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Dean Bortz

State Roundup: A hat tip to Wisconsin’s Larry Slagoski

Featured, Fishing, National Fishing, Opinion, Wisconsin /

On the front page of the latest print issue of Wisconsin Outdoor News, our veteran newsman Steve Heiting has a story about the retirement of Larry Slagoski, of Weston, the longtime president of the Musky Clubs Alliance of Wisconsin. I can’t imagine any readers would question my decision to place Slagoski’s story on the front page, but just in case anyone is wondering I’ll say the decision was extremely easy.
We have tens of thousands – maybe hundreds of thousands since no one has taken this census – of men and women who volunteer their time, talents and income to support our state’s natural resource management in one form or another. Slagoski happens to be one of those individuals.

State Roundup: A hat tip to Wisconsin’s Larry Slagoski Read More »

Dean Bortz: Wisconsin has fine options for finishing off any hunting, fishing trip with a good meal

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

One of the best things about traveling around Wisconsin to do some hunting and fishing is discovering places where friendly faces serve outstanding food. I think that’s the main reason my kids were willing to tag along with me back in the day – they knew we would stop to eat somewhere on the way home.
Maybe the idea started way back when I was a kid and our grandparents took us fishing for redhorse every spring on Swamp Creek in Iron County.

Dean Bortz: Wisconsin has fine options for finishing off any hunting, fishing trip with a good meal Read More »

State Roundup: Record level of interest in hunting bears in Wisconsin

Featured, Hunting, National Hunting, Opinion, Wisconsin /

The Wisconsin black bear season opens Wednesday, Sept. 3 in all six zones, but with hound hunters opening ahead of bait-sitters in zones A, B and D. In zones C, E and F where hounds are not allowed, the season also opens Sept. 3 and runs through Oct. 7. Bait hunters in zones A, B and D can join the party starting Wednesday, Sept. 10.
More than 32,000 people applied for one of the 13,110 bear kill tags available for 2025, according to Randy Johnson, the DNR’s large carnivore biologist. Johnson said nearly 114,000 hunters bought preference points for use in future drawings.

State Roundup: Record level of interest in hunting bears in Wisconsin Read More »

Dean Bortz: Wisconsin’s migratory bird hunters in for a good hunting season

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

Wisconsin’s waterfowl, woodcock and mourning dove hunters can thank the DNR’s Taylor Finger for putting together a fall hunting forecast for their favorite species.
Finger is the DNR’s game bird specialist and is heavily involved in the spring waterfowl surveys that are relied upon to paint a picture each year of our waterfowl landscape. Finger said those surveys indicate stable numbers and habitat conditions for our migratory bird species.

Dean Bortz: Wisconsin’s migratory bird hunters in for a good hunting season Read More »

State Roundup: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan stand out as states needing more doe harvest, according to NDA review

Leave a Comment / Discussions, Featured, Featured, Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, National Hunting, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Wisconsin /

Wisconsin deer hunters recently drew the attention of the National Deer Association (NDA) as that group tracks the annual deer harvest in each state and then compares antlerless deer kill to the buck kill as part of the group’s overall analysis of deer harvest.
I doubt NDA’s comment on Wisconsin’s pattern of deer kills is news to DNR deer program specialist Jeff Pritzl or any other DNR wildlife biologist. NDA maintains Wisconsin hunters aren’t shooting enough does when looking at the 2023 antlerless harvest.

State Roundup: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan stand out as states needing more doe harvest, according to NDA review Read More »

State Roundup: Lake Wisconsin, Wisconsin River part of outstanding sturgeon waters for upcoming hook-and-line season

Featured, Fishing, National Fishing, Opinion, Wisconsin /

Lake Wisconsin and the Wisconsin River up to the Wisconsin Dells dam was estimated in 2008 to have a population of 1,600 adult fish that are 50 inches or longer. According to a DNR report, that number hasn’t changed much since the 1980s despite some high levels of harvest prior to the size limit increasing to 60 inches in 2007.

State Roundup: Lake Wisconsin, Wisconsin River part of outstanding sturgeon waters for upcoming hook-and-line season Read More »

Dean Bortz: Taking a look at Lake Wisconsin’s angling secrets

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

When Wisconsin DNR fisheries teams conduct comprehensive surveys on some of the state’s bigger waters the teams produce way more information than we can fit into our lake reports. Such is the case with Lake Wisconsin, a sprawling impoundment on the Wisconsin River splitting Sauk and Columbia counties.
Since Lake Wisconsin is such an important fishery in south-central Wisconsin due to its size and strong panfish and game fish fishery, we decided to share more information here.

Dean Bortz: Taking a look at Lake Wisconsin’s angling secrets Read More »

Dean Bortz: A close look inside Wisconsin’s ruffed grouse, pheasant surveys

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

A press release last week from the Wisconsin DNR on ruffed grouse and pheasant spring survey results took me back a few (as in many) years to the days when wildlife researchers such as Keith McCaffery, Bill Creed (we can thank Creed’s field work for the state winning the contested bobcat portion of the Chippewa treaty rights case), Mike Gappa, Bruce Kohn, and Larry Gregg worked for the DNR in northern Wisconsin.
I met up with that cadre of researchers and others when I started working for The Lakeland Times, of Minocqua, as the newspaper’s sports and outdoors editor in 1986.

Dean Bortz: A close look inside Wisconsin’s ruffed grouse, pheasant surveys Read More »

State Roundup: A mostly positive outlook for Wisconsin pheasant, ruffed grouse hunters

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

Wisconsin’s pheasant and ruffed grouse prospects for this fall came in from the DNR last week, with the news mostly positive for small game hunters.
According to a DNR press release, results of the annual pheasant crowing survey came in above the five-year average for the second straight year. The mostly statewide ruffed grouse drumming survey showed a slight decrease from 2024, but numbers were still up from the five-year average.

State Roundup: A mostly positive outlook for Wisconsin pheasant, ruffed grouse hunters Read More »

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