As Outdoor News reported last week, language making crossbow use permanent during the Minnesota archery season passed 133-0 in the House and 67-0 in the Senate last month. If you’re a voter desperate for bipartisanship in Minnesota, I give you crossbows during the archery season. But really? 200-to-zero? When’s the last time the legislature voted 200-to-zero on anything?
The verified video of three cougar cubs in northern Minnesota last week qualifies as one of the biggest outdoors stories of the year. Social media chatter after the story broke ranged from amusing to conspiratorial.
Some folks insist that the DNR has been secretly concealing the presence of a legitimate cougar population, which seems odd given that the agency issued the actual press release about these cougars and the story went viral nationwide within hours. Others say that local folks have known about a wild population of cats for decades.
Minnesota DNR Fisheries has scheduled an informational public meeting next Thursday, May 7 (6 to 8 p.m.) for anyone interested in fisheries management on Lake Mille Lacs.
You can read details here, but the in-person gathering aims to discuss the status of the fishery, background on the creel survey program and 2026 results, species population modeling, and the process of setting regulations.
The U.S. Senate vote that repealed the moratorium on sulfide-ore copper mining in the Boundary Waters watershed last week felt inevitable after Donald Trump was elected president in 2024. Leading up to last Thursday’s action, insiders were telling me they had the votes to stop the repeal, then the White House got involved, twisted some arms, and the measure passed 50-49.
Bird-related: Reading the Metro tabloid on the London Underground, I learned that the UK is reestablishing common cranes. Through conservation efforts like the Great Crane Project and natural recolonization, the population reached 87 breeding pairs in 2025.
Outdoor Insights: Observations from recent trip to England Read More »
More than 300 people heard some fascinating presentations at last weekend’s Minnesota Duck Summit in Nicollet. Roy Heilman provides a thorough news report on the event that you can read, but here are a few takeaways.
Outdoor Insights: Key takeaways from Minnesota’s Duck Summit Read More »
The Minnesota and federal governments are debating lead ammo and fishing tackle again.
Where population-level effects exist for a species, I believe lead bans are fair game. The feds made the right decision banning lead for waterfowl hunting decades ago. But should that argument extend to eagles?
Outdoor Insights: Lead ammo, tackle debate rages on at Minnesota, federal level Read More »
The public comment period on the Minnesota DNR Fisheries’ proposal to reduce the statewide walleye bag limit from 6 to 4 ended on March 5, and by late last week, the agency had tallied nearly 1,500 total comments.
During last month’s Mille Lacs Fisheries Advisory Committee meeting, some chatter erupted about whether the DNR should reconsider its equation for calculating walleye hooking mortality.
Outdoor Insights: Is forward-facing sonar actually reducing hooking mortality? Read More »
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