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Arial Deer Hunt Begins in Bovine TB Area on March 16 (Submitted by Tammi Jalowiec, MN DNR NW Regional Information Officer) As part of ongoing efforts to eradicate bovine tuberculosis in the state, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) contractors will conduct aerial deer removal operations starting on Monday, March 16. Aerial sharpshooters will work within the bovine TB core area in northwestern Minnesota for about two weeks. An aerial survey in January resulted in an estimate of about 660 deer in the core area, down about 18 percent from 2008. All wildlife management areas (WMAs), state forest roads, and recreational trails within Deer Permit Area (DPA) 101 will be temporarily closed to ensure public safety during the operation. WMAs to be closed: Golden Valley, Grygla, Hayes, Marbel, Mickinock, Moose River, Skime, Wannaska, Wapiti, portions of Palmville, Red Lake and Thief Lake Recreational trails to be closed: All trails within DPA 101 State forest roads to be closed: Blacks Winner (beginning at Palsburg junction), Morehouse, Neheim, Penturen, North Moose River Dike, River Road (beginning at Thomson Rd junction), Snow, Stotts, Summer, West Moose River, Winner WMAs, roads, and trails will be signed and closed beginning March 16 and will be reopened as soon as safety permits. Flights will begin in the northern portion of the TB core area, where forest road closures are involved, so that roads can be reopened as quickly as possible. A limited number of motorized road use passes will be issued to residents and cabin owners affected by the road closures. Permits may be obtained from the DNR at the Warroad Area Forestry office, 804 Cherne Dr. NW, Warroad, or the Wannaska workstation, 16945 St. Hwy 89, Wannaska. Contracted aircraft and sharpshooters, with DNR ground support, will conduct the deer removal operation, which is part of Minnesota's ongoing bovine TB eradication efforts. The aerial operation is intended to supplement sharpshooting efforts that have been taking place on the ground since late February. Sharpshooting is only being conducted on public lands and on private lands where the landowner has given permission. People interested in obtaining field-dressed venison that show no signs of infection must place their name on a waiting list by contacting Thief Lake Wildlife Management office at 218-222-3747. For more on DNR’s TB eradication efforts go to www.mndnr.gov/hunting/deer/tb. For more on the Minnesota Board of Animal Health’s overall coordination of the state bovine TB response, go to www.bah.state.mn.us/tb. Left: Map of the Bovine TB Management Area. The yellow lined area is the Deer Permit Area 101 |
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Southwest Angleby Rob CroweThe first week of March has passed and the weather is still more winter than spring. On top of that, the old double nickel birthday was celebrated by yours truly on Monday the ninth. Actually, I don’t mind either event; I’m still trying to start my snowmobile racing career and Management made sure my birthday was happy by picking up the usual Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake for us here at Roseen’s Corner. Unfortunately, tragedy has struck again. My daughter Katelyn’s Classmate, Kodiak Nelson, died in a fire on Tuesday night. While I haven’t heard many of the particulars, I do know the mobile home he was living in with his mother caught fire and Kodiak didn’t escape in time. Katelyn says that Kodiak was a nice boy and one of her good friends. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family. Right: Trapper, Tom and David in the woodlot... On the way, we
drove through Tom Kastl’s woodlot and almost caught him at work.
He was sitting on his snowmobile, contemplating, amongst his cut and
split stacks of wind downed ash. He said the chainsaw was dull, but I
almost sliced my finger when I ran it across the razor sharp chisels.
This scribe cut log home builder knows how to sharpen a chain saw.
After covering all possible situations with him, we rolled on down the
peninsula. We showed Trapper the superhighway on the lake; he was
suitably impressed. The entourage roared over to the J&M General
Store to fuel up and The next morning, we rolled out of bed to a beautiful day, not too cold. Pancakes for breakfast and an early start since I had to make a trip to Grand Rapids. The Red Lake Trail was groomed well and is a very scenic ride. A quick break once we got to the lake, then cruised on in to Roaeau where I said goodbye to the 600 Touring. It’s a very quick, agile sled if one wants to push it, appearing to have many of the same dimensions and motor as a Dragon Switchback. We were able to wrest the Wide Track out of Trapper’s grasp so David could take it back to Mitchell’s place. Thursday, it was back to work at the Blue star. I was able to recall most of my welding skills and I prepared myself mentally for the big event on Saturday –the Minnesota Hill Challenge. Janet Hetteen had assured me that I could race there, so in anticipation of my debut as a snowmobile racer, I retrieved the old Everest out of the shed and managed to start it up. I poured in a couple of gallons of mixed fuel in it and rode around the forty. It ran great for a 32 year old sled. I took the
seats out of the Aerostar, backed it up to a snowbank and drove the
Everest into the back. By cranking the skis just right, I could get the
door shut. Abby the dog and I headed out to find the event. We drove
around the Minnesota Hill area a bit It really hurt when LeRoy told me that my twin cylinder Everest wasn’t eligible. It had one cylinder too many. Undeterred, I unloaded it and toured the course several times to at least feel a little bit like a racer. About 4 laps in, the sno-cat started bogging, then quit a lap later. After a bit of sleuthing, I found that several of the fuel lines were deteriorated. No one there had any vinyl lines. Since I was close to the road, I loaded it up and watched the rest of the racers have a ball. Race career on hold, I guess I’ll have to get a single cylinder ready for next year… In the
meantime, the Warroad 100 will be held this weekend. Seth Thorson, the
cross country racer I met at the I-500, is planning on coming up to
race. See you all in Warroad at the Point on Sunday!
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Area Horsemen at the Valley City Show Several area horsemen attended the recent horse show at Valley City ND recently. Orlin and Eric Ostby judged the draft harness competition and the Skoiens and Kenworthys had their horses in the pulling competition.  
Upper Left: Orlin Ostby and son Eric judge a six horse hitch in the draft harness class at the recent Valley City Show. (Pictures by Catherine Ostby) Upper Right: Orlin at the microphone giving his evaluation of the hitch... Left: Clayton Skoien with his team of Percherons after the draft horse pull competition. Son Jeremy (inset) also had a team in the competition, out-pulling his father. |
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Area Up and Comers in Thief River Several teams from Roseau and Warroad were in Thief River falls over the weekend to play on youth basketball and hockey Tournaments. The Southwest Angle Photographer was present due to the fact that his daughter played (briefly) on one of the teams. Here are some pictures of the activities...
 Above Left: Trey, playing on the Warroad Mites team, scores a goal against East Grand Forks at the Old Arena in Thief River Falls on Sunday, March 8th. Above Right: The Mites have a faceoff in the East Grand Forks zone. A high scoring affair, the score of the game was 6-5 in favor of East Grand Forks at the end of the second period.
Above Left: The girl warriors at play. Warroad was edged in the fourth place game in the a grade school girl’s basketball tournament at the TRF Auditorium.. Above
Right: Randi Oftedahl coached the game and is seen here with another
one of the youth coaches, husband Craig. Randi says,
“The girls played well in a close game!”
Above: Roseau’s
4th grade team played Crookston in the 4th grade girl’s third
place game and won 28-8. Tracy Borowicz and her husband David coach the
team.
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Area Wrestlers at State Roseau’s John Heinen captured fifth place in the 285 lb class in the 2009 MN Class AA State Wrestling Tournament . John won his first round match by a fall over Roy Wordlaw of Rockford. He won his second match over Brandon Zabel of St. Peter 3-2 in the third overtime. He lost his next match to eventual champion Billy Frank of Princeton 3-2. Wrestling next against eventual third place winner Casey Johnson of Kasson-Mantorville, he again lost 3-2 . In the fifth place match, John beat Charlie Gelhaye of Simley 9-3. Connor MacGregor, wrestling in the Class AA 130 lb class, lost to eventual third place winner Cory Foss in the first round of the State Tournament 5-3. Isaac Novacek of BGMR was edged for fifth place by Shane Novak of New York Mills in the 103 lb class of the Class A Tournament. BGMR’s Storm Booe took 5th place in the 119 lb Class. Skylar Price lost his first round match to Paul Norgren of Maple River. Eli Jensen lost his first round match to Sam Lindgren of LeSeur-Henderson. Cole Christianson lost to eventual third place winner Matt Willner of Blue Earth in the 215 lb wrestlebacks. |
Area High School Box Scores
Girl’s Basketball 3/5/2009 Roseau 53 Warroad 48 2/26/2009 Roseau 36 Pine River-Backus 54 3/12/2009 Warroad 7 Hutchinson 1 |
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Minnesota Hill Challenge Snowmobile Races
Area Vintage Sno-Cat buffs congregated on Minnesota Hill on Saturday, March 7 to race their old sleds. In a scene reminiscent of what one might have seen in the early 1970’s, old machines chugged, clanked and screamed around an oval on top of the hill. About 50 participants started the races in the five classes, determined by organizer LeRoy Norstebon’s expert estimation of the Horsepower of the Sno-Cat’s motor. The lower power sleds ran on a smaller inner oval, and in the rear-engined class, the slower participants shortened the course even further by running through the trees in the center of the track, necessitating the waving of the black underwear by the flagman.
A couple of spills marred the day’s racing,
but no one appeared to be seriously hurt and racing soon resumed. Race Winners: Rear Engine Models Justin Howell 1963 - Polaris K-95 12 HP and under Roger Fuller 1967 - Ski-Daddler Scout Powder Puff Sammi Fuller 1970 Polaris TX 300 Playmate 12 HP –19.9 HP Shawn Walsh - 1970 Ski Doo Hi Horse Power Chad Fuller –1970 Ski Doo No Trailer Queens here. These old sno-cats have seen their share of hard work
and were brought to Minnesota Hill on Saturday to show their stuff.
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Warroad Boys win Quarterfinal Game at Class A Hockey Tourney The Warroad Warriors outshot Hutchinson 35-5 in winning their quarterfinal game 7-1 against the Tigers, Brock Nelson had a hat trick, scoring the first goal of the game while Warroad was short handed in Riley Bengston scored the only goal for the Tigers while each team was short a man during the second Game Summary: Goals
Period One: 1 1st 12:47 WARR SH Brock Nelson, assists: Carson Gray, Brett Hebel Period Two:
03:03 WARR EV Jake Mack, assist: Aaron Storey 10:19 HUTC EV Riley Bengston, assists: Logan Hahn, Mitchell Cowger 11:54 WARR PP Brett Hebel, assist: Brock Nelson 12:03 WARR PP Brock Nelson, assists: Dane Shaugabay, Brett Hebel Period Three: 01:54 WARR PP Brock Nelson, assists: Tai Larson, Michael Pieper 08:30 WARR SH Joey Olson, assists: Mickey Knox, Chris Sylvester 12:00 WARR EV Jake Mack, assists: Michael Pieper, Carson Gray Shots by Period Team 1 2 3 Tot HUTC 1 2 2 - 5 WARR 7 12 16 - 35
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Picture of the Week
 Where does this road lead to? On a recent morning, many of the locals viewed this scene... Last
week’s picture was taken on the road to the Northwest Angle. The
Power Company left some of the majestic white pines to stand along the
right of way.
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More Southwest Angle ColumnsWarroad Winter Sports Schedules and RostersWarroad Fall Sports Schedules and Rosters |
A
week ago, my friend David Johnson invited Trapper and myself to
snowmobile up to his cabin on Bear River for an overnight trip. Janet
Hetteen made sure I had a 600 Touring for the trip and David talked son
Mitchell into lending Trapper the Widetrack IQ. David rode his new FS
Touring. We left Tuesday before noon and arrived early afternoon at the
cabin. The trails were great and we didn’t get lost on the lake
this time. After arriving, David started up the wood stove to warm
things up, then we left on a field trip. 
converse a while with the McAtees. After that, it was back to the
cabin for a steak supper courtesy of David. Trapper and I cleaned up.
and then saw a Ford Ranger pickup pulling a trailer with three
dilapidated Sno-cats aboard. They were in about as good a shape as the
Everest with its cracked hood and external headlights bolted on top so
I figured I must be headed right. I was; the driver was race organizer
LeRoy Norstebon. Incidentally, the sleds on the trailer garnered a
perfect record by day’s end, last place in each race. 
