What Is Killing Newborn Fawns In Farm Country? By Patrick DurkinTwo surprises emerged during Wisconsin’s research into deer predation and fawn survival the past three springs: Wolves were not linked to any fawn deaths in the Northern Forest study area nea
By Patrick DurkinWhen Wisconsin’s 3½-month archery deer season opens Sept. 13, it will mark the final year that hunters statewide must show up in person to register deer they kill. To preview what Wisconsin’s new deer-registration process might look in 20
For 12 years Wisconsin has watched and listened as a group of deer hunting faith-healers in its southwestern corner criticized and blocked scientific efforts to manage chronic wasting disease.Meanwhile, they’ve offered no alternatives, even as CWD increas
Wisconsin continues its wolf debates By Patrick DurkinMany folks were talking about wolves and wolf numbers in late May after Wisconsin’s “wolf advisory committee” recommended a 156-wolf kill for the 2014 season, about 100 fewer than the state’s actual ki
Joe Shead of Superior, Wisconsin, thinks he was born to hunt shed antlers, even if he didn’t discover this winter-spring hobby until he was in college. In the 15 years since that discovery, Shead’s love for shed-hunting made him one of the hobby’s best-kn
If anyone wanted to see a dead idea in search of a grave, all they had to do was read Question 35 at Wisconsin’s statewide fish and wildlife hearings in April. It asked if white or albino deer should be legal quarry for Wisconsin hunters. Currently, albin
A University of Wisconsin study on chronic wasting disease recommends focusing more hunting pressure on the deer most likely to carry and spread CWD in whitetails: adult bucks. The peer-reviewed study, released March 21 and published online in PLOS ONE, w
Although wolf and coyote attacks on people remain rarer than death by lightning bolt, one wonders why wildlife agencies typically dismiss the incidents as freak occurrences or simple cases of mistaken identity. You might recall two coyotes killed folk-sin
Wildlife Expert Rips Fed’s New CWD Policy By Patrick DurkinATHENS, Ga. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new CWD certification program for captive elk and deer herds could hasten the disease’s spread, whether the animals are privately owned “livestoc
Despite testing a record-low number of deer for chronic wasting disease in 2013, the Department of Natural Resources has already verified a record 350 CWD-positive cases during the annual collection period that ends March 31. The DNR has collected 4,319 d
Darkness was still 30 minutes away in late October when the third deer of the evening walked into the opening beneath my tree stand, looked around and started lapping water from the muddy puddle 20 yards away. I had no interest in arrowing the adult doe o
Fashion writers keep telling us that camouflage is “trending” and “going mainstream.” Then they try proving their claims by name-dropping celebrities who “rock camo” in their daily wardrobe. I usually sidestep these claims, painfully aware that my wife an
Folks often blame white-tailed deer and the deer ticks they carry for spreading Lyme disease in the United States, especially from Minnesota to New England to northern Virginia. But if we insist on pointing fingers, we could make a co-conspirator case aga
While shooting four models of 100-grain broadheads to fine-tune my hunting bow this past summer, I couldn't help but think about my first archery deer season 42 years ago.My bow-hunting setup in 1971 consisted of cedar arrows, Bear Razorhead broadheads, a
Moments after my wife Penny gave birth to our third daughter in September 1988, I envisioned myself sitting in a deer stand while my kids made a drive through woody draws and forested river bottoms in Wisconsin. I’ve long since abandoned that idea.
If chronic wasting disease hasn’t concerned nonhunters the past 11 years because they’re vegans, vegetarians or someone who just avoids venison, recent research suggests their CWD exemption might be ending. In case you missed it, Christoph
A recent study provides fascinating insights into why hunting might be growing in popularity in the United States after declining for much of the past 35 years. I’m not talking about the “2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associate
Accomplished outdoor writer Patrick Durkin looks back at the special moment when his daughter took her first animal with a bow.
Although often mistaken for a poisonous breed, the Fox Snake is rather harmless except for mice, birds, frogs, gophers, chipmunks and small rabbits, which it routinely dines on.
Wisconsin’s recent flap about creating a hunting season for groundhogs has many up in arms. But, who's right and who's wrong when it comes to changing a long standing huunting law?
