Bob Peters
Well-known member
Here it is over two months since pheasant season ended. I think about all the time I spent outdoors, the dogs are right up there at the top, but I think of the wild pheasants too, and I also feel that the prairies and wetlands have absorbed into my conscious in ways I never saw coming. I know a lot of other pheasant hunters feel this way too. I think about the wild habitat often, and wish I could make it better or add to it. I don't own any land and probably never will. I've never emailed or called a politician although sometimes I probably should. This stuck in my craw for a long time. Finally I did something about it. I made a few calls recently to the MN DNR and also got contact information for a small conservation group local to an area I hunt. I have made a verbal commitment to help this organization with habitat projects such as cutting buckthorn, removing old barbwire, scrapmetal, and trash from this public land. In my talk with a lady at the regional DNR wildlife office I also volunteered to go to a WMA or WMA's to do little things, mainly picking up trash at parking lots and on the land, looking for missing wma marker signs or taking note of spots that could use a sign where there never was one etc. Also if the assistant wildlife manager ever comes out for a project I could help him out, and hopefully learn about habitat management too. On the private land side of things, I hope to help my uncle when he does the next controlled burn on his CRP, not sure if it's this spring or next. Yes I could do more than this, but like so many things in life, just getting started is the hard part. The DNR is mailing me paperwork so that I can fill out required info and sign on officially as a volunteer.
