July 21, 2025 • 26 mins
This week, Cal covers budget cuts to the duck banding program, a river controversy in Nebraska, and one lucky puppy.
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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 Calahan. Here's
cal A black lab in North Carolina is lucky to
be alive after an alligator tried to drag him to
the bottom of a pond and eat him. The dog's owner,
a man named Bonner Herring, told local media that he
(00:32):
was out at his family's one hundred and fourteen acre
property tending to a garden when he heard his dog scream.
The dog's name is Strike, but in this case it'd
be more accurate to call him Struck. He'd been nosing
around a nearby pond, and the gator had seized the
opportunity as well as Strike's right leg. By the time
Herring arrived at the pond, Strike was twenty feet offshore
(00:53):
and quickly running out of energy. I'm sorry to say
there are dog owners out there who wouldn't risk being
eaten by a gator in that situation, but Herring isn't
one of them. He bounded in the water, got a
hold of his dog, and pulled as hard as he could.
The gator put up some resistance, but quickly decided that
the canine cuisine wasn't worth the trouble. He released Strike
and Herring was able to get him to shore and
(01:15):
to a vet. The poor puppy had broken his right
femur in three places to go along with internal bleeding
and puncture wounds, but the doggy doc fixed him up
and now he has a titanium plate in his legs
secured with eleven titanium screws. I hear he'll be trying
out for the role of the bionic dog in an
upcoming remake. Herring says he's happy his dog is alive,
but he believes laws around gator hunting should be changed.
(01:38):
Alligators are one of America's most successful conservation stories. They
went from the brink of extinction in the nineteen sixties
to an estimated population of five million in the southeast US.
Gator hunting is legal in many states, but it's strictly regulated.
Herring thinks it should be easier for landowners to take
care of problem gators like the one that nearly turned
Strike into a pair of boots. North Carolina, a lot
(02:00):
requires a permit to hunt alligators, but those permits are
difficult to come by. A county or municipality can request
an alligator hunt to reduce the population, but then permits
are given out by lottery to the residents who apply.
Otherwise it's illegal to harm or kill an alligator. I
can't imagine Herring would have been prosecuted if he'd killed
the gator that was using strike as a chew toy.
(02:20):
But he's not allowed to go back to the pond
and get revenge. If more North Carolinians agree with Herring,
they should get in touch with Wildlife Resource Commission and
their state representatives. This week, we've got duck banding, water wars,
and the crime desk. But first I'm going to tell
you about my week. In my week, oh boy boy,
been up to a lot. Hard to catch you up
(02:42):
on everything. I think the most notable thing that's going
on right now is in between taking my beer belly
for a run up in the mountains with the dogs.
I am working hard to understand roadless rule recisions, what's
happening in the budget process as its to areas like
the Boundary Waters, what the reality is of mandatory lease
(03:06):
sales in the Arctic plane, specifically in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge and the National Petroleum Reserve. Alaska and pra
really interesting stuff. I had a quick trip down to
Colorado and hung out at one Shot Gear, which is
a cool shot there in Denver, and had a lot
of folks come in to chat specifically, or one specific
(03:29):
conversation was with the couple young fellas that are going
to the School of Mines there in Colorado, and they're saying,
like their professors think it's too expensive to extract out
of the Arctic Plane, which is the exact consensus I've
come up with that there's no way for industry to
go up there and make a profit to develop the
(03:52):
extraction base and the pipeline in the Arctic Plane. But
there's all these outside factors involved, which is the theory
that you could leverage the tariffs against other countries, you
could reduce those in exchange for going in and developing
or laying the development framework in these really expensive areas
and extract them that way, which again is you know,
(04:16):
it's probably a good way to get something done that
you don't want to pay for, but it's you know,
a foreign country going in and destroying a place that
there's just essentially none of left, and for what gain
is what we always got to be asking ourselves when
these things get proposed, like A, we don't need it now. B.
It's not going to make anybody any money. See, we
(04:38):
can't replace what we destroy up there. I'd kick that
can way down the road. See what happens with technology?
Which I brought up to these two young fellas from
the School of Minds, and they said, well, oil isn't
going to way less in the future, so what kind
of technology do you expect? And I basically had to say,
(04:59):
I don't know. A pie in the sky notion of
like anti gravity belts being attached to drill rigs or something. Right,
that's the fun part about the future. Who knows what
it will bring? Boundary Waters Canoe Area, What the heck
are we going to do up there? Chilean mining company
(05:21):
with the track record of ecological disasters under their belt,
wants to have an open pit copper sulfide mine in
the boundary waters where the runoff would according to their
track record. Not Greenpeace or any other greeny, lefty liberal
type organization, but their own company's track record says they
will pollute downstream water sources. Do we need that to happen?
(05:46):
And what can we do? About it. Big question marks.
That's where I'm thinking and spending my time these days.
On top of not when or if, but how these
folks are going to come back and try to steal
our public lands. We have access issues all across the country.
Right over in Washington, for example, access to fishing and
(06:07):
hunting is at stake as many groups fight for representation
on the state Game Agency board the commission Over there.
Hunters and anglers want the benefit of the species and
access to those species, and we can't have access to
those species if the species aren't in good, healthy spots,
(06:29):
as in their population is stable and growing. Ideally, we
don't also need to fight a politically semantic argument of
if we should be able to go hunt and fish
and eat those animals. Lots happening, man. I got a
couple of cool hunts coming up this fall. We'll get
into that more later, but I have a hunt in
(06:50):
Alaska coming up for brown bear, which is just like
a crazy deal that happened. It wasn't something I was
really trying to get done, and it's far from done,
but I got the money paid and I'm going up
there really looking forward to that. It's a fall hunt
and My big hang up with these is always the
(07:11):
fact that you don't have to take the meat. And
there's so many people who are like, oh, the fall
bear coastal bear meat is just terrible because they're just
eating rotten salmon. But you know, I'm preparing to see
what I can do with that critter if and when
I get them, And I think about that as my
beer gut jiggles up the trail every every day. Right now,
(07:34):
So I'm a little rambling today, so we'll move on
to the crime desk. Two Idaho men have been charged
with the eight felonies related to the illegal take of
seven white tail bucks. Those eight felonies are part of
fifty six total wildlife violations that Idaho Game Wardens documented
as part of their investigation. Idaho Fish and Game said
in a press release that twenty four year old William
(07:56):
Clark in twenty eight year old Lucas Mitchell killed all
seventy or November of twenty twenty four outside of legal
shooting hours, meaning at night. They killed five of those
seven within a single twenty four hour period. But these
yahoos weren't just hankering to fill their freezer. The carcasses
of Three of the seven deer were left to waste
with only their heads removed. Williams was arrested last week
(08:17):
on a fifty thousand dollars warrant, but as of this recording,
Mitchell is still at large. Game Warden's credit concerned citizens
for the bust. They say someone reported a quote suspicious
deerhead to the state's Citizens Against Poaching tip line. That
initial tip launched what turned out to be a successful investigation.
As far as I'm aware, all fifty states have a
(08:38):
similar program for people to report wildlife violations anonymously. If
you ever see anything suspicious while out in the woods
or on the water, look up the tip line in
your state, and what I believe is the first for
the crime desk. Here on Cow's Week in Review, butterfly
poaching charges have been leveled against a Washington state man
collecting the insects from a park in Florida. State and
(09:01):
federal officials have been investigating reports of butterfly poaching in
a botanical state park in the Florida Keys since twenty
twenty one. The only clue had been a truck with
a Washington state plate, but after four years and multiple tips,
the Feds finally got their man, tad R. Norman was
charged with butterfly poaching after a witness spotted him using
a net to capture insects. Officers responded to the scene,
(09:24):
pulled over Norman as he attempted to flee, and located
ten butterflies stored in individual envelopes. I'm no lepidopterist or
someone who studies butterflies, but based on a quick Internet search,
it looks like Norman had captured five cloudless sulfur butterflies,
one gulf fritillary butterfly, and four of another kind I
couldn't identify. It is illegal to take wildlife from a
(09:45):
protected park in Florida, and the same is true for
pretty much every park throughout the country. The investigation is
ongoing as officials determine if they can find more poached
butterflies in Norman's possession. I don't know what kind of
penalties come with butterfly poaching, but I'm sure there are
more than a few sun hat wearing green thumb grannies
who would like to see him thrown in the slammer.
(10:07):
Five men in mass A Chusetts have been fined out
over fifty thousand dollars for proaching hundreds of fish. An
assistant harbor master in Westport, Massachusetts told local media that
he became suspicious when the men asked him for fuel
for their boat. The problem was the boat was already running.
The harbormasters suspected the men were trying to send him
on an errand to throw him off the trail, but
(10:28):
he wasn't buying it. Environmental police boarded the boat and
found five coolers filled with over one thousand fish, including
undersized black sea bass, toetog and scup. It appeared as
if the men just kept everything they caught, whether or
not they were allowed to. Interestingly, head harbormaster Bill Chase
said that he doesn't believe this is an isolated incident.
(10:49):
He said that these five men are likely part of
a coordinated operation that has quote roots and tentacles in
other states. That's a fish ring case. You're wondering if
any of you know anything about those roots and tentacles.
Send me an email to ask Cal at the meeater
dot com. This last one as an update to a
(11:09):
story we covered a few weeks ago. An Australian woman
named Aaron Patterson had been charged with the killing of
three of her relatives with a beef wellington that contained
deaf cap mushrooms. She's been on trial for the last
few weeks, and a jury finally came back with a verdict.
Patterson was found guilty of intentionally murdering her in laws
and another relative, and attempting to murder a fourth relative.
(11:30):
Patterson and her attorneys did not dispute that the wellingtons
contained the deadly shroom, but they argued that she added
them unintentionally. However, the jury was not convinced. They heard
evidence that Patterson had gone to great lengths to cover
up her crimes, including lying to the police and medical
staff about foraging for wild mushrooms, dumping a food dehydrator
used to prepare the meal, and repeatedly wiping her mobile phone.
(11:53):
She also hunted down deaf cap mushrooms sighted in nearby towns,
which put the lie to the claim that she foraged
them by accident. She had tried to kill her estranged
husband before, and he'd originally been scheduled to attend the
deadly lunch. She apparently figured that her husband's parents and
his aunt and uncle would be enough of a consolation
prize She and her husband's uncle were the only ones
(12:14):
to survive the meal, he after a lengthy stay in
the hospital, and she because she vomited up the meal
after eating it. She'll face life in prison for her crimes.
Moving on to the doge disk the name, we thought
we might be done with, but it's not. While New
York is expanding their citizen science efforts, the federal government
(12:35):
might be scaling back on theirs. The New York Times
published an article last week that claims cuts to the
US Geological Survey might jeopardize the government's historic and successful
waterfowl banning program. Under President Trump's proposed budget, the US
Geological Survey's Ecosystem Mission would see its funding cut from
two hundred ninety three million to twenty nine million. The
bird banning Laboratory falls under this area of the US
(12:57):
Geological Survey, so it's reasonable to assume that bird banding
efforts would be more limited if the budget goes through.
This would, I can safely say, spark a massive firestorm
from the nation's waterfowl hunters. If you aren't familiar with why,
I'll explain. The bird banding laboratory puts metal bands on
the legs of various bird species, including waterfowl, which are
(13:18):
used to track their movements. When a bird is banded,
researchers record the animal species, sex, age, and weight, and
sometimes even draw tissue in blood samples. Then, when the
bird is killed by a hunter, they call in the
information listed on the band. This tells researchers how long
that bird survived and where it traveled. The information, in
turn is used to make smart management decisions like setting
(13:38):
bag limits for particular species. Losing the banding program would
eliminate all that data and force wildlife managers to make
decisions in the dark. The banding program has been operating
for over a century and it's really one of the
best examples in the world of how citizen scientists can
make a real difference for the species they love. Duckbands
are also one of the greatest prizes a waterfowl hunter
(14:00):
can get. These bands are coveted and saved by hunters,
and many enjoy calling in their information and learning where
that duck came from and how old it is. If
you're a waterfowl hunter, I'm not telling you anything new.
The prospect of losing the banding program probably makes your
blood boil and The New York Times did a good
job representing our side of things in this article. For
the sake of your blood pressure, I should mention a
(14:22):
few thanks. First, a president's proposed budget almost never passes,
even President Trump's. He uses it to tell Congress what
his priorities are, but that decision is still in the
hands of our representatives. Second, if the budget passes, no
one has said the bird Banding Laboratory is going away.
The office itself employs about a dozen people, and while
I don't know exactly what the lab's budget is, it
(14:44):
isn't a large percentage of the ecosystem's mission area. Some
form of the program will likely persist, but it's anyone's
guess what it will look like if these budget cuts
go through. I know I sound like a broken record here,
but the thing to do right now is get involved.
If you're a duck hunter, a hunter of any kind,
or you just care about good wildlife management, tell your
elected officials that you don't want to see any cuts
(15:05):
the US Geological Survey. Those folks generate much of the
data and fund many of the projects that state agencies
use to make good decisions. Without that information, A species
might be headed for trouble and we wouldn't even know it.
Moving on to water wars, the water fight desk has
(15:28):
been absolutely hopping recently. A few weeks ago, we reported
on the Crazy Mountain Ranch or CMR, an ultra luxury
golf resort in the Shields Valley of Montana that has
been openly irrigating its greens and storing water without the
proper water use permits. Remember water flows downhill, or it's
supposed to. One oversight body, the Park County Conservation District
(15:48):
had declined to take legal action or levy a fine
against CMR, and the club has made it clear that
they aren't going to correct themselves. In a June thirtieth
email to a state official, Crazy Mountain Ranch as lawyer
wrote that the club wouldn't stop watering, quote because of
the damage that doing so would cause to a complex
and costly project. That's right. The water that's supposed to
(16:09):
flow downhill isn't going to flow downhill because we have
a golf course that we care about. What's your problem?
So locals were wondering whether the agency that issues water permits,
the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, would step in well,
now we have our answer. After more than a dozen
downstream neighbors filed complaints, the DNRC has officially found that
CMR violated applicable law, and on July eleventh, the agency
(16:33):
issued a cease and desist order against the ongoing irrigation.
The order warns that continuing to use water illegally would
lead to enforcement action against Crazy Mountain Ranch, including a
one thousand dollars per day fine that the DNRC is
authorized to levy. The DNRC has also filed a two
hundred and nine page lawsuit in district court to halt
the illegal water use and address the violations. And that's
(16:56):
not the only three stroke penalty suffered by CMR. On
July eight, Quart appointed Water Commissioner rich Sarazen ordered the
resort to shut off a ditch headgate from nearby Rock
Creek that was diverting water to irrigate the SOD. That
headgate is now closed, blocking water to the club. In response,
CMR has been going to extreme measures to keep its
grass alive. According to emails from CMR's lawyers, as well
(17:18):
as photographic evidence, the resort is now trucking water in
to the course as much as one hundred and ten
thousand gallons a week, or up to thirty five round
trips every day. It's a heck of a carbon footprint
for that sod. There is a thing that would get
them out of this sticky mass, which is native Montana prairie,
which is kind of the thing that survives up there
(17:40):
without one hundred and ten thousand gallons a week. Although
this strategy temporarily gets around the illegal pumping, importing water
from other areas this way may also violate water use statutes.
We don't know where the water is coming from, but
no doubt someone will soon just follow those trucks and
find out. Let's not forget that we are in the
height of water shortage season in the West Park County,
(18:01):
where CMR is located, has been designated as unusually dry
by the North American Drought Monitor, and more than half
of the state is currently in a drought. Even more concerning, Montana,
lawmakers with personal connections to CMR seem to be using
their influence to undermine the dnr c's enforcement ability. On
June twenty nine, State Senator Wiley Galt, chairman of the
(18:22):
Senate Natural Resources Committee, sent an email to State Budget
Director Ryan Osmondson, saying that the dnrc's expedited review of
CMR's permit application was quote highly unusual. He went on
to say that that decision alone raises concerns for me,
particularly about how agency resources are allocated. Wiley's always got
(18:42):
a spot on this show. If he wants it, we
can talk to him about why he is interested here.
I don't know about you, but contacting the official who
controls funding to a state agency to dispute a decision
that agency may it seems pretty threatening. Galt also called
CMR's admitted water use violations a quote unquot technical issue
that doesn't pose substantive harm to other water users. Those
(19:05):
other water users would probably beg to differ. The Gault
family ranch is currently in a joint effort with the
CMR legislating for different water storage statutes in the state.
SB one seven eight, which was passed on May first,
makes it easier for the Galts and several other landowners
(19:25):
to lease water for a billion dollar pumped storage hydro project.
This also clears the way for Crazy Mountain ranch Is
water storage application. Pumped hydro storage is I will admit
an extremely cool technology during times when cheap surplus energy
is being generated, especially from renewable sources, turbines pump huge
(19:48):
amounts of stored water uphill than in times of greater demand.
That water flows downhill through those same turbines, generating electricity
right when it's needed. It's essentially an enormous battery and
an extreme only beneficial energy service that can be very
lucrative to the people who own it. Anyway, Although advocacy
groups like Trout Unlimited and the Egg Council were able
(20:09):
to amend SB one seven eight to include more thorough
review of water storage applications as well as community objection process,
the law also allows misdemeanor charges to be brought against
parties who file complaints that are deemed malicious. This law
isn't necessarily bad. It just demonstrates two very powerful, very
connected landowners cooperating to advance their interests with an eye
(20:32):
toward overcoming opposition. And now on paper, anyway, one could
see how this particular politician is pressuring a state agency
on behalf of another landowner. The DNRC and county courts
seem willing to hold their ground, but we just don't
know what's going to happen. Moving a little over five
(20:53):
hundred miles southeast. Another water battle seems to be brewing
along the Neobrera River in the sand Hills of Nebraska.
Thanks to everyone who sent this one in to us,
the Nebraska legislature has introduced Legislative Resolution one fifty eight,
which would launch a study into transferring management of the
Neobrera National Scenic River from the National Park Service to
the State of Nebraska. Although this is a very preliminary bill,
(21:17):
it's the first step in a process that's similar to
transferring land that's managed by the BLM or Park Service
to state control. Often in the land transfer process, the
aim of the state Utah comes to mind is to
sell those lands to raise revenue and satisfy real estate interests. Interestingly,
that wouldn't be the risk from the Neobrera because almost
(21:37):
all the land along the route is already privately owned.
A little history is in order. Back in nineteen fifty nine,
the US Bureau of Reclamation proposed building the Nordon Dam
across this part of the Neobrera to create a system
of canals that would irrigate farmland one hundred miles to
the east. This project, known as the O'Neal unit was
pushed by influential lawmakers, and Congress authorized the dam project
(22:00):
in nineteen seventy one, but the development met fierce opposition
from the Audubon Society and the Wildlife Society, as well
as a coalition of ranchers who feared losing grazing land
to the system. Those groups sued in US District Court
to halt the project, and after a year's long battle,
the O'Neal Unit was indefinitely suspended. During this whole Brewjaha
(22:21):
opponents of the dam proposed protecting the affected stretch of
the Neobrera as a National Scenic River, and after even
more years of lobbying, the authorization was signed into law
by George H. W. Bush in nineteen ninety one. The
Neiobrera as a rare jam several different climate types clustered
together along its length, including northern boreal forests, western coniferous
(22:42):
and eastern deciduous for us, as well as tall grass prairie,
northern mixed grass prairie, and sand hills prairie. It provides
habitat for several migratory bird species, including sand hill cranes
and whooping cranes. As well as urns and plovers that
have managed to hang on because of the conservation of
places like the Niobrera. It's an extremely popular paddling destination.
(23:03):
With several of the region's very few waterfalls. You can
go after trout, largemouth and small mount bass, crappie, and
channel catfish. There in the nearby Neiwobrera National Wildlife Refuge,
you can also hunt for elk, mule deer, pronghorn, whitetails,
as well as all manner of birds and small game.
All of the private land collected together in the National
Scenic River is overseen by the National Park Service along
(23:26):
with the coalition of landowners and interest groups called the
Neobrera Council. So why would lawmakers want to change management
away from national parks and over to the state. Well,
the nineteen ninety one National Scenic River designation was almost
as controversial as the Nordon Dam had been, and was
seen as a federal land grab. As many as two
hundred Nebraskans called President Bush urging him to veto the law,
(23:48):
and some landowners along the route have tried to prevent
recreational users from using their parts of the river. So
now I'm starting to get out of my area of expertise.
Are some of these landowners hoping that the state control
of the Scenic River will allow them to exercise stricter
control over their land or dispute conservation easements. Could the
change lead to rezoning or easier resale of the land.
(24:09):
I truly do not know, but I'm certain that many
of my listeners do know, or at least have strong opinions.
So please write in to Askcal at the Mediator dot
com educate us further on this Neobrera issue. Nebraskans, it's
time to get into the weeds on LR one, p.
Fifty eight. This is going to affect you and anybody
else goes out there recreating in the neo Brera zone
(24:32):
there in Nebraska. Last, but not least, and this is
a short one for you Floridians. Anybody wants to hunt
black bears in Florida where they're growing big. A decision
is going to be made on the Florida black bear
hunting season. Looks like there's going to be a meeting
August thirteenth and fourteenth, the final decision for the Florida
(24:53):
Fish and Wildlife Commission. There's a meeting in Havana, Florida.
Show up, testify, get in that room. You can do
this online, I'm sure, but being there in person is
more impactful. Get there early, sign up for public comment,
Tell the commission to support the hunt and science based
(25:13):
wildlife management. This is where you're putting all those skills
together that we learned during the public lands battle. Showing
up matters, writing those emails, making those phone calls matter.
I'd start talking to those fish and wildlife commissioners right now.
That's August thirteen and fourteen down there in Havana, Florida.
(25:34):
That's all I got for you this week. Thank you
so much for listening. Remember to write into askcl that's
Ascal at the meeteater dot com. Let me know what's
going on in your neck the woods. You know I
appreciate it. 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 Calahan. Here's
cal A black lab in North Carolina is lucky to
be alive after an alligator tried to drag him to
the bottom of a pond and eat him. The dog's owner,
a man named Bonner Herring, told local media that he
(00:32):
was out at his family's one hundred and fourteen acre
property tending to a garden when he heard his dog scream.
The dog's name is Strike, but in this case it'd
be more accurate to call him Struck. He'd been nosing
around a nearby pond, and the gator had seized the
opportunity as well as Strike's right leg. By the time
Herring arrived at the pond, Strike was twenty feet offshore
(00:53):
and quickly running out of energy. I'm sorry to say
there are dog owners out there who wouldn't risk being
eaten by a gator in that situation, but Herring isn't
one of them. He bounded in the water, got a
hold of his dog, and pulled as hard as he could.
The gator put up some resistance, but quickly decided that
the canine cuisine wasn't worth the trouble. He released Strike
and Herring was able to get him to shore and
(01:15):
to a vet. The poor puppy had broken his right
femur in three places to go along with internal bleeding
and puncture wounds, but the doggy doc fixed him up
and now he has a titanium plate in his legs
secured with eleven titanium screws. I hear he'll be trying
out for the role of the bionic dog in an
upcoming remake. Herring says he's happy his dog is alive,
but he believes laws around gator hunting should be changed.
(01:38):
Alligators are one of America's most successful conservation stories. They
went from the brink of extinction in the nineteen sixties
to an estimated population of five million in the southeast US.
Gator hunting is legal in many states, but it's strictly regulated.
Herring thinks it should be easier for landowners to take
care of problem gators like the one that nearly turned
Strike into a pair of boots. North Carolina, a lot
(02:00):
requires a permit to hunt alligators, but those permits are
difficult to come by. A county or municipality can request
an alligator hunt to reduce the population, but then permits
are given out by lottery to the residents who apply.
Otherwise it's illegal to harm or kill an alligator. I
can't imagine Herring would have been prosecuted if he'd killed
the gator that was using strike as a chew toy.
(02:20):
But he's not allowed to go back to the pond
and get revenge. If more North Carolinians agree with Herring,
they should get in touch with Wildlife Resource Commission and
their state representatives. This week, we've got duck banding, water wars,
and the crime desk. But first I'm going to tell
you about my week. In my week, oh boy boy,
been up to a lot. Hard to catch you up
(02:42):
on everything. I think the most notable thing that's going
on right now is in between taking my beer belly
for a run up in the mountains with the dogs.
I am working hard to understand roadless rule recisions, what's
happening in the budget process as its to areas like
the Boundary Waters, what the reality is of mandatory lease
(03:06):
sales in the Arctic plane, specifically in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge and the National Petroleum Reserve. Alaska and pra
really interesting stuff. I had a quick trip down to
Colorado and hung out at one Shot Gear, which is
a cool shot there in Denver, and had a lot
of folks come in to chat specifically, or one specific
(03:29):
conversation was with the couple young fellas that are going
to the School of Mines there in Colorado, and they're saying,
like their professors think it's too expensive to extract out
of the Arctic Plane, which is the exact consensus I've
come up with that there's no way for industry to
go up there and make a profit to develop the
(03:52):
extraction base and the pipeline in the Arctic Plane. But
there's all these outside factors involved, which is the theory
that you could leverage the tariffs against other countries, you
could reduce those in exchange for going in and developing
or laying the development framework in these really expensive areas
and extract them that way, which again is you know,
(04:16):
it's probably a good way to get something done that
you don't want to pay for, but it's you know,
a foreign country going in and destroying a place that
there's just essentially none of left, and for what gain
is what we always got to be asking ourselves when
these things get proposed, like A, we don't need it now. B.
It's not going to make anybody any money. See, we
(04:38):
can't replace what we destroy up there. I'd kick that
can way down the road. See what happens with technology?
Which I brought up to these two young fellas from
the School of Minds, and they said, well, oil isn't
going to way less in the future, so what kind
of technology do you expect? And I basically had to say,
(04:59):
I don't know. A pie in the sky notion of
like anti gravity belts being attached to drill rigs or something. Right,
that's the fun part about the future. Who knows what
it will bring? Boundary Waters Canoe Area, What the heck
are we going to do up there? Chilean mining company
(05:21):
with the track record of ecological disasters under their belt,
wants to have an open pit copper sulfide mine in
the boundary waters where the runoff would according to their
track record. Not Greenpeace or any other greeny, lefty liberal
type organization, but their own company's track record says they
will pollute downstream water sources. Do we need that to happen?
(05:46):
And what can we do? About it. Big question marks.
That's where I'm thinking and spending my time these days.
On top of not when or if, but how these
folks are going to come back and try to steal
our public lands. We have access issues all across the country.
Right over in Washington, for example, access to fishing and
(06:07):
hunting is at stake as many groups fight for representation
on the state Game Agency board the commission Over there.
Hunters and anglers want the benefit of the species and
access to those species, and we can't have access to
those species if the species aren't in good, healthy spots,
(06:29):
as in their population is stable and growing. Ideally, we
don't also need to fight a politically semantic argument of
if we should be able to go hunt and fish
and eat those animals. Lots happening, man. I got a
couple of cool hunts coming up this fall. We'll get
into that more later, but I have a hunt in
(06:50):
Alaska coming up for brown bear, which is just like
a crazy deal that happened. It wasn't something I was
really trying to get done, and it's far from done,
but I got the money paid and I'm going up
there really looking forward to that. It's a fall hunt
and My big hang up with these is always the
(07:11):
fact that you don't have to take the meat. And
there's so many people who are like, oh, the fall
bear coastal bear meat is just terrible because they're just
eating rotten salmon. But you know, I'm preparing to see
what I can do with that critter if and when
I get them, And I think about that as my
beer gut jiggles up the trail every every day. Right now,
(07:34):
So I'm a little rambling today, so we'll move on
to the crime desk. Two Idaho men have been charged
with the eight felonies related to the illegal take of
seven white tail bucks. Those eight felonies are part of
fifty six total wildlife violations that Idaho Game Wardens documented
as part of their investigation. Idaho Fish and Game said
in a press release that twenty four year old William
(07:56):
Clark in twenty eight year old Lucas Mitchell killed all
seventy or November of twenty twenty four outside of legal
shooting hours, meaning at night. They killed five of those
seven within a single twenty four hour period. But these
yahoos weren't just hankering to fill their freezer. The carcasses
of Three of the seven deer were left to waste
with only their heads removed. Williams was arrested last week
(08:17):
on a fifty thousand dollars warrant, but as of this recording,
Mitchell is still at large. Game Warden's credit concerned citizens
for the bust. They say someone reported a quote suspicious
deerhead to the state's Citizens Against Poaching tip line. That
initial tip launched what turned out to be a successful investigation.
As far as I'm aware, all fifty states have a
(08:38):
similar program for people to report wildlife violations anonymously. If
you ever see anything suspicious while out in the woods
or on the water, look up the tip line in
your state, and what I believe is the first for
the crime desk. Here on Cow's Week in Review, butterfly
poaching charges have been leveled against a Washington state man
collecting the insects from a park in Florida. State and
(09:01):
federal officials have been investigating reports of butterfly poaching in
a botanical state park in the Florida Keys since twenty
twenty one. The only clue had been a truck with
a Washington state plate, but after four years and multiple tips,
the Feds finally got their man, tad R. Norman was
charged with butterfly poaching after a witness spotted him using
a net to capture insects. Officers responded to the scene,
(09:24):
pulled over Norman as he attempted to flee, and located
ten butterflies stored in individual envelopes. I'm no lepidopterist or
someone who studies butterflies, but based on a quick Internet search,
it looks like Norman had captured five cloudless sulfur butterflies,
one gulf fritillary butterfly, and four of another kind I
couldn't identify. It is illegal to take wildlife from a
(09:45):
protected park in Florida, and the same is true for
pretty much every park throughout the country. The investigation is
ongoing as officials determine if they can find more poached
butterflies in Norman's possession. I don't know what kind of
penalties come with butterfly poaching, but I'm sure there are
more than a few sun hat wearing green thumb grannies
who would like to see him thrown in the slammer.
(10:07):
Five men in mass A Chusetts have been fined out
over fifty thousand dollars for proaching hundreds of fish. An
assistant harbor master in Westport, Massachusetts told local media that
he became suspicious when the men asked him for fuel
for their boat. The problem was the boat was already running.
The harbormasters suspected the men were trying to send him
on an errand to throw him off the trail, but
(10:28):
he wasn't buying it. Environmental police boarded the boat and
found five coolers filled with over one thousand fish, including
undersized black sea bass, toetog and scup. It appeared as
if the men just kept everything they caught, whether or
not they were allowed to. Interestingly, head harbormaster Bill Chase
said that he doesn't believe this is an isolated incident.
(10:49):
He said that these five men are likely part of
a coordinated operation that has quote roots and tentacles in
other states. That's a fish ring case. You're wondering if
any of you know anything about those roots and tentacles.
Send me an email to ask Cal at the meeater
dot com. This last one as an update to a
(11:09):
story we covered a few weeks ago. An Australian woman
named Aaron Patterson had been charged with the killing of
three of her relatives with a beef wellington that contained
deaf cap mushrooms. She's been on trial for the last
few weeks, and a jury finally came back with a verdict.
Patterson was found guilty of intentionally murdering her in laws
and another relative, and attempting to murder a fourth relative.
(11:30):
Patterson and her attorneys did not dispute that the wellingtons
contained the deadly shroom, but they argued that she added
them unintentionally. However, the jury was not convinced. They heard
evidence that Patterson had gone to great lengths to cover
up her crimes, including lying to the police and medical
staff about foraging for wild mushrooms, dumping a food dehydrator
used to prepare the meal, and repeatedly wiping her mobile phone.
(11:53):
She also hunted down deaf cap mushrooms sighted in nearby towns,
which put the lie to the claim that she foraged
them by accident. She had tried to kill her estranged
husband before, and he'd originally been scheduled to attend the
deadly lunch. She apparently figured that her husband's parents and
his aunt and uncle would be enough of a consolation
prize She and her husband's uncle were the only ones
(12:14):
to survive the meal, he after a lengthy stay in
the hospital, and she because she vomited up the meal
after eating it. She'll face life in prison for her crimes.
Moving on to the doge disk the name, we thought
we might be done with, but it's not. While New
York is expanding their citizen science efforts, the federal government
(12:35):
might be scaling back on theirs. The New York Times
published an article last week that claims cuts to the
US Geological Survey might jeopardize the government's historic and successful
waterfowl banning program. Under President Trump's proposed budget, the US
Geological Survey's Ecosystem Mission would see its funding cut from
two hundred ninety three million to twenty nine million. The
bird banning Laboratory falls under this area of the US
(12:57):
Geological Survey, so it's reasonable to assume that bird banding
efforts would be more limited if the budget goes through.
This would, I can safely say, spark a massive firestorm
from the nation's waterfowl hunters. If you aren't familiar with why,
I'll explain. The bird banding laboratory puts metal bands on
the legs of various bird species, including waterfowl, which are
(13:18):
used to track their movements. When a bird is banded,
researchers record the animal species, sex, age, and weight, and
sometimes even draw tissue in blood samples. Then, when the
bird is killed by a hunter, they call in the
information listed on the band. This tells researchers how long
that bird survived and where it traveled. The information, in
turn is used to make smart management decisions like setting
(13:38):
bag limits for particular species. Losing the banding program would
eliminate all that data and force wildlife managers to make
decisions in the dark. The banding program has been operating
for over a century and it's really one of the
best examples in the world of how citizen scientists can
make a real difference for the species they love. Duckbands
are also one of the greatest prizes a waterfowl hunter
(14:00):
can get. These bands are coveted and saved by hunters,
and many enjoy calling in their information and learning where
that duck came from and how old it is. If
you're a waterfowl hunter, I'm not telling you anything new.
The prospect of losing the banding program probably makes your
blood boil and The New York Times did a good
job representing our side of things in this article. For
the sake of your blood pressure, I should mention a
(14:22):
few thanks. First, a president's proposed budget almost never passes,
even President Trump's. He uses it to tell Congress what
his priorities are, but that decision is still in the
hands of our representatives. Second, if the budget passes, no
one has said the bird Banding Laboratory is going away.
The office itself employs about a dozen people, and while
I don't know exactly what the lab's budget is, it
(14:44):
isn't a large percentage of the ecosystem's mission area. Some
form of the program will likely persist, but it's anyone's
guess what it will look like if these budget cuts
go through. I know I sound like a broken record here,
but the thing to do right now is get involved.
If you're a duck hunter, a hunter of any kind,
or you just care about good wildlife management, tell your
elected officials that you don't want to see any cuts
(15:05):
the US Geological Survey. Those folks generate much of the
data and fund many of the projects that state agencies
use to make good decisions. Without that information, A species
might be headed for trouble and we wouldn't even know it.
Moving on to water wars, the water fight desk has
(15:28):
been absolutely hopping recently. A few weeks ago, we reported
on the Crazy Mountain Ranch or CMR, an ultra luxury
golf resort in the Shields Valley of Montana that has
been openly irrigating its greens and storing water without the
proper water use permits. Remember water flows downhill, or it's
supposed to. One oversight body, the Park County Conservation District
(15:48):
had declined to take legal action or levy a fine
against CMR, and the club has made it clear that
they aren't going to correct themselves. In a June thirtieth
email to a state official, Crazy Mountain Ranch as lawyer
wrote that the club wouldn't stop watering, quote because of
the damage that doing so would cause to a complex
and costly project. That's right. The water that's supposed to
(16:09):
flow downhill isn't going to flow downhill because we have
a golf course that we care about. What's your problem?
So locals were wondering whether the agency that issues water permits,
the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, would step in well,
now we have our answer. After more than a dozen
downstream neighbors filed complaints, the DNRC has officially found that
CMR violated applicable law, and on July eleventh, the agency
(16:33):
issued a cease and desist order against the ongoing irrigation.
The order warns that continuing to use water illegally would
lead to enforcement action against Crazy Mountain Ranch, including a
one thousand dollars per day fine that the DNRC is
authorized to levy. The DNRC has also filed a two
hundred and nine page lawsuit in district court to halt
the illegal water use and address the violations. And that's
(16:56):
not the only three stroke penalty suffered by CMR. On
July eight, Quart appointed Water Commissioner rich Sarazen ordered the
resort to shut off a ditch headgate from nearby Rock
Creek that was diverting water to irrigate the SOD. That
headgate is now closed, blocking water to the club. In response,
CMR has been going to extreme measures to keep its
grass alive. According to emails from CMR's lawyers, as well
(17:18):
as photographic evidence, the resort is now trucking water in
to the course as much as one hundred and ten
thousand gallons a week, or up to thirty five round
trips every day. It's a heck of a carbon footprint
for that sod. There is a thing that would get
them out of this sticky mass, which is native Montana prairie,
which is kind of the thing that survives up there
(17:40):
without one hundred and ten thousand gallons a week. Although
this strategy temporarily gets around the illegal pumping, importing water
from other areas this way may also violate water use statutes.
We don't know where the water is coming from, but
no doubt someone will soon just follow those trucks and
find out. Let's not forget that we are in the
height of water shortage season in the West Park County,
(18:01):
where CMR is located, has been designated as unusually dry
by the North American Drought Monitor, and more than half
of the state is currently in a drought. Even more concerning, Montana,
lawmakers with personal connections to CMR seem to be using
their influence to undermine the dnr c's enforcement ability. On
June twenty nine, State Senator Wiley Galt, chairman of the
(18:22):
Senate Natural Resources Committee, sent an email to State Budget
Director Ryan Osmondson, saying that the dnrc's expedited review of
CMR's permit application was quote highly unusual. He went on
to say that that decision alone raises concerns for me,
particularly about how agency resources are allocated. Wiley's always got
(18:42):
a spot on this show. If he wants it, we
can talk to him about why he is interested here.
I don't know about you, but contacting the official who
controls funding to a state agency to dispute a decision
that agency may it seems pretty threatening. Galt also called
CMR's admitted water use violations a quote unquot technical issue
that doesn't pose substantive harm to other water users. Those
(19:05):
other water users would probably beg to differ. The Gault
family ranch is currently in a joint effort with the
CMR legislating for different water storage statutes in the state.
SB one seven eight, which was passed on May first,
makes it easier for the Galts and several other landowners
(19:25):
to lease water for a billion dollar pumped storage hydro project.
This also clears the way for Crazy Mountain ranch Is
water storage application. Pumped hydro storage is I will admit
an extremely cool technology during times when cheap surplus energy
is being generated, especially from renewable sources, turbines pump huge
(19:48):
amounts of stored water uphill than in times of greater demand.
That water flows downhill through those same turbines, generating electricity
right when it's needed. It's essentially an enormous battery and
an extreme only beneficial energy service that can be very
lucrative to the people who own it. Anyway, Although advocacy
groups like Trout Unlimited and the Egg Council were able
(20:09):
to amend SB one seven eight to include more thorough
review of water storage applications as well as community objection process,
the law also allows misdemeanor charges to be brought against
parties who file complaints that are deemed malicious. This law
isn't necessarily bad. It just demonstrates two very powerful, very
connected landowners cooperating to advance their interests with an eye
(20:32):
toward overcoming opposition. And now on paper, anyway, one could
see how this particular politician is pressuring a state agency
on behalf of another landowner. The DNRC and county courts
seem willing to hold their ground, but we just don't
know what's going to happen. Moving a little over five
(20:53):
hundred miles southeast. Another water battle seems to be brewing
along the Neobrera River in the sand Hills of Nebraska.
Thanks to everyone who sent this one in to us,
the Nebraska legislature has introduced Legislative Resolution one fifty eight,
which would launch a study into transferring management of the
Neobrera National Scenic River from the National Park Service to
the State of Nebraska. Although this is a very preliminary bill,
(21:17):
it's the first step in a process that's similar to
transferring land that's managed by the BLM or Park Service
to state control. Often in the land transfer process, the
aim of the state Utah comes to mind is to
sell those lands to raise revenue and satisfy real estate interests. Interestingly,
that wouldn't be the risk from the Neobrera because almost
(21:37):
all the land along the route is already privately owned.
A little history is in order. Back in nineteen fifty nine,
the US Bureau of Reclamation proposed building the Nordon Dam
across this part of the Neobrera to create a system
of canals that would irrigate farmland one hundred miles to
the east. This project, known as the O'Neal unit was
pushed by influential lawmakers, and Congress authorized the dam project
(22:00):
in nineteen seventy one, but the development met fierce opposition
from the Audubon Society and the Wildlife Society, as well
as a coalition of ranchers who feared losing grazing land
to the system. Those groups sued in US District Court
to halt the project, and after a year's long battle,
the O'Neal Unit was indefinitely suspended. During this whole Brewjaha
(22:21):
opponents of the dam proposed protecting the affected stretch of
the Neobrera as a National Scenic River, and after even
more years of lobbying, the authorization was signed into law
by George H. W. Bush in nineteen ninety one. The
Neiobrera as a rare jam several different climate types clustered
together along its length, including northern boreal forests, western coniferous
(22:42):
and eastern deciduous for us, as well as tall grass prairie,
northern mixed grass prairie, and sand hills prairie. It provides
habitat for several migratory bird species, including sand hill cranes
and whooping cranes. As well as urns and plovers that
have managed to hang on because of the conservation of
places like the Niobrera. It's an extremely popular paddling destination.
(23:03):
With several of the region's very few waterfalls. You can
go after trout, largemouth and small mount bass, crappie, and
channel catfish. There in the nearby Neiwobrera National Wildlife Refuge,
you can also hunt for elk, mule deer, pronghorn, whitetails,
as well as all manner of birds and small game.
All of the private land collected together in the National
Scenic River is overseen by the National Park Service along
(23:26):
with the coalition of landowners and interest groups called the
Neobrera Council. So why would lawmakers want to change management
away from national parks and over to the state. Well,
the nineteen ninety one National Scenic River designation was almost
as controversial as the Nordon Dam had been, and was
seen as a federal land grab. As many as two
hundred Nebraskans called President Bush urging him to veto the law,
(23:48):
and some landowners along the route have tried to prevent
recreational users from using their parts of the river. So
now I'm starting to get out of my area of expertise.
Are some of these landowners hoping that the state control
of the Scenic River will allow them to exercise stricter
control over their land or dispute conservation easements. Could the
change lead to rezoning or easier resale of the land.
(24:09):
I truly do not know, but I'm certain that many
of my listeners do know, or at least have strong opinions.
So please write in to Askcal at the Mediator dot
com educate us further on this Neobrera issue. Nebraskans, it's
time to get into the weeds on LR one, p.
Fifty eight. This is going to affect you and anybody
else goes out there recreating in the neo Brera zone
(24:32):
there in Nebraska. Last, but not least, and this is
a short one for you Floridians. Anybody wants to hunt
black bears in Florida where they're growing big. A decision
is going to be made on the Florida black bear
hunting season. Looks like there's going to be a meeting
August thirteenth and fourteenth, the final decision for the Florida
(24:53):
Fish and Wildlife Commission. There's a meeting in Havana, Florida.
Show up, testify, get in that room. You can do
this online, I'm sure, but being there in person is
more impactful. Get there early, sign up for public comment,
Tell the commission to support the hunt and science based
(25:13):
wildlife management. This is where you're putting all those skills
together that we learned during the public lands battle. Showing
up matters, writing those emails, making those phone calls matter.
I'd start talking to those fish and wildlife commissioners right now.
That's August thirteen and fourteen down there in Havana, Florida.
(25:34):
That's all I got for you this week. Thank you
so much for listening. Remember to write into askcl that's
Ascal at the meeteater dot com. Let me know what's
going on in your neck the woods. You know I
appreciate it. Thanks again. We'll talk to you next week.
Host
Cal Callaghan
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