February 29, 2008 - TOP STORIES
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Trail ambassador program off the ground
Disabled deer hunters set record
DNR returns disputed 52-inch muskie to Mound man
Passport office to open in Twin Cities
Chisago City bait shop has catered to fishermen for generations
Trail ambassador program off the ground
DNR, OHV user groups developing trail ambassador program
In the depths of winter, the majority of outdoor activities may seem far off, but plans to get a trail ambassador program off the ground in Minnesota by spring are well underway, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
The 2007 Minnesota Legislature passed legislation last year establishing an Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Safety and Conservation Program and Advisory Council. The DNR divisions of enforcement, trails and waterways, and forestry, with input from OHV user groups, are working to develop the Minnesota DNR Volunteer Trail Ambassador Program. The two-year initiative will provide $250,000 each year in grants to qualifying organizations to assist in safety, environmental education and monitoring trails on public lands.
“We have researched OHV safety/trail programs and information from more than six other states and a variety of other national and nonprofit organizations, taking action to protect recreation access and opportunities in the outdoors through education and stewardship initiatives,” said 2nd Lt. Leland Owens, DNR Enforcement recreational vehicle coordinator. “We’ve concluded that a trail ambassador type program is the best use of these funds to promote safe, environmentally responsible operation of OHVs.”
OHVs include all-terrain vehicles, off-highway motorcycles and off-road vehicles such as four-wheel-drive trucks.
Owens said Minnesotans love the outdoors and recreation trails are a very important to them because trails let people experience nature first hand. He said a trail ambassador program would promote safe, environmentally responsible operation of OHV’s through informational and educational contacts, and monitoring efforts of qualified, trained volunteers.
An Off-Highway Vehicle Safety Advisory Council, which is a part of the program, has been appointed by DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten. Advisory Council meeting guidelines are being developed. Work is also underway on a training outline for the volunteer individuals and organizations.
“We are currently finishing up work on specific proficiency principles for volunteers covering procedures, processes and equipment,” Owens said.
A Volunteer Trail Ambassador Handbook that contains the history, purpose, goals, policies and guidelines of the OHV Safety and Conservation program is also close to completion, as well as a manual for grant fund disbursement procedures.
“We plan to announce the implementation of the program and start accepting grant applications from interested, qualified volunteer organizations some time in March,” Owens said.
He said volunteers will play an important role in the success of the trail ambassador program.
“Volunteers and volunteer organizations provide the face of any initiative, no more so than with a trail ambassador program aimed at motorized recreationalists contributing toward preserving Minnesota’s natural resources for future generations,” Owens said. “A true win-win situation.” Statewide ambassador volunteer training is scheduled for late February and March. The first fully qualified and trained ambassadors will start working trails in May.
Disabled deer hunters set record
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DNR News
Twenty-one disabled hunters took a record 23 deer during the 13th annual special deer hunt at Rosemoen Island at the Lac qui Parle Refuge last September, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Of the 23 deer taken, three were adult males, 13 were adult females, five were fawn females, and two were fawn males. Seventeen hunters bagged a deer for a success rate of 81 percent. Six hunters took the maximum of two deer.
DNR Wildlife Manager Dave Trauba calls the annual hunt, “an absolute highlight of the year out here. It’s just great to see these hunters get out and enjoy a quality deer hunt and know how much they enjoy it.”
The nine-day hunt offers a two-deer bag limit of which only one can be an adult buck. Capable Partners, Inc., a cooperator in numerous special hunts, was once again the sponsoring organization. “Capable Partners does outstanding work and their members are a pleasure to work with,”Trauba stated.
Efforts for the 2007 hunt began in August when Capable Partners volunteers made modifications to the enclosed deer hunting blinds. In September, DNR staff cleaned out the blinds, mowed shooting lanes and vehicle travel routes, and drove to the Twin Cities to retrieve a mobile hydraulic-lift blind. The lift blind, which is also used at Carlos Avery and Little Falls Wildlife Management Areas, was donated by the by the Paralyzed Veterans of America organization.
Fourteen high-quality deer hunting blinds are in place at Lac qui Parle, Trauba explained. In addition to the hydraulic-lift blind, two others are also elevated. The remaining 11 blinds are enclosed ground blinds funded and maintained by Capable Partners, Inc., Holloway Rod & Gun Club, Milan Rod & Gun Club, Appleton Sportsmen’s Club, Sibley Chapter - Conservation Partners of America, and the DNR.
Capable Partners hunt coordinators were Mark Holden, Jim Voderbruggen, and Robert Hagen. The Watson Hunting Camp and the Appleton Meat Center also contributed services. “Without their efforts and hard work, especially that of Mark Holden, this hunt would not be possible,” Trauba stated.
DNR returns disputed 52-inch muskie to Mound man
MOUND, Minn. (AP) – The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has resolved a big muskie mix-up.
The agency has returned the 52-inch fish to a Mound angler who caught it through the ice of Lake Minnetonka on Jan. 13.
Tom James kept the muskie after checking the DNR’s regulation booklet and finding the season was listed as closing Feb. 24. The agency actually had closed the season on Dec. 15, but James and many other anglers weren’t aware of the change.
A conservation officer gave James a written warning but no fine. The DNR at first kept the fish, then gave it back earlier last week.
DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten says the agency made a mistake by making the midseason change without enough publicity.
James still plans to have the muskie mounted and displayed in his home.
Passport office to open in Twin Cities
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Norm Coleman announced Feb. 21 that the State Department will be opening a new walk-in passport processing office in the Twin Cities area, a direct response to his call for a regional passport center following the massive backlog of passport applications last year. The office is expected to open near the end of 2008 or beginning of 2009, and its precise location has not yet been finalized.
“I am thrilled that the State Department will be opening a passport office in the Twin Cities,” Coleman said. “As we saw last year, Americans’ demand for passports has increased dramatically – my office alone helped over 3000 constituents whose vacations, business trips or honeymoons were in jeopardy because they could not get passports in time. The new office will mean Minnesotans will no longer need to drive to Chicago or Denver for same-day passport services. This announcement is particularly timely as the Administration proceeds with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative and new document requirements for travel to Canada.”
Coleman added, “The passport office will be great for everyone, but certainly a substantial piece of cross-border traffic are hunters and anglers.”
The office, technically called a Gateway Passport Agency, will have the capability to serve up to 650 customers per day and will offer same-day, next-day and three-day passport issuance.
In June, 2007, Coleman sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice requesting the creation of a local passport processing office in Minnesota, citing the new requirements for passports and passport cards for border crossings under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. Coleman’s letter also noted that an estimated 13,000 international flights serving over one million people each year originate at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. As a border state, Minnesota also has some two million land border crossings occur at the International Falls, MN port of entry alone.
Moose herd mysteriously dying
ISABELLA, Minn. (AP) – Something strange is killing the moose herd across northern Minnesota – in northwest Minnesota the animal is near extinction.
A team of researchers from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa are trying to figure out why.
Scientists say the animals are dying of “tipover disease,” meaning they just weaken and fall to the ground where they are finished off by wolves and other predators.
The cause might be parasites the moose have picked up from a skyrocketing deer population, or it might be a complication from warming winters.
The average midwinter temperatures in northwest Minnesota increased about 11 degrees from 1961 to 2001, a huge change. Scientists are researching trends to the northeast.
Mike Schrage is a wildlife biologist from the Fond du Lac band. He says a warming climate is a threat to the moose, but it doesn’t explain everything.
Chisago City bait shop has catered to fishermen for generations
Last year, Frankie’s became the world’s largest dealer of Ranger boats, the sleek, fiberglass craft made in Flippin, Ark.
See photo with this story in the Feb 29 issue of Outdoors Weekly on newsstands! Subscribe online
By Chris Niskanen
St. Paul Pioneer Press
CHISAGO CITY, Minn. (AP) – During a recent morning at Frankie’s Live Bait and Marine, Frankie Dusenka carefully scooped water from a minnow tank and poured it into another container while softly cooing, “Fishy, fishy, fishy.”
The 2-year-old stood on a stack of 5-gallon minnow buckets while his doting grandfather – also Frankie Dusenka – kept a firm grip on the stack so it didn’t tip over.
Mesmerized by the gurgling water in the tank and the minnows swimming below, Little Frankie was unaware he was learning the family business.
“Maybe he’ll grow up to be a chemist. He likes measuring the water so much,” chuckled his grandfather.
“Are you kidding?” replied Brad Dusenka, the elder Frankie’s brother and business partner. “He’ll be selling bait along the highway just like the rest of us!”
He is probably right.
Four generations of Dusenkas and their extended family have turned Frankie’s Live Bait and Marine into a Minnesota fishing institution. In an era of big-box sporting-goods retailers, Frankie’s embraces a laid-back atmosphere with this motto: “Fishermen selling to fishermen.”
“They’ll take the time to talk to you, that’s for sure,” said fishing-tackle wholesaler John Kokesh. “They really cater to the serious fisherman.”
But it didn’t start as a fishing business.
Forty years ago, Frank Dusenka – Brad and Frankie’s father – bought a hardware business from his father-in-law on the edge of Chisago City in the hopes of making a living selling nuts, bolts and hammers.
His mistake was giving his two fishing-fanatic sons a project. He turned over a little corner of Chisago Hardware to their bait-selling enterprise.
“I was 12, and Brad was 8,” said Frankie Dusenka, 51. “We loved trapping bait, so we’d be here at 4 a.m., selling minnows. My dad said if it didn’t work, he’d put hardware back in that spot.”
That never happened.
The bait and fishing tackle business grew, and the Dusenka family added boats to the mix in 1971. Today, the family business still includes an Ace Hardware, but the bait and marine shop stretches along Minnesota 8 through several buildings and storage lots.
You need a roster to tally the number of Dusenkas and kin working in the business.
Frankie’s sister, Tracey Clay, and her husband run the hardware store. Frankie operates the marine business, along with wife Deb, sons Joe and Frankie (also called “Bud” and father to little Frankie) and their wives.
Brad Dusenka runs the bait and tackle store with girlfriend Michale Carroll.
Little Frankie is never far from a family member. In the marine parts department, a carpeted section of the room is surrounded by baby gates and filled with toys. When he isn’t cavorting at the minnow tank, Little Frankie plays in the room while his mom, Lisa, and grandmother, Deb, work on their computers.
“Little Frankie’s work days are Monday, Tuesday and Friday,” said his grandfather. “We’ll have Frankies working here for a long time to come.”
It has been a successful run so far.
Last year, Frankie’s became the world’s largest dealer of Ranger boats, the sleek, fiberglass craft made in Flippin, Ark. The longtime favorite of Southern bass fishermen, the Ranger boat was, at first, an anomaly in Minnesota, where anglers prefer walleyes and aluminum boats – namely Lunds and Alumacrafts made in the state.
“I think we probably single-handedly brought the fiberglass boat business around in Minnesota,” said Frankie.
Frankie’s, the marine dealership, also sold aluminum boats, but when Frankie, the respected bass angler, began touting the benefits of fiberglass boats – a smoother, faster ride – die-hard fishermen listened to him. The shop started with the Wisconsin-based Skeeter boat line in the early 1980s, picked up Ranger in 1993 and spent years as the No. 2 and No. 3 Ranger dealer in the nation, often behind Dixie Marine in Ohio.
“My dad once told me, ‘Son, you know they always forget who’s No. 2,”’ Frankie said.
When asked how he grabbed the No. 1 spot last year, Frankie recalled another piece of his father’s advice: “Always take care of your customers. It’s too expensive to look for new ones.”
Some of Frankie’s oldest customers are some of Minnesota’s best-known anglers, including guide Dick “Griz” Grzywinski of St. Paul; Larry Dahlberg, the host of “The Hunt for Big Fish” on the Versus cable network; and pro anglers Gary Lake, Larry Bollig and Mark Fisher.
Even with this month’s frigid temperatures, Frankie’s customers were trickling in the front door to buy bait and look at boats.
A fishermen stood at the cash register with a handful of jigs.
“I’m (heading) up to the Gunflint,” he said. “Maybe go after some trout.”
“You want some frozen minnows?” asked Brad Dusenka. “I have a bag in the freezer.”
“You know, I’ll take you up on that,” said the angler.
With the bag of frozen minnows under his arm, the man stopped on his way out the door.
“There any charge on them?”
“Naw, don’t worry about,” Brad said.
The store front is filled with all the accoutrements of winter fishing: ice augers, bait buckets, fish batter for cooking, decoys, hand warmers and several varieties of beef jerky. At the cash register, stacks of plastic containers hold waxworms, including some very bright-pink ones.
“We mix the pink coloring and scent with them,” said Brad. “We’re pretty much the only ones who carry them around here. They work, too. It’s just a little something different.”
When it comes to selling bait and boats, trying something different has worked for the Dusenkas.
“There are guys my age coming in here who bought minnows from me as a kid,” said Frankie. “Anybody can learn about a product, but it’s the fishing part that takes a lifetime to learn.”
© 2008 Outdoors Weekly (PK Outdoors, Inc.)