Rock County to have its first wild turkey hunt
This year for the first time, the permit areas open to turkey hunting in Minnesota will include Rock, Murray, Nobles and Pipestone counties.
Although turkeys have been present in southwest Minnesota for many years, the numbers have been small.
Rock County is listed by the DNR as one of the counties in Minnesota having a population of turkeys back in the early 1900s.
The first efforts to restock Minnesota with wild turkeys started in 1973, when a Minnesota biologist traded some ruffed grouse to Missouri in exchange for wild-captured juvenile and adult turkeys.
Houston County, in southeast Minnesota, now bills itself as the ‘Turkey Capital of Minnesota.’
In recent years, the state has been trapping birds in Houston County and transplanting them in locations across the state, that are deemed to have acceptable habitat, which is a mix of agricultural land and forest, for sustaining wild turkeys. Two of those location efforts are Murray and Rock counties.
In the winter of 1999, 21 birds were released on the Rock River WMA, as well as 21 in Murray County.
According to Dick Kimmel, DNR Turkey Biologist, the turkey populations have been growing slowly, but steadily.
Since this is the first season in Rock County, success rates may be generally high, as the birds will not be conditioned to hearing calls, seeing decoys and basically being hunted.
There is only one registration station per county. In Rock County, that station is Harvey’s Trading Post.
Any birds from the original release in 1999 will have a metal band on their leg or a tag on their wing.
If one of these birds are shot, hunters should contact the DNR because valuable information collected can help researchers learn more about wild turkeys in Minnesota.
‘Sale of the decade’
At a sale the state bills as the ‘sale of the decade,’ the State of Minnesota will be selling unclaimed property.
Once every 10 years, the Minnesota Commerce Department is required by law to sell the contents of safe deposit boxes that have been remitted to the state’s unclaimed property program.
From 1992 to 2000, approximately 5,500 safe deposit boxes were declared abandoned and turned over to the state.
There will be a total of 919 items sold at the auction, with jewelry alone valued at approximately $98,000.
Some of the unique items to be sold include:
Baseball from a 1931 Japan Exhibition Tour autographed by 14 major leaguers.
Rare U.S. coins, including a 1795 1/2 dime.
1866 discharge papers signed by President Andrew Johnson.
The auction will be Saturday, March 22, at the Lumber Baron Hotel in Stillwater. The sale will begin at 8:30 a.m.
If you are unable to attend, a new online option will also be available this year.
Online bids are now being accepted for all the auction items. In addition, bidders will also have the opportunity to bid against bidders located on the auction house floor.
The exact bidding activity will be posted on a web site following the auctioneer’s bid and call.
If you would like to view all the items and register for the online portion of the auction, follow the link on the Department of Commerce Web site: www.commerce.state.mn.us.
Internet bidders must register at least two days in advance of the auction.
Spring weight restrictions, now in effect
As of midnight, last Saturday, March 15, weight restrictions were put into effect by the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
The maximum duration for spring weight restrictions will not exceed eight weeks unless extraordinary conditions exist that require additional time or route specific signage is posted, according to MnDOT.
Because the soils and aggregate materials are weak while the frost leaves the ground, spring is a critical period for roads.
Through a pavement research facility, the state was able to predict when weakening will occur using air temperatures currently recorded and forecasted for most of Minnesota.
The procedure uses a thawing index and a three-day forecast.
More information is available on their Web site: www.mrr.dot.state.mn.us
Publisher Roger Tollefson can be reached by e-mail at tolly@star-herald.com
