The weather this past week has been less than ideal, but I figure if you don’t have to put sandbags on it or you don’t have to shovel it then the weather here is pretty darned good!

Earlier in the week I noticed a few fishermen trying their luck at some early open-water fishing. With the weather being what it is I don’t think they’ve been having much success yet.

Getting excited about fishing seems to be a lot easier when the sun is shining and there are no snow flurries being blown around by a strong wind.

When it gets into April I would much rather be raking the yard than shoveling the sidewalk.

This past week I have been finding myself drifting off and dreaming about visiting one of my favorite lakes. It’s pretty easy to close my eyes and put myself in a boat and imagine the wind blowing in my face and I can almost feel the spray of the water as I head to my favorite fishing spot.

It’s probably best not to try this while driving your car.

The other day I was thinking about the times when our boys were growing up and we’d go to Spider Lake for the week. There were a few years where my sister Judy and her husband, Mike, would spend the week camping there with us. Those were good times and the kids had a ball fishing and playing in the outdoors. We’d sit around the campfire at night and the kids would be off playing hide-and-seek or just running around. Occasionally, one of the resident skunks could be found sitting under one of our lawn chairs seemingly watching the campfire. Actually, the skunks were scavenging for food, but as comfortable as they were being around people they almost seemed like cats with a little B.O.

My nephew Zach got into the leeches one time and was hanging them from his earlobes and said, “Look, now I’ve got earrings!” Whenever I see the movie “The Great Outdoors” with John Candy and Dan Ackroyd I think of that time. He was also impressed when he visited the outhouse for the first time and exclaimed excitedly, “Mom, look you don’t even have to flush!” I guess he didn’t get out much as a kid.

Yes, I have a lot of good memories of those days when we camped in that small pickup camper. As the years went by the camper seemed to have less and less room — or were the kids just growing up? We had a lot of good times and when my oldest son opted to stay home and pass on the trip to the lake that he had always looked forward to I knew things were never going to be quite the same.

Now I find that the grandkids like to do a lot of the same things their dads did when they were growing up. I still like to spend a lot of time doing things with the boys outdoors although I have found that I may have slowed a step or three over the years. I love throwing the football with them, but the next day my shoulder will definitely let me know what I’ve been up to.

I told my oldest grandson Trevor that we would go to Spider this year and camp overnight at one of the spots available on the lake. I think it would be awesome sleeping in a tent again and sharing the experience with him or any of the grandkids. I still have the folding wooden table that my brother-in-law Mike made for me. The old Coleman stove and lantern that we used in our camping days are still in the garage so now all I need to do is find out if any of my old tents are useable. I am really looking forward to doing this at least once this summer. There are times when simple is good and this would be one of those times.

Muskes Inc. Meeting

The April meeting of Chapter 54, of Muskies Inc. will be Wednesday, at the Eagles Club in Owatonna at 7 p.m. Our speaker will be Jeanine Vorland with the DNR. She will address our request to improve the water quality in French Lake. She will explain what the plan will and can include. The lake has heavy algae, etc. There will be activity updates, door prizes, and a raffle.

Visit our booth at the at the Minnesota Muskie Expo, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Concordia University on Marshall Ave. in St. Paul.

Our May 13 speakers, just in time before the June opener, will be Tom Lenort from Tom’s Taxidermist, Clarks Grove. He will give tips on how to get the best replica of your trophy catch. Also we will have a reminder program of the best tools and safe methods for fast release of your muskies from John Underhill, author of the two-part article, “Catch and Release, How and Whys” in Muskie Magazine.

Our meetings are the second Wednesday of every month. They include informative speakers, etc. Visitors interested in musky fishing are always welcome. Muskie hunters, bring a friend and check us out. Help improve musky fishing in southern Minnesota. Visit our Web site at www.michapter54.com. Join Muskies Inc.

Bull moose hunt application deadline is May 1

Minnesotans who want to experience a once-in-a-lifetime bull moose hunt this fall have until May 1 to apply for a permit.

Applicants will be applying for a total of 225 bull-only harvest permits, which are spread across 30 hunting zones of northeastern Minnesota. Permits for the Oct. 3-18 hunt are awarded randomly to parties of two-to-four hunters.

Permit applications are available at any of the DNR’s 1,650 license agents.

A fee of $3 per individual must be included with an application. Only Minnesota residents 16 years and older are eligible for the moose hunt. Any hunter who received a moose permit since 1991 is not eligible to apply for the once-in-a-lifetime hunt. Successful applicants must pay a license fee of $310 per party and attend a mandatory orientation session.

In 2008, 2,706 parties applied for 247 permits. Hunting parties harvested 110 bull moose.

There are about 7,500 moose in Minnesota. Concerns that the population is declining prompted the creation of a Moose Advisory Committee, which will make management and research recommendations to the DNR’s Fish and Wildlife Division in June.

“The committee is studying all data that’s available on moose in Minnesota as well as surrounding states and Canadian provinces,” said committee chair Rolf Peterson, Isle Royale’s renowned wildlife ecologist and a professor at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Mich. “Our goal is to make recommendations on future moose management and research, including specific suggestions on how moose hunting might be managed in the face of a sustained decline in the population.”

Harvesting bull moose has very little impact on the rate of herd population change. Based on population survey data collected in 2008, DNR wildlife biologists estimate that a high percentage of cows are bred each fall even with the bulls-only hunt.

Until next time think spring, play safe and get out and enjoy the great Minnesota outdoors.

Remember to keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers throughout the year.