January 4, 2002

Editor Madison Conservation Congress leaders insist the DNR must do a better job of formulating statewide deer estimates and they intend to let legislators know that during a series of four “deer hearings” set to begin Jan. 11. “We never have gone along with the DNR’s deer estimates,” said Steve Oestreicher of Harshaw, Conservation Congress […]

While there’s good big game hunting in Minnesota, you can’t find huntable numbers of polar bears, grizzlies, ibex, oryx, mountain lion, caribou, antelope, mule deer, wolverine, wolves, javelina or other species like you can elsewhere in the United States and Canada. You’ll have to leave the state to find these, but you need not leave

Sled patrols to be cut back By Dean Bortz Editor Madison For the first time ever, DNR field wardens were ordered to take two days off during the gun deer season because of budget shortages. The DNR law enforcement budget didn’t have enough money to cover fuel, mileage and overtime, according to DNR chief warden

July During a rancorous special session, the State Legislature passes a bonding bill that includes $51.4 million for the Conservation Reserve Program, making Minnesota eligible for $100 million in federal conservation funds. Minnesota congressmen Gil Gutnecht and Bill Luther are among 80 co-sponsors of a bill that would ban leghold traps. Popular DNR wildlife biologist

Editor St. Paul The Minnesota DNR had not received any word as of Monday, Dec. 31 from the Mille Lacs Band, or any other Ojibwe band entitled to treaty harvest on Lake Mille Lacs, concerning their next five-year plan. The 2002 fishing year will mark the fifth and final year of the eight Ojibwe bands’

Most hunters may not need a formal introduction to the red fox, but there may be a lot they don’t know about Vulpes vulpes, an animal in the order of carnivores that includes the coyote and wolf. Ancestors of these animals date back millions of years to the Eocene era. Remains of the red fox