Minnesota small game hunters enjoyed a higher rate of success for most species last year, including pheasants, according to the annual survey conducted by the Department of Natural Resources.

The agency published the survey's results this week on the eve of what is expected to be a second consecutive season of increased bags for ringneck ...Read more

GARDEN CITY, Minn. - Saturday was a Gary Clancy type of day. The morning sun rose gloriously against a cloudless sky. The air was fresh. And the oaks, basswoods and maples in Blue Earth County and particularly along the Watonwan River were afire in russets and ambers, scarlets and crimsons - the hues of autumn.

This was the first day of the ...Read more

The medical crisis that spawned an economic crisis has caused a hunger crisis in Pennsylvania. Pandemic-related business closings have led to layoffs or pay reductions for more than 1 million Pennsylvanians since March. Food banks in the state report that the number of residents requiring food assistance has grown from 1.5 million to 1.8 million...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS - Two hours of sleep was all Trevor Montez could manage as he floated in his boat on a muddy backwater of the Mississippi River in the midnight hours before the Minnesota duck opener.

His long flat-bottomed vessel sealed off the only channel to a wood duck hole that was begging to be hunted at the crack of dawn. The 22-year-old ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS - Duck hunters turned out in strong numbers for Minnesota's 2020 season opener, enjoying decent success and breaking from five years of sagging attendance.

The Department of Natural Resources reported an 8% upswing in state duck stamp sales through Sunday after the opener. Observers noticed a ripple of newcomers to the sport and ...Read more

RENVILLE, Minn. - Saturday morning in the Minnesota River bottoms south of this small town a few ducks flew about 10 minutes before sunrise. The state's waterfowl season had been open only a short while, and Will Smith and his son, Harrison, discharged a volley from their shotguns that splashed a hen wood duck into the water just beyond their ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS - As an Army National Guard helicopter pilot, Brad Maas has flown in Iraq and across Minnesota. Now flying for the Department of Natural Resources, he regularly conducts aerial moose and deer surveys and fish stockings.

But the pinpoint positioning required when Maas flies his aircraft low and slow, attempting to eradicate hybrid ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS - Misty Eystad's life flashed before her eyes as she ran toward her daughter's motionless body.

It was July 4th weekend in 2017 at the cabin of a family friend. Before breakfast, the kids jumped onto a side-by-side ATV for a casual ride. Chalee, 13, was a passenger. Cale, her older brother, was the driver. When he turned to change ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS - Gush if you will about the commercial triumphs of Amazon, whose tentacles reach into nearly everyone's home, or Apple's $2 trillion market value, the American spirit lives on not in corporations, but in individuals.

Which is a good thing. A great thing, actually. And never more so than now, on October's cusp, as we stiffen our ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS - Minnesota's ruffed grouse season opens Saturday, a big deal, memory-wise, to a lot of people.

Historically the state's most pursued game bird, Ol' Ruff hangs out in places every Minnesotan should visit but few do. High lands. Low lands. Hay fields. Aspen stands. Gray dogwood thickets. These and many other out-of-the-way places are...Read more

DULUTH, Minn. - The starry nights are no secret to those familiar with the Boundary Waters, but a new designation puts the wilderness area on the world map for those seeking stunning skies after dusk.

An international association recently certified the Boundary Waters as the world's 13th dark sky sanctuary, a title given to land that has "an ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS - Still only in its ninth month, 2020 already is considered one of the worst years - ever.

Granted, the period between 1347 and 1351, when the Black Death wiped some 200 million people off the face of the earth, was no picnic.

Also, smallpox killed 10 million Mexicans after the Spanish introduced the disease to them in 1520. The ...Read more

ST. LOUIS - Missouri officials and university researchers, worried the state's wild turkey population is on the edge of calamity, are embarking on an extensive study of the fowl, even preparing to track the birds with GPS "backpacks."

Missouri turkeys were once a species on the rebound. But over the last several years scientists have seen signs...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS - Nonmotorized hunter walking trails would receive overdue upgrades as part of a new initiative proposed by the Ruffed Grouse Society.

The $300,000 program - part of a much larger package of outdoors projects recommended for funding this year with state lottery proceeds - is designed to address what the conservation group has ...Read more