December 15, 2025 • 24 mins
This week, Cal tells you about a Japanese chef serving bear meat in France, why National Parks are about to get more expensive for international tourists, and a hunter using a helicopter to access landlocked public land parcels.
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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 cal Kalaian. Here's
cal Our. Ongoing coverage of the Japanese bear attack crisis
is coming full circle this week with the news that
a hut cuisine French restaurant in the city of Sapporo
(00:30):
now has bear meat on the menu. Chef Kiyoshi Fujimoto
has been cooperating directly with professional hunters in the town
of Bie to make use of the bears they're culling
there in his restaurant, Le Caine kios I think is
how it's pronounced. Fujimoto didn't want those bears to go
to waste, telling the Menichi Shimbun newspaper quote, I want
(00:52):
customers to enjoy the meal. These bears lost their lives
for it, and I have to say it sounds like
quite a meal. For twenty thousand year or about one
hundred and thirty five bucks, you can get five courses,
including roasted bear meat and braised bear belly in a
bear broth consumme. Looking at the photos on the restaurant's website,
it looks like it would be about twenty thousand yen
(01:13):
well spent. There's definitely quite a bit of bear meat
available these days with the recent military assisted push to
cull them. Although we don't yet have final numbers for
total bears trapped or shot in Japan in twenty twenty five,
the figure is likely to blow twenty twenty four out
of the water. Just in Hokkaido, the single prefecture where
Ba and Sapporo are located, oney twenty six brown bears
(01:36):
were killed last year. That's gonna be a lot of
braised bear belly. Now, I got to tell you, I
don't have a ton of experience cooking brown bear, but
the brown bear I have cooked so far from my
super awesome Alaska Peninsula brown bear adventure has been really great.
Two thumbs up all the way around. A few weeks ago,
(01:56):
I suggested that the Japanese could develop wasabi bears, and
now I'm realizing it could have an application both in
the field and at the table. In the afternoon, you
could save your life, and then later that night you
could pep up a bland meal by whipping out that
same cann of bear spray and giving a little zap
with wassabi. And I'm sure everybody carries a little show
you in their pocket too. This week we've got public
(02:19):
Lands America first non residents, and so much more of it. First,
I'm going to tell you about my week, and my
week was great. Went down to Boulder, Colorado to join
on x Griffin post, Eric Jackson, Emily Zenobia, three well
known figures in the snow sports world, oh in a
special guest appearance by Angel Collinson that was cool, as
(02:40):
well as some notable folks from the conservation world such
as the Trust for Public Lands, Outdoor Recreation round Table,
the Conservation Alliance, and Colorado BHA. We were all down
there for the world premiere of Inaccessible, a backcountry ski
film that, amongst several points, made highlights the checkerboard land
(03:00):
we so often reference here in the West by a
ski adventure in the crazy Mountains. If you're still a
little fuzzy on how that stuff works, it's a great
fun film to check out and you can definitely learn
some stuff, So check her out streaming right now. The
Boulder theater was packed and at the end we got
to talk public lands right there on stage, somewhere around
(03:22):
the five hundred person Marty I'm guessing talk public lands, landownership, access,
responsible use. It was a great night, and thank you
to everyone who attended, but double thank you to those
of you who purchased BHA memberships. Great job on x
and Griffin Post and Eric Jackson Emily Zenobia crushed it.
(03:43):
Great job. Evenings like this are notable as we are
often told that different segments of the outdoor recreation pie
cannot get along, when in fact there's often way more
overlap right there in the middle, especially when it comes
to our reasons for being outside and enjoying our big,
beautiful public lands. Then there are disagreeances right now. We
(04:06):
have a lot of good things at risk. Waters of
the United States, our ability to have clean water for
gosh sakes, America's grasslands, which we are losing two million
acres a year, public lands sell off, public land protections
are the way of the roadless rule, management plan recisions,
inadequate staffing. The list goes on and on, and all
(04:29):
of this stuff matters, and all of it is a
heck of a lot easier to fight for advocate for
if we can drop our factional divides and focus on
the big piece of pie right in the middle where
we overlap, deal with that minute show later, Good Start
is given the gift of public lands this holiday season
gift to BHA membership. Those dollars go to advocating for
(04:50):
our public lands and waters from offices in DC all
the way out to pulling fence on BLM ground to
improve wildlife corridors. Take a look. Sign up for the
email newsletters, sign up for a bunch of them TRCP
NWF tpl NWTFPFQF. Heck, you can even become a society
member and get access to the real deal science with
(05:12):
the Wildlife Society plug in. Help out. Join up now.
Because everything you and I enjoy is here right now.
We've enjoyed it because we're enjoying the fruits of other
people's labor, the people before us who have demanded that
that stuff be here. It is not by chance we
(05:33):
have our amazing public lands, waters and wildlife. It's not luck.
It's demand, and right now it is time we demand,
like in the public Lands Rule, for example, that we
value our public lands, waters and wildlife alongside our extractive
natural resources, which can be done. This is America. We
(05:54):
can have our guns and our public lands and don't
trust the people who says we can't we have to
demand demand a better deal. Moving on to the vaulting
ambition desk public land access. In the battle over public
land access, the sides often seem to break down, with
(06:15):
heroic DIY hunters on one side versus villainous landowners scheming
to keep us out on the other. But it's hardly
ever that simple. Take for example, David Fabion, a Wyoming
based big game hunter who over the past few years
he's been chartering a helicopter to fly him and his
hunting partners into landlocked public ground in Wyoming. He's writing
about this no holds barred approach is well worth read
(06:38):
over at Guns and Ammo, where Fabian is an editor
and staff writer. He's certainly chosen a fitting place for
his chopper hunts. According to Onax, Wyoming has around two
point four million total acres of inaccessible public land, an
area about as large as the Big Island of Hawaii.
One example of what that land looks like up on
the Montana border and the Powder River Basin, huge contiguous
(07:01):
chunks totally more than six thousand acres, completely surrounded by
privately owned ranches. So scrappy hunter hiring a helicopter for
the five minute trip up and over into that public
land seems like an obvious protagonist. However, the details muddy
the picture. If Fabian had a five mile long pole
vault to get to this lamp, there would be no issue.
But there are very strict rules around the use of
(07:22):
aircraft when it comes to hunting. For example, in Alaska,
it's illegal to hunt on the same day as you
fly in. This prevents people from spotting game from the air,
dropping down for a quick shot, packing the meat up,
and flying out lickety split. Aerial road hunting, as it were.
That's a hunt that violates fair chase, and the laws
are in place to enforce that same deal. In Wyoming,
(07:43):
law in the book states quote, no person shall use
any aircraft a spot, locate, and aid in the taking
of any trophy game animal. However, there's plenty of gray
area there. If the aircraft is only used for transportation,
not for spotting or pursuing game, then you're okay. So Fabian,
we're a helicopter pilot himself and flew along with a
buddy into these out of the way areas, no problem.
(08:04):
There are lots of amateur small aircraft clubs that fly
hunters around free at charge to keep their skills up.
That kind of cooperation would also be fine, But other
rules here applied to exchanging money for aid in hunting,
that is, guiding or outfitting. Wyoming's legal definition of an
outfitter is anyone who, quote, for the purpose of financial gain,
provides guide or packing services for the purpose of taking
(08:27):
any big or trophy game animal. Fabion paid a helicopter
operator to get him in and the animals he killed
out and moving that meat and equipment sounds like the
packing services that an outfitter provides. This helicopter company did
not have an outfitter's license. Maybe these trips were illegal.
The maybe is a big one, but it gets more complex.
(08:49):
Wyoming law also defines packing services as quote, transportation for
hire or remuneration hunters, game annals, or equipment in the
field for the purpose of taking any big game or
trophy animal. The key phrase there is in the field.
Fabian argues that because the helicopter company isn't advertising itself
as a hunting specific transportation company, it is not an outfitter,
(09:12):
and because the flights take off from public roadways and
land on service roads within the BLM, the helicopter is
never technically in the field. You might argue that everywhere
on BLM land where there are elk running around is
in the field. But you know it's illegal to shoot
game from a truck on a roadway, which would imply
that the road is not in the field. So maybe
(09:34):
it is legal to land your helicopter without an outfitter
license if you make sure to stick to the roads.
After all, ups wouldn't need an outfitting license to get
your game meet from a pickup in downtown Gillette, Wyoming
to your front door in Orlando, Florida. So after all
these semantics, what do the motives of all our players
look like? I identify with the parts of David Fabian's mission,
(09:56):
and he is forcing an issue of what is or
is not legal on public regardless of how influential the
surrounding landowners are. But he isn't exactly in a David
and Goliath's story. It costs several thousand dollars to charter
a helicopter, and he has the institutional backing of a
major media outlet working on his behalf. I can relate
to that and zooming out. Do we want rich dudes
(10:17):
and helicopters flying over our heads when we're in the outdoors.
Surely we could also build a permanent concrete overpass from
public land to public land, but that footprint on the
landscape sure would not be worth it. How about the landowners, Well,
of course some have been pretty unhappy, and some charge
significant trespass fees to allow outfitters to cross their land
(10:38):
to get to public but several other local landowners have
been over backwards to allow controlled access to preserve habitat
for healthy wildlife populations to be good stewards of the land.
Does it serve the animals themselves to have helicopters buzzing
them overhead? What's motivating the outfitters in this situation? Of course,
established outfitters have a vested interest in keeping things the
(10:59):
way they are. If all of a sudden, a lot
of helly hunters are killing the trophy elk they've had
near exclusive access to, that puts their business in jeopardy.
But being rigorous about licenses is important. It means outfitters
have insurance that they're reputable, that if something bad happens
out there, clients can hold them accountable. I'll also tell
you that outfitting is not a high margin business and
(11:21):
protecting the livelihoods of skilled guides isn't a bad thing.
So all in all, there's impacts to everybody's behavior. Imagine
that if this brief overview peaked your behavior your interest.
The Wyoming Board of Outfitters and Professional Guides is holding
their quarterly meeting this Thursday, December eighteen. This body can
(11:42):
set rules to clarify all this and help everyone involved.
In particular, they could define exactly what in the field
means that seems like something you should be interested in.
If you're on your way to a place to kill elk,
does that count as in the field even if you
stick to roadways. Answering that question would go a long way.
(12:02):
They could also clarify when general passenger transport becomes hunter
transport subject to outfitter rules around packing services. All you
out there no doubt have lots of opinions, so get
your butt to this meeting. We'll post a link on
the cal to action page on the Meat Eater website.
It'll be in person and accessible by a zoom, So
(12:23):
you cowboy staters out there don't have an excuse for
staying out of this conversation just to go further into
the details here. Right, So, like most days, I'm a hunter.
I'm always looking at things from a hunter perspective. Oftentimes
there's guns in my truck. But when am I actually
a hunter? Right? When I take off for a hunt
(12:45):
and hit the old Bosangelis airport and fly on delta,
I'm a hunter. I'm going hunting. This is part of
the act of transportation to get to hunting, that big
old commercial airliner. When I hit the ground, do my
growe shopping and everything else, I'm in the whole act
of my hunting journey. But I'm probably never going to
(13:08):
get approached by a game warden while I'm in the
grocery store or at the gas pump. As a further example,
I can tote my guns, bow whatever around on public
land at any time of the year, during hunting season
or not. What makes me a hunter or not a
hunter versus somebody who's carrying a gun or a bow
at a target shoot or practice or in self defense.
(13:32):
There's all sorts of interesting little nuances here that are
are agents of wildlife protection those regulations. It is their
duty to interpret what the heck is going on out there,
in this case, a helicopter hunting Our buddy Andrew McKean,
who's been an awesome conservation stalwart over the years. He
(13:54):
recently was on an interesting hunt in Wyoming. We may
already cover this, where they did some helicopter flying in
and had a poor interaction with a neighboring landowner who
decided to try to steal a trophy elkhead from their group.
That's just a bad actor who should not be representative
of outfitters or landowners or ranchers. That's just somebody who
(14:19):
made a real bad choice having a bad day. I
don't know anything beyond that, whether whether he's a jerk
every other day of the year or not, but he
sure was a jerk that day. If we don't figure
out permanent legal access to our public lands, we will
be dealing with things like this. And should you outlaw
(14:41):
helicopter access even though it is not for everybody. My
thought is no, so long as there is no other
established means of access. If that's the only way you
can get into a chunk, my thought is he got
to leave that door open. Would love to hear what
you think. If there's other less impactful means of access. Man.
(15:02):
I want to look at them, but I don't see
these situations as a one size fits all solution. Askcl
that's ascal at themeateater dot com. Let me know what
you think. Moving on to the old National Parks desk,
the Department of the Interior announced last month that non
(15:23):
resident visitors to eleven of the most visited national parks
will pay an extra one hundred dollars per person on
top of the usual entrance feet. If foreign visitors want
to get an annual pass, it will cost them two
hundred and fifty dollars, while American citizens and permanent residents
will continue to pay the usual eighty. Interior Secretary Doug
Bergham said the move is designed to make sure foreign
(15:44):
tourists pay their fair share. He said, quote these policies
ensure that US taxpayers who already support the national park
system continue to enjoy affordable access, while international visitors contribute
their fair share to maintaining and improving our parks for
future generations. The National Park will also offer eight fee
free days in twenty twenty six, but these will only
(16:06):
be available to American citizens and permanent residents. International visitors
will still have to pay the usual fee on these days.
This plan was one of the things that administration brought
up when they were criticized for trying to slash the
budget of the National Park Service. They hoped charging more
for foreign tourists would help bridge that gap, but as
we said at the time, it's a pretty big gap.
(16:26):
Only time will tell if this actually results in more
funding for the Park Service, or if foreign tourists decide
to take their euros one sheck als pounds somewhere else.
And I just got a wonder about our only international
Peace Park, Glacier Waterton. Chunk of that park's on the
Canadian side. What about all my good friends north of
(16:47):
the border? Moving on to the non resident desk, the
campaign to make life more difficult for non resident hunters
continues this week, as both Idaho and Montana announced newpaul
to slash deer and elk tags for out of staters.
Idaho says it will no longer offer over the counter
deer and elk tags for non residents. Instead, all non
(17:08):
resident tags for these species will be doled out in
a lottery system. What does this mean if you live
in Maine and want to chase elk? And Idaho you
won't be able to buy a general season tag online
or over the counter. You'll have to enter a drawing,
and you'll only be able to hunt if you get selected. Now,
this actually isn't as big of a deal as it
might sound. That's because for the last few years, non
(17:30):
residents have had to fight giant lines, both in person
and online, to have a shot at one of these tags.
People have waited at their computers for hours and hours.
Some have even flown into Idaho before the tags go
on sale to stand in line at a local sporting
goods store or a gas station. Idaho Fishing Games says
they've received many complaints about the status quo, so they're
(17:50):
going to imitate other Western states and make non residents
enter a draw for all tags. Importantly, they say they
aren't making this decision due to overcrowding. They say they
already have addressed that complaint by capping the number of
out of state hunters who can hunt in any given unit.
Making non residents enter a lottery is meant to stop
the complaints around the current system, to which I say,
(18:12):
good luck. Hunters will usually find a way to complain
and no matter what, but I hope everyone feels like
a lottery system is more fair. Moving over to my
home state of Montana, the Wildlife Commission voted last week
to reduce the number of nonresident deer tags by about
twenty five hundred. They made this decision for two reasons. First,
they want to address what some hunters and landowners see
(18:34):
as an overcrowding problem. The report outlining the rationale for
the decision reads, quote, relative to residents, the number of
non resident hunters, their hunting effort, and their harvest have
become points of focus for the Legislature, Commission and the public,
including landowners. Point of focus is bureaucratics speak for everyone
kind of hates it. The Wildlife Commission says they also
(18:56):
want to relieve some of the pressure on the state's
white tail deer herd should be heard, which has suffered
this year from an outbreak of EHD. Many non resident
tags are handed out in some of the same units
where the outbreak occurred. Montana still plans to issue about
twelve thousand non resident deer tags, which means the reduction
is less than ten percent of what was previously handed out. Still,
(19:17):
that's twenty five hundred fewer non resident deer hunters who
will be paying into the conservation system in Montana for deer. Obviously,
there's a lot of traffic here for elk upland, game
birds and migratory birds. The reduction in deer tags could
cause a one point seven million dollars shortfall. It's unclear
how Montana fish, wildlife and parks will make up for
(19:38):
that loss of revenue. Montana is going through some changes
we will continue to do so. We have got to
adjust for increased pressure, which is real and it exists.
There's a couple of counties that I won't name where
the data shows that two thirds of the deer taken
in those counties are from non resident hunters, which, as
(20:01):
advertised to resident hunters, is not the way it should be.
We like to think in terms of there's only ten
percent of tags allocated to non resident hunters, whereas the
system is set up, if all ten percent go to
one county, that outnumbers the residents, as in the data
here suggests by number of two to one, So lots
(20:24):
of work to do. It's all in that math's situation.
Moving on to the accident desk, A deer hunter is
dead in Pennsylvania after he was accidentally shot during a
deer drive. The Game Commission told local media that twenty
four hunters were participating in the drive. A group of
hunters were driving the deer towards the shooters when one
(20:44):
buck broke through the line of drivers. Two of the
shooters fired at the buck, but one of the drivers
was in the line of fire. The twenty six year
old hunter was shot in the hip, and the other
hunters tried to stop the bleeding while they called paramedics.
The problem was they were conducting the drive in a
remote locationation on a mountain while a winter storm was
rolling in. It took paramedics an hour to reach the man,
(21:04):
who was still alive and talking when they did, but
he'd already lost a lot of blood, and paramedics were
trying to keep themselves from getting hurt or killed as
they slipped and slid back down the mountain. They said
they did the best they could, but they weren't able
to save the man's life. There are still a lot
of questions about this one. Officials say they know which
of the two hunters hit the victim, but they haven't
said whether or not the person will face any charges.
(21:26):
It's also unclear whether the hunter was wearing any orange
or whether he was in front of or behind the deer.
In another tragic hunting accident, a sixteen year old Missouri
died last month after being electrocuted by a power line.
The teen was hunting with a friend along a howl
Oregon Electric co Op power line easement in the southwest
portion of the state. One of the lines was sagging
(21:47):
near the ground. Apparently he didn't realize it was still
hooked up and energized, he grabbed it. His hunting partner,
who was with him, was not able to find help
due to poor reception. First responders found the boy dead
when arrived at the scene. His name has not been released.
Remember this one gang Stop the Bleed really quick online
(22:08):
course tourniquets in the field. Hips are tough places to
put tournique but there is a lot of info in
a very short course that you can take online called
Stop the Bleed that may help in these situations. It
is a prerequisite for anybody you would either go spearfishing
or hunting with bows or rifles. Just do it. Moving
(22:31):
on to the mailbag listen not Minnesota duck hunters access
to a prime piece of waterfowl habitat is in jeopardy,
and your compatriots in the Minneapolis Saint Paul area need
your help. Listen to Noah Myers writes in to tell
me about a historic boat launch on the mississipp called
Bud's Landing. Bud's Landing was built over ninety years ago,
specifically to give duck hunters a good way to access
(22:54):
Spring Lake, which is located just south of Saint Paul
along the Mississippi. It was purchased by de Coda County
in twenty twelve, and now they're working on a four
point six million dollar renovation project to attract more people
to the lake. That's all well and good, but there's
a catch. The County Commission voted last month to barre
duck boats from the launch. Once the renovation is completely,
(23:15):
it will only allow canoes, kayaks, and paddleboards. This is
a big blow to local duck hunters like Noah, who
has not mastered his paddleboard skills. He said in his
email quote. This spot is near and dear to me
because it is where I fell in love with duck
hunting and have been able to really connect with nature,
all while being just fifteen minutes from downtown Saint Paul.
(23:35):
It is one of the only places in the Twin
Cities metro to hunt waterfowl, and it's being stripped for
no good reason. Noah says, there is another launch in
the area, but it's oriented into the wind. It's dangerous.
Two hunters drowned off the launch in the nineties. Banning
duck hunters from Buds landing will create more congestion at
that spot, potentially making it even more dangerous. If you
(23:57):
live in Dakota County, get on the horn with your
local county commissioner. Explain that you have no problem with
the renovation and I are happy to share the launch
with kayakers, but there's no reason to ban duck hunters.
I don't know many paddle boarders who want to go
out for a paddle and sub zero attempts, which is
when most duck hunters love to be out there. This
is a good opportunity to emphasize the name of the
(24:18):
landing bud be a bud buds, duck hunting buds, kayaking buds,
paddle boarding buds, multiple use. Get along gang. That's all
I got for you this week. Thank you so much
for listening. Remember to write in to as case Al
that's Askal at the mere dot com. Let me know
what's going on in your neck of the woods. Thank
you so much. 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 cal Kalaian. Here's
cal Our. Ongoing coverage of the Japanese bear attack crisis
is coming full circle this week with the news that
a hut cuisine French restaurant in the city of Sapporo
(00:30):
now has bear meat on the menu. Chef Kiyoshi Fujimoto
has been cooperating directly with professional hunters in the town
of Bie to make use of the bears they're culling
there in his restaurant, Le Caine kios I think is
how it's pronounced. Fujimoto didn't want those bears to go
to waste, telling the Menichi Shimbun newspaper quote, I want
(00:52):
customers to enjoy the meal. These bears lost their lives
for it, and I have to say it sounds like
quite a meal. For twenty thousand year or about one
hundred and thirty five bucks, you can get five courses,
including roasted bear meat and braised bear belly in a
bear broth consumme. Looking at the photos on the restaurant's website,
it looks like it would be about twenty thousand yen
(01:13):
well spent. There's definitely quite a bit of bear meat
available these days with the recent military assisted push to
cull them. Although we don't yet have final numbers for
total bears trapped or shot in Japan in twenty twenty five,
the figure is likely to blow twenty twenty four out
of the water. Just in Hokkaido, the single prefecture where
Ba and Sapporo are located, oney twenty six brown bears
(01:36):
were killed last year. That's gonna be a lot of
braised bear belly. Now, I got to tell you, I
don't have a ton of experience cooking brown bear, but
the brown bear I have cooked so far from my
super awesome Alaska Peninsula brown bear adventure has been really great.
Two thumbs up all the way around. A few weeks ago,
(01:56):
I suggested that the Japanese could develop wasabi bears, and
now I'm realizing it could have an application both in
the field and at the table. In the afternoon, you
could save your life, and then later that night you
could pep up a bland meal by whipping out that
same cann of bear spray and giving a little zap
with wassabi. And I'm sure everybody carries a little show
you in their pocket too. This week we've got public
(02:19):
Lands America first non residents, and so much more of it. First,
I'm going to tell you about my week, and my
week was great. Went down to Boulder, Colorado to join
on x Griffin post, Eric Jackson, Emily Zenobia, three well
known figures in the snow sports world, oh in a
special guest appearance by Angel Collinson that was cool, as
(02:40):
well as some notable folks from the conservation world such
as the Trust for Public Lands, Outdoor Recreation round Table,
the Conservation Alliance, and Colorado BHA. We were all down
there for the world premiere of Inaccessible, a backcountry ski
film that, amongst several points, made highlights the checkerboard land
(03:00):
we so often reference here in the West by a
ski adventure in the crazy Mountains. If you're still a
little fuzzy on how that stuff works, it's a great
fun film to check out and you can definitely learn
some stuff, So check her out streaming right now. The
Boulder theater was packed and at the end we got
to talk public lands right there on stage, somewhere around
(03:22):
the five hundred person Marty I'm guessing talk public lands, landownership, access,
responsible use. It was a great night, and thank you
to everyone who attended, but double thank you to those
of you who purchased BHA memberships. Great job on x
and Griffin Post and Eric Jackson Emily Zenobia crushed it.
(03:43):
Great job. Evenings like this are notable as we are
often told that different segments of the outdoor recreation pie
cannot get along, when in fact there's often way more
overlap right there in the middle, especially when it comes
to our reasons for being outside and enjoying our big,
beautiful public lands. Then there are disagreeances right now. We
(04:06):
have a lot of good things at risk. Waters of
the United States, our ability to have clean water for
gosh sakes, America's grasslands, which we are losing two million
acres a year, public lands sell off, public land protections
are the way of the roadless rule, management plan recisions,
inadequate staffing. The list goes on and on, and all
(04:29):
of this stuff matters, and all of it is a
heck of a lot easier to fight for advocate for
if we can drop our factional divides and focus on
the big piece of pie right in the middle where
we overlap, deal with that minute show later, Good Start
is given the gift of public lands this holiday season
gift to BHA membership. Those dollars go to advocating for
(04:50):
our public lands and waters from offices in DC all
the way out to pulling fence on BLM ground to
improve wildlife corridors. Take a look. Sign up for the
email newsletters, sign up for a bunch of them TRCP
NWF tpl NWTFPFQF. Heck, you can even become a society
member and get access to the real deal science with
(05:12):
the Wildlife Society plug in. Help out. Join up now.
Because everything you and I enjoy is here right now.
We've enjoyed it because we're enjoying the fruits of other
people's labor, the people before us who have demanded that
that stuff be here. It is not by chance we
(05:33):
have our amazing public lands, waters and wildlife. It's not luck.
It's demand, and right now it is time we demand,
like in the public Lands Rule, for example, that we
value our public lands, waters and wildlife alongside our extractive
natural resources, which can be done. This is America. We
(05:54):
can have our guns and our public lands and don't
trust the people who says we can't we have to
demand demand a better deal. Moving on to the vaulting
ambition desk public land access. In the battle over public
land access, the sides often seem to break down, with
(06:15):
heroic DIY hunters on one side versus villainous landowners scheming
to keep us out on the other. But it's hardly
ever that simple. Take for example, David Fabion, a Wyoming
based big game hunter who over the past few years
he's been chartering a helicopter to fly him and his
hunting partners into landlocked public ground in Wyoming. He's writing
about this no holds barred approach is well worth read
(06:38):
over at Guns and Ammo, where Fabian is an editor
and staff writer. He's certainly chosen a fitting place for
his chopper hunts. According to Onax, Wyoming has around two
point four million total acres of inaccessible public land, an
area about as large as the Big Island of Hawaii.
One example of what that land looks like up on
the Montana border and the Powder River Basin, huge contiguous
(07:01):
chunks totally more than six thousand acres, completely surrounded by
privately owned ranches. So scrappy hunter hiring a helicopter for
the five minute trip up and over into that public
land seems like an obvious protagonist. However, the details muddy
the picture. If Fabian had a five mile long pole
vault to get to this lamp, there would be no issue.
But there are very strict rules around the use of
(07:22):
aircraft when it comes to hunting. For example, in Alaska,
it's illegal to hunt on the same day as you
fly in. This prevents people from spotting game from the air,
dropping down for a quick shot, packing the meat up,
and flying out lickety split. Aerial road hunting, as it were.
That's a hunt that violates fair chase, and the laws
are in place to enforce that same deal. In Wyoming,
(07:43):
law in the book states quote, no person shall use
any aircraft a spot, locate, and aid in the taking
of any trophy game animal. However, there's plenty of gray
area there. If the aircraft is only used for transportation,
not for spotting or pursuing game, then you're okay. So Fabian,
we're a helicopter pilot himself and flew along with a
buddy into these out of the way areas, no problem.
(08:04):
There are lots of amateur small aircraft clubs that fly
hunters around free at charge to keep their skills up.
That kind of cooperation would also be fine, But other
rules here applied to exchanging money for aid in hunting,
that is, guiding or outfitting. Wyoming's legal definition of an
outfitter is anyone who, quote, for the purpose of financial gain,
provides guide or packing services for the purpose of taking
(08:27):
any big or trophy game animal. Fabion paid a helicopter
operator to get him in and the animals he killed
out and moving that meat and equipment sounds like the
packing services that an outfitter provides. This helicopter company did
not have an outfitter's license. Maybe these trips were illegal.
The maybe is a big one, but it gets more complex.
(08:49):
Wyoming law also defines packing services as quote, transportation for
hire or remuneration hunters, game annals, or equipment in the
field for the purpose of taking any big game or
trophy animal. The key phrase there is in the field.
Fabian argues that because the helicopter company isn't advertising itself
as a hunting specific transportation company, it is not an outfitter,
(09:12):
and because the flights take off from public roadways and
land on service roads within the BLM, the helicopter is
never technically in the field. You might argue that everywhere
on BLM land where there are elk running around is
in the field. But you know it's illegal to shoot
game from a truck on a roadway, which would imply
that the road is not in the field. So maybe
(09:34):
it is legal to land your helicopter without an outfitter
license if you make sure to stick to the roads.
After all, ups wouldn't need an outfitting license to get
your game meet from a pickup in downtown Gillette, Wyoming
to your front door in Orlando, Florida. So after all
these semantics, what do the motives of all our players
look like? I identify with the parts of David Fabian's mission,
(09:56):
and he is forcing an issue of what is or
is not legal on public regardless of how influential the
surrounding landowners are. But he isn't exactly in a David
and Goliath's story. It costs several thousand dollars to charter
a helicopter, and he has the institutional backing of a
major media outlet working on his behalf. I can relate
to that and zooming out. Do we want rich dudes
(10:17):
and helicopters flying over our heads when we're in the outdoors.
Surely we could also build a permanent concrete overpass from
public land to public land, but that footprint on the
landscape sure would not be worth it. How about the landowners, Well,
of course some have been pretty unhappy, and some charge
significant trespass fees to allow outfitters to cross their land
(10:38):
to get to public but several other local landowners have
been over backwards to allow controlled access to preserve habitat
for healthy wildlife populations to be good stewards of the land.
Does it serve the animals themselves to have helicopters buzzing
them overhead? What's motivating the outfitters in this situation? Of course,
established outfitters have a vested interest in keeping things the
(10:59):
way they are. If all of a sudden, a lot
of helly hunters are killing the trophy elk they've had
near exclusive access to, that puts their business in jeopardy.
But being rigorous about licenses is important. It means outfitters
have insurance that they're reputable, that if something bad happens
out there, clients can hold them accountable. I'll also tell
you that outfitting is not a high margin business and
(11:21):
protecting the livelihoods of skilled guides isn't a bad thing.
So all in all, there's impacts to everybody's behavior. Imagine
that if this brief overview peaked your behavior your interest.
The Wyoming Board of Outfitters and Professional Guides is holding
their quarterly meeting this Thursday, December eighteen. This body can
(11:42):
set rules to clarify all this and help everyone involved.
In particular, they could define exactly what in the field
means that seems like something you should be interested in.
If you're on your way to a place to kill elk,
does that count as in the field even if you
stick to roadways. Answering that question would go a long way.
(12:02):
They could also clarify when general passenger transport becomes hunter
transport subject to outfitter rules around packing services. All you
out there no doubt have lots of opinions, so get
your butt to this meeting. We'll post a link on
the cal to action page on the Meat Eater website.
It'll be in person and accessible by a zoom, So
(12:23):
you cowboy staters out there don't have an excuse for
staying out of this conversation just to go further into
the details here. Right, So, like most days, I'm a hunter.
I'm always looking at things from a hunter perspective. Oftentimes
there's guns in my truck. But when am I actually
a hunter? Right? When I take off for a hunt
(12:45):
and hit the old Bosangelis airport and fly on delta,
I'm a hunter. I'm going hunting. This is part of
the act of transportation to get to hunting, that big
old commercial airliner. When I hit the ground, do my
growe shopping and everything else, I'm in the whole act
of my hunting journey. But I'm probably never going to
(13:08):
get approached by a game warden while I'm in the
grocery store or at the gas pump. As a further example,
I can tote my guns, bow whatever around on public
land at any time of the year, during hunting season
or not. What makes me a hunter or not a
hunter versus somebody who's carrying a gun or a bow
at a target shoot or practice or in self defense.
(13:32):
There's all sorts of interesting little nuances here that are
are agents of wildlife protection those regulations. It is their
duty to interpret what the heck is going on out there,
in this case, a helicopter hunting Our buddy Andrew McKean,
who's been an awesome conservation stalwart over the years. He
(13:54):
recently was on an interesting hunt in Wyoming. We may
already cover this, where they did some helicopter flying in
and had a poor interaction with a neighboring landowner who
decided to try to steal a trophy elkhead from their group.
That's just a bad actor who should not be representative
of outfitters or landowners or ranchers. That's just somebody who
(14:19):
made a real bad choice having a bad day. I
don't know anything beyond that, whether whether he's a jerk
every other day of the year or not, but he
sure was a jerk that day. If we don't figure
out permanent legal access to our public lands, we will
be dealing with things like this. And should you outlaw
(14:41):
helicopter access even though it is not for everybody. My
thought is no, so long as there is no other
established means of access. If that's the only way you
can get into a chunk, my thought is he got
to leave that door open. Would love to hear what
you think. If there's other less impactful means of access. Man.
(15:02):
I want to look at them, but I don't see
these situations as a one size fits all solution. Askcl
that's ascal at themeateater dot com. Let me know what
you think. Moving on to the old National Parks desk,
the Department of the Interior announced last month that non
(15:23):
resident visitors to eleven of the most visited national parks
will pay an extra one hundred dollars per person on
top of the usual entrance feet. If foreign visitors want
to get an annual pass, it will cost them two
hundred and fifty dollars, while American citizens and permanent residents
will continue to pay the usual eighty. Interior Secretary Doug
Bergham said the move is designed to make sure foreign
(15:44):
tourists pay their fair share. He said, quote these policies
ensure that US taxpayers who already support the national park
system continue to enjoy affordable access, while international visitors contribute
their fair share to maintaining and improving our parks for
future generations. The National Park will also offer eight fee
free days in twenty twenty six, but these will only
(16:06):
be available to American citizens and permanent residents. International visitors
will still have to pay the usual fee on these days.
This plan was one of the things that administration brought
up when they were criticized for trying to slash the
budget of the National Park Service. They hoped charging more
for foreign tourists would help bridge that gap, but as
we said at the time, it's a pretty big gap.
(16:26):
Only time will tell if this actually results in more
funding for the Park Service, or if foreign tourists decide
to take their euros one sheck als pounds somewhere else.
And I just got a wonder about our only international
Peace Park, Glacier Waterton. Chunk of that park's on the
Canadian side. What about all my good friends north of
(16:47):
the border? Moving on to the non resident desk, the
campaign to make life more difficult for non resident hunters
continues this week, as both Idaho and Montana announced newpaul
to slash deer and elk tags for out of staters.
Idaho says it will no longer offer over the counter
deer and elk tags for non residents. Instead, all non
(17:08):
resident tags for these species will be doled out in
a lottery system. What does this mean if you live
in Maine and want to chase elk? And Idaho you
won't be able to buy a general season tag online
or over the counter. You'll have to enter a drawing,
and you'll only be able to hunt if you get selected. Now,
this actually isn't as big of a deal as it
might sound. That's because for the last few years, non
(17:30):
residents have had to fight giant lines, both in person
and online, to have a shot at one of these tags.
People have waited at their computers for hours and hours.
Some have even flown into Idaho before the tags go
on sale to stand in line at a local sporting
goods store or a gas station. Idaho Fishing Games says
they've received many complaints about the status quo, so they're
(17:50):
going to imitate other Western states and make non residents
enter a draw for all tags. Importantly, they say they
aren't making this decision due to overcrowding. They say they
already have addressed that complaint by capping the number of
out of state hunters who can hunt in any given unit.
Making non residents enter a lottery is meant to stop
the complaints around the current system, to which I say,
(18:12):
good luck. Hunters will usually find a way to complain
and no matter what, but I hope everyone feels like
a lottery system is more fair. Moving over to my
home state of Montana, the Wildlife Commission voted last week
to reduce the number of nonresident deer tags by about
twenty five hundred. They made this decision for two reasons. First,
they want to address what some hunters and landowners see
(18:34):
as an overcrowding problem. The report outlining the rationale for
the decision reads, quote, relative to residents, the number of
non resident hunters, their hunting effort, and their harvest have
become points of focus for the Legislature, Commission and the public,
including landowners. Point of focus is bureaucratics speak for everyone
kind of hates it. The Wildlife Commission says they also
(18:56):
want to relieve some of the pressure on the state's
white tail deer herd should be heard, which has suffered
this year from an outbreak of EHD. Many non resident
tags are handed out in some of the same units
where the outbreak occurred. Montana still plans to issue about
twelve thousand non resident deer tags, which means the reduction
is less than ten percent of what was previously handed out. Still,
(19:17):
that's twenty five hundred fewer non resident deer hunters who
will be paying into the conservation system in Montana for deer. Obviously,
there's a lot of traffic here for elk upland, game
birds and migratory birds. The reduction in deer tags could
cause a one point seven million dollars shortfall. It's unclear
how Montana fish, wildlife and parks will make up for
(19:38):
that loss of revenue. Montana is going through some changes
we will continue to do so. We have got to
adjust for increased pressure, which is real and it exists.
There's a couple of counties that I won't name where
the data shows that two thirds of the deer taken
in those counties are from non resident hunters, which, as
(20:01):
advertised to resident hunters, is not the way it should be.
We like to think in terms of there's only ten
percent of tags allocated to non resident hunters, whereas the
system is set up, if all ten percent go to
one county, that outnumbers the residents, as in the data
here suggests by number of two to one, So lots
(20:24):
of work to do. It's all in that math's situation.
Moving on to the accident desk, A deer hunter is
dead in Pennsylvania after he was accidentally shot during a
deer drive. The Game Commission told local media that twenty
four hunters were participating in the drive. A group of
hunters were driving the deer towards the shooters when one
(20:44):
buck broke through the line of drivers. Two of the
shooters fired at the buck, but one of the drivers
was in the line of fire. The twenty six year
old hunter was shot in the hip, and the other
hunters tried to stop the bleeding while they called paramedics.
The problem was they were conducting the drive in a
remote locationation on a mountain while a winter storm was
rolling in. It took paramedics an hour to reach the man,
(21:04):
who was still alive and talking when they did, but
he'd already lost a lot of blood, and paramedics were
trying to keep themselves from getting hurt or killed as
they slipped and slid back down the mountain. They said
they did the best they could, but they weren't able
to save the man's life. There are still a lot
of questions about this one. Officials say they know which
of the two hunters hit the victim, but they haven't
said whether or not the person will face any charges.
(21:26):
It's also unclear whether the hunter was wearing any orange
or whether he was in front of or behind the deer.
In another tragic hunting accident, a sixteen year old Missouri
died last month after being electrocuted by a power line.
The teen was hunting with a friend along a howl
Oregon Electric co Op power line easement in the southwest
portion of the state. One of the lines was sagging
(21:47):
near the ground. Apparently he didn't realize it was still
hooked up and energized, he grabbed it. His hunting partner,
who was with him, was not able to find help
due to poor reception. First responders found the boy dead
when arrived at the scene. His name has not been released.
Remember this one gang Stop the Bleed really quick online
(22:08):
course tourniquets in the field. Hips are tough places to
put tournique but there is a lot of info in
a very short course that you can take online called
Stop the Bleed that may help in these situations. It
is a prerequisite for anybody you would either go spearfishing
or hunting with bows or rifles. Just do it. Moving
(22:31):
on to the mailbag listen not Minnesota duck hunters access
to a prime piece of waterfowl habitat is in jeopardy,
and your compatriots in the Minneapolis Saint Paul area need
your help. Listen to Noah Myers writes in to tell
me about a historic boat launch on the mississipp called
Bud's Landing. Bud's Landing was built over ninety years ago,
specifically to give duck hunters a good way to access
(22:54):
Spring Lake, which is located just south of Saint Paul
along the Mississippi. It was purchased by de Coda County
in twenty twelve, and now they're working on a four
point six million dollar renovation project to attract more people
to the lake. That's all well and good, but there's
a catch. The County Commission voted last month to barre
duck boats from the launch. Once the renovation is completely,
(23:15):
it will only allow canoes, kayaks, and paddleboards. This is
a big blow to local duck hunters like Noah, who
has not mastered his paddleboard skills. He said in his
email quote. This spot is near and dear to me
because it is where I fell in love with duck
hunting and have been able to really connect with nature,
all while being just fifteen minutes from downtown Saint Paul.
(23:35):
It is one of the only places in the Twin
Cities metro to hunt waterfowl, and it's being stripped for
no good reason. Noah says, there is another launch in
the area, but it's oriented into the wind. It's dangerous.
Two hunters drowned off the launch in the nineties. Banning
duck hunters from Buds landing will create more congestion at
that spot, potentially making it even more dangerous. If you
(23:57):
live in Dakota County, get on the horn with your
local county commissioner. Explain that you have no problem with
the renovation and I are happy to share the launch
with kayakers, but there's no reason to ban duck hunters.
I don't know many paddle boarders who want to go
out for a paddle and sub zero attempts, which is
when most duck hunters love to be out there. This
is a good opportunity to emphasize the name of the
(24:18):
landing bud be a bud buds, duck hunting buds, kayaking buds,
paddle boarding buds, multiple use. Get along gang. That's all
I got for you this week. Thank you so much
for listening. Remember to write in to as case Al
that's Askal at the mere dot com. Let me know
what's going on in your neck of the woods. Thank
you so much. I'll talk to you next week.
Host
Cal Callaghan
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