Emergency hatchery funding

Plus: Rustic roads, North Country Trail, and Elk hunting

Author

Forrest Koslowski
May 21, 2026

Wiscampsin Weekly brought to you by:

Mornin’ to everyone interested in the “Great Wisconsin Stork Rescue” (our terminology). This is the Wiscampsin Weekly, the email that gets you in the know on the Wisconsin outdoors in 5 minutes or less. New reader? Subscribe here.

This week’s weekly:

🛣️ 2026 Rustic Roads Guide hits the shelves

🥾 North Country Trail gets a Lake Superior upgrade

🦌 Elk tag applications close end of May

🐟 STORY OF THE WEEK: Emergency funding for hatchery

🛣️ 2026 Rustic Roads Guide hits the shelves LINK

  • Governor Evers and WisDOT just dropped the 2026 Rustic Roads Guide, your free pocket map to all 126 Rustic Roads and five Scenic Byways winding through 61 Wisconsin counties.

  • Born back in 1973, the program covers roughly 760 miles of lightly traveled country roads — think rugged terrain, native critters, and barn-dotted vistas, all capped at a leisurely 45 mph.

  • Whether you're rolling through by car, motorcycle, or bicycle, it's a slow-down-and-look-around kind of trip. Grab a free copy at travelwisconsin.com or call 1-800-432-8747. Sunday drive sorted.

🥾 North Country Trail gets a Lake Superior upgrade LINK

  • A new 213-acre land acquisition in Iron County will finally get North Country Trail hikers off the road and onto a real footpath where the trail crosses from Michigan into Wisconsin.

  • The stretch between Saxon Harbor County Park and the Montreal River packs in views of Superior Falls, Lake Superior shoreline, and a slice of history — it sits along the old Flambeau Trail and a 19th-century fur trading post run by John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company.

  • The Trust for Public Land purchased the parcel and handed it over to the National Park Service, with rerouting work to follow. Local officials expect a nice bump in foot traffic to Saxon Harbor too. A gem in the making, oh yah.

🦌 Elk tag applications close end of May LINK

  • Hunters dreaming of a Wisconsin bull elk have until the end of May to get their 2026 elk license application in — and remember, residents can only draw one in their entire lifetime.

  • The $10 fee feeds right back into elk management, monitoring, research, and habitat work, with only a handful of permits issued each year.

  • The Northern Zone quota is eight bull elk (subject to a 50% declaration by the Ojibwe tribes under treaty rights), while the Central Zone is set at six bulls and six antlerless. Winners head through a mandatory hunter ed course before chasing their once-in-a-lifetime shot.

Please give our sponsors a click!

WOAH: 50% off ice cream at local creameries

If you like ice cream, exploring local Wisconsin creameries, or simply need to get out of ‘da house, check out the 2026 Ice Cream Passport from Venture Wisconsin:

The Deal: Get 50% off two treats at over 110 legendary shops

The Route: From Madison custard to Northwoods gems, it’s the perfect road trip excuse

The Perk: Valid through 2026 for maximum dairy-coma potential

🐟 STORY OF THE WEEK: Emergency funding for hatchery LINK

Grab a drink, because Wisconsin politics just got incredibly wild over a century-old fish hatchery. The state Department of Natural Resources dropped a massive bombshell recently, casually announcing they were going to have to shut down the beloved Brule State Fish Hatchery because they were completely broke. Anglers and outdoorsy folks across the state instantly panicked, because losing Brule meant slashing the local trout and walleye stocking by devastating margins. It was shaping up to be an absolute disaster for anyone who loves spending their weekends out on the water.

But right when it looked like lights out for the fish, state lawmakers swooped in just in the nick of time like an action movie hero. In a rare moment of total agreement, the Joint Committee on Finance unanimously voted to give the DNR $4 million in emergency spending authority. This massive lifeline officially keeps the Brule hatchery open and running through the 2026-2027 fiscal year.

Of course, it wouldn’t be politics without a healthy dose of petty drama. The moment the money was approved, the finger-pointing started. Democrats on the committee blasted the Republican majority for dragging their feet and creating a manufactured crisis. Meanwhile, Republicans fired right back, claiming the DNR sat on this budget emergency for nine whole months without saying a word, only to suddenly threaten a "preposterous" shutdown out of nowhere.

While the politicians argue over who messed up the paperwork, the good news is that the Brule hatchery is safe for now, and your future fishing trips are secure. However, the drama isn't entirely over—the nearby Osceola hatchery is still facing a rocky future, so we aren't completely out of the woods yet. But for today, we can celebrate the win for anglers everywhere.

Now get out 'der.

WISCAMPSIN WEEKLY POLL

Last Week's Trivia Check

We asked why snapping turtles are physically unable to fully hide inside their shells. This one split the room perfectly! We had an exact tie, with 35% of you correctly guessing the shell size, while another 35% were tricked into thinking it was a fused spine. As a reader perfectly summed it up: "Their shell is really small for the size of their body."

The Correct Answer: Their bottom shell (plastron) is tiny and cross-shaped, leaving them exposed.

The Takeaway: Snappers have literally "outgrown" their clothes. Because their bottom shell is so incredibly small, they can't physically pull their chunky heads and legs inside to hide. Since they can't retreat from danger on land, they have to rely on a good old-fashioned aggressive offense!

This Week's Trivia

As the inland lakes finally warm up in late May, a very specific phenomenon is appearing in the shallows. If you look closely at sandy or gravelly shorelines right now, the bottom often looks like a miniature moonscape covered in dozens of tightly packed, circular "craters."

Which Wisconsin fish creates these densely packed, communal nesting colonies in the shallows during its spring spawn?

Give it a gut check and click a response below:

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

A review from the trail… Perfect score, heck ya!

Well, how'd we do this week?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Reply

or to participate.