Fan Outdoors: Stan Tekiela, Bob St Pierre

The Captain is back and is joined by Stan Tekiela and Bob St Pierre!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
From the fish filled Midwest lakes to the deep woods
of the North upland prairies filled with pheasants, to the

(00:22):
whistling wings of duck ponds. This is Saturday Morning, Fan Outdoors,
your show for hunting and fishing tips, topics and conversations.
You can also send us a question or opinion by
emailing us booth at KFE dot com. Here's your host,
the Fans, Captain Billy Hildebrand.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Good morning, Fan Outdoors, faithful, Good morning to you. Yep,
well we made it to another Saturday. The cabin casts
are ended until April first. We'll play that all by
my loan when we get to April one two.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
I'm just telling you that.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
But today is a Today is a well, it's a
pretty busy day in the outdoors because this day, November eighth,
twenty twenty five, is the opening day of the Minnesota
Firearm white tailed Deer season. Yep, it is, And as

(01:34):
was said before, it's cloudy. But as I looked outside
this morning on the way down here, and by the way,
the exit to the station is closed, which I didn't know,
which took me almost to downtown Minneapolis before I could
turn around. Yeah, anyway, much easier in Sock Center. I
just kind of drive over the curb and turn around.

(01:57):
It's not a big deal, but it's a bigger deal
down here anyway. So it's the white tail deer season,
and there are well I talked about the forecast cloudy
with patchwork clouds.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
In the sky.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
High today about thirty five degrees, so it's gonna be chilly.
It's going to be chilly er tomorrow. The wind today
out of the north five to ten, so not too bad,
not too bad. The sun will show its peak out
of the eastern sky at seven two, and you can

(02:36):
be hunting thirty minutes prior to that, I believe. And
I haven't hunted for a couple of years, and it
was always a half hour before to half hour after.
But check the laws yourself. Tomorrow, still cooler, it'll be
around freezing tomorrow for a high northwest winds ten to

(03:00):
twenty miles an hour, and.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
There will be well.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
I heard it advertised that there are about four hundred
thousand deer licenses sold in the state of Minnesota for
opening weekend. That's a pretty large army when you think
about it, and every one of those four hundred thousand
are armed. If you're going to look at it that way,

(03:25):
quite an army. But it's amazing too. You can put
them in the woods, put them hunting deer, and very
seldom are there any accidents and fatalities. And that's a
real credit to people that are outdoors, people that are careful.

(03:45):
But it takes care, it really does. It takes care
in order to keep that from happening. And I applaud
everybody out there that practices firearms safety. And by that,
I've said this before. You've got my chairs getting lower

(04:05):
and lower and lower profile chair. Yeah, I'm going to
be have my chin on the counter here pretty quick.
But and the firearm safety is so crucial when it
comes to any hunting experience. And I wish everybody's success.

(04:26):
But that being said, I have something I really want
to talk about. First of all, though the shotguns zoned
that the legislature talked about eliminating, it's not this year.
So don't figure if you were hunting in farm country
last year that this year you can shoot it. Not

(04:47):
six you can't. I'm just going lower and lower.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
I watched that happen.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
This is unbelievable. I Honest to god, folks, I've gone
down about six inches. I think you want to switch, Well,
not yet, but I need to do something here. I'm
gonna have to get a telephone book to sit on.
This is really strange. Yeah, this is really weird anyway,

(05:18):
But there are a lot of people in there, and
the shotgun zone is still in effect this year. Now,
yours truly myself, I am not in favor of that,
Nor are a lot of the landowners, at least about
a half a dozen that I talked to out there,
Because there are still people on this landscape, some that

(05:38):
aren't hunting deer, some that are hunting pheasants, some that
are hunting waterfall, some of that are just out there
enjoying the great outdoors and walking. Now, if you're going
to do that, you've got to have orange on. That's
the law. You can't walk around with your dark blue
coat and think it's okay because I'm not hunting. Take

(06:00):
care of yourself. Okay, that's a big deal. Take care
of yourself now. The thing I wanted to talk about
is social media is a it's kind of woven into
our very the fabric of our very existence now, and

(06:21):
what really irritates me is somebody will post a picture
on social media of let's say, a deer that they've tagged.
They have shot it, they're proud of it, and they're
going to show it off, and some knucklehead, some idiot

(06:42):
is going to mock and ridicule them because it's such
a small deer. You have no idea what these people's
history is that have taken this deer. They're proud of it.
Just keep your mouth shut. If you can't say anything decent,
will you please? I'm dead serious about that. That just

(07:03):
irks the heck out of me. It might be a
youngster's first dear. It might be somebody that hasn't hunted
for twenty five years and they went out and they're
going to start again, start hunting again, and they filled
a tag. Kudos to them, congratulations to them. It might

(07:25):
be a youngster's first dear. Fantastic. I don't care if
it's a fond fantastic. Not everybody hunts for antlers, and
I think you need to keep that in mind. Myself.
I could care less if I shoot a big buck
or a dough. I really don't care, because it's not

(07:49):
what I'm about. I am about consuming the venison that
I have taken. Now along the same lines, if I
to deer he's laying dead on the ground, I walk
up to him, there's a certain amount of remorse that

(08:09):
I feel. I'm looking down at that animal, and it's
a big animal, and I'm looking at it and I'm thinking,
I just took that animal's life. But it's going to
be eaten by me, my family and some friends. It's
going to be consumed. It's going to be nourishment as

(08:33):
the steak you had yesterday, the burger you had at
fast food restaurant, that was all a living critter at
one time, every one of them. They don't just get
to the supermarket wrapped in plastic in a styrofoam container.
And that's what some youngsters believe. But that's not the case.
But I think what I feel when I look down

(08:56):
at that animal is one really, really serious and honest
respect for the animal itself. I feel the same way
when I get a pheasant and I take it from
breeze mouth and with in hand, look at it. They're

(09:17):
beautiful before I put it in my game pouch. But
that's what I'm about, that's my goal. That's what I
want to do, and that's what that dog is bred
to do. Waterfowl, you fool them. They've set their wings
and come in and you've taken it. And it's about

(09:38):
what's going on. It's about the sport. And we don't
have to hunt in order to stay alive in most cases,
not in today's world until right now with the government
choosing not to do some things. But it's it's I
think it's truly a respect for the animals. Oh, getting

(10:01):
back to the original point. If somebody posts something on
social media, my grandma said once to me, if you
can't say anything good, don't say anything at all. And
that's really I quit posting pictures of fish, posting things
that I had taken that they're all legal. But you

(10:23):
know some of these and they think they're funny. They
might be, but they're not funny to me. So I
just quit posting it. I quit posting pretty much everything.
And I'll share some things. Bob posts something. By the way,
he's in the up right now at his parents' place.
They're hunting grouse today, so but I'll share some of

(10:45):
the things that he does. Very very seldom do I
put anything about my successes or lack thereof in the field.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
I guess that's just.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
Me and I don't know if you share my opinion
or not. And if you do, thanks and if you don't.
Everybody's entitled to an opinion, even me, and that I
will stand on too, I really will. Today we're going
to have we'll talk a lot with mister Stan Tequila
and he's coming up right around the corner too. We've

(11:20):
got some bonus stand this morning, and I'm really thankful
for that. And then we'll talk again about the outdoors.
We'll talk some things about hunting, and Bob will join
us toward the end of the show and we'll chat
with Bob about now. He was hunting quail down in
Missouri earlier in the week as their season opened up,

(11:44):
and he was doing a video film down there for
Pheasants Forever his a job. But I I'm back in studio.
Brett has to put up with me now until well
until the place, Yeah, until spring, until the place sinks
into the earth, and we'll end up back at the
lake again.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
I'm tell Bob is saddiest to put the shotgun away. Yeah, Oh,
he won't like that. He doesn't know it. He doesn't
like that. Do you have spring fever already? I don't
have yet. I don't.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
The reality is I'm getting my my chores done at home.
I still have to make some wood. I have been
negligent with that. I've got wood blocked up and split
at the lake. But it's a matter of driving and
picking some up and bringing it back or buying some wood.
But right now, it's an electric heater in my basement

(12:41):
and we're you're getting biased not super cold yet, but
it's going to get there. So let's take this first pause.
We will do so. I Am going to find a
higher chair and then we'll be back with mister Stan
Tequila right after this man.

Speaker 4 (13:02):
Welcome back to Fan Outdoors, joined now by author, naturalist
and photographer Stan Tequila. Whether it's in Minnesota, Alaska, or Africa,
He's always in search of all things wild and natural.
He may even know more about animals than they do themselves.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
And you thought the cat knew the outdoors.

Speaker 4 (13:26):
Here's fan favorite Stan Tequila on Fan Outdoors.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Well, I thought I knew the outdoors, but you have
certainly proved me wrong again. Stan, Thank you for joining me.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
Hey, good morning, how you doing I'm good. I'm good.
How about you.

Speaker 5 (13:43):
Good?

Speaker 3 (13:45):
Busy time of year, lots of things going on.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yes, there are what is going on in your world
right now as far as Mother Nature and everything involved.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
Well, going back and forth with alternating between out trying
to capture video of white tilt deer and working very
hard on getting the new owl cam live stream going.
So for those who don't know, I've started a live

(14:15):
stream of my flying squirrels at night, So right at
sunset when it's starting to get dark, if you just
tune in to my live stream, you'll be able to see.
I have two different feeders up and two different cameras
on the feeders, and the squirrels will come in, and
one of them, one of the cameras is a wide

(14:36):
angle so you can see them gliding in and in
the dark. It's all done with infrared, by the way,
and so you can see them coming in. And then
the other one is kind of close up to the feeder,
and you can see the squirrels as they sit in
the feeder and grab their peanuts and scurry off with them.
It's just a riot to watch. So then yesterday I

(14:56):
spent almost all day wiring up a camera on. I
have a great horn owl who nests in my yard,
and so I've got this wired up, and hopefully this
winter when because great horn owls usually nest in January February,
hopefully they'll nest there again this year, and we'll have

(15:18):
a live stream watching them, watching the family raise their
great horn owl babies.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
Well, now, won't the great horn perhaps consume one of
the year two of the flying squirrels.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
It's always a possibility, and that that stuff does happen.
It's let's let's call it survival the fittest. I've done
nothing to kind of influence me either way other than
to have them set up. But now, having said that,
my great horn owl cam is at my lake place

(15:58):
and my squirrel cams are at my in town place.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
Ah okay, all right.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
So they're long ways apart from each other.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
If you had put one near the other one, that
to me potentially spills a disaster for something.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah. Yeah, there's no doubt about it that bar owls
and great horn owls all hunt flying squirrels. But flying
squirrels are pretty fast, and there's no doubt that they
get them now and then too. But there's a the
flying squirrels are are pretty darn fast, and I can

(16:37):
imagine it'd be really difficult for him to catch them. Now,
having said that, I also put on roofs, a steep
roof over my feeder so that they are protected when
they're in the feeder. Now, if you just had a
platform there, and the platform was just you know, out
in the open, I would imagine it would be easy
for an owl to kind of swoop by and grab

(16:59):
a squirrel right off the platform feeder. But this is
a semi enclosed or mostly enclosed platform with a roof over,
very steep pitched roof over it, so that it's a
very small opening for the squirrels to get into. It's
plenty of room for the squirrels, but it would be
it'd be really difficult for an howl to be able
to just kind of swoop in and snatch them up.

(17:21):
So I put a lot of thought into that too.
Last thing I would want is to have something happened
to my beloved flying squirrels. So, so, like I said,
there's a you can you can see it tonight when
it gets stark. People can tune in and see what
I'm talking about.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
Where do they find it stands that nature smart dot com.
I believe right, Yeah, go to nature smart dot com.
You scroll down to the bottom and there'll be the
button too. Uh, go to the live feed.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Live feed of course is on YouTube, so you can
also go to YouTube and search up nature smart Media
and you'll you'll find the live stream there a Nature
smart Media. So also, as long as we're talking about that,
a reminder, I've got my new newsletter that comes out
every two weeks, and so you can when you're there
at nature smart dot com sign up for the newsletter.

(18:08):
It's just me, I don't you know. I don't work
with anybody or obviously I don't sell email addresses or
anything like that. It's just me sending out my newspaper
column every two weeks. So it's a good way to
get that information. Well, and it's good information. Stan.

Speaker 5 (18:23):
That's that.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
I was thinking about that the other day when I
was driving and people myself and well, I guess I'm
the example because I can speak to that. I've learned
so much when as we talk that I didn't know before,
and I kind of prided myself and knowing quite a bit,
but looking back.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
I don't now I didn't know a dang thing. I mean,
but I have.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
I have developed more of an appreciation of nature and
what she does, and am I aware to is much
more keen when now than it was before too. And
for that I thank you, because you're directly responsible for that.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
Well, I appreciate that. It's first of all, thank you
for giving me a platform in which to help to educate.
I've spent a whole career as an environmental educator and
this is what I've done for my career and it's been,
you know, fantastic the and I first of all, when
it comes to nature, just when you think you know something,

(19:31):
nature will Nature will show you something that you just
didn't know, you didn't understand. And that's one of the
things the allures for me is that I'm always learning.
I'm always uh, you know, discovering new things and understanding
things in different ways. And the more the deeper you
go into it, the more it opens up to you,

(19:55):
and the brighter it becomes, and the more clear it becomes,
and the more obvious things become to you, and all
of a sudden you're like, oh, okay, you know those
types of moments, A lot of those come up. So
it's a it's a it's really Studying nature is something
for lifelong learners who just enjoy, you know, learning something

(20:17):
new about about nature. And it's a fairly common thing
for people who you know, go out in the woods
to think that they know something. But until you really
start to study it and look at it and see
it not through human eyes, but see it through nature's eyes,
or see it through you know, the biological eye, then
then you start to see these things that all of

(20:38):
a sudden start to make sense because up until then,
generally speaking, you're you know, going on information that's uh,
human centric, and oftentimes that stuff is incorrect.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
Well, and there's so many wives tales are out there,
stand and now, yeah, when I hear them, I think,
oh my goodness, here we go.

Speaker 3 (21:01):
Yeah, there's so many of them and they still persist,
which is often I don't know, it's kind of funny,
I guess, but yeah, because there's a lot a lot
of that out there. Everything. You know, we've talked about
a million times about you know, hummingbirds migrating on the
backs of geese, which is absolutely hysterical, you know, because

(21:23):
it's because we believed it was impossible for this tiny
little bird, because we people couldn't fathom the idea of
this little tiny bird. It weighs less than a US penny.
You know, we're talking really small, really lightweight, that it
could fly thousands of miles and go to a destination
and have a think have a thought process that allows

(21:45):
it to navigate great distances to get to a location
that is foreign. I mean, oftentimes they are going down
to the tropics in Central and South America, and you know,
we just couldn't imagine that. So we came up with things,
you know, to kind of help us understand that this
is what people do. We like to try to categorize things,

(22:07):
and we like to try to you know, classify them
so that we can better understand them in our brains.
It helps us to process things. But when it stretches
beyond what we can oftentimes conceive, well then you know,
it gets into that realm of unknown, and then all
of a sudden, like all rules are off at that point,

(22:29):
and people are making up stuff about what's going on
based on what they think.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
Well, yeah, and looking for an answer, so they create
They don't know, so.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
They create one exactly yeah and only and but they're
creating it based on their own experiences. Right, And if
I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times.
Comparing yourself to like a bird is almost always going
to be a problem. You would be much better off

(22:59):
comparing yourself to your family pet, like your cat or
your dog. At least you're both mammals at that point.
At least you know your gat or your dog is
a mammal and you're a mammal. At least there's some
major similarities there in both, you know, biology and physiology,
even psychology at that point. But when you start comparing

(23:19):
yourself to birds or insects or you know then or
reptiles or something like that, then boy, you are way off,
you know, because there's there's like you have no well
of information to go to for, you know, based on experiences,
because you know you don't have those experiences because it's
so so different.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
Well, I've said this on the air a number of time.
Stand but when fishing, I used to think if I
was a fish, i'd be there you go and I
I then I realized after a number of times trying that, man,
I know I'm in trouble when I'm trying to do
that just.

Speaker 3 (23:57):
There's no You're in desperation mode at that point. I
suppose it's like, where are those fish at, aren't it?
You know? I find that very fascinating too. I was
just processing some video that I did this past spring
of bluegills on a nest, and so I've got a
camera in the water and I'm, you know, I'm taking

(24:18):
video of these blue gills on a nest and watching them,
you know, do their thing. Because you know, you've seen this,
I'm sure hundreds of times the nests they're they're right
next to each other. There's usually, you know, I don't know,
twenty thirty forty of them all together, and they've cleared
out the rocks, they've cleared out all this hilt, and
they've got this open area and they're maintaining it. The

(24:41):
sounds that they make, that these fish make, it is
absolutely astounding when they're when they're you know, moving around
and doing different things. I had a meeting this week
also with a very very interesting, very well kind of
starting new friend, and she is they're doing studies with

(25:05):
sounds that turtles make underwater. And we were on a
zoom call and I was scratching my head thinking sounds
that turtles make? What underwater? Huh? You know, And they've
got all these recordings of these turtles underwater making noises,
and I'm thinking, there it goes again. I'm learning something else.

(25:26):
I'm learning again turtles making sounds. I would not have
guessed that, and so I'm absolutely fascinating by it. We also,
I'm hoping to be able to set up a time
to put out some ultrasonic recorders and record by flying squirrels,
because the flying squirrels not only give audible sounds, but

(25:46):
they also give ultrasonic sounds, meaning above our range that
you and I can hear, but you can put out
devices to capture that ultrasonic sound, convert it to something
that we can here, and then you know, analyze it
from there. And so I'm kind of excited to give
that a try, and just to see what and what's

(26:07):
what and how much the flying squirrels are talking in
this ultrasonic you know, frequencies that we can't hear. Well.

Speaker 2 (26:15):
I saw something someplace this week on the internet, and
I don't know what it was about, but it was
about women and cosmetics, and the comment was, this is
what females look like under UV.

Speaker 3 (26:35):
With oh wh.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
Violent and it was like a jet black painted face
with the whole every place they put makeup except with
the eyes and probably ear openings.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
And it was unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
I thought, I know about that duck see that way
and birds see that way, and I thought of my insects.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
Yeah, And I thought, wow, here we go, Bill. There
it is is when you when you can't see it,
and when you can't or you can't hear it, then
therefore it doesn't exist. When when you just have to
get past that, you have to get past that possibility
that there's things that are beyond your perceptions and beyond

(27:22):
your control and beyond what you can understand. And once
you get past that. I was given a talk the
other day and I was trying to explain this to
a crowd of people, and I was saying, look, if
you you know, because a lot of people are a
little skeptical, and you know at first, and then I'll say,
we're in a room that had fluorescent lights, and you

(27:44):
know fluorescent lights are you know, everybody hopefully should know
what a fluorescent light is. You know those tubular type things, Well,
those lights flicker, those those lights are flickering at fifty hurts,
and you and I can't see that fast. We can't
capture another data to be able to see that flicker.
But the lights are flickering, and yet we see them

(28:05):
as steady lights. If you just take a standard camera
and change it to fifty frames per second and hold
it up to those lights, which I did, you can
see the lights flickering. And it's it's an AHA moment
for a lot of people because up until then they're like, yeah, okay, whatever,
I just take it for granted. But then when you

(28:25):
see it, you see that those lights are flickering. But
when you don't look at it through the camera, you
don't see the flickering. And so there's lots of that
out there, lots of that things going on in nature
that we can't see, we can't hear, except certainly can't smell.
There's lots of because you know, the human olfactory system
is terrible, especially compared to all wildlife, and so we

(28:47):
don't we don't smell it either. So there's many many
different things. We're good at what we do, but we're
but we're not the greatest what we do. There's lots
of things out there that are way better than we
are at all sorts of different things.

Speaker 5 (29:00):
Stan.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
We have to take a pause, so we'll do that.
But when we come back. I watched a h Channel
two movie this last evening about pigeons.

Speaker 3 (29:16):
Oh dang it. I wanted to see that. I wanted
to see it, and I missed it.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
I was fascinating, but it was incredible.

Speaker 3 (29:26):
Actually I missed it.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
And but one of the things that came to mind
is homing pigeons. They put the well, how does how
does that happen? Let's talk about that if you if
you can, okay, well, homing pigeons.

Speaker 3 (29:45):
It is. Here we go and we'll be right back
after this.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
We're back twenty one minutes after the hour of six
am on the Whitetail Firearm Deer season opener. As I'm
sure most people or a lot of people are out
in the in the hinter land, highways and byways, out
in the fields, forests and beyond, hoping, hoping to waylay

(30:24):
a deer. And I know that the Department Natural Resources
would be excited to find out people are successful, because
they are hoping to pare down the herd just a
bit and a lot of that well, we can talk
about that later, but a lot of that has to
do with the chronic wasting disease and not wanting it

(30:47):
so easily spread within the population of whitetail. Our guest
right now is mister Stan Tequila. Find him at naturesmart
dot com and find his cameras down at the bottom.
Scroll down and you can find the flying squirrel cams. Yep,
and having been having seen them in person.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
They're amazing little critters.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
They just appear out of nowhere. They act like they're
on speed the whole time you're watching them. They're just
the most nervous little critter. But Stan, they when when
a flying squirrel comes in, they just gosh, they just appear.
It's amazing, first.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
Of all, to see them coming out of the dark,
this little tiny squirrel. When I say tiny, they can
sit in the palm of your hand, that's how small
they are. These are not like you're thinking squirrels. You
think the gray squirrels or the fox hnos or something.
These are very very small. They're like a quarter of
the size of what you're familiar with. And they come,

(31:52):
you know, screaming out of the dark. They're you know,
basically spread eagle in their flying squirrels suit, you know,
and they did that that alone. That's why I set
up the one camera to have a wider angle so
you can see them coming in from the dark. And
that to me always amazes me too. And how they
navigate through a forest full of trees and branches and

(32:14):
things like that is absolutely amazing. Then they come in
hit the and there there's so their feet are so
small and they don't have fur on their feet, by
the way, They're a little little pink naked feet and
they land on you know, frozen surfaces sometimes or a
cold tree or something, and then they scamper around and
I'm always amazed by them and how they how they
do so well. But yeah, there's there's something.

Speaker 2 (32:37):
I was I always used to think that the red squirrels,
the little red squirrels, were nervous kind of little critter.
But holy mackerel, they they don't. They they're slow. There's
there's snails compared to flying squirrels.

Speaker 3 (32:52):
That is so true. It's absolutely true. The flying squirrels
are like, yeah, so so active. They really are. Oh my,
all right.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
PBS had on TV it was all about pigeons and
it was honest to goodness. It was fascinating and I
did one thing I didn't realize. They pigeons mate for
life unless one of them is killed or dies, then
they'll find another mate. But they truly do mate for life.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
And yeah, long term pair bonds with these guys. Yeah,
it's amazing. But they're an interesting bird. We you know,
we're not even quite sure exactly where they originated from
because they've been associated with people for long before the
written record, so dating back as long as the dog

(33:41):
has been domesticated, pigeons have been domesticated, so we're talking
ten to fifteen thousand years that we've had pigeons, and
people have moved them around the world and they are
found everywhere and we've used them for everything from food
to you know, delivering the mail of things, you know,
messages and such. But yeah, they're they're quite a remarkable bird.

(34:05):
People don't seem to like them. I don't understand why,
because they are they're survivors. They survive in areas even
where there is no nature, where there is no h
you know, because they're in downtown areas where there's no trees,
no shrubs, no grass, no nothing, and yet they survive
and they thrive, and that to me is quite remarkable
that they can adapt that well. But yeah, they're and

(34:29):
they're a fun they're a fun bird homing pigeons, which
is uh, the ones who are able to they they clubs,
people put them together and they race these pigeons and
how far they can get them to go. And it's
routine for them to take their pigeons six hundred, seven hundred,

(34:51):
you know, eight hundred miles away from uh, you know,
where they're at, and then release them and have them
raced to get back home, which is you know. And
by the way, they can upwards of a thousand miles,
which is quite a distance if you think about it,
from here to Chicago, it's only about four hundred and
fifty or five hundred miles, so they can easily make

(35:13):
their way back from Chicago to you know, to Minneapolis well.
And I find that absolutely fascinating because I always joke
and say that, you know, these guys can find their
way back home. I mean, because if somebody drove to
you to Chicago and dropped you off, you know, could
you find your way back home? You know? Because I
believe a lot of people have a hard time finding
their car in a parking lot when they're you know,

(35:34):
out shopping and things. I know that's the case. Yeah,
So it's really it's one of those things where they
do remarkable, remarkable things, these birds do, and and yet
they have no respect whatsoever. The Rodney dangerfield of birds,
no doubt.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
Is the homing pigeon? Is that a different species?

Speaker 3 (35:57):
Well, it's a breed of pigeon, so it's it's the
same species, just a different breed of the pigeon. And
there and they need to be trained to do this.
They they train them by simply taking them slightly further
each time, and then they kind of make their way
back uh home that way because they have such strong
homing uh abilities that they always just want to get

(36:20):
back to where they're you know, where they belong.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
Huh Okay, now is the where they belong?

Speaker 3 (36:30):
Is that?

Speaker 2 (36:31):
Does that change? Can Can that be changed? If somebody
let's say they.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
Breed, Yes, given enough time, okay, they can they.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
Can move them. Someplay can sell them and other people
can have.

Speaker 3 (36:45):
And move them, yes, yes exactly, and then they they
home to that spot. And once they're home at that spot,
then they uh uh for the people who race them,
they take them different different distances and uh and then
have them returned back home. And they can do that
to train them to you know, to do this getting

(37:05):
ready for the big, the big trips. So, by the way,
some of the records, it's normal for these pigeons to
make their way back home at five hundred and six
hundred miles away from home and make their way back.
But some of the longest records ever on these birds
up to seventy two hundred miles, oh stand, which is

(37:28):
just crazy. I just looked it up just for some fun.
Here and the record here was seventy two hundred miles
from France to Vietnam and it took twenty four days
of flying for these birds to make their way back home. Well,
they must have to imagine, No, I can't.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
They must have to they must have to rest and
and I don't know's sleep, but they have to eat.

Speaker 3 (37:55):
Yeah, well, yes, and no, It's nothing unusual for a
bird to go many many days. There's many migratory birds
who will have these big long flights, like for example,
over the ocean where there's no place to stop, rest,
eat or anything like that, and they go for days
and days of flying. So it's not it's not beyond

(38:16):
the scope of these birds to be able to fly
these great distances without having to stop for food every
three hours like people do, you know, so uh they
they And that's another thing you have to think about too.
So if they're burning fat as the as the fuel
for their flight, because you've got to have some kind
of fuel, you just can't can't be running on empty,

(38:37):
so you you cannot have too much fat otherwise you
can't fly. Or if you're too heavy, the aerodynamics are
all wrong, You're you're putting out more energy than it
is to take you, you know, to keep you aloft.
Then it you know, than it is to u you know,
not be doing that. So it's you have it's a

(38:59):
balance act. It's a balancing act of having enough reserves
and being able to get back home or get to
wherever you need to go where you can then find
some food. And so it's a real delicate balancing act.
You can't be too much in one direction or the other.
That and these birds are kind of really have done
a great job at adapting and changing to these conditions

(39:23):
and being able to do it. But I just find
the whole thing absolutely fascinating. You got to ask yourself, though,
how do they find their way? You know, just that
in itself is kind of a magical feat, if you will.
But it's always We've known this for a long time,
but these pigeons have a some microfibers in their forebrain

(39:45):
and on the tips of their bill that allows them
to feel the pull of the magnetic of compass on
the Earth. So you know, the poles the Earth's got
the north pole in the south pole, and that's how
compasses work. It's got that magnetic attraction. These birds have
it built into them where they can feel which direction

(40:06):
is north and which way is south. And I've always
said that I would love to have that because that
would be really cool. You know, you'd be able at
any given moment, you'll be able to just turn and say, yep,
that ways north. Let's you know so and that and
that's something. And then they've done really nice studies and
by the way, they've they've done really good studies with
birds with that by putting them in these Faraday cages.

(40:29):
These Faraday cages are cages that take away the magnetic
poles of the Earth, so it kind of trace a
non magnetic area within the there and then they test
the birds as far as finding their locations, and without
the poles of the earth, they can't they can't really
do it. So they've they've done really good studies with
this type of stuff to the birds also use physical

(40:54):
landmarks to find their way along, so visual cues sovers mountains, valleys,
you know, coastlines. These types of things are used also
visually in addition too, because honestly, this type of navigation
where you're going thousands of miles or even hundreds of miles,
it seems like, oh well, they'll just have that direction.

(41:17):
They you can't just use rely on one thing like
the magnetic poles, the pole of the earth. You have
to have a variety of things that you tap into
to get you know, to get you back to where
you need to be. So the visual cues like that.
The latest stuff that they're showing with these pigeons is
that the pigeons can see negative and positive ions in

(41:41):
the air. Now, first of all, who knew that there
was negative and positive ions in the air? I mean,
and why is there negative positive eyends in the air?
And so apparently they can see this and this helps
them along the way. Another thing we just have no
clue about. And then they're now finding also that these
birds have a well developed factory. Now we used to

(42:03):
always say that birds have a very reduced ability to smell,
and now we're finding that well, they do have a
good ability to smell, but it's much different from ours.
So therefore we don't really understand it that well. And
they're able to set you know, to pick up different
scents on the wind that help them to in their navigation.

(42:23):
So there's so many different things that these birds are
doing just to be able to find their way, you know,
back home. But did you think about your hummingbirds that
you feed in the springtime? They come back up and
they come back right to where your feeder was.

Speaker 6 (42:37):
They find their way, you know, they with the with
these pigeons or the hummingbirds or any of them, they've
they've never been They can't have been there before.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
I mean, it's not like that's a that's a journey
they make four or five times so they can remember,
I remember.

Speaker 3 (42:55):
That, rocky. So the way that the way that would work,
like with the hummingbirds, for example, or even loons. You know,
these birds both hummingbirds and LUNs, by the way, migrate
on their own. They don't go into a flock because
it'd be easy to follow a flock. Flocking birds have
some distinct advantages that way. So, for example, sand hill cranes,

(43:17):
the young sand hill cranes will follow their parents down
on the migration route, and once they've gone one way,
that's all they need. Once they've gone one direction, that
they've got it. From there, they can find the way
back and they've it's locked in and this is it.
But you've got things like hummingbirds and loons who these
babies who were hatched in the springtime will have to

(43:38):
migrate on their own to an unknown location that they've
never been to before. And they're not following other loons
or other hummingbirds, are doing it on their own. That
my friend is like, wow, that that one's kind of
like holy mackerel. That is amazing because they are you know,
the how do they know when they got there that

(43:58):
they've gotten to the right place? You know? Is there
a sign? You know, it's a stop here, you arrived. Yeah,
And there's some interesting things that going on there.

Speaker 5 (44:08):
Now.

Speaker 3 (44:08):
They've done some studies with that also to What they
did was they took birds who were displaying this migratory restlessness.
This is this condition right before they migrate that you know,
they start orienting to the direction that they need to
uh uh, you know, migrate to. They become real restless
at night because a lot of these smaller birds will

(44:30):
migrate at night. Anyhow, when they get that, they'll take
the bird and package them up and fly them down south,
you know, and put a tracker on them and then
let them go. And what they found was is that
the birds will fly approximately the same distance that you know,
from where their home was to where they would be
wintering if they but they if they artificially fly them

(44:52):
down to their wintering spot, they will fly the same
distance from where now the wintering spot is even further south.
I'm not explain that, you know clear enough, but you
know what I'm saying. Think of it. If they're gonna
fly a thousand miles from north to south, and right
before they migrate, they take them, they artificially fly them
down and they release them in that area, they will

(45:15):
still fly that approximate thousand miles south to a new location.
So perhaps some of the distances because we're always wondering about, well,
how do they get you know, when they get there,
how do they know where they're there? A lot of
times it's like the hormones in their bodies that carrying
them from point A to point B run out, they

(45:37):
use them all up, they use all the hormones when
they are in the right spot, and then all of
a sudden, the hormones turn off and boom, they're there.
They're in that area that they need to be. And
so they've again done really nice studies showing that this distance,
it can be replicated by simply moving them that same distance,
and then they'll actually fly even continue further in the

(45:58):
same distance they would have. So it's an interesting thing
and then it opens up so many different questions and
so many other possibilities that you have to consider when
when you know, when you're looking at these birds and going,
how are you doing this? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (46:12):
Huh, San, we have to take another pause, my friend,
and it was good when we When we come back,
let's talk white Tail since it is the opener and
a number of people you're interested in that too, So.

Speaker 3 (46:25):
We will dear talk yep right.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
After this with mister San Tequila on Fan Outdoors and
we will be right back. We're back Fan Outdoors. Come
on at you until the eight o'clock hour. Bob Saint
Pierre will join us a little bit later in the

(46:51):
program and we'll talk with him then. But right now,
our guest is mister Stan Tequila Nature smart dot Com
and scroll it down to the bottom to find the
flying squirrel cam and right around sundown tune it in.

Speaker 3 (47:09):
Look.

Speaker 2 (47:09):
If you don't know what they are, you will be amazed,
as amazed I'm sure as I was, and I still am.

Speaker 3 (47:17):
They're so cool. Stan.

Speaker 2 (47:20):
You's mentioned earlier that you had been out looking or
trying to get some pictures of white tails. Is the
white tail animal in rut right now?

Speaker 3 (47:33):
Absolutely? I'm always amazed. When I spend, you know, a
lot of time with these white tails. The first thing
you notice when you get anywhere even near them, you
could smell that sweet, musky smell of the males who
are putting out this descent to attract in the females.

(47:56):
And like one of the very first things you notice.
And you know, kind of going back to where I
was saying, we humans don't really have a very good
ole factory system. So you can only imagine what it
would be like for the dose in other bucks. They
could they be able to smell this from great distances.
I mean, I always think if we can smell it, wow,
it must be amazing for all the other animals. Yeah,

(48:18):
that you do it. But yeah, the males are definitely
into the rut and are actively following females and are
actively you know, looking for breeding opportunities. And it's it's
really based on the availability of the females and how
many females that are in the area, which ones are
an estris and you know ready for breeding, you know,

(48:39):
so on and so forth, because there's not a lot
of uh you know, uh extra copulations going on. It's
it's concentrated in the window of time in which uh,
you know, pregnancy can happen. So they're really kind of
biting their time and waiting for those females to come

(48:59):
into us dress and be ready to be bred. And
so it's not usual for a buck to follow around
a female for days before, you know, looking for that
breeding opportunity.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
Well, I have what I've grabbed a buck before, trying
to move it or whatever after it's died. Once I
think only once I grabbed a hold of the back
leg and got the metatarsal grant gland.

Speaker 3 (49:26):
I won't do that again, Stan, That was how long
you had to get the scent off your A long time, buddy. Yeah.
This is a very powerful scent that is put out
kind of like on the inside part of the of
the leg the back legs of these deer that it's

(49:46):
it can be really so if the deer is brown,
then this area is really really dark and it's oily,
and it puts out that scent. So and they use
that because you're and the urin will run across their
legs also and that'll take that scent down onto the
ground too. And this is it really is a powerful smell.

(50:08):
It really very musky, very sweet smelling.

Speaker 2 (50:10):
Well, now, the scrapes that they build, is that like
a sign post for doze that are looking for them?

Speaker 3 (50:18):
Or is that for the other males that is for
the doe. What they're doing is so the scrape and
the rub is the male will find a stick that's
hanging down, a branch that's hanging down that's just kind
of like at the right height, and they'll do a
number of things to that stick. They'll chew it, which

(50:40):
puts down saliva and puts on a scent on it. Two,
they'll rub their faces on it, so they got these
clans located on their face that helps near their eyes,
that help them to put a scent down on the stick.
And then directly below that stick, they will scrape the
ground clear of all the leaves so it's just bare dirt.
This is an area that will open up that's maybe

(51:02):
twenty four inches by twenty four inches or so. It's
not a big area. And that in that area there,
when they're scraping with their paws, they're putting down a
scent from those scent clans that are found, you know,
the digital scent clans between their toes. Then they and
then sometimes and oftentimes so pee in that area are
also and by the way, moose through the same similar

(51:25):
type of thing where they'll kind of make a wallow
like that minus the stick. And so then and then
that there is what we've always understood. And you know
what the common knowledge is about that is that that
itself is supposed to attract the females. Now whether or
not that's true, we don't know, but that is supposed

(51:46):
to help to all these pheromones. These scents that are
out that the male is putting out is to you know,
presumably send the female into this estrus, you know early,
but you know, knowing whether nature, you know, if she's
not ready, she's not ready, that's right. So maybe that's

(52:08):
just a bunch of guys hoping and wishing and wanting.
But who've kind of come up with that, But we
don't really don't know exactly what that does. But it
is really meant for you know, their females. Males will
come to that other males will come to those same
rubs and do the same exact thing in the same spot.
So it doesn't seem to be like a challenging type

(52:29):
of thing.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
I thought that the rubs stand. I knew they were
used for breeding, but I thought that they were to
take the velvet from the antlers early on.

Speaker 3 (52:37):
So that so that's different. So they will rub their
antlers clean. So the velvet is the vascularized tissue excuse me,
that covers the bony antler underneath. It provides the nutrients,
you know, the calcium to build those antlers. Then when

(52:59):
it's all done, that velvet dies and then they use
this to they use small trees to rub that velvet off.
But even well after the time in which that velvet
has been removed from the antlers, the bucks still go
to small trees and still kind of rub their antlers
on them. And then they they do and they hit

(53:21):
another gland that's on the top of their head on
those branches too, and then they will lick those branches too,
so they're putting down at that point. It's a visual queue,
so you can see the torn bark on these small trees,
and then there's a scent put down also at the
same time.

Speaker 5 (53:39):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
And then that is another area in which the males
are then advertising their you know, their presence, and perhaps
it may be for other males to be able to say, hey, well,
maybe this isn't my area. Maybe this area's already taken.
You know, we're not you know, we're not quite sure.
But that's kind of like the general consensus.

Speaker 2 (53:58):
And that Well, with a a scrape, isn't there usually
a branch or something overhead?

Speaker 3 (54:06):
Right? Right? So you got so you got rubs, which
are you know, where they're rubbing on the trees and
taking the bark off of small trees, and then you
get the scrapes, which is what I just described with
the stick that hangs over and they bite in the
chew on that stick, and then they scrape by the
ground the clear of all the leaves, and then you
get this brown open dirt. And so these are like

(54:27):
two different sign posts that you can find and you
see all different areas ones a little bit. I mean,
they're both fairly complicated you think about it, you know,
because you got this this the licking stick that the
stick that hangs down where they lick it and they'll
rub on it, put a scent on it, and then
they'll scrape below it. And then you've got the rub
areas where they're rubbing their antlers, you know, tearing the

(54:48):
bark on these smaller trees and then putting down a
scent onto those trees. So you got two different types.
And the you know, the difference is there's a lot
of speculation as to why, and there's been you know,
a lot of people who observe, but we really just
don't don't know exactly, you know, what it does, because
the scrape is kind of it's always been thought to

(55:10):
be kind of attracting females, and then the rub would
be more like, hey, I'm another sign post for the
other males in the area. Well, well, the how long
does the rut? How long does the rut go air last?

Speaker 2 (55:23):
Typically? And I know it's different and there's a secondary
rut and YadA YadA a right, right, but how long
will that process? How long is the rut as far
as a hunting situation goes, that it's going to take place.

Speaker 3 (55:38):
So the males, it really depends on the hormones within
that male and how and that those hormones that really
depended up on how dominant they are. So because the
dominant males tend to be the first ones who are
kind of ready to go. And you know, classic scenario,
the males are ready to go long before the females are.

(55:59):
And and so they can be in you know, running
condition with a swollen neck and everything, and you know,
single minded and trying to find females for a fairly
long period of time mid October through November into December
and sometimes even into January. And so whereas the females

(56:21):
are going to be receptive for a matter of days
within you know, within that window of time, she's only
gonna be receptive to the males for a short period
of time, but this overlap ensures that all the females
are bred and the population that continues to go. So
it's think of it this way. It's been honed by

(56:45):
thousands of years, tens of thousands of years of you know,
of mating, and it's kind of gotten to a point
where it's really, you know, pretty fool proof and gets
most of them done. You had made mention about my
second the rut, So there's a pause, if you will,
for a short period of time at the end of
the rut, and then it kind of picks up a

(57:06):
second round where any of the females who didn't get
IMPREGNATETD the first time, well then are back into Estris
again and are are available for breeding. And then those males,
of course, they're still going the whole time, and they
will then find those females and the second go round
for a second chance at breeding. It's interesting too, because

(57:27):
they oftentimes will say that these males will go around,
they won't eat, that they're just you know, they just
they don't eat at all, and they just follow females around.
That is simply not true, because the males are eating
fairly often too. And then the males will also sit
down and after you know, like say, for example, a
morning and chasing females around, they will sit down, chew

(57:48):
their cut. They'll eat, chew their cut, and rest, you know,
for a number of hours before at the end of
the day, getting back up and doing it again in
the evening.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
Unfortunately, stand of time, my friend and I gotta stop
and shoot my cut a little bit here.

Speaker 3 (58:06):
Julie cud with Bob.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
Well, I will thank you, and I will check out
the flying squirrel cam tonight and we will talk again
real soon, my friend, and have a wonder Friday again.

Speaker 3 (58:22):
Thank you. Sounds good, and good luck everybody out there
on the deer hunt.

Speaker 2 (58:26):
There we go. That's Stan Tequila. He may not shoot himself,
but he loves to consume the wild game. I'm just saying,
we'll take a pause and be back with me right
after this twenty minutes after the hour of seven o'clock.

(58:54):
Fan out to our Saturday.

Speaker 3 (58:55):
Come on your way.

Speaker 2 (58:56):
My name is Billy Hildebrandon. We are Bob Less right now.
He'll join us a little bit later in a few
actually not too distant.

Speaker 3 (59:05):
Future, and we'll.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
Chat with Bob about that. But I wanted to take
a couple of minutes and reiterate some of the things
and a couple of new things too that we hadn't
really we've talked about, but I think they're really really important.
And when it comes to the Minnesota white tailed deer season,
the firearm season, I have hunted a long time. I

(59:31):
mean I've hunted a lot of deer, and not because
it was a tradition in my family. It's just I
started hunting because I wanted to. I didn't know a
thing about it. I still don't know. I'm learning all
kinds of stuff, but that's why I began. My parents,
my mom, my dad didn't hunt deer. My brother didn't

(59:51):
hunt deer. He did, but I was the one that
wanted to hunt, and I had heard so much about it.
And the adrenaline rush is incredible. I mean, honestly, first
deer I ever saw, I had to put my hand
inside my jacket because I thought it could hear my heart.

(01:00:11):
It was beating so hard and so loud. In my years,
it was incredible.

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
But a couple of things.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
One I said earlier, the shotgun zone in Minnesota is
still the shotgun zone. You cannot shoot a high powered
or a smooth cartridge smooth metal cartridge shell at white
tails in the shotgun the formerly shotgun zone in mostly

(01:00:45):
farm country. Okay, you can't do that. There's talk in
the future of perhaps you can, which I am not
in favor of, but not now. You have to shoot
a shotgun slug in the shotgun on zone.

Speaker 3 (01:01:02):
It's pretty clear, isn't it. Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:01:05):
The other thing is and I mentioned my pet peeve,
and it's really a serious peeve social media. Don't criticize
somebody for having a little deer, Okay, don't be critical
of it, because you have no idea who these people are,
what they've gone through, how important that deer is to

(01:01:27):
them and their success. So please don't shame them. Don't
even begin to do that. If you're going to say anything,
congratulate them, okay, as you just don't know. You don't
walk in their shoes, so you've got no idea, all right. Thirdly,
the thing that we haven't talked about that's crucial to

(01:01:51):
chronic wasting disease in Minnesota, chronic wasting disease, and.

Speaker 3 (01:01:56):
There are some dpa's Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
Those are the zones that people hunt the different places.
They're called DPAs dear permit areas, so a number of
those have been identified as CWD zones. You can hunt
in those areas. But this weekend, today and tomorrow, any

(01:02:25):
deer taken in a chronic wasting disease zone must by
law be sampled by a member of the Department of
Natural Resources. Has to be sampled. They taken a gland

(01:02:45):
from the animal, send it in and hopefully we won't
find anymore CWD outside of that zone, and we're going
to get less and less. That's why there is a
push to lessen the population numbers, because there's a tendency

(01:03:06):
when there's a lot of deer in an area that
they will rub noses or share and pick up preons,
which is what passes cwdon from one animal to another.
So any deer taken in a chronic wasting disease zone,
and if you don't know that it is or not,

(01:03:28):
you've got to check the DNR's website or the hunting
synopsis to find out where they are. Because if you
take a deer, it has to be sampled, and it
has to be de boned. The backbone cannot follow that deer.
You have to debone the animal and you can dispose

(01:03:51):
of it at waste dumpsters that are provided in that
area where it's sampled. And they also, I think they'll
have tens or something that you can actually cut the deer.
So you're taking the legs off, you're taking the backstraps off,
you're leaving the backbone. And if it's a trophy animal,

(01:04:14):
you can take the head but you have to take
it to a taxidermist right away, all right. So that's
just a couple of things I wanted to bring up.

Speaker 3 (01:04:25):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:04:25):
The other thing is hunters.

Speaker 3 (01:04:28):
That's you.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
If you've got to sling over your shoulder right now
and you're carrying a rifled slug or a high powered rifle,
or you're sitting into your deer stand listening to this
right now through your earbuds, might not be a good idea,
because deer here more than we think. But anyway, hunters

(01:04:50):
play a real valuable role in the management of the
population of white tails in Minnesota, huge role. In fact,
they play the most important role. That's why in some
areas you can take only a buck. Sometimes you can

(01:05:10):
take a buck and a dough, or you can take
an analyst deer by permit only by a lottery permit
that's drawn. Or you can take a buck and an
additional dough, or you can take two doughs, depending on where,
up to five, but you have to have tags for

(01:05:32):
each of the ant lists deer. Minnesota is a one
buck state. You get one buck per year in Minnesota,
and that means if you're an archer, if you're an
archery hunter, you can take one buck with bow and
arrow or a crossbow and that's all. You can't take

(01:05:54):
one with a bow and arrow or a crossbow and
one with a firearm. That's two bucks.

Speaker 3 (01:05:59):
You can do that.

Speaker 2 (01:06:01):
Minnesota is a one buck state. So you pick your
animal and I wish you success, I really really do.
And then again, you can't transport a whole animal out
of a chronic wasting disease zone.

Speaker 3 (01:06:23):
It has to be d bone and.

Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
Take the meat, put it into a cooler, take it
wherever you're going to take it, because then you can
drive wherever you want with it. The leg bone can
be in it. The backbone, which holds the spinal fluid,
cannot leave the zone.

Speaker 3 (01:06:44):
And you know why that is, don't you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
That's right, because we don't want to pass that disease
onto disease free deer or in a zone that may
not have it. Don't take that animal and check it
out in the back forty or dump it off at
a ditch. That's stupid. You've got to dispose of that animal,

(01:07:07):
and you can. You can take it and have it
processed at a locker plant. And the trimmings. I like trimmings.
In fact, we all my trimmings. And this is just me.
Everybody's usually got their own favorite place to go that
they enjoy what they have made. It's expensive. But like

(01:07:30):
Eric and he was coworkers from the DNR, they have
what they call a sausage fest once a year and
they take and put all their trim together and then
they get a whole group of people, men and women,
and make their own sausages and then split it all up.
I take mine to a place just west of Alec

(01:07:53):
Garfield Garfield Smokehouse, and I've learned that they have they'd
make an excellent summer sausage and they do some really
really nice work. They make some excellent sausages also, So
that's just me. But the hunters play a valuable role,

(01:08:13):
and that's crucial. I think now with there's one more
thing that we can touch on too. Andy Try is
the bear expert in Minnesota. He's been on the radio
with us a number of times. In fact, he extended
an invitation to go into a bear den sometime, and

(01:08:34):
I think I would like to do that. I know
it would be safe. It's just a little unnerving to
crawl into a den with a bear. But if you're
hunting in the Brainerd Lakes area, if you're hunting around

(01:08:55):
the Grand Rapids area, and if you're hunting around the
Duluth area, and in your deer hunting travels, you come
across a bear den, make note of that because if
you've had a GPS, put a waypoint on it or
drop a pin on it and share that. There's a

(01:09:15):
number you can call to report bear sightings and bear dens,
because Andy and his coworkers would like to collar the
bears that are in their hibernated state so that they
can get a full.

Speaker 3 (01:09:33):
Year's worth of research out of that.

Speaker 2 (01:09:35):
And the collars pretty pretty fabulous callers.

Speaker 3 (01:09:40):
But they will.

Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
Track them and you can download where they've been, you
can watch them. As Eric called it on the air,
a number of them are on the air, and if
they die or something happens to the animal, they will
send out a death text from the collar to the
person watching it and then they can go retrieve the

(01:10:07):
collar find out what's happened to the bear. Sometimes the
callers actually fall off or they aren't working properly, but
that's it's important. So if you can find if you
do find and notice a bear den in the Braidard Lakes,

(01:10:28):
Grand Rapids and the Looth area, make note of the
location and share that there's a number you can call
and find it on the DNR's website and go and
check it out. Andy Try is the research specialist for
the Minnesota DNR, and he would welcome information that hunters

(01:10:49):
can provide for you. All right, Well that's about it
for me. I'm I think I'm going to hunt this
year with Eric and Chad and hunt muzzleoder at least
I'm hoping to. No matter what happens, I know that
I will be helping them clean deer. That's kind of

(01:11:10):
gotten to be my role as dad, and I don't mind.

Speaker 3 (01:11:13):
That at all.

Speaker 2 (01:11:16):
We have always cut up scun and cut up our
own deer for a lot of years as long in fact,
I don't think it's ever been taken to a locker
plant or has somebody else do it for us. We've
always done it ourselves. Sometimes it's a little difficult, but

(01:11:37):
at least then we know that we're getting our own venison.
And the way we take care of it, I think
is important, and at least to us it is because
we know what's happened and what hasn't happened to it.
We know the shot and where the shot was placed.
We don't keep any bloody meat that's all discuted discarded,

(01:12:00):
and the trim we can clean it out is clean
and be as persnicty, as careful.

Speaker 3 (01:12:07):
As we choose to be.

Speaker 2 (01:12:10):
And I know that that makes a difference in the
venison because it's wonderful, wonderful meat and a great source
of protein. For those people that don't care for it,
that's your choice. But if you stop and think about
the value of it and how you talk about organic,

(01:12:33):
there is nothing more organic than a white tail deer
as far as consumption goes.

Speaker 3 (01:12:40):
So we'll leave.

Speaker 2 (01:12:41):
It at that, and one of these times we'll talk
about deep frying turkeys too. A love that domestic turkeys,
and I'm going to be cooking our family turkey this year,
deep frying it.

Speaker 3 (01:12:56):
It's so good. I'm just telling you.

Speaker 2 (01:12:59):
It's so east easy telling you that too. But we'll
talk about that another time. Right now, we're going to
take our final break of the morning, and we'll come
back and hopefully join mister by Bob st. Pierre from
the up of Michigan after this, well, last segment for

(01:13:47):
this Saturday Morning a fan outdoors. Keep it right here
though on the fan. Okay, it's all good, everybody. Every
show on this station is really fun to listen to.
We're glad you're with us, but I know everybody is.
They don't have the same interests that I have and
that we have. Okay, but for those of you that

(01:14:09):
follow along with us from week to week, I appreciate
it a great deal. Well, there's a man in the
wings here waiting that doesn't follow along with us from
week to week. He's just off on his doing his
own thing. And I guess that's okay. Right now he's
swung all the way over to parts unknown. I think

(01:14:32):
I'm not so sure, but Bob Saint Pierre, I believe
joins us now. I'm not so sure though, And pretty quiet.

Speaker 5 (01:14:44):
I'm traveling across all the states that begin with the
letter M.

Speaker 3 (01:14:49):
This week an.

Speaker 5 (01:14:52):
Ben in Missouri, be back home in Minnesota, and now
I'm in Michigan. We'll see about Maryland Massachusetts later in
the week, but right now I'm at home my old
stomping grounds in Michigan.

Speaker 3 (01:15:06):
Oh, that's cool. How's mom and dad?

Speaker 5 (01:15:10):
They're doing well, they're doing It's much like I believe
back in Minnesota. The weather is changing dramatically. The temperatures
are falling.

Speaker 3 (01:15:23):
Prediction cold.

Speaker 5 (01:15:25):
It's cold. And so my hometown is Escanaba, which is
on the Lake Michigan side of the Upper Peninsula, often
called the Banana Belt because Lake Michigan keeps the air
temperature cool or warmer, warmer compared to Lake Superior. And

(01:15:46):
I just looked at the weather. There is a prediction
of up to eight inches of snow in the forecast
along the Lake Superior shoreline tomorrow night. So winter as
they day is coming.

Speaker 2 (01:16:01):
Well, you've got time to get up there, don't you,
so you can roll around in the snow.

Speaker 5 (01:16:08):
I was actually thinking about grouse hutting in that direction tomorrow,
but it might be overnight tomorrow that the snow hits.
But yeah, the temperatures are dramatic change from only a
week ago.

Speaker 2 (01:16:24):
I hate it, man, already, I hate it.

Speaker 5 (01:16:30):
Yeah, it's it's it's startling to the system, that's for sure.
The blood is a little thin.

Speaker 3 (01:16:37):
Boy, you hit that nail on the head.

Speaker 2 (01:16:42):
My blood must be like running water because I to
spend most of my day.

Speaker 3 (01:16:50):
So how have your travels been?

Speaker 5 (01:16:54):
It was good. So I was in Missouri last weekend.
It was gorgeous weather sick degrees it started off so
Saturday morning was the opener for quail and pheasants in Missouri,
and the first two hours were fabulous. There were birds everywhere,

(01:17:15):
and then I never saw a bird the rest of
the weekend. So it's going to take a little creative
writing to make an opening day episode number three to
come together. But you know that that film series is
not about stacking up birds on a tailgate. It's a
It's something deeper. So there's a good story to be

(01:17:37):
told there with a family of quail biologists, and I
learned a whole heck of a lot about habitat management
for quail in Missouri last week. Smooth trip home Sunday night.
That was in the office all week until about two
o'clock yesterday, and made the seven hour drive last night

(01:17:59):
the Upper Peninsula and that was that was smooth. A
couple of deers threatened the smoothness. There were definitely bucks
on the move after sunset last night, but made it
home without incident. And I'm gonna have a little breakfast
after you and I chat, and then I'm gonna go

(01:18:21):
see if i can get my first Upper Peninsula grouse
of twenty twenty five behind my puffs today.

Speaker 2 (01:18:29):
You have you hunted grouse there yet this year?

Speaker 5 (01:18:33):
No, this is my first trip home to the Up.
It's actually my first trip since last September, so it's
been a full more than a year since I've been home.

Speaker 3 (01:18:44):
Oh, how's Georgie.

Speaker 5 (01:18:47):
George? Georgie is doing good. Georgie is nine years old
and she enjoys playing with my pump winter and Georgie
enjoys that more than being chased by kyotes, which my
dad was telling me about her evasiveness. On three incidents
this summer, she was chased out of the woods by

(01:19:10):
a coyote. I must have had a den with some
pops near near my family's kind of where my dad
walks her on a daily basis, but no incident. Oh good,
she's doing fine. But yeah, she's she's nine and the
apple of my parents eye.

Speaker 2 (01:19:30):
Well, she's a pretty special little dog. And she's for
people who don't know. Georgie is one.

Speaker 3 (01:19:37):
Of my Snapdog's puppies.

Speaker 2 (01:19:40):
And she's uh and I lost Snap last Saint Patrick's Day.
So yeah, we hope that, We hope Georgie has a
long and fruitful life. And just she's.

Speaker 5 (01:19:56):
The center of this little house in the up.

Speaker 3 (01:19:59):
That's good, that's good.

Speaker 2 (01:20:02):
With your quail exploits, you said, yeah, it was just
a couple of hours of busy, busy, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:20:12):
The first two hours of the morning. And it's interesting.
We were at our spot much like Minnesota pheasant Opener.
We were at our spot public land, about an hour
and a half before shooting hours, just to make sure
we got to where we wanted to be. And the

(01:20:33):
interesting thing about quail, with the hunting quail, with these
biologists is they you know, they spend a lot of
time listening for the quail whistle as the sun gets
the horizon in the morning, so you can sort of
identify how many quail covees are on a piece of
property in their general location. And also much like any

(01:20:58):
sort of bird hunting, you know where you hear the
sound and then you start to go and look for it.
When you get shotguns in your hand, you can't never
find them, you know. You know, well, I thought I
heard him over here, and uh, you know, that was
maybe a half hour agoing there nowhere to be found. Uh,

(01:21:19):
But we the first two hours of a shooting light
significantly more pheasants than I anticipated. In Missouri, I shot
a I shot a rooster about an hour in missed rooster,
missed a couple of copies of quail, you know, and

(01:21:40):
and we got a we got a quail too, But
we had we had pretty good action right out of
the gates. And then just then it became a nature hike,
which was interesting, but it was it was fun. It
was it was beautiful country and terrific people, and it
was a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (01:22:00):
I'm surprised, I guess I didn't realize that coil must
go quite a ways when they flush them.

Speaker 5 (01:22:09):
They don't, they don't, but they you know, they they
start off as a group of you know, maybe eleven
in a covey, and then they disperse into singles, and boy,
they're hard to track down as singles. You know, they
kind of sit and they fly off, they don't fly
that far, and they sort of hold and then after

(01:22:29):
a period of time, maybe an hour, they call back
to each other to regroup as a covey. And it's
somewhat unethical to kind of, you know, try try to
you know, go back to that exact same place in
an hour and you know, hunt them as they're regrouping,

(01:22:52):
you know, as a family group, and so you kind
of just move on. You can hunt up singles for
a little bit, but you don't want to kind of
take out an entire group. Even if that was easy
to do, it's not. But yeah, it's a it's a
very I don't ethically based gentlemanly bird hunts.

Speaker 2 (01:23:15):
Are there a lot of people that hunt quail down
in Missouri?

Speaker 5 (01:23:20):
Yeah, but like a lot of bird hunting traditions that
those numbers are diminishing, partly because numbers have been decreasing
and habitat has been decreasing. Missouri, though, is a little
bit of an anomaly. Their habitat numbers and their bird

(01:23:41):
numbers are increasing. It's a state that's doing a lot
of good things to reverse the quailed declines. It's not
like a rocket ship of improvement, but it's it's one
of the states that has dramatic work being done on
the landscape, both on public and private lands to go

(01:24:02):
quail numbers back up. I often equate Missouri for quail forever.
Missouri is what a Pheasants forever is in Minnesota. You know,
we we have just a tremendous amount of activity Pheasants
Forever in the state of Minnesota. It makes sense. We're
founded in Saint Paul and based in Saint Paul. We have,

(01:24:24):
you know, a lot of terrific relationship with the d
n R and US Fish and Wildlife Service in the
state of Minnesota. And there's a lot of parallels with
the Missouri Missouri Department of Conservation and Department of Agriculture.
And we have a lot of work both public land acquisition,
public restoration, as well as private land consultation with our

(01:24:48):
farm bill biologists in the state of Missouri. So there's
there's some really neat things happening in that state. And
we've done a couple of land acquisitions there in the
last couple of years, and that was one of the
points of our bio. I just never thought we were
going to be able to do that in Missouri, and
now we got, you know, not just one, but there's three,
four of them happening where there's big complexes of places

(01:25:11):
to go bird hunting and deer hunting and duck hunting,
and so that was part of the story too. Just
a beautiful, beautiful property we hunted on Sunday morning.

Speaker 2 (01:25:22):
Bob, I thank you for checking in with us, buddy,
and I wish you success today and be sure to
say hi to mom and dad and give Georgie a
scratch for me, will you please?

Speaker 5 (01:25:32):
I will do thanks step to having great weekend and
you too.

Speaker 2 (01:25:35):
That's Bob Saint Pierre, a phesist forever and normally the
co host of Fan Outdoors. We got to turn the
reins over to end the zone, and I see Davey
sinecon Is with Brett brak Moore, our producer right now.
We will say thank you to stand Tequila, thank you
for allowing us to travel with you.

Speaker 3 (01:25:56):
I'll leave you with Tata