Wisconsin’s deer and bear hunters will no longer be forced to wear identification backtags, a requirement that began in 1942. Yes, the backtag is dead. Good riddance.
Wisconsin’s seven-citizen Natural Resources Board approved the eventual sale of about 5,700 acres of state-owned wildlife lands when it met in late February in Madison.
As Wisconsin completes its 2015 deer hunting season this weekend, one wonders if we’ve swapped our state’s deer-management program for a simple deer-monitoring system.
Archery seasons are closed for another year, and so maybe it’s time to wonder about a persistent challenge facing our sport: Why do so many bowhunters drop out by age 50?
Recent hunting-license sales in Wisconsin suggest the state is getting little benefit from its Legislature’s experiment to increase participation by deeply discounting fees for first-time hunters.
Thirty-some years ago critics routinely accused the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources of fear-mongering when it released its annual fish-consumption advisories. The good folks claimed the DNR would ruin
Every time Penny or I turn our car or truck down our driveway the past few weeks, we think, “Hey, look at that. There’s no dead buck down there today.” Let me explain. While heading to the gym at 5 a.m. on Nov. 10, my wife and I were shocked to see a glassy-eyed 8-point […]
Twigs snapped and leaves tore after a grapefruit-sized Osage orange lost its grip high in the tree and then slammed into the ground.
My most memorable wildlife encounters often occur while I’m hunting other wildlife or tending to business back in camp.
SODA SPRINGS, Idaho – There’s no hesitating in bowhunting. Especially when you’re on the ground without a blind, and an elk is feeding 30 yards away, oblivious to your presence. Shoot now or forever hold your whining. But I didn’t release my arrow, and so now I just keep chewing on second-guessed advice I’ve fed […]
Each September as Wisconsin’s bowhunting season nears, I reminisce how I once counted down the hours and crossed off the days on the 1971 calendar, wondering why my first archery-season opener was taking so long to arrive. I couldn’t wait to tie my 43-pound Bear Grizzly re-curve bow to my bicycle’s crossbar, wedge my back […]
Wisconsin’s first crossbow season for white-tailed deer helped generate a record archery buck kill of 46,201 and a record 275,417 licensed bow hunters in 2014.
Are hunters supposed to believe that woods and forests are now safer from CWD because several states have banned hunters from using urine-based scents?
Roughly 50 full-time Wisconsin DNR jobs in wildlife, fisheries, science services and law enforcement will be eliminated in the state-budget draft for 2016-17, and yet a key lawmaker behind the cuts claims they’ll benefit the state’s hunters and anglers. Sen. Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, said he supports axing nearly 20 research jobs in the Department of […]
How much longer will states live in such fear of the emerald ash borer that we waste our ash trees in yet another futile effort to stop forest destruction?
CWD is a serious threat to the future of deer hunting that is often misunderstood. Here are 10 facts every deer hunter should know.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and wildlife agencies nationwide have spent recent years trying to recruit, retain and re-engage hunters and anglers in a society increasingly disconnected from nature.As Richard Louv noted in his 2005 book “L
One wonders why lawmakers like Wisconsin State Rep. John Nygren think the state owes every road-killed deer a solemn procession to the nearest landfill and a decent Christian burial. Nygren didn’t like Wisconsin Gov. Walker’s idea to delete $700,000 from the Department of Natural Resources’ budget to remove dead deer from state roads and highways.
While banging on our dining room window to chase a squirrel off a bird-feeder, I reminded myself that I’m actually a generous conservation supporter. I told myself that again toward dusk the next day while trotting outside to chase away three white-tailed
