Minnesota Outdoor News Radio

Should Minnesota offer waterfowlers a three-bird, any-duck bag as an alternative to the regular six-bird bag? Tim Lesmeister and host Rob Drieslein tackle that question to start the show. Then Brian Knutson, sales and marketing director for Outdoor News, visits the broadcast to share the latest news and fishing industry insights from last week’s ICAST show in Orlando, Fla. Scott Anderson from Ducks Unlimited then previews the situation in the Duck Factory as the waterfowl season looms, plus insight into DU’s National Trip Auction happening in August and the Ducks Unlimited Expo kicking off next weekend in Memphis, July 31-Aug 2. Lesmeister and Drieslein wrap up the show with bear talk, including grizzly bear delisting out west, and a CBC report on a retired couple fishing in northern Saskatchewan, who authorities believe were killed by a black bear last week.

The post Episode 602 – 3-duck limit in MN? ICAST, Ducks Unlimited, Black bear kills couple in Saskatchewan appeared first on Outdoor News.

Tim Lesmeister and Rob Drieslein start the show recounting two big news stories this week: the fires in northeastern Minnesota, and the surprising news that Minnesota DNR Fish and Wildlife Division Director Kelly Straka has decided to leave the agency. Then back-to-back guests Tony Peterson and Melissa Bachman jump into the program to talk about summer scouting for deer, and Melissa shares details of her Fleet Farm Summer Seminar series, which kicks off in early August. Lesmeister and Drieslein close down the show with several national headlines, including their take on the man who suffered an attack from a surly bison in Yellowstone National Park.

The post Episode 601 – Boundary Waters fires, a new DNR Fish and Wildlife director, summer deer, bison attack appeared first on Outdoor News.

Tim Lesmeister and Rob Drieslein start the show remembering their friend and one of Minnesota’s leaders on the state fishing scene, Tom Neustrom, 77, who died on Sunday, July 5. Then regular guest Tony Peterson visits to talk summer fishing tactics and issues. Charlotte Roy, Minnesota DNR grouse project leader then breaks down the results of 2026 spring ruffed grouse drumming survey and explains how the survey influences the outlook for hunting the gamebirds in the fall. Lesmeister and Drieslein wrap up the show with some fun topics, including their memories of a mid-1970s environmental and bicentennial icon, the cowboy hat-wearing Johnny Horizon.

The post Episode 600 – Remembering Tom Neustrom, summer fishing with Tony Peterson, 2026 MN grouse survey appeared first on Outdoor News.

Tim Lesmeister and Rob Drieslein start the show with a chat about the Minnesota catch-and-release steelhead record, which has been broken twice in less than a year by a pair of sisters, plus a recent rescue from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Then Outdoor News columnist Ryan Rothstein joins the show to chat about whitetail production this spring and the state of deer hunting in the region. Mike Sidders from Delta Waterfowl jumps into the discussion to promote the organization’s Duck Hunters Expo schedule for July 24-26 in Des Moines. Wrap-up chatter with Lesmeister includes how they’d fix algae in the national reflecting pool in Washington DC, false AI-generated stories about jaguars in the American southwest, and a dead tree in the UK that goes back to Robin Hood days.

The post Episode 599 – MN record steelhead, whitetails with Ryan Rothstein, Duck Hunters Expo, DC pool appeared first on Outdoor News.

Tim Lesmeister and Rob Drieslein start the show with a discussion about – count ’em – 9 new state record fish in Minnesota. Then annual guest Ron Hustvedt, Jr., visits to talk about Lake Superior lake trout fishing and the recently wrapped Minnesota State Youth Clay Target League Championships, plus a quick Game Fair preview. New monthly columnist Colleen Foehrenbacher from Lanesboro jumps into the show to talk about outdoor education at the Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center where she’s the executive director, plus she shares her experiences as an adult-onset hunter. Lesmeister and Drieslein wrap up the show with numerous topics including a widening bait and attractants ban in Minnesota (five new counties) and a catch-and-release great white shark off Nantucket.

The post Episode 598 – MN record fish, Lake Superior lakers, State Trap shoot update, Colleen Foehrenbacher appeared first on Outdoor News.

Tim Lesmeister and Rob Drieslein start the show with a discussion about why Minnesota is struggling to establish an elk herd in northeastern Minnesota. They also break down the latest duck numbers from the heart of the Duck Factory in North Dakota that show waterfowl numbers down. Corey Fisher from Trout Unlimited joins the broadcast to talk about efforts to repeal the federal roadless rule that erupted in Congress last week and continue to stew with the Trump administration. The Minnesota DNR’s John Dunn then outlines the agency’s plans to implement special fishing regulations on 12 new lakes, including nine panfish water bodies. The agency is taking public comments on the proposed new regs through the end of September. Lesmeister and Drieslein wrap up the show with chatter on invasive buckthorn and honeysuckle, as well as Randy Moss’ interest in bass fishing.

The post Episode 597 – MN elk drama, federal Roadless Rule, special panfish regs, N.D. waterfowl update appeared first on Outdoor News.

Tim Lesmeister and Rob Drieslein start the show with their first and mostly positive impressions of the Minnesota DNR’s new electronic licensing system, then they share final spring turkey hunting numbers from Minnesota and Wisconsin. Steve McComas, the Lake Detective, visits with Drieslein to talk about lake trends around the region as summer 2026 arrives. Special guest Curtis DeBerg jumps into the show to share the amazing tale of a signed copy of Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea found in Rochester, Minn., that made its way to the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. Drieslein and Lesmeister wrap up the show hitting a host of topics, including Ron Schara’s suggestion that dock owners pay rent on the public water they’re covering, plus a couple of intense state conservation officer stories.

The post Episode 596 – New ELS impressions, Lake Detective, Hemingway’s last written words, dock rental fees? appeared first on Outdoor News.

Tim Lesmeister and Rob Drieslein start the show with some fishing chatter in Minnesota and Alaska, then review new research that suggests Minnesotans catch and keep 80 million pounds of freshwater fish in the state every year – more than double the previous estimate. Then Kelly Straka, the Minnesota DNR’s Fish and Wildlife Division director, spends two segments introducing the new state Electronic Licensing System that will go live this Tuesday, June 9. If you want to learn more about how you’ll be buying your hunting license via this system, give Straka your attention. Lesmeister returns, then he and Drieslein break down some of the latest headlines involving chronic wasting disease, first at the National Elk Refuge in Wyoming, then new research on the mysterious species barrier between cervidae (deer and elk) and people.

The post Episode 595 – 80M pounds of fish harvested in MN? New licensing system, and latest CWD headlines appeared first on Outdoor News.

Tim Lesmeister and Rob Drieslein start the show with some Boundary Waters Canoe Area topics, including an exciting rescue involving three young collegiate swim team members and a state conservation officer. Then Leslie George from Minnesota DNR joins the program to talk about the new statewide muskie plan that will be in place through 2040. Seth Owens, a conservationist and wildlife photographer from North Dakota, then jumps into the broadcast to offer listeners some insight into outdoors photography in the era of smartphone cameras. Lesmeister returns to help wrap up the show with chatter on the renewed corner crossing debate in Montana and the bizarre “dog shoots person” story in western Nebraska.

The post Episode 594 – BWCA rescue and smallmouth bass, new MN muskie plan, photography tips, corner crossing appeared first on Outdoor News.

Tim Lesmeister and Rob Drieslein start the show recapping the 2026 Legislative session, which ended last Sunday. The big news is that Outdoor Heritage Fund dollars passed by the skin of their teeth. Then Mark Neuzil, a journalism professor emeritus from the University of St. Thomas and hard-core Boundary Waters advocate, shares the relatively short history of smallmouth bass in northeastern Minnesota. Stan Tekiela returns for the second straight week to talk about the recent cougar sightings in northern Minnesota and the grizzly bear headlines in the Western United States. Lesmeister and Drieslein wrap up with the announcement of the 2026 Outdoor News Person of the Year.

The post Episode 593 – MN legislative recap, BWCA smallies, cougars and bears, our 2026 Person of the Year appeared first on Outdoor News.