MINNEAPOLIS — Nearly 100 cases of chronic wasting disease were documented in Minnesota deer last year, the highest number on record and surpassing the previous high by about a third.

Since the first case of the neurodegenerative disease was confirmed here in 2002, about 400 deer have been catalogued with CWD, according to the Minnesota ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Recent license sales indicate about 14% of Minnesota deer hunters are women, with a larger portion — about 29% — of youth licenses going to girls.

More tellingly, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, about a third of all new hunters are females — a trend that, if it continues, might fill the license-sales gap ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — In the darkness before sunrise on Saturday morning peering out of my hunting perch, it was hard to believe I’d be able to spot a deer in my path.

I had never hunted before. Up until a couple months ago, I’d never even held a shotgun, much less fired one. But when I was asked to join the orange-clad ranks this past weekend ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota’s North Woods are being sold to the state’s timber products industry, and deer and deer hunters will pay the price with lower populations and lower harvests for years to come.

Ruffed grouse populations also are at risk, as are less visible forest species such as fishers and martens, woodpeckers and songbirds.

The ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota’s ruffed grouse hunting — widely considered the best in the nation — appears to be holding up this fall despite signs of natural population decline for the state’s most popular game bird.

Participants in the annual National Grouse and Woodcock Hunt around Grand Rapids in early October bagged an average of .93 ...Read more

BOISE, Id. — At a lunch earlier this month, two Idaho officials, a project engineer and an invasive species expert, walked along the shore of the Snake River, eating hard-won slices of pizza. They’d been at the bottom of the canyon near the Twin Falls Dam for two weeks, often working 18-hour days in the state’s fight against e that had ...Read more

GRANTSBURG, Wis. — Sandhill cranes came in by the dozens, and then dozens more, to the grassy marsh of Crex Meadows Wildlife Area. They had spent the day feeding in nearby fields and now were arriving in large numbers at a favored roosting spot.

They announced themselves with nasally, bugling bursts, outnumbering about 40 people gathered on ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — They’re big. They’re beautiful. And there’s lots of them.

Perhaps too many?

Trumpeter swans are now reproducing at a rate no one predicted when 150 fragile eggs were transported to Minnesota from Alaska, beginning in 1987.

Carrol Henderson was the Department of Natural Resources non-game wildlife chief at the time, and ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Before Isaiah Osborne signed up for the military at age 17, before he went into active duty after graduating from New Ulm Cathedral High School, and before he was a crew chief on a Marine rescue helicopter, he was his own bird dog in southern Minnesota.

“In high school, after football practice, one of my buddies and I would ...Read more

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Gridlock in the nation’s capital will mean fewer areas to hunt in Missouri this fall and winter.

The Missouri Department of Conservation has announced it is removing nearly 5,000 acres of land from a program designed to allow outdoor enthusiasts to use specially designated private property for hunting and fishing.

...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The increased freedom to use crossbows to hunt deer is drawing more people into the sport in Minnesota, particularly youth hunters, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

License sales data and a survey of hunters indicate that the state’s removal of restrictions around crossbows may benefit recruitment and ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — When the Minnesota pheasant season opened Saturday, some hunters were tested not only for their skills afield, but for their generosity.

If they were fortunate enough to bag a rooster or two, in some parts of the state’s pheasant range they were asked to forfeit their hard-earned bounty.

The sacrifices are for a good cause. ...Read more

MADELIA, Minn. – Jason Gordon of Caledonia, Minn., is an active upland and waterfowl hunter who favors outings close to home on the Mississippi River in the state’s southeast corner.

But to partake in Minnesota’s pheasant opener this past Saturday, he chose to drive west to a particular state Wildlife Management Area in Watonwan County, ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A leading outdoors trade show that is considered a showplace for emerging gear and trends is pulling its western stakes for a new home in Minnesota.

Organizers of Outdoor Retailer (OR) said the state has several advantages as a new home: Recreation that generates billions of dollars through business and participation; a ...Read more