Hunters had success in the field opening weekend

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 22:56:37 GMT

This weekend’s weather was favorable for the start of the firearms deer hunting season.

While some hunters would like a little snow cover to make tracking easier, moderate temperatures and mostly dry conditions were in their favor.

Erik Thorson is the wildlife supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Park Rapids area office.

“It was decent conditions for the opening weekend,” he said. “The weather was quite a bit better than last year when we had high winds for the last half of the opening weekend, which made it difficult for hunters. Some places had a little rain on Sunday, but it came later in the day. The temperatures this weekend and next week are pretty good for hunting. You don’t want it too hot because that reduces deer movement, but you don’t want it too cold because that reduces the amount of time hunters stay in their stands. A good equation for hunting is that it’s warm enough for deer to stay out there and cool enough for deer to move. It’s helpful to have snow for tracking, but recently that hasn’t happened so people get used to no snow during deer hunting.”

Local CWD testing

Thorson reported that, during the mandatory days for submitting samples to test for chronic wasting disease (CWD) on Nov. 4-5, the Park Rapids station received 77 samples, Akeley 143, Lake George 79 and the station at the north entrance to Itasca State Park had 91.

“The Bemidji station where I worked only received 198 samples for the first two days,” he said. “That’s up from 144 last year, so it seems like a better harvest so far this season. There was a high percentage of bucks, which isn’t surprising for the opening weekend. Hunters said there was a lot of rutting activity. There is more daytime activity during the peak of the rut. In a one-deer area, people are more likely to put their tag on a buck. If they don’t see a buck, they will often wait until the end of the season to fill it with an antlerless deer.”

He said samples from large bucks are the best for CWD testing.

“Those older bucks tend to roam more and are more likely to have the disease, so those are high value samples,” he said.

Hunters may also bring in deer for sampling during the rest of the firearms season, if they would like. Stations are located at the Park Rapids Area DNR Wildlife Office, Akeley Cenex, Lake George Community Park and the Rock Creek General Store near the north entrance to Itasca State Park.

For more information about CWD, visit mndnr.gov/cwd.

]]>

Bountiful blueberries: Lake George lauds the luscious berry

Shannon Geisen — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 14:44:28 GMT

All manner of blueberry-infused items could be found in Lake George on Saturday – from lotions to brats to milkshakes.

The village celebrated the delicious gem throughout the weekend at its 38th annual Blueberry Fest.

Are blueberry brats popular, you may ask?

“Oh, my gosh, yeah. I think we sold out,” said Jim Clark, owner of the Woodland Store, estimating that 400 to 500 sausages were gobbled up.

And the Woodland Store was one of several vendors serving blueberry-laced brats that day.

“We’ve got a butcher shop that produces those and a couple other brats for us. He’s got his own special, secret recipe that he does it with,” Clark said.

Clark purchased the store eight years ago.

“It was a busy weekend. It’s the biggest I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” he said of this year’s blueberry gala. “I think everybody who participated this weekend, who was operating a tent or vendor, I think everybody did well.”

In fact, the number of merchants exploded for the 2022 event.

Clark said, “It had been growing every year, kind of doubling every year until the COVID thing happened. We fell off the radar for a couple years, then this year it came roaring back, that’s for sure.”

Nearly 200 children bustled into the Lake George Town Hall Saturday afternoon for a free carnival.

Community members and local businesses donated 42 kids’ bikes for this year’s give-away to lucky youngsters.

The Lake George Fire Department fed hundreds Saturday night at their ham and bean feed. They served jumbo blueberry pancakes Sunday morning in the fire hall.

A stellar harvest

The blueberry season has been “the best ever in 15 years,” according to Deb Yennie of First Fruits Blueberry Farms.

“If all goes well, and we don’t have overripening or fruit fly problems, I think we’ll be harvesting 7,000 pounds or more,” she said.

Last year, they only harvested about 2,800 pounds. A late frost devastated 30% of her blossoms.

The biggest bounty prior to that was 4,000 pounds.

This season, the weather has been ideal for berries everywhere, Yennie said, including strawberries.

Yennie dished up blueberry lemonade and blueberry brownies along with the plumb, blue orbs. Her organic blueberries are $8 per pint. She reminded shoppers to never wash them and to freeze right away, if going uneaten.

Rosemary Mills of Park Rapids returned to the Blueberry Festival with her “Grey Lady” jams and jellies. Mills offered hot pepper, dandelion – and, of course blueberry – jelly next to the Wigwam. Her sister, Jeannie Kruft, used to run the souvenir shop.

]]>

LAKE GEORGE

Hunters had success in the field opening weekend

Bountiful blueberries: Lake George lauds the luscious berry