July 27, 2007 - TOP STORIES
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New bowhunting reg for fall ´07
Terry responds to Mille Lacs Messenger
MN youth qualify for National Trapshooting Championships
New bowhunting reg for fall ´07
Regulation change makes bowhunting more accessible; Youth and women most likely to benefit from 30-pound minimum
DNR News
Beginning this fall, the minimum draw weight for hunting bows will be 30 pounds, a reduction from 40 pounds required in previous years by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
The move is aimed at making bow hunting more accessible to younger hunters and others who might have difficulty drawing a 40-pound bow. It shouldn’t affect the effectiveness of archery equipment for harvesting deer.
“The 40-pound minimum draw weight was put in place when most bows and arrows were made of wood, and compound bows were just becoming an option for hunters,” said Ryan Bronson, DNR hunter recruitment and retention supervisor. “Technology has vastly improved the efficiency of archery tackle. Modern compound bows, carbon and aluminum arrows, and high tech broad heads are capable of delivering more kinetic energy than traditional gear.”
Bronson said he became interested in changing the draw-weight regulation when he learned of Wisconsin’s 30-pound draw weight restriction from a colleague. “She pointed out that Wisconsin had more bowhunters per capita than Minnesota, and they didn’t seem to have any problems with the more permissive regulation.”
After taking public input on the topic and consulting with archery engineers and bowhunting leaders in the state, the DNR supported legislation to alter the minimum draw weight. The provision passed into law as part of a larger environment and natural resources bill.
Bronson predicts that the primary beneficiaries of the regulation change will be younger hunters and women, both demographic groups that are under-represented in the bowhunting ranks. “The physical strength required to draw a bow can hinder some people from participating,” Bronson said. “Our license data supports what a lot of archery instructors tell us, that many smaller shooters can’t quite handle a 40-pound bow.”
The DNR estimates that more than 80,000 Minnesotans now hunt deer with a bow and arrow every year, compared to 70,000 as recently as 2000. Regulatory changes, including the creation of the All-Season Deer License and allowing hunters to take deer with both firearms and archery gear have contributed to the increase. Expanding urban hunting opportunities have also provided additional access for bowhunters. Archery license sales to youth have increased 25 percent since 2002, from 6,000 to 7,500 annually.
“There is no doubt that bowhunting has more growth potential,” Bronson said. “As urban areas and their firearms discharge ordinances expand, more areas are becoming de-facto deer refuges. Bowhunters are the best deer management tools we have available in these areas.”
Programs like the Archery in Schools Program are also fueling the growing interest in archery, but the popular DNR school archery program provides only basic instruction. Moving new shooters to the next level, either as target shooters or bowhunters, requires at least two things: places for archers to shoot, and instruction to teach them how to shoot better.
The DNR and the Archery Trade Association (ATA) have teamed up on an effort to identify archery facilities in Minnesota, and to put them on a searchable website so new and existing archers can find them. The Web site www.archerysearch.com is maintained by the ATA, but DNR staff has been submitting data to make it as complete as possible.
“We found that Minnesota has a lot more archery ranges than many archers realize,” Bronson said. “Most people in the metro area have a shooting range within 30 minutes of their homes, so we are trying to help them find the most convenient location.”
Finding instructors can be more problematic than finding ranges. Some retailers offer instruction, but other highly skilled archery instructors can be difficult to locate. The DNR is working with archery organizations in Minnesota to post their instructor information on the www.archerysearch.com website, and the DNR’s Shooting Sports Education Center facilitates training to increase the supply of certified instructors.
Young people interested in developing their archery skills have more options than adults. Several programs, including the 4-H Shooting Sports and Wildlife Program, Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD) cubs, and After School Archery Programs (ASAP) already exist in Minnesota. Additionally, many parks and recreation departments, summer camps, and schools offer summer archery programs as well.
The Minnesota bowhunting season opens Sept. 15. For more information, visit www.dnr.state.mn.us. For information about becoming a certified archery instructor, contact the Minnesota Shooting Sports Education Center at (218) 327-0583.
New state park in the works
Break out the tent: Lake Vermilion State Park in the works
By Brian Bakst
ST. PAUL (AP) – Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced plans to create a new state park last week – at Lake Vermilion, a popular fishing destination near the Soudan Underground Mine State Park in northeastern Minnesota.
The proposal would establish Minnesota’s 67th park, setting aside 2,500 acres on land currently owned by U.S. Steel. It needs legislative backing and could cost the state tens of millions of dollars.
The lake abuts the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the Superior National Forest.
It would add to a park system that last year saw more than 8.4 million visitors.
The new park would be the first since 2000, when the Big Bog State Recreation Area and the Red River Valley State Recreation Area both hit the rolls. Minnesota has 66 full-fledged state parks and six that are designated as recreation areas.
Minnesota has one of the nation’s oldest state park systems, dating to 1891 when Itasca State Park was established.
Minnesota’s parks have mostly taken their names from their geographic surroundings – Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock Creek and Bear Head Lake among them. But some pay tribute to famous people – aviator Charles Lindbergh, expeditionary priest Father Hennepin and Supreme Court justice C.R. Magney to name a few.
The park system’s most significant growth spurt came in 1963 when 11 were added at once. A dozen have been established in the four decades since.
Terry responds to Mille Lacs Messenger
Views expressed of this Letter to the Editor are those of the writers and not necessarily those of Outdoors Weekly or its staff.
In response to an article that was published in the Mille Lacs Messenger last week Terry from Terry’s Boat Harbor had the following to say. Many have read the article either on-line or in print and the article has caused waves of controversy and negative press for Terry. He feels he has been misquoted and most importantly misunderstood.
From Terry’s Boat Harbor, Terry Thurmer:
After reading the article in the Mille Lacs Messenger, I now know why a lot of professional athletes, politicians, and people refuse to talk to the media.
I will first address the newspaper article and I will then tell you about the input meetings and issues that the input members have suggested to the DNR over the years.
I said we need to keep the fishing prostitutes away from the public access. What I meant by this is that anytime there is a super hot bite on this lake you can go to these accesses and see the same trucks and boats fishing every single day for weeks at a time. These same people also do this on other lakes and once in a while they get caught and then you read about all of the fish they got caught with in the newspaper. As far as people spending money up here the people that use the public accesses, some do, some do not. This does not make them prostitutes. Those of you that do spend money in and around the lake I can assure all of the businesses up here are thankful for your support.
As far as closing all public accesses on the lake I never said this. The DNR at a previous input meeting had asked for ideas on how to control the amount of fish taken out of the lake. I told them that one way they do it in some of the western states is to limit the number of hours that the public access are open. This would then eliminate some of the fishing pressure, which would help reduce the number of pounds of fish being taken. Yet, it would still provide public access fishing on a daily basis.
If this had been done this year they would have not had to reduce the slot limit. I think the majority of fishermen out there would have preferred to fish fewer hours and be able to fish all summer with the same slot.
Charging a fee to users of the public accesses, this was not even my idea. One of the people who works at one of the newspapers who published the article called me a day before our input meeting and brought this up to me. His idea was to charge for admission to public accesses and that money should go to the state to pay for restocking of the lake.
Input meeting and suggestions made to the DNR:
The entire Mille Lacs Controversy and ever changing slots began when the Treaty Bands began exercising their Treaty Rights. The DNR no longer was going to manage the lake from a Biological standpoint, but rather by pounds of fish and the lake is still managed this way today.
The idea I brought forth to the DNR at the input meeting to end the controversy was to build a fish hatchery on Mille Lacs and raise walleyes to the 14 to 16 inch range.
When the treaty harvest was over whatever pounds of fish they took out could be put back into the lake. If they had more fish in the hatchery than what Mille Lacs needed, the extra fish could be put into other lakes around the state.
The hatchery could also raise perch, northern pike, or fish for forage to keep the lake population stable. Over the years, I’ve asked thousands of fishermen if they would be willing to pay extra money for fishing license, if that money, would go towards a Mille Lacs hatchery. The answer from all of them was yes. The answer from the DNR was no. I then asked fellow resorter, former politician, and at that time a consultant for the Mille Lacs Band, Ron Maddox, for help on the hatchery idea.
I told Ron that Montana had a new state of the art hatchery on the Fort Peck Reservoir and that the Federal Government had paid the entire cost for building of the hatchery. All the State had to do was pay the costs of running it. Ron checked this out and found out that this was true.
Ron then went to the Mille Lacs Band and presented the hatchery idea to then Chief, Marge Anderson and Don Weidel the Mille Lacs Bands DNR Commissioner. To the Band’s Credit, they thought this was a good idea and were willing to discuss building the hatchery.
I visited with Ron this summer and asked him why nothing has been done on the hatchery. He told me even though the Mille Lacs Band was open to discuss the idea, that St. Paul wanted nothing to do with it. I brought this same hatchery issue up at the last input meeting, but this never appeared in the newspaper article.
Another idea we brought up to the DNR in the past and again at the last meeting the possibility of purchasing the fish from the Wisconsin Bands. The Wisconsin Bands talk a lot about commercial fishing. Commercial fishing means dollars.
I suggested that they meet with the Wisconsin Bands and offer them the dollars for the fish they were allotted. This way those Bands would not have to come over here to net, which would give the state more fish for the anglers to harvest each year. The DNR promised they would do this and as of the last meeting to my knowledge, they have never even talked to the Wisconsin Bands about this subject.
The state of Minnesota pays two million dollars a year to the Leech Lake Band for no netting and yet, they will not spend ten cents on Mille Lacs to improve the lake. Again you never read this in the newspaper.
The DNR makes a five year plan with Tribal Bands, this is the last year of the current plan. The input committee feels that if you have a five year plan that any pounds that you are under the allotment in a year, should be carried forward to future years where more pounds could be used to offset overages in years such as this year.
The DNR plan does not work this way. This year they reduced the slot to the point that one can hardly even keep a fish. Yet, when this five year plan is over in November, we will be hundreds of thousands of pounds under the total allotted pounds for the last five years.
The input meetings for us involved are very frustrating. The DNR does not care what we say. They have their minds made up to as what the slots and pounds are going to be before we ever get to a meeting. Because of the DNR’s reluctance to use any of the advice suggested to them by the committee, only a fraction of the people who belong to the input committee even showed up for the last two meetings.
The members of the input group and the Business Community want stability for the lake. We are tired of ever changing slots and controversy, a hatchery would accomplish this goal for stability. We need the help of all the hunters, fishermen, and sporting groups to stand up and tell our Legislators this is enough. We want a new direction for Mille Lacs to end the controversy and if they do not want to help us then they should not be re-elected.
Additionally, Greg Thomas from Gregory’s Resort on Mille Lacs who was also present at the meeting said the following in response to the Messengers comments. “They took a very small piece of what Terry had to say and twisted it around to make it look bad. They never mentioned anything about his ideas about a hatchery, or about the people who fish the lake for many days at a time when there is a hot bite. He never said public accesses should be all closed. Charging a fee to use public accesses was not even his idea in the first place, and he told them that. They also never mentioned that if fees were charged for launching at a public access that the money should go to the state to re-stock the lake.”
Terry can be reached on-line at www.terrysboatharbor.com or by phone: 320-692-4430.
MN youth qualify for National Trapshooting Championships
Young trap shooters from across Minnesota earned state titles – with many qualifying to represent Minnesota at upcoming national championships – at the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) Minnesota Trap State Championship.
The competition, held July 14 at Alexandria Shooting Park in Alexandria, featured some of Minnesota’s top young shooters in junior varsity, intermediate and rookie divisions.
SCTP, for youths in grades 12 and under, has been called “the Little League of shooting sports.” More than 10,000 students in over 40 states are expected to compete in 2007. A program of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, SCTP is managed in partnership with numerous sponsors, agencies and organizations.
Minnesota teams participating in the state title shoot qualified for their sport’s upcoming national championships. SCTP trap national championships are slated for Aug. 5-7 at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta, Ill. Last year, the event attracted more than 1,600 youths from across the nation.
The best of these young shooters could be selected to attend an Olympic development camp in August in Colorado Springs, and some will go on to compete at the collegiate level.
For more information, visit www.nssf.org/sctp
SCTP Minnesota Trap State Championship
July 14, Alexandria Shooting Park
Junior Varsity Division (Grades 9 to 12)
• 1st Place: Monticello Sportsmen Club, 955 out of 1,000 targets (Dean Kolles of Elk River, Mitch Coopman of Monticello, Tylor Steffens of St. Michael, Kevin O’Donnell of Elk River, Bobby Copeland of Monticello).
• 2nd Place: Minnetonka High School Trap and Skeet Team, 918 (Zach Atkins of Shorewood, Brett Cornell of Minnetonka, Max Ingram of Excelsior, Colin B. McDougal of Deephaven, John Wenner of Excelsior).
• 3rd Place: Monticello Sportsmen Club, 912 (Alex P. Steffens of St. Michael, Brent Winkelman of South Haven, Jennifer Lynn Nelson of Otsego, Jared Hilde of Monticello, Curtis Daleiden of Albertville).
Intermediate Division (Grades 6 to 8)
• 1st Place: Wayzata Trap Team, 864 out of 1,000 targets (Reid Scott Peterson of Plymouth, Cody Bergeron of Plymouth, Andrew Nicholson of Minnetonka, Dilan Czech of Medina, Casey Simmons of Minnetonka).
• 2nd Place: Monticello Sportsmen Club, 831 (Matthew David Becker of Monticello, Mariah Michaelis of Monticello, Lukas Peterson of Osses, Annah Michaelis of Monticello, Gavin Ramdsell of Big Lake).
• 3rd Place: Alexandria Area Youth Trap Team, 819 (Aaron Lund of Evansville, Joshua Allan Gebhardt of Brandon, Andrew Strater of Alexandria, O’Ryan Bosek of Garfield, Brian Adam Krebs of Alexandria).
Rookie Division (Grades 5 and under)
• 1st Place: Alexandria Area Youth Trap League, 183 out of 500 targets (Taylor John Olson of Brandon, Ashley Fults of Ashby, Toby Helgeson of Alexandria, Miranda Pederson of Alexandria, Cody Lund of Evansville).
• 2nd Place: Not awarded.
• 3rd Place: Not awarded.
On June 19, 2007, at its annual conference in Roanoke, Va., Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA) announced the winner of its coveted Excellence in Craft Award. The award is given annually to an OWAA member for outstanding effort in upholding the OWAA Creed and continued excellence in craft.
This year’s recipient is Babe Winkelman of Brainerd, Minn., a 32-year member of OWAA.
Winkelman hosts the nationally syndicated television series “Good Fishing” and “Outdoor Secrets.” Winkelman’s career began with articles written for Bassmaster, Fins & Feathers and The “In” Fisherman. In 1975, he joined OWAA and, five years later, developed his own television series after producing a successful run of commercials.
In 1988, Winkelman was inducted into the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame and, in 1992, into the Sports Legends Hall of Fame in Columbus, Ohio. Over the years of his OWAA membership, he has been a perennial winner in OWAA Excellence in Craft contests, and his productions company has won more than 75 national and international awards for excellence in the last three years alone.
The OWAA Excellence in Craft Award was initiated in 1971 to honor an OWAA member “for outstanding effort in upholding the OWAA Creed and continued excellence in craft.”
The Excellence in Craft Award was presented to Winkelman by Chris Madson, editor of Wyoming Wildlife, and the 2006 Excellence in Craft Award recipient.
Since its inception in 1927, OWAA has become the largest and oldest association of professional outdoor communicators in the United States. OWAA’s mission is to improve the professional skills of its members, set the highest ethical and communications standards, encourage public enjoyment and conservation of natural resources and mentor the next generation of professional outdoor communicators. The national headquarters is located in Missoula, Mont.
For more information about OWAA, the award and OWAA’s annual conference, visit www.owaa.org
© 2007 Outdoors Weekly Corporation