Glen Schmitt

Spring is upon us, and turkey hunters are gearing up for what could be another record-breaking season in Minnesota.

Minnesota is into the 3rd wild turkey hunting season this spring. Glen Schmitt from Outdoor News joined me on WJON. He says final numbers for season 1 showed just a 75 bird difference as opposed to last season.

Northwestern Minnesota has a fair amount of elk. The elk hunt in Minnesota took place from September 21-29. Glen Schmitt from Outdoor News says only 10 permits were available to hunters and he says 8 elk were shot. Schmitt explains all 8 were male, bull elk.

The first 2024 bear harvest numbers are in from the Minnesota DNR and they are impressive. Glen Schmitt from Outdoor News joined me on WJON. The first days of the Bear hunt September 1-3 Schmitt says, more bear were shot in the state that all of last season.

The Minnesota deer harvest was down this year compared to last year by approximately 8%. Glen Schmitt from Outdoor News joined me on WJON. He explained the DNR released the final 2023 numbers and with all the seasons combined Minnesota had 158,746 deer harvested.

The new "Keep It Clean" law in Minnesota will impact many ice anglers this winter.

The warmer than normal weather in Central Minnesota has caused a late start to the ice fishing season. Glen Schmitt from Outdoor News joined me on WJON. Schmitt explains the temperatures are getting close to normalizing this week but the ice locally is generally not safe and he's waiting at least a week before giving ice fishing a shot here.

Minnesota fishing license sales are up 3% compared to last year at this time. Glen Schmitt from Outdoor News joined me on WJON. He indicates in 2022 Minnesota had 762,300 license sales and Minnesota has 783,000 so far in 2023.

The firearms deer hunting season started last Saturday. According to the Minnesota DNR deer harvested numbers are down 23% compared to opening weekend last year. Glen Schmitt from Outdoor News joined me on WJON.