Month: August 2023

The Minnesota bear hunting season opens Friday, Sept. 1, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is again asking hunters to avoid shooting marked research bears. These bears are marked with distinctively large, colorful ear tags and wear radio collars.

Researchers with the Minnesota DNR are monitoring 35 radio-collared black bears across the state, especially in bear hunting zones 27, 45, and parts of the no-quota zone. Most radio-collared bears live in or near the Chippewa National Forest, Camp Ripley Military Reserve, the Pillsbury State Forest, and the Brainerd/Baxter area. However, the bears also range widely from these sites. 

“We are asking hunters to avoid shooting these valuable research bears,” said Andy Tri, Minnesota DNR bear research scientist. “These collared bears give us much of the data we use in bear management and are most valuable to us when collared for multiple years. Thank you to hunters who have opted not to take collared bears in past years and hunters who will choose not to harvest collared bears this season.”

A key to the research is looking at year-to-year changes in natural food supplies and how they affect individual bears regarding their habitat use, physical condition, denning, reproduction, and interactions with people. This research is not designed to evaluate mortality from hunting. Trapping new bears yearly to replace the ones killed cannot substitute for long-term data on individual bears.

All the collars the Minnesota DNR uses in this research have GPS units. The GPS coordinates are either uploaded to a satellite or stored in the collar and downloaded by Minnesota DNR researchers when they visit the bears in their dens. Each bear provides several thousand data points per year.

The bear’s coat often hides the collar, especially in the fall, and most collars are black. But all collared bears have large (3 x 2 inch) colorful ear tags. The tags should be visible on trial cam photos or when a bear is at a bait. Example photos of collared bears with ear tags and a summary of pertinent research findings can be found online under the link “Importance of Radio-collared Bears” on the Minnesota DNR bear management page (mndnr.gov/hunting/bear).

Minnesota DNR officials recognize hunters might not be able to see a radio collar or ear tags in some situations. For this reason, taking a bear with a radio collar is legal; however, pausing briefly to get a clear view of its head would reveal whether it has large ear tags, indicating that it is collared. 

Most collared bears have a small, implanted heart monitor under the skin on the left side of the chest. It looks like a small, silver capsule approximately the width of a paper clip. This contains valuable information stored in memory. Hunters who take a collared bear and find this device while skinning the bear are asked to submit it with the collar.

Hunters may see bears with small ear tags (1 x 1/4 inch). These bears are not collared and may be part of other ongoing research projects. It is legal to take a bear with small ear tags. 

The Minnesota DNR asks any hunters who do shoot a collared or ear-tagged bear to call the Minnesota DNR Wildlife Research Office in Grand Rapids at 218-328-8879 or 218-328-8874 to report it and coordinate the pickup or drop off the collar and heart monitor, if applicable.

The post MN DNR-HUNTERS WILL BE ASKED TO NOT SHOOT EAR-TAGGED OR RADIO-COLLARD RESEARCH BEARS appeared first on KROX.

The Crookston Housing and Economic Develpment Authority CHEDA) board and city council members met on Thursday night at Valley Technology Park with Senior Municipal Advisor Ehlers Financial Todd Hagen. Hagen gave a slide show presentation to everyone in attendance.

Earlier this year, the City of Crookston agreed to terms with Ehlers Financial to make them the City’s Municipal Advisor. Ehlers is also the Municipal Advisor for the Crookston School District. “We advise in economic development, financial planning, bond issuance, those kinds of things on a needed basis.”

Hagen presented a PowerPoint slide show to the board and others, which contained the basics of a bond issue so the council and EDA could understand how the bond process develops. “We not only talked about bonds, but also pay-as-you-go using cash, inter-fund loans again using cash, and financial management planning just to ensure the road map is paved.”

CHEDA has been discussing proposing a future bid to purchase Washington School. It is reported that CHEDA would like to make the space into a childcare center or a heritage center on the property’s grounds. Accepting a future bond from Ehlers Financial was in discussion after the meeting. However, this idea is still in the preliminary stages. “We are just looking at how we could get into it. There has been no planning,” said CHEDA executive director Karie Kirschbaum, “We’re just initiating the conversation; today was just a talk about what we can do and some of the options for the council and also the EDA board to get familiar with.”

Getting the council and CHEDA members on the same page proved crucial during this meeting, so the EDA can now look forward to making the next step in the bidding process. “Introduce them and show the options so that we can all start talking.,” said Kirschbaum, “You can’t decide without everybody understanding what’s going on.”

Kirschbaum stated that getting an assessment of where the city stands is essential to make the best decisions for the town and ensure everyone is comfortable with advancements.

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The post CHEDA AND CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS ATTEND EHLERS FINANCIAL PRESENTATION-DISCUSSIONS ON BONDS AND WASHINGTON SCHOOL appeared first on KROX.

Officers of the Grand Forks Police Department were dispatched to 500 North 8th St. for a Stabbing last night at approximately 11:23 p.m.

A 31-year-old male was stabbed in the chest with an unknown object. The victim was transported to Altru with at least one stab wound. The condition of the victim is currently unknown. The suspect, age 19, fled the scene. The suspect was located at a relative’s home and was arrested. The victim and the suspect know each other.

The Altru paramedics assisted the Grand Forks Police. This is an ongoing investigation. If anyone has witnessed this event, please call the police at (701) 787-8000.

The post GRAND FORKS POLICE DEPARTMENT RESPONDS TO STABBING appeared first on KROX.

Minnesota waterfowl hunters taking part in early teal hunting season in September need to be aware of and cautious of wild rice harvesters because wild rice is ripening simultaneously with this waterfowl hunting season.

Minnesota’s experimental early teal season runs from Saturday, Sept. 2, through Wednesday, Sept. 6, with shooting hours from sunrise to sunset.

Shooting restrictions on Leech Lake Reservation

During this year’s early teal season, there are special state regulations for hunters within the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe reservation. Specifically, hunters may not hunt within one-half mile of posted wild rice beds open to harvest within the reservation’s boundaries. In addition, White Earth Nation may have restrictions for hunters on the White Earth Reservation.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources advises all waterfowl hunters who plan to hunt within the boundaries of the Leech Lake or White Earth reservations to contact the appropriate natural resource department for more information call the Leech Lake Division of Resource Management at 218-335-7400 or the White Earth Division of Natural Resources at 218-983-3201.

Safety considerations

Throughout Minnesota, the early teal season falls when many people are engaged in a wide range of water-based activities. The Minnesota DNR urges all over-water waterfowl hunters to be aware of and cautious about people participating in other activities on the water, no matter where they hunt.

“A safety mindset and mutual courtesy will allow for successful early waterfowl hunting and other water-based activities,” said Leslie McInenly, Minnesota DNR wildlife populations and regulations manager. “Additionally, with water levels low in some areas, scouting ahead is critical for both waterfowl hunters and ricers so they know whether there will be enough water for boats.”

The US Fish and Wildlife Service allows states to hold an experimental early teal season for up to three years, and 2023 is the third year Minnesota has had this season. To help assess the experimental season, Minnesota DNR observers will document which species hunters target and shoot. The statewide early goose season has occurred since 1996, with over-water hunting allowed through much of the state since 2003.

“As always, hunters must be careful to identify waterfowl species before they shoot accurately, and they must hunt safely,” McInenly said. “With others on the water simultaneously, hunters should continue to follow the basic tenets of firearms safety, including knowing with certainty what’s beyond their blinds and decoys before shooting.”

Information to help hunters correctly identify waterfowl is available in an illustrated guide on page 18 of the 2023 Minnesota Waterfowl Hunting Regulations (mndnr.gov/regulations/hunting). Access to complete information on Minnesota’s waterfowl hunting seasons is available from the Minnesota DNR’s waterfowl hunting webpage (mndnr.gov/hunting/waterfowl). The Minnesota DNR is also working on having the 2023 regulations translated into Hmong, Karen, Somali, and Spanish and making them available for hunters this fall.

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