PITTSBURGH — Imagine a herd of 100 deer in just one farm plot, chomping through a soybean field like a mower.

When an insurance adjuster visited Jim Lindley, who has a farm in the Scenery Hill section of North Bethlehem in Washington County, last summer, the soybean crop was so decimated the adjuster thought the field had been mowed.

“We ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — If you live, fish or boat on Lake Pepin, the St. Croix or Minnesota rivers, and you worry that someday thousands of silver carp might leap from those waters, ruining your fun, property values or both, nothing you’re about to read will give you comfort.

That’s because the Department of Natural Resources — though handed $12 ...Read more

BALTIMORE — A fight over Maryland’s 2026 rockfish season is pitting catch-and-release anglers against charter operators and other fishermen who want to preserve more traditional harvest opportunities, with a legislative hold threatening to delay the state’s season announcement just weeks before spring fishing typically begins.

At the ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) fisheries section chief Brad Parsons supports reducing the statewide walleye limit from six to four. The agency is accepting public comment until March 5, and an administrative law judge ultimately might decide whether the change should occur.

In another major change affecting ...Read more

SEATTLE — Rules for harvesting shellfish from Washington public beaches are poised to change.

The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife is proposing to increase the minimum harvest size for cockles from one and half inches to two and a half, decrease the limit of geoducks that can be gathered daily from three to one and modify ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A new, modernized licensing system for outdoor recreation in Minnesota is expected to phase in this spring, a top Department of Natural Resources administrator said.

The upgraded system, which was originally planned for a 2025 start, will include a new mobile app. The system will initially allow for the purchase of hunting and ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — When I lived in Ely in the late 1970s, the Boundary Waters was on fire. Not literally — the region’s pines, spruces and birches weren’t burning. Instead, the topic of how to federally regulate the more than 1 million-acre wilderness was again up for grabs, and Congress would be the decider.

At the time, newspapers had more...Read more

DENVER — Long before Ty Faber was one of Colorado’s best anglers, his dad was trying to keep him from falling in the San Juan River.

Faber started fishing at about 2 years old, when his father, Mark Faber, would carry him down to the river in a backpack. There, Ty would stand at the riverbank while Mark assisted the tyke’s fly-fishing rod...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Foraging has existed as long as people have hunted land and fished waters in Minnesota. In modern times, it has existed in a legal gray zone with few clear guidelines for personal use for mushroom hunters, plant harvesters and berry gatherers alike. That could soon change.

A state task force has produced what it says is a ...Read more

HILTON HEAD, S.C. — On a late January evening, hundreds of redfish clustered into a sliver of shallow green water in tidal waters a stone’s throw from the bridge between Hilton Head Island and Bluffton, surrounded by a sea of pluff mud at low tide.

Redfish often school in tight quarters like this in winter months across the Lowcountry, ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota hunter was lost Jan. 3 in the Mille Lacs County woods, and the odds of finding him on foot weren’t good.

The hunter was last heard from about 4:30 p.m. amid spotty cellphone reception and was last seen that morning, according to a sheriff’s department report.

Deputies attempted a brief search at 6 p.m. but were ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — We were driving down the interstate late at night, Bud Grant and me, talking and watching for deer. I was behind the wheel, and the concern wasn’t that I would crash into a buck or doe. Instead, we were simply on the lookout for wildlife, a favorite pastime of Bud’s while traveling.

An hour or so earlier, we had left a ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The delicious tuna and swordfish that ends up on plates across South Florida puts a dent in more than just your wallet — catching them puts a dent in global shark populations.

It’s common for sharks to get hooked on commercial tuna and swordfish longlines, which can stretch across vast areas of sea — 20 to 60 ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Legislation awaiting a final vote in the Kentucky Senate would strip state game wardens of their ability to enforce most fishing laws on private land and settle a growing controversy between regulators and angler groups who want to stock non-native, hybrid bass.

Momentum for the bill, sponsored by Sen. Gary Boswell, R-...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — In the 1850s, W.G. Gresham settled one of the earliest claims on Swan Lake, in southern Minnesota, a stone’s throw from the small burg of Nicollet.

Gresham, who later became a judge in St. Peter, Minn., had learned about waterfowl from Ishtakhaba, or Chief Sleepy Eyes, among other Native Americans. He shot brant and swans on ...Read more