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Partisan Politics Won’t Fix Wisconsin’s CWD Problems
Even the laziest, most partisan, back-row-dwelling lawmakers in Madison and Washington typically find time each year to pass conservation...

Patrick Durkin
Oct 16, 20214 min read


GOP Hunting, Fishing Bills Could Use Some Purging
Several hunting buddies text-messaged me Oct. 6, wondering why GOP lawmakers would buddy-up with some upstart Kansas bunch called Hunter...

Patrick Durkin
Oct 10, 20214 min read


CWD Review Committee’s Work will Go for Naught
The second review/update of Wisconsin’s 2010-2025 CWD management plan is underway, even though the Department of Natural Resources’...

Patrick Durkin
Oct 2, 20214 min read


Chippewa River Offers Excellent Sturgeon Fishing
Zach Mohr takes pains not to offend muskie hunters when asked why he spends every minute possible in September chasing sturgeon up and...

Patrick Durkin
Sep 24, 20214 min read


Final-Day Elk Bowhunt Defies 4% Odds of Success
SODA SPRINGS, Idaho — The shot had felt good, the distance only 25 yards, and the blood sign looked lethal when I found my arrow 20 yards...

Patrick Durkin
Sep 19, 20215 min read


Aging Hunters Can Cheat Neither Time Nor the Mountain
SODA SPRINGS, Idaho -- Funny how much you read into things when looking at the world through aging eyes. The first leaves dropping from...

Patrick Durkin
Sep 10, 20214 min read


Wisconsin Bowhunter Zeroes in on Specific Bucks
Just like most serious bowhunters, Gregg Johnson is counting down the days to Wisconsin’s Sept. 18 archery deer season opener. But unlike...

Patrick Durkin
Aug 30, 20214 min read


Grandsons Land Bass After Lowering Their Guard
My 3-year-old grandson looked up with a pained urgency every parent recognizes, and then grabbed his shorts for emphasis. Before I could...

Patrick Durkin
Aug 27, 20214 min read


Bluegills Abound in Family’s Farm Ponds
In between bluegills and an occasional largemouth bass, Travis Lambert recalled shirking his boyhood chores on the family’s cranberry...

Patrick Durkin
Aug 20, 20214 min read


Wisconsin Board's Wolf Quota Puts Emotion Over Science
Looking and sounding like frazzled parents warning a daughter not to marry the town drunk, DNR Secretary Preston Cole and three Natural...

Patrick Durkin
Aug 14, 20215 min read


Chickadees Make Summer Homes in 3D Targets
A flying dark blur caught my eye a few summers ago as I pulled the first arrow from my backyard deer target. Startled, I scanned the...

Patrick Durkin
Aug 7, 20214 min read


Trappers, Veterinarians Set Best Practices for Traps & Trapping
Whether trappers make a set to catch furbearers for pelts, or to help biologists tag, release and follow wildlife for research, their...

Patrick Durkin
Jul 30, 20215 min read


Ellis Clan Rules Uncle Bobby’s Namesake Muskie Tourney
Three of Bob Ellis’ nephews caught four of the five muskies registered in this year’s 17th annual Bob Ellis Classic memorial row-trolling...

Patrick Durkin
Jul 25, 20214 min read


Valerius Geist was a Titan of North American Conservation
Professor Valerius Geist of Canada didn’t need his green-trimmed suitcoat to stand apart from crowds, no matter their size or stations in...

Patrick Durkin
Jul 18, 20215 min read


Should the DNR Extend Training Seasons for Hunting Dogs?
Wisconsin’s rich mix of houndsmen, bird-dog hunters and conservation organizations are quietly debating whether the Department of Natural...

Patrick Durkin
Jul 9, 20214 min read


Time to Shame Wisconsin DNR’s Policy-Setting Board
You’ll have to excuse deer hunters around Wisconsin for faking a sneeze and blowing profanities into their elbows when asked about the...

Patrick Durkin
Jul 3, 20214 min read


Policy Board Repeats its Wisconsin Deer Quota Fiasco
The man who brought the “County Deer Advisory Council” process to Wisconsin’s deer hunters in 2014 is the same man now doing the most to...

Patrick Durkin
Jun 26, 20214 min read


Friendly Women and Old Men: Wooden Boats Summon Them
If superstitions about shoddy ship launchings were valid, I would have put my cedar-strip rowboat on Craig’s List the morning after its...

Patrick Durkin
Jun 19, 20214 min read


Wisconsin Spring 2021 Turkey Kill Takes Expected Dip
Wisconsin hunters registered 37,179 turkeys during the six-week season ending June 1, a 17.3% decline from Spring 2020, according to...

Patrick Durkin
Jun 12, 20215 min read


Squatter Prehn Taints Wis. Natural Resources Board
Like soured milk fouling the fridge after its expiration date, dentist/cranberry farmer Frederick Prehn of Wausau is tainting Wisconsin’s...

Patrick Durkin
Jun 6, 20215 min read
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