Thursday, October 1st, 2026

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Thursday, October 1st, 2026

Breaking News for

Sportsmen Since 1968

Eric Morken

Eric Morken is a writer and web editor for Outdoor News who lives in west-central Minnesota with his wife and two daughters. Morken graduated with a journalism degree from Augustana College (now Augustana University) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 2007. He has worked in the journalism field ever since, and his outdoor work has been in print and digital publications across the country. When not writing about the outdoors, Morken is an active participant in them. He can be found doing some casual fishing in the summer and chasing turkeys in the spring, but his passion is centered around bowhunting whitetails. It’s a year-round commitment of scouting and hunting different regions of Minnesota and surrounding states on public and shared-private lands every chance he gets. Contact Morken at emorken@outdoornews.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricOutdoorNews or on Instagram @elmorken.

Video: Finding areas that pinch down deer movement within marshes

Finding habitat diversity is key when it comes to scouting for whitetails.
Those areas where multiple habitat types meet offer edges that serve as great travel corridors. They also often provide deer resources such as food, water and security cover. Some of these areas can be easily seen on a map, while other properties require quite a bit of searching when it comes to pinpointing hunting setups.  

Video: Finding areas that pinch down deer movement within marshes Read More »

Wisconsin bowfisherman harvests extremely rare golden bowfin

Wisconsin’s Tanner Peterson describes himself as an outdoorsman and fireman in the short bio on his Instagram account, and now he can add the distinction of being the only known person in the state to harvest a golden bowfin.
Peterson, 22, who hails from the town of Salem in far southeastern Wisconsin, was bowfishing with his older brother, Gunner, on the night of March 7 on a Racine County lake. At about 11 p.m., Tanner arrowed an incredibly rare 19-inch bowfin that was bright orange in color.
“That was actually our first night on the water this year, so it was a pretty crazy experience for the first night,” Tanner told Outdoor News.

Wisconsin bowfisherman harvests extremely rare golden bowfin Read More »

Hunting a whitetails’ security cover: Here are keys to consistent success

Growing up deer hunting during the shotgun season in southern Minnesota, I learned there was a general mindset about hunting deer-bedding areas: Just don’t do it. You’ll chase deer from a property.
Honestly, doing so never felt necessary. The heightened hunting pressure was enough to get deer moving along river bottoms and through small woodlots. Thus, that mindset was hard to abandon, even after jumping into bowhunting after college in 2007. It was during a mid-October hunt a few years later that I became frustrated enough to change.

Hunting a whitetails’ security cover: Here are keys to consistent success Read More »

Perfect broadhead flight means finding the correct arrow; here’s how to do it

Enter an online archery forum and request people’s opinions on the best hunting broadhead.
You’re going to get a long list of strong thoughts. You may even start a fight.
Are fixed blades or expandables the way to go? Single bevel or double bevel? How heavy? What may get overlooked in some of the ensuing chatter on broadhead performance is how important having the correct arrow is for each archer’s specific setup.

Perfect broadhead flight means finding the correct arrow; here’s how to do it Read More »

E-bikes enter the equation for more hunters and anglers

Momentum has built during the past decade within a passionate segment of the hunting community that believes in being as mobile as possible.
The mindset is to hunt lighter and go further in pursuit of popular game species such as elk, deer and turkeys. Tools like hunting saddles and carbon fiber climbing sticks have been a big part of that movement. More recently, e-bikes have gained in popularity, too.
“Right here in the area where I live, four years ago me and two other guys had e-bikes,” Carl Kossuth said. “Now, you don’t see hardly anybody going into these places to hunt without an e-bike.”

E-bikes enter the equation for more hunters and anglers Read More »

Kansas crappie removed from state records after steel ball bearings are found in its stomach

A man from Kansas who was declared as a new state-record holder for a crappie he caught last year has had that fish removed from the records after weights were discovered in the fish.
The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) verified a 4.07-pound white crappie caught by Bobby Parkhurst as the new state record on April 4, 2023.

Kansas crappie removed from state records after steel ball bearings are found in its stomach Read More »

Buying your first crossbow in 2024? There are important things you need to know

Every year after the first few weeks of the archery deer-hunting season, there are broken crossbows occupying space in a back room at the Archery County shop in Waite Park, Minn.
Hunters drop them off to be fixed – broken cams, cables, strings, and limbs. Many are upset, believing they had a product that could hold up to normal wear and tear.
Brandon Looman, a manager at Archery County, said he saw more situations like this than he has in prior years this past October. It’s a by-product of more people using crossbows for the first time.

Buying your first crossbow in 2024? There are important things you need to know Read More »

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation warns of ripple effects from potential wild cat hunting ban in Colorado

There is a push to ban the hunting of mountain lions, bobcats, and Canada lynx in Colorado, and if it happens, such a ban would set a bad precedent for sport-hunting and science-based wildlife management. 
That was the message representatives of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Coloradans For Responsible Wildlife Management shared during a press conference on Jan. 24 during the annual Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show in Las Vegas. Concern stems from a citizen initiative – Initiative 91 – filed by animal rights groups late in 2023 that would eliminate the hunting of the cats in the Rocky Mountain state. Opponents say it would strip wildlife biologists and scientists of their ability to properly manage wildlife in Colorado. 

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation warns of ripple effects from potential wild cat hunting ban in Colorado Read More »

Competitive archery now an Alexandria College option in west-central Minnesota

Alexandria Technical and Community College in west-central Minnesota has emphasized enhancing the student experience on campus by offering expanded extracurricular activities in recent years.
The school offers soccer, eSports, volleyball, competitive fishing, clay target shooting, baseball, and golf as varsity sports. Now the school will add an archery program to those options. In doing so, Alexandria TCC will become the first two-year college in the state to offer competitive archery through USA Archery’s Collegiate Archery Program.

Competitive archery now an Alexandria College option in west-central Minnesota Read More »

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