August 11, 2025 • 24 mins
This week, Cal talks about how to win a fight with a mountain lion, why an African lion named "Blondie" is making the news, and how to get cancer from shooting a shotgun.
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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
cap in what may be the most badass thing any
Canadian has done since the invention of thed havevel In Beaver.
A British Columbia man fought off of cougar last week
(00:30):
by punching it in the face. And no, this story
does not come from Whistler or any of the other
fun BC ski areas. The BC Conservation Officer Service said
in a Facebook post that the man was working in
the Lake Kathleen area in the central portion of the
province when he was approached by a mountain lion. According
to the man's account, the cat quote swiped his upper body,
(00:52):
at which point he quote punched the cougar in the
face and it disengaged. The Officer Service has not released
the man's identity, but the agency did say his injuries
were so minor that they did not require treatment in
a hospital. The agency's efforts to locate the offending and
no doubt ashamed feline have so far proved unsuccessful. A
(01:13):
live trap was deployed in the area and hounds were dispatched.
The next day, but the cougar didn't show its face.
Believe it or not, this isn't the first account of
a person defending themselves from an animal attack by socking
it in the kisser. In twenty seventeen, a seventeen year
old girl survived a shark attack by punching it in
the snout until it released her leg. In twenty eighteen,
a seventy eight year old North Carolina man claimed to
(01:35):
have survived a black bear attack by punching it in
the nose, And in twenty twenty three, a main woman
punched a black bear on the nose after it tried
to attack her dog. Of course, the most famous put
up your duke's animal encounter happened in Australia in twenty sixteen.
While out looking for wild pigs, a hunter encountered a
kangaroo who had put his dog in a headlock. The
(01:56):
man squared up to the kanga and punched it in
the jaw, which caused the animal well to stumble back
a few paces with an obvious look of shock on
his face. I didn't know kangaroos had the ability to
look shocked, but there's a video, and that's certainly my interpretation,
the kangaroo had already dropped the dog, so the hunter
beat a hasty retreat. Kangaroos aren't known for their boxing ability,
but it's always a good idea to quit while you're ahead.
(02:19):
On that note, I would advise avoiding a fight with
the wild animal rather than relying on your rocky impression
to get out of a jam. What do I got
to chase a chicken? Ford? Some birds? You know? But
if you find yourself snout to snout with something that
may or may not put you on the menu for dinner,
there's no harm in going for the knockout punch. It
might even work. Those noses are sensitive. This week we've
(02:41):
got Silica the crime desk and did we do this already?
But first I'm going to tell you about my week,
and my week has been interesting, as always, one bit
of news in the broad world something everybody needs to
be aware of. There's this idea coming out of the
Department of the Interior that they could divert funds from
(03:02):
the Land and Water Conservation Fund to a maintenance backlog.
This is a fund LWCF that is designated for acquiring
and improving public land. This is where a lot of
rural communities and communities all across the country get parks,
bike paths, boat ramps, and ease months which are incredibly important.
(03:23):
And then there's just outright land acquisition possibilities, and there's
a huge long list. Just look up LWCF Land and
Water Conservation Fund. Important to remember the cash from LWCF
comes from offshore oil and gas revenues. This is not
an out of pocket expense for the American people. It's
(03:43):
that mailbox money everybody talks about. And fun fact, it
cannot legally be diverted to something such as a maintenance backlog.
And another fun fact, we laid off or encouraged the
departure of roughly a quarter of the National Park Service
employee base, So who the heck's going to be doing
the maintenance work. You can voice your concern for the
future of LWCF by writing and calling into your representatives
(04:07):
and your senators. Last week I encouraged everyone to write
in with any questions. We got a few. In fact,
we got more than a few, as so many that
I'm only going to do two on this episode. Then
we'll do some more. So listen up. If you didn't
ask you might want to know anyway. This is from Eric.
Eric says, I'm going on my first big l hunt
this year. It's a cow elk. I was just curious
(04:29):
if you had any experience with calling in cows by
a diaphragm or external mouth calls. If so, what sound
are you emulating and how long would you sit after
calling a lot of people just drive around and find one.
I would rather treat it as going in for my trophy.
First off, Eric, time of year and timing really dictates
(04:52):
how you use calls. So you can use a cow
call year long, from the start of the rut all
the way through the winner. That cow call might be
something that gets a cow or a bull or a
calf to stop and look at you during rifle season,
but way lower likelihood of them actually engaging with the
call at that time of year, whereas earlier in the
(05:14):
year you can use all sorts of different tactics. You
can even bugle in cows. I use diaphragms and external
read calls. I really like external reed calls for my
cow calf sounds. I can just switch gears a lot
faster and figure out what they're responding to better. So
lost calves are great for bringing in a cow and
(05:38):
spikes and yeah, lots of patients. So if you're in
there with hot, fresh elk sign and scent and you
can smell them, do a little calling routine like a
cow talking back to a calf, a little bit of
a social exchange, and then be patient and sit there
for fifteen minutes. But be ready when you do that.
(05:58):
Big thing is like you got to watch the heard
dynamics and listen for and see what those elk are
responding to, and then that's going to give you your cues.
Get in close, don't be aggressive, be courting, and typically
you can get a cow to swing in and check
you out. But the trophy aspect of kow el cunting,
(06:21):
if I'm being dead honest, is getting that thing whole
in the back of a truck. That's why I was
brought up anyway. That is the mark of a trophy
seasoned kal el hunter. It's a meat hunt. It should
be fun. It's your first l hunt. You're going to
have a blast. And even if you don't do it
(06:42):
the hard way of this trip elk hunt's hard man,
the hard stuff will catch up to you. So don't
overlook a gimme if it falls in your lap this trip.
Next up, Fella drew a non resident waterfowl tag for
South Dakota this year. He's planning a solo trip with
his dog, likely in late October. He plans on hunting
(07:03):
over small water holes potholes in northeast South Dakota, and
he hot tips advice on timing the trip, things to avoid,
et cetera. He'll be camping doing this totally DIY. He's
from Kentucky, but by no means am I an above
average duck hunter. I'm with you there, just an average
weekend duck warrior here at home, looking for a fun
(07:24):
duck trip with the dog, which is a wicked, mean
standard poodle. This will be my dog's second hunting season
and first out of state trip. So excited for you.
I'm not going to be able to tell you anything
that's crazy. Stay mobile, don't try to set up an
elaborate camp. Remember to properly mark all of your birds
(07:46):
on your trip because you're going to be mobile, so
keep that fully feathered wing or head on attached to
the whole bird. When you're mobile, It's just easier to
do it. As a whole bird, and you know, keep
your notes, have those things, your dates and areas where
you killed those things. On top of that, don't be
(08:08):
afraid to knock on some doors. My experience in South
Dakota is if you're hunting water, there's not a lot
of competition. Folks love to hunt fields that they can
get real aggressive on finding big mallard shoots in stubble fields.
But if you want some fun puddle duck hunting, you're
(08:29):
gonna have a great time. Don't bypass the small stuff.
They can get really good flights at t old wigeon
gadwall and definitely some big old mallards too. So cover
the ground, burning gas, kills ducks, and don't forget that
you cannot shoot a pheasant until after ten am, read
your eggs wherever you go. You have a great time.
(08:52):
Just go out there and do it. Moving on to
the asbestos desk. A jury ordered the family of an
Illinois man nine million dollars last week after he died
from a rare form of cancer caused by firing shotgun shells.
Big thanks to listener Grant Benz for sending this one.
In Eugene. Shopkey died in twenty twenty two from mesothelioma,
(09:15):
a kind of cancer caused primarily by exposure to asbestos.
If you've ever been a consumer of daytime television, you
already know what I'm talking about. Attention. If you were
all loved one was diagnosed with mesothelioma, you may be
entitled to financial compensation. Usually, personal injury lawyers target people
who have worked in shipyards, mills, heating, or construction. Because
(09:37):
asbestos was primarily used as an insulating material. What you
may not know is that in nineteen sixties, Remington partnered
with DuPont to make shotgun wads with asbestos. Asbestos is
a fibrous material and its highly heat resistant. Before plastic
wads became the industry standard, Remington, with the help of DuPont,
used asbestos in its wadding material. The problem was, every
(10:00):
time a shell was fired, it blasted microscopic asbestos fibers
into the air. The shooter and anyone in his vicinity
could breathe in these fibers, which became trapped in tissue
within the body. Over time, this toxic material caused inflammation
and scarring. It's like having glass inside your lungs. So
every time you breathe, it makes little, tiny little cuts
(10:21):
in there. It's a horrid way to die. This is
what happened to Eugene, who regularly used those old green
Remington shotgun shells. The risks of asbestos exposure were known
by nineteen sixty, so the Delaware jury decided that Remington
and DuPont should have known better. The exact company responsible
for Eugene's death is a little complicated, since both manufacturers
(10:42):
have been absorbed by larger conglomerates. DuPont in particular, was
quick to point out that the amul manufacturing arm of
its company split off in twenty nineteen, So don't go
protesting outside your local DuPont facility. But whoever is shelling
out the cash, Eugene's family is walking away with nine
million bucks. That can't replace a father and grandfather, but
(11:02):
at least it's some measure of justice. It's also a
good way to spread the word about avoiding old shotgun shells.
You find your grandfather's foot locker, it's a good idea
to take a pass on any shelves from the nineteen sixties.
But if you ever find a box with a DuPont
logo on it, go ahead and dispose of that in
a safe and legal way. DuPont and Remington were the
only ammo makers to use asbestos in their shell wadding.
(11:25):
And you don't want to end up like Old Eugene.
Moving on to the mule deer desk, Utah is asking
for hunter's help in recovering at struggling mule deer population.
The Division of Wildlife Resources has announced a series of
meetings at which hunters can offer suggestions for ways to
boost Utah's deer populations that have quote struggled to grow
(11:49):
in some parts of the state. The twenty twenty four
post hunting season population estimate was approximately two hundred ninety
five two hundred deer, which is only seventy three percent
of the long time term management objective of four hundred
and four nine hundred deer. The DWR is holding eight
meetings in August to get feedback from hunters. Big Game
(12:09):
Coordinator Dax Mangus emphasized that these meetings are about quote
how we grow deer, not how we hunt them. He
explained that deer populations aren't determined by the buck harvest.
They're impacted much more by survival rates of dough deer,
fawn production, and fawn survival over the winter. So these
meetings are to focus on those elements of mule deer management.
(12:30):
Since hunters are primarily concerned with buck harvest and most
aren't biologists, I'm not sure if that's quite the right
agenda for these meetings. Some might argue that not talking
about buck harvest is a way to avoid a discussion
that might lead to decreased license revenue. At the same time,
it's very true that fawn survival is more important than
buck harvest when you're talking about deer, and the fact
(12:52):
that the DWR is holding these meetings is evidence that
they want to take hunters concerns seriously. Various proposals have
already been floating around in Internet forums and Facebook groups.
A Utah resident sent me an email outlining some of them.
Some people have proposed making more wildlife crossings over roads,
limiting units to three points or more, only allowing deer
(13:13):
hunts on units every other year. Some have even asked
for a five year closure of the deer hunts. One
of these meetings has already been held as of this recording,
and one hunter proposed reducing the number of deer tags
while increasing the price. This might help struggling herds while
also maintaining current levels of funding. You'd like to attend
one of these meetings and voice your own opinion, or
(13:33):
just go listen in person, You can find the schedule
on the DWR website. There are eight more between August
twelve and August twenty eight in various parts of the state.
Moving over to the Deja Vu desk, another lion hunting
drama has exploded in Zimbabwe, reigniting the same fights that
(13:54):
consume the animal rights world. When Cesal the Lion was
killed exactly ten years ago, the details of the two
hunts are almost identical. In June of this year, a
foreign hunter killed a lion named Blondie outside of the
same well known Huengei National Park. Just like Cecil, Blondie
was wearing a tracking collar as part of an Oxford
University study, which allowed animal rights groups to claim that
(14:15):
he was off limits. Blondie was also killed over bait,
a legal hunting practice in Zimbabwe, on land adjacent to
the protected national park, leading news outlets to write that
he was quote unquote lured out of the park and
even though his home range covers areas inside and outside
of the park. It was the bait that got him.
One notable difference this time around is that Blondie was
(14:37):
just five years old when he was killed, while Cecil
had reached the ripe old age at thirteen. Male lions
begin to breed around four and reach the end of
their reproductive life cycle around ten, so there's fresh outrage
over a breeding male being taken out of the population. However,
Cecil's advanced age meant that he had also become very
habituated people, often coming within a few yards of safari groups,
(14:59):
making him the park's main tourist attraction and international celebrity.
Blondie hadn't yet become the same kind of superstar. Of course,
all the under reported aspects of the story are also
very similar. Foreign hunting brings in almost twenty million dollars
a year for conservation in Zimbabwe, and wildlife populations in
the country are therefore thriving. African countries that have outlawed
(15:20):
hunting don't have that same revenue, and they're often consequently
plagued by poaching and habitat loss. Regulated hunting also keeps
the area's wildlife populations in balance. After the Ceacial debacle,
the resulting drop off in hunting near the Huange led
to an overpopulation of lions, setting off a decline in
the numbers of prey animals like antelope and giraffe that
(15:41):
in turn threatened the ecosystems other predators like cheetahs and
painted dogs. Nearby parks even considered bringing in professional hunters
to conduct controlled culling operations. Interestingly, even though the hunt
of Blondie took place in June, the drama is just
happening now because of a statement released by Africa Geographic,
the organization that sponsored Blondie's research tracking collar. The name
(16:03):
Africa Geographic makes this seem like an objective information outlet
like National Geographic, but in fact it's a for profit
safari company which obviously has a vested interest in having
as many animals on the landscape for its clients to see,
regardless of the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. One notable
difference between Blondie and Cecil hunts is how much the
(16:24):
hunter's guide service and park officials have learned about pr
that's public relations over the last ten years. This time,
the identity of the hunter has been kept secret and
his face has been blurred out in photos. The guide
was able to show the hunt's legal permits right away,
heading off the appearance of foul play that added to
the outrage last time, and the Guege Park spokesman had
(16:44):
a well crafted statement all ready to go, emphasizing the
conservation funding provided by hunting and going on to say
a quote. Our rangers were present, all paperwork was in order.
Callers are for research purposes, but they don't make the
animal immune to hunting. Not sure that it's going to
head off the outrage, but it is likely to prevent
PETA from calling for a named private citizen to be hanged,
(17:06):
as happened last time around. Jumping over to the crime
desk first up, an investigation is now underway in Camii, Idaho,
where a cow, moose, and her calf were found shot
in Nesper's Clearwater National Forest in mid July. This one
was against the law and a whole bunch of ways.
First of all, it's illegal to kill anything out of season.
(17:27):
Seeing a productive cow and calf killed as moose populations
have been declining in Idaho as well as in most
parts of the country, is especially hard to see as well,
investigators have also concluded that the animals were shot from
the road and as much as one hundred pounds of
meat was left to waste. Furthermore, moose legal moose hunting
(17:49):
in the state Idaho is a once in a lifetime event.
That's the way the state regulates their quote unquote trophy species.
So if you're successful when you draw that insanely hard
to obtain moose tag, you are done hunting moose in
the state of Idaho. Killing a moose without a tag
is a felony in Idaho, which carries a fifty five
hundred dollars fine and a lifetime revocation of hunting privileges.
(18:12):
If anyone has information on this, one called the Idaho
Department of Fishing Game two eight nine two one four
one seven two and will also put a form on
the old cow to action page at the mediator dot com.
Moving on from an unsolved case to some justice served,
forty seven year old Scott Steer of Gabriola Island up
(18:33):
in BC was sentenced this week for crimes going back
more than seventeen years. Often on this show we've lamented
how light the sentences are for wildlife violations. A lot
of times offenders will get sentenced more harshly for a
ziplock bag full of drugs in their possession than for
dozens of poached deer skulls. But the Canadian court really
threw the book at Steer, this time, sentencing him to
six full years in jail and levying one point one
(18:55):
million dollars in fine. Steer was certainly asking for it.
British Columbia Supreme Court Justice David Krrar wrote in his ruling,
the Crown understands mister Steer's record to be the longest
record of Fisheries Act violations in Canadian history. Isn't it
fun when Canadian courts refer to themselves as the Crown
gives it more of like a Dungeons and Dragons type
(19:17):
of feel. Steer's most recent conviction was for taking sa cucumbers,
both without a license and out of season. That might
not seem like the worst crime you've ever heard, but
Steer's recidivism is something to marvel at. His first warnings
and ticketed violations started in the mid two thousands, and
his first criminal convictions took place in two thousand and
(19:37):
eight for harvesting shellfish out of season. And trying to
sell halibut and linkod without a commercial license. In twenty thirteen,
he was sentenced to six months in prison and ten
years of probation for going over his fishing quota. The
judge in that case declared, quote, mister Steer represents a
threat to the health of the fishery. Steer had thirteen
poaching convictions before his most recent sea cucumber crime, which
(20:00):
puts him in a real sea pickle, you know, because
cucumbers and you know pickle. Anyway, Steer had previously claimed
that he was going straight by importing dishwashing pods from China,
which has got to be the most suspicious sounding fake
job he could have invented. He also asked for leniency
in his previous convictions by stating that he is responsible
for his five children, which you know you feel for.
(20:23):
But keeping this guy off the water is justified. Last up,
an absolutely wild episode from history, as told by retired
Oklahoma game Ward and Tracy Daniel to reporter Chris Bennett
of The Farm Journal. Last week we told you about
the amazing law enforcement decoys made by Brian Wolsleagel of
Custom Robotic Decoys, which can warm up with heating coils,
(20:44):
turn their heads and even lift their tails and eject
brown eminem's as a poop substitute. Well back in nineteen
eighty six, fancy decoys like this had not been invented.
At the time, Oklahoma was experiencing a spike in poaching,
especially people shooting game from roadways, but it was almost
impossible to catch violators in the act. But Warden Daniel
had an idea, Why couldn't you find a road killed
(21:06):
deer and set it out in a tempting spot near
a road for poachers to go for So that's exactly
what he did. Coming across a medium sized buck that
had been hit by a car but hadn't sustained visible injuries,
he retained the deer, put it in the freezer, stretched
the buck's legs out and braced them with boards, pinned
the ears up straight, and turned the heads it would
(21:26):
appear to be looking toward the potential shooters. He then
left the deer to freeze solid for eight days. Before
dawn on opening day, he and his colleagues collected the
rigid deer drove it out to a farm where several
poaching incidents had already been reported and set it up
within view of the road. Daniel concealed himself in a
nearby ditch, and other law enforcement personnel set up cars
(21:47):
further down the road to process any resulting violations, and
violations certainly resulted. Between Don and eleven am. Seven different
parties stopped their cars in the road, shot at the decoy,
and were apprehended in the middle of the stand. A
fourteen year old boy legally hunting the property also took
a shot at the frozen deer and was heartbroken to
discover that he wouldn't be taken home as first buck.
(22:09):
The final bust was also the most spectacular. While processing
the hunting violations, Daniel noticed a bag of marijuana lying
out inside the car. A subsequent search turned up a
significant quantity of cocaine. Daniel recalled quote, looking back, it
ranks as one of the wildest operations of my career.
It was crazy and I never dreamed it'd work so perfectly.
(22:30):
Gotta love it when a plan comes together. Moving on
to the mail bag, listener Mike Rider sent me a
troubling trend from his neck of the woods in New England. Apparently,
some yahoos aren't happy with the region's excellent trout fisheries
and would rather they resemble Alabama and South Carolina. The
main Department of Inland Fisheries reported last month that biologists
(22:52):
had spied largemouth pass in West Musquash Lake. According to
an article Mike sent me, this lake is a classic
cold water fishery that his home to wild trout and
wild landlocked salmon. A press release date of July twenty
four reported that a team of biologists visually confirmed multiple
largemouth bass of varying ages in the lake. Now, there's
nothing wrong with bass fishing, but bass don't belong in
(23:14):
New England's cold water fisheries. Someone or multiple someones have
been transferring these non native fish into the region's trout streams,
where they pose a serious danger to native species. Bass
eat just about anything, including trout. They also out compete
native species for food and habitat, and can significantly alter
the aquatic ecosystem. Of course, this kind of thing is
(23:34):
nothing new, and it's not always the fault of bucket biology.
Mike tells me he's been reading a book titled The
Bass of New Hampshire that chronicles the intentional effort by
the state in the eighteen hundreds to introduce black bass species.
These days, the New Hampshire Fish and Wildlife Fish and
Game Department reports that wild bass have been neutralized in
many water bodies and their eradication isn't possible. Quote further
(23:57):
spread of bass should be prevented to protect the remaining
habitat for vulnerable native fish species. Big thanks to Mike
for sending us that important reminder. And if you live
in Maine, the Warden Service is offering a six thousand
dollars reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction
of those responsible for putting bass in West Musquash Lake.
Get in touch with the main Warden Service if you
(24:19):
can help them with that investigation. That's all I got
for you this week. Thank you so much for listening.
Remember to write in to ask c A L. That's
Ascal at the meeteater dot com. Let me know what's
going on your neck of the woods. You know we
appreciate thanks again. 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
cap in what may be the most badass thing any
Canadian has done since the invention of thed havevel In Beaver.
A British Columbia man fought off of cougar last week
(00:30):
by punching it in the face. And no, this story
does not come from Whistler or any of the other
fun BC ski areas. The BC Conservation Officer Service said
in a Facebook post that the man was working in
the Lake Kathleen area in the central portion of the
province when he was approached by a mountain lion. According
to the man's account, the cat quote swiped his upper body,
(00:52):
at which point he quote punched the cougar in the
face and it disengaged. The Officer Service has not released
the man's identity, but the agency did say his injuries
were so minor that they did not require treatment in
a hospital. The agency's efforts to locate the offending and
no doubt ashamed feline have so far proved unsuccessful. A
(01:13):
live trap was deployed in the area and hounds were dispatched.
The next day, but the cougar didn't show its face.
Believe it or not, this isn't the first account of
a person defending themselves from an animal attack by socking
it in the kisser. In twenty seventeen, a seventeen year
old girl survived a shark attack by punching it in
the snout until it released her leg. In twenty eighteen,
a seventy eight year old North Carolina man claimed to
(01:35):
have survived a black bear attack by punching it in
the nose, And in twenty twenty three, a main woman
punched a black bear on the nose after it tried
to attack her dog. Of course, the most famous put
up your duke's animal encounter happened in Australia in twenty sixteen.
While out looking for wild pigs, a hunter encountered a
kangaroo who had put his dog in a headlock. The
(01:56):
man squared up to the kanga and punched it in
the jaw, which caused the animal well to stumble back
a few paces with an obvious look of shock on
his face. I didn't know kangaroos had the ability to
look shocked, but there's a video, and that's certainly my interpretation,
the kangaroo had already dropped the dog, so the hunter
beat a hasty retreat. Kangaroos aren't known for their boxing ability,
but it's always a good idea to quit while you're ahead.
(02:19):
On that note, I would advise avoiding a fight with
the wild animal rather than relying on your rocky impression
to get out of a jam. What do I got
to chase a chicken? Ford? Some birds? You know? But
if you find yourself snout to snout with something that
may or may not put you on the menu for dinner,
there's no harm in going for the knockout punch. It
might even work. Those noses are sensitive. This week we've
(02:41):
got Silica the crime desk and did we do this already?
But first I'm going to tell you about my week,
and my week has been interesting, as always, one bit
of news in the broad world something everybody needs to
be aware of. There's this idea coming out of the
Department of the Interior that they could divert funds from
(03:02):
the Land and Water Conservation Fund to a maintenance backlog.
This is a fund LWCF that is designated for acquiring
and improving public land. This is where a lot of
rural communities and communities all across the country get parks,
bike paths, boat ramps, and ease months which are incredibly important.
(03:23):
And then there's just outright land acquisition possibilities, and there's
a huge long list. Just look up LWCF Land and
Water Conservation Fund. Important to remember the cash from LWCF
comes from offshore oil and gas revenues. This is not
an out of pocket expense for the American people. It's
(03:43):
that mailbox money everybody talks about. And fun fact, it
cannot legally be diverted to something such as a maintenance backlog.
And another fun fact, we laid off or encouraged the
departure of roughly a quarter of the National Park Service
employee base, So who the heck's going to be doing
the maintenance work. You can voice your concern for the
future of LWCF by writing and calling into your representatives
(04:07):
and your senators. Last week I encouraged everyone to write
in with any questions. We got a few. In fact,
we got more than a few, as so many that
I'm only going to do two on this episode. Then
we'll do some more. So listen up. If you didn't
ask you might want to know anyway. This is from Eric.
Eric says, I'm going on my first big l hunt
this year. It's a cow elk. I was just curious
(04:29):
if you had any experience with calling in cows by
a diaphragm or external mouth calls. If so, what sound
are you emulating and how long would you sit after
calling a lot of people just drive around and find one.
I would rather treat it as going in for my trophy.
First off, Eric, time of year and timing really dictates
(04:52):
how you use calls. So you can use a cow
call year long, from the start of the rut all
the way through the winner. That cow call might be
something that gets a cow or a bull or a
calf to stop and look at you during rifle season,
but way lower likelihood of them actually engaging with the
call at that time of year, whereas earlier in the
(05:14):
year you can use all sorts of different tactics. You
can even bugle in cows. I use diaphragms and external
read calls. I really like external reed calls for my
cow calf sounds. I can just switch gears a lot
faster and figure out what they're responding to better. So
lost calves are great for bringing in a cow and
(05:38):
spikes and yeah, lots of patients. So if you're in
there with hot, fresh elk sign and scent and you
can smell them, do a little calling routine like a
cow talking back to a calf, a little bit of
a social exchange, and then be patient and sit there
for fifteen minutes. But be ready when you do that.
(05:58):
Big thing is like you got to watch the heard
dynamics and listen for and see what those elk are
responding to, and then that's going to give you your cues.
Get in close, don't be aggressive, be courting, and typically
you can get a cow to swing in and check
you out. But the trophy aspect of kow el cunting,
(06:21):
if I'm being dead honest, is getting that thing whole
in the back of a truck. That's why I was
brought up anyway. That is the mark of a trophy
seasoned kal el hunter. It's a meat hunt. It should
be fun. It's your first l hunt. You're going to
have a blast. And even if you don't do it
(06:42):
the hard way of this trip elk hunt's hard man,
the hard stuff will catch up to you. So don't
overlook a gimme if it falls in your lap this trip.
Next up, Fella drew a non resident waterfowl tag for
South Dakota this year. He's planning a solo trip with
his dog, likely in late October. He plans on hunting
(07:03):
over small water holes potholes in northeast South Dakota, and
he hot tips advice on timing the trip, things to avoid,
et cetera. He'll be camping doing this totally DIY. He's
from Kentucky, but by no means am I an above
average duck hunter. I'm with you there, just an average
weekend duck warrior here at home, looking for a fun
(07:24):
duck trip with the dog, which is a wicked, mean
standard poodle. This will be my dog's second hunting season
and first out of state trip. So excited for you.
I'm not going to be able to tell you anything
that's crazy. Stay mobile, don't try to set up an
elaborate camp. Remember to properly mark all of your birds
(07:46):
on your trip because you're going to be mobile, so
keep that fully feathered wing or head on attached to
the whole bird. When you're mobile, It's just easier to
do it. As a whole bird, and you know, keep
your notes, have those things, your dates and areas where
you killed those things. On top of that, don't be
(08:08):
afraid to knock on some doors. My experience in South
Dakota is if you're hunting water, there's not a lot
of competition. Folks love to hunt fields that they can
get real aggressive on finding big mallard shoots in stubble fields.
But if you want some fun puddle duck hunting, you're
(08:29):
gonna have a great time. Don't bypass the small stuff.
They can get really good flights at t old wigeon
gadwall and definitely some big old mallards too. So cover
the ground, burning gas, kills ducks, and don't forget that
you cannot shoot a pheasant until after ten am, read
your eggs wherever you go. You have a great time.
(08:52):
Just go out there and do it. Moving on to
the asbestos desk. A jury ordered the family of an
Illinois man nine million dollars last week after he died
from a rare form of cancer caused by firing shotgun shells.
Big thanks to listener Grant Benz for sending this one.
In Eugene. Shopkey died in twenty twenty two from mesothelioma,
(09:15):
a kind of cancer caused primarily by exposure to asbestos.
If you've ever been a consumer of daytime television, you
already know what I'm talking about. Attention. If you were
all loved one was diagnosed with mesothelioma, you may be
entitled to financial compensation. Usually, personal injury lawyers target people
who have worked in shipyards, mills, heating, or construction. Because
(09:37):
asbestos was primarily used as an insulating material. What you
may not know is that in nineteen sixties, Remington partnered
with DuPont to make shotgun wads with asbestos. Asbestos is
a fibrous material and its highly heat resistant. Before plastic
wads became the industry standard, Remington, with the help of DuPont,
used asbestos in its wadding material. The problem was, every
(10:00):
time a shell was fired, it blasted microscopic asbestos fibers
into the air. The shooter and anyone in his vicinity
could breathe in these fibers, which became trapped in tissue
within the body. Over time, this toxic material caused inflammation
and scarring. It's like having glass inside your lungs. So
every time you breathe, it makes little, tiny little cuts
(10:21):
in there. It's a horrid way to die. This is
what happened to Eugene, who regularly used those old green
Remington shotgun shells. The risks of asbestos exposure were known
by nineteen sixty, so the Delaware jury decided that Remington
and DuPont should have known better. The exact company responsible
for Eugene's death is a little complicated, since both manufacturers
(10:42):
have been absorbed by larger conglomerates. DuPont in particular, was
quick to point out that the amul manufacturing arm of
its company split off in twenty nineteen, So don't go
protesting outside your local DuPont facility. But whoever is shelling
out the cash, Eugene's family is walking away with nine
million bucks. That can't replace a father and grandfather, but
(11:02):
at least it's some measure of justice. It's also a
good way to spread the word about avoiding old shotgun shells.
You find your grandfather's foot locker, it's a good idea
to take a pass on any shelves from the nineteen sixties.
But if you ever find a box with a DuPont
logo on it, go ahead and dispose of that in
a safe and legal way. DuPont and Remington were the
only ammo makers to use asbestos in their shell wadding.
(11:25):
And you don't want to end up like Old Eugene.
Moving on to the mule deer desk, Utah is asking
for hunter's help in recovering at struggling mule deer population.
The Division of Wildlife Resources has announced a series of
meetings at which hunters can offer suggestions for ways to
boost Utah's deer populations that have quote struggled to grow
(11:49):
in some parts of the state. The twenty twenty four
post hunting season population estimate was approximately two hundred ninety
five two hundred deer, which is only seventy three percent
of the long time term management objective of four hundred
and four nine hundred deer. The DWR is holding eight
meetings in August to get feedback from hunters. Big Game
(12:09):
Coordinator Dax Mangus emphasized that these meetings are about quote
how we grow deer, not how we hunt them. He
explained that deer populations aren't determined by the buck harvest.
They're impacted much more by survival rates of dough deer,
fawn production, and fawn survival over the winter. So these
meetings are to focus on those elements of mule deer management.
(12:30):
Since hunters are primarily concerned with buck harvest and most
aren't biologists, I'm not sure if that's quite the right
agenda for these meetings. Some might argue that not talking
about buck harvest is a way to avoid a discussion
that might lead to decreased license revenue. At the same time,
it's very true that fawn survival is more important than
buck harvest when you're talking about deer, and the fact
(12:52):
that the DWR is holding these meetings is evidence that
they want to take hunters concerns seriously. Various proposals have
already been floating around in Internet forums and Facebook groups.
A Utah resident sent me an email outlining some of them.
Some people have proposed making more wildlife crossings over roads,
limiting units to three points or more, only allowing deer
(13:13):
hunts on units every other year. Some have even asked
for a five year closure of the deer hunts. One
of these meetings has already been held as of this recording,
and one hunter proposed reducing the number of deer tags
while increasing the price. This might help struggling herds while
also maintaining current levels of funding. You'd like to attend
one of these meetings and voice your own opinion, or
(13:33):
just go listen in person, You can find the schedule
on the DWR website. There are eight more between August
twelve and August twenty eight in various parts of the state.
Moving over to the Deja Vu desk, another lion hunting
drama has exploded in Zimbabwe, reigniting the same fights that
(13:54):
consume the animal rights world. When Cesal the Lion was
killed exactly ten years ago, the details of the two
hunts are almost identical. In June of this year, a
foreign hunter killed a lion named Blondie outside of the
same well known Huengei National Park. Just like Cecil, Blondie
was wearing a tracking collar as part of an Oxford
University study, which allowed animal rights groups to claim that
(14:15):
he was off limits. Blondie was also killed over bait,
a legal hunting practice in Zimbabwe, on land adjacent to
the protected national park, leading news outlets to write that
he was quote unquote lured out of the park and
even though his home range covers areas inside and outside
of the park. It was the bait that got him.
One notable difference this time around is that Blondie was
(14:37):
just five years old when he was killed, while Cecil
had reached the ripe old age at thirteen. Male lions
begin to breed around four and reach the end of
their reproductive life cycle around ten, so there's fresh outrage
over a breeding male being taken out of the population. However,
Cecil's advanced age meant that he had also become very
habituated people, often coming within a few yards of safari groups,
(14:59):
making him the park's main tourist attraction and international celebrity.
Blondie hadn't yet become the same kind of superstar. Of course,
all the under reported aspects of the story are also
very similar. Foreign hunting brings in almost twenty million dollars
a year for conservation in Zimbabwe, and wildlife populations in
the country are therefore thriving. African countries that have outlawed
(15:20):
hunting don't have that same revenue, and they're often consequently
plagued by poaching and habitat loss. Regulated hunting also keeps
the area's wildlife populations in balance. After the Ceacial debacle,
the resulting drop off in hunting near the Huange led
to an overpopulation of lions, setting off a decline in
the numbers of prey animals like antelope and giraffe that
(15:41):
in turn threatened the ecosystems other predators like cheetahs and
painted dogs. Nearby parks even considered bringing in professional hunters
to conduct controlled culling operations. Interestingly, even though the hunt
of Blondie took place in June, the drama is just
happening now because of a statement released by Africa Geographic,
the organization that sponsored Blondie's research tracking collar. The name
(16:03):
Africa Geographic makes this seem like an objective information outlet
like National Geographic, but in fact it's a for profit
safari company which obviously has a vested interest in having
as many animals on the landscape for its clients to see,
regardless of the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. One notable
difference between Blondie and Cecil hunts is how much the
(16:24):
hunter's guide service and park officials have learned about pr
that's public relations over the last ten years. This time,
the identity of the hunter has been kept secret and
his face has been blurred out in photos. The guide
was able to show the hunt's legal permits right away,
heading off the appearance of foul play that added to
the outrage last time, and the Guege Park spokesman had
(16:44):
a well crafted statement all ready to go, emphasizing the
conservation funding provided by hunting and going on to say
a quote. Our rangers were present, all paperwork was in order.
Callers are for research purposes, but they don't make the
animal immune to hunting. Not sure that it's going to
head off the outrage, but it is likely to prevent
PETA from calling for a named private citizen to be hanged,
(17:06):
as happened last time around. Jumping over to the crime
desk first up, an investigation is now underway in Camii, Idaho,
where a cow, moose, and her calf were found shot
in Nesper's Clearwater National Forest in mid July. This one
was against the law and a whole bunch of ways.
First of all, it's illegal to kill anything out of season.
(17:27):
Seeing a productive cow and calf killed as moose populations
have been declining in Idaho as well as in most
parts of the country, is especially hard to see as well,
investigators have also concluded that the animals were shot from
the road and as much as one hundred pounds of
meat was left to waste. Furthermore, moose legal moose hunting
(17:49):
in the state Idaho is a once in a lifetime event.
That's the way the state regulates their quote unquote trophy species.
So if you're successful when you draw that insanely hard
to obtain moose tag, you are done hunting moose in
the state of Idaho. Killing a moose without a tag
is a felony in Idaho, which carries a fifty five
hundred dollars fine and a lifetime revocation of hunting privileges.
(18:12):
If anyone has information on this, one called the Idaho
Department of Fishing Game two eight nine two one four
one seven two and will also put a form on
the old cow to action page at the mediator dot com.
Moving on from an unsolved case to some justice served,
forty seven year old Scott Steer of Gabriola Island up
(18:33):
in BC was sentenced this week for crimes going back
more than seventeen years. Often on this show we've lamented
how light the sentences are for wildlife violations. A lot
of times offenders will get sentenced more harshly for a
ziplock bag full of drugs in their possession than for
dozens of poached deer skulls. But the Canadian court really
threw the book at Steer, this time, sentencing him to
six full years in jail and levying one point one
(18:55):
million dollars in fine. Steer was certainly asking for it.
British Columbia Supreme Court Justice David Krrar wrote in his ruling,
the Crown understands mister Steer's record to be the longest
record of Fisheries Act violations in Canadian history. Isn't it
fun when Canadian courts refer to themselves as the Crown
gives it more of like a Dungeons and Dragons type
(19:17):
of feel. Steer's most recent conviction was for taking sa cucumbers,
both without a license and out of season. That might
not seem like the worst crime you've ever heard, but
Steer's recidivism is something to marvel at. His first warnings
and ticketed violations started in the mid two thousands, and
his first criminal convictions took place in two thousand and
(19:37):
eight for harvesting shellfish out of season. And trying to
sell halibut and linkod without a commercial license. In twenty thirteen,
he was sentenced to six months in prison and ten
years of probation for going over his fishing quota. The
judge in that case declared, quote, mister Steer represents a
threat to the health of the fishery. Steer had thirteen
poaching convictions before his most recent sea cucumber crime, which
(20:00):
puts him in a real sea pickle, you know, because
cucumbers and you know pickle. Anyway, Steer had previously claimed
that he was going straight by importing dishwashing pods from China,
which has got to be the most suspicious sounding fake
job he could have invented. He also asked for leniency
in his previous convictions by stating that he is responsible
for his five children, which you know you feel for.
(20:23):
But keeping this guy off the water is justified. Last up,
an absolutely wild episode from history, as told by retired
Oklahoma game Ward and Tracy Daniel to reporter Chris Bennett
of The Farm Journal. Last week we told you about
the amazing law enforcement decoys made by Brian Wolsleagel of
Custom Robotic Decoys, which can warm up with heating coils,
(20:44):
turn their heads and even lift their tails and eject
brown eminem's as a poop substitute. Well back in nineteen
eighty six, fancy decoys like this had not been invented.
At the time, Oklahoma was experiencing a spike in poaching,
especially people shooting game from roadways, but it was almost
impossible to catch violators in the act. But Warden Daniel
had an idea, Why couldn't you find a road killed
(21:06):
deer and set it out in a tempting spot near
a road for poachers to go for So that's exactly
what he did. Coming across a medium sized buck that
had been hit by a car but hadn't sustained visible injuries,
he retained the deer, put it in the freezer, stretched
the buck's legs out and braced them with boards, pinned
the ears up straight, and turned the heads it would
(21:26):
appear to be looking toward the potential shooters. He then
left the deer to freeze solid for eight days. Before
dawn on opening day, he and his colleagues collected the
rigid deer drove it out to a farm where several
poaching incidents had already been reported and set it up
within view of the road. Daniel concealed himself in a
nearby ditch, and other law enforcement personnel set up cars
(21:47):
further down the road to process any resulting violations, and
violations certainly resulted. Between Don and eleven am. Seven different
parties stopped their cars in the road, shot at the decoy,
and were apprehended in the middle of the stand. A
fourteen year old boy legally hunting the property also took
a shot at the frozen deer and was heartbroken to
discover that he wouldn't be taken home as first buck.
(22:09):
The final bust was also the most spectacular. While processing
the hunting violations, Daniel noticed a bag of marijuana lying
out inside the car. A subsequent search turned up a
significant quantity of cocaine. Daniel recalled quote, looking back, it
ranks as one of the wildest operations of my career.
It was crazy and I never dreamed it'd work so perfectly.
(22:30):
Gotta love it when a plan comes together. Moving on
to the mail bag, listener Mike Rider sent me a
troubling trend from his neck of the woods in New England. Apparently,
some yahoos aren't happy with the region's excellent trout fisheries
and would rather they resemble Alabama and South Carolina. The
main Department of Inland Fisheries reported last month that biologists
(22:52):
had spied largemouth pass in West Musquash Lake. According to
an article Mike sent me, this lake is a classic
cold water fishery that his home to wild trout and
wild landlocked salmon. A press release date of July twenty
four reported that a team of biologists visually confirmed multiple
largemouth bass of varying ages in the lake. Now, there's
nothing wrong with bass fishing, but bass don't belong in
(23:14):
New England's cold water fisheries. Someone or multiple someones have
been transferring these non native fish into the region's trout streams,
where they pose a serious danger to native species. Bass
eat just about anything, including trout. They also out compete
native species for food and habitat, and can significantly alter
the aquatic ecosystem. Of course, this kind of thing is
(23:34):
nothing new, and it's not always the fault of bucket biology.
Mike tells me he's been reading a book titled The
Bass of New Hampshire that chronicles the intentional effort by
the state in the eighteen hundreds to introduce black bass species.
These days, the New Hampshire Fish and Wildlife Fish and
Game Department reports that wild bass have been neutralized in
many water bodies and their eradication isn't possible. Quote further
(23:57):
spread of bass should be prevented to protect the remaining
habitat for vulnerable native fish species. Big thanks to Mike
for sending us that important reminder. And if you live
in Maine, the Warden Service is offering a six thousand
dollars reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction
of those responsible for putting bass in West Musquash Lake.
Get in touch with the main Warden Service if you
(24:19):
can help them with that investigation. That's all I got
for you this week. Thank you so much for listening.
Remember to write in to ask c A L. That's
Ascal at the meeteater dot com. Let me know what's
going on your neck of the woods. You know we
appreciate thanks again. Talk to you next week.
Host
Cal Callaghan
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