Craig Boddington, 70, remains one of the best-known big game hunters in the world. He has written over 4,000 published magazine articles on hunting and firearms and has authored 28 books. His writing frequently includes technical firearms subjects and evaluation of firearms, optics, and ammunition.
A quick chat with big-game hunter Craig Boddington Read More »
Pheasant hunters busting open their wallets gave rural Minnesota an economic bump last weekend, and a new report again illustrates just how much casters and blasters contribute to American gross domestic product.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week released its 2022 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, a survey that says hunting and fishing contributed $145 billion to the U.S. economy. Wildlife watching contributed another $250 billion. In human terms, 39 million people (15% of the U.S. population 16 years and older) participated in recreational fishing, and 14 million people (5.5% of U.S. 16 years and older) participated in hunting.
Back in the early 1970s, my dad and a buddy harvested wild rice from a small lake near the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. My parents stored the wild grain in coffee cans, and Mom cooked it as a side dish just once a year, on Thanksgiving.
The stuff keeps forever, and we enjoyed that Minnesota wild rice for nearly 20 days of thanks. It may have been my favorite part of the holiday, and I always wondered why we didn’t eat more of it.
Maybe because even though wild rice has a humble background, it’s not cheap. A pound of legitimately hand-harvested wild rice from a Midwestern wetland can set you back $20 at a grocery store. Of course, there are more affordable options.
For all we’ve heard about this summer’s drought, a silver lining has been duck habitat. Parched wetlands are disconcerting in July and August, but those settling, dry sediments provide a prime site for aquatic plants to germinate.
A small wetland near my home was bone-dry all summer, but after the recent rains, it contains water now, and ducks. Every time I drive past, I see several migrant puddlers with their tails skyward, happily munching on seeds, or tubers that took root in the tiny, previously stagnant pond.
Outdoor Insights: Drought reinvigorates wetlands for ducks in Minnesota Read More »
If you like healthy northern pike, then the Minnesota DNR’s proposal to implement a 30- to 40-inch protected slot on the Gull Lake chain north of Brainerd deserves your support. The agency has several special and experimental regulations open to public comment through Oct. 20, including the idea to improve pike size on the 13,000-acre chain, which contains Gull and Upper Gull, Margaret, Ray, Love, Nisswa, Roy, and Round lakes in Cass and Crow Wing counties.
Late this summer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued its annual Waterfowl Population Status Report, which showed some disturbing trends.
Total ducks in the continent’s heartland (32.3 million) are down 7% from 2022 and 9% off the long-term average (LTA). Year-on-year declines haven’t stopped the feds from allowing another liberal structure, including year three of Minnesota’s popular early teal season, which kicked off this past Saturday. Pintails provided arguably the lone bright spot in the survey, up 24% from 2022 at 2.2M birds, though still 43% off the LTA.
Outdoor Insights: Go figure duck numbers are dropping Read More »
With the Aug. 15 deadline to submit entries to the 2023 federal duck stamp contest passed, artists now await judging (this year in Des Moines, Iowa) on Sept. 15-16. Last week, I tried contacting the federal duck stamp office for an answer to what I thought was a simple question: Are contest officials monitoring the potential for entries generated via artificial intelligence (AI)?
Outdoor Insights: A duck stamp created by artificial intelligence? Read More »
Sad news reached the Outdoor News office last week when we learned that Shawn Perich, who wrote for this publication as a field editor and columnist for years, died last Thursday, Aug. 3 at age 64.
One of the reasons I joined this business in 1997 was the opportunity to work with writers like Shawn Perich and Tony Dean. Reality was a little different for this then 27-year-old who found himself attempting to assign stories to a hard-headed field editor from the edge of the Boundary Waters. We argued a bit but eventually reached mutual respect and a deep friendship because of our common focus on conservation.
Remembering former Outdoor News Field Editor and Points North columnist Shawn Perich Read More »
News last week that Backcountry Hunters and Anglers CEO and President Land Tawney will be stepping down startled the nation’s outdoors advocates. Tawney has been the pied piper of public lands for the growing organization the past decade, bringing his big grin and enthusiasm to pint nights and the state rendezvous many times through the years.
Outdoor Insights: Replacing Land Tawney no easy task for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers Read More »
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