March 3, 2025 • 31 mins
This week, Cal talks about big wildlife crime sentencing in Montana, state legislation you need to know, fur fashion, and so much more.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
From Meat Eaters World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This
is Cow's Week in Review with Ryan cow Calai. Here's cal.
The Wall Street Journal reports that after years of slumping sales,
fur clothing is back in style. The trend is being
driven primarily by young people purchasing quote vintage clothing products,
(00:32):
which eighties kids knew as used clothing. As listener Bob
Nielsen pointed out to me in an email, young people
these days are all about organic, renewable, sustainably harvest and biodegradable.
Animal fur products are all of those things. So we'll
see if this trend lasts long enough to give a
little boost to the fur market. Peda, of course, is furious,
(00:55):
but even the Peda folks have a plastic spoons worth
of microplastics accumulated it in their brains or blood or cement,
depending on who you talk to. Oddly enough, putting my
hat on as a clothing manufacturer, high loft synthetic fleece
garments are relatively huge microplastic polluters. All those less than
five millimeters long threads of polyester loft are indeed plastic,
(01:20):
and they flush out of your washing machine regularly. If
you're interested in your personal impact, don't wash your fleece
garments as often. Definitely hang onto that jacket for the
life of the garment. As we say in the West,
duct tape is hit man. Microplastic filters are available for
your washing machine. Microplastic catching bags designed for the laundry
(01:42):
cycle are available. And always try to find a place
to recycle that old jacket when you're done with it
outside of that city. Water filtration is our best hope
to catch that teeny tiny trash that and you know,
hear me out natural with fur this week, legislation, layoffs,
(02:04):
hunt science, listener mail, and so much more. But first
I'm gonna tell you about my week, and my week
has been a whirlwind. Gang got to jump on skis
with a bunch of folks from the Meat Eater HQ
office here in bos Angelus, and man, it was amazing
how much more you like your coworkers when you're all
outside getting some exercise. Skiing was awesome. Then, of course,
(02:28):
the next day our three feet of snow accumulation was
knocked into a river by the Chinook winds and fifty
plus degree temp. That's temp swing of about twenty below zero.
To positive fifteen seventy two hours. We were looking for
a break. It was coming down a little little steady
for the four hoovid critters. I'm positive we'll get some
(02:49):
more winter here, but spring is going to be the thing,
right like winter weekend. Spring kills is definitely something I
believe in and ideally we're going to get. We're going
to lay off the freezing rain here this spring. Give
everybody nice ease into some green grass. Moving on to
(03:09):
the legislative desk, Lots of action in Kentucky these days.
Old Kentuck First Senate Bill eighty nine would follow several
other states and in diminishing clean water protections. Current law
requires state officials to protect waters of the Commonwealth, which
includes a broad swath of rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and groundwater.
(03:31):
In practice, this requires businesses, industries, and individuals to obtain
permets that ensure they aren't poisoning or damaging waterways. But
SB eighty nine would narrow those protections. Under this bill,
only those waters that are defined as navigable waters under
the Federal Clean Water Act would be eligible for protection.
This would exclude all ground water as well as the
(03:53):
upper reaches of stream and river systems in Kentucky. Degrading
protections for waterways impacts everything you do as hunters and anglers,
from fishing to waterfowl hunting to whitetail hunting. These species
all rely on water, as do we, and allowing those
waters to be polluted isn't good for any of them.
SB eighty nine passed the Senate on a thirty to
(04:14):
five vote and is now in the House. It could
move forward at any time, so it's critical that you
contact your legislators as soon as you listen to this.
Definitely look up Kentucky backcountry hunters and anglers too. The
Rhode Island legislature is considering banning so called assault weapons.
HB five four three six and SO three five nine
(04:37):
defines an assault weapon as a semi automatic rifle that
can accept a detachable magazine and has one of the
scary features associated with air fifteen's and other similar rifles.
This is the same kind of band we've seen in
other states like California, New Jersey, New York. Thanks to
listener Ken Bottow for sending this one. In speaking a
(04:59):
gun bands, the Colorado Senate passed a first in the
nation ban on a wide swath of semi automatic rifles, pistols,
and shotguns. Rather than taking the Rhode Island approach, this
bill ban's most kinds of gas operated semi automatic firearms
if they can accept a detachable magazine. The Senate amended
the bill to allow residents to continue purchasing these firearms
(05:20):
if they undergo an extensive background check and training process,
but gun rights advocates still warnant it will set a
dangerous precedent for gun bans moving forward. It's now headed
to the House where it's expected to pass by a
wide margin. There's still things that you can do. Contact
your state rep. You can certainly reach out to the
governor as well. Gun bills are tricky gang they seem
(05:43):
to only matter to those who follow the law anyway.
Listener Grant Carston's sent me a bill he's concerned about
in Iowa that would eliminate the Natural Resource and Outdoor
Recreation Trust Fund. This fund is used to help state
and local agencies and private landowners pay for projects that
protect wildlife, fisheries, and recreational opportunities. But Sjr. Six would
(06:04):
eliminate that fund and use the money for property tax relief.
There's a similar bill here in Montana. Habitat funding is important.
Get on the horn with your rep. Listener. Matt Gamble
sent me two bills from his neck of the woods.
In Oklahoma, Senate Bill one zero seven to three creates
five special permits each year that may be co branded
(06:24):
with the Governor's office to be auctioned, raffled, or obtained
through lottery. Problem is, the money generated from these contests
doesn't have to go back to the state Game Agency
for conservation. Also in the sooner, State House Bill twelve
forty two would add servids to the list of livestock
eligible for a farm tax exemption. Matt is concerned about
(06:46):
this one because it doesn't specify that only captive servids
would qualify for the tax exemption. It would be reasonable
to assume so, since the bill states that the exemption
would apply it to servids sold at auction, but labeling
any deer as livestock could jeopardize the ability of the
Fish and Wildlife Agency to manage that animal. And if
the money generated from auction or raffle tags don't go
(07:10):
back to the animals, then there is no point to them.
That is the entire point that's the genesis of that
whole program, which, as you know, I'm constantly at odds
with what the heck. In Vermont, H one p. Thirty
two would prohibit a person from taking a fur bearer
by gun, bow and arrow or crossbow with the use
of bait. I've heard from trappers up there that this
(07:32):
could put a serious damper on the fur harvest. Finally,
just across the state line in New Hampshire, legislators have
once again proposed a bill that would strip the Fishing
Game Commission of its regulatory authority. HB two zero two
would make the Commission an advisory body only and transfer
all decision making power to the executive director of the agency,
(07:54):
who is a political appoint ee. Moving on to the
hunting sciences, scientific studies don't always give you a leg
up in the field, but it's nice when they do.
For example, a new study from the Deer Lab at
Mississippi State University claims to debunk what many whitetail hunters
believe about the moon's effect on deer movement. You've probably heard,
(08:17):
and maybe you believe yourself, that the moon's phase and
its position relative to the Earth determines how much deer
moved during the day. One common explanation is that when
the moon is full, deer travel more at night because
they can see better. This supposedly translates to less movement
during the day and lower odds of success for hunters.
If you've ever stayed in bed during a full moon
(08:39):
because you assume the bucks have all betted down for
the day, I have bad news. Researchers at MSU tracked
forty eight collared bucks, many of which were mature, from
September one to February twenty eight in Mississippi. They found
that even during the moon phase and location that should
have resulted in the most deer movement, the deer only
increased their movement by four yards per hour during these times.
(09:02):
They also observed zero change in the time the deer
spent betted. For context, these bucks averaged two hundred and
sixty five yards of travel per hour over an entire season,
so a four yard difference is essentially zero statistically speaking.
In fact, that's how one researcher summarized their findings. They
found zero correlation between moon phase and location and how
(09:25):
much those forty eight mississip bucks traveled or betted if
I was a betting man, I'd wager that Mississippi bucks
aren't weird outliers. I think this applies to all white
tail no matter where you live. As Adam Moore recommends
in his article covering this study at the media dot Com,
deer hunters can go ahead and throw out their lunar
calendar focus instead on the things we know impact deer movement, temperature,
(09:48):
availability of food and water, and of course, the rut
and other hunting Science News University of Florida researchers identified
what they say our host posts of burm these pythons.
Pythons are invasive to Florida and have been extremely damaging
to native wildlife and ecosystems. At the same time, python
hunting has also become a popular pastime for many Floridians.
(10:12):
Biologists and state officials want to do everything they can
to help python hunters be successful, which is why they
embark on this study to find python honey holes. Researchers
collected sixteen thousand hours of hunting data from hunters who
agreed to be tracked by GPS. Pythons are difficult to catch,
but two areas stood out because a relatively small group
(10:33):
of hunters caught lots of snakes. So you Florida python hunters,
listen up, I'm about to give you one heck of
a hot tip. One python hotspot is located along the
western edge of Big Cypress National Preserve and Collier County.
The other is in the southern portion of Palm Beach
County in Stormwater Treatment Area three DASH four that's about
twenty four miles south of Belglade and adjacent to the
(10:57):
Holy Land Wildlife Management Area eight. Hunters have been extremely
successful in these locations, which means they contain a large
population with snakes. Hopefully it's not that there's a large
population in between those points and that's where they're coming out.
In addition to identifying python hotspots, the study also identified
the best time to go snake hunting. It conferred what
(11:19):
most snake hunters believe that night time between eight and
two AM is optimal. Researchers also determined that the May
to October wet season is best. In the month of
August had the highest number of catches. Of course, some
of his data might simply be correlated to when snake
hunters rather than snakes, are most active, but they also
debunked some accepted wisdom. Nighttime hunts are generally more successful,
(11:44):
but daytime hunts can still yield results, especially during cold
snaps when the average daily temperature is fifty degrees or lower.
On those days, pythons will often slink out of the
underbrush to sun themselves on levees or roads. Now, before
anyone gets mad at me or these researchers for spot burning,
keep in mind that Burmese pythons don't belong in Florida.
(12:06):
They're a real problem for wildlife and habitat, and the
more successful hunters can be, the better for the native critters.
Unlike most hunting opportunities, the goal here is to eliminate
the hunt entirely, eradication, not recreation. Moving on to the
federal workforest desk. Quick update on the public land employee
(12:30):
story we've been following. About a week after the Feds
announced that they were firing over three thousand Forest Service
employees and over one thousand National Park Service employees, they
appear to be backtracking a little bit. The Department of
Interior CENTIMMO last week to Park Service officials, allowing the
agency to hire seven seven hundred seasonal employees for twenty
(12:50):
twenty five. This is significant because that's about fourteen hundred
more seasonal employees than the Park Service has been able
to hire in recent years to help the Park Service
maintain and staff national parks in time for the busy
season over the summer. That's a good start, but it's
not a total reversal. There's no word on whether the
Forest Service will be able to hire more seasonal employees,
(13:12):
and this doesn't restore the jobs of the employees fired
two weeks ago. Those were full time employees on their
probationary period, but this memo only allows the Park Service
to hire more seasonal temporary employees. So it's a step
in the right direction, but it's not a complete win.
The good news is that the pressure appears to be working.
A new poll released last week found that seventy two
(13:34):
percent of the public in eight western states want their
federal officials to emphasize clean water, air, wildlife, and recreation
over oil and gas drilling on public land. Thousands of
you have also called and emailed those officials, and it's
time to keep it up. We need to make sure
the great folks who maintain our public land can continue
doing their jobs. If you want a clearer picture of
(13:54):
what these layoffs could mean for our federal public lands,
check out Eli Fournier's article over at the meeater dot com.
Unlike a lot of journalists, he actually spoke for a
service employees, and it debunks some of the misinformation that's
been circulating online. You know. Additionally, I would love to
just real briefly read you a recent post by this
(14:15):
buddy of mine named Steve. He posted an article related
to what we just talked about a guy who got rehired.
So I don't know this biologist, but I'm damn glad
to see it, damn glad to see him rehired. I'm
all for an America First agenda, but to me, that
means defending our public lands and public wildlife, which are
(14:37):
definitionally the property of all Americans. I get the need
to cut fraud and waste, but let's do it surgically
and in a way that doesn't threaten to derail ae
hundred years of American conservation success. Not gonna be a
big surprise to folks like That's definitely where I'm at.
I want you to understand that nobody likes waste. If
(14:59):
there is fraud, we don't want it. If there's corruption,
we don't want it. Just like in the conservation world,
when you select a conservation organization and donate your hard
earned cash to that conservation org you want that cash
to be used as efficiently as possible. That's darn sure
what I want when I pay my taxes every year. Right,
(15:22):
I'm sure you do too. You can want that, and
you can want your public lands to be well taken
care of. Users of public land understand that it's a
very dynamic situation. There's literal fires and floods and disease
epidemics and hurricane force wins, hailstorms, microbursts, ice jams, mudflows.
(15:46):
What else am I forgetting? All of these things that
are are nature? Right? And they reshuffle the deck all
the time. So I think it's important to understand that
there's always kind of like a social contract on our
public lands. Nobody should expect to leave a piece of
trash someplace and have a park service or forest service
(16:06):
or BLM employee pick it up or come by and
bury your own human waste. And that also means that
I myself, an unpaid citizen of the United States, has
cut a lot of trees out of trails, and there's
certain sections of trail that just are not going to
see like a Forest Service trail crew because other areas
(16:28):
are in higher demand. So one thing that perturbs me
is seeing this dialogue of like, oh I never see anybody,
it doesn't exist. Whatever. These are big places, they're wild places.
I'm a firm believer we need these people out there.
I'll tell you right now, like there's a serious, serious
(16:48):
lack of law enforcement in these places that are near
and dear to my heart. But there is law enforcement
out there, and that alone does make a difference. You know, myself,
as an old guide in a lot of these wild places,
will tell you that the social enforcement was probably more
(17:10):
consistent than a lot of law enforcement in some places,
meaning that if we were floating a river and saw
something illegal, you know, we couldn't write a ticket, but
we'd darn sure row over there and just say, hey,
I'm sure you didn't know, but this section of river,
these are the regulations. Let's get rid of those travel
hooks or whatever the case was. This stream mouth is
(17:31):
not open for fishing. That's always going to be the case.
We're not looking to reinstate a bunch of people that
are going to totally take care of us and everything.
That's not realistic, and we don't want that, if I'm
being honest either. But there's a lot of darn good
folks out there who do a lot of good work,
(17:53):
especially if you're like a lot of friends of mine
who have young families, and you got to be closer
to those trailheads and campgrounds than I care to be.
Moving on to the crime desk, two Montana men were
sentenced last week four, among other things, spearing giant rainbow
(18:13):
trout in a display pond. Ty Lewis first caught the
attention to Montana Game Wardens when a rancher near Great
Falls reported last September that someone had shot a bull
elk on his property, cut off the head, and left
the rest of rot. Wardens were able to identify Lewis
because he'd been caught earlier in the week trespassing on
a neighboring ranch. When they interviewed him, he admitted to
killing the bowl, but also told wardens that one of
(18:35):
his buddies, Richard van Meter, had poached a different bowl
as well. This, by the way, is a great strategy
for all you poachers out there. Your crimes always look
better if you tell police that someone else committed the
same crime. Anyway, As is often the case, those two
bull elk were just the tip of the proverbial Iceberg
wardens interviewed several other people and soon learned that Lewis
(18:57):
and van Meter had poached at least four bowls, but
only cut the heads off two. They retrieved photographic evidence
of these crimes from van Meter's phone, and one photo
showed Lewis stabbing a bowl after he and Van Meter
ran out of bullets. There was also a photo of
van Meter with a poached black bear, which he admitted
to having shot on the same day as one of
the illegal elk hunts. And it wasn't just big game
(19:18):
that this dynamic duo were after. The wardens also found
photos of the two men with a stringer of dead
trout at the display pond of the Giant Springs Fish Hatchery.
It's unclear how many they took home, but game wardens
found that they'd left some of the fish dead while
others were still alive on the pavement. These men were
convicted and sentenced for their crimes earlier this month. Lewis
paid sixteen thousand dollars in fines and Van Meter paid
(19:41):
eight thousand dollars. Both will lose their hunting and fishing
privileges for twenty years. That is a steep sentence here
in Montana. I love seeing it. A Colorado hunting outfitter
has agreed to pay five hundred thousand dollars to settle
allegations that a group of their clients started a wildfire
that burned eight hundred and fifty acres in twenty nineteen.
(20:03):
The US Justice Department alleges that the fire, which became
known as the Cow Creek Fire, was started by a
woodburning stove at the Green Mountain Camp on their Uncompagre
National Forest. God Man, there's a killer hunting jacket named Uncompagre.
At the time, that camp was occupied by a group
of hunters who had paid Jackson Outfitters to use the
camp for a self guarded elk hunt. The FEDS claimed
(20:24):
the fire started when embers and other ignited material exited
a stovepipe attached to the woodburning stove and landed on
the ground, igniting dry vegetation. They say the stove was
not equipped with a functional properly installed spark arrester, which
is just a little mesh grate in your stovepipe that
catches those embers before they can shoot out the top.
(20:45):
And so the outfitter who owned the stove was at fault.
While no homes or buildings were destroyed by the fire,
the government incurred significant costs to put the fire out.
Jackson Outfitters did not have to admit any liability as
part of the settlement, but they still agreed to cop
up a cool half million. I don't know whether this
outfitter deserved foot this bill, but it should serve as
(21:05):
a warning for the rest of us. Whenever you go camping,
especially if it's out west, be sure you keep a
careful watch on your fire. You don't want to get
saddled with one of those firefighting bills. I think all
involved are lucky it was only eight hundred and fifty acres.
I do feel bad for the outfitter here, because gang,
you gotta know better. Sparks make fire. Figure it out.
(21:28):
If you can't figure that out, maybe don't be in
the woods. No, that's harsh, but come on, common sense. Coal.
A police officer in Pennsylvania has been charged with reckless
endangerment after he allegedly shot his hunting partner in the head.
Local media reports that Officer David Cowasmi of the Exeter
Township Police was hunting waterfowl with a group of buddies
(21:49):
near Ola Township. He told police that he saw goose
flying towards the rear of the blind and when he
turned around in the ah ram to fire, he accidentally
shot his hunting partner in the top of the Head's
buddy is still alive, but he had to undergo brain
surgery and is now unable to walk. Now, you might
be asking yourself how this could have happened. Even if
you have to turn around to fire behind you, you
(22:11):
shouldn't have to point the shotgun low enough to hit
the guy sitting next to you. Turns out, Kowasmi left
out a key detail in his statement to the police.
Four days after the incident, another member of the hunting
party contacted police and told them the group had been
taking shots of whiskey prior to taking shots at waterfowl.
The victim also confirmed this to police, which I'm sure
is part of the reason Kowosmi is being charged with
(22:33):
reckless endangerment. If he's honest and this turns out to
be true. You should thank his lucky star as he
was hunting with real buddies, or else he'd be getting manslaughter.
Moving on to the hunting rig edition of the mail Bag.
A few weeks ago, we asked you to send an
email in if he used something other than a truck
(22:53):
to hunt and transport game. Keefer Dukinski was the first
to respond. He sent me images of a small school
bus that he's converted into the ultimate hunting rig. He
can tow a mid sized pickup behind it, and he's
converted the inside into a living space that lets him
travel and hunt all over the country. He's headed to
Florida for Turkey, then he plans to move west to
(23:13):
Montana for spring black bear. After that, he wants to
hunt elk in Mule's wherever he can get a tag,
and he'll do it all on public land. That sounds
like a fantastic gear to me, and it looks like
he'll be darn comfortable in his hunting rig aka schoolie.
If you want to check it out for yourself, Keifer
is at Duge does it on the old Instagram. Looks
(23:34):
like a pretty sweet rig. There Keifer listener Rebecca Spring
send me an email about her jeep Renegade, which is
one of those small hatchback suv things. Rebecca says the
Renegade has hauled three antelope at once, bears deer, lots
of birds, and even an entire elk. She sent along
an image of the vehicle with an entire raft on top,
which is longer than the Renegade but looks pretty secure.
(23:56):
A lot to be said for small vehicles and hunting gang,
as you know. Don't get me started on minivans. Ken
Mitsui's unconventional hunting rig is even smaller. He has a
fifty mile commute to work, so he needs something fuel efficient,
but he also has two kids who both need room
for car seats. He lives in Maine, so he needs
something with all wheel drive. Settled on the hond to
(24:16):
see RV, which also turned out to be a great
hunting vehicle, he says he hasn't found a place yet
he can't access with it, and the back seats fold
down to fit a big main Woods buck. Sent a
picture to show it. Honda CRV is really if you
can find a good one used like a less expensive
version of a can am. Jonathan Piazza sent me a
(24:37):
photo of the first dear he harvested last October and
northeast Washington State. The whole animal fits in the back
of his Subaru forester with enough room for his tree stand.
He can also tow a whole trailer's worth of gear,
which I think looks great next to the first Light
logo on his side window. Finally, Nick Longley hunts out
of a Salvage twenty fourteen Tesla model s He's modified
(24:59):
it with an airlift winch and even a spare tire
attached to the trunk. He says he can sleep in it,
pack all his backpacking gear and coolers, and even toe
with it. The only problem a bull elkcrack is a
little tough to fit in the back seat. So when
he sent me pictures of an elk skull and antlers
wrapped and bubble wrap and strapped to the trunk, I
got a lot of great images in the last week,
but I think this was the best. People, you don't
(25:21):
need to go into debt on a ninety thousand truck
and all the stuff you stick to the outside of
it just to go to the woods. Anything with the
hatchback will do. Whether it's a van, suv or subaru.
Just get out there. If you want to see some
of these images, we'll get some up on the old
Cal four to six Instagram account to gang Hey. Last,
(25:43):
but not least, I want to keep this upbeat. Conservation
world is tough right now. A lot of things happening,
a lot of what have use. You just need to
stay engaged, stay in the pulse. One thing I got
to tell people, and I'm telling a lot of people
in my call right now too. I mean literally, things
that you did yesterday don't matter like it's all today
(26:06):
going forward. So don't go pointing fingers at people. This
is about coming together for public lands right now, public
lands and access to them. If you've been listening to
this show, you know that's the only legacy I'm leaving
behind kids, is big chunks of public land. They've served
me very well in my life, and I don't need
(26:29):
you to use them. I just want to have them
be available should you choose to use them, okay, because
they're going to provide the same type of benefits to
you as they did to me. I promise there's some
kind of like breadcrumb arguments out there right now. And
one of the major concerns with layoffs of employees that
(26:49):
work to service these public lands is that, you know,
management has been such a buzzword forever really on you know,
public land versus private land, and there's there's great concern
that if we remove the stewards of those lands, the
ones that are paid to be there and oftentimes have
(27:11):
the requisite skills to take care of that stuff, that
these lands are going to fall in such disrepair that
the American public somehow loses their affinity for them. And
if they lose their affinity for them, they're not going
to fight for them. I don't like that one myself.
As I briefly pointed out, probably not all that well
(27:31):
in this podcast. Americans have been taking care of their
public lands in their own small way. There's there's some
jackasses out there that that trash them, and I would
love to root those folks out, just exactly like we
should be able to root out poor employees that take
advantage of the system and don't provide an added value, Right,
(27:53):
you bums, if you're on the payroll, should get out
of it. America's public lands are deeply American. They came
out of American ideals. They are for all of us.
I have a huge pet peeve when you hear people
say like they're a socialist program or a communist program.
Socialism and communism came from other continents. Public lands, waters, wildlife.
(28:19):
That's like deeply American. The idea of being able to
float down a river is literally one that people traveled
over here from Europe to establish. Not having just the
King's game is something that people established in a free
new world. Obviously that came at the expense of some
(28:40):
folks that already lived here. But here we are today,
and we're still working on some tricky issues with an
imperfect system. But we got a system and we can
keep working to improve it. But we got to keep
the land and we got to keep the access to
it if we're going to improve it. Another one coming
down the pipe is is there's currently a comment period
(29:02):
open on the NEPA process, which NEPA has been a
political football for a long time. It's a you know,
it's an environmental assessment of an area that has to
get done in order to do further projects or possibly
even sell divest that land. Right now, there's a massive
(29:23):
NEPA rollback open for public comment, and there's some great
concern that if NIPA gets rolled back, then it's going
to be very easy to sell public lands by not
having to go through that process. I'm digging into that
with some folks that really know what they're talking about.
That's scary right now. I'm going to put that in
(29:46):
like the theory bucket, like it's plausibly adjacent. But it's
not a sure thing. I will tell you this. From
the state level to the federal level, there's a lot
of attacks on public land. They're phrased in a lot
of different ways. I've been through this fight before, about
(30:06):
ten years ago. I'm telling you it's pretty darn easily
one if we can get folks to put their bs
aside and say, like, yeah, the thing that brings us
together is public lands, public wildlife, public water and access
to it. We've got a lot of differences on other
sides of the spectrum, but this one thing, this very
(30:26):
American thing, is what we need to stand together on
right and I have confidence in you. We're gonna keep
you posted. Please check out Wired to Hunt podcast right
now too. Mark Kenyon over there is really kicking ass
on getting a lot of good information out there. Also
on the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers front, we're working on
(30:48):
some more resources to get people involved in their state legislation,
so please check out Backcountry Hunters and Anglers dot org
as well as TRCP dot or lots of good information there.
All right, that's all I got for you this week.
Thank you so much for listening. Remember to write in
to a s k c a L that's asked Cal
(31:09):
at the meeteater dot com. Let me know what's going
on in your neck of the woods. You know I
appreciate it. Thanks again, I'll talk to you next week.
From Meat Eaters World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This
is Cow's Week in Review with Ryan cow Calai. Here's cal.
The Wall Street Journal reports that after years of slumping sales,
fur clothing is back in style. The trend is being
driven primarily by young people purchasing quote vintage clothing products,
(00:32):
which eighties kids knew as used clothing. As listener Bob
Nielsen pointed out to me in an email, young people
these days are all about organic, renewable, sustainably harvest and biodegradable.
Animal fur products are all of those things. So we'll
see if this trend lasts long enough to give a
little boost to the fur market. Peda, of course, is furious,
(00:55):
but even the Peda folks have a plastic spoons worth
of microplastics accumulated it in their brains or blood or cement,
depending on who you talk to. Oddly enough, putting my
hat on as a clothing manufacturer, high loft synthetic fleece
garments are relatively huge microplastic polluters. All those less than
five millimeters long threads of polyester loft are indeed plastic,
(01:20):
and they flush out of your washing machine regularly. If
you're interested in your personal impact, don't wash your fleece
garments as often. Definitely hang onto that jacket for the
life of the garment. As we say in the West,
duct tape is hit man. Microplastic filters are available for
your washing machine. Microplastic catching bags designed for the laundry
(01:42):
cycle are available. And always try to find a place
to recycle that old jacket when you're done with it
outside of that city. Water filtration is our best hope
to catch that teeny tiny trash that and you know,
hear me out natural with fur this week, legislation, layoffs,
(02:04):
hunt science, listener mail, and so much more. But first
I'm gonna tell you about my week, and my week
has been a whirlwind. Gang got to jump on skis
with a bunch of folks from the Meat Eater HQ
office here in bos Angelus, and man, it was amazing
how much more you like your coworkers when you're all
outside getting some exercise. Skiing was awesome. Then, of course,
(02:28):
the next day our three feet of snow accumulation was
knocked into a river by the Chinook winds and fifty
plus degree temp. That's temp swing of about twenty below zero.
To positive fifteen seventy two hours. We were looking for
a break. It was coming down a little little steady
for the four hoovid critters. I'm positive we'll get some
(02:49):
more winter here, but spring is going to be the thing,
right like winter weekend. Spring kills is definitely something I
believe in and ideally we're going to get. We're going
to lay off the freezing rain here this spring. Give
everybody nice ease into some green grass. Moving on to
(03:09):
the legislative desk, Lots of action in Kentucky these days.
Old Kentuck First Senate Bill eighty nine would follow several
other states and in diminishing clean water protections. Current law
requires state officials to protect waters of the Commonwealth, which
includes a broad swath of rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and groundwater.
(03:31):
In practice, this requires businesses, industries, and individuals to obtain
permets that ensure they aren't poisoning or damaging waterways. But
SB eighty nine would narrow those protections. Under this bill,
only those waters that are defined as navigable waters under
the Federal Clean Water Act would be eligible for protection.
This would exclude all ground water as well as the
(03:53):
upper reaches of stream and river systems in Kentucky. Degrading
protections for waterways impacts everything you do as hunters and anglers,
from fishing to waterfowl hunting to whitetail hunting. These species
all rely on water, as do we, and allowing those
waters to be polluted isn't good for any of them.
SB eighty nine passed the Senate on a thirty to
(04:14):
five vote and is now in the House. It could
move forward at any time, so it's critical that you
contact your legislators as soon as you listen to this.
Definitely look up Kentucky backcountry hunters and anglers too. The
Rhode Island legislature is considering banning so called assault weapons.
HB five four three six and SO three five nine
(04:37):
defines an assault weapon as a semi automatic rifle that
can accept a detachable magazine and has one of the
scary features associated with air fifteen's and other similar rifles.
This is the same kind of band we've seen in
other states like California, New Jersey, New York. Thanks to
listener Ken Bottow for sending this one. In speaking a
(04:59):
gun bands, the Colorado Senate passed a first in the
nation ban on a wide swath of semi automatic rifles, pistols,
and shotguns. Rather than taking the Rhode Island approach, this
bill ban's most kinds of gas operated semi automatic firearms
if they can accept a detachable magazine. The Senate amended
the bill to allow residents to continue purchasing these firearms
(05:20):
if they undergo an extensive background check and training process,
but gun rights advocates still warnant it will set a
dangerous precedent for gun bans moving forward. It's now headed
to the House where it's expected to pass by a
wide margin. There's still things that you can do. Contact
your state rep. You can certainly reach out to the
governor as well. Gun bills are tricky gang they seem
(05:43):
to only matter to those who follow the law anyway.
Listener Grant Carston's sent me a bill he's concerned about
in Iowa that would eliminate the Natural Resource and Outdoor
Recreation Trust Fund. This fund is used to help state
and local agencies and private landowners pay for projects that
protect wildlife, fisheries, and recreational opportunities. But Sjr. Six would
(06:04):
eliminate that fund and use the money for property tax relief.
There's a similar bill here in Montana. Habitat funding is important.
Get on the horn with your rep. Listener. Matt Gamble
sent me two bills from his neck of the woods.
In Oklahoma, Senate Bill one zero seven to three creates
five special permits each year that may be co branded
(06:24):
with the Governor's office to be auctioned, raffled, or obtained
through lottery. Problem is, the money generated from these contests
doesn't have to go back to the state Game Agency
for conservation. Also in the sooner, State House Bill twelve
forty two would add servids to the list of livestock
eligible for a farm tax exemption. Matt is concerned about
(06:46):
this one because it doesn't specify that only captive servids
would qualify for the tax exemption. It would be reasonable
to assume so, since the bill states that the exemption
would apply it to servids sold at auction, but labeling
any deer as livestock could jeopardize the ability of the
Fish and Wildlife Agency to manage that animal. And if
the money generated from auction or raffle tags don't go
(07:10):
back to the animals, then there is no point to them.
That is the entire point that's the genesis of that
whole program, which, as you know, I'm constantly at odds
with what the heck. In Vermont, H one p. Thirty
two would prohibit a person from taking a fur bearer
by gun, bow and arrow or crossbow with the use
of bait. I've heard from trappers up there that this
(07:32):
could put a serious damper on the fur harvest. Finally,
just across the state line in New Hampshire, legislators have
once again proposed a bill that would strip the Fishing
Game Commission of its regulatory authority. HB two zero two
would make the Commission an advisory body only and transfer
all decision making power to the executive director of the agency,
(07:54):
who is a political appoint ee. Moving on to the
hunting sciences, scientific studies don't always give you a leg
up in the field, but it's nice when they do.
For example, a new study from the Deer Lab at
Mississippi State University claims to debunk what many whitetail hunters
believe about the moon's effect on deer movement. You've probably heard,
(08:17):
and maybe you believe yourself, that the moon's phase and
its position relative to the Earth determines how much deer
moved during the day. One common explanation is that when
the moon is full, deer travel more at night because
they can see better. This supposedly translates to less movement
during the day and lower odds of success for hunters.
If you've ever stayed in bed during a full moon
(08:39):
because you assume the bucks have all betted down for
the day, I have bad news. Researchers at MSU tracked
forty eight collared bucks, many of which were mature, from
September one to February twenty eight in Mississippi. They found
that even during the moon phase and location that should
have resulted in the most deer movement, the deer only
increased their movement by four yards per hour during these times.
(09:02):
They also observed zero change in the time the deer
spent betted. For context, these bucks averaged two hundred and
sixty five yards of travel per hour over an entire season,
so a four yard difference is essentially zero statistically speaking.
In fact, that's how one researcher summarized their findings. They
found zero correlation between moon phase and location and how
(09:25):
much those forty eight mississip bucks traveled or betted if
I was a betting man, I'd wager that Mississippi bucks
aren't weird outliers. I think this applies to all white
tail no matter where you live. As Adam Moore recommends
in his article covering this study at the media dot Com,
deer hunters can go ahead and throw out their lunar
calendar focus instead on the things we know impact deer movement, temperature,
(09:48):
availability of food and water, and of course, the rut
and other hunting Science News University of Florida researchers identified
what they say our host posts of burm these pythons.
Pythons are invasive to Florida and have been extremely damaging
to native wildlife and ecosystems. At the same time, python
hunting has also become a popular pastime for many Floridians.
(10:12):
Biologists and state officials want to do everything they can
to help python hunters be successful, which is why they
embark on this study to find python honey holes. Researchers
collected sixteen thousand hours of hunting data from hunters who
agreed to be tracked by GPS. Pythons are difficult to catch,
but two areas stood out because a relatively small group
(10:33):
of hunters caught lots of snakes. So you Florida python hunters,
listen up, I'm about to give you one heck of
a hot tip. One python hotspot is located along the
western edge of Big Cypress National Preserve and Collier County.
The other is in the southern portion of Palm Beach
County in Stormwater Treatment Area three DASH four that's about
twenty four miles south of Belglade and adjacent to the
(10:57):
Holy Land Wildlife Management Area eight. Hunters have been extremely
successful in these locations, which means they contain a large
population with snakes. Hopefully it's not that there's a large
population in between those points and that's where they're coming out.
In addition to identifying python hotspots, the study also identified
the best time to go snake hunting. It conferred what
(11:19):
most snake hunters believe that night time between eight and
two AM is optimal. Researchers also determined that the May
to October wet season is best. In the month of
August had the highest number of catches. Of course, some
of his data might simply be correlated to when snake
hunters rather than snakes, are most active, but they also
debunked some accepted wisdom. Nighttime hunts are generally more successful,
(11:44):
but daytime hunts can still yield results, especially during cold
snaps when the average daily temperature is fifty degrees or lower.
On those days, pythons will often slink out of the
underbrush to sun themselves on levees or roads. Now, before
anyone gets mad at me or these researchers for spot burning,
keep in mind that Burmese pythons don't belong in Florida.
(12:06):
They're a real problem for wildlife and habitat, and the
more successful hunters can be, the better for the native critters.
Unlike most hunting opportunities, the goal here is to eliminate
the hunt entirely, eradication, not recreation. Moving on to the
federal workforest desk. Quick update on the public land employee
(12:30):
story we've been following. About a week after the Feds
announced that they were firing over three thousand Forest Service
employees and over one thousand National Park Service employees, they
appear to be backtracking a little bit. The Department of
Interior CENTIMMO last week to Park Service officials, allowing the
agency to hire seven seven hundred seasonal employees for twenty
(12:50):
twenty five. This is significant because that's about fourteen hundred
more seasonal employees than the Park Service has been able
to hire in recent years to help the Park Service
maintain and staff national parks in time for the busy
season over the summer. That's a good start, but it's
not a total reversal. There's no word on whether the
Forest Service will be able to hire more seasonal employees,
(13:12):
and this doesn't restore the jobs of the employees fired
two weeks ago. Those were full time employees on their
probationary period, but this memo only allows the Park Service
to hire more seasonal temporary employees. So it's a step
in the right direction, but it's not a complete win.
The good news is that the pressure appears to be working.
A new poll released last week found that seventy two
(13:34):
percent of the public in eight western states want their
federal officials to emphasize clean water, air, wildlife, and recreation
over oil and gas drilling on public land. Thousands of
you have also called and emailed those officials, and it's
time to keep it up. We need to make sure
the great folks who maintain our public land can continue
doing their jobs. If you want a clearer picture of
(13:54):
what these layoffs could mean for our federal public lands,
check out Eli Fournier's article over at the meeater dot com.
Unlike a lot of journalists, he actually spoke for a
service employees, and it debunks some of the misinformation that's
been circulating online. You know. Additionally, I would love to
just real briefly read you a recent post by this
(14:15):
buddy of mine named Steve. He posted an article related
to what we just talked about a guy who got rehired.
So I don't know this biologist, but I'm damn glad
to see it, damn glad to see him rehired. I'm
all for an America First agenda, but to me, that
means defending our public lands and public wildlife, which are
(14:37):
definitionally the property of all Americans. I get the need
to cut fraud and waste, but let's do it surgically
and in a way that doesn't threaten to derail ae
hundred years of American conservation success. Not gonna be a
big surprise to folks like That's definitely where I'm at.
I want you to understand that nobody likes waste. If
(14:59):
there is fraud, we don't want it. If there's corruption,
we don't want it. Just like in the conservation world,
when you select a conservation organization and donate your hard
earned cash to that conservation org you want that cash
to be used as efficiently as possible. That's darn sure
what I want when I pay my taxes every year. Right,
(15:22):
I'm sure you do too. You can want that, and
you can want your public lands to be well taken
care of. Users of public land understand that it's a
very dynamic situation. There's literal fires and floods and disease
epidemics and hurricane force wins, hailstorms, microbursts, ice jams, mudflows.
(15:46):
What else am I forgetting? All of these things that
are are nature? Right? And they reshuffle the deck all
the time. So I think it's important to understand that
there's always kind of like a social contract on our
public lands. Nobody should expect to leave a piece of
trash someplace and have a park service or forest service
(16:06):
or BLM employee pick it up or come by and
bury your own human waste. And that also means that
I myself, an unpaid citizen of the United States, has
cut a lot of trees out of trails, and there's
certain sections of trail that just are not going to
see like a Forest Service trail crew because other areas
(16:28):
are in higher demand. So one thing that perturbs me
is seeing this dialogue of like, oh I never see anybody,
it doesn't exist. Whatever. These are big places, they're wild places.
I'm a firm believer we need these people out there.
I'll tell you right now, like there's a serious, serious
(16:48):
lack of law enforcement in these places that are near
and dear to my heart. But there is law enforcement
out there, and that alone does make a difference. You know, myself,
as an old guide in a lot of these wild places,
will tell you that the social enforcement was probably more
(17:10):
consistent than a lot of law enforcement in some places,
meaning that if we were floating a river and saw
something illegal, you know, we couldn't write a ticket, but
we'd darn sure row over there and just say, hey,
I'm sure you didn't know, but this section of river,
these are the regulations. Let's get rid of those travel
hooks or whatever the case was. This stream mouth is
(17:31):
not open for fishing. That's always going to be the case.
We're not looking to reinstate a bunch of people that
are going to totally take care of us and everything.
That's not realistic, and we don't want that, if I'm
being honest either. But there's a lot of darn good
folks out there who do a lot of good work,
(17:53):
especially if you're like a lot of friends of mine
who have young families, and you got to be closer
to those trailheads and campgrounds than I care to be.
Moving on to the crime desk, two Montana men were
sentenced last week four, among other things, spearing giant rainbow
(18:13):
trout in a display pond. Ty Lewis first caught the
attention to Montana Game Wardens when a rancher near Great
Falls reported last September that someone had shot a bull
elk on his property, cut off the head, and left
the rest of rot. Wardens were able to identify Lewis
because he'd been caught earlier in the week trespassing on
a neighboring ranch. When they interviewed him, he admitted to
killing the bowl, but also told wardens that one of
(18:35):
his buddies, Richard van Meter, had poached a different bowl
as well. This, by the way, is a great strategy
for all you poachers out there. Your crimes always look
better if you tell police that someone else committed the
same crime. Anyway, As is often the case, those two
bull elk were just the tip of the proverbial Iceberg
wardens interviewed several other people and soon learned that Lewis
(18:57):
and van Meter had poached at least four bowls, but
only cut the heads off two. They retrieved photographic evidence
of these crimes from van Meter's phone, and one photo
showed Lewis stabbing a bowl after he and Van Meter
ran out of bullets. There was also a photo of
van Meter with a poached black bear, which he admitted
to having shot on the same day as one of
the illegal elk hunts. And it wasn't just big game
(19:18):
that this dynamic duo were after. The wardens also found
photos of the two men with a stringer of dead
trout at the display pond of the Giant Springs Fish Hatchery.
It's unclear how many they took home, but game wardens
found that they'd left some of the fish dead while
others were still alive on the pavement. These men were
convicted and sentenced for their crimes earlier this month. Lewis
paid sixteen thousand dollars in fines and Van Meter paid
(19:41):
eight thousand dollars. Both will lose their hunting and fishing
privileges for twenty years. That is a steep sentence here
in Montana. I love seeing it. A Colorado hunting outfitter
has agreed to pay five hundred thousand dollars to settle
allegations that a group of their clients started a wildfire
that burned eight hundred and fifty acres in twenty nineteen.
(20:03):
The US Justice Department alleges that the fire, which became
known as the Cow Creek Fire, was started by a
woodburning stove at the Green Mountain Camp on their Uncompagre
National Forest. God Man, there's a killer hunting jacket named Uncompagre.
At the time, that camp was occupied by a group
of hunters who had paid Jackson Outfitters to use the
camp for a self guarded elk hunt. The FEDS claimed
(20:24):
the fire started when embers and other ignited material exited
a stovepipe attached to the woodburning stove and landed on
the ground, igniting dry vegetation. They say the stove was
not equipped with a functional properly installed spark arrester, which
is just a little mesh grate in your stovepipe that
catches those embers before they can shoot out the top.
(20:45):
And so the outfitter who owned the stove was at fault.
While no homes or buildings were destroyed by the fire,
the government incurred significant costs to put the fire out.
Jackson Outfitters did not have to admit any liability as
part of the settlement, but they still agreed to cop
up a cool half million. I don't know whether this
outfitter deserved foot this bill, but it should serve as
(21:05):
a warning for the rest of us. Whenever you go camping,
especially if it's out west, be sure you keep a
careful watch on your fire. You don't want to get
saddled with one of those firefighting bills. I think all
involved are lucky it was only eight hundred and fifty acres.
I do feel bad for the outfitter here, because gang,
you gotta know better. Sparks make fire. Figure it out.
(21:28):
If you can't figure that out, maybe don't be in
the woods. No, that's harsh, but come on, common sense. Coal.
A police officer in Pennsylvania has been charged with reckless
endangerment after he allegedly shot his hunting partner in the head.
Local media reports that Officer David Cowasmi of the Exeter
Township Police was hunting waterfowl with a group of buddies
(21:49):
near Ola Township. He told police that he saw goose
flying towards the rear of the blind and when he
turned around in the ah ram to fire, he accidentally
shot his hunting partner in the top of the Head's
buddy is still alive, but he had to undergo brain
surgery and is now unable to walk. Now, you might
be asking yourself how this could have happened. Even if
you have to turn around to fire behind you, you
(22:11):
shouldn't have to point the shotgun low enough to hit
the guy sitting next to you. Turns out, Kowasmi left
out a key detail in his statement to the police.
Four days after the incident, another member of the hunting
party contacted police and told them the group had been
taking shots of whiskey prior to taking shots at waterfowl.
The victim also confirmed this to police, which I'm sure
is part of the reason Kowosmi is being charged with
(22:33):
reckless endangerment. If he's honest and this turns out to
be true. You should thank his lucky star as he
was hunting with real buddies, or else he'd be getting manslaughter.
Moving on to the hunting rig edition of the mail Bag.
A few weeks ago, we asked you to send an
email in if he used something other than a truck
(22:53):
to hunt and transport game. Keefer Dukinski was the first
to respond. He sent me images of a small school
bus that he's converted into the ultimate hunting rig. He
can tow a mid sized pickup behind it, and he's
converted the inside into a living space that lets him
travel and hunt all over the country. He's headed to
Florida for Turkey, then he plans to move west to
(23:13):
Montana for spring black bear. After that, he wants to
hunt elk in Mule's wherever he can get a tag,
and he'll do it all on public land. That sounds
like a fantastic gear to me, and it looks like
he'll be darn comfortable in his hunting rig aka schoolie.
If you want to check it out for yourself, Keifer
is at Duge does it on the old Instagram. Looks
(23:34):
like a pretty sweet rig. There Keifer listener Rebecca Spring
send me an email about her jeep Renegade, which is
one of those small hatchback suv things. Rebecca says the
Renegade has hauled three antelope at once, bears deer, lots
of birds, and even an entire elk. She sent along
an image of the vehicle with an entire raft on top,
which is longer than the Renegade but looks pretty secure.
(23:56):
A lot to be said for small vehicles and hunting gang,
as you know. Don't get me started on minivans. Ken
Mitsui's unconventional hunting rig is even smaller. He has a
fifty mile commute to work, so he needs something fuel efficient,
but he also has two kids who both need room
for car seats. He lives in Maine, so he needs
something with all wheel drive. Settled on the hond to
(24:16):
see RV, which also turned out to be a great
hunting vehicle, he says he hasn't found a place yet
he can't access with it, and the back seats fold
down to fit a big main Woods buck. Sent a
picture to show it. Honda CRV is really if you
can find a good one used like a less expensive
version of a can am. Jonathan Piazza sent me a
(24:37):
photo of the first dear he harvested last October and
northeast Washington State. The whole animal fits in the back
of his Subaru forester with enough room for his tree stand.
He can also tow a whole trailer's worth of gear,
which I think looks great next to the first Light
logo on his side window. Finally, Nick Longley hunts out
of a Salvage twenty fourteen Tesla model s He's modified
(24:59):
it with an airlift winch and even a spare tire
attached to the trunk. He says he can sleep in it,
pack all his backpacking gear and coolers, and even toe
with it. The only problem a bull elkcrack is a
little tough to fit in the back seat. So when
he sent me pictures of an elk skull and antlers
wrapped and bubble wrap and strapped to the trunk, I
got a lot of great images in the last week,
but I think this was the best. People, you don't
(25:21):
need to go into debt on a ninety thousand truck
and all the stuff you stick to the outside of
it just to go to the woods. Anything with the
hatchback will do. Whether it's a van, suv or subaru.
Just get out there. If you want to see some
of these images, we'll get some up on the old
Cal four to six Instagram account to gang Hey. Last,
(25:43):
but not least, I want to keep this upbeat. Conservation
world is tough right now. A lot of things happening,
a lot of what have use. You just need to
stay engaged, stay in the pulse. One thing I got
to tell people, and I'm telling a lot of people
in my call right now too. I mean literally, things
that you did yesterday don't matter like it's all today
(26:06):
going forward. So don't go pointing fingers at people. This
is about coming together for public lands right now, public
lands and access to them. If you've been listening to
this show, you know that's the only legacy I'm leaving
behind kids, is big chunks of public land. They've served
me very well in my life, and I don't need
(26:29):
you to use them. I just want to have them
be available should you choose to use them, okay, because
they're going to provide the same type of benefits to
you as they did to me. I promise there's some
kind of like breadcrumb arguments out there right now. And
one of the major concerns with layoffs of employees that
(26:49):
work to service these public lands is that, you know,
management has been such a buzzword forever really on you know,
public land versus private land, and there's there's great concern
that if we remove the stewards of those lands, the
ones that are paid to be there and oftentimes have
(27:11):
the requisite skills to take care of that stuff, that
these lands are going to fall in such disrepair that
the American public somehow loses their affinity for them. And
if they lose their affinity for them, they're not going
to fight for them. I don't like that one myself.
As I briefly pointed out, probably not all that well
(27:31):
in this podcast. Americans have been taking care of their
public lands in their own small way. There's there's some
jackasses out there that that trash them, and I would
love to root those folks out, just exactly like we
should be able to root out poor employees that take
advantage of the system and don't provide an added value, Right,
(27:53):
you bums, if you're on the payroll, should get out
of it. America's public lands are deeply American. They came
out of American ideals. They are for all of us.
I have a huge pet peeve when you hear people
say like they're a socialist program or a communist program.
Socialism and communism came from other continents. Public lands, waters, wildlife.
(28:19):
That's like deeply American. The idea of being able to
float down a river is literally one that people traveled
over here from Europe to establish. Not having just the
King's game is something that people established in a free
new world. Obviously that came at the expense of some
(28:40):
folks that already lived here. But here we are today,
and we're still working on some tricky issues with an
imperfect system. But we got a system and we can
keep working to improve it. But we got to keep
the land and we got to keep the access to
it if we're going to improve it. Another one coming
down the pipe is is there's currently a comment period
(29:02):
open on the NEPA process, which NEPA has been a
political football for a long time. It's a you know,
it's an environmental assessment of an area that has to
get done in order to do further projects or possibly
even sell divest that land. Right now, there's a massive
(29:23):
NEPA rollback open for public comment, and there's some great
concern that if NIPA gets rolled back, then it's going
to be very easy to sell public lands by not
having to go through that process. I'm digging into that
with some folks that really know what they're talking about.
That's scary right now. I'm going to put that in
(29:46):
like the theory bucket, like it's plausibly adjacent. But it's
not a sure thing. I will tell you this. From
the state level to the federal level, there's a lot
of attacks on public land. They're phrased in a lot
of different ways. I've been through this fight before, about
(30:06):
ten years ago. I'm telling you it's pretty darn easily
one if we can get folks to put their bs
aside and say, like, yeah, the thing that brings us
together is public lands, public wildlife, public water and access
to it. We've got a lot of differences on other
sides of the spectrum, but this one thing, this very
(30:26):
American thing, is what we need to stand together on
right and I have confidence in you. We're gonna keep
you posted. Please check out Wired to Hunt podcast right
now too. Mark Kenyon over there is really kicking ass
on getting a lot of good information out there. Also
on the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers front, we're working on
(30:48):
some more resources to get people involved in their state legislation,
so please check out Backcountry Hunters and Anglers dot org
as well as TRCP dot or lots of good information there.
All right, that's all I got for you this week.
Thank you so much for listening. Remember to write in
to a s k c a L that's asked Cal
(31:09):
at the meeteater dot com. Let me know what's going
on in your neck of the woods. You know I
appreciate it. Thanks again, I'll talk to you next week.
Host
Cal Callaghan
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