These three bands will bring the total to nine nationally recognized entertainment groups to perform at the Redlin Art Center in seven years! The Redlin family and the Redlin Art Center began a tradition of a summer concert celebration with an outdoor concert by Mannheim Steamroller in 2004. Since then, each August, thousands of visitors have enjoyed concerts by Lee Greenwood, Ronnie Milsap, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, The Oak Ridge Boys and Sawyer Brown!

The Redlin Art Center strives to make the event bigger and better for the community and those who travel to the event from surrounding states. The Redlin Art Center is honored to have another opportunity in 2010 to bring entertainers of this caliber to Watertown. With the combined efforts of the Redlin Art Center, the Redlin Art Center’s event partner, Home Federal Bank, and sponsors Schwan Financial Group and the Watertown Bid Improvement District, the event in 2010 is sure to be the best ever!

Mark your calendars today! You won’t want to miss this exciting event at the Redlin Art Center in Watertown, South Dakota on Saturday, August 7th, 2010!

Black Hawk                    Little Texas                        Restless Heart

Grand Island, Neb. – July 13, 2010 – A Pheasants Forever-sponsored wildlife habitat project in the Rainwater Basin region of south-central Nebraska has received $3.25 million in financial assistance through the Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program (WREP). The multi-year, pilot program will allow center pivot irrigation systems to travel across wetlands and upland buffers restored and protected through the USDA’s Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) as a reserved right.

The project was one of five announced by the USDA to restore and enhance wetlands in five Midwestern states through WREP. A voluntary conservation program, WREP is carried out through partnership agreements with state and local governments, non-governmental organizations and Indian tribes. NRCS Chief Dave White announced the projects on behalf of Secretary Vilsack at an America’s Great Outdoors Initiative listening session in Nebraska. White and other Obama Administration officials toured the Rainwater Basin Water Complex.

This pilot WREP program provides a unique conservation tool that will increase program enrollment throughout the Rainwater Basin Region. Nearly 75% of the restorable wetlands are intersected by center pivot irrigation systems. In the past, multiple landowners have withdrawn Wetlands Reserve Program applications or not applied due to the uncertainty of being allowed to let their pivot cross a wetland enrolled in the program. “In the Rainwater Basin, the number of pivots is likely to increase in the future,” says Pete Berthelsen, Pheasants Forever Senior Field Coordinator, “The overall impact of center pivots on wetlands and wildlife is likely minimal when compared to the overall benefits that long-term protection of wetlands and associated upland buffers will have on wildlife populations.”

“This pilot WREP offers landowners a unique opportunity to enroll marginal flood prone cropland without adversely affecting their irrigation systems,” said Andy Bishop, Rainwater Basin Joint Venture Coordinator “This is truly represents a win-win situation for producers and wildlife that use Rainwater Basin wetlands.”

“Wetlands preservation is a priority at USDA not only because of the role wetlands play in supporting diverse wildlife and plants, but also their importance in sustaining healthy ecosystems,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. “The wetland restoration and enhancements made possible through WREP will significantly increase wildlife habitat and improve water quality.”

WREP, a component of the Wetlands Reserve Program, leverages the resources of eligible partners to provide financial and technical assistance to eligible landowners to protect, restore and enhance wetlands and improve wildlife habitat through multi-year projects lasting up to five years. WREP links wetlands and non-wetlands by creating wildlife habitat and floodplain corridors.

Springtime is when Mother Natures Garden starts to grow and mature.

Unlike other gardeners, Mother Nature doesn’t see the need to plant her garden in nice neat rows like we do.

When gardeners see weeds and grasses growing in their garden, out comes the how, not Mother Nature as she has the right plan, as she allows all anything and everything to grow in her garden.

This is the time of the year when hunters can hit the field, sandbars and wooded areas without a gun and still bring home something for dinner.

It’s morel and asparagus picking time in the upper Midwest, when both of these delectable edibles will poke their heads above the ground, just waiting for someone like you or I to come along and pluck them from he earth.

Before getting into the who, what, when and where of mushroom and asparagus hunting, there’s one thing that we need to remind ourselves of.

With any type of hunting or picking we need to get permission of the landowner before entering their land.

Morel Mushrooms

Morels, general appear prior to wild asparagus and can be found throughout our area, they are easy to recognize, delicious to eat, making them the most popular wild mushroom in the upper Midwest

Elongated with an off white stem and a crown, covered with white ridges and dark brown pits, the morel mushroom are easily recognized.

Varying in color from light gray to dark gray, light tan to golden brown, pale yellow to yellow to dark brown, a morel looks like is to look for something growing on the ground resembling a cone shaped brain.

Morels start to pop out in mid to late April, when temperatures reach around 50 degrees, with the best hunting or picking happening when temperatures hit the mid 50’s.

In the upper Midwest there are several things that indicate to mushroom hunters that morels will be up.

If you have a lilac bush, crab apples or violets growing in the area, keep an eye on them, as when they’re blooming, it’s a good sign that you’ll find morels.

I’ve always found morels seem to be up in good quantities around the week of Mother’s Day.

Some pickers will use the almanac to get an idea as to when morels will appear.

Look in the almanac, Find the average date for the last frost, and add two weeks to that date and that should be close to the peak morel season.

Moisture, sunshine along with warmer temperatures has a lot to do with when morels appear.

A week of 55-60 degree daytime temperatures after the frost is gone with no freezing temperatures at night will generally be a good time start looking for morels.

Along with warm temperatures, moisture is also important. Many mushroom hunters say that the best time to hunt for morels is after a rain, when temperatures are around 60 degrees with high humidity.

Morels appear earliest in sandy areas, on south facing slopes or in fields that have been burnt as these areas warm up quickly and retain heat longer.

The earliest morels will appear on islands in the river, sandy areas and areas where there are dead or dying trees.

The first morel is always the toughest to locate because they blend very well with the forest or vegetated ground.  Once you’ve found one, kneel down, looking closely because morels are like Perch, if you find one you generally find a bunch.

One thing is for certain when it comes to finding morels, there’s no set rules as to where the morel might be located.   Conditions change from day to day during the spring and a hillside that was barren on Monday may get a rain shower or warmer temperatures, causing the hillside to be loaded with morels by Wednesday.

My preferred method for locating mushrooms isn’t real scientific; it’s the old meandering method, picking my way through the vegetation until I spot one.

It’s a good idea to stop from time to time and kneel down, getting a better view of the area as many times as morels will be pushing up through the leaves and can be verily visible.

Since mushrooms reproduce through spores that need to be returned to the ground in order to grow. In order to allow the morels to throw their spores, it’s not a bad idea to use collection bags that are porous such as onion bags or some type of a bag that allows the spores to be release back into the air.

Mushroom hunters or shroomers as they’re called down south have their own language and in mushroom hunters’ jargon, a bunch of morels is known as a “mess”.

Once you’ve found a mess of mushrooms, they need to be cleaned up and prepared.

The first thing that you’ll want to do is to split the mushroom in half from the top to the bottom.  The rinse them off over running water as the crooks and crannies of the mushroom may contain sand or insects. After you’ve rinsed them thoroughly, you’ll want let them set in water for a short period of time in order to flush sand, debris or stubborn insects out of them.

Don’t let them soak in water for an extended period of time as they will soak up the water and become spongy.

Then the best part of morel hunting begins, preparing and eating them.

There are numerous ways to prepare morels including, fried and in mushroom soup. One of my favorite ways to prepare the morels is to fry them up in some type of batter.

An excellent batter can be made by combining equal parts beaten eggs with milk and crushed up saltine crackers.

After rinsing them, let the mushroom drip off on a dry towel and then dip in the mixture made from the beaten eggs and milk, coating them thoroughly.

Place the coated morel into a pan and cook in butter until crisp. Don’t over cook them, as they will dry out.

Morels are best when prepared fresh, but if you have a good mushroom hunting season and would like to preserve or save some of them for future use, mushrooms can be dried, frozen or blanched.

Wild Asparagus

Wild asparagus appears about the same time as mushrooms, but I’ve had my bet luck finding the more mature spears after mushroom picking is done when temperatures warm up.

It will appear later than that found in your neighbors garden as gardens are clean and generally in darker soil, the ground in a garden will warm up more quickly.

The ground that wild asparagus grows in is covered with last years grasses and plants, so the soil that it grows in won’t warm up as quickly and appears later than that found in a clean garden.

Look for last years plants that have gone to seed, they are more of a golden color clump or bush, and resembling dried up tumbleweed, the new growth will be growing in amongst last years plant.

Once you’ve found your first asparagus, scout the area carefully for new growth as the seeds of the older plants may have been dropped or blown a short distance from the original plant.

The best places to look for wild asparagus is along fence lines, power lines, old railroad right of ways and anyplace birds might land or congregate.

If the fall when asparagus goes to seed, the birds will pick the seeds off the plants, fly off and the pass the hard pit or seed which drops on the ground and if conditions are right, a new asparagus plant will pop up.

Asparagus, like morels need warm soil and moisture to grow, so sandy areas along fence lines seem to be one of those areas where asparagus comes up first.

If you find asparagus along a fence line, and there is a shelterbelt/tree planting near by, be sure to check them out closely as the birds will have also set in the trees and may have deposited seeds in these areas.

Since asparagus gets woody, it’s best to harvest the tender shoots; this doesn’t mean that the larger taller stems won’t be edible, but they are the ones that should be left to go to seed for future crops.

Cleaning asparagus is easy, simply cut off the dried up end, rinse and prepare.

I’m one of the few who enjoy asparagus in my family, so I won’t have much competition when it comes to preparing and eating fresh asparagus.

To prepare it, I simply boil it until tender; top it with some butter substitute, a little Mrs. Dash or other seasoning and then pig out.

Morel and asparagus hunting is excellent ways to get outside and to not only enjoy the outdoors but to also enjoy the bounties that Mother Nature provides.

The fourth annual expo, open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., is designed to meet the needs of anyone interested in outdoor lifestyles, regardless of age or experience, through a variety of hands-on activities, demonstrations and interactive displays.

This is a great way to learn everything about the outdoors from the experts, with displays and instructions on hunting fishing, camping and a whole lot more.

New attractions in 2010 include nationally known hunting experts, hands-on bow fishing, youth Discovery Zone, and a Marketplace showcasing outdoor-related vendors and exhibitors.

Visit http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/outdoorsexpo/ for more information. A park entry permit is required for the event

These two jakes came running into our hen calls at the Big Blue Ranch and Lodge near

Burchard, Neb. (Journal photo by Larry Myhre)

BURCHARD, Neb. — Like so many times before, it was a gobble that first alerted us that a tom turkey was coming in.

Gary Howey motioned that the bird was downhill in front of us just in case I hadn’t heard.

I had the video camera running and began looking for the bird.

The first indication was the tip of his tail, spread in full strut, and slowly rocking back and forth as the bird stepped forward.

Then he was there, all puffed up and drumming. It was a glorious sight and one that sets a turkey hunter’s heart to pounding.

He was 15 yards out when Gary “putted” sharply on his diaphragm call to make the bird come out of strut and stick up his head.

Just like that it was over.

Less than two hours into our hunt on the Big Blue Ranch and Lodge south of Burchard, we had both filled turkey tags.

Gary, from Hartington, Neb., and I were guests of Scott Bodie and his wife Billie Kay. Their 2,000-acre working cattle ranch is the backdrop for a retreat for hunters, fishermen, horse enthusiasts, bird watchers or anyone just seeking relaxation.

Their cedar log lodge sits above a 25-acre, spring-fed pond stocked with largemouth bass, crappies, bluegills and northerns.

Gary and I had met Scott at the lodge where we unpacked, and then followed him to an area on the ranch where he felt confident we would see turkeys.

He left us, and we began our hunt as we often do when hunting land unfamiliar to us. We walked and called.

With Gary on the video camera, I ventured ahead calling whenever we came to a place where I couldn’t see if there were turkeys such as just before cresting a hill.

Upon hearing a call, the turkey should gobble alerting us to his location before we spook him.

But this day, the turkeys were not responding.

Gary saw them first.

Two toms heading our way.

We dropped down and crawled to a nearby burr oak tree where we sat down and waited.

I yelped a few more times and the pair of toms crested the hill and drew nearer as I made a few quiet yelps on the diaphragm.

They stopped about 30 yards out and didn’t appear to want to come any closer so I took the larger of the two.

After Gary bagged his tom we went back to the lodge and got out the fishing gear. I used the fly rod to catch and release an unbelievable number of blue-gills and crappies.

We’ll report in detail on that next week.

The next morning we decided to hunt the turkeys with our cameras. Gary carried the video and I carried my Nikon digital single lens reflex with a 70 to 3o0mm zoom lens.

We set up near where Gary had bagged his bird and called, but nothing came in.

So, we began walking and calling. We crossed a bluegrass pasture to a wooded ridge and valley on the other side.

I called there and suddenly Gary dropped down. I followed suit.

“Two toms heading our way,” he said.

We lay on our stomachs right in the open with cameras in front of our faces.

I cranked up the calling on the diaphragm call and soon saw two heads poke above the skyline.

They came in fast and close. I could hear them clucking and purring and I returned the calls hoping to lure them in closer.

At about 15 yards out they decided they had come far enough and then began to move away.

We had gotten some good footage and stills.

We continued to follow the timber’s edge and walked another hundred yards when Gary thought he saw something down in the corner of the pasture about 300 yards away. It was a tom. Soon we noticed three hens in front of him moving down a fence line. Then two more toms stepped out.

We couldn’t interest them in our calls and the hens seemed to be following the fence line so we dropped out of sight and tried to circle around and get in front of them.

This seldom works, and it didn’t this time. The birds spotted us and ran back down the fenceline and into the trees.

The turkeys here are really colorful, probably the result of a five-way cross. Biologists say the birds are a merriam, Eastern, Rio Grand, tame turkey and hybrid cross. All of the above have been stocked in the area at one time or another.

Deer grow big on this ranch as a pair of sheds lying on the table in our lodge proved.

And they are plentiful. Each day we saw several deer move away from us as we stalked through the woodlands.

The ranch is truly a hunter’s paradise.

It’s something that a lot of us have been waiting on for a long time, giving us the opportunity to get outside and enjoy the spring weather.

As I mentioned in earlier columns, this is the time of the year when I do my pre-season scouting for turkey.

While I’m out there tromping around in the woods looking for some sign of that big Tom, I’m also looking for deer sheds or “Shed Hunting” as it’s known.

For those of you that haven’t hunted sheds, they’re the previous years antlers that the buck sheds or dropped after the rut.

Bucks shed their headgear/rack/antlers annually and if you can beat the rodents and other critters out there that chew on them where they use them for a source of calcium, you’ll have the opportunity to find a shed or two.

A buck’s antler/rack is a lot different from cattle horns, which are hollow, as they’re made up of honey combed solid bone.

Pedicles, those knobby nubs that protrude from the buck’s skull, are where the new antler/rack grows and what supports the buck’s rack.

When bucks start to grow their new racks/antlers, they’re no more than bony growths covered with skin and hair (velvet).  They grow incredibly fast in 3 to 4 months, making them the fastest growing living tissue there is.

These pedicles are a permanent part of the buck’s forehead and the point where the antler breaks off of when the antler is shed.

Shed hunting in the spring is also an excellent way to determine if that big buck you hunted last year made it through the winter

If you find his sheds, he’s still around unless the winter did him in and you can start to put together a plan as to how you’re going to hunt him this season.

After the rut, bucks no longer need their racks as they did during the rut when they were used to attract and impress the does and to fight other bucks that were trying to draw the females away from the harem.

It’s a known fact that all of the bucks don’t drop their racks at the same time.  Some of them will begin to loose their racks following the rut, when their hormone levels start to drop.

As a general rule deer in the upper Midwest will shed their antlers in February and March.

The amount of daylight in a day, the fluctuations in the deer’s hormones, their diet and stress have a lot to do as to when a deer will drop their rack/antlers.

There are several reasons deer shed their antlers, one is to allow for regeneration, or re-growth, of new ones.

Others believe the reason they drop their antlers is it will be easier for them to make it through the winter, as winter, with it‘s harsh conditions make it tough for a deer coming out of the rut to survive.

By shedding their antlers: it helps them to not only conserve energy but also to eliminate excess weight.

The entire shedding process will take two to three weeks to complete, while the re-growth will take the entire summer.

The first to drop their antlers are more than likely those bucks that chased hard during the rut, become fatigued from fighting and breeding during the rut.
If you don’t have an area where you’ve found sheds in prior years, a good place to start looking for sheds would be to drive through the country, looking for those well-used deer trails that cross the roads.
I’ve found that heavily traveled trails, those that lead from heavily wooded areas, then cross the road into the deer’s feeding areas to be a good starting point.
I’d say a good trail to start looking for sheds on would be one that resembled a hard packed cattle trail.
Once you’ve located a well-used trail, get permission from the landowner to shed hunt on the ground and then formulate a plan.
The main spots I’ve found sheds were those near their bedding areas, along a route heading to an area where they’re feeding and of course at their food sources.

You’ll find more sheds in areas where the deer feed, as when a buck feeds, there’s a lot of up and down head movement, which causes the antler to drop off
Another reason that you’ll find a good number of sheds near a food source is that they’ll spend a lot of time there during the winter months.
During the winter, when other food sources are covered up, deer have a tendency to “Yard” up in large groups near a food supply.
These feeding areas can be corn/bean fields, near haystacks, grain piles and even open bins, as deer know these areas offer easy access to a food supply.
If they’re feeding near bale piles, spend a little extra time checking these areas out as I’ve found a lot of sheds here as the bucks bang their rack against the bales when they’re trying to pull hay from the bales.
Other good spots to look include trails following the bottom of ravines and places where the deer have to jump a fence.
While filming in Mississippi a few years back, my good friend Bubba Flanigan showed me how they hunt sheds in the south.
They leave feeders out year round for the deer and when it nears shed time, they attach a piece of chicken wire above the opening to the feeder and when the buck sticks his head into eat, the wire knocks the antler off.
On one feeder there were 19 sheds, the folks down south use this method to track the deer using their land, which made it through the season and to help manage their herd.
They use the sheds to decorate their homes and cabins, making decorative lights and other items that some folks sell in their gift shops.
Timing is everything when using this method as if it’s attached too early, the buck might become entangled in the wire.
Hunting sheds is about like hunting mushrooms, as you need to take your time and walk through the fields and hills slowly.
Don’t be in a big hurry when shed hunting as even a small amount of snow or leaves can cover a shed, making them impossible to see until you’re right on top of them.
If they’ve been on the ground long, they’ll have faded and will be dull gray color, making them particularly hard to see in sandy soils.
This is the time of the year, especially this year when folks just want to get outside and do something, shed hunting is a great opportunity for you to spend a little time in the hills and woods, enjoying the outdoors while looking for one of Mother Natures most beautiful art forms.

YANKTON, S.D. – The allure of holding a prehistoric fish which swam 50 million years before the dinosaurs ruled the world is hard to resist for Mieke Slaba, Wagner, S.D.

Each year she looks forward to pursuing paddlefish below the Gavin’s Point Dam with her father Gary Howey of Hartington, Neb.

Of course they have to be lucky enough to draw one of the 1,600 paddlefish tags issued annually by Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks. This year they were.

Mieke is not alone in her quest for paddlefish. Snagging is so popular that special regulations had to be put in place years ago to protect this valuable resource.

Although the chance to catch a really big fish, Nebraska’s state record paddlefish weighs 93 pounds and was caught from the Gavin’s Point Dam tailwaters in 1998 by Kathy Reiman of Yankton, is undoubtedly one of the reasons. Another is that this fish is incredibly tasty, if you remove all the red meat from the fillets.

And in late fall, paddlefish congregate by the thousands below the dam, jammed up here during a prespawn migration urge eons old.

We joined Marlyn Wiebelhaus, of Wiebelhaus Guiding of Wynot, Neb., at the boat ramp on the Nebraska side of the river.

I was carrying the camera, Mieke and Gary would be doing the snagging and Marlyn would put us on the fish.

Which he did in short order.

Mieke connected first with a good fish. Too good as it turned out.

A slot limit protects the good spawners. All fish between 35 and 45 inches long, measured from the centerline of the fish lying flat from the eye to the fork of the tail must be returned. So her fish went back.

The regulations require the use of only one treble hook with a gap of 1/2 inch or less, so snagged fish can be released unharmed.

It didn’t take long for Mieke and Gary to fill their tags. There were other anglers on the river that day and it seemed no one had trouble filling their tag, even those fishing from shore.

Mieke is a middle school teacher at Wagner Community School. She’ll have a good fish story to tell her students and husband Matt who also teaches there.

And the fish that swam with the dinosaurs, still swims in the waters of the Missouri River.

“There’s no shortage of prairie dogs right here,” Gary Howey said as he scanned the huge pasture.

I agreed. There were mounds as far as the eye could see on all sides of us.

“We just as well set up right here and get to work,” I said.

We lifted the big picnic table from the back of Ben Bearshield’s pickup and set it on the ground.

With our rifles uncased and set up on bi-pods on the table, a spotting scope in place, binoculars and ammunition beside us, it was time to begin.

We were hunting the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota , a premier destination for prairie dog hunters from around the nation and even the world.

It is easy to see why. There are currently somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 acres of prairie dog towns on the reservation. If you drive the roads west of Rosebud, chances are anytime you care to look, you will see prairie dogs.

The little rodents are the bane of livestock ranchers. Their holes and mounds of dirt are literally traps waiting to break the leg of a running horse or cow. They eat the vegetation to the ground, eliminating the desirous grasses and forbes and in their place grow weeds if the town is ever abandoned. That’s why hunters are welcomed in prairie dog country.

Gary, Hartington, Neb., is host and producer of the Outdoorsmen Adventures television show. One of his cameramen, Steve Craig, also of Hartington, was along to record the action.

And the action was soon coming. We took turns firing, Gary with his .22-250 and me with the .243. We also had a .17 rimfire which saw lots of shooting out to about 150 yards.

I was using 58 grain Hornaday V-Max Molly bullets which leave the barrel at 3,750 fps. It’s a good load in my Ruger which favors lighter bullets at about 3,700 fps. The rifle is sighted in to hit an inch high at 100 yards which puts it dead on at 200. We rarely shoot much beyond 250 yards, although serious dog hunters don’t find anything under 300 yards challenging.

If you come out here, bring plenty of shells. It’s not unusual to shoot a case a day if you hunt all day long. Gary and I limited our shooting to about 4 hours on each of the two days we hunted.

Tribal guides are required for all hunters. Bearshield, a conservation officer for the Rosebud Game and Parks served as our guide. A listing of guides is available on the parks’ website: www.rstgfp.net. Guide fees range from about $50 to $150 per day.

The prairie dog season runs from March 1 through Sept. 30. A nonresident three-day license is $35. A annual license is $50 for nonresidents.

We stayed at the Rosebud Casino just north of Valentine, Neb.

There also is excellent hunting for  deer, elk, turkey, grouse and other game on the reservation. Check the Game, Fish and Parks website for more information.

Rising majestically from the prairie, The Redlin Art Center can be seen long before the city itself.

Located where Interstate 29 and U.S. Highway 212 intersect in Watertown, South Dakota it’s one of South Dakota’s premier tourist destinations.

The Art Center itself is a work of art as are Terry Redlin’s paintings that are so beautifully displayed inside.

At the Redlin Art Center you’ll have the opportunity to see over 150 of the award winning prints and paintings by Watertown native, Terry Redlin.

Terry is one of America’s most beloved artists, famous for his many wildlife paintings that have graced the front covers of numerous magazines.

Redlin is not only a wildlife artist, he’s an Americana artist as his paintings capture much of the American traditions that he remembers from his childhood while growing up in the Watertown area.

Although Terry retired from painting last year, his Art Center still draws millions of visitors from throughout the United States, Canada and numerous foreign countries.

Since I was born and raised in Watertown, each time I see a piece of Terry’s artwork; it brings me back to a much quieter more peaceful time. It brings me back home to the friends, family and places that I love so dearly.

When you stop in and visit the Redlin Art Center, you won’t want to rush through it, as there’s so much to see in the Art Center and in Terry’s paintings.

You’ll see great sunsets and sunrises and of course wildlife in Terry’s artwork, there are also scenes from many of our youth including; local bridges, elevators and barns and of course the Langenfeld’s Ice Cream sign.

Anyone who grew up in Watertown in the 50 & 60’s were fans of Langenfeld’s Ice Cream as it was the local favorite. It also happens to be Terry’s wife Helene’s maiden name.

There are a lot of the Good Old Days in Terry’s artwork!

If you happened to be driving up I-29 on August 8^th and were to glance over towards the Redlin Art Center, you’d have a hard time believing your eyes, as the Art Center grounds was covered with thousands of people.

The Art Center attracts millions of visitors each year as they travel from all over the United States to get the opportunity to see Terry’s original artwork.

During this event there will be 15,000 to 17,000 people on the grounds all enjoying this event.

The celebration is an annual event is held each summer at the Redlin Art Center featuring nationally know entertainment.

Some of the top of the line entertainers that have performed at these events over the years include; Manheim Steamroller, Ronnie Milsap and Lee Greenwood.

This years the featured entertainer was Sawyer Brown.

As we strolled through the parking lots, there were vehicles from as far away as Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Kansas and the Dakota’s as Terry’s artwork is treasured by millions with the free concert introducing future generation to one of the nations finest wildlife and Americana artists.

This year’s concert was once again a huge success with Sawyer Brown getting the thousands of concertgoers a dynamite show, belting out some great music while getting the entire crowd into the act.

It’s a great experience, one that you won’t want to miss next year, as I’m sure the celebration will be another to remember.

In the mean time, if you are ever in the Watertown area, the Redlin Art Center experience is one you’ll never forget.

A warm sunny day can bring a lot of warmth to people, especially those of us who long to be outdoors after a long cold winter.

I know you’ve heard the old saying “too much of anything is not good for you!”

That holds true when it comes to being in the sun too much.

Sure, who doesn’t want to get a good tan, but there’s a thin line between a tan and skin cancer.

If you don’t take some precaution too much sun can a life-changing event.

It’s really pretty simple!  Too much sun can and will lead to skin cancer!

I know what you’re saying; skin cancer is something others get but not me.

Don’t believe it, because it can happen to anyone at any age.

When a patient hears the word cancer, it will scare you to death, literally.

Death was the first thing that came to mind when I was told that I had skin cancer.  I can remember it like it was yesterday.  I had gone in for an annual physical and thought I was home free when a dermatologist stopped in to talk with my doctor.

He recognized me since he’s seen our television series.  We talked about hunting, fishing and the show.  He asked how things were going and I told him things were going well and during that conversation, he indicated if there was anything he could do for me to let him know.

I mentioned that there was a spot on my lip that had been there for awhile, not a big spot, anything that hurt, just a spot that would break open from time to time.

He looked at it, talked with my doctor and that’s when he told me he thought it was “Cancer”.

Of course my first thoughts were, I must have not hard him right, my hearing isn’t the best, so I asked him to repeat it, the next words out of his mouth were “Cancer” and we’d better get a biopsy on it.

I thought, this can’t be because it’s been there forever, since I was in Viet Nam, it never really hurt and really hadn’t gotten any larger, at least on the outside.

I just knew he had made a mistake, but when he ordered me to be back in a couple of days for a biopsy, that’s when I really started to worry.

I was in my mid 40’s, thought that I’d lead a pretty clean life, never really did anything wrong, treated people the way I wanted to be treated, this just couldn’t be happening to me.

A few days later, they performed the biopsy and I spent the next couple of days worrying about what the results might be.

Several days later, the phone rang and the doctor informed me that it was what they thought to be Melanoma skin cancer.

He didn’t think it had spread much, but they had to put me under the knife to see how far it had gotten.

When the day arrived for the surgery, a plastic surgeon was called in to help with the operation, as they didn’t know how much of my lower lip would need to be removed until they started cutting.

Well to make a long story short, they took a big chunk of my lower lip as well as a sizeable piece along the inside. Fortunately, it didn’t appear that it had spread any farther than in that area.

The results came back indicating that it was cancer, but squeamish cell and not Melanoma and that they’d thought that they had got it all, but I’d have to come back in for regular checkups to run tests to make sure it hadn’t come back.

After several years of checkups, I’m now cancer free and a whole lot wiser.

As many of you know, I’ve always been an outdoorsmen, hunting, fishing trapping, outside all the time and I knew that the sun could give me problems, but I never really took enough time to protect myself.

When I was guiding and fishing tournaments, I didn’t use much, if any sunscreen because I worried about getting a scent on my hands the fish could smell which would affect my ability to catch fish.

Which is really STUPID!  So what if I catch a few less fish this trip because if I get skin cancer, I’m going to catch a lot less when I die at an early age from not protecting myself from the sun.

Now days, I worry about skin cancer as you should, if you spend much time outdoors.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States and one that’s fairly easy to prevent. There are three types of skin cancer with two most common types being basal cell and squamous cell cancer.

Basil cell is the one that most people are familiar with.  It’s the type that’s removed by a doctor by freezing or burning it off.  It’s usually found on the head, face, neck, ears, hands and arms. It too can be dangerous and spread if not taken care of in its early stage.

Squamous cell is more serious as it may spread quickly if not taken care of and needs to be surgically removed.

Melanoma is more dangerous as it can spread all over the body quickly, but it is less common.

Believe me, anyone can get skin cancer, but it is most common in people who

* Spend a lot of time in the sun or have been sunburned

* Have light-colored skin, hair and eyes

* Have a family member with skin cancer

* Are over age 50

Over a million cases of non-melanoma skin cancers are diagnosed every year in the U.S. and the incidences are rising.

What’s unbelievable, is that many of these cases could be prevented by simply avoiding prolonged exposure to the sun, protecting your skin with clothing and by using a good sunscreen.

It’s hard to believe that all it takes to protect yourself from skin cancer is to apply a little sunscreen.

One thing you can bet on is that there’s a huge difference between sunscreens!  You want one with a Sun Protection Factor SPF of at least 15.  You’ll want one that offers both UA and UAB protection and one that‘s waterproof and sweat proof.

Apply the sunscreen liberally thirty minutes before going out into the sun.  It’s a good idea to reapply it every 15 to 30 minutes after that.

Reapplication is the big thing when it comes to applying sunscreen.

Your nose, ears and lips really need to be protected because they’re hanging out there and will receive the largest amount of sun.

There are numerous lip ointments that have a SPF of 15 such as Dermatone lip balm that not only keep your lips moisturized when you’re in the sun; they’re also going to protect them from the harmful effects of the sun.

Like other sunscreen products, you’ll want to use lip treatments that offer at least a 15 SPF.

If you’re an angler and worried like about getting the smell on your hands, There are several companies such as Dermatone that make Ultimate Sunscreen for Fishermen that’s fragrance free and one that won’t degrade your fishing line.

I was lucky, but I wouldn’t want to rely on luck when it comes to getting skin cancer.

Don’t let cancer stop you from enjoying life and the great outdoors!

Cover up, apply sunscreen, avoid excess exposure to the sun, and your outdoors experiences will be a long one and be a lot more enjoyable.