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Rob Drieslein

Minnesota’s new muskie plan will put an emphasis on yearling stocking

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

A session at the 2025 Minnesota DNR Roundtable on Friday, Jan. 10, focused on state muskie research and future management of the species. Brian Herwig and Mike Knapp from DNR Fisheries along with Aaron Meyer of the Minnesota Muskie and Pike Alliance led the discussion.
Knapp, the Brainerd-area fisheries supervisor, began the session by explaining that sport catches of muskies go back to the late 1800s. Many Minnesotans know the story of the “Muskie Rampage” on Leech Lake in the summer of 1955.

Minnesota’s new muskie plan will put an emphasis on yearling stocking Read More »

Outdoor Insights: Important notes from Minnesota’s 2025 DNR Roundtable

Featured, Fishing, Home Page News, Hunting, Minnesota, Opinion /

The Minnesota DNR held its annual roundtable meetings event last Friday, Jan. 10, in Bloomington. It saw 400-plus attendees, and the agenda improved from recent years, although I would’ve liked to have seen one of the 16 small sessions focus on the state’s most important game animal, the white-tailed deer.

Outdoor Insights: Important notes from Minnesota’s 2025 DNR Roundtable Read More »

Outdoor Insights: Can Minnesota legislators remember what compromise means this upcoming session?

Featured, Home Page News, Minnesota, Opinion /

Hearing lots of chatter about a possible state budget deficit in a few years. The opposition and some media happily have declared that Democrats own any deficit due to their spending of the 2023 budget surplus. The budget that year didn’t get a single Republican vote, so yeah, for the foreseeable future, Dems should expect political fallout over lower forecasts.
But Republican lawmakers played a dangerous game during the 2022 legislative session when they walked away from a budget deal even though they controlled the state Senate 34-31.

Outdoor Insights: Can Minnesota legislators remember what compromise means this upcoming session? Read More »

Christmas week chuckles: A mountain-naming controversy as Trump says he’ll rename Denali in Alaska

Home Page News, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nature Page & Night Sky, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin /

On the lighter side this week, I see President-elect Trump wants to rename Denali in Alaska as Mount McKinley. Until the recent news reports, I didn’t realize the federal name change happened a mere decade ago under the Obama administration.
During my first visit to the state back in 1997 for a fishing trip, I heard Alaskans exclusively refer to the mountain as Denali. I’ve been back twice more, but to this Lower 48er on my first trip, it was Mount McKinley. Several people up there immediately corrected me.

Christmas week chuckles: A mountain-naming controversy as Trump says he’ll rename Denali in Alaska Read More »

Outdoor Insights: Why can’t deer build immunity to CWD?

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

My son and I were lamenting how the deer permit area we hunt in southeast Minnesota suddenly has become ground zero for new chronic wasting disease infections.
As of Tuesday, Dec. 17, there were 81 new CWD cases in Minnesota this year, a 69% increase from the 48 found in 2023. All but one have been in roughly a half dozen DPAs in the southeast, and the DNR has called the increase “statistically significant.”
For years, the state has done a solid job of suppressing and preventing CWD from becoming the disaster we see across the Mississippi, but I fear 2024 marks a tipping point in this losing battle.

Outdoor Insights: Why can’t deer build immunity to CWD? Read More »

Outdoor Insights: Minnesota deer hunters safer than others when it comes to firearms accidents?

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

In a recent analysis of Wisconsin hunting incident data, columnist Pat Durkin wrote that older hunters were involved in more firearms-related accidents than younger hunters. The piece prompted me to review recent Minnesota history.
The data here show less bias toward older hunters than Durkin saw in Wisconsin, but they revealed another trend that I found interesting: Deer hunters comprise a surprisingly low percentage of firearms accidents.

Outdoor Insights: Minnesota deer hunters safer than others when it comes to firearms accidents? Read More »

Outdoor Insights: Minnesotans overwhelmingly stand up for the outdoors again

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

Last week, I spoke with Paul Austin, executive director of Conservation Minnesota. He shared a couple of points that illustrate just how thoroughly Minnesotans supported the out-of-doors via the Nov. 5 amendment to re-dedicate lottery profits to the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund.
As reported, people who did not vote for the amendment counted as “no” votes, and even given that, 77.5% of state voters said “yes” to the amendment.

Outdoor Insights: Minnesotans overwhelmingly stand up for the outdoors again Read More »

Outdoor Insights: Participate in “gut pile” study this Minnesota deer hunting season

Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Minnesota, Opinion /

Good luck to firearms deer hunters starting this season, and reminder that it’s not too late to participate in the ongoing “gut pile” study. I checked in with Ellen Candler last week regarding the status of the Offal Wildlife Watching Project, which she launched as University of Minnesota grad student in 2018.
The effort has received funding from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, which voters had the opportunity to renew on Tuesday night.

Outdoor Insights: Participate in “gut pile” study this Minnesota deer hunting season Read More »

Outdoor Insights: Fishers rebound in Minnesota, and making up for lost time in the hunting woods

Featured, Hunting, Minnesota, National Hunting, Opinion /

An update to the 2024-25 trapping season has piqued my interest: Minnesotans can now trap fishers statewide. Dedicated readers of this space have seen trail camera images that my dad has obtained of fishers on his property in southeastern Minnesota the past few years.
A valuable furbearer, fishers were nearly extinct in Minnesota by the early 1900s, but they’ve staged a comeback in the forested region, and in the past 20 years, they’ve shown an increasing adaptability and tolerance of people.

Outdoor Insights: Fishers rebound in Minnesota, and making up for lost time in the hunting woods Read More »

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