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Outdoors ColumnBy Chris SchultzWinsted-Lester Prairie Journal & Howard Lake Herald, Minn. June 22, 1998 |
GND fishing contest setThe Howard Lake Good Neighbor Days fishing contest is set for Saturday, June 27 on Howard Lake. Registration starts at 7 a.m. at Lions Park, with the contest at 8 a.m. To enter or for more information, contact Contest Director Bill Strandquist at Red's Family Restaurant in Howard Lake, 320-543-3331. Leave wild animals where they're foundFrom the DNR The best thing you can do for young wild animals you happen to stumble across is to leave them where they're found. That is the message from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) which each spring handles numerous requests to deal with young critters that someone felt needed to be rescued. "Often times the well-meaning person will come across a newly-born fawn or rabbit or bird and assume that the young creature has been abandoned by the mother," explained DNR Western Region Captain Randy Evans. "That is almost never the case. The mother is somewhere nearby, but the person takes the fawn or other animal away, mistakenly believing it has been abandoned. And that's when we get the call to come and get it." Evans explained that the DNR does not have the staff or facilities to handle young animals and there is little it can do. "If you simply leave the animal where it's found, the mother will return and take care of it. If you remove it from the wild, that animal, if it does survive, will never develop the instinct necessary to live in the wild. Most often it then becomes a semi-tame wild animal, suited neither for captivity or the wild, he said." Evans said the DNR New Ulm office has received three calls in the past several days concerning fawns which have been picked up by individuals. "The best thing you can do for fawns, which are now being born, is to leave them alone and let Mother Nature take care of things. She knows her business a lot better than we ever will." Outdoor notesThe application deadline for the 1998 Minnesota fall turkey hunt is Friday, June 26. Applications are available at area license vendors. |
