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

RALEIGH, N.C. — Nearly 600,000 trout grown by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission died at a McDowell County hatchery during the rains brought by Hurricane Helene, the state agency has reported.

Landslides and flooding around the Armstrong State Fish Hatchery north of Marion compromised the water quality to the facility’s raceways, or ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Drew Swartz has been in school a long time. First in Missouri for his undergraduate degree, then in Minnesota for a master’s. Now he’ll finish his doctorate this summer at the University of Minnesota, studying veterinary population medicine.

Obviously a smart guy, Drew, 25, humored me the other day when I gave him a pop quiz...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota opened its beaver trapping season on Saturday, five months after state lawmakers made it illegal — under certain circumstances — for people to eat the furry rodents.

Jokes, complaints and unanswered questions rose from the Senate floor when the proposed law came up for discussion in May. But even now, as trappers ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Through a DNA analysis of a hair sample, Superior National Forest wildlife researchers have identified an animal carcass found last spring as one of the oldest Canada lynx among those they track in northern Minnesota.

The lynx was known to Forest Service staff as GLNR-S-571, aka the Trappers Lake Female, born 11 years ago in the...Read more

PITTSBURGH —Three men who pleaded guilty last month to poaching charges for killing 21 white-tailed deer in Washington County last year received jail sentences, had their hunting licenses permanently revoked and were ordered to pay $6,300 in fines and restitution, the Pennsylvania Game Commission announced this week.

The three men — Ezra ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Sarah Strommen has been commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources since January 2019, the first woman to hold the post. Before that she was an assistant DNR commissioner and also worked for various conservation nonprofits. She holds an undergraduate degree in biology from Grinnell College in Iowa and a master�...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Some people seek self-fulfillment outdoors by running marathons, climbing mountains or paddling canoes from Minnesota to the Arctic Ocean.

Misty Blue did it by answering a shout-out on Facebook.

Blue is a Native American woman living in the Twin Cities and a single mom to a 15-year-old daughter. “I’m Ojibwe and Dakota,’�...Read more