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Patrick Durkin

Patrick Durkin: Bowhunters’ ‘tools of choice’ don’t matter to deer

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

Wisconsin’s bowhunters registered 103,904 deer during 2024’s four-month arrow-flinging season, the fourth highest archery kill in modern times and the fifth in which they’ve killed over 100,000 whitetails.
That success – driven mostly by folks shooting crossbows and compound bows, along with a smattering of “stick-bow” traditionalists toting recurves and longbows – ended a three-year slide in bow-kills from 2021 through 2023.

Patrick Durkin: Bowhunters’ ‘tools of choice’ don’t matter to deer Read More »

Patrick Durkin: Wisconsin bear hunters record a ‘very average’ year

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

Wisconsin’s bear hunters bagged 3,724 bruins during the 35-day season, a 16% decline from 4,432 in 2024, according to preliminary data. Though the overall kill also fell 8.6% short of the 4,075-bear harvest target for this year’s season, it was within 2.6% of the five-year average of 3,824 registered during the 2021 through 2025 seasons.

Patrick Durkin: Wisconsin bear hunters record a ‘very average’ year Read More »

Memories from a ‘wannabe duck hunter’

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

While rearranging tools and lawn-care gear in our backyard shed last week, I paused to inspect the duck and goose decoys stacked high and wide along the shed’s south wall.
My hand-crafted decoys aren’t works of art, and I doubt they’d sell for much if dumped at a garage sale. Still, I built 99% of them back in the early 1980s, a time when I counted down the days until duck season with the same zeal I still have for deer season.

Memories from a ‘wannabe duck hunter’ Read More »

Patrick Durkin: Biologist Keith McCaffery left mark in Wisconsin’s deer woods

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

American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “If a single man plants himself on his convictions and then abides, the huge world will come ’round to him.”
Maybe so, but Keith McCaffery, 86, of Rhinelander, Wis., is still waiting for many hunters to rally around his faith in scientific deer management. McCaffery staked deer biology’s flag into Wisconsin’s forests, woodlots, and farmlands as a young man. And though he defended that banner with keen humor and fierce fairness the past 60-plus years, he’ll never know his won-loss record in the court of public opinion.

Patrick Durkin: Biologist Keith McCaffery left mark in Wisconsin’s deer woods Read More »

Patrick Durkin: Low fall drowning rates doesn’t mean safe hunting, fishing

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

Only two of Wisconsin’s nearly 19 boating-related deaths each year happen between October and December, but that doesn’t mean autumn is a safe time on the water for anglers and waterfowlers.
Water temperatures steadily decline after Labor Day, which means hypothermia can quickly kill those falling from a boat or filling their chest waders far from dry ground. Plus, waterfowlers often navigate boats in darkness, increasing their risks of striking unseen logs, stumps or exposed rocks.

Patrick Durkin: Low fall drowning rates doesn’t mean safe hunting, fishing Read More »

Patrick Durkin: Long hours in a treestand pays off on Idaho elk hunt

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

What do you say to convince yourself to stick with a treestand where you haven’t seen an elk after 11 hunts totaling 50 hours the past 5½ days?
Based on 55 years of bowhunting experience, I knew only this: The drought can end with one turn of your head. True, no hunting method offers guarantees, but few people use treestands to hunt elk, including me until 2017. Most bowhunters prefer calling, chasing, and stalking elk.

Patrick Durkin: Long hours in a treestand pays off on Idaho elk hunt Read More »

Patrick Durkin: A dad’s recurve and a testament to sticking to it

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

If you spotted an old recurve bow with a twisted limb in your father’s closet, you might think he’d be lucky to sell it for $5 at a garage sale. But Charlie Klassa, 43, of Berlin, Wis., wouldn’t sell his dad’s old recurve for a bar of gold.
He’s a serious bowhunter and knows the bow he’s looking at; a 1968 Staghorn Tempest Zebrawood Deluxe. His dad, Bob Klassa, age 78, bought it after surviving Vietnam. That alone made the bow special.

Patrick Durkin: A dad’s recurve and a testament to sticking to it Read More »

Patrick Durkin: Recent fishing trip recalls worst travel day ever

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

The little city of Eveleth, Minn., is 65 miles north of Duluth, and it’s home to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. It’s also just west of Hwy. 53. I overnighted there in October 1994 after deer hunting in Ontario. More often, though, I’ve bypassed Eveleth while driving to fish or hunt anywhere between Ely, Minn., and Fort Frances, Ontario.

Patrick Durkin: Recent fishing trip recalls worst travel day ever Read More »

Patrick Durkin: Wisconsin wildlife rehabilitator tends, patches or dispatches nature’s critically wounded

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

You name the critter and Mark Naniot has probably uncorked a can, jar, cup or bottle from its head during his nearly 40-year career as owner/director of the Wild Instincts rehabilitation center in Rhinelander, Wis.
Whether it’s a skunk lapping peanut butter, a squirrel licking yogurt, a bear chomping pickles, or a raccoon vacuuming corn kernels, Naniot has spared it from an agonizing death after it went headfirst for a litterbug’s leftovers.

Patrick Durkin: Wisconsin wildlife rehabilitator tends, patches or dispatches nature’s critically wounded Read More »

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