By John Hackett: Bob Farmer of the Shooting Shop in Kingsley has relocated his gun shop to Anthon Iowa.  Bob opened the Anthon store April 1st. The Shooting Shop in Kingsley opened in 2010 in a converted garage.  Since then business has slowly grown.  “We actually outgrew that location sometime last year”, Bob said.  “We needed something bigger, and Kingsley really didn’t have anything available at the time that was economically viable when I needed to make a decision.” Anthon, on the other hand had the old Masonic Lodge that came up for sale.  “The 2,600 square foot building was Read more →

With 15,000 acres of public hunting area within a 25 mile radius, it’s no wonder The Dormitory Inn has become a popular destination for hunters come fall. Owner Eugene Hamman says he’s seen quite an influx of hunters the past few years. Hamman adds, “We get a lot of guys from northwest Iowa who come down and hunt for the weekend. Instead of packing it up and heading home every night, they just stay right here at the Inn. It’s an opportunity for them to relax for the night and get back at it early in the morning.” The Dormitory Read more →

TrailCamTrophies.com has recently linked up with Northwest Iowa Outdoors, and we are very excited about this new partnership. We hope to share with you our knowledge and experiences throughout the year. Follow along with us not just for trail cameras but for all aspects of hunting, fishing and the outdoors. What is TrailCamTrophies.com? Here at TrailCamTrophies.com, you can find hundreds and hundreds of buck names for your trail cam trophies. With the evolution of trail cameras in the hunting industry, we have been able document more about deer and photograph bucks that we would have never known existed. With thousands of Read more →

By John Hackett: The old saying is “April showers bring May flowers”.  Well, flowers aren’t the only things in Iowa that emerge in the spring, so do Iowa’s poisonous plants.  For years all we had in northwest Iowa to really be concerned with as far as poisonous plants were nettles and poison ivy.  The last few years has seen a new kid on the block as far as poisonous plants are concerned.  The new plant is the wild parsnip and it is spreading rapidly across Iowa. Wild parsnip, pastinaca sativa, is a native of Eurasia and is closely related to Read more →

By John Hackett: The Oak Ridge Gobblers Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) held its 2nd annual Hunting Heritage Banquet April 6th, 2013 at the Anthon Iowa Community Center. Over 200 turkey hunting enthusiasts from around the area attended the event.  Attendees enjoyed a catered steak dinner followed by games, raffles, and an opportunity to bid on silent and live auction items.  Several firearms were available and used as general raffle items, prizes for games, and as auction items.  Along with wildlife prints, bronze sculptures and numerous hunting gear items were auctioned or given out as raffle prizes. Read more →

By Steve Weisman While many anglers put all of their planning and efforts toward getting their boats out and fishing walleyes on the May opener, there are lots of options for those who want to fish from shore. When the ice went out and water levels pretty low, I was worried about this fishing option. However, the recent rains and snows have brought the levels within a few inches of the Big Spirit spillway, thus raising the levels of our shore fishing options. With the temperatures finally hitting over 70 degrees for several days, water temperatures have risen. The result? Read more →

By Steve Weisman Spring arrived on March 20, but I think somebody forgot to let it know! A month later we’re coming off of back to back “spring” snowstorms! I am sure that the dock and hoist services are really getting frustrated. In visiting with the biologists at the Spirit Lake Hatchery, the netting process, although not as difficult as in 2012, has also been a slow, steady process. Donna Muhm, Spirit Lake Hatchery manager, said, “It has gone better than a year ago, but we’re certainly not having 1200 fish nights!” It’s tough to have consistent netting when you Read more →

By Steve Weisman Outdoor Editor It’s hard to believe with ice still on the lakes, but in a month the 31st annual Great Walleye Weekend on the Iowa Great Lakes will take place. Scheduled for Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5, this year’s weekend kicks off with the second annual Cast Off Party at East Okoboji’s The Ritz from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, May 3. Cost for the evening will be $25. The evening will consist of a social hour from 5:30-6:30 followed by the choice of a chicken or prime rib dinner at 6:30 and Read more →

By John Hackett: Iowa’s 2013 spring turkey season kicked off this weekend with the youth season.  I know, the season kind of snuck up on me too!  If you’re like me you are a world class procrastinator when it comes to scouting, I haven’t done any of it yet.  This is O.K., I suppose, if you go to the same spot every year.  But again, if you are like me I go to the same place as last year only to find one of the other 45,000 Iowa turkey hunters nestled nicely into my spot. You have no other recourse Read more →

By Steve Weisman Outdoor Editor What a difference a year can make. A year ago last March, we were basking in almost balmy conditions with highs running from the low 60s to upper 70s, and the lakes were open. Now we’re approaching mid-April and slowly, grudgingly, Mother Nature is letting go. The ice on the small ponds has disappeared and as I write this column, Big Spirit is nearly ice free. Of course, with the ice leaving, we begin looking forward to the annual northern pike and walleye broodstock collection. Last year the netting process for the Spirit Lake Hatchery Read more →

By John Hackett: It seems regardless of how long one is in the gun business, you will from time to time come across something you have never seen before, or have no idea what it is.  For me this month’s This Old Gun was one of those specimens.  It has no manufacturer or caliber marked on it.  Close examination, and a little homework, was needed to determine anything about this little gun. The only markings on the gun are a Belgium proof mark on the front of the cylinder, and a Belgium inspectors mark on the barrel.  Some research showed Read more →

By Some Guy: Awhile back I took an ice fishing trip that had me reminiscing quite a bit. Back to when I first started ice fishing as a kid, back to a time before “modern conveniences”. It wasn’t so much the fishing itself that triggered the reminiscing, but more the circumstances I encountered. The trip started fine. I loaded all my “necessary” gear; ice shack, propane heater, power ice auger, assortment of rods and reels, tackle box full of assorted jigs and lures, and an underwater camera into the bed of my 4×4 pickup. A quick stop at the bait Read more →

By John Hackett: As true with any decoy, realism is the key to fooling the wiliest of critters.  The new line of HD Series Carry-Lite decoys comes as close as anything on the market in doing this. Last season I used one of the Carry-Lite Bob’n Tail HD Gobbler Turkey Decoys.  The decoy gets its extremely realistic look using a “skin” that is stretched over the molded plastic body.  The skin is produced using high definition printing technology.  The skin shows the finest details of turkey’s feathers. The removable silk tail is printed using the same technology and gives a Read more →