Wisconsin’s annual spring and wildlife hearings and Conservation Congress county meetings will be held statewide at 6 p.m. Monday.
Locally, the hearing will be held at in Room SC130 at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay. As has been the case in recent years, there will also be a 48-hour voting window online from 6 p.m. April 13 to 6 p.m. April 15.
New for ‘26, citizen resolutions that weren’t submitted by the deadline can still be presented. Day-of submissions are required to follow the same criteria as a resolution submitted via the form found under “For Your Information” at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/about/wcc/springhearing.
You can also find a link to all the questions at that same website.
Voting and public input are non-binding, and advisory-only to the Conservation Congress, Department of Natural Resources and Natural Resources Board. However, strong support for a proposal can sometimes lead to rule changes within three years.
On Jan. 1, the cost of owning a suppressor for your firearm dropped from $200 to no charge. A flood of applications poured in, more than 100,000 the first day and more than a quarter-million by the end of the month.
Interest in suppressors has gained steam for more than a decade. Some say they’re an effective way to reduce the risk of hearing loss, while being “neighbor friendly,” too. Less “boom” might even mean opening doors to spots where hunting might not otherwise be allowed.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives notes there were about 900,000 legally-owned suppressors a decade ago. Five years later, the figure had grown to more than 2-1/2 million, and today? Well over five million, since there were already more than 4.5 million registered at the end of 2024.
Elk tag applications are open. You can choose to apply for either a bull tag or a cow tag, or try your luck at both. The application fee is $10, and you’re limited to one application per person, per authorization type.
Seven dollars of each fee goes directly to elk management, monitoring and research. These funds also enhance elk habitat, which benefits elk and many other wildlife. If selected in the drawing, an elk hunting license is an absolute bargain, costing only $49.
Only one resident elk hunting license can be issued or transferred to a person in their lifetime. Selected applicants will be notified in early June.
The 2026 elk quota for the Central Elk Management Zone is six bull elk and six antlerless elk, up from a quota of four bull and five antlerless in 2025. The Northern Elk Management Zone (formerly Clam Lake Elk Range) quota will be eight bull elk, subject to a 50 percent declaration by Ojibwe tribes.
Anglers are getting walleye in the Fox River and west shore rivers all the way to Marinette.
The best rainbow trout runs are taking place on the Lake Michigan side, with very good numbers of both steelhead and suckers.
Brown trout are hammering stickbaits and spoons in the lakeshore shallows, with some fish also being caught on the bay side.
Northern pike are spawning in creeks and ditches. Most of those spots are protected refuges this time of year.
A bill that would have created a sandhill crane hunting season died when it the State Senate adjourned March 17 without a vote on the proposal. Supporters said it was two votes shy of what would be needed to pass, noting that some legislators were concerned about the public’s perception of crane hunting. Supporters said they planned to introduce a separate bill in the next session.
Spring is such a magical time for bird migration, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is hosting a free, three-part series online to help you get you ready. When you RSVP, you’ll have access to the live events as well as recordings if you can’t watch at the time. Learn more and register at https://dl.allaboutbirds.org/welcome-back-birds.
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