PATRICK DURKIN OUTDOORS

When drinking coffee at breakfast or beer at dinner, my late friend Tom Heberlein liked discussing how and where hunters preferred to die. Such talk at Old Tamarack — Heberlein’s hunting shack near Mellen, Wisconsin — was usually light-hearted. As Professor Heberlein knew too well, death isn’t something you schedule on calendars or choose from menus. By the time I became an Old T regular 25 years ago, he had long before buried his father and all the camp’s founders, friend

Unlike some politicians who pander to hunters when seeking their votes, gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany doesn’t pretend to be a hunter or angler. He’s to be commended for that. President Bill Clinton and wannabe president John Kerry once play-acted as waterfowlers, and former Gov. Scott Walker feigned interest in deer hunting. Walker bought his first deer hunting license at age 39 in 2007, three years before running for governor. Two years after losing that job, he bou

The death toll from Wisconsin’s worst outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease climbed past 1,600 the past three weeks, with the virus killing at least 500 more white-tailed deer while spreading into two more southeastern counties. As of Sept. 22, the Department of Natural Resources listed 1,100 EHD-killed whitetails in Washington County, up 57% from 700 on Sept. 4; 360 dead deer in Waukesha County, up 140% from 150; and 80 dead deer in Ozaukee County, up 166% from 30.

Bond was set at $10,000 for the Racine County sheriff’s deputy who faces four felony charges after his 3-year-old daughter triggered a shot that wounded a turkey-hunting mentor and the man’s 7-year-old son April 12 during Wisconsin’s youth-only turkey season. James D. Lehman, 35, of Union Grove made his initial appearance Sept. 17 before Court Commissioner Sally Hoelzel, who ordered him to have no contact with the shooting victims while free on bond. Lehman also cannot pos

When the Natural Resources Board tried mopping up Wisconsin’s 2026 deer-management plans during its June meeting, they merely rearranged the dust and debris while wishing for better things next year. Such futility isn’t new. That’s been the script each June since Wisconsin hatched its “new age” of deer hunting in 2014, a do-nothing system crafted by Gov. Scott Walker’s administration and then acquiesced by Gov. Tony Evers’ “I see nothing” regime the past eight years. Th

Deer in southeastern Wisconsin are suffering the state’s worst outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease since this viral disease first appeared in 2002, with nearly 900 whitetails likely dead as of early September. Confirmed reports of EHD-killed whitetails as of Sept. 4 put the count at over 700 in Washington County, over 150 in Waukesha and over 30 in Ozaukee counties. Disease specialists at the Department of Natural Resources list only firsthand reports of dead deer

As Wisconsin bowhunters return to the woods Sept. 12 for the season opener, let’s review the 2025 hunts, which toppled 113,620 whitetails, the state’s third highest archery kill on record. Crossbow hunters registered a record 71,387 (63%) of those deer, a 10.6% increase from 64,555 deer in 2024. The previous crossbow record was 65,731 in 2020. The 2025 harvest was also the first time crossbow hunters killed over 70,000 deer since “horizontal” bows were legalized for all bo

A 35-year-old Racine County sheriff’s deputy faces four felony charges after letting his 3-year-old daughter trigger a shot that wounded a 40-year-old turkey-hunting mentor and the man’s 7-year-old son April 12 during Wisconsin’s two-day youth-only turkey season. James D. Lehman of Union Grove was charged Aug. 17 in Racine County Circuit Court with two counts of second-degree reckless injury with a dangerous weapon, and two counts of injury by negligent use of a dangerous

A family friend who loved spending weekends on his motorcycle insisted that safety rested mostly on himself, even though a bumper sticker on his car advised, “Watch for Motorcycles.” As he often said, “You die when you quit fearing them.” He didn’t mean you must be too terrified to ride motorcycles. He worried that complacency would kill you, while respectful caution kept you safe. Such wariness applies to most outdoor recreation we love, whether it’s paddling rivers

Assembly candidate Ben Gruber thinks the Department of Natural Resources has a detached, centralized command structure that ignores an often-toxic work environment for Wisconsin conservation wardens. Since January, Gruber has been on leave from his DNR law-enforcement duties and his role as union president of Conservation Wardens Local 1215. That’s because he’s the Democratic candidate for the 51st Assembly district in southwestern Wisconsin, and will face Republican incum

My dad’s oldest brother, Donnie, worked at Kellogg’s cereals in Battle Creek, Michigan. Each summer, he pulled his boat and its twin 50-horsepower Mercury engines 320 miles to a cabin he and Aunt Jeanie rented for two weeks on Madison’s Lake Monona. That was the early 1960s, when rental cabins bordered the beach at Esther Park. Our family didn’t own a boat until 1968, so Uncle Donnie’s vacations offered us rare treats to waterski and fish from a boat. He especially like

Bob Harris of Oshkosh is my only longtime friend I met through a father. I pause for a sad edit to the past tense: Bob Harris was my only longtime friend I met through a father. He died Saturday, July 25, at age 75. When I read Bob’s obituary, still numb with grief, I recalled meeting him in late fall 1988 when he interrupted my interview with his father, Richard F. Harris, in Dick’s big white house on Oregon Street on Oshkosh’s south side. Dick was a widower, and dy

You’ll always find more otter puns than actual otters if you go looking for either. Just google “otter puns” and you’ll find lists of 37, 40 or even 200-plus otter puns, jokes and one-liners. Some of them aren’t bad: -- What do you tell an otter with a toothache? “You otter see the dentist.” -- Why don’t otters need swimming lessons? It comes to them otter-matically. -- What do you call an otter’s life story? Their otter-biography. -- How do otters rise above c

Few conversations are more futile than trying to persuade someone to eat a fish that’s scarred by a virus, parasite, bacteria or other nasties. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources recognizes that challenge, which is why it includes this explanation on its “Fish Diseases” (https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/Fishing/fishhealth) web page: “Even though we are reporting on fish disease in Wisconsin, we encourage you to continue to enjoy your fishing experience. … You can

When my grandsons catch a bluegill 7 inches or longer, it seldom swims another day. Catch and release? Save your breath. The boys haven’t yet read stories by the immortal humorist Patrick F. McManus, but their thinking aligns with his comment in “Kerplunk,” one of his 2007 stories: “I remember only one fellow who practiced catch-and-release. He was eventually nabbed, I think, and placed in an institution.” Therefore, I paused July 4 when my grandson Connor Switzer,

What sounds better? Option 1: The gurgling “plop, plop, plop” of a Whopper Plopper bait chugging across the surface of a Northwoods river. Option 2: Your 8-year-old grandson trying to pronounce “Whopper Plopper” when explaining how and why it became his all-time favorite fishing lure during an eight-hour float trip July 2 for muskies and smallmouth bass. I’ll go with the second option, especially after buying two Whopper Ploppers for my grandson Connor Switzer before

You likely missed it, but the Northern Highland Fishery Research Area in Vilas County celebrated its 80thanniversary June 20, making it one of the world’s longest-running fisheries research projects. So, let’s blow our kazoos, pop those champagne corks and twirl our kids’ noisemakers to show we support the Department of Natural Resources’ commitment to research and science-based policy-making. Sure, lawmakers often ignore it all in favor of voter-driven folklore and fossil

Cool, crisp air creeping across the boat’s stern near Sitka, Alaska, raised goose bumps on my forearms. I shivered and considered retrieving my hooded rain-jacket from the nearby cabin. Instead, I rolled down my sleeves. Sarah Farber, the charter boat’s captain, looked up from a fishing knot she was tying and explained the sudden chill without being asked. “The fog’s coming back in,” she said, nodding toward a far-off haze blurring the Pacific Ocean’s western horizon

Wisconsin hunters registered 47,704 turkeys during the state’s six-week spring season, the seventh highest harvest in modern turkey hunting’s 44-year history. Though this year’s kill fell short of the past two spring hunts — with harvests of 50,734 in 2024 and 50,287 in 2025 — it still exceeded the five-year average of 46,040 by 3.6%, surpassing 2022’s kill of 39,035; and 2023’s of 42,439. The state’s most successful turkey seasons remain the three 2007-2009 hunts that

Everyone who visits, passes through or lives in Alaska likes quoting a statistic about Mt. Denali, North America’s tallest mountain. The oft-quoted stat isn’t Denali’s height — 20,310 feet, or 6,770 yards — above sea level. No, the oft-repeated statistic folks love but few verify is that only 30% of visitors trying to see Denali actually do, given the persistent clouds often blocking their view. The region’s humidity is typically high, and Denali is so massive it create