on its locatoin and hopes to Mickelson said. be open by August (below). While food will be available, Mickelson said it will be coming from outside sources. He did not want to start a business that competes with the food businesses already established in the Grant County community. He also plans to offer beverages but nothing with alcohol. He has been in contact with a couple of breweries that supply nonalcoholic beer. “I wanted to give people a reason to come to Ashby,” Submitted Mickelson said. “Hopefully BREAKING GROUND: The ax throwing business has already broke ground on its locatoin and hopes to be we’ll be up in August.” open by August.

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Troy Mickelson wants to introduce the area to an exciting new sport - ax throwing. Mickelson is ready to break ground on a 2,400-square-foot building in Ashby as soon as the permits are granted. He got the green light for his 40-by-60 foot structure from the Ashby City Council in April. “I’m excited about it,” Mickelson said Thursday. “It’ll be fun for both older people and younger people.” For those unfamiliar with the sport, it involves throwing an ax with a 14-inch handle and a 1-pound head a distance of 12 feet. “It’s a lot more about skill than it is brute force,” Mickelson said. “It’s not about how hard you can throw that ax. It’s more about form

than it is strength.” There is a similarity between ax throwing and bowling according to Mickelson. It is also similar to the game of darts. The business that will be coming up at 208 Larson Avenue is downtown Ashby will offer six lanes and 12 targets. In his time as a competitive ax thrower, Mickelson has bumped into throwers as young as 12 and as old as 75. Youngsters 12-16 years of age will be able to throw at Mickelson’s facility if accompanied by a parent or guardian. “Once they turn 15 they can throw alone if they provide a waiver from a parent or guardian,” Mickelson said. Mickelson has big plans for his business. He wants to establish leagues and hold a men’s night, a doubles night and offer axe throwing in all

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Music in the Park: Ottertail outdoor music event back on schedule By Johanna Armstrong Lakes Journal

Ottertail’s Music in the Park series, presented by Ottertail Business and Community Association (OTBCA), has been approved to go forward and the show starts June 23 with a performance by Elvis Presley impersonator Todd Anderson. The concerts will take place in Ottertail City Park and OTBCA will be marking the grass with painted dots to indicate where attendees can set up in order to maintain 6 feet of social distance. There will also be a parking lot across the street where people can stay in their cars to watch the concert. “Todd Anderson said he’s going to try to bring an FM tuner, he’s

SUBMITTED

BACK ON THE STAGE: Ottertail is excited to announce that its Music in the Park series, presented by the Ottertail Business and Community Association has been approved to go forward and will start June 23 at Ottertail City Park. not sure that he’s got one, and that allows you to tune in on a radio frequency and

you can actually listen to his music from your car,” OTBCA president Ron Grobeck said.

This is the third year OTBCA is hosting Todd Anderson and in previous years crowds as large as 400 have come to see him. With social distancing, only about 175 people will be able to fit in the park to see him, along with about 20-30 cars in the front row of the parking lot. In previous years, local businesses helped pitch in to sponsor the event and pay for the bands, with money raised from selling concessions going toward scholarships for local students. This year, with local businesses affected by the shutdown due to the pandemic, OTBCA did not ask for funding. Instead, they’ll be dipping into their savings and asking the community for donations. “We’re just going to

do donations, if they want to come up and just make a donation,” Grobeck says. “We’re going to pay for the bands out of some existing funds that we have, but we’ll have a donation jar if people want to contribute, but they don’t have to, they can just come and listen. It’s a free concert, they can bring a lawn chair.” Concessions this year will be a little different, too, as the health department is only allowing the sale of prewrapped food. “Normally we do hot dogs and popcorn but with the virus we can’t do that, so we will have some prepackaged things, probably some confectionery type stuff, and then usually we have bottled water and pop,” Grobeck says.

There are five events planned as part of Music in the Park, including Chris Frost Band on July 14, Blue English Band on July 28, Gina Powers Band on Aug. 4 and Flashbacks on Aug. 25. All shows run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., except for Flashbacks which runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. “We’ve got such a good lineup this year, too, with Todd Anderson, we’re bringing in Blue English, that’s a rock ‘n’ roll band from Fargo, we’re bringing in a group called the Gina Powers Band out of Fargo, fantastic, a little bit of country,” Grobeck says. “We’re going to do Otterfest Aug. 8 in a modified form, too.” Otterfest will feature The Rockin’ 60s with Steve Worner from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

2020 Household Hazardous Waste Mobile Collections Deer Creek • Wednesday, May 13th Fire Hall • 10 am – 2 pm Rothsay • Friday, May 15th City Shop • 10 am – 2 pm Henning • Tuesday, May 19th County Hwy Garage • 10 am – 2 pm Bluffton • Wednesday, May 27th Community Center • 10 am – 2 pm Battle Lake • Wednesday, June 10th County Hwy Garage • 10 am – 2 pm Ottertail • Friday, June 12th Fire Hall • 10 am – 2 pm Perham • Wednesday, July 8th City Garage • 10 am – 2 pm Vergus • Friday, July 10th Fire Hall • 10 am – 2 pm Pelican Rapids • Wed, August 5th Public Works Facility • 10 am – 2 pm Parkers Prairie • Friday, August 14th County Hwy Garage • 10 am – 2 pm New York Mills • Friday, Sep. 18th City Maintenance Bldg • 10 am – 2 pm Questions? Call 218-998-8950

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PAGE 10 | LAKES JOURNAL | JUNE 2020

Fergus Falls high school anglers returning to lakes By Brian Hansel Lakes Journal

Ethan Soland has a season lined up, now he is looking for anglers. “It’s a chance to get outside and go with it,” said the third-year coach of the Fergus Falls fishing team. The team will be gearing up this week for a late start to the 2020 high school fishing season. Soland is asking students from the prep ranks to sign up by June 19. “Even if you signed up in March or April we need you to sign up again,” Soland posted on the team’s Facebook page. There are 20 teams in the Heart O’ Lakes Fishing League and Fergus Falls is the defending champion. “It’s basically made up of every school in our county and some in the neighboring counties,” Soland said. There was still ice on the lakes in March when high school sports in Fergus Falls took a header. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz found it necessary to issue an emergency order to protect state residents from the CASTING A LINE: The Fergus Falls fishing team will hit the lakes this season after COVID-19 ended the spring sports season.

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THE CHAMPS RETURN: The Fergus Falls fishing team was the Heart O’Lakes Conference champion fro the 2019 season. with one being caught June 15 and the other June 22, the first entry will win. Soland is asking his anglers to share their photos on the

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COVID-19 virus. The order included closing schools and forfeiting the spring sports season. But Walz recently announced Phase 3 of his plan to put the state back on its feet. The 2019 Fergus Falls fishing team had a roster of 63 boys and girls. “This will be a group for our kids to get involved in,” Soland said, admitting that at this point he would be happy to have 50 kids on his squad. Mindful of the fact that Minnesota depends on fishing for part of its economy, Walz allowed angling to continue. With so many activities curtailed by the virus, the fishing gained a new found popularity and has seen a huge upsurge in fishing license sales over 2019. The team has set a tentative schedule for meets. The first one is slated for July 9 with the second on July 22 and the third on Aug. 13. The championship is on tap Sept. 12. All dates are pending permits. Due to the risks associated with COVID-19 transmission, all pods will remain the same as last year and food will not be served at the end of each event. Soland has announced on the team’s Facebook page that during June the club will be holding a virtual contest for all student-anglers. Participants need to submit a photo of their catch on a measuring device in order to compete for a gift card in each of the five species – walleye, bass, panfish, crappie and northern pike. Those entering will only be eligible to win in two different species. The tiebreaker will be the first fish registered. If two 21-inch bass are entered

PAGE 12 | LAKES JOURNAL | JUNE 2020

Will the coming decade see pheasant numbers go up?

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ven before the winter snows had disappeared in March pheasants were showing up alongside roads in west central Minnesota. During a trip to southwestern Minnesota my wife and I spotted more than 50 pheasants. We saw more than 30 on our return trip. About half of these birds were in Otter Tail and Grant counties. The standing cornfields which impeded pheasant hunting last fall was a gift for a lot of pheasants over the winter months. BRIAN These unharvested fields supplied wild- HANSEL Staff life with both food and cover. A horrible winter in 2018-19 backed up Writer by a late spring led to an August roadside count for west-central Minnesota considered poor to very poor. It was hard to argue the Department of Natural Resources counts were wrong because pheasants had so much standing escape cover. You do not see pheasant hunters driving cornfields anymore. There are some of us who remember a time when corn rows were planted far enough apart a hunter could walk

LAKES JOURNAL | JUNE 2020 | PAGE 13

through a field without turning sideways. The cultivation practices farmers followed then controlled some weed growth between the rows, but it was nothing even close to what their genetically modified corn seed does today. On a Sunday afternoon in early October our family packed up and headed to my grandparents’ farm in Buse Township to hunt pheasants in the cornfields. Most of us were too young to carry guns but that was OK. The oldtimers would post at the end of the cornfield while the rest of us lined up and started the drive. As we moved through the field there was as much chatter as there was

shooting. Once in a while a pheasant would dart into your row or race ahead of you like mad. If a rooster got up right away the drivers would shoot. If they didn’t, they would usually flush before the drivers reached the men on post. I don’t remember needing dogs to find our downed birds. They usually dropped in the field and by marking the spot we could find them. There were many other pheasant hunting parties out on opening day and the sound of shotgun fire came from every direction. Only waterfowl hunters make that kind of a racket now. We had a big group and after a few hours afield a

good hunt usually found us with a bag of 20 or 30 roosters. A good meal was always waiting for us and after some visiting everyone headed home with birds. That was in the early ‘60s when the federal government’s Soil Bank Program was being offered to farmers. The program paid farmers to retire land from production for 10 years. The program reduced production, helped maintain farm income and conserved the soil. It also ushered in a heyday for pheasant production and pheasant hunters. When the federal government’s “fence row to fence row” policy began pheasants took a big hit. Many farmers gave up on dairy at that

time too. It took 20 years to establish the Conservation Reserve Program after the Soil Bank Program went by the wayside, The CRP is designed to conserve soil, water and wildlife resources. A couple decades of good CRP enrollment brought pheasant numbers back up. At its peak, CRP acres topped out at 37 million acres. That changed in 2014 as farmers, blessed with big prices for soybeans and corn, hurried to put their CRP back into production. CRP acres dropped to 22 million acres. The 2018 Farm Bill is pushing the acreage eligible for CRP payments back up to 27 million by 2023.

With a national corn crop that is expected to yield a record harvest of 16 billion bushels at a time when many bins are full and corn prices are very low you have to ask if the government might not be considering even more CRP in the future? Put it all together and you have to ask yourself if we are on the verge of another pheasant comeback? Six months into 2020 we are approaching a critical time of the year for the pheasant population. The ground-nesting game birds are hatching young and the little balls of fluff are not that good at handling a great deal of rainfall and cool weather. June can hand out some pretty destructive

weather as area residents found Tuesday morning when winds of up to 60 mph pummeled Otter Tail County and other parts of western Minnesota causing widespread power outages and localized flooding. It was in the midst of the maelstrom that our local hen pheasants were trying to hatch their broods. There can be little doubt that some chicks were lost. Yet anyone who knows the bird knows they have amazing resilience. Even if June’s crop of chicks is not a large one, pheasants are likely to try again - and again - to raise a brood. Brian Hansel is a reporter for The Fergus Falls Daily Journal.

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