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Dean Bortz

Dean Bortz: Yes, catching a muskie can be bad thing

Featured, Features, Fishing, Home Page News, National Fishing, Wisconsin /

Ever get cussed out, harangued, and blasphemed for catching a muskellunge?
That happened to yours truly on a very cold, windy night in mid-May while fishing with my son, Daniel, and granddaughter, Charlotte, age 8. Just to clarify, it was Daniel who did the cussing and blaspheming. Lotti still likes me. A muskie ranging somewhere from 32 to 35 inches pretty much wrecked a fishing outing in mid-May.

Dean Bortz: Yes, catching a muskie can be bad thing Read More »

State Roundup: Information on Wisconsin’s Beaver Dam Lake, and Natural Resources Board updates

Featured, Fishing, Opinion, Wisconsin /

Our back page lake articles are one of the most popular features that readers enjoy. Despite devoting a page to each lake, there is never enough room to include all of the information available for each lake that makes the back page. That’s the case for Beaver Dam Lake.

State Roundup: Information on Wisconsin’s Beaver Dam Lake, and Natural Resources Board updates Read More »

Dean Bortz: It was a turkey hunt like never seen before…

Featured, Features, Hunting, National Hunting, Wisconsin /

John Madden could have made the call on a first-season gobbler finally killed by yours truly in Zone 7’s Vilas County.
“And there goes Bortz yet again, rumblin’, bumblin’, and stumblin’ through the woods. He missed again. No, wait. He did hit it. There he goes again, fumblin’, bumblin’ – Pat, have you ever seen a javelin toss during a turkey hunt? What’s this guy doing?”

Dean Bortz: It was a turkey hunt like never seen before… Read More »

State Roundup: Wisconsin’s elk herds growing, and public lands groups sue over corner crossing in Montana

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

Wisconsin’s northern and central elk herds are expected to gain at least 96 calves in total this spring, but that number could reach as high as 214.
However, it’s more likely that once all is said and done, the two herds will gain about 154 new members. Those numbers come from estimates the DNR’s two elk biologists – Josh Spiegel and Christina Kizewski – are bringing to the May 27 Natural Resources Board meeting in Madison.

State Roundup: Wisconsin’s elk herds growing, and public lands groups sue over corner crossing in Montana Read More »

State Roundup: Thoughts on a couple lawsuits impacting Wisconsin anglers

Featured, Fishing, Home Page News, Hunting, National Fishing, Opinion, Wisconsin /

The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) is going to make another run at trying to place Great Lakes region lake sturgeon on the federal Endangered Species List. Second time.
The group lost its previous bid in 2024. What the heck are they thinking? They have absolutely no leg to stand on in this lawsuit. So it has to be money.

State Roundup: Thoughts on a couple lawsuits impacting Wisconsin anglers Read More »

Dean Bortz: Young Wisconsin turkey hunter puts it all together

Featured, Features, Home Page News, Hunting, National Hunting, Wisconsin /

This thing we call hunting never gets old (nor does the fishing and trapping, but we’re talking hunting today). No, it never gets old. Only the hunters get old.
Good thing there are some younguns coming up behind those of us with gray hair or no hair and white whiskers. I had the extreme good fortune of working with two new turkey hunters this spring, one on each end of that age spectrum.

Dean Bortz: Young Wisconsin turkey hunter puts it all together Read More »

Center for Biological Diversity lawsuit wants sturgeon on Endangered Species List

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

Even as the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) announced its second attempt to place lake sturgeon on the federal Endangered Species List (ESL), a Wisconsin retired sturgeon expert called the effort “nothing but a bunch of hooey.”
On April 27, the CBD notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service it intends to sue the agency for “illegally denying” Endangered Species Act protections to America’s populations of lake sturgeon.

Center for Biological Diversity lawsuit wants sturgeon on Endangered Species List Read More »

State Roundup: Wisconsin DNR budget cuts would be felt by Lake Superior anglers

Featured, Fishing, Home Page News, Hunting, National Fishing, National Hunting, Opinion, Wisconsin /

Fitting. Mine is “Sultan’s of Swing.” I’ll tell that story some day. I’m running out of room here, so I’ll have to take up Schiedt’s story another day, but I’ll say that as I read his note I realized I probably know the polite Antigo turkey hunter who wrote him.

State Roundup: Wisconsin DNR budget cuts would be felt by Lake Superior anglers Read More »

Dean Bortz: Wisconsin’s Vilas County showcases strong DNR team during spring hearings

Featured, Fishing, Hunting, National Fishing, National Hunting, Opinion, Wisconsin /

It was almost like the good old days on Monday, April 13, in Vilas County when 103 citizens poured into the St. Germain Elementary School for Wisconsin’s annual spring fish and game hearings proctored by local Conservation Congress delegates and local Department of Natural Resources fish biologists, wildlife biologists and game wardens.
That turnout reminded me of spring hearings back in the late 1980s and early 1990s when more than 100 sportsmen would pile into the Plum Lake town hall in Sayner when guys like Tony Rizzo and Neal Long would raise a skeptical eyebrow at some proposed DNR rule changes, while standing up to champion other proposals.

Dean Bortz: Wisconsin’s Vilas County showcases strong DNR team during spring hearings Read More »

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