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Bob Zink

The Minnesota fish harvest debate: Are we taking more fish than we thought?

Featured, Fishing, Home Page News, Minnesota, National Fishing, National News, News /

Tori McCormick’s June 5 news story in Outdoor News summarized the recent study in the journal of the American Fisheries Society that reported that anglers in Minnesota take home about 80 million pounds of fish annually, whereas an earlier DNR estimate came in at 30 million pounds.
That seems like a major underestimate, although Brad Parsons, Minnesota DNR fisheries chief, thinks the 80-million pound estimate is inflated, but did not say by how much. There are at least two issues that might temper the new study, the data, and the consequences of the findings.

The Minnesota fish harvest debate: Are we taking more fish than we thought? Read More »

Why are raccoon tails banded? There’s plenty of theories on that

Featured, Home Page News, Minnesota, Nature Page & Night Sky /

Other than making a sporty hat (think Daniel Boone or Davy Crockett), what is the significance of the banded tail on our familiar raccoon, aka dumpster diver?
I, like nearly everyone, have seen this native North American mammal for my entire life, but I never wondered about the tail banding, until now.

Why are raccoon tails banded? There’s plenty of theories on that Read More »

Is killing native owls to save native owls a good thing?

Featured, Home Page News, Minnesota, Nature Page & Night Sky, Opinion /

When populations of a species decline to perilous levels, efforts to forestall extinction can take many forms. Under the nation’s Endangered Species Act, it is common to designate “critical habitat,” allowing a species to recover on its own, given adequate space, resources, and implied protection from whatever caused its original decline.
One widely cited example of a critically endangered species is the spotted owl of the western U.S.

Is killing native owls to save native owls a good thing? Read More »

Considering the whitetail rut: Looking at day length and temperature

Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Minnesota, National Hunting /

I split my time between northern Minnesota and east-central Nebraska. I recently was asked when the whitetail rut occurs in Nebraska, and I guessed it would be later than it occurs in northern Minnesota, because it would be colder sooner in Minnesota than in Nebraska.
I decided that guessing was lame, and so I did some digging. My idea was to consider temperature, day length, and timing of the rut along a south-north transect from Louisiana to Manitoba.

Considering the whitetail rut: Looking at day length and temperature Read More »

To be a ked on the wall or, more likely, a whitetail

Featured, Home Page News, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nature Page & Night Sky, New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin /

What exactly are deer keds?
Deer keds are highly specialized flies, also called louse flies or, for good reason, flat flies. Four species occur in the United States. These flies have a fascinating life history. These insects are obligate parasites (they rely on their hosts to survive and to reproduce) that feed on the blood of their hosts.

To be a ked on the wall or, more likely, a whitetail Read More »

Why is meat from some feral hogs tainted blue?

Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, National Hunting, Nature Page & Night Sky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin /

I used to take my two sons to southern Texas during spring break to bowhunt hogs at a high-fence ranch. (I’m not a beach guy; I’d rather hunt.) In three days of hunting, we’d average a total of about three hogs.

Why is meat from some feral hogs tainted blue? Read More »

Things are heating up below Minnesota’s waves, too; what will it mean for fisheries?

Featured, Fishing, Home Page News, Minnesota, National Fishing, Nature Page & Night Sky /

Few days go by without media attention to global warming. Writing about global warming is actually pretty low-hanging fruit because the evidence is unambiguous: the earth is warming. 
This is nothing new, at least when we recall that 21,000 years ago there was a mile-thick glacier covering parts of the Upper Midwest, one of more than 20 such glacial advances in the past 2 million years. 
All glacial retreats occurred because of global warming. However, the new part to the current warming trend is that climate (not weather) scientists think the warming is more rapid than in the past, and that there’s a strong likelihood humans have something to do with it.

Things are heating up below Minnesota’s waves, too; what will it mean for fisheries? Read More »

The perch and the walleye: Same family, (very) distant relatives

Featured, Fishing, Home Page News, Minnesota, National Fishing /

Although my professional career has involved figuring out how populations and species are evolutionarily related to one another, I’d never stopped to think about perch and walleyes – other than the countless times I’ve discussed with someone about how I love to catch perch because they taste like walleyes. After all, they’re in the same family. 
But does being in the same family mean they are closely related?

The perch and the walleye: Same family, (very) distant relatives Read More »

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