May 19, 2025 • 39 mins
This week Cal talks public lands, solar power, advocacy, wildlife crime and beer with Preston Theony of Wren House Brewing.
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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 Cala.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Here's Cow.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
New details are emerging about the five South American fishermen
who survived fifty five days in the Pacific Ocean stranded
on a powerless boat. The two Colombians and three Peruvians
were making their way along the coast of Peru when
their ship's alternator failed. This made communication and navigation tools
malfunction and left the crew with no way to call
(00:42):
for help or get back to shore. They survived nearly
two months by drinking rain water and, according to the
Ecuadorian Navy, par boiling fish using rusty water from the engine.
I can't tell you how they caught the fish, but
I can shine some light on the cooking technique they used.
Par Boiling is when you boil something but not quite
all the way. It actually comes from an old French
(01:04):
word meaning to boil thoroughly, but it got the definition
it has in English because it sounds like par chilly boil.
You might parboil rice or vegetables to get them soft
before throwing them in a stir fry, or to infuse
meat with flavor before finishing the cook some other way.
I don't think these fellows were too concerned about flavors
(01:25):
or textures, but they were concerned about resources, namely firewood
and fresh water. Without any power, they were likely cooking
fish over a fire using anything on the boat that
might burn. I'm sure they were also worried about running
out of drinking water since they didn't know when the
next rain would come, so they boiled the fish just
enough to hopefully kill some bacteria without using too much
(01:47):
firewood or fresh water. It's a pretty smart idea, and
I'm sure it's part of the reason they survived so
long without dying from dysentery or turning to other forms
of meat, if you know what I mean. This week
we've got public land sales, crime, the attack desk, listener emails,
and so much more. But first I'm going to tell
(02:07):
you about my week. And my week has been hectic.
It's packed, and it's all important because it's all public
lands oriented type work. If you have noticed in your
social feeds and news feeds, public lands are very much
in the spotlight and we are doing our best to
keep up. Every day I get messages like this cal
(02:27):
I've been reaching out to my congressman at a furious rate,
but getting a hold of people is proving very difficult.
All I'm getting our message boards and non responses. If
you have any tips, I'd appreciate it. I feel like
I'm doing everything I can to talk to someone, but frankly,
it feels very disheartening. Good evening. My name is Matt
and I'm a hunter and angler from Arizona. I call
(02:48):
my Arizona representative, David Schweikert let him know I am
opposed to the sale of public lands. I also use
the BHA take action link to send an email. I
was wondering if there are others I should contact do
I also try to reach out to my senators and
from somewhere across the pond guessing a Scandinavian country quote.
(03:09):
This is something that I personally feel American Hunter in
some way takes a bit too easy on you guys.
Public land is so amazing, it's insane compare to whole
Europe where it's all private land and the entry level
for new hunters is very, very tricky. Appreciate your reaching out.
(03:29):
So you're going to hear this over and over again
because you got to take action and actually do it. Calling, emailing, writing,
in visiting your elected officials does make an impact. The
other thing you can do is do a quick social
media post and tag them in it. Be respectful, let
them know what you're thinking right now. Of course, public
(03:52):
lands and access to them are on my list of
asks for my elected officials. Thankfully I have some that
I can say thank you for standing up and doing
the right thing very noticeably. Gave Vasquez out of New Mexico,
Mike Simpson out of Idaho, and Ryan Zinki here in
(04:12):
my home state of Montana are all doing the right
thing right now on the side of public lands. So
get your thank yous in there too, alongside your ass.
Another cool thing that I want to make people aware
of is that it's not just individuals that are getting
activated here, it's brands for profit businesses and these are
(04:34):
all like the rumblings of grassroots awareness in the public
lands issues that we're facing. So I thought i'd throw
in this special segment. Renhouse Brewing down Arizona has developed
a public lands pale ale called a rep as in
get in touch with your rep and let them know
what you think about public lands. So far, beer drinkers
have sent two hundred emails in a couple of days.
(04:56):
In the brewing community outside Arizona, where Renhouse is located,
it is asking how they can participate, including farmers and
distributors such as y h Yakima chief hops who are
apparently giving discounted hops to breweries who make this public
lands palol. So let's hear right now from a private
(05:16):
for profit business owner who decided to take action, Preston
Tony of Rerenhouse Brewing and his beer rep.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
All right, this is just a special drop in segment.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
I thought, instead of explaining advocacy from a business perspective,
like why private businesses should be involved in the public
land fight, I'd bring in somebody who actually runs a business,
and an important business for a lot of outdoor folks
(05:51):
because the guy brews beer. A few weeks ago I
managed to get in touch with a bunch of folks
that I know at brands all across the country, and
we formed a coalition called Brands for Public Lands. And
the idea is to put together all these businesses into
(06:14):
a big list. Everybody provides their financial statement that they're
comfortable with, and then we go to our elected officials
and we say, hey, all of these brands that employed
this many people and generate this much in collective revenue
(06:34):
depend on public lands and access to them to survive.
This is how we recruit awesome, talented individuals to come
work for us. This is the reason that we do
the work that we do. It's critical, crucial to the
development of our products and our mental health, and we
(06:58):
have a huge positive impact on gross domestic product, which
is the only thing that's going to save us from
the debt monster. You cannot sell our public lands. That's
the idea behind this. And when we rolled this out
our guest today, Preston Fanny Tony teen.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
It's tiny, but I'll do any of them.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
You're good any th h o E n Y of
Renhouse Brewing in Arizona reached out and said, well, hey,
I want to know more about this, and then we
kind of got on this tangent having like a beer
that speaks for you, you know, like the old joke
(07:42):
about a hat that says hello before the person wearing
it does. That's kind of along these lines. So anyway, Preston,
thanks for coming on. Tell us a little bit about
Ren House Brewing.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yeah, thanks for having me. We're locating in Arizona, originally
from Phoenix, but we have a production place in Presco.
Now that prus the majority of our beer, with some
tap rooms around the state. Yeah, And I think Arizona
and is unique and how much public land we have
and how much recreation is done on that public land.
(08:18):
So it's since day one, been kind of a part
of our brand and our identity, and that's that's why
I reached out. You know, I think it's we're in
a position where we have kind of a community. Craft
beer is really cool in that sense, and we have
a really active community, and you know, it's something that
we hear internally and from our team and from consumers.
(08:41):
You know, the value of public lands in Arizona, and
you know, when people send us pictures of them drinking
our beer, it's in public land. So it was a
pretty it was a pretty easy outreach on our end.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Yeah, It's amazing how many things are tied to public lands, right,
and so you've done some some support of public lands
in the past.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
What what's that looked like.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yeah, I mean, it's it can be anything with you know,
we've done beers with the NFF with Audubon with you know,
different outdoor organizations, and it can be like a real
myopic cause a specific bird needs attention for protection reason,
or a creek and a part of the state needs
a little extra attention. You know what we can't do
(09:33):
that the big companies do, which is bringing huge donations.
We can get a lot of advocacy because we have
a relationship with the people who consume our product, and
if we're going to talk about it, it usually means
it's something we're passionate about. And so you know, it's
a really good way if if someone has a cause
that aligns with kind of either our ideologies or what
(09:56):
you know, what we're striving to do as a business,
something as simple as doing some social media posts in
a specific label, we can start that dialogue pretty quickly.
And so you know, we've been very fortunate to do that.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
In the response from your consumer is all positive negative,
somewhere in between.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
What's that look like?
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Yeah, I mean specifically, you know what we came up
with and the name goes to you Rep public lands IPA.
That's the one we just released with you know, a
call to action to the people drinking it and The
response immediately was huge. It was wonderful. Our hot provider,
Yakima Chief, wants to get involved and provide hops for
(10:43):
other bewis to start brewing it. Breweries from Montana, Washington, Colorado, California, Arizona,
they're all reaching out wanting to brew the beer. So
that's this second phase we're working on, is to kind
of make this, you know, not a renhouse specific beer
or concept, but what the original kind of target was,
(11:04):
which was to be a nationwide call to action people.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And I think the cool part, right is it's pretty
in your front face, front and center. It's a QR
code on the beer can. And we definitely need to
give a shout out to your other half, your your
wife who did the artwork.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Yeah, yeah, she does a great way she always does.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
No, it's a really cool campaign, like you said, And
I was really grateful that you had great insight from
the first email. You already had some pitches of having
this in your face QR code, and our friends had
as Wildlife and Pha. We're able to kind of meld
it all together. And if you just hold up your
phone to the can, it predrafts an email to your
(11:52):
elected officials that you can then edit to say what
you want and really democratize the entire endeavor. But to
open that line of communication just with a beer can
and something that conceptually is really easy to do, but
I've never thought of that. I've never seen it before,
and it ended up being you know, we heard today
we had a meeting. You know, a couple hundred people
(12:13):
have already done it, and you know, I think that's
just going to snowball really excited.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
It's super cool and it's not a gimmick, right, It's
like it's very well needed.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
It's the right time, right place.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
And can you tell us a little bit more about
how it works for other breweries to brew this beer
and what the brewers network that you talked about is like.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Yeah, you know, the craft beer industry is really cool
from you know, the consumer side to the production side.
It is kind of like this extended family. You know,
Like I said, when people are tagging breweries in their
social media, it's them on kayaks or them fishing or
then camping. It's a lot less of them walking downtown
with a beer. Right, Like, craft beer kind of exists
(13:02):
in a world where it's meant to be consumed socially
and outdoors, and you know it's experiential and so there's
always been that relationship. So before we even bird the beer,
I hit up a bunch of breweries Perry Street and Spokane,
and boy Mountain in Seattle and draft Wards in Missoula
and some of my other buddies from the industry, and
(13:24):
you know, within thirty seconds they're like, yeah, send it
to us, let's do it. This is great. It's such
a no brainer, and some of them are going to
make beers. Some of them are just going to push
it on social media. But you know, it's very little
effort from our side in order to have this huge
response from the consumer, which is this involvement that we're
looking to do. And that QR code, you know, you
(13:45):
scan it with your phone, then you enter in your
address and there's a button. If you want to learn more,
you click it and they'll send you some emails to
keep you in the loop. But if you don't want to,
that's fine, and it'll assign you an email that's directed
towards you. Liketed politicians based on your home address, and
that's not Arizona specific. Fear in Missoula and you scan it,
(14:08):
it'll give you all your folks in California, Utah doesn't matter.
So that QR coach just gonna get you in touch
with the people that are sitting there waiting to hear
from people. You know that. I think it's easy for
us to forget that. You know, they're representatives of us,
and they are genuinely interested in hearing from us, and
this might be the push it takes.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Yeah, right now, you know, certainly my ask and I
think the idea behind this say like, don't sell off
our public land. This stuff is super important to us.
That's why we do what we do in order to
spend more time out there. And you know, you need
to stand up for us, stand up for the for
(14:50):
the folks that are out there recreating on the weekends,
or out there cutting timber to feed their family or
grais in livestock, like, these lands do a heck of
a lot of work for all of us, and we
need to keep them working because once you sell them,
they're gone forever. And I would hope other people are
(15:11):
saying the same thing. But that doesn't mean that you
can't use this to say thank you, Like my congressional
representative Ryan Zinki here in the state of Montana. He's
been one of the folks that has been very public
about saying his red line is public lands, and he's
not willing to go there. So when I take a
(15:34):
picture that can, I'm going to say thank you to him,
and I'm going to ask my senators like she he
and Dan's and my other Rep. Troy Downing to also
support public lands like I believe they really know they should.
So what's the landscape looking like down there in Arizona?
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Well, tough to say. I think it. It seems like
when I hear one thing, the next day, I'll hear
something else. So I think, you know, we're at a precipice,
and I'd be really interested to see, you know, what
a public campaign like this could do, could it, you know,
push them over one way or the other. But you know,
I think Arizona, you know, and I think it's similar
(16:18):
to Nevada and Utah and some other places, but it's
unique nationwide in that I think when you're from here,
like a lot of us here at Rendhouse are, you
don't appreciate the public lands. You don't realize how valuable
that is and how unique that is having lived other
places in the country. We have so much of it
here in Arizona. I think we take it for granted,
(16:40):
and I think if that starts disappearing, it'd be a
huge blindside for a lot of outdoorsmen and you know,
just recreational people. And we have so much of it.
You might not miss the first couple of acres, but
then next thing you know, you're losing these entire swaths
that have been valuable to you for a long time.
(17:01):
So I think it's a critical time right on.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
If folks want to get their local brewery, big or small,
on this rep train. Rep is the name of the
beer again, folks of public lands, payal ale. What what's
the best way for them to do that?
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Yeah, you can reach out on social media, you can
email me directly. It's Preston at Renhouse Brewing dot com.
Get in touch. We're going to put a page on
our website in the next let's say, seventy two hours
that will have free access and free rights to any
of our illustrations, our recipe, our branding, our copywriting, anything
(17:46):
to do it. We want to hand this off and
let people take it and run with it. They can
use as a collaboration. They can use it as their own,
so long as you know they're sticking with the ethos
of throwing that QR code on and getting people involved.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Heck yeah, well, buddy, as long as the porch pirates
don't snag my care package that you sent my way,
I'm sure going to be telling people about it. I
guess I am right now, But I'd rather do one
with with the cold beverage in my hand.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Yeah, I get the right address this time. That'll help.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Just because you're good at brewing beer doesn't mean you're
good at everything else, right.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
But hey, Mount, hats off to yet.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I really appreciate you just paying attention to what's going
on and the willingness of a you know, for profit
business owner to do something that's not necessarily gonna resonate
with sales. It may alienate certain customers, but you believe
(18:53):
it's the right thing to do, and you're doing it,
and I think that's a great message to get out there.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Yeah, I mean, I will say internally, it's the most
excited I've seen my teammates be about a project. And
we've done a lot of projects, but you know, we
got people, you know, public outreach. Ali's killing it, and
then production Matt and Jake are killing it. But like
the entire team, they're excited in a way I haven't
seen them before. And when you're a production company, you
(19:21):
can only brew so much, right, like I said, brewery,
and we'll sell that amount because we've scheduled it. So
it's not like we're going to sell more beer by
doing this. To your point, it doesn't increase sales. What
it does is it increase an ethos that we're really
proud of and that's more valuable to us. And so
we're really excited and you know, all hands on deck
(19:42):
here at Brenn House right now to really push this
and see what we can do.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Heck yeah, well, I mean that's that's a great point,
you know, and we do our land access initiative on
the meat eater side of things, or we stand up
and talk about public and why they're important to us.
The internal response from all of myself included employees is huge,
(20:11):
Like you get a little pep in your step because
you're proud to be doing what you're doing because you're standing.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Up for the right things.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah exactly, Yeah, all right, buddy, Well thank you so much. Remember, folks,
Rent House Brewing is kicking off the rep Public Lands
Pale campaign. It's the only beer out there that I
know of, that we know of that if you take
a picture in between SIPs, you can get in touch
(20:42):
with your rep and advocate for the things that are
important to you. And it's important right now. So I
hope you do it. I appreciate it. Thanks for having
me on. I'm really glad that we continue to keep
pushing this campaign.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Heck yeah, more to come.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
All right, let's get on to the news. Moving on
to the public lands desk. By now, you've probably heard
about the mandatory public land sales that were included in
the House Budget Reconciliation Bill. The first draft of the
legislation made no mention of public land sales, but two
Republicans got up at the last minute, literally at the
eleventh hour, and proposed an amendment. The amendment would require
(21:25):
the sale of about ten thousand acres of federal public
land in Utah and potentially hundreds of thousands in Nevada.
The latest number I saw was reported by the AP
which estimates that four hundred and sixty thousand acres could
be on the auction block. It's true that the parcels
in Utah are mostly small plots around urban areas. Some
of them might be good candidates to sell to local
(21:47):
and state governments through the FLITFA process, which is the
public vetted process of land sales, where the profit from
that land being sold actually goes back into a fund
to purchase more public land of more critical value. But
that's not really the point. The point is that this
(22:09):
bill circumvents the normal, responsible process we already have for
selling public land. That process is burdensome because it requires
public input. That's frustrating for state and local officials. But
this bill isn't the answer. This bill puts deadlines on
some of these sales that may not provide enough time
for the full process to play out. It also directs
all the money from the sale of these lands to
(22:31):
the US Treasury. That might sound reasonable, and it's meant
to lend credibility to the idea that these sales will
reduce the deficit, but it's actually a radical departure from
the norm. Normally, the money generated from public land sales
is used to purchase or conserve public land elsewhere. The
ideas that selling this undesirable piece of land around Salt
Lake City or wherever will allow public land agencies to
(22:54):
expand or can serve a more desirable plot elsewhere, maybe
in a national forest or oilderness area. But this bill
eliminates that option and puts all the money back into
the general fund. Most fundamentally, this bill will require many
of these plots to be sold in a good faith process.
There's always a chance that a piece of land won't
be disposed if there's an outcry from the general public,
(23:17):
or the Interior Secretary decides the purpose of that land
would be better served on another property, or endangered wildlife
is discovered there, that property might not be sold. But
this Budget Reconciliation Bill does away with that good faith process.
It mandates the land be sold, despite what the public
might think. Believe it or not, Mandatory public land sales
(23:38):
may not be the worst part of this budget bill.
The budget also paves the way for the construction of
the Ambler Road, a two hundred and eleven mile private
mining road across the southern edge of the Brooks Range
in Alaska. It requires and facilitates an extractive leasing program
in Alaska on the largest single block of federally managed
land in the United States. It also removes protections for
(23:59):
boundary waters canoe area of wilderness in northern Minnesota. These
are all things we've been worried about, and now it
looks like Congress is moving forward. The silver lining here
is that this is not over, not by a long shot.
I don't know where the process will be when you
listen to this, but as of this recording, the bill
still has to pass the full House. Then it has
to go over to the Senate, where it must pass
(24:20):
out of the committee, and then a full Senate vote.
If the Senate has made any changes, the House will
then have to vote on those changes. The larger budget
bill is likely to pass, but we still can encourage
our representatives to remove these provisions. There are still Republicans
in the House who oppose public land sales. The Public
Land Caucus was recently formed to keep public lands in
(24:40):
public hands. The caucus includes at least four Republicans, Ryan
Zink and Troy Downing of Montana, Mike Simpson of Idaho,
and Jen Keegan's of Virginia. Republicans only have a seven
seat majority in the House, so if these four stick
together and recruit a few more, they can demand the
public land sale provisions be removed. But having just spent
(25:01):
time with some of these folks in Washington, I can
tell you they won't do anything unless we ask for it.
So right now, hit pause, ask Siri to connect you
to the US Capital switchboard or dial two two two
two four three one two one and ask them to
connect you to your representative. They're going to ask you
(25:22):
your postal code and then bing. You'll be on the phone,
most likely with the staffer and you say, hey, this
is my name, this is where I'm at, and I
am a hunter. I spend my time on public lands.
I value them, do not sell them. They don't belong
in reconciliation. If by chance, there is a chunk that
(25:42):
absolutely needs to be sold, it needs to go through
the process that we have in place that allows all
of US Americans to understand what it is we're selling
in order to justify the what we're getting, and those
funds go back in to getting more public land. Remember,
(26:03):
if you just casually poll a hunter or angler in
the United States of America, they do not say, you
know what, we need less land and less access. That's
what's going to improve my hunting and fishing. I've yet
to hear that one. Moving on to the fishing desk,
Wildlife officials in North Carolina are sounding the alarm about
(26:25):
an invasion. Alabama bass have made their way up from
the Tennessee River basin and are threatening the tar Heel
state's native populations of large mouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass.
When Alabama bass are introduced into a lake or waterway,
they often out compete large mouth for resources. They also
breed with small mouth and spotted bass, which eventually eliminates
(26:45):
those native species from the system. District biologist Ken Hodges
told local media that quote populations of largemouth bass are
being dramatically reduced, while North Carolina could potentially lose small
mouth and spotted bass entirely bad news for a couple
of reasons, But for bass anglers, the most concerning is
that Alabama bass are on average smaller than other kinds
(27:07):
of black bass. If Alabama bass continue their invasion, those
uh hogs, toads, lunkers, donkeys, and butterballs will always be
just a little smaller than the fish your dad and
granddad caught. That's a real tragedy. Unfortunately, there isn't much
that can fix the problem in the short term. Biologists
believe Alabama bass are being spread by anglers who move
(27:28):
them to different waterways, called this bucket biology. They do
this to make the fishing better in those places, but
they're really doing the opposite. State officials are asking anglers
to please cut that out. They're also encouraging North Carolinians
to learn how to distinguish Alabama bass from other kinds
of bass and remove the Alabamians from the water whenever
they catch them. You can find images to help identify
(27:51):
Alabama bass on the North Carolina Wildlife Commission website. Big
thanks to listener Jim Lane for bringing this one in.
Moving on to the attack desk, a Florida woman was
attacked and killed by an alligator last week after the
reptile tipped over her canoe. Officials with the Florida Fishing
Wildlife Conservation Commission said at a news conference that the
(28:13):
sixty one year old woman was paddling with her husband
where Tiger Creek meets Lake kiss Me in Polk County,
about forty miles south of Orlando. The couple was floating
in about two and a half feet of water when
they passed directly over a large alligator. Whether the animal
was trying to eat them or was just startled, it
thrashed around and tipped the canoe. The woman landed directly
on the alligator, and even though her husband tried to intervene,
(28:36):
the beast dragged her under. Her body was found Later
that day. Officials sent out trappers who snared an eleven
foot gater they believe was responsible. The state has averaged
eight unprovoked alligator bites a year over the ten year
period that ended in twenty twenty two. Earlier this year,
a woman was attacked by an eight foot gator in
an area near where this latest incident happened. That woman
(28:58):
was taking the hospital with a bite on her elbow,
but ended up being okay, staying in the Sunshine State.
A Central Florida woman saved her dog's life last month
by using a bag of cookies to distract a black bear.
Kristin Savage told the local media that she was walking
her dog, Ringo, in her neighborhood around eight pm when
the bear snuck up behind her, went around her leg,
(29:19):
and right after the poor role Ringo, Kristin held the
dog in the air by its leash like a pinata,
but every time she put him down, the bear tried
to attack him again. At one point Kristin fell on
the ground, and at another point the bear had Ringo
in its mouth. Fortunately, Kristin remembered that she had a
bag of cookies that her mother had just given her.
She took it out, smacked the bear across the nose
(29:39):
with the bag, and threw the cookies in his face,
content to replace dog steaks with a sugary dessert. The
bear was distracted enough that Kristin and Ringo could escape.
You will be unsurprised to learn that this bear is
well known in the neighborhood and makes regular appearances on
doorbell cameras. Kristin has a photo of this bear nursing cubs,
and she thinks that it saw Ringo as a threat
(30:00):
rather than food. I'm not sure bears make those kind
of distinctions, but it's a working theory. Last one for you,
and the Illinois teenager saved his own life last October
when he used a self made tourniquet to keep himself
from bleeding out of a gunshot wound. Sixteen year old
Liam Mathis was hunting from a tree stand when he
(30:21):
accidentally shot himself in the thigh with a rifle. He
says he was moving the gun across his upper body
when it hit a tree and went off. Knowing he
only had a few minutes to stop the bleeding, he
jumped to the ground and made himself a tourniquet using
his jeans and a stick. Then he positioned himself in
front of a cellular trail cam, which he knew would
send photos to his dad's phone. His quick thinking saved
(30:41):
his life. He had to be airlifted to two different hospitals,
but doctors were able to stabilize the condition, and then
he got to work on saving his leg. Incredibly, after
multiple surgeries and months of rehab, Liam is now able
to walk with just a slight limp. If you regularly
go out into the woods by yourself, you should think
about taking a first Aid class or two, even if
(31:02):
you don't have the right medical supplies handy. Those classes
will teach you what you need to know to be
like Liam to improvise and survive. Moving on to the
crime desk, police and aasso, Oklahoma are on the hunt
for the person responsible for killing and injuring waterfowl with
the dart gun. Local media reports that multiple ducks and
(31:23):
geese were shot with darts at Elm Creek Park, injuring
some and killing others. Photos shared by intrepid journalist Cal
Day show one Canada goose with a six inch dart
sticking out of its neck and another dart protruding from
its torso. Injured birds were taken to a local animal hospital,
where so far they've all made full recoveries as of
this recording. The twelve year old boy, I mean, the
(31:46):
person responsible for those heinous crimes has not been found.
All jokes aside, it's a real jerk move to dart
birds on a pond, and I hope the parents of
whichever neighborhood kid is responsible do the right thing and
turn them in or you know whoever it is. Speaking
of less than intelligent criminals, two hunters in southwestern Ontario
(32:08):
got nabbed after shooting seven times at a deer decoy.
Game wardens with the Ministry of Natural Resources had placed
the decoy along a road near Nestor Falls. This is
a pretty common strategy that game wardens employ if they
learn about poachers nabbing animals at night. In this case,
it worked like a charm. A truck pulled up a
half hour before legal shooting light and shown its headlights
(32:29):
on the decoy Armanio Ferrera and Michael Cabral got out
and fired seven total shots at the animal before they
realized that the critter was being a little too calm
about the whole situation. The pair were caught red handed
and pled guilty to careless hunting and hunting at night,
and were fined a total of seventeen five hundred dollars.
(32:50):
There's some states south of the border that could learn
a thing from the Ministry of Natural Resources. The Wyoming
Game and Fish Department is asking for the public's health
finding whoever shot twelve pronghorn and left them to waste.
The animals were discovered north of Kemera and Antelope Hunt
Area ninety three. Game wardens got a tip from a
member of the public who'd found multiple dead pronghorn while
(33:12):
recreating on the Hams Fork Road north of Viva Naunton Reservoir.
When wardens arrived, they found a total of twelve pronghorn
that have been shot between the afternoon of April twenty
six and the morning of April twenty seven. Investigators called
the scene disturbing, and several of the animals were still
alive and had to be euthanized by game wardens. No
parts of any of the animals were taken, but several
(33:32):
mature bucks had been targeted. If you were in this
area last month and saw or heard anything, give camera
game warden Alex Poncelet a call at three ozho seven
eight seven seven three two seven eight. You can also
submit an anonymous tip at one eight seven seven WGFD tip.
Moving on to the deer desk, North Dakota finalized its
(33:56):
twenty twenty five season dates and license quotas last week,
and the numbers beelled trouble for the state's deer population.
The state Game and Fish Agency cut seventy eight hundred
deer tags from last year's quota, a sixteen percent reduction
in a single season. The tag reductions apply to most
of the state's deer tags, including both either species tags
(34:16):
and specifically designated whitetail tags. According to an article by
Sage marshall Over at the meaeater dot com, Wildlife officials
say the reduction opportunity is necessary after a series of
unfortunate events took a big chunk out of the state's
deer herds. The state's deer population continues to recover from
the twenty twenty one EHD outbreak and the severe winner
(34:37):
of twenty two to twenty three, which limited population growth.
NDGF Wildlife Division Chief Casey Anderson says the state already
tried to reduce gun license sales in twenty twenty three
and twenty four, but it didn't have the desired effect.
They hope this year's modest license allocations will encourage population
growth while also maintaining hunting opportunities. North Dakota is two
(35:01):
years out from the winner of twenty twenty two and
twenty three, but hunters are still feeling the impact. In
some units. Mule deier populations declined by as much as
eighty four percent that winter, while white tails declined by
as much as fifty one percent. I remember there was
a lot of speculation at the time about how those
die offs would impact hunter opportunity, and I guess we
(35:21):
know now. Moving on to the mail bag, Cal's We
Can Review Listeners are a smart bunch. That's why I
like covering complicated, controversial topics on this show. I can
rely on you to provide context that lets us all
have a more well informed opinion. Case in point solar
farms a few weeks ago, when he wrote in to
(35:43):
express your opposition to a new solar farm installation in
your neck of the woods, we covered it here on
the mail bag, and I mentioned my concerns about these
installations impacting wildlife habitat. A few days after that episode aired,
two more listeners wrote in with different opinions. Both of
these emails were polite, smart, and helpful. Richard Clark's email
had the subject line a more nuanced view on solar.
(36:06):
He pointed out that every energy project comes with cost
wildlife and habitat. Solar farms are more visible than coal
or gas power plants, and so local residents are quick
to oppose them, But those non renewable forms of energy
come with harms as well, mostly in the form of
increasing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the Earth's average temperature.
Richard notes that climate change can impact hunters and anglers
(36:29):
as well, everything from reducing cold water habitat for salmon
and steelhead on the West Coast to increasing the detrimental
effects of winter ticks on moose in New England. Richard says,
quote the idea that a coal or gas plant outside
your town is low impact because it sits on fifteen
acres and not one thousand is an illusion that ignores
the massive footprint of fuel extraction, transportation and the pollution
(36:53):
it produces that affects our climate and therefore are fish, wildlife,
and wild places. He also points out that many of
these solar projects are built on farmland that isn't always
great wildlife habitat anyway, monocultures don't have the diversity that
wild animals need except maybe deer, and pesticides aren't great
for the environment either. He concludes, if we as hunters
(37:14):
and conservationists want to preserve the wildlife and wild places
we cherish, we can't ignore the broader context of climate
and energy. That means grappling with hard choices and supporting
projects that offer real gains, even if they challenge us.
Another listener, Adam Cobb, pointed out that the solar farms
can sometimes coexist with wildlife. Where he lives in PA,
(37:34):
there is a program that allows solar developers to install
small operations that only impact about fifteen acres. If these
smaller solar farms are spread out, they allow for wildlife
to continue living on those same landscapes without too much
negative impact. In fact, he says, quote, when compared to
other forms of energy production, I would argue that per megawatt,
(37:55):
solar has the smallest impact on wildlife. Emails fell Us.
I appreciate the alternative viewpoints, and even though some listeners
and myself disagree, I think we're all a bit smarter
when we understand both sides of an issue. The reason
I take umbrage, I guess you'd say with this approach
is the fact that solar panels do not need to
(38:17):
occupy low value land at all. They can be on
top of a barn, a house, all those godforsaken department stores.
Let's cover that space, and even if it's marginal farm ground,
we can still grow marginal food, which in my point
of view, is better than putting a high offence around
(38:38):
a bunch of solar panels. As per with everything, solar, gas, coal, whatever,
there's better and smarter ways to do it. Let's all
just make a commitment to improving. That's all I got
for you this week. Thank you so much for listening.
Remember to write in to askcal that's an asscal at
the meat eater dot com and let me know what's
(38:58):
going on in your neck of the woods. I appreciate you.
Thanks again. We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
M
From Meat Eaters World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This
is Cow's Week in Review with Ryan cow Cala.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Here's Cow.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
New details are emerging about the five South American fishermen
who survived fifty five days in the Pacific Ocean stranded
on a powerless boat. The two Colombians and three Peruvians
were making their way along the coast of Peru when
their ship's alternator failed. This made communication and navigation tools
malfunction and left the crew with no way to call
(00:42):
for help or get back to shore. They survived nearly
two months by drinking rain water and, according to the
Ecuadorian Navy, par boiling fish using rusty water from the engine.
I can't tell you how they caught the fish, but
I can shine some light on the cooking technique they used.
Par Boiling is when you boil something but not quite
all the way. It actually comes from an old French
(01:04):
word meaning to boil thoroughly, but it got the definition
it has in English because it sounds like par chilly boil.
You might parboil rice or vegetables to get them soft
before throwing them in a stir fry, or to infuse
meat with flavor before finishing the cook some other way.
I don't think these fellows were too concerned about flavors
(01:25):
or textures, but they were concerned about resources, namely firewood
and fresh water. Without any power, they were likely cooking
fish over a fire using anything on the boat that
might burn. I'm sure they were also worried about running
out of drinking water since they didn't know when the
next rain would come, so they boiled the fish just
enough to hopefully kill some bacteria without using too much
(01:47):
firewood or fresh water. It's a pretty smart idea, and
I'm sure it's part of the reason they survived so
long without dying from dysentery or turning to other forms
of meat, if you know what I mean. This week
we've got public land sales, crime, the attack desk, listener emails,
and so much more. But first I'm going to tell
(02:07):
you about my week. And my week has been hectic.
It's packed, and it's all important because it's all public
lands oriented type work. If you have noticed in your
social feeds and news feeds, public lands are very much
in the spotlight and we are doing our best to
keep up. Every day I get messages like this cal
(02:27):
I've been reaching out to my congressman at a furious rate,
but getting a hold of people is proving very difficult.
All I'm getting our message boards and non responses. If
you have any tips, I'd appreciate it. I feel like
I'm doing everything I can to talk to someone, but frankly,
it feels very disheartening. Good evening. My name is Matt
and I'm a hunter and angler from Arizona. I call
(02:48):
my Arizona representative, David Schweikert let him know I am
opposed to the sale of public lands. I also use
the BHA take action link to send an email. I
was wondering if there are others I should contact do
I also try to reach out to my senators and
from somewhere across the pond guessing a Scandinavian country quote.
(03:09):
This is something that I personally feel American Hunter in
some way takes a bit too easy on you guys.
Public land is so amazing, it's insane compare to whole
Europe where it's all private land and the entry level
for new hunters is very, very tricky. Appreciate your reaching out.
(03:29):
So you're going to hear this over and over again
because you got to take action and actually do it. Calling, emailing, writing,
in visiting your elected officials does make an impact. The
other thing you can do is do a quick social
media post and tag them in it. Be respectful, let
them know what you're thinking right now. Of course, public
(03:52):
lands and access to them are on my list of
asks for my elected officials. Thankfully I have some that
I can say thank you for standing up and doing
the right thing very noticeably. Gave Vasquez out of New Mexico,
Mike Simpson out of Idaho, and Ryan Zinki here in
(04:12):
my home state of Montana are all doing the right
thing right now on the side of public lands. So
get your thank yous in there too, alongside your ass.
Another cool thing that I want to make people aware
of is that it's not just individuals that are getting
activated here, it's brands for profit businesses and these are
(04:34):
all like the rumblings of grassroots awareness in the public
lands issues that we're facing. So I thought i'd throw
in this special segment. Renhouse Brewing down Arizona has developed
a public lands pale ale called a rep as in
get in touch with your rep and let them know
what you think about public lands. So far, beer drinkers
have sent two hundred emails in a couple of days.
(04:56):
In the brewing community outside Arizona, where Renhouse is located,
it is asking how they can participate, including farmers and
distributors such as y h Yakima chief hops who are
apparently giving discounted hops to breweries who make this public
lands palol. So let's hear right now from a private
(05:16):
for profit business owner who decided to take action, Preston
Tony of Rerenhouse Brewing and his beer rep.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
All right, this is just a special drop in segment.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
I thought, instead of explaining advocacy from a business perspective,
like why private businesses should be involved in the public
land fight, I'd bring in somebody who actually runs a business,
and an important business for a lot of outdoor folks
(05:51):
because the guy brews beer. A few weeks ago I
managed to get in touch with a bunch of folks
that I know at brands all across the country, and
we formed a coalition called Brands for Public Lands. And
the idea is to put together all these businesses into
(06:14):
a big list. Everybody provides their financial statement that they're
comfortable with, and then we go to our elected officials
and we say, hey, all of these brands that employed
this many people and generate this much in collective revenue
(06:34):
depend on public lands and access to them to survive.
This is how we recruit awesome, talented individuals to come
work for us. This is the reason that we do
the work that we do. It's critical, crucial to the
development of our products and our mental health, and we
(06:58):
have a huge positive impact on gross domestic product, which
is the only thing that's going to save us from
the debt monster. You cannot sell our public lands. That's
the idea behind this. And when we rolled this out
our guest today, Preston Fanny Tony teen.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
It's tiny, but I'll do any of them.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
You're good any th h o E n Y of
Renhouse Brewing in Arizona reached out and said, well, hey,
I want to know more about this, and then we
kind of got on this tangent having like a beer
that speaks for you, you know, like the old joke
(07:42):
about a hat that says hello before the person wearing
it does. That's kind of along these lines. So anyway, Preston,
thanks for coming on. Tell us a little bit about
Ren House Brewing.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yeah, thanks for having me. We're locating in Arizona, originally
from Phoenix, but we have a production place in Presco.
Now that prus the majority of our beer, with some
tap rooms around the state. Yeah, And I think Arizona
and is unique and how much public land we have
and how much recreation is done on that public land.
(08:18):
So it's since day one, been kind of a part
of our brand and our identity, and that's that's why
I reached out. You know, I think it's we're in
a position where we have kind of a community. Craft
beer is really cool in that sense, and we have
a really active community, and you know, it's something that
we hear internally and from our team and from consumers.
(08:41):
You know, the value of public lands in Arizona, and
you know, when people send us pictures of them drinking
our beer, it's in public land. So it was a
pretty it was a pretty easy outreach on our end.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Yeah, It's amazing how many things are tied to public lands, right,
and so you've done some some support of public lands
in the past.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
What what's that looked like.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yeah, I mean, it's it can be anything with you know,
we've done beers with the NFF with Audubon with you know,
different outdoor organizations, and it can be like a real
myopic cause a specific bird needs attention for protection reason,
or a creek and a part of the state needs
a little extra attention. You know what we can't do
(09:33):
that the big companies do, which is bringing huge donations.
We can get a lot of advocacy because we have
a relationship with the people who consume our product, and
if we're going to talk about it, it usually means
it's something we're passionate about. And so you know, it's
a really good way if if someone has a cause
that aligns with kind of either our ideologies or what
(09:56):
you know, what we're striving to do as a business,
something as simple as doing some social media posts in
a specific label, we can start that dialogue pretty quickly.
And so you know, we've been very fortunate to do that.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
In the response from your consumer is all positive negative,
somewhere in between.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
What's that look like?
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Yeah, I mean specifically, you know what we came up
with and the name goes to you Rep public lands IPA.
That's the one we just released with you know, a
call to action to the people drinking it and The
response immediately was huge. It was wonderful. Our hot provider,
Yakima Chief, wants to get involved and provide hops for
(10:43):
other bewis to start brewing it. Breweries from Montana, Washington, Colorado, California, Arizona,
they're all reaching out wanting to brew the beer. So
that's this second phase we're working on, is to kind
of make this, you know, not a renhouse specific beer
or concept, but what the original kind of target was,
(11:04):
which was to be a nationwide call to action people.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And I think the cool part, right is it's pretty
in your front face, front and center. It's a QR
code on the beer can. And we definitely need to
give a shout out to your other half, your your
wife who did the artwork.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Yeah, yeah, she does a great way she always does.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
No, it's a really cool campaign, like you said, And
I was really grateful that you had great insight from
the first email. You already had some pitches of having
this in your face QR code, and our friends had
as Wildlife and Pha. We're able to kind of meld
it all together. And if you just hold up your
phone to the can, it predrafts an email to your
(11:52):
elected officials that you can then edit to say what
you want and really democratize the entire endeavor. But to
open that line of communication just with a beer can
and something that conceptually is really easy to do, but
I've never thought of that. I've never seen it before,
and it ended up being you know, we heard today
we had a meeting. You know, a couple hundred people
(12:13):
have already done it, and you know, I think that's
just going to snowball really excited.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
It's super cool and it's not a gimmick, right, It's
like it's very well needed.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
It's the right time, right place.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
And can you tell us a little bit more about
how it works for other breweries to brew this beer
and what the brewers network that you talked about is like.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Yeah, you know, the craft beer industry is really cool
from you know, the consumer side to the production side.
It is kind of like this extended family. You know,
Like I said, when people are tagging breweries in their
social media, it's them on kayaks or them fishing or
then camping. It's a lot less of them walking downtown
with a beer. Right, Like, craft beer kind of exists
(13:02):
in a world where it's meant to be consumed socially
and outdoors, and you know it's experiential and so there's
always been that relationship. So before we even bird the beer,
I hit up a bunch of breweries Perry Street and Spokane,
and boy Mountain in Seattle and draft Wards in Missoula
and some of my other buddies from the industry, and
(13:24):
you know, within thirty seconds they're like, yeah, send it
to us, let's do it. This is great. It's such
a no brainer, and some of them are going to
make beers. Some of them are just going to push
it on social media. But you know, it's very little
effort from our side in order to have this huge
response from the consumer, which is this involvement that we're
looking to do. And that QR code, you know, you
(13:45):
scan it with your phone, then you enter in your
address and there's a button. If you want to learn more,
you click it and they'll send you some emails to
keep you in the loop. But if you don't want to,
that's fine, and it'll assign you an email that's directed
towards you. Liketed politicians based on your home address, and
that's not Arizona specific. Fear in Missoula and you scan it,
(14:08):
it'll give you all your folks in California, Utah doesn't matter.
So that QR coach just gonna get you in touch
with the people that are sitting there waiting to hear
from people. You know that. I think it's easy for
us to forget that. You know, they're representatives of us,
and they are genuinely interested in hearing from us, and
this might be the push it takes.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Yeah, right now, you know, certainly my ask and I
think the idea behind this say like, don't sell off
our public land. This stuff is super important to us.
That's why we do what we do in order to
spend more time out there. And you know, you need
to stand up for us, stand up for the for
(14:50):
the folks that are out there recreating on the weekends,
or out there cutting timber to feed their family or
grais in livestock, like, these lands do a heck of
a lot of work for all of us, and we
need to keep them working because once you sell them,
they're gone forever. And I would hope other people are
(15:11):
saying the same thing. But that doesn't mean that you
can't use this to say thank you, Like my congressional
representative Ryan Zinki here in the state of Montana. He's
been one of the folks that has been very public
about saying his red line is public lands, and he's
not willing to go there. So when I take a
(15:34):
picture that can, I'm going to say thank you to him,
and I'm going to ask my senators like she he
and Dan's and my other Rep. Troy Downing to also
support public lands like I believe they really know they should.
So what's the landscape looking like down there in Arizona?
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Well, tough to say. I think it. It seems like
when I hear one thing, the next day, I'll hear
something else. So I think, you know, we're at a precipice,
and I'd be really interested to see, you know, what
a public campaign like this could do, could it, you know,
push them over one way or the other. But you know,
I think Arizona, you know, and I think it's similar
(16:18):
to Nevada and Utah and some other places, but it's
unique nationwide in that I think when you're from here,
like a lot of us here at Rendhouse are, you
don't appreciate the public lands. You don't realize how valuable
that is and how unique that is having lived other
places in the country. We have so much of it
here in Arizona. I think we take it for granted,
(16:40):
and I think if that starts disappearing, it'd be a
huge blindside for a lot of outdoorsmen and you know,
just recreational people. And we have so much of it.
You might not miss the first couple of acres, but
then next thing you know, you're losing these entire swaths
that have been valuable to you for a long time.
(17:01):
So I think it's a critical time right on.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
If folks want to get their local brewery, big or small,
on this rep train. Rep is the name of the
beer again, folks of public lands, payal ale. What what's
the best way for them to do that?
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Yeah, you can reach out on social media, you can
email me directly. It's Preston at Renhouse Brewing dot com.
Get in touch. We're going to put a page on
our website in the next let's say, seventy two hours
that will have free access and free rights to any
of our illustrations, our recipe, our branding, our copywriting, anything
(17:46):
to do it. We want to hand this off and
let people take it and run with it. They can
use as a collaboration. They can use it as their own,
so long as you know they're sticking with the ethos
of throwing that QR code on and getting people involved.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Heck yeah, well, buddy, as long as the porch pirates
don't snag my care package that you sent my way,
I'm sure going to be telling people about it. I
guess I am right now, But I'd rather do one
with with the cold beverage in my hand.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Yeah, I get the right address this time. That'll help.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Just because you're good at brewing beer doesn't mean you're
good at everything else, right.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
But hey, Mount, hats off to yet.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I really appreciate you just paying attention to what's going
on and the willingness of a you know, for profit
business owner to do something that's not necessarily gonna resonate
with sales. It may alienate certain customers, but you believe
(18:53):
it's the right thing to do, and you're doing it,
and I think that's a great message to get out there.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Yeah, I mean, I will say internally, it's the most
excited I've seen my teammates be about a project. And
we've done a lot of projects, but you know, we
got people, you know, public outreach. Ali's killing it, and
then production Matt and Jake are killing it. But like
the entire team, they're excited in a way I haven't
seen them before. And when you're a production company, you
(19:21):
can only brew so much, right, like I said, brewery,
and we'll sell that amount because we've scheduled it. So
it's not like we're going to sell more beer by
doing this. To your point, it doesn't increase sales. What
it does is it increase an ethos that we're really
proud of and that's more valuable to us. And so
we're really excited and you know, all hands on deck
(19:42):
here at Brenn House right now to really push this
and see what we can do.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Heck yeah, well, I mean that's that's a great point,
you know, and we do our land access initiative on
the meat eater side of things, or we stand up
and talk about public and why they're important to us.
The internal response from all of myself included employees is huge,
(20:11):
Like you get a little pep in your step because
you're proud to be doing what you're doing because you're standing.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Up for the right things.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah exactly, Yeah, all right, buddy, Well thank you so much. Remember, folks,
Rent House Brewing is kicking off the rep Public Lands
Pale campaign. It's the only beer out there that I
know of, that we know of that if you take
a picture in between SIPs, you can get in touch
(20:42):
with your rep and advocate for the things that are
important to you. And it's important right now. So I
hope you do it. I appreciate it. Thanks for having
me on. I'm really glad that we continue to keep
pushing this campaign.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Heck yeah, more to come.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
All right, let's get on to the news. Moving on
to the public lands desk. By now, you've probably heard
about the mandatory public land sales that were included in
the House Budget Reconciliation Bill. The first draft of the
legislation made no mention of public land sales, but two
Republicans got up at the last minute, literally at the
eleventh hour, and proposed an amendment. The amendment would require
(21:25):
the sale of about ten thousand acres of federal public
land in Utah and potentially hundreds of thousands in Nevada.
The latest number I saw was reported by the AP
which estimates that four hundred and sixty thousand acres could
be on the auction block. It's true that the parcels
in Utah are mostly small plots around urban areas. Some
of them might be good candidates to sell to local
(21:47):
and state governments through the FLITFA process, which is the
public vetted process of land sales, where the profit from
that land being sold actually goes back into a fund
to purchase more public land of more critical value. But
that's not really the point. The point is that this
(22:09):
bill circumvents the normal, responsible process we already have for
selling public land. That process is burdensome because it requires
public input. That's frustrating for state and local officials. But
this bill isn't the answer. This bill puts deadlines on
some of these sales that may not provide enough time
for the full process to play out. It also directs
all the money from the sale of these lands to
(22:31):
the US Treasury. That might sound reasonable, and it's meant
to lend credibility to the idea that these sales will
reduce the deficit, but it's actually a radical departure from
the norm. Normally, the money generated from public land sales
is used to purchase or conserve public land elsewhere. The
ideas that selling this undesirable piece of land around Salt
Lake City or wherever will allow public land agencies to
(22:54):
expand or can serve a more desirable plot elsewhere, maybe
in a national forest or oilderness area. But this bill
eliminates that option and puts all the money back into
the general fund. Most fundamentally, this bill will require many
of these plots to be sold in a good faith process.
There's always a chance that a piece of land won't
be disposed if there's an outcry from the general public,
(23:17):
or the Interior Secretary decides the purpose of that land
would be better served on another property, or endangered wildlife
is discovered there, that property might not be sold. But
this Budget Reconciliation Bill does away with that good faith process.
It mandates the land be sold, despite what the public
might think. Believe it or not, Mandatory public land sales
(23:38):
may not be the worst part of this budget bill.
The budget also paves the way for the construction of
the Ambler Road, a two hundred and eleven mile private
mining road across the southern edge of the Brooks Range
in Alaska. It requires and facilitates an extractive leasing program
in Alaska on the largest single block of federally managed
land in the United States. It also removes protections for
(23:59):
boundary waters canoe area of wilderness in northern Minnesota. These
are all things we've been worried about, and now it
looks like Congress is moving forward. The silver lining here
is that this is not over, not by a long shot.
I don't know where the process will be when you
listen to this, but as of this recording, the bill
still has to pass the full House. Then it has
to go over to the Senate, where it must pass
(24:20):
out of the committee, and then a full Senate vote.
If the Senate has made any changes, the House will
then have to vote on those changes. The larger budget
bill is likely to pass, but we still can encourage
our representatives to remove these provisions. There are still Republicans
in the House who oppose public land sales. The Public
Land Caucus was recently formed to keep public lands in
(24:40):
public hands. The caucus includes at least four Republicans, Ryan
Zink and Troy Downing of Montana, Mike Simpson of Idaho,
and Jen Keegan's of Virginia. Republicans only have a seven
seat majority in the House, so if these four stick
together and recruit a few more, they can demand the
public land sale provisions be removed. But having just spent
(25:01):
time with some of these folks in Washington, I can
tell you they won't do anything unless we ask for it.
So right now, hit pause, ask Siri to connect you
to the US Capital switchboard or dial two two two
two four three one two one and ask them to
connect you to your representative. They're going to ask you
(25:22):
your postal code and then bing. You'll be on the phone,
most likely with the staffer and you say, hey, this
is my name, this is where I'm at, and I
am a hunter. I spend my time on public lands.
I value them, do not sell them. They don't belong
in reconciliation. If by chance, there is a chunk that
(25:42):
absolutely needs to be sold, it needs to go through
the process that we have in place that allows all
of US Americans to understand what it is we're selling
in order to justify the what we're getting, and those
funds go back in to getting more public land. Remember,
(26:03):
if you just casually poll a hunter or angler in
the United States of America, they do not say, you
know what, we need less land and less access. That's
what's going to improve my hunting and fishing. I've yet
to hear that one. Moving on to the fishing desk,
Wildlife officials in North Carolina are sounding the alarm about
(26:25):
an invasion. Alabama bass have made their way up from
the Tennessee River basin and are threatening the tar Heel
state's native populations of large mouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass.
When Alabama bass are introduced into a lake or waterway,
they often out compete large mouth for resources. They also
breed with small mouth and spotted bass, which eventually eliminates
(26:45):
those native species from the system. District biologist Ken Hodges
told local media that quote populations of largemouth bass are
being dramatically reduced, while North Carolina could potentially lose small
mouth and spotted bass entirely bad news for a couple
of reasons, But for bass anglers, the most concerning is
that Alabama bass are on average smaller than other kinds
(27:07):
of black bass. If Alabama bass continue their invasion, those
uh hogs, toads, lunkers, donkeys, and butterballs will always be
just a little smaller than the fish your dad and
granddad caught. That's a real tragedy. Unfortunately, there isn't much
that can fix the problem in the short term. Biologists
believe Alabama bass are being spread by anglers who move
(27:28):
them to different waterways, called this bucket biology. They do
this to make the fishing better in those places, but
they're really doing the opposite. State officials are asking anglers
to please cut that out. They're also encouraging North Carolinians
to learn how to distinguish Alabama bass from other kinds
of bass and remove the Alabamians from the water whenever
they catch them. You can find images to help identify
(27:51):
Alabama bass on the North Carolina Wildlife Commission website. Big
thanks to listener Jim Lane for bringing this one in.
Moving on to the attack desk, a Florida woman was
attacked and killed by an alligator last week after the
reptile tipped over her canoe. Officials with the Florida Fishing
Wildlife Conservation Commission said at a news conference that the
(28:13):
sixty one year old woman was paddling with her husband
where Tiger Creek meets Lake kiss Me in Polk County,
about forty miles south of Orlando. The couple was floating
in about two and a half feet of water when
they passed directly over a large alligator. Whether the animal
was trying to eat them or was just startled, it
thrashed around and tipped the canoe. The woman landed directly
on the alligator, and even though her husband tried to intervene,
(28:36):
the beast dragged her under. Her body was found Later
that day. Officials sent out trappers who snared an eleven
foot gater they believe was responsible. The state has averaged
eight unprovoked alligator bites a year over the ten year
period that ended in twenty twenty two. Earlier this year,
a woman was attacked by an eight foot gator in
an area near where this latest incident happened. That woman
(28:58):
was taking the hospital with a bite on her elbow,
but ended up being okay, staying in the Sunshine State.
A Central Florida woman saved her dog's life last month
by using a bag of cookies to distract a black bear.
Kristin Savage told the local media that she was walking
her dog, Ringo, in her neighborhood around eight pm when
the bear snuck up behind her, went around her leg,
(29:19):
and right after the poor role Ringo, Kristin held the
dog in the air by its leash like a pinata,
but every time she put him down, the bear tried
to attack him again. At one point Kristin fell on
the ground, and at another point the bear had Ringo
in its mouth. Fortunately, Kristin remembered that she had a
bag of cookies that her mother had just given her.
She took it out, smacked the bear across the nose
(29:39):
with the bag, and threw the cookies in his face,
content to replace dog steaks with a sugary dessert. The
bear was distracted enough that Kristin and Ringo could escape.
You will be unsurprised to learn that this bear is
well known in the neighborhood and makes regular appearances on
doorbell cameras. Kristin has a photo of this bear nursing cubs,
and she thinks that it saw Ringo as a threat
(30:00):
rather than food. I'm not sure bears make those kind
of distinctions, but it's a working theory. Last one for you,
and the Illinois teenager saved his own life last October
when he used a self made tourniquet to keep himself
from bleeding out of a gunshot wound. Sixteen year old
Liam Mathis was hunting from a tree stand when he
(30:21):
accidentally shot himself in the thigh with a rifle. He
says he was moving the gun across his upper body
when it hit a tree and went off. Knowing he
only had a few minutes to stop the bleeding, he
jumped to the ground and made himself a tourniquet using
his jeans and a stick. Then he positioned himself in
front of a cellular trail cam, which he knew would
send photos to his dad's phone. His quick thinking saved
(30:41):
his life. He had to be airlifted to two different hospitals,
but doctors were able to stabilize the condition, and then
he got to work on saving his leg. Incredibly, after
multiple surgeries and months of rehab, Liam is now able
to walk with just a slight limp. If you regularly
go out into the woods by yourself, you should think
about taking a first Aid class or two, even if
(31:02):
you don't have the right medical supplies handy. Those classes
will teach you what you need to know to be
like Liam to improvise and survive. Moving on to the
crime desk, police and aasso, Oklahoma are on the hunt
for the person responsible for killing and injuring waterfowl with
the dart gun. Local media reports that multiple ducks and
(31:23):
geese were shot with darts at Elm Creek Park, injuring
some and killing others. Photos shared by intrepid journalist Cal
Day show one Canada goose with a six inch dart
sticking out of its neck and another dart protruding from
its torso. Injured birds were taken to a local animal hospital,
where so far they've all made full recoveries as of
this recording. The twelve year old boy, I mean, the
(31:46):
person responsible for those heinous crimes has not been found.
All jokes aside, it's a real jerk move to dart
birds on a pond, and I hope the parents of
whichever neighborhood kid is responsible do the right thing and
turn them in or you know whoever it is. Speaking
of less than intelligent criminals, two hunters in southwestern Ontario
(32:08):
got nabbed after shooting seven times at a deer decoy.
Game wardens with the Ministry of Natural Resources had placed
the decoy along a road near Nestor Falls. This is
a pretty common strategy that game wardens employ if they
learn about poachers nabbing animals at night. In this case,
it worked like a charm. A truck pulled up a
half hour before legal shooting light and shown its headlights
(32:29):
on the decoy Armanio Ferrera and Michael Cabral got out
and fired seven total shots at the animal before they
realized that the critter was being a little too calm
about the whole situation. The pair were caught red handed
and pled guilty to careless hunting and hunting at night,
and were fined a total of seventeen five hundred dollars.
(32:50):
There's some states south of the border that could learn
a thing from the Ministry of Natural Resources. The Wyoming
Game and Fish Department is asking for the public's health
finding whoever shot twelve pronghorn and left them to waste.
The animals were discovered north of Kemera and Antelope Hunt
Area ninety three. Game wardens got a tip from a
member of the public who'd found multiple dead pronghorn while
(33:12):
recreating on the Hams Fork Road north of Viva Naunton Reservoir.
When wardens arrived, they found a total of twelve pronghorn
that have been shot between the afternoon of April twenty
six and the morning of April twenty seven. Investigators called
the scene disturbing, and several of the animals were still
alive and had to be euthanized by game wardens. No
parts of any of the animals were taken, but several
(33:32):
mature bucks had been targeted. If you were in this
area last month and saw or heard anything, give camera
game warden Alex Poncelet a call at three ozho seven
eight seven seven three two seven eight. You can also
submit an anonymous tip at one eight seven seven WGFD tip.
Moving on to the deer desk, North Dakota finalized its
(33:56):
twenty twenty five season dates and license quotas last week,
and the numbers beelled trouble for the state's deer population.
The state Game and Fish Agency cut seventy eight hundred
deer tags from last year's quota, a sixteen percent reduction
in a single season. The tag reductions apply to most
of the state's deer tags, including both either species tags
(34:16):
and specifically designated whitetail tags. According to an article by
Sage marshall Over at the meaeater dot com, Wildlife officials
say the reduction opportunity is necessary after a series of
unfortunate events took a big chunk out of the state's
deer herds. The state's deer population continues to recover from
the twenty twenty one EHD outbreak and the severe winner
(34:37):
of twenty two to twenty three, which limited population growth.
NDGF Wildlife Division Chief Casey Anderson says the state already
tried to reduce gun license sales in twenty twenty three
and twenty four, but it didn't have the desired effect.
They hope this year's modest license allocations will encourage population
growth while also maintaining hunting opportunities. North Dakota is two
(35:01):
years out from the winner of twenty twenty two and
twenty three, but hunters are still feeling the impact. In
some units. Mule deier populations declined by as much as
eighty four percent that winter, while white tails declined by
as much as fifty one percent. I remember there was
a lot of speculation at the time about how those
die offs would impact hunter opportunity, and I guess we
(35:21):
know now. Moving on to the mail bag, Cal's We
Can Review Listeners are a smart bunch. That's why I
like covering complicated, controversial topics on this show. I can
rely on you to provide context that lets us all
have a more well informed opinion. Case in point solar
farms a few weeks ago, when he wrote in to
(35:43):
express your opposition to a new solar farm installation in
your neck of the woods, we covered it here on
the mail bag, and I mentioned my concerns about these
installations impacting wildlife habitat. A few days after that episode aired,
two more listeners wrote in with different opinions. Both of
these emails were polite, smart, and helpful. Richard Clark's email
had the subject line a more nuanced view on solar.
(36:06):
He pointed out that every energy project comes with cost
wildlife and habitat. Solar farms are more visible than coal
or gas power plants, and so local residents are quick
to oppose them, But those non renewable forms of energy
come with harms as well, mostly in the form of
increasing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the Earth's average temperature.
Richard notes that climate change can impact hunters and anglers
(36:29):
as well, everything from reducing cold water habitat for salmon
and steelhead on the West Coast to increasing the detrimental
effects of winter ticks on moose in New England. Richard says,
quote the idea that a coal or gas plant outside
your town is low impact because it sits on fifteen
acres and not one thousand is an illusion that ignores
the massive footprint of fuel extraction, transportation and the pollution
(36:53):
it produces that affects our climate and therefore are fish, wildlife,
and wild places. He also points out that many of
these solar projects are built on farmland that isn't always
great wildlife habitat anyway, monocultures don't have the diversity that
wild animals need except maybe deer, and pesticides aren't great
for the environment either. He concludes, if we as hunters
(37:14):
and conservationists want to preserve the wildlife and wild places
we cherish, we can't ignore the broader context of climate
and energy. That means grappling with hard choices and supporting
projects that offer real gains, even if they challenge us.
Another listener, Adam Cobb, pointed out that the solar farms
can sometimes coexist with wildlife. Where he lives in PA,
(37:34):
there is a program that allows solar developers to install
small operations that only impact about fifteen acres. If these
smaller solar farms are spread out, they allow for wildlife
to continue living on those same landscapes without too much
negative impact. In fact, he says, quote, when compared to
other forms of energy production, I would argue that per megawatt,
(37:55):
solar has the smallest impact on wildlife. Emails fell Us.
I appreciate the alternative viewpoints, and even though some listeners
and myself disagree, I think we're all a bit smarter
when we understand both sides of an issue. The reason
I take umbrage, I guess you'd say with this approach
is the fact that solar panels do not need to
(38:17):
occupy low value land at all. They can be on
top of a barn, a house, all those godforsaken department stores.
Let's cover that space, and even if it's marginal farm ground,
we can still grow marginal food, which in my point
of view, is better than putting a high offence around
(38:38):
a bunch of solar panels. As per with everything, solar, gas, coal, whatever,
there's better and smarter ways to do it. Let's all
just make a commitment to improving. That's all I got
for you this week. Thank you so much for listening.
Remember to write in to askcal that's an asscal at
the meat eater dot com and let me know what's
(38:58):
going on in your neck of the woods. I appreciate you.
Thanks again. We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
M
Host
Cal Callaghan
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