MINNEAPOLIS — Annie Battle Lake in central Minnesota radiated with the possibility of good fishing as Dean Paron and three friends hauled their sleds of jigging rods and other gear onto the ice.

They fanned out across the lake on the mid-March day in 2021, pursuing trophy bluegill. The fish appeared, but they also made the group work. The ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — When Ron Roettger fired an arrow at a black bear some years ago, the animal never knew what hit him. That’s because Roettger was downwind from his unsuspecting quarry when he drew back his longbow and loosed a homemade arrow.

Distance from archer to bruin: 3 yards.

Roettger, 64, of Star Prairie, Wis., about an hour northeast ...Read more

WICHITA, Kan. — Firearm deer season has begun in Kansas.

And if you’re planning trying to get a big one for 2024, you shouldn’t just know when and what to hunt. It’s also important to know what licenses you need to have as well as where to hunt to make sure you’re doing so legally.

Regular firearm deer season began Dec. 4 and goes ...Read more

A bull elk and a whitetail buck carcass were found decapitated — and the rest of the animals left to waste — in northern Montana, officials say.

Game wardens are seeking any information about the poaching incident, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks said on Facebook on Tuesday, Nov. 26.

Photos show the gruesome scene of the carcasses lying ...Read more

ATLANTA — There’s no problem spotting turkey at your local grocery — U.S. farms produce more than 200 million of the fowl a year, many of them to be carved up for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

But in some parts of the nation it’s increasingly difficult to find the big bird in nature — including in Georgia, where the wild turkey is the ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Of the more than 153,000 whitetail deer felled in Minnesota so far this fall, Mason Rudolph’s was different. This was a buck, and a good one, a nine-pointer. None of that was unusual. It was the animal’s coloring that was surprising, witnessed initially on a misty morning in farm country, during the firearm season’s first ...Read more

One of Yellowstone National Park’s most iconic apex predators was found dead with a gunshot wound near the park, Montana game officials said.

Officials learned of the animal’s death when its GPS collar sent a mortality signal, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks said in a Nov. 5 news release.

The signal led authorities to a wolf carcass in Wolf...Read more

BARRONETT, Wis. — A few days back I wandered into the shack where for long decades I sought refuge at this time of year. The occasion of those visits was the opening weekend of Wisconsin firearms deer hunting, and the place looked like it did when I left it a few seasons ago. A wood-burning stove. A handful of plywood bunks. And a wobbly table...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Walleyes and perch taken from Minnesota lakes infested with zebra mussels contain starkly higher levels of mercury than those taken from uninvaded lakes, according to new University of Minnesota research published last week.

Average-sized walleyes sampled from mussel-impaired lakes such as Gull, Pelican and Tenmile were more ...Read more

A hunter in North Carolina was rescued after becoming lost in game lands, according to officials.

Wildlife officers were called around 1 p.m. Nov. 14 for reports of a missing hunter in the Holly Shelter Game Land, according to a Nov. 15 Facebook post by the Pender County Sheriff’s Office.

Several agencies worked together to look for the ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — If you hunt ducks or geese in Minnesota, chances are you know the name Steve Cordts.

For 20 years, Cordts has been the Department of Natural Resources waterfowl specialist, a job that’s garnered him considerable respect, even though many waterfowlers have at times disagreed with the way the DNR manages the state’s ducks and ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — For four decades, Minnesota’s annual weekend deer hunts at Camp Ripley in Little Falls were considered the largest gatherings of archery hunters in North America.

Twice a season, the gates would open for 1,800 to 2,400 hunters to fan out across the installation’s 53,000 acres in pursuit of wild whitetails. Most dreamed of ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Saturday morning, most Minnesotans slept in rather than set their alarm clocks to ring hours before sunup.

That’s what Pat Smith of Mankato and I did, also John Weyrauch of Stillwater. That way we could be in the woods early enough to hear turkeys gobble and see ducks skitter onto quiet ponds while celebrating the opening day ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — After years of contemplating a reduction in Minnesota’s longtime, six-walleye daily bag limit, the Department of Natural Resources is moving to lower it to four.

State Fisheries Chief Brad Parsons told the Minnesota Star Tribune last Thursday that the shift will take place in 2026 unless agency leaders change their minds ...Read more