Ben Brettingen

Avery Outdoors ProStaff

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, the majority of it was spent playing football, football and more football. Now you may be wondering Ben, what in tarnations are you talking about?  Croix, Kincaid and Cole, the three little boys who were responsible for more football in one day than I am used to in a whole year, kept asking me what position did you play in high school football? I kept telling them, I never really cared to play. No I wasn’t an anti-social dungeons and dragons kid with black fingerless gloves (which is perfectly alright….). How could anybody in their right mind spend their valuable fall months not out in the slough, woods or waters as much as possible?

Well if this sounded like you or your children, I have a pretty cool deal.  Tomorrow, I will be out at Wings of Watertown hunting preserve with the Waconia Conservation Club introducing and encouraging a sport that isn’t certified by the MSHSL…Pheasant Hunting.  Back when I was a young lad in high school, I was able to be a part of a new group, where it was fun to be a part of the outdoors. When Wayne Trapp, Biology teacher for Waconia HS started this club I was a part of around 4 members of the club. This was back in 2006 and today the club boats over 200 high schoolers.

The club participates in events such as winter camping, trap shooting (Wayne Trapp’s favorite event), wild game dinners, adopt-a-highway program, bird banding, ice fishing tournament & lake clean-up, dog training, annual BWCA trips and a multitude of other fantastic outdoor opportunities.

Tomorrow morning should be a great time marching around the CRP fields of Minnesota in search of one of Minnesota’s favorite upland birds.