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If you're concerned about high fuel costs and find your available fall weekends in short supply, you should consider an October trip to northern Minnesota for a few days of outstanding walleye fishing combined with terrific upland shooting for ruffed grouse.

Combination hunting and fishing trips - commonly known as "cast and blast" getaways, are becoming quite popular with a growing number of outdoor enthusiasts, and for good reason. Many of our state's most productive walleye lakes, not to mention a couple of very notable rivers, are located right in the heart of expansive public hunting lands.

With just a bit of investigative work, determining where these public lands are located is as easy as purchasing a plat map of the county you intend to hunt, or pick up a DNR PRIM map. Both maps will identify and demarcate public and private land boundaries, but county plat maps will always show you the most detail, such as main forest roads, company land (Potlach and Blandin most notably) and tax-forfeited lands. Most plat maps run between $40 and $50 and can be purchased on-line or directly from county offices.

As you might imagine, a few of the more popular cast and blast destinations include Lakes Winnibigoshish and Pokegama in the Grand Rapids and Deer River area, Lake Mille Lacs near Garrison and Milaca, Leech Lake near Walker, and Lake of the Woods and the Rainy River on the MN/Canada Border. Wherever you choose to visit you're likely to find very reasonable accommodations and many motels and lodges that welcome bird dogs for an additional fee.

October certainly is a rare month, with its warm days, cool evenings, brilliant blue skies, woods bursting with radiant autumn colors and fantastic fishing. It's no wonder I often remark that a perfect year would include about four months of October.

Don't think you need to choose one pursuit over another when you plan an October weekend getaway. With a bit of planning, you can experience plenty of great walleye fishing and superb upland bird hunting - all within the span of a single weekend in Minnesota. So if you plan to head north during the next month to do some fishing, don't forget to pack that shotgun and a few boxes of #7 shot shells on your next trip up north. You'll be glad you did. With so many hunting and fishing options to experience within those short thirty-one days, I often think that an ideal year would include four months of October. Don't let it slip away before you sample its productive walleye fishing and superb upland hunting Brilliant blue skies touch a patchwork collage of red, yellow and orange and yellows and oranautumn colors and the smell of the woods brings me back to my childhood areleaves in an array of spectacular colors, warm days, cool evenings that provide us with great walleye fishing and grouse hunting.

Dan Brown's weekly outdoor column is brought to you by Frankie's Bait and Marine, in Chisago City, and St. Croix Outdoors, in St. Croix Falls, Wis.

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