One of my favorite spring time events is walking the woods of the north in search of shed deer antlers. If you are a deer hunter, it also provides clues to the location and habits of deer that survived the hunting season. Not only is this good exercise for the body - but also for the mind. The cool, calm spring air helps clear the mind. Here is some information you may find interesting before you go in to the woods looking for sheds...

When bird watching, you need to know what you are looking at. First off, remember how big or small the bird is. Hummingbirds are small and delicate, while crows are much bigger. What color(s) is the bird? Is it all one color or does it have many different colors? How about markings? Does it have stripes, circles, or is it a solid color? Now we need to look at the shape of the birds body parts. How long or short is the beak? How about the tail? Of course we also need to remember what sounds the bird makes...

Are you and your parents, your boy or Girl Scout troop, or church planning on doing a winter camping trip? Before you go, everyone should know how to protect themselves out in the cold and still have a ton of fun..

Every spring and summer hundreds of young, orphaned animals are brought to wildlife rehabilitators. Often these animals are not true orphans. Here is some information on identifying, caring for and transporting orphaned mammals... 

You can’t get the birch bark smell from a crisp photo, or the warmth that the flames send forth. You have to go build the fire, and sit by it. Breathe it, tend it, and follow the lofted sparks until the night sky just turn’s them into stars...

If you match a good first aid kit with some basic but current CPR you’re a long way towards piece of mind on what’s supposed to be fun in the great outdoors...

After I leave my table top with a dream sheet of perspective lakes, I call the Minnesota DNR area fisheries office and talk to one of the fishing gurus that rule the roost. I spend as much of my fishing time in the Superior National Forest as I can...