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Patrick Durkin

Patrick Durkin: This year’s Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame members getting recognition they long deserved

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

Whenever folks badmouth public servants who work for schools, agencies or simply “the government,” you’d like to stand them before a crowded auditorium to meet guys like Neil Payne, Keith McCaffery or the late William Lunney.

Once you whistled everyone to attention, you’d invite the critics to explain how and why these three public servants didn’t do enough for Wisconsin during their careers at UW-Stevens Point, the DNR, and our state courts, county offices and county parks. Once the critics failed to justify their griping, you’d hope they have the grace to concede Wisconsin never paid or honored these men enough during their decades of public service.

Patrick Durkin: This year’s Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame members getting recognition they long deserved Read More »

Wisconsin’s conservation patron license defies trends, gains buyers

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

Even as sales of most fishing, trapping, and hunting licenses decline in Wisconsin, the all-inclusive conservation patron license has grown nearly 50% in popularity after bottoming out in 2012.
Sales of the $165 patron license hit 65,803 in 2025, up from 44,049 at the same price 14 years ago. As with all resident hunting, fishing, and trapping fees, the patron license’s price hasn’t increased since 2005, when it cost $140. The record sales year was 2002, when 81,896 sold at $110 each. Wisconsin also offers a patron license for nonresidents.

Wisconsin’s conservation patron license defies trends, gains buyers Read More »

Patrick Durkin: GoWild crash elicits angry reactions from Wisconsin turkey hunters

2 Comments / Discussions, Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, National Hunting, Opinion, Wisconsin /

“Thundering herd problem.”
That’s how IT (information technology) folks diagnose uncommon, but not rare, calamities when computer systems collapse as people stampede websites to buy coveted tickets for concerts, playoff games or hunting licenses. Wisconsin’s turkey hunters recorded their third such meltdown in 18 years on March 16 shortly after 10 a.m. That’s when the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) began selling leftover $10 tags for the spring hunt.

Patrick Durkin: GoWild crash elicits angry reactions from Wisconsin turkey hunters Read More »

Patrick Durkin: Milo Hanson dies with record buck still No. 1

Features, Home Page News, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, National Hunting, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin /

Some lucky deer hunter eventually will shoot a whitetail with antlers bigger than those atop the buck that Milo Hanson killed Nov. 23, 1993, near his Saskatchewan farm.
No hunter will ever tell a better, more modest hunting story about a world-record buck than the one Hanson told until his death Feb. 9 at age 81. Unlike many big-buck stories today, Hanson’s tale includes no nickname for the buck. Neither does it include treestands, box blinds, or trail-cam photos.

Patrick Durkin: Milo Hanson dies with record buck still No. 1 Read More »

Patrick Durkin: City dwelling red foxes face endless challenges

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

If a red fox tunnels under your tool shed or burrows beneath putting greens on golf courses, you won’t guarantee it a long, healthy life by hiring a trapper to have the fox moved to a suburban woodlot or even a rural wetland.
That’s what researcher David Drake reported during a talk Feb. 12 at the annual winter meeting of Wisconsin’s Wildlife Society in Stevens Point.

Patrick Durkin: City dwelling red foxes face endless challenges Read More »

Patrick Durkin: Citizens keep inspiring Aldo Leopold’s conservation ethic

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

Tom Heberlein (r) organized the first “Lodi Reads Leopold” event in Wisconsin in March 2000. By 2004, with help from the Aldo Leopold Foundation (represented by Sarah Lloyd) and then Rep. Mark Miller (ctr), Wisconsin proclaimed the first weekend of March as “Leopold Weekend.

Patrick Durkin: Citizens keep inspiring Aldo Leopold’s conservation ethic Read More »

CWD rates set a record pace in Wisconsin’s farm country during 2025

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

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) intensified its deadly spread across Wisconsin’s farm country during 2025, with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) documenting a record 2,022 CWD cases in a record 41 counties for a record detection rate of 11.2%.
That marks the fourth straight increase in CWD detection rates, up from 10.3% in 2024, 9.1% in 2023, 8.7% in 2022 and 7.7% in 2021.

CWD rates set a record pace in Wisconsin’s farm country during 2025 Read More »

Patrick Durkin: Have you seen this buck? Wisconsin man offers reward

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

Roger Maes knows he’ll recognize his grandfather’s nearly century-old trophy buck whether it’s in online photo galleries, hanging in a Northwoods tavern, or fully restored and displayed at a giant hunting/fishing store.
But the Madison, Wis., resident hasn’t seen the buck for more than 30 years, not since his grandfather sold it shortly before dying in 1993.

Patrick Durkin: Have you seen this buck? Wisconsin man offers reward Read More »

Knife accident turns deer hunt into all-night survival challenge for Wisconsin hunter

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

Matt Jefko says he can’t sacrifice the time and money to hunt Western states, so he turns his Wisconsin hunts into hard-earned adventures whenever possible.
But after this Middleton High School teacher arrowed a buck in southwestern Wisconsin’s Yellowstone Lake State Park, he triggered more adventure than most hunters ever find on the Great Plains or in the Rocky Mountains. Jefko, 41, wouldn’t wish similar misadventures on anyone.

Knife accident turns deer hunt into all-night survival challenge for Wisconsin hunter Read More »

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