SOLD - FOR SALE - SportDOG Upland Hunter SD-1875 Controller + 2 Beeper Trainer Collars

Lightly Used

I used this system as a backup on my trip to South Dakota last fall.  I now longer need it.
Has probably only been in the field 2 or 3 hours.

Optimized for upland hunting, this model features a situation-programmable transmitter that controls the collar receiver and removable audible beeper. Collar receiver offers seven levels of continuous and momentary stimulation, and vibration and tone options. The removable beeper is audible at 500 yards and has nine selectable tones, three run modes and an instant locate feature. Extended one-mile range. Uplandblaze® orange finish. DryTek waterproof design. Control up to three dogs with the optional Add-A-Dog extra collar.
Includes:

• Remote transmitter with antenna (4.6 oz.)
• 2 Collar receiver with grey collar strap (4.6 oz.)
• 2 Remote beeper (2.6 oz.)
• 2 Charging cradle
• Manual

Features

• 1 mile range
• DRYTEK™ waterproof and submersible to 25 feet
• Expandable to 3 dogs with additional collars
• 7 continuous and 7 momentary stimulation levels
• Vibration and tone options
• Rechargeable batteries with 2 hour charge
• The UplandBlaze® orange transmitter finish helps you find your transmitter if it’s dropped.

Check it out here

MN 2014 Walk-In Access Maps Now Available

Walk-In Access (WIA) Program

...providing public hunting opportunities on private lands thanks to volunteer landowners.

• Hunters must purchase a WIA Validation to legally hunt WIA Sites this fall. Purchase Online or by phone: 1-888-665-4236 (ELS CODE 190)
  It is a nominal $3, a portion of which covers the license transaction with the remainder to be used for a hunter evaluation next year. The validation will also give DNR and policymakers a way to track the number of hunters whom hunt Walk-In Access sites. Landowners cannot give others permission to hunt without a validation.
  

• Walk-In Access sites are open during any legal hunting season from Sept. 1 to May 31. Please respect private property and verify public hunting areas by observing boundary signs.
• Clay County WIA #55 is within the Clay County Game Refuge and is closed to waterfowl hunting during the regular season. Open to all other hunting.
• Walk-In Access sites (WIA) are only open to hunting where WIA boundaries are posted with WIA signs. Landowners may opt out of the program, and will be reflected in the Online Atlas and the WIA County Interactive Map.
• Only walk-in hunting traffic is allowed on enrolled acres. "No target practice, trapping, dog training, camping, horseback riding or fires are allowed by the public. The landowner retains the right to engage in, or give permission to engage in hiking/dog walking on a leash, trapping, camping, horseback riding, or campfires, and other limited activities that do not impede public hunting." No vehicle traffic is allowed. Parking is along roads or in designated parking areas.
• Hunters must follow the Code of Conduct  developed for WIA lands.
• DON'T FORGET TO CHECK THE "WALK-IN ACCESS SITE STATUS CHANGES" FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON WIA SITE CHANGES
  • Walk-In Access Site Status Changes

Find a WIA Interactive Map Click on a county in the map to bring up detailed maps of WIAs

WIA tools Printable atlas 2014  Code of Conduct English Español Hmong Google Earth file (KML) View WIAs in Google Maps 2014 GPS data DNR Recreaton Compass WIA program evaluation ALL WIA sites will OPEN to Public Hunting Sept 1, 2014. Printed Atlas Updates

WIA maps & data

All map data and map products (including Google Earth, Google Map, and GPS files) are general and do not accurately represent the actual legal or established boundary of these areas, and thus should be used for reference only. Please respect private property and verify public hunting areas by observing boundary signs.

Check the MN DNR website for updates

2014 MN Ruffed Grouse Opener - Ely MN

Tasha Tina and their 2014 Ely Grouse

We started the 2014 MN Ruffed Grouse season in Ely again.  Our luck hasn’t been too good the last few years in this area so I was anxious to see how this year would pan out.

We hit our first spot at about 9:30.  45 degrees, sunny, and slight breeze.  I started Tasha the two year old setter.  The trail spits into a Y, the dogs and I usually go to the left but this year we went to the right.  The trail drops down to a creek that has been low or even dry recently.  This year it was the highest that I’ve seen it in a while.  Tasha plowed right through the deepest part and I carefully picked my way across.  We made it to the end of the trail without any bird activity.  

About 1/3 of the way back Tasha’s bell went silent.  I tired to make my way back to her but the thick cover slowed me too much and the bird broke before I could get into a position to make a shot.  Tasha continued to work the cover well be we didn’t make contact with any other birds.

Trail number two was Tina’s turn.  Tina is 12 1/2 now and has me spoiled as a hunter.  I can go on autopilot.  I can just walk and listen for her bell to stop.  About 15 minutes into her hunt I saw her locked up on the side of the trail.  I moved into position and took one step into the woods and the bird broke, I was able to snap off a shot in the general direction of the flush.  Tina went into the woods and picked up the bird.  We worked to the end of trail and turned around.  Tina continued to work the cover but we didn’t move any more birds.  The trip back ended up being just a little too far and Tina started to limp about 15 minutes from the truck.  I’m hoping that she is able to do a short hunt on Sunday.

Tasha got the call for spot number three.  This is a shorter trail but we usually see a bird here.  We don’t normally get one but we normally see one.  Never more but one.  This year Tasha was able to pin one and I was fortunate enough to get a shot off and Tasha was on the bird.  Once I got to her I could tell why it had been an easier shot, it was the smallest grouse that I have ever harvested.  I’ve taken a young of year but this one was half the size of most birds that I’ve taken.

We hit two more areas but didn’t have any luck but it was nice to be out in the woods again.

Overall we had much better luck than we have had in the past couple of seasons.

I put my hat in the picture to show the relative size of the tiny grouse.

Both birds cleaned.  You can see the difference even more clearly.

First Grouse - Nemadji State Forest Ruffed Grouse Hunt - October 11th 2012

Brent with his first Ruffed Grouse

Oct 11th 2012

A friend, Brent, and I have been able to hunt pheasants together before but he had never had the opportunity to hunt for Ruffed Grouse.  We both had the same day off during the mid-week so I thought we would try some of the MN Hunter Walking trails that are by Nickerson MN.

The first two trails were in pretty rough condition and we didn’t move any birds.  The third trail was awesome looking.  Great habitat and the trail itself were well maintained.  It was easy to tell that a large number of hunters also thought that it was a good looking trail as you could tell that it seen quite a lot of traffic.

I decided to pull the plug on the walking trails and head over to Nemadji State Forest.  I used to hunt there quite a bit before the ATV craze hit full force but had mostly skipped it recently as there were too many ATV and motorcycles to worry about.  I figured since it was a weekday that there might not be quite as much traffic to worry about.

Within just a few minutes of letting my setter Tina out of the truck we had a bird that flushed wild so I was already feeling better about the decision to change locations.  We followed the main trail for another 20 minutes before turning onto a smaller side trail.  Within 2 or 3 minutes we went around a corner and saw Tina locked up on point.  Brent moved in and connected on a straight away flyer.  His first grouse ever.  The cover continued to look good so we moved on down the trail.  About 10 minutes later I heard Tina’s beeper go off.  As we moved towards the beep the bird broke from in front of Tina and Brent bagged his second bird.  I was looking at getting shut out by a first timer.

We moved on to another smaller trail and I was able to take a bird that was holding tight in a nice clump of cover.  On the walk back to the truck I was able to take a woodcock that Tina pinned near a creek in the area.

Brent was able to get his first grouse.  We only heard one ATV and didn’t even end up seeing it.  It was another good day to be in the woods.

Tina and I with our Nemadji Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock

2014 AMERICAN WOODCOCK POPULATION STATUS - Counts - Central Region Down 7.3% - US Fish and Wildlife Service

American Woodcock Singing-ground Survey data for 2014 indicate that the index for singing American woodcock (Scolopax minor) males in the Eastern Management Region was not significantly different from 2013; while there was a significant decline of 7.3% in the Central Management Region. There was a significant declining 10-year trend for woodcock heard in both Management Regions during 2004-14. This marks first time in 10 years that there has been a declining 10-year trend in the Eastern Management Region and the first time in 3 years there has been a declining 10-year trend in the Central Management Region. Both regions have a significant, long-term (1968-14) declining trend (-1.0%/year for the Eastern Management Region and -0.9%/year for the Central Management Region). 

The 2013 recruitment index for the U.S. portion of the Eastern Region (1.60 immatures per adult female) was 3.2% less than the 2012 index and 2.3% less than the long-term regional index, while the recruitment index for the U.S. portion of the Central Region (1.54 immatures per adult female) was 7.2% less than the 2012 index and was 1.4% less than the long-term regional index. Estimates from the Harvest Information Program indicated that U.S. woodcock hunters in the 
Eastern Region spent 136,700 days afield and harvested 62,500 woodcock during the 2013-14 season, while in the Central Region, hunters spent 306,100 days afield and harvested 180,600 woodcock.

See the full FWS report