• Hunt
  • Fish
  • Cook
  • Conservation
  • Shows
  • Shop
  • Events
    • New to MeatEater? Get started

    Contributor

    View All

    Patrick Durkin

    Outdoors writer/editor, weekly columnist for 17 Wisconsin newspapers, regular contributor to American Hunter magazine, and former editor of Deer & Deer Hunting magazine.

    Topics

    Latest

    Wildlife Management

    Can Trophy Hunting Alter Wildlife Genes?

    Patrick Durkin

    Jan 22, 2020

    Can so-called “trophy hunting” alter the genetics of free-ranging big game animals enough to eventually reduce the size of their bodies, antlers, or horns?
    Short answer: In small enclosures, yes. In the wild, only in theory.
    For our purposes, let’s define “trophy hunting” as selectively shooting only the biggest males of a species year after year. If that’s done, what happens? An infamous article in Newsweek  (Jan. 12, 2009) claimed “trophy...

    Big Game

    ‘Jeremiah Johnson:’ The Best Hunting Movie Ever?

    Patrick Durkin

    Jan 6, 2020

    Ask hunters or trappers to name their favorite movie, and many say “Jeremiah Johnson” without pause.
    No other movie makes them fantasize quite as much about the Old West and mountain men, and wonder if they could have cut it in the early to mid-1800s. This 1972 classic stars Robert Redford as an ex-soldier who forsakes civilization for a new life in cold, indifferent lands already home to Indian tribes.
    The timeless movie glorifies fate...

    Whitetail Deer

    The Ride Home: Show Your Deer or Cover It Up?

    Patrick Durkin

    Dec 18, 2019

    Long before Tom Heberlein was old enough to hunt deer, he watched for his father’s blue, snow-encrusted 1952 Ford pickup to return home from northern Wisconsin each November. It would usually be loaded with dead whitetails tucked among the Christmas trees they’d sell at the family’s gas station.
    Heberlein never thought someone could be shocked or offended by the stiff legs, glazed eyes, and slit carcasses of dead deer. After all, his dad wasn’t...

    Wildlife Management

    Would Hunting Grizzlies Reduce Conflict with Humans?

    Patrick Durkin

    Dec 9, 2019

    Whether you’re hunting whitetails, trapping wolves, or simply potting blackbirds to protect your strawberry patch, you notice when your prey changes its behaviors and movements to avoid death or capture.
    Can hunting also “scare grizzlies straight,” making the bears less likely to cause conflicts with people and their property? After grizzly bears were temporarily removed from the federal Endangered Species List in 2018, Wyoming proposed a tightly...

    Habitat

    Fading at 50: Why Older Sportsmen Are Spending Less Time Afield

    Patrick Durkin

    Dec 3, 2019

    Most hunters and anglers old enough to fantasize about retiring can’t wait for that never-ending vacation so they can spend every possible hour outdoors.
    Some retirees live out those recreational dreams, smugly heading for the boat ramp or tree stand each morning while younger folks mope off to work. That’s great, but those die-hards are the exception and their self-satisfaction likely won’t endure. Their endless vacation fantasies usually fade...

    Wildlife Management

    Wounding Loss: How Agencies Account for Unrecovered Big Game

    Patrick Durkin

    Nov 13, 2019

    Wildlife agencies could more easily assess their state’s elk, deer, or pronghorn populations if every animal alive in August fell into one of two groups by Christmas: those registered as hunters’ kills, and those destined to see spring’s fawning or calving seasons.
    It’s never that easy, of course, because legal hunting harvest isn’t the only drain on a herd’s bottom line. The long list of other possible deductions includes disease, injury...

    Whitetail Deer

    Do Antler Point Restrictions Work?

    Patrick Durkin

    Oct 30, 2019

    Hunters who push for antler-based regulations often dream of record-book bucks or bulls shredding the bark off thigh-thick pines and aspens across their region.
    However, great expectations of antler restrictions often shrivel to disappointment. After all, Western states mostly credit record-book elk to limited-access hunts, either through long hikes, restricted license allotments, or combinations of both.
    And, like it or not, the top-10 states...

    Whitetail Deer

    Shots Fired Per Deer Killed: An Evolving Trend

    Patrick Durkin

    Sep 17, 2019

    Opening mornings of gun seasons in whitetail-rich states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania often sound like Civil War re-enactments. It makes me wonder how the woods can hold enough deer to trigger such fusillades.
    Some deer get shot at more than once, of course, given that hunters typically carry autoloaders or bolt-, lever- or pump-action rifles or shotguns for quick follow-up shots or a coup de grâce.
    Despite all the shooting, the...

    Do Hikers Have More Fun Than Hunters?

    Patrick Durkin

    Sep 4, 2019

    If you see two hunters, two anglers, two kayakers, and two backpackers going their separate ways for the weekend, you can bet that the kayakers and backpackers to return Sunday night feeling more satisfied with their time outdoors than the hunters and anglers.
    You’ll win that bet more often than not, according to research over the past four decades that consistently found “consumptive” recreationists report significantly less satisfaction than...

    Wildlife Management

    Helping Biologists by Invading Animals’ Privacy

    Patrick Durkin

    Aug 20, 2019

    Pinpoint data from ever-shrinking GPS devices are giving biologists increasingly detailed information on when, where, and how wired-up wildlife move about their worlds.
    But scientists are just starting to interpret what all of it means. The optimists among them think they’ll one day unravel much of that GPS-driven data and coordinates to explain why birds and mammals make their many mysterious moves. For now, though, they often can only marvel at...