There were few fireworks or discussions April 14 during the Shawano County spring hearing hosted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and state Conservation Congress. A total of 13 people attended the annual hearing at Shawano Community Middle School, according to Duane Beyer of Shawano, who was re-elected to a two-year term as chairman of the county’s five-member Conservation Congress.

Springtime in Wisconsin means the first sightings of robins and sandhill cranes, emerging spring flowers — and statewide DNR/Conservation Congress public hearings. On April 14, the Department of Natural Resources and the grassroots Wisconsin Conservation Congress hearings in every county give sportsmen and other wildlife lovers the chance to weigh in on hunting, fishing and other conservation management questions. All meetings start at 6 p.m.

As I’m writing this, spring is promising to arrive early, with the weather forecasters getting giddy about a weeklong warm spell that could see temperatures in the low 70s. By the time you read this, we will all know if they were right or somehow missed a surprise snowstorm that loves to crush our dreams in March or April. As president of the Winnebago Strutters (Neenah-Menasha) Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, I’m in the midst of

Predator hunting guide and hunter Matt McHugh has fooled up to 24 coyotes in one night to be toppled by clients.

Love can appear in the most unlikely of places, but social media sensation Ed the Diver never expected that a waterlogged Barbie doll he pulled from the murky depths of the Shawano Dam would lead him to a real mermaid that captured his heart. Ed Bieber, a former Marinette farmer and electrician now known as Ed the Diver on multiple social media platforms, finds thousands of fishing lures and golf balls a year scrounging on the bottom of area rive

Darrell Bartel’s first turkey hunt didn’t go as planned, but it had an outcome he could never have foreseen. The Waupaca Foundry Inc. supervisor hunted with a co-worker who tried for three days to coax a gobbler to box and slate calls.