It happens every year around this time. We finally have enough snow to cover the ground and folks start to think automatically that wildlife is on the verge of starving to death. The calls start coming in as to where they can find some corn to feed this destitute wildlife.
It is true in years with heavy snow cover and below zero temperatures for extended periods that wildlife will start to show signs of distress. That is not the case this winter. 
Much of the state has had very little snow cover until about two weeks ago, and since that time much of that snow has melted or gone away.
In the 12 counties of southwest Minnesota most of the fields are about 50 percent clear of snow cover. These counties represent the majority of the traditional pheasant range in the state. Pheasants do exist in other counites not included in the 12 but in smaller population numbers.
Natural resource research has been well-documented over the past 50 years and shows conclusively that pheasants rarely ever starve to death. Most folks think thick snow prevents the birds from finding food.
Pheasant losses can occur from deep snow, but starvation is not the primary cause of this. When winters of deep snow do occur and start early in the winter season, lingering well into April, a small percentage of wildlife suffers some mortality.
The primary reason wildlife suffers from extended cold winters with deep snow is predation. When there is little snow, birds and other wildlife can spread out across the landscape and survive in areas considered marginal cover. Population densities are lower, and wildlife is less congregated.
When deep snow makes marginal cover uninhabitable, wildlife seeks better cover. When wildlife congregates, predators like raptors, foxes and to a smaller extent coyotes will also move to those areas as the pickings are much easier to find and easier to capitalize on.
Pheasant feeding, as I see most often, is done very poorly. People will pour corn on the side of the road, and many birds get killed by traffic. Others will feed far from the cover birds need to survive cold temperatures.  This makes them fly longer distances and consume more energy to reach the free meal. It also requires them to be exposed and out of the cover for longer periods of time.
Feeding wildlife as explained by a recent report I read from the Nebraska Game and Fish Department does not reach a large enough percentage of the population to make any noticeable difference in game populations the following fall after anther reproductive cycle.
Feeding can carry over small numbers of birds in very limited areas if done right. The report I mentioned earlier has been published at least 100 different times over the 50 years. Feeding and its limited effects have been well-documented across North America.
Feeding elk in the Rocky Mountains to help keep herd numbers higher than the land can support them might be a different story.
If those who think wildlife feeding is really important took all of those energies and money spent and redirected them to better and more abundant quality wildlife habitats, populations of fish and game would be better off in the long term.
Now with all that said, there are those who will expend lots of time and energy to feed wildlife anyway. If you are one of those people, then at least feed wildlife in ways that do more good than harm.
First of all, once you start feeding, you need to keep feeding. Once pheasants or other wildlife get used to your offering, they will become dependent on that offering. They will not be searching for other food sources and will spend all their time scratching in the last spot you dropped corn.
Second, feed close to quality wildlife habitat. This means you’ll need snow shoes or other transportation to get away from the road and close to adequate thermal winter cover. This is hard work if you have to go on foot.
Deer feeding is illegal in many parts of the state, so be sure you are not breaking any laws, or your good intentions might end with getting a ticket.
This winter has been very mild so far. Wildlife in general is doing quite well. Spend your money on a ticket to a conservation banquet and support more and better habitat to make wildlife feeding an experience that is no longer needed or beneficial.
I have harvested roosters in the late season when I thought there was three feet of snow over all the food sources, and yet when I cleaned those birds, their crops were full of corn.
I don’t have any idea where they found it, but pheasants haven’t existed in North America since the late 1800s without being tenacious survivors.
 
Scott Rall, Worthington, is a habitat conservationist, avid hunting and fishing enthusiast and is president of Nobles County Pheasants Forever. He can be reached at scottarall@gmail.com. or on Twitter @habitat champion.

Luverne High School student council members Lauren Hansen and Ross Bergman (far left) announce the crowning ceremony for the Snow Week activities Monday afternoon in the school’s performing arts center.

LSS meals at Generations
Monday, Feb. 14—Happy Valentine’s Day: Chicken wild rice soup, broccoli, pineapple, cookie, dinner roll.
Activities: 8:30 a.m. Quilters. 10 a.m. SAIL class.
Tuesday, Feb. 15: Tater tot casserole, French cut green beans, warm peaches, dinner roll, cookie.
Activities: Bring Valentine item for a prize. 12:30 p.m. Pinochle and Bingo.
Half-Price Day sponsored by Sanford.
Wednesday, Feb. 16: Meatballs, mashed potatoes, carrots, bread, dessert.
Activities: 10 a.m. SAIL class.
Thursday, Feb. 17: Barbecued pork on a bun, baked beans, spiced pears dessert.
Activities: 1 p.m. LSS frozen meals.
Friday, Feb. 18: Roast turkey with gravy mashed potatoes, peas, sage dressing, birthday cake.
Activities: 10 a.m. SAIL class.
LSS Dining offers well-balanced and affordable meals in a community atmosphere.
Call Lynette Hoiland at 283-9846 to arrange to pick up a dinner or for home-delivered meals.
Gift certificates are available at the meal site or online at www.lssmn.org/nutrition.

Anderson on dean’s list, earns design award
Jadyn Anderson was named to the Dean’s List at Arizona State University Herberger Institute for Design for the Fall 2021 semester. To qualify, students must maintain a 3.5 GPA or higher with 12 credits or more.
Anderson also received the Design of Excellence Award for Fall 2021 for her architectural studio project.
Each semester the Design of Excellence is awarded to one project per class.
Anderson is a 2019 Luverne High School graduate and the daughter of Chad Anderson and Paula Bloemendal, both of Luverne.

Farmers Mutual Hail recognizes Shirley Top as top-producing agent
Shirley Top with Kozlowski Insurance Agency and Financial Services Inc. of Luverne has recently been recognized as a top-producing crop insurance agent for Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company (FMH).
FMH recognizes the top-producing agents in total premium each year.
Top has been recognized as placing 47th in the company's Top 50 Agents in Crop Hail Premium list.
In addition, Top ranked fifth in the state of Minnesota for combined Multi-Peril Crop Insurance (MPCI) and Crop Hail premium in 2020 with FMH.
2022 will mark 35 years in the crop insurance business for Top. “I love working with farmers,” she said.
Top said the most important part of her job is working with clients, helping them understand their options, and assisting clients in weather and price-related claims.
“I also have to credit the amazing job our adjusters – especially FMH adjuster Brian Fick – did this year with the enormous number of acres hit with wind,” she added.
“In 2021 my farm clients had 23,792 acres protected with green snap and wind coverage. FMH adjusters did an amazing job getting out to the fields before and after the farmers harvested to determine percentage of loss, giving the farmers ample time to complete their fall tillage.”

The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Jan. 10, 1902.
After Twenty-Seven Years
William F. Brown, the First Settler to Prove Up on a Rock County Claim, Visits the Scene of His Early Residence
Residents of Rock county, enjoying as they do more of the advantages and benefits of a well settled, cultured and prosperous community than many older communities, are apt to forget how short a time ago it was that the virgin prairies of this county had upon them no white habitation, when natural grasses grew where now are blue grass pastures, luxuriant meadows, or rick, highly cultivated fields dedicated to the production of corn and other cereals, and the territory now rich with fertile farms, comfortable homes and thriving towns was marked upon the maps as part of the great, unexplored American desert. Man nowhere engages upon labor more exciting and arduous and rigorous than that of reclaiming from nature the soil that has lain for aeons in its natural state, and except with great and unusual energy the period of the reclamation must be a very long one. That Rock county should be visited now in 1902 by the man who was first of all others to “prove up” on his claim and the second in the county to file a homestead claim is a striking reminder of the comparatively short time since the settlement of this section of the state began and the great energy and perseverance exerted by its early residents in bringing the county to its present state.
William F. Brown, brother of E. A. and cousin of James Brown, of this place, arrived last week from Seattle, Wash., for a visit with relatives and old friends and to view again the country of which he was a resident thirty-two to twenty-seven years ago. He had come to Rock county in June of 1870—thirty-two years ago—from Wisconsin, preceding his parents and other members of the family. He filed upon the east half of the northwest quarter, section 14, Clinton township, and was the first in the county to prove up on his claim. The life of the settler was a hard one and gave little indication of the comforts and wealth so soon to come. Mr. Brown resided on his claim for five years. In the first years he saw his crops taken by the grasshoppers and witnessed as well as suffered the full severity of the distress wrought by their visitations. He was one of a committee to solicit relief for the settlers in those times. Later his health failed and he concluded to go further west. In Wisconsin he had had experience in the timber and lumber business, and when he had removed to Washington, the present place of his residence, he naturally turned to that industry for his future occupation.
Mr. Brown’s business interests have carried him all over the state of Washington since he took up his residence there. He was at the one time surveyor of the county in which Spokane is located, he has been engaged in the timber and lumber business, in mining and railroading and is now connected with a company that has begun fishing operations on a large scale in the waters of the Pacific ocean and its connections.
From Luverne Mr. Brown will go to Chicago and other cities in the east on a mission connected with the enterprises in which he is interested.
         Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

10 years ago (2012)
•Luverne High School senior Lauren Christensen joined a select group of former Cardinal girls’ hockey players during the course of Thursday’s home game against the Sioux Falls Flyers. When Christensen lifted a wrist shot into the net to account for Luverne’s first goal in a 7-5 win, she became the fourth LHS player to enter girls’ hockey program’s 100-goal club.
Natalie Domagala, a 2005 LHS graduate, is the program’s all-time leader in goals scored with 272.
 
25 years ago (1997)
•Josh Winkelman, a seventh grade student at Luverne Middle School, is being published two times this winter. His short essay, “The Song of the Country,” is included in the junior high edition of the February 1997 High School Writer. Later this year, one of his book reviews will be published in Voices in the Middle, a publication for middle school English teachers. Teacher Elizabeth Petersen said students use journals to do what she calls quick writes. To stimulate thought, she reads a poem or a short story to the students. They listen and start writing, responding to what they have heard. Petersen said she is continually amazed at the way the students articulate their thoughts.
 
 
50 years ago (1972)
•Mrs. James Juhl, home economics teacher in the Magnolia School system, has been selected as “Teacher of the Year” by the Magnolia Board of Education, Supt. Lloyd Fandrich announced this week.
Mrs. Juhl is in her fifth term in Independent School District No. 669 and has had teaching experience in Hills, Jackson, Luverne and Hazel Park Junior High in St. Paul before beginning at Magnolia. She also served as president of the St. Paul Home Economics Teachers Association.
 
75 years ago (1947)
•The new Chevrolet for 1947 is now on display at Connell Chevrolet here.
E. L. Connell, owner, states that this new model has been made bigger and better looking than the 1946 model, and is offering a greater measure of big car quality at lowest cost than ever before.
Combining all the popular features of the 1946 model with a number of added features, both inside and out, this newest Chevrolet must be seen to be appreciated, Connell said.
 
100 years ago (1922)
•During the month ending with Wednesday, the city of Luverne had paid a total of $4,563.23 as freight on coal shipments for that period for the municipal light and power plant.
This represents about one-half the cost of the coal, the price ranging close to $7.87 a ton, whether it is purchased at the head of the lakes, from the Southern Illinois coal fields or elsewhere. The freight rate form Duluth is $3.37½, and from Southern Illinoi $4.79½, but the difference in freight is made up by a greater charge for the coal secured at Duluth. The kind of coal being bought is two-inch screenings.
On January 10th the coal bunkers at the municipal plant were virtually empty, but since that time a total of twenty-four carloads has been received, and it is on this number of cars that $4,563.23 has been paid for freight. It is estimated that the coal now on hand will last the city for about two months.

Darwin Wahlert, 79, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, died Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022, at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls.
A funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10, at George Boom Funeral Home, Sioux Falls.  Visitation is from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9, also at the funeral home.
Arrangements are provided by George Boom Funeral Home of Sioux Falls, www.georgeboom.com
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Elizabeth Francis “Betty” Burmeister, 89, Luverne, died Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022, at the Sanford Luverne Hospice Cottage in Luverne.
Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9, at the Dingmann Funeral Home in Luverne and also one hour prior to the service at the church on Thursday, Feb. 10. A funeral Mass will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at St. Catherine Catholic Church in Luverne. Burial will be in the St. Catherine Cemetery in Luverne.
Elizabeth “Betty” Mayer was born May 8, 1932, to Florian and Anna (Nipp) Mayer in Parkston, South Dakota. Betty’s mother died when she was just two years old. Betty attended Sacred Heart Elementary School and graduated from Parkston High School in 1950.
She worked a variety of jobs during her life. After graduation she worked for Dickenson Brothers Bakery and Delicatessen in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Betty married Richard Burmeister on Jan. 24, 1953, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Sioux Falls. The couple farmed in Mound Township north of Luverne. Betty was a homemaker and a mother of five children. Betty liked to help around the farm, feeding and caring for animals. She was a 4-H leader, inspiring the kids from the Blue Mound Climbers 4-H Club.
Betty was a member of St. Catherine Catholic Church in Luverne and the WCCW. Betty loved spending time with her family and attending her grandchildren’s activities. She enjoyed playing cards with the neighbors, and at Generations. She liked to fish and try her luck at the casino. She also liked going to rummage sales. Fun and laughter were a big part of Betty’s life with her sense of humor.
Betty is survived by her two sons, Glenn (LaVarianne) Burmeister, Ten Sleep, Wyoming and Kurt (Kari) Burmeister, Luverne; three daughters, Denise Nepp, Windom, Darcy (Tom) Roscoe, Big Stone City, South Dakota, and Rhonda (Steve) Brennecke, Belgrade, Montana; twelve grandchildren, Evan, Stacy, Amy, Carrie, Andrew, Christy, Brock, Lexy, Ramsey, Jesse, Rikki and Elizabeth; several great-grandchildren; two sisters, Maxine Cowett and Ruby (Jerry) Nordman; two brothers,  Frank (Jean) Mayer, and Dick (MaryEllen) Mayer; and many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Richard, on Dec. 27, 2010; a son-in-law, Shawn Wambach; two sisters, Phyllis Hillger and Eileen Miller; baby sister Marcella at 18 months; and three step-brothers, Mark, Donald and Norbert Roth.
Arrangements are provided by Dingmann Funeral Home of Luverne, dingmannandsons.com.
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