UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER NATIONAL WILDLIFE AND FISH REFUGE

This managed hunting area has 35 sites. The first hunt was for the youth hunt. Each boy or girl is required to have the hunter safety course and be accompanied by an adult. The bag limit is one buck or one doe. 

      This hunt took place the first weekend of October, and there was a hot low-pressure warm front. When a low-pressure hot air mass advances into our area, all the elements are against us. The barometer will be falling, which means that all that advancing hot air is being forced to the ground, and the humidity will be increasing as it becomes almost like a soup outside. Pesky mosquitoes follow your every move. The deer just weren't moving. I once wrote and had published the article, "The Mosquito Is The Hunter's Best Friend," in that it's letting you know that you're hunting in a direct downdraft. The mosquitoes are attracted to the carbon dioxide when we exhale. Some of my research took place in the mosquito-infested backwaters of the mighty Mississippi River. I was able to find that we do have a few things in our favor during a low-pressure warm front, in that the air in the woods is going to be slightly cooler than the air that surrounds it. The woods create their own environment, which keeps the cooler air in and the warmer air out. I located an updraft tree, with the aid of my milkweed, and sat in a T-shirt with no mosquito repellent. You can find the rest of this story, and many others, in my book: Hunting The Winds Nature's Ways.