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Patrick Durkin

Patrick Durkin: What happened to this bluegill? A handful of theories exist

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

When my grandsons catch a bluegill 7 inches or longer, it seldom swims another day. Catch and release? Save your breath.
The boys haven’t yet read stories by the immortal humorist Patrick F. McManus, but their thinking aligns with his comment in “Kerplunk,” one of his 2007 stories: “I remember only one fellow who practiced catch-and-release. He was eventually nabbed, I think, and placed in an institution.” Therefore, I paused July 4 when my grandson Connor Switzer, 8, agreed without comment to release a 7-½-inch bluegill with an ugly scar and dime-sized hole in its back.

Patrick Durkin: What happened to this bluegill? A handful of theories exist Read More »

Wisconsin’s Northern Highlands research station has been for answers for 80 years

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

You likely missed it, but the Northern Highland Fishery Research Area in Vilas County celebrated its 80th anniversary June 20, making it one of the world’s longest-running fisheries research projects.
So, let’s blow our kazoos and pop champagne corks to show we support the Wisconsin DNR’s commitment to research and science-based policy-making. Sure, lawmakers often ignore it, but we’re better served when data-driven facts steer and sustain publicly-owned fisheries.

Wisconsin’s Northern Highlands research station has been for answers for 80 years Read More »

Patrick Durkin: Salmon strike twice during Sitka fishing trip

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

Cool, crisp air creeping across the boat’s stern near Sitka, Alaska, raised goose bumps on my forearms. I shivered and considered retrieving a hooded rain-jacket from the cabin. Instead, I rolled down my sleeves.
Sarah Farber, the charter boat’s captain, looked up from a fishing knot she was tying and explained the sudden chill without being asked.

Patrick Durkin: Salmon strike twice during Sitka fishing trip Read More »

Patrick Durkin: Alaska’s magnificence reminds us of our fragile insignificance

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

Everyone who visits, passes through or lives in Alaska likes quoting a statistic about Mt. Denali, North America’s tallest mountain.
The oft-quoted stat isn’t Denali’s height – 20,310 feet, or 6,770 yards – above sea level. No, the oft-repeated statistic folks love, but few verify, is that only 30% of visitors trying to see Denali actually do, given the persistent clouds often blocking their view.

Patrick Durkin: Alaska’s magnificence reminds us of our fragile insignificance Read More »

Patrick Durkin: Landscapes endure despite varied users, abusers

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

While hunting turkeys on public lands not far from Eau Claire, Wis., in mid-May, I noticed a unique property boundary sign nailed to a red oak.
The old yellow sign read:
“WILDLIFE SAFETY ZONE” in bold, black letters on the top two lines. The details followed: “NO HUNTING, FISHING, TRAPPING, OR MOTORIZED VEHICLES. HIKING, PHOTOGRAPHY AND NATURE STUDY PERMITTED.”

Patrick Durkin: Landscapes endure despite varied users, abusers Read More »

Patrick Durkin: No room for guilt if scoring on rare gobbler double

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

If I didn’t view turkeys as nature’s most fickle, frustrating and fascinating bird, I might have felt guilty for shooting a gobbler May 8 as it stood confused while its buddy flapped its last among my decoys.
I suspect that Emily Krumenauer, my hunting buddy and family-friend, frazzled my gobbler’s composure when she shot its running mate seconds earlier with her late father’s Model 12 Winchester.

Patrick Durkin: No room for guilt if scoring on rare gobbler double Read More »

Patrick Durkin: Wisconsin’s spring hearing voters support license fee increase

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

Wisconsin’s outdoors community supports paying more to operate the state’s fish and wildlife programs, but not necessarily at any price.
That’s one point to take from nearly 6,900 votes cast during mid-April’s annual conservation hearings, a statewide effort by the Department of Natural Resources and the citizen-based Conservation Congress. This year’s hearings consisted of in-person meetings April 13 in all 72 county seats, which drew 1,268 attendees, followed by three days of online voting, which drew 5,598 participants.

Patrick Durkin: Wisconsin’s spring hearing voters support license fee increase Read More »

Wisconsin 3-year-old fires shot while turkey hunting, wounds two people

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

A 34-year-old hunter mentoring a 3-year-old child Sunday afternoon, April 12, during Wisconsin’s two-day youth-only turkey season helped the youngster aim at and shoot another man and a 7-year-old child after mistaking their movements for a turkey in western Racine County.
Pellets from the 12-gauge shotgun struck the 7-year-old’s head, and the man’s left hand, shoulder and backside as they hunted turkeys on state forest lands in the Rochester township.

Wisconsin 3-year-old fires shot while turkey hunting, wounds two people Read More »

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