Reader-submitted letters to the editor published in the May 2, 2025, edition of Illinois Outdoor News.
Illinois Letters to the Editor: Time to create dedicated funding for hunting and fishing Read More »
Two of the most enjoyable days of my career involved topics covered in a pair of stories that appear in this issue of Illinois Outdoor News.
The article about the beginning of the “fish sampling” season in Illinois reminded me of the time almost 30 years ago when I joined now-retired DNR fisheries biologist and Fisheries Chief Dan Stephenson to sample Lake Springfield. As a kid who grew up threading worms and grasshoppers on hooks to fish small farm ponds in southern Illinois, my imagination always provided an image of a fish the size of a mule flopping at my feet.
Wildlife researchers at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale are using cameras and videos to take a closer look at how deer socialize to better understand how a deadly disease is spread.
A lot of videos. Working with the deer population at SIU’s Touch of Nature Outdoor Education Center, John Vinson, a postdoctoral associate at the Center for Wildlife Sustainability Research, assisted in an effort in 2023 to capture and camera-collar 20 deer.
Illinois research looks deep into how social lives of deer spread disease Read More »
Prairie Research Institute scientists are conducting a $2.3 million project to support the protection and restoration of part of the Illinois Beach State Park coastal area. The three-year project will assess the water movement and quality, as well as affected native plant communities.
Lake Michigan coast focus of Prairie Research Institute research Read More »
Lake Erie stands tall among the angling community. While it is the smallest of the Great Lakes in total water volume, its large number of fish populations help to accentuate its positives.
Erie’s maximum depth is 210 feet and its average depth across the basin is about 62 feet. It’s roughly 241 miles long and 57 miles across at its widest point. However, it’s still a “great” lake in every sense of the word, especially as it relates to fish and fishing.
Southeast Minnesota-based outdoors writer and regular Outdoor News contributor Scott Bestul,
MN Daily Update: Remembering outdoor writer Scott Bestul Read More »
From nearly a half-mile away, I spotted two black dots on a bend in the farm road. I blinked and they were still there, so I raised my binocular and confirmed the two “dots” were turkeys.
My interest was piqued when one paused to strut, but my hope of killing this gobbler was tempered by the fact there was no way it would walk that far to come within range of my shotgun. Or so I thought.
Uninterested hen leads gobbler to a waiting hunter Read More »
Southeast Minnesota-based outdoors writer and regular Outdoor News contributor Scott
WI Daily Update: Remembering outdoor writer Scott Bestul Read More »
Sporting a fluorescent green Sturgeon For Tomorrow vest, Tom Markowski and Mike Schmalzer stood out like sore thumbs as lake sturgeon cruised the Fox River in downtown Princeton, Wis.
The pair were two of more than 100 volunteers who hit the river behind Princeton’s Water Street April 19 for the start of the annual spawning run up the Fox and Wolf rivers. Markowski and Schmalzer headed to Princeton from their homes in Redgranite and Rosendale, respectively, as Sturgeon Guards, part of a group of more than 100 volunteers who keep an eye on crowds as DNR crews capture, record information from, and release hundreds of fish each year.
Wisconsin’s Sturgeon Guard back to work with spawning underway Read More »
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