A few days back, the coffee crew at Keith’s were discussing how owning your own boat and traveling to an area to fish compared with the cost of hiring a guide.

Driving down the highway on a sunny day this late winter, I caught a glimpse of movement inside a heavy shelterbelt near a deserted farm place off to my left.

All anglers, including myself, began their journey to their love of fishing along a shoreline on some pond, river, or lake.

In less than three-weeks, spring will be here, this is when walleye anglers will be chomping at the bit to get on the water.

Well, it happened, the regular goose season has come to an end in most of the Midwest and much like what’s going on with the Covid, nothing seems to be as it used to.

With the weather as cold as it is, with Saturday night predicted to minus 21 degree, it’s hard to believe that the Light Goose Conservation season is open and it won’t be long before the White geese start to head back north to their breeding grounds with the Snow Geese migrating through our area.

My interest in the outdoors even began early, before I fished or hunted, it began at the Watertown Public Library, where I spent a lot of time, looking for books that contained Outdoor Adventures.

The sport of fishing and a way to feed a family has been with us for thousands of years and since the computer age, has become easier than it was years ago.

Hard to believe this is January, 45 plus degrees today, but we’re going to pay for it with winds in the fifty mile per hour the rest of the week, I hope the moisture they’re talking about is rain and not snow.

If this warm weather continues, it may be a short winter, but I know better, as there’s still a lot of winter left.

Looking back on 2020, Wow what a year, the Pandemic has really put it to us, but there’s hope, for next year.

White-tailed deer are found throughout most of the United States and as far south as South America, as well as north into southern Canada.

No matter what you’re doing in the outdoors, there’ll be a change, something will be different each time you go out or different than it was last year.

Upland game populations, like other wildlife, runs in a cycle, good for a couple of years and then there’s a population drop, its Mother Nature’s way!

Growing up in Watertown, South Dakota, a block from the Sioux River with numerous muskrat houses sticking up out of the sloughs and along the banks, a kid, just had to go trapping.

On the opening morning of the 2020 Nebraska season, would find me in a friend’s blind located in the bottom along a creek in a harvested corn field.

Each year with the arrival of colder weather, people start calling and emailing our offices asking about ice fishing and where they’re biting.

It was still October when our first snow appeared, since I’m not a big fan of the cold, my first thought were “Oh No” winter weather is here already, it’s going to be a long winter.

As anglers, we know that there are several things that Mother Nature throws at us that we must adjust to.

It wasn’t too many years ago that we had very good pheasant numbers in Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa as we had some tremendous Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields.

Whether we’re ready for it or not, winter isn’t far away, and it’s time to start thinking about getting your boat ready to store for the winter.

Fall will be here before you know it when things will begin to change in the lakes, when they turn over, where the water in the lake actually turns over, with the water from the bottom comes up, and top water going to the bottom.

It’s the time of the year, the Dog Days of Summer where spending time on the water is very inviting, it’s also a time of year where the threat of spreading zebra mussels is high.

The seasons that archers in South Dakota and Nebraska have been waiting for have finally, the Archery Season has arrived or will open shortly.

It won’t be long before fall arrives on the 22nd of September, wit hour archery deer, grouse and dove season opening up in the same month.

Some of the best fisherman I know haven’t become the exceptional anglers, by fishing only one approach, one method, as they’re diversified, with they’re fishing arsenal, their tackle bags and rods geared for numerous species and numerous presentations.

When I was a kid, growing up a block away from the Big Sioux River in Watertown, S.D., each spring, there was always the spring carp and buffalo runs which brought hundreds of these rough fish up river to spawn.

There are a lot of anglers that believe that in order to get into some big fish, they have to fish big water, like Oahe, Lake of the Woods, Waubay Lake and Lake McConaughy,

As the weeds, make their way closer and onto the top of the water, fishing can be a nightmare, as you’re always pulling weeds from your baits or snagged up.

Time goes by so quickly it’s hard to understand the numerous things that are happening in our country today, things that didn’t seem to happen as I and other Baby Boomers were growing up.