Column: Kevin Naze
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WILD THINGS: Giving Thanks for the Outdoors
There’ll be plenty of leftovers after the hunt One of the hardest parts about being selective while hunting is answering the question, “Did you get your buck?” Those in the know understand that many hunters would rather take an antlerless deer than drop a young buck with its first or second rack, but it doesn’t […]
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Wild Things: Cooler Air Arrives For Gun Deer Hunt
Thousands of acres of corn could influence what hunters see – or don’t see – while on stand in fields and forests opening day of the gun deer hunting season Saturday. Statewide, about one-third of more than 3 million acres of corn planted for grain was still standing early this week. Locally, less than half […]
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Wild Things: Blaze Orange to Color the Woodlands
Wisconsin’s most anticipated opening morning – the November gun deer season – is just eight toss-and-turn nights away. While a far cry from its glory days of the 1990s when it attracted nearly 700,000 license-buying men, women and youths, the nine-day hunt is still the granddaddy of all, luring more than 550,000 people to dress […]
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Wild Things: Early Snow a Wakeup Call to Hunters
If there was any doubt that the gun deer hunting season was just over the next ridge, a surprise Halloween snowfall erased it. Whitetail fanatics love the white stuff, and while it wasn’t expected to last, bow and crossbow hunters on stand late Tuesday got an early treat to aid sightings and tracking. Through the […]
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Wild Things: Fruitful Harvest at Strawberry Creek
The Department of Natural Resources’ Strawberry Creek weir at Sturgeon Bay saw nearly 4,000 salmon handled this month. In six work days between Oct. 2 and Oct. 19, 3,942 Chinook salmon and 51 cohos were processed. An estimated 3.4 million-plus eggs were taken from 650 female Chinooks. The cohos were sorted for data only. After […]
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Wild Things: Will New-Look Board Vote on Wolf Plan?
Will four new members of the state Natural Resources Board be prepared to vote on a controversial Wolf Management Plan Wednesday, Oct. 25? That’s the question after an unprecedented move Tuesday morning by Senate Republicans to deny confirmation of four previous members of the board appointed by Gov. Tony Evers, effectively firing them. It is […]
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Wild Things: State Deer Harvest Tops 22,000
Ten seasons after they were first offered as a legal choice for any hunter, crossbows are an important addition to the Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) deer management toolbox. In fact, crossbow deer harvests have outpaced vertical bow kills the past five seasons. It’ll be six after the 2023-2024 hunt is over. Through the first […]
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WILD THINGS: Youth Gun Deer Hunt Oct. 7-8
A strong cold front could make things interesting for this weekend’s youth gun deer hunt across the Peninsula. Temperatures are expected to be in the low to mid-40s both mornings, and no higher than the low 50s come late afternoon sits. Winds could be gusting 15 to 25 miles per hour from the northwest. The […]
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WILD THINGS: Deer Hunt Off To A Fast Start
One hundred seasons ago, in 1924, deer hunters using their favorite firearms tagged about 7,000 whitetails in the entire state of Wisconsin. In the past three decades, Door and Kewaunee County hunters alone have often combined to surpass that number. Further evidence in how much things have changed: by the end of this weekend, it’s […]
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WILD THINGS: Strawberry Creek Harvest Begins Oct. 2
Fall colors will be on full display at the Department of Natural Resources Strawberry Creek salmon spawning facility next week. Visitors can admire the mix of reds, oranges, yellows and greens on the foliage inside the 79.51-acre parcel of state property, but the real stars will be the bronze, copper and black-backed Chinooks, a far […]
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Wild Things: It’s Show Time for Fall Birds
Millions of birds are moving through and into Wisconsin from their summertime homes in Canada, an early start to the fall colors that’ll heat up in the coming weeks. The diversity of migrant birds, the distances some of them fly and their ability to navigate to their winter homes is hard to fathom. North winds […]
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Wild Things: Attack on the Shooting Sports?
The Biden Administration is receiving pushback on a plan that could withhold federal funding in schools that offer archery or hunter education programs. National Shooting Sports Foundation Senior Vice President for Government and Public Affairs Larry Keane said the decision to block millions of dollars of federal funding from scholastic programs that benefit youths is […]
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Wild Things: Tribes Get New Netting Agreement
Sport anglers object; coalition expected to appeal by KEVIN NAZE, [email protected], Peninsula Pulse contributor While Wisconsin commercial anglers continue to push for a small, experimental “study fishery” to scoop lake trout from Lake Michigan, a federal judge has approved an agreement that will allow Indigenous Michigan tribes to use gill nets in more places. Last […]
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Wild Things: Jorgenson Nets 1st Place in K/D
by Kevin Naze, [email protected], Peninsula Pulse contributor Month after derby ends, $80,000 payout announced It took a month longer than expected, but a record payout in the 41st annual Kewaunee/Door County Salmon Tournament was announced this week. Nineteen-year-old Ryan Jorgenson of Washington Island earned the top prize of $15,000, a free mount of the catch […]
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Wild Things: Open House at Virlee Gunworks
Aug. 26 event includes range demos, new products by KEVIN NAZE, [email protected], Peninsula Pulse contributor Virlee Gunworks Shooting Center is hosting an open house Aug. 26, 9 am – 5 pm, as part of the second-anniversary celebration of its Sturgeon Bay store, 1019 Egg Harbor Road. There will be range demos, product showcases, membership discounts, […]
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Wild Things: Henriksen Wants to See Experimental Lake Trout Fishery
A study should be the first step, he tells the NRB by KEVIN NAZE, [email protected], Peninsula Pulse contributor Door County commercial netter Charlie Henriksen told the state’s Natural Resources Board (NRB) on Wednesday in Viroqua that the Lake Michigan Commercial Fishing Board, which he chairs, would like to see an experimental lake trout fishery begin […]
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Wild Things: Henriksen to Update Natural Resources Board on Fish
The whitefish harvest and lake trout stakeholders are among the topics by KEVIN NAZE, [email protected], Peninsula Pulse contributor Door County commercial fisherman Charlie Henriksen, chair of the Lake Michigan Commercial Fishing Board, will be among the presenters during an informational portion of the state Natural Resources Board meeting in Viroqua on Wednesday, Aug. 9. Henriksen […]
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Wild Things: Record Participation in the K/D
Nearly 3,800 anglers tried to catch top salmon by KEVIN NAZE, [email protected], Peninsula Pulse contributor For the first time since the Kewaunee/Door (K/D) County Salmon Tournament began in 1983, the official winner was not known following the event’s conclusion. What’s normally a relaxing night of sharing stories at Sonny’s in Sturgeon Bay was instead tense […]
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Wild Things: Who’s Going to Win the K/D?
Dramatic opening weekend unfolds around the islands by KEVIN NAZE, [email protected], Peninsula Pulse contributor If you know anything about fishing, you know that just about anything can happen. But even Hollywood movie producers couldn’t have scripted a more dramatic opening weekend for the Kewaunee/Door (K/D) County Salmon Tournament – one in which 19-year-old Ryan Jorgenson […]
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Islanders Mourn the Loss of a Sportsman: New memorial prize honors Bradley Jordan
Thousands of anglers hoping to hook into the fish of a lifetime during the annual Kewaunee/Door (K/D) County Salmon Tournament are dreaming of the big one that doesn’t get away. While some will celebrate their catches with friends and family this weekend, others in the tight-knit community of Washington Island will be mourning the tragic […]