Brad Dokken
Brad Dokken is outdoors editor for the Herald. He writes and edits the outdoors and usually has a column for Sunday's outdoor section.Contact
Articles
OUTDOOR NOTES: Governor to sign Michigan wolf bill 
Michigan’s Republican-led state House passed legislation Thursday that could block voters from deciding whether to allow wolf hunting in Michigan.
Longtime North Dakota game warden calls it a career
Gary Rankin has been a fixture in eastern N.D. since joining Game and Fish Department in 1977
Becoming an Outdoors Woman proves to be a memorable adventure for mother and daughter
Cheri and Madelyn Petersen had done “a little bit” of fishing, including a charter boat trip for salmon on Lake Michigan, but they’d never tangled with anything like the behemoth that now was sending large bubbles to the surface from the murky depths of the Rainy River.
RELATED CONTENTTALKIN WITH DOKKEN: Will the ice melt fast enough for walleye opener
Brad Dokken answers the question: So is the ice going to be off Minnesota’s lakes in time for Saturday’s walleye opener?
TALKIN WITH DOKKEN: Underwater cameras
Brad Dokken answers the question: Do the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources or the North Dakota Game and Fish Department offer underwater cameras to watch spawning fish?
BRAD DOKKEN: N.D. conservation groups dodge bullet
Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever survive push to remove them from Heritage Fund board.
RELATED CONTENTLake of the Woods' Rocky Point boat access moves toward reality
A DNR official says developing a road to the site, which is located off Lake of the Woods County Road 17 north of Roosevelt, Minn., has been a key reason for the delay.
N.D. proposes another cut in deer licenses
Northeast hunting units will see biggest reduction.
Northwest Minnesota schools make marks in state clay target league
About 35 Thief River Falls students participate in a co-ed trapshooting program offered through the Minnesota State High School Clay Target League. This is the first year the young Thief River Falls shooters have participated in the league, and organizers say interest has far exceeded their expectations.
RELATED CONTENTMinnesota clay target league founder sees welcome turnaround
Shooting clubs welcome increase in younger members.
RELATED CONTENTColumns
New Web site seeks northwestern Minnesota moose sightings
The Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota-Duluth recently launched a Web site (www.nrri.umn.edu/moose) for the public to report moose sightings.
RELATED CONTENTManitoba side of the Red River serves up catfish mayhem
Reports from the Manitoba side of the Red River have been hard to come by this summer. Fast flows and high water levels earlier in the summer are factors. So, too, are U.S. passport requirements and the sluggish economy. I’m here to report the fishing is as good as I’ve seen it.
RELATED CONTENTThe 'Summer That Wasn't' (so far) is spiraling toward fall
I’m not ready to let go of summer because I don’t feel we’ve really had one yet. It seems as if we get four bad-weather days for every nice day. If it’s not raining, it’s cool; if it’s not windy, it’s cloudy.
RELATED CONTENTNew N.D. record channel catfish surprises even the experts
It seemed just a matter of time that North Dakota's 33-pound, 4-ounce channel catfish record would fall. Of course, everyone thought the record would come from the Red River. But Moon Lake?
RELATED CONTENTMuskie business: The hunt for success north of the border
Spur-of-the-moment muskie-fishing trip to the Ontario side
of Lake off the Woods serves up plenty of memorable encounters
Ask any muskie fanatic, and they’ll say it’s not about numbers. Instead, they’ll talk about the hunt, the thrill of the strike, the heart-stopping adrenalin rush of seeing a huge fish appear next to the boat, seemingly out of nowhere.
Old leaky fishing boat serves up wealth of great memories
It’s not the nicest boat in the world, this 1950s-vintage Larson, but in the realm of my fishing experience, at least, there’s not a rig on the water that’s served up more good times than the old 14-foot piece of aluminum.
RELATED CONTENTOperation Muskie: A way to say thanks to soldiers who've served in Iraq and Afghanistan
Headquartered at Walsh’s Bay Store Camp on Oak Island of Lake of the Woods, Operation Muskie is a way to say thanks to soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, organizers say.
RELATED CONTENTBoatload of hope in '99 becomes the reality of today on Red Lake
The stocking that spring marked the first step in a recovery plan state and tribal officials had signed off on barely a month earlier, in April 1999, to replenish a walleye population driven to the point of collapse by years of commercial over-netting in tribal waters and too much hook-and-line harvest in the state’s 48,000-acre share of the lake.
RELATED CONTENTHot catfishing on the Red triggers talk of new state record
Already this spring, there’ve been reports of record-breaking cats, including chatter in the forum of a popular North Dakota hunting and fishing Web site, where a fisherman posted photos of himself holding a Red River cat he says measured 44 inches and “unofficially” weighed 35 pounds.
RELATED CONTENTOld sturgeon has familiar look to DNR fisheries biologists
The sturgeon initially was tagged May 11, 1995 in the Rapid River and was estimated at the time to be 45 years old. The database also showed that DNR crews had reported sampling the sturgeon May 20, 2005 and April 30, 2007 — in the Rapid River in both cases.
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