The Wisconsin Natural Resources Board (NRB) approved a harvest goal of 4,160 bears for the 2026 bear hunt, which will result in 15,245 licenses being available, the most licenses the state has ever issued.
The desired quota is up about 2% from 2025, with the goal of shooting more bears, especially in the southern bear zones.
Wisconsin NRB OK’s 2% hike in ’26 bear harvest tag numbers Read More »
Wisconsin’s waterfowl hunters have the opportunity to make their preferences known for hunting seasons for the next five years.
Taylor Finger, game bird ecologist for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), said that in 2023 the DNR used a three-year trial for setting waterfowl hunting regulations for 2023, 2024, and 2025. “Historically I would go to public meetings every year, hold hearings and set the seasons (yearly), but we found that during the past 30 years over 90% of the regulations didn’t change on an annual basis,” Finger said.
DNR asks Wisconsin waterfowlers for season preferences Read More »
Fifty years ago this week wild turkeys returned to Wisconsin’s snow-covered landscape for good when the first birds were released in the Bad Axe River watershed in Vernon County.
Turkeys were native in Wisconsin from Prairie du Chien to Green Bay, but in the 1800s land changes and market hunting led to their demise.
Wisconsin celebrates 50 years of wild turkeys back on the landscape Read More »
Natural Resources Board (NRB) members expressed concerns similar to those expressed by citizens that the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is not doing enough to prevent invasive species from spreading to Wisconsin’s waters.
At the board’s Dec. 10, 2025 meeting, members heard from three persistent citizens who have long expressed concerns over the inability of wake boats to eliminate invasive species that remain in ballast tank water when the boats move from lake to lake.
Trio pushing Wisconsin NRB, DNR on regulation of wake boats Read More »
The Dec. 10, 2025, passing of former Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Secretary George Meyer brought out many observations from people who worked in the conservation trenches with Meyer.
Randy Stark, DNR retired chief conservation warden, worked with Meyer during tumultuous times at northern Wisconsin boat landings during the early days of spearing by the state’s six Chippewa tribes.
The Dec. 10 Wisconsin Natural Resources Board (NRB) meeting was filled with approvals of several proposed wildlife rules and scope statements from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for sharp-tailed grouse, waterfowl, turkeys, and elk.
Scott Karel, DNR wildlife regulation policy specialist, explained that the first new rule creates two new harvest zones for sharp-tailed grouse, along with metrics for establishing hunting quotas.
Wisconsin NRB handles sharptail, waterfowl, turkey and elk rules Read More »
The Wisconsin Natural Resources Board (NRB) approved commercial whitefish harvest quotas for Lake Michigan and Green Bay at its Dec. 10 meeting, reducing the amount of fish that can be caught from Lake Michigan by commercial fishermen.
The most recent quotas had been in place for two years. The quotas are reviewed every three years and new population models are now available.
Wisconsin Natural Resources Board lowers Lake Michigan commercial whitefish quotas Read More »
More turkey hunting permits will be available for this coming spring hunting season in Wisconsin based on recent recommendations of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Turkey Advisory Committee.
The committee meets each December to make final recommendations on the number of permits to make available the following spring.
Committee suggests hike in spring turkey ‘tag’ numbers in Wisconsin Read More »
Jeff Pritzl, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) deer ecologist, gave a thumbnail nine-day gun deer season report to the December meeting of the Natural Resources Board (NRB), saying the preliminary 2025 harvest numbers are very similar to 2024.
“The buck harvest was down, but the antlerless harvest was up a bit, which is a bright note,” Pritzl said.
Breaking down Wisconsin’s gun deer harvest as buck kill is down, doe harvest up from ’24 Read More »
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