March 17, 2025 • 27 mins
This week Cal talks about wildlife crime, legislation, and the feds.
Check out the new "Cal of the Wild" T-Shirt
Connect with Cal and MeatEater
To learn more and get involved with any Cal to Action, click here.
MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Youtube Clips
Subscribe to The MeatEater Podcast Network on YouTube
Shop Cal's Week in Review Merch
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
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 Calaian. Here's
cal After one hundred and twenty years of conservation, scientists
have concluded that Yellowstone bison are now a single breeding herd.
That might not sound like big news, but it's actually
(00:32):
one of the world's greatest conservation success stories. Most people
know that by the early nineteen hundreds, American bison also
called buffalo, had been effectively wiped out in North America.
Ninety nine point nine percent of the population was gone,
and the few individuals that remained found sanctuary in Yellowstone
National Park. Ulysses S. Grant made Yellowstone America's first national
(00:56):
park in eighteen seventy two, so it's fitting that this
is where the comeback started for one of America's most
iconic species. In nineteen to to two, some domestic bison
from western Montana and the Texas Panhandle were introduced to
the free ranging bison and Yellowstone to try to stabilize
the herd. That effort proved to be successful, and today
(01:16):
there are between four thousand and six thousand bison that
roam the park. These populations stabilized, but there still appeared
to be two major breeding groups that scientists believe didn't intermingle. Well,
it turns out that nature always finds a way. Scientists
from Texas A and M University took samples from these
two groups and found that, in fact, Yellowstone bison are
(01:39):
all related. There is single self sustaining breeding population, and
this new information will help researchers make better management decisions
moving forward. In honor of this historic achievement, here are
some interesting facts about bison that you can use to
amaze your friends and astound your enemies. The scientific name
for bison is bison bison. When a species name is repetitive,
(02:02):
like you know byson bison, it's called a tottenem. Bison
are the largest land mammal in North America, with bulls
weighing up to twenty two hundred pounds. For comparison, the
largest bull moose ever shot, weighed eighteen hundred pounds. Bison
can run up to thirty five miles per hour, which
is faster than a horse and bad news for tourists
looking to get a selfie. Finally, public lands managed by
(02:25):
the Interior Department support seventeen bison herds. Comprised of nearly
ten thousand individuals and twelve states, Yellowstone is definitely not
the only game in town. So there you go. You're
ready to dominate your next round of bison themed trivia, unless,
of course, you think this was all bull This week,
we've got legislation, the crime desk, and so much more.
(02:48):
But first, I'm going to tell you about my week.
I was so busy last week I can't remember what
the heck I told you, so if this is a recap,
you know, so sorry. Bha at the bar aren't de Soto,
Kansas last week. Huge thank you to Kansas back country
hunters and anglers and everyone who attended that event. We
(03:09):
talked policy and stayed late. It was heavy material. Yeah,
there was some beer present, but all the same lots
you can do on a Wednesday, and you chose to
be there to listen to state and federal policy. About
one hundred and fifty folks all total. I think a
couple of cold ones from Black Stag Brewing who had
a really unique, fantastic brown ale and check pilsner. Very notable.
(03:36):
That is sort of an Oki after birth. What was
that anyway? Got a cold brew from those folks, and
you talked state and federal policy late into the night.
Bless you all, Thank you, Thank you. Then traveled into
the heart of the cold, cold city for pheasant Fest
and the Coil Classic. I've talked about these organs a
(03:56):
bunch in the past. They have my support for their
habitat at work and the fact that they employ a
small army of farm Bill biologists habitat specialists who work
all across rural America to ensure that the farmers and
ranchers who make our food have access to all of
the programs contained in the farm Bill, which can help
(04:16):
improve their bottom line and provide habitat for wildlife, drought
tolerant soils, fire tolerant landscapes, lots of downstream benefits for
US folks who like to, you know, selfishly take a
couple of days off to hunt and fish. I tried
to tell everyone I met over the weekend in person,
thank you, but I'll do it again here. Thank you
(04:38):
for volunteering your time, energy, cash. I appreciate what you're
all doing. Volunteers are special. You do a lot of
work without a lot of thanks, So for me, thank you. Now.
Funny ish story for you. The weekend was extremely dog friendly,
dogs all over the place at pheasant Fest Quail Classic.
(05:00):
I enjoy seeing and being around dogs, and it made
me very eager to get back to old Snort. So
when I did, we headed out on a hike. Snort
was hunting around like she always does. She flushed a
rooster on her way back to the truck, which was awesome.
Then I watched her throw her head back in the air,
(05:20):
a sign of her hitting a strong scent. She then
followed that scent to the river, swam across the channel
onto an island, dug into a log jam that had
collected there. I was not sitting idly by here because
I knew what was happening. The river had deposited some
sort of dead, stinky thing out there, and the only
thing that could keep me from sleeping that night was
(05:43):
her finding it and puking it up all night. So
I charged it out there, but eventually I had to
stop because the river was too high over my knee
boots and a little fast. I yelled, and she turned
with dripping glop carcass unknown hanging from her jaws, and
not come to my calling, even though I was yelling
(06:03):
and quite pissed. She did not swim back to me
until she had consumed what was hanging from her lips.
When a dog does not come when called, you have
a serious problem. Friends and neighbors. This is dangerous behavior.
Never cute, never okay, it's training time. Moving on to
(06:23):
the legislative desk. A bill in North Carolina would prohibit
anglers from launching their boats into public waterways from public
right of ways. Big thanks to everyone over at North
Carolina BHA who sent this one in. Y'all are doing
great work out there getting the word out. Senate Bill
two twenty was introduced by Senator Danny Earle Britt along
(06:44):
with four other Republican senators. I've been told this bill
was introduced at the behest of landowners who don't like
the riff raft launching boats next to their properties. I
don't know if that's true, but that's usually why we
see these public land restrictions. The bill does two primary things. First,
it would prohibit people from trespassing on private property for
(07:05):
the purpose of launching a boat in a public waterway.
I'm guarantee there's our already law that says trespassing is illegal.
But fair enough now. In section four of the bill,
it says, quote any person who willfully launches any motorized
or unmotorized watercraft from the right of way of a
(07:25):
public highway or street into a body of water adjacent
to the right of way, except in public areas designated
for boating access, is guilty of a Class three misdemeanor.
In other words, this bill would criminalize people who pull
off a road on public ground next to a bridge
(07:45):
and launch a kayak into a public river. This is normal,
a common practice all over the country, including North kak Lackey.
On a nice day this time of year, you can
usually find a line of cars and trucks along the
side of the road next to a bridge, as regular
folks who may not be able to afford a big
boat take advantage of the spring spawn. As if this
(08:07):
bill couldn't get any shadier, the sponsors are also lying
about whether these new restrictions have been endorsed by the
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. The bill's title claims they have,
but it's not true. Here's Hunter Owen of North Carolina
back Country Hunters and Anglers Coastal Region.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
On Friday, I personally reached out to NCWRC, who has
informed me that they are unaware that that language was
in the bill. The bill was supposed to just adjust
some language to our already established private land laws, so
this was a little bit of a surprise for them too.
We've gotten that from two different sources, and we're waiting
to reach out Monday for more information.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
If you live in North Carolina, you know what to do.
Contact your legislators and tell them to vote no on
Senate Bill two twenty. They're trying to feef your access
over there. Hunters and anglers and wildlife enthusiasts in Wisconsin
are concerned they might lose access to millions in funds
that have been used to purchase and maintain public land.
(09:06):
The Noles Nelson Stewardship Program was created in nineteen eighty
nine and is used to fund conservation and recreation projects
across the state. It's been a successful and effective program,
and lands purchased with these funds are required to remain
open to hunting and trapping, but it's set to expire
in twenty twenty six, and some lawmakers are saying they
(09:28):
won't vote to renew it. Last year, the state Supreme
Court voted six to one that state legislators were not
allowed to indefinitely hold up funding on individual projects approved
by the Noles Nelson Stewardship Program. Lawmakers would sometimes object
to funding certain land purchases, and so they would indefinitely
delay the vote to approve them. But now that the
(09:50):
court has ruled such actions are not allowed, legislators are
threatening to get rid of the fund entirely, which, if
you ask me, sounds a bit like a tantrum. Fortunately,
hunting and conservation groups have launched a campaign to fight
back Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever. The Safari Club and many
others have formed the Sporting Coalition for Stewardship. They're working
(10:11):
to get the word out about the Noles Nelson Stewardship
Program and urge lawmakers to renew it. If you live
in Wisconsin, or you hunt and fish in Wisconsin, or
just care about maintaining opportunities to get outside, contact your
Wisconsin legislators today. If you don't know who your legislator
is or need their contact info, head on over to
(10:31):
the meeteater dot com forward slash cal gang. What's happening
right now is a lot of federal funding if not,
most of it is questionable. At best, we don't know
if we're gonna get it, so these state funded programs
like the Noles Nelson Stewardship Program is incredibly important to
have dedicated funding for getting outside in your state. Fight
(10:55):
to keep it it can go away. Pennsylvanians will once
once again have a chance to legalize hunting on Sundays
across the board. Current law allows hunting on some Sundays
and not on others, but Senate Bill sixty seven would
remove all Sunday hunting prohibitions and give full authority to
the Pennsylvania Game Commission. If this sounds like deja vu
(11:15):
all over again, that's because similar bills have been introduced
every year the last three or four years. But this
time supporters hope the backing of the Game Commission and
the Farm Bureau will be enough to push it over
the top. Last one for you. In Minnesota, advocates for
youth shooting sports are once again fighting a bill that
would ban leed ammunition in the state. Senate bill in
(11:37):
the fifteen ninety five would ban lead ammunition for all
hunting on public and private land and for shooting at
a range. This would have an enormous impact on hunters,
but listener Scott Moulman pointed out to me in an
email that would also have a catastrophic impact on youth
shooting sports. Youth shooting sports are huge in Minnesota, bigger
than boys and girls hockey combined, which, if you know
(11:59):
anything about Minnesota, is saying something. Requiring non lead ammunition
will double ammunition costs for students. The resulting decrease in
participation will keep kids from the sports they love and
shut down shooting ranges that rely on that participation, and
it won't have any discernible impact on the environment or
human health. There is no evidence that kids are harmed
(12:19):
by shooting led ammunition, and the lead that ends up
in the ground at a shooting range has a negligible
effect on wildlife and drinking water. It's also highly highly recyclable,
which is what happens at shooting ranges every so often
they go through, collect all the lead and recycle it.
We can all take our precautions when it comes to
(12:42):
lead in wildlife, but they're at the shooting ranges is
the perfect spot for lead ammunition. Copper at the range
for recreation is going to have more of a negative
impact on the earth rather than help it. You might
say that Senate Bill fifteen ninety five is a solution
in search of a problem. That's Minnesota Senate Bill fifteen
(13:04):
ninety five. And again, want to hit SB three zero
seven here in Montana. I've brought this up a couple
of times. This is our own habitat fund called Habitat
Montana that was funded through marijuana tax as recreational marijuana tacks.
It's important to bring that up because we as a
(13:25):
state voted in favor of having recreational marijuana in this
state in part because it would fund the Habitat for
Montana fund, which is dedicated funding. Right again, we're at
a time where federal funding is very much in question,
So this is dedicated funding here in the state of
Montana to support the things that most people move here for,
(13:48):
which is access to the out of doors. Habitat for
Montana also was the fund that literally provided all the
cash to take care of our state parks backlog in
may Nuts. It's been used responsibly and well. And SB
three oh seven here in Montana would remove that funding,
put it towards other things. The other things don't matter
(14:11):
in this case, not because they're not important, but because
we have a surplus of cash in Montana and there's
no reason to go Robin the great out of doors piggybank. Okay,
because we need more funding in there too, So do
me a favor and ask your state representative to vote
no on Senate Bill three oh seven here in Montana.
(14:36):
Moving on to the crime desk, a Louisiana man has
been arrested for alleged deer hunting violations and obstruction of
justice in Lincoln and Bienville Parishes. Sixty one year old
RHT Sims shot an eleven point buck from a neighboring
property but let it lie because he did not have
permission to enter that other property. Sims was already hunting
without a license or tags, so don't know why I
(14:58):
cared about trespassing, but I guess he drew the line.
Then he got a brilliant idea. He asked his buddy,
who had tags, to tag and collect the deer for him,
but the landowner stopped his buddy before he could collect
the deer. Some states allow limited trespass to retrieve a
hundred animal, but Louisiana isn't one. Of them, sims buddy
apparently sang like a bird, because Sims was arrested in January.
(15:20):
While Simms was in jail, agents discovered that this wasn't
the poacher's first rodeo. He'd harvested an eight point deer
on November twelfth, a five point deer on November seventeen,
and another eleven point deer on November twenty nine, all
in Lincoln in Bienville parishes. He'd had his license revoked previously,
and he didn't have tags for any of these other deer.
(15:41):
His hunting violations carry maximum fines of hundreds of dollars,
but that obstruction of justice charge could land him in
jail for up to five years. A hunting band didn't
seem like a big burden for old Sims, and we
know that's true of this next poacher too. Local media
in Oregon reports that a thirty four year old man
just received his third lifetime hunting band after he pled
(16:02):
guilty to shooting two trophy sized game animals, a bull
elk and a buck deer. He committed these latest crimes
during archery season, when he shot the animals with a
rifle from his vehicle using a spotlight. Of course, since
he was banned from ever purchasing a hunting license back
in twenty fifteen, we can safely assume he didn't have
the proper tags. This fella's name is Travis Alexander Palmer
(16:25):
will call him Tap, and he's a poster child for
the kind of serial wildlife criminal that only serious jail
time can remedy. Unfortunately, that's not what he's getting for
his latest round of crimes, which also included thirty one
fishing violations. He's spending fifty five days in jail and
being fined twenty two five hundred dollars. He'll also be
(16:46):
serving two hundred and sixty hours of community service and
will be on supervised probation for the next eighteen months.
That's about as stiff a penalty as you'll see for
a wildlife crime, but it's hard to imagine it'll have
the intended effect. Palmer was first caught poaching in two
thousand and eight, when he was just seventeen. He had
his hunting license suspended for two years, but he was
(17:06):
caught again two years later and was hit with another
three year suspension. Then, in twenty fifteen, Palmer was convicted
of another wildlife offense and received his first lifetime hunting
license revocation. He kept his nose clean for eight years.
I'll put that in parentheses until twenty twenty three, when
he got his second lifetime ban. Based on what we
(17:27):
know about the relationship between serial poachers and the tendency
to commit crimes against humans, I think the people of
Grant County, Oregon will be better served by getting this
fella off the street for longer than fifty five days.
The US Justice Department announced last week that four individuals
who tried to smuggle rare and endangered birds from Puerto
(17:47):
Rico to the Dominican Republic have been sentenced for Lacy
Act violations. The four Dominican nationals were chugging along in
a boat about thirty miles north of Puerto Rico when
they were approached by a Coastguard vessel. Coastguard sailors didn't
know they were stopping bird smugglers, but they figured it
out pretty quick. That's because the smugglers started chucking the
bird cages overboard. I know what you're thinking. The smart
(18:10):
thing would have been to let the birds out of
their cages. They could fly. Then, you know, you're just
stuck with bird cages. Pay no attention to the rare
and endangered birds circling overhead. But these guys, they didn't
think of that. Coast Guard recovered the wooden cages from
the ocean, in which they found one hundred and thirteen
drowned birds. Many of the birds were internationally protected species,
(18:30):
including white crowned parrots, golden capped parakeets, and red crowned parrots.
All of these smugglers were sentenced to one year in prison,
except for one who was sentenced to eight months. Moving
on to the DC desk, The Trump administration issued more
executive orders last week that will impact public land and resources.
(18:51):
Two in particular have gained national media attention because they
seek to ramp up timber production from coast to coast.
One is titled simply the Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production.
It aims to do exactly that. The President directs the
leaders of federal public land agencies to quote each issue
new or updated guidance regarding tools to facilitate increased timber
(19:13):
production and sound forest management, reduce time to deliver timber,
and decrease timber supply uncertainty. It also directs these agencies
to come up with ways to streamline the process for
reproving timber harvest by reducing environmental review requirements under the
National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act. Why
does the President want to increase timber harvest, He lists
(19:36):
a few reasons. For one thing, he says increasing timber
harvest will reduce wildfire risk. He also argues that wood
products are critical to our nation's well being, but our
reliance on foreign producers threatens both quality of life and
national security. Moving more timber harvesting stateside will give construction
companies and the military more secure access to these resources,
(19:58):
which is why he also issued another order directing the
Secretary of Commerce to investigate how timber impacts national security.
He believes heavy handed federal policies have prevented full utilization
of our nation's timber supply, and these orders are designed
to give timber companies an easier avenue for getting harvests improved.
(20:18):
Massive increases in timber harvests are understandably concerning to a
lot of people, but this kind of falls in line
with some of the other declarations to expand drilling or
oil gas production on public lands. One thing that we
have to keep in mind dimensional timber lumber in America.
(20:41):
That's a commodity as well. It's also something that grows, right,
think of like a big plant. You can only harvest
it at a certain size in order to maximize the
value of that dimensional lumber. Right, if it provides a lot,
it's worth taking. If it doesn't provide a lot, you
let that thing grow. So industry in and of itself,
(21:03):
if it's going to operate, has to also have its
own guidelines. And they know darn sure that you got
to let trees grow to a certain size. There's also
a lot of areas where it just doesn't make any
sense to go get lumber due to the wear and
tear on machinery, and you're only going to produce enough
to keep the price high enough to where you can
(21:25):
justify wages, wear and tear on equipment, the cost of
extraction and getting that stuff to a mill. Also, like
our lumber mills in America are not nearly as plentiful
as they used to be. So I, for one, am
not screaming from the rooftops over this particular executive order.
(21:48):
I do point out that taking Canada's trees like we
have been, and letting our trees grow might be something
to consider if we're thinking about national security. In other news,
a federal district judge in California issued an opinion last
week declaring that the recent firing of tens of thousands
(22:09):
of probationary employees is illegal. As we covered a few
weeks ago, the Trump administration fired over three thousand Forest
Service workers, over one thousand National Park Service employees, and
hundreds from the BLM and US Fish and Wildlife Service.
These firings were not based on merit. Instead, they just
laid off everyone who had been at their current position
for less than a year, even if they had been
(22:31):
with their agency for a long time in other capacities.
In his decision, US District Judge William also concluded that
the government's actions were a gimmick designed to expeditiously carry
out mass firings. He said it was clear that the
federal agencies had followed directives from the Office of Personnel
Management to use a loophole allowing them to fire probationary
workers en mass based on poor performance, regardless of their
(22:54):
actual conduct on the job. This ruling doesn't apply to
all fired federal employees only those at Veterans Affairs, Defense, Energy, Interior, Agriculture,
and Treasury. But Interior and Agriculture covers the BLM and
the Forest Service, so that's good news for those folks.
Of course, this isn't the final word on the story.
The Trump administration argues that as the head of the
(23:17):
executive Branch, the president has the power to hire and
fire whoever he wants. He's about to fight this decision
in court. Also, by the time you hear this, we're
going to be passing another deadline pertaining to a previous
executive order to have those standing at these agencies and
branches to further reduce the workforce. So once again we'll
(23:41):
be behind on the news cycle. Here important thing to
point out here, gang, and I know I'm repeating myself.
I apologize. We all want the government to do better.
We all want to get rid of fraud, waste, inefficiencies
for sure, we want things to function better. We want
our tax dollars to be spent the best possible way
(24:01):
and ideally in ways that we think are important too.
I know, and I personally come across fantastic federal employees,
people who would be a value add to anything in
the private sector. Unfortunately, what we're seeing here with these
mass firings is they aren't trying to preserve good employees
(24:25):
to get rid of bad employees. They're just cutting broad
swaths here. And all of us in the private sector,
we all know that there's folks who carry the load
and there's folks who coast, and it's not just limited
to those in the federal employee. So I, for one
very thankful of good civil servants. I appreciate you. Moving
(24:49):
on to the accident's desk, We've covered some pretty strange
hunting and fishing accidents here on Cal's Week in Review,
but this has got to be one of the strangest.
Man in the Indian the city of Alepsa died last
week after a fish got stuck in his throat while
he was fishing. Indian media reports that the twenty five
year old was angling in rice paddy fields with his
(25:10):
friends when the incident took place. The report says, quote,
he was trying to catch another fish by biting the
fish in his mouth when it went down his throat.
I've been there. You get excited, you want to catch
those fish when the bite's on whatever actually happened. I
did discover that this isn't the first fish choking death
to strike Southeast Asia. In twenty fourteen, a twenty one
(25:33):
year old Indian man died when a fish swam down
his throat while he was bathing in a pond. Locals
pulled him out and noticed blood coming out of his
mouth along with the moving tail of a fish. No
word on the species of either suicidal sushi, but whatever
they are, they have a taste for irony. In a
less tragic and more domestic accident, a Pennsylvania man has
(25:54):
been charged with the reckless endangerment after he blasted a
fellow hunter thinking it was a turkey. This happens every
turkey season, but this one caught my eye because we
have more details about this incident than usual. Game wardens say.
Fifty one year old Scott Huber was hunting last November
near Barrie Township in the central part of the state.
He said he thought he saw the black and white
feathers and white neck of a turkey, so he pulled
(26:17):
the trigger, But after sending lead shot down range, he
heard what noah hunter ever wants to hear. In the woods,
someone yelled out you shot me, and he responded asking
where the victim was. The unidentified victim didn't respond right away,
and Huber said he wasn't sure whether someone was joking
with him. Turns out it wasn't a joke. The victim
said he'd been saddle hunting when he saw Huber set
(26:38):
up about eighty yards away. Hubert didn't know the man
was in the tree, but the victim at some point
got down and changed position. Hubert fired at the victim,
threw some brush from fifty two yards away, which would
have been a long shot even in good conditions. The
victim suffered two pellet wounds to the right ear, two
to the right shoulder, seven to the upper back, one
of the right arm, and three wounds near his other ear.
(27:00):
My question to you is does the victim bear any
responsibility here? If he saw Huber set up, should he
have notified him of his whereabouts? Sounds a little like
he was sneaking through the woods knowing there was another
turkey hunter set up there. Huber should never have pulled
the trigger right, because you identify your target and what's
beyond right in let us know what you think. Askcl
(27:24):
at the medeater dot com and remember right in let
us know what's going on in your neck of the woods.
We appreciate you, we depend on you. Thanks again, we'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 Calaian. Here's
cal After one hundred and twenty years of conservation, scientists
have concluded that Yellowstone bison are now a single breeding herd.
That might not sound like big news, but it's actually
(00:32):
one of the world's greatest conservation success stories. Most people
know that by the early nineteen hundreds, American bison also
called buffalo, had been effectively wiped out in North America.
Ninety nine point nine percent of the population was gone,
and the few individuals that remained found sanctuary in Yellowstone
National Park. Ulysses S. Grant made Yellowstone America's first national
(00:56):
park in eighteen seventy two, so it's fitting that this
is where the comeback started for one of America's most
iconic species. In nineteen to to two, some domestic bison
from western Montana and the Texas Panhandle were introduced to
the free ranging bison and Yellowstone to try to stabilize
the herd. That effort proved to be successful, and today
(01:16):
there are between four thousand and six thousand bison that
roam the park. These populations stabilized, but there still appeared
to be two major breeding groups that scientists believe didn't intermingle. Well,
it turns out that nature always finds a way. Scientists
from Texas A and M University took samples from these
two groups and found that, in fact, Yellowstone bison are
(01:39):
all related. There is single self sustaining breeding population, and
this new information will help researchers make better management decisions
moving forward. In honor of this historic achievement, here are
some interesting facts about bison that you can use to
amaze your friends and astound your enemies. The scientific name
for bison is bison bison. When a species name is repetitive,
(02:02):
like you know byson bison, it's called a tottenem. Bison
are the largest land mammal in North America, with bulls
weighing up to twenty two hundred pounds. For comparison, the
largest bull moose ever shot, weighed eighteen hundred pounds. Bison
can run up to thirty five miles per hour, which
is faster than a horse and bad news for tourists
looking to get a selfie. Finally, public lands managed by
(02:25):
the Interior Department support seventeen bison herds. Comprised of nearly
ten thousand individuals and twelve states, Yellowstone is definitely not
the only game in town. So there you go. You're
ready to dominate your next round of bison themed trivia, unless,
of course, you think this was all bull This week,
we've got legislation, the crime desk, and so much more.
(02:48):
But first, I'm going to tell you about my week.
I was so busy last week I can't remember what
the heck I told you, so if this is a recap,
you know, so sorry. Bha at the bar aren't de Soto,
Kansas last week. Huge thank you to Kansas back country
hunters and anglers and everyone who attended that event. We
(03:09):
talked policy and stayed late. It was heavy material. Yeah,
there was some beer present, but all the same lots
you can do on a Wednesday, and you chose to
be there to listen to state and federal policy. About
one hundred and fifty folks all total. I think a
couple of cold ones from Black Stag Brewing who had
a really unique, fantastic brown ale and check pilsner. Very notable.
(03:36):
That is sort of an Oki after birth. What was
that anyway? Got a cold brew from those folks, and
you talked state and federal policy late into the night.
Bless you all, Thank you, Thank you. Then traveled into
the heart of the cold, cold city for pheasant Fest
and the Coil Classic. I've talked about these organs a
(03:56):
bunch in the past. They have my support for their
habitat at work and the fact that they employ a
small army of farm Bill biologists habitat specialists who work
all across rural America to ensure that the farmers and
ranchers who make our food have access to all of
the programs contained in the farm Bill, which can help
(04:16):
improve their bottom line and provide habitat for wildlife, drought
tolerant soils, fire tolerant landscapes, lots of downstream benefits for
US folks who like to, you know, selfishly take a
couple of days off to hunt and fish. I tried
to tell everyone I met over the weekend in person,
thank you, but I'll do it again here. Thank you
(04:38):
for volunteering your time, energy, cash. I appreciate what you're
all doing. Volunteers are special. You do a lot of
work without a lot of thanks, So for me, thank you. Now.
Funny ish story for you. The weekend was extremely dog friendly,
dogs all over the place at pheasant Fest Quail Classic.
(05:00):
I enjoy seeing and being around dogs, and it made
me very eager to get back to old Snort. So
when I did, we headed out on a hike. Snort
was hunting around like she always does. She flushed a
rooster on her way back to the truck, which was awesome.
Then I watched her throw her head back in the air,
(05:20):
a sign of her hitting a strong scent. She then
followed that scent to the river, swam across the channel
onto an island, dug into a log jam that had
collected there. I was not sitting idly by here because
I knew what was happening. The river had deposited some
sort of dead, stinky thing out there, and the only
thing that could keep me from sleeping that night was
(05:43):
her finding it and puking it up all night. So
I charged it out there, but eventually I had to
stop because the river was too high over my knee
boots and a little fast. I yelled, and she turned
with dripping glop carcass unknown hanging from her jaws, and
not come to my calling, even though I was yelling
(06:03):
and quite pissed. She did not swim back to me
until she had consumed what was hanging from her lips.
When a dog does not come when called, you have
a serious problem. Friends and neighbors. This is dangerous behavior.
Never cute, never okay, it's training time. Moving on to
(06:23):
the legislative desk. A bill in North Carolina would prohibit
anglers from launching their boats into public waterways from public
right of ways. Big thanks to everyone over at North
Carolina BHA who sent this one in. Y'all are doing
great work out there getting the word out. Senate Bill
two twenty was introduced by Senator Danny Earle Britt along
(06:44):
with four other Republican senators. I've been told this bill
was introduced at the behest of landowners who don't like
the riff raft launching boats next to their properties. I
don't know if that's true, but that's usually why we
see these public land restrictions. The bill does two primary things. First,
it would prohibit people from trespassing on private property for
(07:05):
the purpose of launching a boat in a public waterway.
I'm guarantee there's our already law that says trespassing is illegal.
But fair enough now. In section four of the bill,
it says, quote any person who willfully launches any motorized
or unmotorized watercraft from the right of way of a
(07:25):
public highway or street into a body of water adjacent
to the right of way, except in public areas designated
for boating access, is guilty of a Class three misdemeanor.
In other words, this bill would criminalize people who pull
off a road on public ground next to a bridge
(07:45):
and launch a kayak into a public river. This is normal,
a common practice all over the country, including North kak Lackey.
On a nice day this time of year, you can
usually find a line of cars and trucks along the
side of the road next to a bridge, as regular
folks who may not be able to afford a big
boat take advantage of the spring spawn. As if this
(08:07):
bill couldn't get any shadier, the sponsors are also lying
about whether these new restrictions have been endorsed by the
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. The bill's title claims they have,
but it's not true. Here's Hunter Owen of North Carolina
back Country Hunters and Anglers Coastal Region.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
On Friday, I personally reached out to NCWRC, who has
informed me that they are unaware that that language was
in the bill. The bill was supposed to just adjust
some language to our already established private land laws, so
this was a little bit of a surprise for them too.
We've gotten that from two different sources, and we're waiting
to reach out Monday for more information.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
If you live in North Carolina, you know what to do.
Contact your legislators and tell them to vote no on
Senate Bill two twenty. They're trying to feef your access
over there. Hunters and anglers and wildlife enthusiasts in Wisconsin
are concerned they might lose access to millions in funds
that have been used to purchase and maintain public land.
(09:06):
The Noles Nelson Stewardship Program was created in nineteen eighty
nine and is used to fund conservation and recreation projects
across the state. It's been a successful and effective program,
and lands purchased with these funds are required to remain
open to hunting and trapping, but it's set to expire
in twenty twenty six, and some lawmakers are saying they
(09:28):
won't vote to renew it. Last year, the state Supreme
Court voted six to one that state legislators were not
allowed to indefinitely hold up funding on individual projects approved
by the Noles Nelson Stewardship Program. Lawmakers would sometimes object
to funding certain land purchases, and so they would indefinitely
delay the vote to approve them. But now that the
(09:50):
court has ruled such actions are not allowed, legislators are
threatening to get rid of the fund entirely, which, if
you ask me, sounds a bit like a tantrum. Fortunately,
hunting and conservation groups have launched a campaign to fight
back Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever. The Safari Club and many
others have formed the Sporting Coalition for Stewardship. They're working
(10:11):
to get the word out about the Noles Nelson Stewardship
Program and urge lawmakers to renew it. If you live
in Wisconsin, or you hunt and fish in Wisconsin, or
just care about maintaining opportunities to get outside, contact your
Wisconsin legislators today. If you don't know who your legislator
is or need their contact info, head on over to
(10:31):
the meeteater dot com forward slash cal gang. What's happening
right now is a lot of federal funding if not,
most of it is questionable. At best, we don't know
if we're gonna get it, so these state funded programs
like the Noles Nelson Stewardship Program is incredibly important to
have dedicated funding for getting outside in your state. Fight
(10:55):
to keep it it can go away. Pennsylvanians will once
once again have a chance to legalize hunting on Sundays
across the board. Current law allows hunting on some Sundays
and not on others, but Senate Bill sixty seven would
remove all Sunday hunting prohibitions and give full authority to
the Pennsylvania Game Commission. If this sounds like deja vu
(11:15):
all over again, that's because similar bills have been introduced
every year the last three or four years. But this
time supporters hope the backing of the Game Commission and
the Farm Bureau will be enough to push it over
the top. Last one for you. In Minnesota, advocates for
youth shooting sports are once again fighting a bill that
would ban leed ammunition in the state. Senate bill in
(11:37):
the fifteen ninety five would ban lead ammunition for all
hunting on public and private land and for shooting at
a range. This would have an enormous impact on hunters,
but listener Scott Moulman pointed out to me in an
email that would also have a catastrophic impact on youth
shooting sports. Youth shooting sports are huge in Minnesota, bigger
than boys and girls hockey combined, which, if you know
(11:59):
anything about Minnesota, is saying something. Requiring non lead ammunition
will double ammunition costs for students. The resulting decrease in
participation will keep kids from the sports they love and
shut down shooting ranges that rely on that participation, and
it won't have any discernible impact on the environment or
human health. There is no evidence that kids are harmed
(12:19):
by shooting led ammunition, and the lead that ends up
in the ground at a shooting range has a negligible
effect on wildlife and drinking water. It's also highly highly recyclable,
which is what happens at shooting ranges every so often
they go through, collect all the lead and recycle it.
We can all take our precautions when it comes to
(12:42):
lead in wildlife, but they're at the shooting ranges is
the perfect spot for lead ammunition. Copper at the range
for recreation is going to have more of a negative
impact on the earth rather than help it. You might
say that Senate Bill fifteen ninety five is a solution
in search of a problem. That's Minnesota Senate Bill fifteen
(13:04):
ninety five. And again, want to hit SB three zero
seven here in Montana. I've brought this up a couple
of times. This is our own habitat fund called Habitat
Montana that was funded through marijuana tax as recreational marijuana tacks.
It's important to bring that up because we as a
(13:25):
state voted in favor of having recreational marijuana in this
state in part because it would fund the Habitat for
Montana fund, which is dedicated funding. Right again, we're at
a time where federal funding is very much in question,
So this is dedicated funding here in the state of
Montana to support the things that most people move here for,
(13:48):
which is access to the out of doors. Habitat for
Montana also was the fund that literally provided all the
cash to take care of our state parks backlog in
may Nuts. It's been used responsibly and well. And SB
three oh seven here in Montana would remove that funding,
put it towards other things. The other things don't matter
(14:11):
in this case, not because they're not important, but because
we have a surplus of cash in Montana and there's
no reason to go Robin the great out of doors piggybank. Okay,
because we need more funding in there too, So do
me a favor and ask your state representative to vote
no on Senate Bill three oh seven here in Montana.
(14:36):
Moving on to the crime desk, a Louisiana man has
been arrested for alleged deer hunting violations and obstruction of
justice in Lincoln and Bienville Parishes. Sixty one year old
RHT Sims shot an eleven point buck from a neighboring
property but let it lie because he did not have
permission to enter that other property. Sims was already hunting
without a license or tags, so don't know why I
(14:58):
cared about trespassing, but I guess he drew the line.
Then he got a brilliant idea. He asked his buddy,
who had tags, to tag and collect the deer for him,
but the landowner stopped his buddy before he could collect
the deer. Some states allow limited trespass to retrieve a
hundred animal, but Louisiana isn't one. Of them, sims buddy
apparently sang like a bird, because Sims was arrested in January.
(15:20):
While Simms was in jail, agents discovered that this wasn't
the poacher's first rodeo. He'd harvested an eight point deer
on November twelfth, a five point deer on November seventeen,
and another eleven point deer on November twenty nine, all
in Lincoln in Bienville parishes. He'd had his license revoked previously,
and he didn't have tags for any of these other deer.
(15:41):
His hunting violations carry maximum fines of hundreds of dollars,
but that obstruction of justice charge could land him in
jail for up to five years. A hunting band didn't
seem like a big burden for old Sims, and we
know that's true of this next poacher too. Local media
in Oregon reports that a thirty four year old man
just received his third lifetime hunting band after he pled
(16:02):
guilty to shooting two trophy sized game animals, a bull
elk and a buck deer. He committed these latest crimes
during archery season, when he shot the animals with a
rifle from his vehicle using a spotlight. Of course, since
he was banned from ever purchasing a hunting license back
in twenty fifteen, we can safely assume he didn't have
the proper tags. This fella's name is Travis Alexander Palmer
(16:25):
will call him Tap, and he's a poster child for
the kind of serial wildlife criminal that only serious jail
time can remedy. Unfortunately, that's not what he's getting for
his latest round of crimes, which also included thirty one
fishing violations. He's spending fifty five days in jail and
being fined twenty two five hundred dollars. He'll also be
(16:46):
serving two hundred and sixty hours of community service and
will be on supervised probation for the next eighteen months.
That's about as stiff a penalty as you'll see for
a wildlife crime, but it's hard to imagine it'll have
the intended effect. Palmer was first caught poaching in two
thousand and eight, when he was just seventeen. He had
his hunting license suspended for two years, but he was
(17:06):
caught again two years later and was hit with another
three year suspension. Then, in twenty fifteen, Palmer was convicted
of another wildlife offense and received his first lifetime hunting
license revocation. He kept his nose clean for eight years.
I'll put that in parentheses until twenty twenty three, when
he got his second lifetime ban. Based on what we
(17:27):
know about the relationship between serial poachers and the tendency
to commit crimes against humans, I think the people of
Grant County, Oregon will be better served by getting this
fella off the street for longer than fifty five days.
The US Justice Department announced last week that four individuals
who tried to smuggle rare and endangered birds from Puerto
(17:47):
Rico to the Dominican Republic have been sentenced for Lacy
Act violations. The four Dominican nationals were chugging along in
a boat about thirty miles north of Puerto Rico when
they were approached by a Coastguard vessel. Coastguard sailors didn't
know they were stopping bird smugglers, but they figured it
out pretty quick. That's because the smugglers started chucking the
bird cages overboard. I know what you're thinking. The smart
(18:10):
thing would have been to let the birds out of
their cages. They could fly. Then, you know, you're just
stuck with bird cages. Pay no attention to the rare
and endangered birds circling overhead. But these guys, they didn't
think of that. Coast Guard recovered the wooden cages from
the ocean, in which they found one hundred and thirteen
drowned birds. Many of the birds were internationally protected species,
(18:30):
including white crowned parrots, golden capped parakeets, and red crowned parrots.
All of these smugglers were sentenced to one year in prison,
except for one who was sentenced to eight months. Moving
on to the DC desk, The Trump administration issued more
executive orders last week that will impact public land and resources.
(18:51):
Two in particular have gained national media attention because they
seek to ramp up timber production from coast to coast.
One is titled simply the Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production.
It aims to do exactly that. The President directs the
leaders of federal public land agencies to quote each issue
new or updated guidance regarding tools to facilitate increased timber
(19:13):
production and sound forest management, reduce time to deliver timber,
and decrease timber supply uncertainty. It also directs these agencies
to come up with ways to streamline the process for
reproving timber harvest by reducing environmental review requirements under the
National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act. Why
does the President want to increase timber harvest, He lists
(19:36):
a few reasons. For one thing, he says increasing timber
harvest will reduce wildfire risk. He also argues that wood
products are critical to our nation's well being, but our
reliance on foreign producers threatens both quality of life and
national security. Moving more timber harvesting stateside will give construction
companies and the military more secure access to these resources,
(19:58):
which is why he also issued another order directing the
Secretary of Commerce to investigate how timber impacts national security.
He believes heavy handed federal policies have prevented full utilization
of our nation's timber supply, and these orders are designed
to give timber companies an easier avenue for getting harvests improved.
(20:18):
Massive increases in timber harvests are understandably concerning to a
lot of people, but this kind of falls in line
with some of the other declarations to expand drilling or
oil gas production on public lands. One thing that we
have to keep in mind dimensional timber lumber in America.
(20:41):
That's a commodity as well. It's also something that grows, right,
think of like a big plant. You can only harvest
it at a certain size in order to maximize the
value of that dimensional lumber. Right, if it provides a lot,
it's worth taking. If it doesn't provide a lot, you
let that thing grow. So industry in and of itself,
(21:03):
if it's going to operate, has to also have its
own guidelines. And they know darn sure that you got
to let trees grow to a certain size. There's also
a lot of areas where it just doesn't make any
sense to go get lumber due to the wear and
tear on machinery, and you're only going to produce enough
to keep the price high enough to where you can
(21:25):
justify wages, wear and tear on equipment, the cost of
extraction and getting that stuff to a mill. Also, like
our lumber mills in America are not nearly as plentiful
as they used to be. So I, for one, am
not screaming from the rooftops over this particular executive order.
(21:48):
I do point out that taking Canada's trees like we
have been, and letting our trees grow might be something
to consider if we're thinking about national security. In other news,
a federal district judge in California issued an opinion last
week declaring that the recent firing of tens of thousands
(22:09):
of probationary employees is illegal. As we covered a few
weeks ago, the Trump administration fired over three thousand Forest
Service workers, over one thousand National Park Service employees, and
hundreds from the BLM and US Fish and Wildlife Service.
These firings were not based on merit. Instead, they just
laid off everyone who had been at their current position
for less than a year, even if they had been
(22:31):
with their agency for a long time in other capacities.
In his decision, US District Judge William also concluded that
the government's actions were a gimmick designed to expeditiously carry
out mass firings. He said it was clear that the
federal agencies had followed directives from the Office of Personnel
Management to use a loophole allowing them to fire probationary
workers en mass based on poor performance, regardless of their
(22:54):
actual conduct on the job. This ruling doesn't apply to
all fired federal employees only those at Veterans Affairs, Defense, Energy, Interior, Agriculture,
and Treasury. But Interior and Agriculture covers the BLM and
the Forest Service, so that's good news for those folks.
Of course, this isn't the final word on the story.
The Trump administration argues that as the head of the
(23:17):
executive Branch, the president has the power to hire and
fire whoever he wants. He's about to fight this decision
in court. Also, by the time you hear this, we're
going to be passing another deadline pertaining to a previous
executive order to have those standing at these agencies and
branches to further reduce the workforce. So once again we'll
(23:41):
be behind on the news cycle. Here important thing to
point out here, gang, and I know I'm repeating myself.
I apologize. We all want the government to do better.
We all want to get rid of fraud, waste, inefficiencies
for sure, we want things to function better. We want
our tax dollars to be spent the best possible way
(24:01):
and ideally in ways that we think are important too.
I know, and I personally come across fantastic federal employees,
people who would be a value add to anything in
the private sector. Unfortunately, what we're seeing here with these
mass firings is they aren't trying to preserve good employees
(24:25):
to get rid of bad employees. They're just cutting broad
swaths here. And all of us in the private sector,
we all know that there's folks who carry the load
and there's folks who coast, and it's not just limited
to those in the federal employee. So I, for one
very thankful of good civil servants. I appreciate you. Moving
(24:49):
on to the accident's desk, We've covered some pretty strange
hunting and fishing accidents here on Cal's Week in Review,
but this has got to be one of the strangest.
Man in the Indian the city of Alepsa died last
week after a fish got stuck in his throat while
he was fishing. Indian media reports that the twenty five
year old was angling in rice paddy fields with his
(25:10):
friends when the incident took place. The report says, quote,
he was trying to catch another fish by biting the
fish in his mouth when it went down his throat.
I've been there. You get excited, you want to catch
those fish when the bite's on whatever actually happened. I
did discover that this isn't the first fish choking death
to strike Southeast Asia. In twenty fourteen, a twenty one
(25:33):
year old Indian man died when a fish swam down
his throat while he was bathing in a pond. Locals
pulled him out and noticed blood coming out of his
mouth along with the moving tail of a fish. No
word on the species of either suicidal sushi, but whatever
they are, they have a taste for irony. In a
less tragic and more domestic accident, a Pennsylvania man has
(25:54):
been charged with the reckless endangerment after he blasted a
fellow hunter thinking it was a turkey. This happens every
turkey season, but this one caught my eye because we
have more details about this incident than usual. Game wardens say.
Fifty one year old Scott Huber was hunting last November
near Barrie Township in the central part of the state.
He said he thought he saw the black and white
feathers and white neck of a turkey, so he pulled
(26:17):
the trigger, But after sending lead shot down range, he
heard what noah hunter ever wants to hear. In the woods,
someone yelled out you shot me, and he responded asking
where the victim was. The unidentified victim didn't respond right away,
and Huber said he wasn't sure whether someone was joking
with him. Turns out it wasn't a joke. The victim
said he'd been saddle hunting when he saw Huber set
(26:38):
up about eighty yards away. Hubert didn't know the man
was in the tree, but the victim at some point
got down and changed position. Hubert fired at the victim,
threw some brush from fifty two yards away, which would
have been a long shot even in good conditions. The
victim suffered two pellet wounds to the right ear, two
to the right shoulder, seven to the upper back, one
of the right arm, and three wounds near his other ear.
(27:00):
My question to you is does the victim bear any
responsibility here? If he saw Huber set up, should he
have notified him of his whereabouts? Sounds a little like
he was sneaking through the woods knowing there was another
turkey hunter set up there. Huber should never have pulled
the trigger right, because you identify your target and what's
beyond right in let us know what you think. Askcl
(27:24):
at the medeater dot com and remember right in let
us know what's going on in your neck of the woods.
We appreciate you, we depend on you. Thanks again, we'll
talk to you next week.
Host
Cal Callaghan
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com