NorthWestern Energy, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, and the Bureau of Land Management, in partnership with River Design Group, have completed a project to improve trout habitat in an area of the lower Madison River.

The recreational harvest season for snook closes Dec. 1 in all west coast snook management regions (Panhandle, Big Bend, Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay, Charlotte Harbor and Southwest) and on Dec. 15 in all east coast snook management regions (Southeast, Indian River Lagoon and Northeast).

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks game wardens are seeking information on a black bear cub that was shot and left to waste on U.S. Forest Service land west of Stevensville in the Bitterroot Valley. The incident took place near Silverthorn Creek off the St. Mary Peak Road.

Wildlife Forever announces the continuation of its partnership with the Guy Harvey Foundation for the 2025–26 Art of Conservation® Fish Art Contest. Through the Guy Harvey Shark Award, this special contest category celebrates the power of art to inspire appreciation and action for shark conservation.

Bowhunters seeking the utmost in hunting arrows the Easton Match Grade Pro Shop Series lineup. Crafted in the USA with Easton's exclusive Acu-Carbon process, every Match Grade arrow offers bowhunters the ultimate in confidence-building accuracy.

GRITR Sports & Outdoors announces a new partnership with Born Primitive, a globally recognized lifestyle and athletic apparel brand. This partnership will see Born Primitive's product range available across GRITR's online stores as well as on Amazon.

In observance of the Thanksgiving holiday, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network will not be publishing on Thursday, November 27 or Friday, November 28. Releases received after 2:00pm Eastern Time today, Tuesday, November 25, are not guaranteed to make Wednesday's editions. If the releases are not time-sensitive, they will be included in our editions beginning Monday, December 1, 2025. We wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.

Chunks of venison are shown cooking in a frying pan, along with cooking ingredients nearby, at a recent deer processing workshop in Detroit.

In October, the Department of Natural Resources Outdoor Adventure Center in Detroit partnered with Hunters Feeding Michigan and The Mushroom Conservatory to host the first deer processing workshop in Detroit.

Field dressing do's and don'ts, how to process a whole deer and venison cooking demonstrations were the major topics covered in the workshop.

Participants in a recent deer processing workshop crowd around the open back of a refrigerated truck to receive instruction.

“This workshop was also a great opportunity to highlight how the Hunters Feeding Michigan program processors are willing to give back to the community through venison donations and by teaching others the art of deer processing,” Joe Presgrove, Hunters Feeding Michigan program specialist, said.

The idea for the workshop grew out of a meeting between Outdoor Adventure Center and Hunters Feeding Michigan staff last summer. HFM staff hosted part of its multi-day regional meeting with deer donation programs from other states at the OAC.

“I have had the goal of hosting hunting workshops here since 2022,” said Patrick Endres, OAC educational programmer. “The biggest hurdle that stopped us from hosting a workshop at the OAC was the logistics of getting a deer to process.”

HFM staff provided a donated deer for the workshop. They were also able to recruit one of their volunteer processors to demonstrate butchering techniques.

The remaining topic for the workshop was a venison cooking demonstration.

Erin Hamilton, owner and founder of The Mushroom Conservatory, had previously attended a special event at the OAC. At that event, she shared with staff that she was a certified chef and enjoyed cooking wild game for the public.

An external photograph is shown of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Outdoor Adventure Center in Detroit.

With the support of all these groups the workshop was scheduled.

Advancing hunting skills

Why are DNR hunting workshops important? They are helping to meet the growing requests from Michigan residents for intermediate and advanced hunting courses.

That was the overwhelming motivation for most of the participants attending the deer processing workshop. All the participants that attended the workshop were adults, and they were just starting to become hunters.

“Seeing participants challenge themselves to learn more hunting skills and becoming new hunters later in life is so rewarding because this was my story too,” Endres said. “Next-step hunting classes are a common request I get on my post-hunter education field day surveys, and they are willing to travel pretty far to learn these skills too.”

One participant traveled from Grand Rapids to attend this workshop.

Participants receive classroom instruction during a deer processing workshop at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Outdoor Adventure Center in Detroit.

In addition to providing the deer for the workshop, Presgrove was able to recruit Randy Davis, a volunteer deer processor from St. Johns, Michigan to help teach the class.

Davis has been processing wild game and agricultural animals since he was a teenager, helping his father with his butchering business.

Davis went through skinning, quartering and deboning meat. One of the goals of this section of the workshop was to make the process less intimidating and for participants to walk away thinking they could use tools and utensils in their own kitchens.

Participants gobbled up the information and asked Davis great questions.

“Randy was great! I've been hunting for years, and I learned new techniques for removing meat from the bone I will use in the future,” said William Knafl, a workshop participant.

The workshop also attracted nonhunters.

Workshop participant Jackie Hoskins said she was interested in taking the class to “learn new outdoor skills she wouldn't normally use.”

Hoskins, a promotional agent for the DNR, and the other participants were also excited to try venison.

Hamilton, like Davis, wanted to make her section easy for participants to replicate in their own kitchens. She used simple ingredients like thyme, garlic, salt and coconut oil to highlight the amazing taste of venison.

The deer processing workshop class is shown at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Outdoor Adventure Center in Detroit.

“We chose popular cuts of venison that a lot of hunters prefer so we could highlight how good it tastes,” Endres said. “All the participants left with a satisfied belly and a brain full of tips and tricks for processing deer.”

One deer can provide 160 servings of high-quality protein.

What's next?

The team that put this workshop together is already planning the 2026 schedule.

“Leading up to this workshop, I was asked if we could do this this workshop for scouts and other new hunter groups,” Endres said.

– Michigan Department of Natural Resources

To learn about upcoming cooking demonstrations with Erin Hamilton, visit The Mushroom Conservatory Facebook page. To learn more about how you can donate financially or with a deer, visit Michigan.gov/HuntersFeedingMichigan.

On this of The Choice on Pursuit Channel, RJ and Aubrey, joined by Ralph and Vicki, chase gorgeous black bears with Trophy West in B.C.

Keith Warren put  Pyramyd Air's brand-new Seneca Tactical Dragon Claw .50 Cal Air Gun to the test on one of the most unique and difficult to hunt animals at G2 Ranch—the Nilgai antelope.