Eric Morken is a sports and outdoor editor at the Echo Press Newspaper in Alexandria, Minnesota, a property of the Forum News Service. Morken covers a variety of stories throughout the Douglas County area, as well as statewide outdoor issues.

Morken has been with the Echo Press since graduating with a journalism degree from Augustana College (now Augustana University) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 2007. Before that, he grew up in the town of Cottonwood, Minnesota.

Contact him at emorken@echopress.com or by phone at 320-763-1229. Follow him on Twitter @echo_sports.

Languages: English

Eric Morken details steps he took to train his black lab, Gus, to track big game this summer to use in making recoveries after a shot. Gus has a background in pheasant hunting. He took to the training quite easily, and has helped on two successful track jobs so far this season.
The Perham football team fell to Osakis on homecoming. The Yellowjackets fell to 3-3 on the season.
Don't let weather be the primary decision-maker on whether or not you get in the woods this fall. A look at what science says about this and some examples of "bad-weather" bucks.
Tyler Stone was an integral part of the West Central Area-Ashby football team that finished second at the state tournament in 2021. Coaches describe him as a fun-loving personality, and a terrific teammate as friends and family mourn another tragedy in the WCA community after Stone died in a car accident on Sept. 11, 2022.
A slight move after seeing two good bucks together on the first evening sit in North Dakota on Sept. 3 leads to a 2-yard shot from 8 feet high in the tree. Video and written details of what worked for Morken on opening weekend.
Eric Morken of Northland Outdoors scouts ahead of the Sept. 2 archery deer opener in North Dakota as he shows detailed maps and breaks down some of his favorite setups in this video.
Standing corn is often talked about as a detriment to deer hunters, to the point where some won't even go into the woods until corn is harvested. Eric Morken of Northland Outdoors details examples of getting on high numbers of does to big bucks around standing corn, along with specifics on how to hunt corn as an archer.
Neither Lake Ida or Lake Charley northwest of Alexandria are stocked with muskies by the Minnesota DNR, but a connection to Lake Miltona means some of the big fish make their way in. Park Rapids native Tayden George has quite a fish story to tell after landing a muskie near 50 inches long while fishing the channel that connects the two lakes.
In this video from Northland Outdoors, Eric Morken breaks down his setup for hunting out of a saddle and the top three reasons he loves this style of hunting over the hang-on stands he used for so many years.
Teams from Parkers Prairie and Howard Lake played the first-ever softball game under the American Legion umbrella in Minnesota on May 30, 2022. Minnesota becomes the sixth state in the country to have a softball league sanctioned by the American Legion. It's the start of a new opportunity that many players and coaches have wanted for a long time.