Mississippi River Information
- Mississippi Home Page
- About the Mississippi
- Restoring the River
- Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment
- FAQS, Maps, and Info
- Learning and Teaching
- Visiting the Mississippi
- Mississippi River Team
Animals and Plants
Other DNR Resources
Watershed Planning
Contacts
- Mississippi Teams
- Customer Service and Licensing
- Watershed Program
- Fish Program Contacts
- Groundwater, Drinking Water Contacts
- Partners and Links
Mississippi River Wildlife
The Upper Mississippi River is home to a diverse assortment of wildlife that find habitat in its backwaters, sloughs, wetlands and bottomland forest. The Mississippi River Team works closely with other conservation agencies along the Mississippi, particularly the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the adjoining state Departments of Natural Resources to mange and monitor wildlife. Citizen groups also play an important role.
Waterfowl Aerial Survey Results
Each week during fall migration, biologists fly the Mississippi River to count the number of waterfowl using Pools 4- 13 of the Refuge. Due to survey techniques, the number of waterfowl counted only provides trend information, which is not necessarily the total number of waterfowl in a specific pool. Note - you will leave the DNR Web site when you click on the link. Aerial Waterfowl Survey Results (exit DNR link to USFWS)
Mississippi River Hunting and Trapping Information.
Where is it legal to hunt with a Wisconsin license? You may hunt with a Wisconsin hunting license only in open hunting areas within Wisconsin. The commercial navigation channel, marked with large red or black buoys, is the state line in most places. A few exceptions exist where the main channel of the river was moved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after the Wisconsin state line was established.
Although hunting opportunities for deer, squirrels and wild turkeys are present along the Mississippi River corridor, waterfowl receive the most attention from hunters. The Mississippi is one of Wisconsin’s best waterfowl hunting destinations due to an abundance of public land, great scenery and good numbers of ducks. Waterfowl foods are most abundant in the area from Trempealeau to Lynxville (Pools 7, 8 and 9). As a result, these areas harbor the most ducks. They are also the most heavily hunted areas along the river.
Boaters should pay especially close attention to wind and other weather conditions, particularly in late fall if they are traveling on large areas of open water. Numerous stumps and other navigation hazards are also present, so boaters need to be more careful than on lakes or deep marshes.
- Fish, Wildlife, & Habitat for the Future
- WI DNR Wildlife Management information
- Hunting
- Fisheries, Wildlife, and Habitat Management Plan for Wisconsin 2007 - 2013, June 2007 Version
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
RSS