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Bob Zink

What do mayflies have in common with passenger pigeons?

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

Visiting a lake in May or June in much of the Midwest likely will bring you into contact with mayflies, although they also occur throughout the country.
We sometimes see huge swarms in spring or early summer, and occasionally they show up on radar. It’s common to find them attached to buildings or trees next to lakes following a hatch. I found a bunch of mayflies attached to my place at Minnesota’s Leech Lake in late June.

What do mayflies have in common with passenger pigeons? Read More »

Bob Zink: Talk about opening a can of worms… in salmon

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

No, this article is not about crossbows, walleyes in Lake Mille Lacs, or deer and wolves in northern Minnesota. It’s literally about worms in cans – of salmon, that is.
My wife and I once were eating some cod, and I noticed a white, filamentous thread that I figured was some kind of connective tissue. After eating a couple of these, I looked more closely and realized the white “threads” were nematodes, a parasitic worm.

Bob Zink: Talk about opening a can of worms… in salmon Read More »

Return of the extinct dire wolf? Not so fast…

1 Comment / Discussions, Home Page News, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, National News, Nature Page & Night Sky, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin /

Darkness has fallen, and you’re about to climb down from your deer stand on a freezing November night. Suddenly out of nowhere you hear an eerie howl… close, in the direction of your truck.
Your gut tells you this is no normal coyote or wolf. You’d heard about these reintroduced “extinct” dire wolves with oversized teeth and jaws that can weigh up to 200 pounds. Twelve thousand years ago they ate horses, bison, and maybe mammoths. You wonder if this howl is one of those wolves.

Return of the extinct dire wolf? Not so fast… Read More »

Bob Zink: Crossbows are not the equivalent to hunting with a gun

3 Comments / Discussions, Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Minnesota, National Hunting, Opinion /

A few years ago, I wrote about the effects of crossbows on deer hunting. There are several points that arise, over and over. 
Does the use of crossbows result in a greater harvest of deer and damage to the population? Short answer, the science says no. Some claim that crossbow hunters get all the good bucks before the gun season. Short answer, no (look at the hunter pics in Outdoor News). Crossbows have advantages, particularly the ability to cock the bow long before any deer comes into range. But if someone thinks crossbows are guns, then I know one thing: They have never hunted with a crossbow.

Bob Zink: Crossbows are not the equivalent to hunting with a gun Read More »

Are snowy owls in trouble? It’s a topic wide open to debate

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

I remember clearly my first encounter with a snowy owl. I was driving in western Minnesota, in Pope County, looking for winter birds, when I noticed a white object sitting on top of a light pole. My heart raced as I got closer and realized it was, in fact, a snowy owl. 
It was obliging and stayed on the pole while I approached and took photos of it, which I still have (somewhere, in a box …). Snowies are pretty tame, because where they spend most of the year, they don’t see many people.

Are snowy owls in trouble? It’s a topic wide open to debate Read More »

Do geese get scared? The Swedes aimed to find out

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

Throughout much of their ranges, different species of geese cause agricultural damage. For example, an older figure for the western United States noted that crop farms lose as much as $30,000 annually to geese. A Canadian researcher concluded that prairie-wide losses due to waterfowl ranged up to $10 million annually.

Do geese get scared? The Swedes aimed to find out Read More »

Forensics, law officers, and teamwork work together to nab poachers

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

The use of DNA to identify individuals has been a mainstay in the legal system for a couple of decades. The advantage is clear: DNA is not affected by people’s perceptions, judgment, and instead is mostly unambiguous. In contrast, even eyewitness testimony can be wrong. 
Below I recount a personal experience from well over a decade ago in which my forensics laboratory helped catch wildlife violators from a distance.

Forensics, law officers, and teamwork work together to nab poachers Read More »

Deer, you, and COVID-19; what’s the connection?

Featured, Hunting, Minnesota, National Hunting, National News, News /

Concern about the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, or SARS-Cov-2, pandemic has waned and doesn’t garner as much media attention as it did when it emerged. However, COVID-19 (shorthand) the virus is still present and actively mutating, creating new strains that merit watching.

Furthermore, it has been confirmed that the virus is found in white-tailed deer. This obviously presents some issues, given the frequency with which we hunters consume venison.

Deer, you, and COVID-19; what’s the connection? Read More »

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