One of Three Wisconsin Teens Sentenced in Waupaca Poaching Case 🧑‍⚖️

Welcome to the Wednesday edition of the newsletter. If you’re still with us, that means you’ve made it to the middle of yet another week.

With that said, let’s all take a minute to grab a coffee or whiskey and get this mid-week dispatch out the door.

Here's what's worth reading about this morning:

ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO
ONE OF THREE WISCONSIN TEENS SENTENCED IN WAUPACA POACHING CASE

Less than six months after three central Wisconsin teenagers were formally charged with a string of illegal deer and raccoon shootings that spanned from spring through late September 2025, one of the defendants has been sentenced.

Ian Johnson, 18, of Amherst, appeared in Waupaca County Circuit Court yesterday and pleaded no contest to one count of resisting or obstructing a conservation warden. Three other criminal counts, including a pair of charges for illegal shining, were dismissed but read into the record for sentencing purposes…

🦌 Oregon Overhauls Eastern Mule Deer Hunts with New Herd-Based Areas and 9% Tag Reduction for 2026. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is making big moves when it comes to mule deer hunting in the Eastern portion of the state due to declining populations. Starting this fall, the agency is replacing the old Wildlife Management Units (circa the 1950s) with 43 new Deer Hunt Areas aligned with actual mule deer herd ranges and year-round biology. This shift, in development since 2005, aims to better reflect how deer move across the landscape rather than outdated political boundaries.

ODFW Mule Deer Coordinator Josh Smith noted the changes will include a 9% overall reduction in available deer tags to match current population estimates, buck ratios, habitat conditions, and to allow better escapement for bucks. Hunters must apply by the May 15 controlled hunt deadline and should familiarize themselves with the new area names, boundaries (viewable on an ODFW interactive map), and updated structures. Preference points remain unchanged, and apps like onX have already been updated. No major changes are expected for hunters with existing points, but ODFW is urging early applications to avoid confusion.

🐏 Texas Aoudad Population Explodes to Over 20,000 Threatening Native Desert Bighorn Sheep. Back in the late 1950s, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department intentionally released 71 aoudad (aka Barbary sheep) into the Texas Panhandle to, you know, create more hunting opportunities. Well, that small group has since exploded to more than 20,000 animals across West Texas, including the Trans-Pecos region, where they now overlap with habitat used by native desert bighorn sheep.

Aoudad reproduce much faster than bighorns, often producing twins a couple times a year, and compete directly for forage. In addition to hogging all the food, they are also suspected carriers of diseases like pneumonia, which devastated desert bighorn numbers, dropping the statewide population from around 1,500 in 2019 to about 730 by 2025. A new contagious eye infection (pinkeye) is now spreading among aoudad, raising further concerns for bighorns. To combat the invasion, Texas passed a 2025 law allowing year-round aerial hunting of aoudad on private land with no bag limits. And maybe now’s as good a time as ever to fire up the choppers, boys.

🐟 Wisconsin DNR Cuts Musky Stocking by 70 Percent and Closes Fish Hatcheries Over Spending Authority Dispute. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is making some deep cuts to fish stocking and hatchery operations due to a lack of spending authority for funds transferred into the fish and wildlife account. Without approval from the Republican-controlled Joint Committee on Finance, the agency is moving forward with reductions, including closing the Brule and Osceola state fish hatcheries in northern Wisconsin.

Overall fish stocking will drop by more than 500,000 fish (or about 11%), with muskies seeing a 70 percent cut of about 40,000 fish and walleyes reduced by 45 percent or nearly 300,000 fish. These changes stem from an ongoing structural deficit in the fish and wildlife account, despite a $30 million transfer from the forestry account in last year’s budget. Additional cuts to monitoring, habitat work, and wildlife programs (including pheasant stocking) are planned unless the committee grants authority by July 1.

⛳️ When those bunkers finally become useful. At least to this bobcat who ambushed a group of ducks up on the green and came out with a nice little meal for himself.

Fore!

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