MINNEAPOLIS — Secondhand crossbow, anyone? Shotgun and scope? Deer skull on a mount?

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is again putting up for auction firearms, archery bows, fishing gear and other outdoor items confiscated from hunting and fishing scofflaws. The two upcoming auctions are certain to draw masses — 58,500 people ...Read more

PETERSBURG, ALASKA — A few days back, Terry Arnesen throttled up the two outboards that swung from the transom of his boat as he angled his home-away-from-home out of this town’s harbor of mostly commercial fishing boats, many of which had seen better days.

Terry’s watercraft wasn’t a “Deadliest Catch”-size trawler, but a 26-foot ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — If you started a timer now to gauge the days, weeks and months that will pass before the Department of Natural Resources acts to restrict the effects of forward-facing sonar on Minnesota muskie populations, you'll soon have to recalibrate your timepiece to measure in years, and perhaps decades.

Because as history shows, the DNR ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota is planning to notably liberalize the walleye harvest on Mille Lacs Lake starting Aug. 16 under a proposed rule change that would allow a daily bag limit of two fish per licensed angler within a harvest slot of 18 to 20 inches.

State fisheries chief Brad Parsons proposed the move during a meeting Monday of the Mille ...Read more

GULF OF MEXICO — Erika Almond’s biceps bulged as she gripped her Star Rod. Arching back, she used every ounce of her 5-foot, 10-inch body to muscle the fishing rod up before cranking the reel downward. Her opponent, about 100 feet below, contorted the pole into a parabola.

What exactly was hooked on the other end? It was impossible to say, ...Read more

BOSTON — If you’re out on the water fishing for striped bass, keep a lookout for hungry apex predators.

Cape Cod shark researchers have gotten several recent reports of great white sharks taking striped bass at the side of fishermen’s boats.

This is not a new phenomenon for the waters off Massachusetts, as sharks were spotted last summer...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Grace Zeller's cell phone rang in her Brainerd home at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 18, and she could see on the caller ID that her boss Jake Willis was ringing her up.

Zeller, 35, is a helicopter pilot with the Department of Natural Resources Enforcement Division. She knew Willis wouldn't phone on a weekend just to chat.

"What's...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The other day, raindrops dimpled already wet grass as I walked into a field with four Labradors. This was in the middle of summer, and there were months to spare before autumn, when ducks fly and pheasants flush. Still, deadlines focus effort, and anyway, year-round, where others see empty skies, I imagine mallards over decoys ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — More than 10 inches of rain falling in about two days can wreak a lot of damage. To people, yes, and homes and farms and crops and also county roads.

Largely unseen is the threat such deluges pose to wildlife. Some ground-burrowing animals such as woodchucks and gophers — neither of which gains much sympathy from Minnesotans �...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — There were days while sunning on Waikiki Beach when Jessica Berg-Collman convinced herself that Hawaii could be her forever home.

Transplanted there from Minnesota's forested Gunflint Trail, she fell for Honolulu's tropical charm. When she dropped out of school at Hawaii's flagship university, she stayed to soak up daily life. ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Explorer Will Steger recalled "emergency mukluks" before his epic expeditions.

Camping guru Cliff Jacobson remembered a specially made, multicolored tarp that caught the eye of a rescue plane in remote Saskatchewan.

Titans of Minnesota's outdoors community like Steger and Jacobson, and everyday folks who used and coveted Dan ...Read more

EAR FALLS, Ontario, Canada — There are moments of quiet reflection among the jack pine, ash and birch trees swaying gently under the watchful eyes of soaring eagles on Lac Seul, a vast tea-colored oasis in northwest Ontario.

In between jolts on lines from trophy walleye and toothy northern pike, it is a place that puts the world on pause. The...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — When Dane Nelson paddled his kayak onto a Minneapolis city lake June 16, he didn't know he would catch a 51-inch muskie. But Nelson, of Minneapolis, a long-time muskie angler, thought he might.

The same is true for Jake Skarloken, who had canoed into Crooked Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for more than 20 ...Read more