September 15, 2025 • 24 mins
This week, Cal talks about what happens when you drop your phone in a creek, the crime desk, listener voice-mail, and a bear attack turns fatal.
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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 Col's Week in Review with Ryan cow Callahan. Here's
cal Georgia. Game wardens patrolling a creek in Wilkes County
noticed something last month you don't see every day in
the woods. A man holding an old style crank telephone.
(00:30):
For you younger listeners, these phones were made from a
wooden box about the size of a milk jug. They
had a speaker you held to your ear, a microphone
to talk into, and a crank handle on one side.
When you wanted to make a call, you'd rotate that crank,
which would generate a current that would signal the switchboard
officer and a woman named Dorothy or Ethel or MAVs
(00:51):
would connect your call. In this case, the Spellow wasn't
standing in the creek trying to get in touch with Ethel.
He was using that alternating current to electroshockfish. When the
wardens approached him, he tried to walk away and then
chucked the telephone in the creek. Wardens were able to
recover the unorthodox fishing implement and cited him with shocking
fish illegally. Believe it or not, this was a pretty
(01:14):
common fishing technique in the South in the forties and fifties.
It was even used by professionals. According to a nineteen
sixty eight article published in the journal the Progressive Fish Culturist,
Biologist in Nebraska used telephones to stun and capture flathead
catfish as part of a larger study. The method was
banned pretty much everywhere in the nineteen fifties for recreational fishermen,
(01:35):
but in nineteen eighty five, four counties in North Carolina
legalized the technique to try to reduce the population of
invasive catfish species. A twenty eighteen study determined the method
didn't help lower catfish numbers, but I'm sure local antique
stores appreciated the influx of anglers. This week, it's the
debut of a brand new segment, Voicemail Bag Desk, Voicemail
(01:59):
Desk Listener Mail Audio Version. Yeah, it's a working title
Nova Scotia Update the Crime Desk and so much more
of But first, I'm gonna tell you about my week.
In my week, well, everywhere I turn is a project
that just cannot be kicked down the road any further.
I open the freezer, which is a constant source of
managerial worry. Logistical worry might be more apt. Freezer turnover
(02:22):
is important Gang, especially here into hunting season. Eleven ish
twelve days into hunting season. This is the furthest I've
gone into a hunting season in my entire life without
hunting a single day. Yeah, it's a crazy world, Gang,
crazy world. In any case, here's my system. I keep
(02:44):
a stand up freezer and a chest freezer. Then there's
the in kitchen freezer attached to the refrigerator, you know,
like everybody has. The system goes like this. The chest
freezer accommodates bulk processed or unrefined goodies, which is anything
from whole quarters, carcasses for stock making, bones, large bags
of mixed trim destined for the grinder, roasts, shanks, necks,
(03:08):
brazing things, and most of this is in a series
of game bags, so it's separated out and trust me,
I know the system. The stand up freezer is much
more visually appealing as it's nicely sectioned out, and there
you have your more refined things such as fish filets
that should be consumed fast, individual steaks, tenderloins. This is
(03:29):
where the beautiful and coveted ducts go when I have them,
the sausages, and the occasional trophy oddball bit like a
bison tongue or cheek meat or something that I like
to think on for a special occasion. The inn kitchen
freezer gets the weeks worth of protein and maybe an
extra bag of burger or a sausage or something for
(03:50):
in a pinch meal. Well, I open the stand up
freezer and there's this bag that I put there, and
I can't remember why, and I look and it's two
whole chopped up turkey carcasses, which I then remembered I
didn't have enough time or ran out of jars to
get these things canned in the spring, so I better
do it now. And then upon further investigation, there's a
(04:13):
bag with the ruptured seal that's about thirty pounds of meat,
probably mix a deer an elk, destined for the grinder.
I think I put it there as a reminder that
it needs to get done. And underneath it is a
shallow box of deer elk and antelope parts and tongues
that somebody's got to do something with, and some gun.
(04:35):
There's a package of five goose breasts that also has
a hole in it, and one already has a little
spot of freezer burn, so it's coming home. Currently, as
I write this, the second to final batch of stock
has just come off it's fifteen pound rattle and is
hissing its way to stability. When that's all said and done,
I'll have fifty pints of gorgeous dark stock, fortified with
(04:58):
several gallon ziplock bags I found full of turkey hearts, testicles,
gizzards and livers, plus one bottle of grossly over sweet
white wine and all the vegetables I thought would go
bad if they didn't go in the pot. One slow
cooker on the counter has all five goose breasts, and
lo and behold, someone didn't properly identify its contents by
(05:18):
taking the time to create a label, and they are
not raw, unadultered Canada steaks, but beautifully corned, perfectly pinkish
red brind and screaming to be made into hash or
ruben sandwich. Is not the barbecue meat I was thinking about.
It's just as good, but a reminder that I don't learn.
The other slow cooker has all the tongues and it's
cooling for taco meat, and the grinder is already cleaned,
(05:42):
and the bags have been stuffed and have made a
return trip to the stand up freezer. That grind also
contains all the hearts that were in that stockpile. And
what I think is, let's say about a five percent
mix of pork fat courtesy as some pork belly that
was in the kitchen freezer. Now, all this is work.
I enjoy it, and I do wonder if that's the
(06:04):
reason I can never truly get organized. I secretly love
the on the fly approach and chaos of doing it
all at once. I'll tell you stock making is a
good time to call your representative as well as your
senator and leave a comment at the Federal Register dot
gov that roadless rule clock is ticking gang. A few
months ago, we were fighting back against the all out
(06:26):
sale of our public lands. Now, folks who don't know
the value of our remaining and unfortunately dwindling wild lands
are trying to dismantle it through mismanagement. This is the
place that this abundance of food comes from, and these
folks who are out of touch with where food comes
from are trying to render these places valueless through mismanagement
(06:48):
or sloppy management. Are you going to let that happen?
You have a story to tell about why these places
are special to you. These people need to hear it.
They obviously do not know. The last day to comment
on the recision of the roadless rule is the nineteenth
fifty eight million acres Friends and neighbors fifty eight and
(07:10):
a half. Don't let them take it. Our friends over
at on X have a roadless layer you can turn
on which clearly shows where these designated roadless areas are.
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers has a great map and action
center you can utilize to leave a comment. A Wilderness
Society has a great map. TRCP has great stuff. Seeing
(07:30):
is believing, And don't forget to mention about the Land
and Water Conservation Fund. All that cash that excise tax
paid by offshore oil and gas is our number one
funding tool to get access to existing public land through
easements or to create new public land. There's more of us.
(07:52):
This stuff's running out. If I need to remind you
of my shit bespackled border Collie because the trailheads around
bos Angelus so darn busy and people can't bury their poop.
What you need to do. Please bury your poop, flip
a rock. At least that's a good sign that we're
aching for more, because concentrating us all at a couple
of trailheads is no bueno. Make those calls, send those letters.
(08:16):
I believe in you. You can do it. You can't
do it all lie long. Moving on to the first
ever voicemail bag desk. Two weeks ago, I told you
about a new call in number where you can leave
a message to let me know what's going on in
your neck of the woods. That number, once again is
four oh six two two zero six four four one.
(08:39):
You can call in and leave a message or text
a voice memo to that number. Jimmy from California called
in with a question about dear numbers on the West Coast.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Hey, cal I just heard about calling in, leaving a
voice and mesage on your podcast Call of the Wild.
My name is Jimmy. I'm a hunter, a new hunter
from California. I had a question declining deer populations out wet,
especially blacktail deer in California. Just wanted to hear your
thoughts on the situation, some of the causes, some of
(09:10):
the possible solutions, I've heard everything from habitat loss to
larger fare numbers, mountain lion numbers could be affecting the
overall deer population, and I'd just like you to kind
of weigh out all the different things you think are
affecting it and then suggest solutions.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Thanks for giving it, Alza, thanks for the voicemail. Jimmy,
You're in luck because the brand spank New Blacktail Deer
Foundation just published an article about this exact topic. They
report that after steep declines in the nineties, the blacktail
population in the Golden State has actually remained relatively stable
over the past few years. Annual harvest numbers range from
(09:48):
twenty six thousand to forty thousand since two thousand and one.
Of course, a specific herd or region can decline due
to drought or cold, and I'm sure there are blacktail
hunters in California who will be surprised to learn the
population is actually doing all right. But the California Department
of Fish and Wildlife launched a large scale study from
twenty fifteen to twenty twenty across five regions. They set
(10:10):
out to get a better estimate of blacktail deer numbers
using fecal DNA surveys, trail cameras, road counts, and helicopter flights.
What they found is that blacktail deer are incredibly resilient.
They've managed to adapt to drought, wildfire's, habitat fragmentation, and
increased human presence. In spite of all these challenges, they've
maintained a relatively stable statewide population, which should be enough
(10:33):
to make you love this mule deer species even more.
Just like the multi pronged approach they did in that
population study, right, they didn't just use one thing. Declines
or increases in populations they're never a result of just
one factor. And that predation factor that you mentioned that
is absolutely a factor in certain areas, and where it's
(10:56):
a factor in certain areas is probably an area that
has drought happening as well as habitat loss, which then
exacerbates the impact of the predator population. Not a lot
of people notice the predators when the populations kick an ass.
Remember so, if you have questions or a comment you'd
(11:17):
like to hear on the show, call in four oh
six two two zero six four four one and leave
me a message that number once again, four oh six
two two zero six four four one onto the Breaking
into the Woods disc an update to the Nova Scotia
hiking band. We covered a couple weeks ago. A feisty
hiker recently walked into the woods in full view of
(11:39):
Department of Natural Resources staff for the express purpose of
being cited for a violation and receiving a twenty eight
thousand dollars fine. For those of us down south of
the border, that's just over twenty thousand dollars US. This
is not an effort by scofflaw Jeff Evely to generously
donate to the DNR. Instead, he brought on the violation
(11:59):
to earn legal standing to challenge the hiking ban in court.
In twenty twenty three, Evely tried to bring a suit
against Nova Scotia's Natural Resource Minister for a hiking ban
put in place that year, but a judge declared that
Evily had no legal standing to bring the suit. The
band was already over by the time he sued, and
there had been no legal action against him that he
(12:20):
could contest. Well. Now Evely has brought on some concrete
legal action that he and the legal advocacy backing him,
the Justice Center for Constitutional freedoms planned to use for
a new lawsuit as an aside. And this is no
comment either way on the aims of this advocacy org.
But you have to love the names of these outfits
(12:40):
on both sides. I think I'll start a similar group
called Col's Real Good Law Center at the amazingly kick
Ass Policy Foundation. Anyway, as a refresher, Nova Scotia declared
a ban on entering the woods in early August in
an effort to prevent further forest fires during Canada's second
worst fire season on record. Although fires have traditionally been
(13:00):
a problem confined to the western part of the country,
the Prairie provinces and Atlantic Coast have seen some of
the worst blazes this year. Nearby New Brunswick, Newfoundland and
Labrador have similar restrictions on entering the woods. Although fires
in Nova Scotia were fairly quiet when Evily committed this
act of civil disobedience on August eighth. A new fire
(13:21):
named zero six Dash zero zero seven Dash to zero
twenty five began on August thirteenth and is now out
of control. As this riding in early September, it's covering
eight thousand, four to sixty five hectares, or just under
twenty one thousand acres, which is over half the size
of the city of Washington, d C. There are currently
two hundred and fifty nine active fires across Canada, thirty
(13:44):
one of which are uncontrolled, and so far this year,
there have been a hopping four seven hundred and fifty
eight fires that have consumed nineteen and a half million acres,
about half the size of Florida. I'm about two mines
on this one. You know, I'm going both directions. It's
true that ninety seven percent of Canadian forest fires are
human caused, and recent fires have been catastrophic, way beyond
(14:08):
the natural, healthy levels of fire that forests need. Although
you can warn people not to light camp fires, set
off fireworks, or use machinery in the woods, those things
happen consistently when people are out there on their own.
As Ken McMullen, president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs,
told the CBC quote, I know that this might appear inconvenient.
(14:28):
I understand that it might seem over the top. The
reality is desperate times call for desperate measures. On the
other hand, keeping people in hiking boots and camelbacks from
accessing the outdoors every summer and fall for the foreseeable
future is not realistic. We'll keep you up to date
on Evely's case and the fate of Canada's hiking bands.
Let us know which side of this debate you come
(14:50):
down on by writing in to Askcal at the meat
eater dot com. Moving on to the crime desk, a
hunting influencer has been charged with two felonies and six
misdemeanors for poaching a deer and a mountain lion and
lying about where he shot a wolf in Idaho last year.
Ryan Lampers, who you may know as Stealthy Hunter on Instagram,
(15:12):
is being accused of felony, gram theft, and unlawfully killing
and possessing a trophy class mule dear buck. According to
an affidavid and criminal complaint obtained by Meat Eater, Lampers
shot a trophy class mule deer buck in the wrong
unit and after the season had already ended. The buck
scored one seventy five and four eights, which bumps that
crime up to a felony. He also allegedly killed a
(15:33):
mountain lion in the wrong unit and then lied to
the Idaho Department of Fishing Game about where he killed
the animal. Finally, he shot a wolf last year in
Big Game Management Unit twenty one and then claimed to
have shot it in Big Game Management Unit twenty eight.
This is important because reimbursement rates for wolves change based
on the unit. Their reimbursement rate for Unit twenty eight
(15:53):
is two thousand dollars, and Lamper's got to check for
that amount from the Foundation for Wildlife Management, a nonprofit
that pays hunters for harvesting wolves in Idaho and Montana.
But where he actually shot the wolf, according to game wardens,
would have earned him only seven hundred and fifty bucks.
The state says this amounts to stealing twelve fifty, which
is why he's being charged with felony grant theft. We'll
(16:14):
see where this case goes from here. A lot of
you probably knew Lampers from his hunting videos, and a
lot of us here at Meat Eater had interactions with
him at one point or another. These stories can really
change as the details come out, but right now it
looks like O'Ryan is in a lot of trouble. His
next hearing is scept for September twenty two. I definitely
have some commentary on this one. I'm not sidestepping the subject.
(16:36):
This guy had a really good reputation as far as
I am aware. I know several folks that call Ryan
a friend, and by all accounts, was a nice, nice guy.
So there's enough here that he definitely did some screwing up.
There's enough here that definitely implies it was probably more
than just screwing up, but intentional. September twenty two not
(17:00):
that long to wait, though, so I'm gonna check back
in after that date and give you the full mcgilla.
In other newness, here in my home state of Montana,
someone shout a mule with your fun in the hind
quarters and then left it to waste on the billings
Rodden Gun Club Archery Range. Game wardens believe the animal
(17:20):
was shot about a week ago and it still had
an arrow coming out of it. I don't have any
more details for you as this recording. It sounds to
me like the fawn wandered onto the range and someone
thought it would be funny to take a shot at it.
I suppose it could have been some kind of accident.
Maybe somebody had taken a longer shot and they should
have or errow skipped or whatever, and the critter being
in the wrong place at the wrong time. But remember
(17:41):
one of the tenants of hunter safety right identify your
target and what's beyond. I don't know whatever happened. The
person who did this should come forward. I'm sure you're
feeling bad enough already. Last one for you. A huge
case in Nebraska is sending one poacher to the federal
clink for twenty two months. Forty six year old dust
(18:04):
And Noble was convicted of organizing at least one hundred
and fourteen illegal hunts with friends, family, and clients to
poach a wide range of animals, including mule deer, prong
horned whitetail, and turkey. Federal prosecutors presented evidence that Nobyle
used thermal optics, shot animals from a road at night
or during a close season, and one hundred private land
without the knowledge or permission to the landowner. These tactics
(18:26):
allowed him and his clients to poach sixty one mule deer,
thirty three wild turkey's, four prong horned, three white tail deer,
an American alligator, a timber rattlesnake, and approximately twelve up
game birds, migratory non game birds, game fish, and fur
bearing or non game animals. He ran a foul of
the Federal Asia Act because some of his clients were
from out of state, and he ran a taxidermy business
(18:47):
where I assume he shipped illegally taken mounts outside of Nebraska.
Along with a well deserved prison sentence, Noble will pay
one hundred and seventy nine thousand, six hundred and eighty
dollars in restitution and spent three years on supervised release
after prison, jumping over to Arkansas. Difficult news at Arkansas
this week, where seventy two year old Vernon Patten has
(19:09):
suffered fatal injuries after being attacked by a black bear
in Franklin County on September three. Although he survived the
initial attack, his family has now moved him to hospice care.
According to CBS Channel five News, Patten had been spreading
gravel at his property in ozark when he was attacked
without provocation by a seventy pound juvenile black bear. He
(19:29):
was airlifted to Fayetteville Hospital before being transferred to the
University of Arkansas Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. Game and
fish wardens were able to track and euthanize the bear
after Patent's son witnessed the attack, and biopsies of brain
tissue reveal that the bear was not infected with rabies
or distemper, diseases that can cause unusual and aggressive behavior.
(19:49):
Hard to overstate how rare an attack like this is.
AGFC official Trey Reid said quote, I've been at the
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission for almost twenty years, and
I've never heard of a black bear attack on a human,
an unprovoked attack. It's just unheard of. Honestly unheard of,
is the right way to put it. For perspective, about
two hundred people are struck by lightning every year, and
(20:11):
about twenty of them die. In contrast, research has shown
that only about one or two people are killed by
black bears every year, and all of those deaths are
caused by full grown adults. Non fatal attacks are much
more common at about twelve per year, and are typically
caused by female bears protecting their cubs, while fatal encounters
are almost always predatory attacks by males. All this tells
(20:34):
us that the odds of being killed by juvenile black
bear make winning the powerball look like an everyday thing. Unsurprisingly,
bears habituated to human food have more run ends with people,
and the bear who killed Patent did have human food
in its stomach. The reason Ursus Americanus is such a
relatively safe carnivore has everything to do with the habitat
it evolved in by allis. Steven Herrero, the leading authority
(20:58):
on bear attacks, has consistently observed black bears stayed close
to trees throughout their life cycle, and in fact, the
species originally spread throughout North America in the dense boreal
forests that took root after glaciers retreated at the end
of the last ice age. Herrero therefore concludes that a
black bear's first response to danger is to simply retreat
up a tree. Brown bears, in contrast, evolved in the
(21:21):
open plains of Eurasia and continued to prefer that habitat
in North America, with nowhere safe to retreat to, the
grizzlies first response to a threat is therefore to attack.
Although brown bear cubs can climb trees by the time
they're adults, grizzlies have a lot of time moving that
freight up something tall and skinny, but if you can
dream it, you can do it. The location of the
(21:42):
attack that killed Vernon Patten is notable too. Starting in
the eighteen forties, Arkansas became known as the Bear State,
named for the density of bears there and the stories
of bear hunting that became popular in hunting magazines of
the time. Because the Mississippi Delta region of the state
underwent uncontrolled flooding well into the late eighteen hundreds, it
was one of the list remaining forest regions in the
South after most others underwent clearcut logging. Still, by the
(22:05):
late twenties, black bears had been extirpated from the region,
with as few as thirty five bears remaining in the
entire state. Then, between nineteen fifty eight nineteen sixty eight,
black bears were brought into the state from Minnesota and Manitoba, Canada,
in what became the most successful reintroduction of a large
carnivore in history. Contemporary estimates put the number of black
bears in Arkansas at around five thousand and steadily growing.
(22:29):
Vernon Patten's family put out a statement in response to
his death, this has been an extraordinarily difficult time for
our family, and we are deeply grateful for the outpouring
of support we have received. We asked that people show
compassion and consideration as we focus on being together as
a family for as long as we still can. We
also want to extend our heartfelt thanks to the medical
teams who are providing exceptional care and to everyone who
(22:50):
has offered their prayers and kindness. That's all I got
for you this week. Thank you so much for listening.
Remember to write in to Askcl's Mascal atmediator dot com
or you can call four six two two zero six
four four one and maybe you can hear yourself on
this here podcast. And just a parting shot for you, gang,
(23:12):
please help defend the last of the wild places by
pushing back against the recision of the roadless rule. There
is a lot of room to meet in the middle
on this stuff, if only people wanted to do it.
If we don't, I'm gonna be reading an article talking
about the extirpation of hunters in America. That's not an
(23:33):
inflammatory statement. You aren't gonna find this hunter out on
a game farm somewhere where things are more certain than
they are out in the great wild, all right, Get
on it. I believe in you. Thanks again, I'll talk
to you next week.
From Meat Eaters World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This
is Col's Week in Review with Ryan cow Callahan. Here's
cal Georgia. Game wardens patrolling a creek in Wilkes County
noticed something last month you don't see every day in
the woods. A man holding an old style crank telephone.
(00:30):
For you younger listeners, these phones were made from a
wooden box about the size of a milk jug. They
had a speaker you held to your ear, a microphone
to talk into, and a crank handle on one side.
When you wanted to make a call, you'd rotate that crank,
which would generate a current that would signal the switchboard
officer and a woman named Dorothy or Ethel or MAVs
(00:51):
would connect your call. In this case, the Spellow wasn't
standing in the creek trying to get in touch with Ethel.
He was using that alternating current to electroshockfish. When the
wardens approached him, he tried to walk away and then
chucked the telephone in the creek. Wardens were able to
recover the unorthodox fishing implement and cited him with shocking
fish illegally. Believe it or not, this was a pretty
(01:14):
common fishing technique in the South in the forties and fifties.
It was even used by professionals. According to a nineteen
sixty eight article published in the journal the Progressive Fish Culturist,
Biologist in Nebraska used telephones to stun and capture flathead
catfish as part of a larger study. The method was
banned pretty much everywhere in the nineteen fifties for recreational fishermen,
(01:35):
but in nineteen eighty five, four counties in North Carolina
legalized the technique to try to reduce the population of
invasive catfish species. A twenty eighteen study determined the method
didn't help lower catfish numbers, but I'm sure local antique
stores appreciated the influx of anglers. This week, it's the
debut of a brand new segment, Voicemail Bag Desk, Voicemail
(01:59):
Desk Listener Mail Audio Version. Yeah, it's a working title
Nova Scotia Update the Crime Desk and so much more
of But first, I'm gonna tell you about my week.
In my week, well, everywhere I turn is a project
that just cannot be kicked down the road any further.
I open the freezer, which is a constant source of
managerial worry. Logistical worry might be more apt. Freezer turnover
(02:22):
is important Gang, especially here into hunting season. Eleven ish
twelve days into hunting season. This is the furthest I've
gone into a hunting season in my entire life without
hunting a single day. Yeah, it's a crazy world, Gang,
crazy world. In any case, here's my system. I keep
(02:44):
a stand up freezer and a chest freezer. Then there's
the in kitchen freezer attached to the refrigerator, you know,
like everybody has. The system goes like this. The chest
freezer accommodates bulk processed or unrefined goodies, which is anything
from whole quarters, carcasses for stock making, bones, large bags
of mixed trim destined for the grinder, roasts, shanks, necks,
(03:08):
brazing things, and most of this is in a series
of game bags, so it's separated out and trust me,
I know the system. The stand up freezer is much
more visually appealing as it's nicely sectioned out, and there
you have your more refined things such as fish filets
that should be consumed fast, individual steaks, tenderloins. This is
(03:29):
where the beautiful and coveted ducts go when I have them,
the sausages, and the occasional trophy oddball bit like a
bison tongue or cheek meat or something that I like
to think on for a special occasion. The inn kitchen
freezer gets the weeks worth of protein and maybe an
extra bag of burger or a sausage or something for
(03:50):
in a pinch meal. Well, I open the stand up
freezer and there's this bag that I put there, and
I can't remember why, and I look and it's two
whole chopped up turkey carcasses, which I then remembered I
didn't have enough time or ran out of jars to
get these things canned in the spring, so I better
do it now. And then upon further investigation, there's a
(04:13):
bag with the ruptured seal that's about thirty pounds of meat,
probably mix a deer an elk, destined for the grinder.
I think I put it there as a reminder that
it needs to get done. And underneath it is a
shallow box of deer elk and antelope parts and tongues
that somebody's got to do something with, and some gun.
(04:35):
There's a package of five goose breasts that also has
a hole in it, and one already has a little
spot of freezer burn, so it's coming home. Currently, as
I write this, the second to final batch of stock
has just come off it's fifteen pound rattle and is
hissing its way to stability. When that's all said and done,
I'll have fifty pints of gorgeous dark stock, fortified with
(04:58):
several gallon ziplock bags I found full of turkey hearts, testicles,
gizzards and livers, plus one bottle of grossly over sweet
white wine and all the vegetables I thought would go
bad if they didn't go in the pot. One slow
cooker on the counter has all five goose breasts, and
lo and behold, someone didn't properly identify its contents by
(05:18):
taking the time to create a label, and they are
not raw, unadultered Canada steaks, but beautifully corned, perfectly pinkish
red brind and screaming to be made into hash or
ruben sandwich. Is not the barbecue meat I was thinking about.
It's just as good, but a reminder that I don't learn.
The other slow cooker has all the tongues and it's
cooling for taco meat, and the grinder is already cleaned,
(05:42):
and the bags have been stuffed and have made a
return trip to the stand up freezer. That grind also
contains all the hearts that were in that stockpile. And
what I think is, let's say about a five percent
mix of pork fat courtesy as some pork belly that
was in the kitchen freezer. Now, all this is work.
I enjoy it, and I do wonder if that's the
(06:04):
reason I can never truly get organized. I secretly love
the on the fly approach and chaos of doing it
all at once. I'll tell you stock making is a
good time to call your representative as well as your
senator and leave a comment at the Federal Register dot
gov that roadless rule clock is ticking gang. A few
months ago, we were fighting back against the all out
(06:26):
sale of our public lands. Now, folks who don't know
the value of our remaining and unfortunately dwindling wild lands
are trying to dismantle it through mismanagement. This is the
place that this abundance of food comes from, and these
folks who are out of touch with where food comes
from are trying to render these places valueless through mismanagement
(06:48):
or sloppy management. Are you going to let that happen?
You have a story to tell about why these places
are special to you. These people need to hear it.
They obviously do not know. The last day to comment
on the recision of the roadless rule is the nineteenth
fifty eight million acres Friends and neighbors fifty eight and
(07:10):
a half. Don't let them take it. Our friends over
at on X have a roadless layer you can turn
on which clearly shows where these designated roadless areas are.
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers has a great map and action
center you can utilize to leave a comment. A Wilderness
Society has a great map. TRCP has great stuff. Seeing
(07:30):
is believing, And don't forget to mention about the Land
and Water Conservation Fund. All that cash that excise tax
paid by offshore oil and gas is our number one
funding tool to get access to existing public land through
easements or to create new public land. There's more of us.
(07:52):
This stuff's running out. If I need to remind you
of my shit bespackled border Collie because the trailheads around
bos Angelus so darn busy and people can't bury their poop.
What you need to do. Please bury your poop, flip
a rock. At least that's a good sign that we're
aching for more, because concentrating us all at a couple
of trailheads is no bueno. Make those calls, send those letters.
(08:16):
I believe in you. You can do it. You can't
do it all lie long. Moving on to the first
ever voicemail bag desk. Two weeks ago, I told you
about a new call in number where you can leave
a message to let me know what's going on in
your neck of the woods. That number, once again is
four oh six two two zero six four four one.
(08:39):
You can call in and leave a message or text
a voice memo to that number. Jimmy from California called
in with a question about dear numbers on the West Coast.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Hey, cal I just heard about calling in, leaving a
voice and mesage on your podcast Call of the Wild.
My name is Jimmy. I'm a hunter, a new hunter
from California. I had a question declining deer populations out wet,
especially blacktail deer in California. Just wanted to hear your
thoughts on the situation, some of the causes, some of
(09:10):
the possible solutions, I've heard everything from habitat loss to
larger fare numbers, mountain lion numbers could be affecting the
overall deer population, and I'd just like you to kind
of weigh out all the different things you think are
affecting it and then suggest solutions.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Thanks for giving it, Alza, thanks for the voicemail. Jimmy,
You're in luck because the brand spank New Blacktail Deer
Foundation just published an article about this exact topic. They
report that after steep declines in the nineties, the blacktail
population in the Golden State has actually remained relatively stable
over the past few years. Annual harvest numbers range from
(09:48):
twenty six thousand to forty thousand since two thousand and one.
Of course, a specific herd or region can decline due
to drought or cold, and I'm sure there are blacktail
hunters in California who will be surprised to learn the
population is actually doing all right. But the California Department
of Fish and Wildlife launched a large scale study from
twenty fifteen to twenty twenty across five regions. They set
(10:10):
out to get a better estimate of blacktail deer numbers
using fecal DNA surveys, trail cameras, road counts, and helicopter flights.
What they found is that blacktail deer are incredibly resilient.
They've managed to adapt to drought, wildfire's, habitat fragmentation, and
increased human presence. In spite of all these challenges, they've
maintained a relatively stable statewide population, which should be enough
(10:33):
to make you love this mule deer species even more.
Just like the multi pronged approach they did in that
population study, right, they didn't just use one thing. Declines
or increases in populations they're never a result of just
one factor. And that predation factor that you mentioned that
is absolutely a factor in certain areas, and where it's
(10:56):
a factor in certain areas is probably an area that
has drought happening as well as habitat loss, which then
exacerbates the impact of the predator population. Not a lot
of people notice the predators when the populations kick an ass.
Remember so, if you have questions or a comment you'd
(11:17):
like to hear on the show, call in four oh
six two two zero six four four one and leave
me a message that number once again, four oh six
two two zero six four four one onto the Breaking
into the Woods disc an update to the Nova Scotia
hiking band. We covered a couple weeks ago. A feisty
hiker recently walked into the woods in full view of
(11:39):
Department of Natural Resources staff for the express purpose of
being cited for a violation and receiving a twenty eight
thousand dollars fine. For those of us down south of
the border, that's just over twenty thousand dollars US. This
is not an effort by scofflaw Jeff Evely to generously
donate to the DNR. Instead, he brought on the violation
(11:59):
to earn legal standing to challenge the hiking ban in court.
In twenty twenty three, Evely tried to bring a suit
against Nova Scotia's Natural Resource Minister for a hiking ban
put in place that year, but a judge declared that
Evily had no legal standing to bring the suit. The
band was already over by the time he sued, and
there had been no legal action against him that he
(12:20):
could contest. Well. Now Evely has brought on some concrete
legal action that he and the legal advocacy backing him,
the Justice Center for Constitutional freedoms planned to use for
a new lawsuit as an aside. And this is no
comment either way on the aims of this advocacy org.
But you have to love the names of these outfits
(12:40):
on both sides. I think I'll start a similar group
called Col's Real Good Law Center at the amazingly kick
Ass Policy Foundation. Anyway, as a refresher, Nova Scotia declared
a ban on entering the woods in early August in
an effort to prevent further forest fires during Canada's second
worst fire season on record. Although fires have traditionally been
(13:00):
a problem confined to the western part of the country,
the Prairie provinces and Atlantic Coast have seen some of
the worst blazes this year. Nearby New Brunswick, Newfoundland and
Labrador have similar restrictions on entering the woods. Although fires
in Nova Scotia were fairly quiet when Evily committed this
act of civil disobedience on August eighth. A new fire
(13:21):
named zero six Dash zero zero seven Dash to zero
twenty five began on August thirteenth and is now out
of control. As this riding in early September, it's covering
eight thousand, four to sixty five hectares, or just under
twenty one thousand acres, which is over half the size
of the city of Washington, d C. There are currently
two hundred and fifty nine active fires across Canada, thirty
(13:44):
one of which are uncontrolled, and so far this year,
there have been a hopping four seven hundred and fifty
eight fires that have consumed nineteen and a half million acres,
about half the size of Florida. I'm about two mines
on this one. You know, I'm going both directions. It's
true that ninety seven percent of Canadian forest fires are
human caused, and recent fires have been catastrophic, way beyond
(14:08):
the natural, healthy levels of fire that forests need. Although
you can warn people not to light camp fires, set
off fireworks, or use machinery in the woods, those things
happen consistently when people are out there on their own.
As Ken McMullen, president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs,
told the CBC quote, I know that this might appear inconvenient.
(14:28):
I understand that it might seem over the top. The
reality is desperate times call for desperate measures. On the
other hand, keeping people in hiking boots and camelbacks from
accessing the outdoors every summer and fall for the foreseeable
future is not realistic. We'll keep you up to date
on Evely's case and the fate of Canada's hiking bands.
Let us know which side of this debate you come
(14:50):
down on by writing in to Askcal at the meat
eater dot com. Moving on to the crime desk, a
hunting influencer has been charged with two felonies and six
misdemeanors for poaching a deer and a mountain lion and
lying about where he shot a wolf in Idaho last year.
Ryan Lampers, who you may know as Stealthy Hunter on Instagram,
(15:12):
is being accused of felony, gram theft, and unlawfully killing
and possessing a trophy class mule dear buck. According to
an affidavid and criminal complaint obtained by Meat Eater, Lampers
shot a trophy class mule deer buck in the wrong
unit and after the season had already ended. The buck
scored one seventy five and four eights, which bumps that
crime up to a felony. He also allegedly killed a
(15:33):
mountain lion in the wrong unit and then lied to
the Idaho Department of Fishing Game about where he killed
the animal. Finally, he shot a wolf last year in
Big Game Management Unit twenty one and then claimed to
have shot it in Big Game Management Unit twenty eight.
This is important because reimbursement rates for wolves change based
on the unit. Their reimbursement rate for Unit twenty eight
(15:53):
is two thousand dollars, and Lamper's got to check for
that amount from the Foundation for Wildlife Management, a nonprofit
that pays hunters for harvesting wolves in Idaho and Montana.
But where he actually shot the wolf, according to game wardens,
would have earned him only seven hundred and fifty bucks.
The state says this amounts to stealing twelve fifty, which
is why he's being charged with felony grant theft. We'll
(16:14):
see where this case goes from here. A lot of
you probably knew Lampers from his hunting videos, and a
lot of us here at Meat Eater had interactions with
him at one point or another. These stories can really
change as the details come out, but right now it
looks like O'Ryan is in a lot of trouble. His
next hearing is scept for September twenty two. I definitely
have some commentary on this one. I'm not sidestepping the subject.
(16:36):
This guy had a really good reputation as far as
I am aware. I know several folks that call Ryan
a friend, and by all accounts, was a nice, nice guy.
So there's enough here that he definitely did some screwing up.
There's enough here that definitely implies it was probably more
than just screwing up, but intentional. September twenty two not
(17:00):
that long to wait, though, so I'm gonna check back
in after that date and give you the full mcgilla.
In other newness, here in my home state of Montana,
someone shout a mule with your fun in the hind
quarters and then left it to waste on the billings
Rodden Gun Club Archery Range. Game wardens believe the animal
(17:20):
was shot about a week ago and it still had
an arrow coming out of it. I don't have any
more details for you as this recording. It sounds to
me like the fawn wandered onto the range and someone
thought it would be funny to take a shot at it.
I suppose it could have been some kind of accident.
Maybe somebody had taken a longer shot and they should
have or errow skipped or whatever, and the critter being
in the wrong place at the wrong time. But remember
(17:41):
one of the tenants of hunter safety right identify your
target and what's beyond. I don't know whatever happened. The
person who did this should come forward. I'm sure you're
feeling bad enough already. Last one for you. A huge
case in Nebraska is sending one poacher to the federal
clink for twenty two months. Forty six year old dust
(18:04):
And Noble was convicted of organizing at least one hundred
and fourteen illegal hunts with friends, family, and clients to
poach a wide range of animals, including mule deer, prong
horned whitetail, and turkey. Federal prosecutors presented evidence that Nobyle
used thermal optics, shot animals from a road at night
or during a close season, and one hundred private land
without the knowledge or permission to the landowner. These tactics
(18:26):
allowed him and his clients to poach sixty one mule deer,
thirty three wild turkey's, four prong horned, three white tail deer,
an American alligator, a timber rattlesnake, and approximately twelve up
game birds, migratory non game birds, game fish, and fur
bearing or non game animals. He ran a foul of
the Federal Asia Act because some of his clients were
from out of state, and he ran a taxidermy business
(18:47):
where I assume he shipped illegally taken mounts outside of Nebraska.
Along with a well deserved prison sentence, Noble will pay
one hundred and seventy nine thousand, six hundred and eighty
dollars in restitution and spent three years on supervised release
after prison, jumping over to Arkansas. Difficult news at Arkansas
this week, where seventy two year old Vernon Patten has
(19:09):
suffered fatal injuries after being attacked by a black bear
in Franklin County on September three. Although he survived the
initial attack, his family has now moved him to hospice care.
According to CBS Channel five News, Patten had been spreading
gravel at his property in ozark when he was attacked
without provocation by a seventy pound juvenile black bear. He
(19:29):
was airlifted to Fayetteville Hospital before being transferred to the
University of Arkansas Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. Game and
fish wardens were able to track and euthanize the bear
after Patent's son witnessed the attack, and biopsies of brain
tissue reveal that the bear was not infected with rabies
or distemper, diseases that can cause unusual and aggressive behavior.
(19:49):
Hard to overstate how rare an attack like this is.
AGFC official Trey Reid said quote, I've been at the
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission for almost twenty years, and
I've never heard of a black bear attack on a human,
an unprovoked attack. It's just unheard of. Honestly unheard of,
is the right way to put it. For perspective, about
two hundred people are struck by lightning every year, and
(20:11):
about twenty of them die. In contrast, research has shown
that only about one or two people are killed by
black bears every year, and all of those deaths are
caused by full grown adults. Non fatal attacks are much
more common at about twelve per year, and are typically
caused by female bears protecting their cubs, while fatal encounters
are almost always predatory attacks by males. All this tells
(20:34):
us that the odds of being killed by juvenile black
bear make winning the powerball look like an everyday thing. Unsurprisingly,
bears habituated to human food have more run ends with people,
and the bear who killed Patent did have human food
in its stomach. The reason Ursus Americanus is such a
relatively safe carnivore has everything to do with the habitat
it evolved in by allis. Steven Herrero, the leading authority
(20:58):
on bear attacks, has consistently observed black bears stayed close
to trees throughout their life cycle, and in fact, the
species originally spread throughout North America in the dense boreal
forests that took root after glaciers retreated at the end
of the last ice age. Herrero therefore concludes that a
black bear's first response to danger is to simply retreat
up a tree. Brown bears, in contrast, evolved in the
(21:21):
open plains of Eurasia and continued to prefer that habitat
in North America, with nowhere safe to retreat to, the
grizzlies first response to a threat is therefore to attack.
Although brown bear cubs can climb trees by the time
they're adults, grizzlies have a lot of time moving that
freight up something tall and skinny, but if you can
dream it, you can do it. The location of the
(21:42):
attack that killed Vernon Patten is notable too. Starting in
the eighteen forties, Arkansas became known as the Bear State,
named for the density of bears there and the stories
of bear hunting that became popular in hunting magazines of
the time. Because the Mississippi Delta region of the state
underwent uncontrolled flooding well into the late eighteen hundreds, it
was one of the list remaining forest regions in the
South after most others underwent clearcut logging. Still, by the
(22:05):
late twenties, black bears had been extirpated from the region,
with as few as thirty five bears remaining in the
entire state. Then, between nineteen fifty eight nineteen sixty eight,
black bears were brought into the state from Minnesota and Manitoba, Canada,
in what became the most successful reintroduction of a large
carnivore in history. Contemporary estimates put the number of black
bears in Arkansas at around five thousand and steadily growing.
(22:29):
Vernon Patten's family put out a statement in response to
his death, this has been an extraordinarily difficult time for
our family, and we are deeply grateful for the outpouring
of support we have received. We asked that people show
compassion and consideration as we focus on being together as
a family for as long as we still can. We
also want to extend our heartfelt thanks to the medical
teams who are providing exceptional care and to everyone who
(22:50):
has offered their prayers and kindness. That's all I got
for you this week. Thank you so much for listening.
Remember to write in to Askcl's Mascal atmediator dot com
or you can call four six two two zero six
four four one and maybe you can hear yourself on
this here podcast. And just a parting shot for you, gang,
(23:12):
please help defend the last of the wild places by
pushing back against the recision of the roadless rule. There
is a lot of room to meet in the middle
on this stuff, if only people wanted to do it.
If we don't, I'm gonna be reading an article talking
about the extirpation of hunters in America. That's not an
(23:33):
inflammatory statement. You aren't gonna find this hunter out on
a game farm somewhere where things are more certain than
they are out in the great wild, all right, Get
on it. I believe in you. Thanks again, I'll talk
to you next week.
Host
Cal Callaghan
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