2016-08-29

A few outdoor items of note as August draws to a close:

Don’t shoot radio-collared bears

Minnesota’s bear season opens Thursday, and the Department of Natural Resources again this year is asking hunters to avoid shooting research bears marked with large, colorful ear tags and have radio-collars.

Most of the radio-collared bears are in Chippewa National Forest between Grand Rapids and Bigfork, Minn., but the DNR also continues to monitor bears in northwest Minnesota, especially near Thief Lake Wildlife Management Area and Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge.

Chris Duchamp of Erskine, Minn., shared a photo today of a radio-collared bear with an ear tag and three cubs that showed up Saturday on a trail camera. Two years ago, the sow had two cubs, Duchamp said.

As you can see in the trail camera photo, the collar and ear tag are clearly visible. Duchamp says the trail camera took several more photos of the bears Saturday so they must have found the area to their liking.

Besides Chippewa National Forest and northwest Minnesota, the DNR also is studying bears around Camp Ripley, and near the Cloquet Forestry Station.  DNR officials recognize hunters may not be able to see a radio collar or ear tags in some situations, and as a result, shooting a bear with a radio collar is not illegal.

Hunters who shoot a collared bear should call the DNR wildlife research office in Grand Rapids at (218) 328-8874 or (218) 328-8879. Any hunters who shoot a bear with small ear tags and no collar should indicate the ear tag numbers and color on the envelope when they submit bear teeth for required registration.

RGS dedicates Glassmann trail

I attended the dedication ceremony Saturday afternoon for the Robert “Bob” Glassmann segment of the Star of the North Trail system in Beltrami Island State Forest south of Warroad, Minn.

Despite rainfall earlier in the day and lingering dark skies to the south, the weather cooperated, and at least 25 people, including family members, friends and members of the Lake of the Woods Chapter of the Ruffed Grouse Society, attended the dedication at the trailhead on Dick’s Parkway, a forest road south of Warroad.

The Lake of the Woods RGS chapter and the DNR are cooperating on the Star of the North Trail, a network that will cover some 75 miles within the forest boundaries when complete. The Glassmann leg of the trail is a little more than 5 miles long, most of it walking access only, and from a tour two friends and I took of the first mile, the trail goes through some great grouse habitat.

We’ve already planned a visit to the trail for mid-October.

Jared Olafson of the Lake of the Woods RGS chapter said nearly 30 miles of the trail system now are complete. The chapter should be commended for their efforts in initiating the project, and from what I saw Sunday, the Star of the North Trail is going to be a jewel.

PLOTS guides available

Speaking of fall, another sign of the approaching season hit my inbox this afternoon when the Game and Fish Department announced the new Private Land Open to Sportsmen Guide now is available on the Game and Fish website at gf.nd.gov.

You can find the online version of the guide here. PLOTS Guides also will be available at most vendors throughout the state in early September.

This year’s guide will feature about 730,000 PLOTS acres but the department cautioned some of the tracts highlighted in the guide may have been removed from the program since the time of printing. There also will be some PLOTS tracts where the habitat and condition of the tract will have changed significantly. Conversely, Game and Fish may have added new tracts to the program after the guide went to press.

To minimize possible confusion, Game and Fish will update PLOTS map sheets weekly on its website.

PLOTS land, which is open to walk-in hunting access, is identified in the field by inverted triangular yellow signs, as well as other public lands.

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