July 23, 2023 • 22 mins
This week Cal talks about what exactly people mean by hunting approval, Labour Party rallies behind duck hunting, and a Canadian moose ride-along.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
From Mediators World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is
Cal's weekend review, presented by Steel. Steel products are available
only at authorized dealers. For more, go to Steel Dealers
dot com. Now here's your host, Ryan cal Callahan.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
A Canadian man, has been fired from his job after
he says he saved a moose calf from a black bear.
Thanks to everyone who sent me this story. British Columbia
resident Mark Skage told the Canadian Broadcasting Company that he
was traveling in the northern part of the province when
he noticed the female calf alone on the side of
the road. He says he didn't see an adult moose
anywhere in the area, and the calf was nearly hit
(00:44):
by several cars. Skage decided to pull over and try
to scare the moose off the highway, but when he
opened his car door, the moose trotted up and hopped in.
Was this baby moose on a whirlwind hitchhiking tour to
escape her overbearing parents and find her true self? Maybe?
Probably not. Skage says he saw black bear about fifty
(01:04):
yards off the road, and the moose apparently decided that
the strange man in the metal machine looked safer than
the predator in the woods. Kind of a devil you
don't know is better than the devil you do scenario. Anyway,
Skage waited another few minutes for the mother moose to
show up, but eventually decided to keep driving and give
the BC Conservation Officer service a call. He took a
(01:26):
video of the moose riding shotgun, and she looked surprisingly calm,
almost like she'd been waiting her entire life to break
away from her small town existence, spread her wings and
learn how to fly. But her Kelly Clarkson fantasy was
not to be. Skage transferred the caf to conservation officers
and she was taken to a rehab facility several days later.
Skage said he knows that it's usually best to let
(01:48):
nature take its course, but he doesn't regret his decision. Unfortunately,
his employer, AfD Petroleum, Inc. Didn't see it that way,
they said in a statement quote. Instead of reporting the
situation to a conservation officer, the individual made the independent
decision to transport an uninjured moose a wild animal in
the front seat of his company vehicle for many hours.
(02:12):
This not only put the employee and other road users
at risk, but also potentially cause distress and harm to
the moose. Skage was fired from his job and may
have to pay a fine pending a Conservation service investigation,
but he still maintains that he did the right thing.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I'll admit I didn't sit there for half an hour
going over every scenario.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Who led upset or I just went you came for help.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
I gotta give you help now.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Making the mistake of helping the calf moose is very human.
But the big question is should he have been fired
for doing this right calf moose freaks out in the
cockpit of the big rig and sends it kreening off
the road. You know, certainly an argument there. Let me
know what you think at askcl at the meat Eater.
(03:07):
This week we've got pandemic Arkansas access win and survey says.
But first I'm going to tell you about my week.
In My week was real interesting. Old Chat and I
put the hurt on the walleye in the morning, after
a spirited debate of whether or not we'd regret not
taking an additional five minutes that morning to purchase nightcrawlers,
(03:30):
we found ourselves with nobody else around consistently putting fourteen
inch walleyes on ice. I've mentioned these folks before, but
a Colorado company called Biobait makes a bunch of fantastic,
fully biodegradable spbs or soft plastic baits, only they're not plastic,
and the walters were hammering them, mostly in the earth
(03:51):
tone three to four inch swim bait category. Then, after
cleaning the catch and the boat, I rounded up some
friends and family and met the crew of a C
one thirty j gunship when they landed here in Bozeman.
A friend I met through backcountry hunters and anglers, his
son is actually one of the pilots. They invited myself
and filled the engineer. I got to bring my sister
(04:14):
and brother in law and the niece and nephew over
super fun four forty six hundred horsepower turboprop engines, one
hundred and five millimeter howitzer, a thirty millimeter cannon, hell
fire missiles, laser guided bombs, one hundred and seventy five
thousand pound max payload, which by the way, is the
(04:35):
equivalent of roughly thirty five f one P fifty trucks.
And on top of all that, just the sweetest crew
you could ever imagine, which is really awesome. On top
of being hunters and anglers, these guys took almost two
hours at the end of a ten hour day to
answer a bunch of questions and corral little kids as
(04:56):
they crawled through and on everything in the ship. Super cool,
Very proud to have guys like that around for a
lot of reasons. Thank you, guys. A couple of fun
facts for you. That thirty millimeter cannon can fire high
explosive rounds which are about the equivalent to a hand
grenade two hundred times a minute. Actually more than that,
(05:17):
but the barrel will melt down. And the C one
thirty j is the home to the only flying one
hundred and five millimeter field artillery piece, which launches fifty
five pound shells, the recoil of which moves the plane
ten feet, and they can fire six to eight rounds
per minute. It's just wild to think about, it really is, Fellas.
(05:38):
If you're listening, we'll get some fishing in next year.
On top of that, if you are dying of heat
and escaping by dreaming of ducks, flying geese, honking cranes,
and snows faint on cold morning breezes, snort, and I
are right there with you. It's officially too hot right now.
If you want to transport yourself away to Magic Fall scene,
(06:01):
we're gonna help you do that by dropping some of
the brand new twenty twenty three first Light Waterfowl line
on the website here shortly and shortly after that, we'll
be using the stuff. It's gonna be great. Oh. You
know what I should say here is it hasn't happened yet,
but you will be hearing this on the back end
(06:21):
of the Ohio Muster in the Marsh event for Ohio
backcountry hunters and anglers. So I'll just say, hey, thanks
for attending, showing up, rallying for conservation, spending some hard
earned cash, the great conversations, and you know, hopefully some
big old smallmouth pass or something like that. Anyway, moving
on to the Pandemic Desk. It's been a while since
(06:46):
we had an update over at the Pandemic Desk, but
listener and biologist Brian Peterson wrote in to tell me
about a new study that sheds light on one of
our favorite questions from the past few years. Can deer
spread COVID to humans? The study published last week in
the journal Nature Communications, analyzed eighty eight hundred and thirty
samples collected from wild whitetailed deer across twenty six states
(07:09):
and Washington, d c. They concluded that humans transmitted COVID
to deer at least one hundred and nine times, and
deer transmitted COVID back to humans at least three times.
They reached these conclusions by analyzing the strains of the
COVID virus found in these samples and comparing them to
publicly reported samples from databases of human infections around the world.
(07:32):
Scientists clarified in a press release that whitetail deer do
not play a major role in spreading the virus to humans,
but they still want to study deer because they worried
that the animals could act as reservoirs for the disease.
They found that while the omicron variant overwhelmed other variants
in the human population, older versions of the COVID virus
remained active in whitetail that would be the alpha, gamma,
(07:55):
and delta variants you may remember from the early days.
Further study will be necessary to determine whether this could
result in a resurgence of COVID down the road. It's
also worth pointing out that none of the three people
who caught COVID from deer said they had any interaction
with whitetail. The studies' authors say they weren't able to
speculate exactly how that transmission occurred. In other deer disease
(08:20):
related news, biologists at the University of Wisconsin Madison believed
that TICS could be spreading chronic wasting disease among deer
in the Badger State. This study was published in the
journal Scientific Reports, and it concluded that TICS can harbor
transmissible amounts of the protein particle that causes CWD. Biologists
analyzed tics in a lab as well as in the
(08:41):
wild and found that in gorged tics harvested from whitetail
in Wisconsin carry enough CWD preons to infect other deer.
One scientist described the tics as little CWD tic tax
than that cute and horrifying by the way. Deer may
contract the disease from tics because they engage in something
called alo grooming, also called social grooming. This is a
(09:04):
behavior in which young high school students in the bleachers
and social animals clean or maintain one another's body or appearance.
For deer, this means cleaning each other in hard to
reach places and biting insects from one another's hides. It
is theoretically possible that a white tail could contract CWD
from another deer by eating the ticks off its body.
(09:25):
I say theoretically because this study did not investigate this hypothesis.
It only confirmed that ticks contain enough cwdpreons to infect
a deer, not that CWD is actually spread this way. Still,
if this theory proves to be true, tick suppression techniques
could be another arrow in the CWD mitigation quiver. In
(09:46):
that battle, we need all the arrows we can get.
Thanks to listener Ryan van Landet for sending this one.
In moving on to the public land desk, the Arkansas
Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Angler's notched a big win
last week with the land purchase that increased access for
hunters in the state. Board members Brad Green and Scott
(10:07):
Knight led the effort to develop a relationship with the
landowner and eventually purchased one acre of land. That single
acre surrounds a road and gives the public access to
one hundred and three acres of the Cedar Creek Wildlife
Management Area. The purchase also gives the public another access
point to over one hundred and fifty thousand acres of
(10:29):
the Muddy Creek Wildlife Management Area, a cooperatively managed portion
of the Wachidah National Forest. After purchasing the acre, the
Arkansas BHA will donate it to the Arkansas Game and
Fish Commission, which will oversee its management. Prior to this purchase,
the public could only access the Cedar Creek WMA by
the Muddy Creek WMA to the south. That's a serious hike,
(10:52):
and it made accessing Cedar Creek difficult. The current landowner
had allowed access through his property on the northern border
of the WMA, but previous landowners had not been so friendly.
Because the WMA lacked any permanent legal access, hunters and
anglers were forced to rely on the good graces of
whoever happened to own that particular property. As we've covered
(11:13):
on this podcast many times before, relying on land owners
for access to hunting ground is a dangerous proposition. Property
changes ownership all the time, and someone's personal financial trouble
can mean hundreds of outdoor folks can no longer access
their favorite hunting and fishing spots. Arkansas hunters don't have
to worry about that anymore, at least not on the
(11:33):
Cedar Creek. WMA BHA Arkansas Chapter board member James Brandenburg said, quote,
our chapter is grateful for the opportunity to partner with
a willing seller in the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
Securing this access shows what is possible when we put
our minds to solving access problems here in Arkansas. Nice work,
(11:54):
Arkansas BHA. That's amazing, It's a dream. Well done. Now
get out there and enjoy that land you already own.
Moving on to the waterfall desk. Waterfowl seasons are still
a long way off in the US, but duck hunting
is at top of mine. In the Australian state of Victoria,
(12:17):
decades long campaign to ban duck hunting has grown so
strong that the province's trade labor unions are threatening to
strike if the government bans the sport. Thanks to listener
Stu Davis for sending us this story. Yahoo News reported
that the Electrical trade union state Secretary Troy Gray all
but guarantee to strike. Get it tattooed on your arm.
(12:40):
It's gonna happen. It is not a message, it is
not a threat. It's going to happen. How's that for
a quote. Other trade unions for transport workers, plumbers, and
construction workers also said their members are upset about the
ban and will stand behind them if they choose to strike.
A mass walkout would shut down infrastructure project across the
(13:00):
state and would likely be a disaster for the Labor Party,
which currently controls the state government. Of course, it's not
a great sign when you have to rely on labor
unions to fight battles for hunting rights and public access.
The campaign to ban duck hunting in Victoria began all
the way back in the nineteen eighties. The number of
duck hunters has decreased significantly in recent years, and in
(13:21):
twenty twenty two, only eleven, five hundred and forty nine
hunters took part in the season that stretches from March
to July. Meanwhile, sixty six percent of the public opposed
duck hunting, and animal rights groups have grown more powerful
in state government. None of this is good news for
the duck hunting community in Victoria, and they have even
(13:41):
more reason to be concerned. Last year, the government decided
to shorten the season and decrease the bag limit to
just four birds. Government officials described this decision as a
quote precautionary approach. They cited concerns about wounding ducks, poor
behavior by some hunters, and supposed long term decline of
water bird abundance. Wounded ducks are the primary way animal
(14:04):
rights groups have changed public opinion about duck hunting. They
travel to wetlands during the hunting season and supposedly rescued
wounded ducks. They also bring duck carcasses into Melbourne and
use them in street demonstrations in front of Parliament. They
get lots of media attention for stunts like this, and
their tactics are working. We'll see if the labor unions
have enough clout to ward off this year's ban, But
(14:26):
I don't think anyone is hopeful about the long term
future of waterfowl hunting in Australia, which is a real bummer.
But these labor unions could also bring ducks into downtown
Melbourne along with barbecue grills. That, my friends, is the
most effective way to convince people that duck hunting is
a good thing. That and pointing out the loads and
(14:48):
loads of poop on public property. Good luck down under
waiting on my invite. If I can get snort down there,
it'd be a guarantee. Moving on to the survey desk,
speaking of public support for hunting, the Outdoor Stewards of
Conservation Foundation released a survey earlier this month that contained
(15:09):
some concerning trendsfer hunters here in the US. It found
that seventy seven percent of Americans approve of legal hunting.
That's a four percent decline since twenty twenty one, when
eighty one percent of Americans said they either strongly or
moderately approve of the sport. However, contrary to some of
the coverage you may have seen, this year's mark isn't
outside the historical average lower percentages of Americans voice support
(15:33):
for hunting in nineteen ninety five, two thousand and three,
and twenty eleven. This survey has been conducted ten times
since nineteen ninety five, and the average approval rating is
seventy seven percent, so exactly what it was this year.
What's more, eighty six percent of US residents agreed that
regardless of their opinion on hunting, it is okay for
(15:55):
others to hunt if it is done in accordance with
laws and regulations. Only nine percent disagreed that doesn't mean
everything is hunky dory. While approving numbers are down a bit,
disapproval numbers are about one and a half points above average.
Seventeen percent of Americans said they either strongly or moderately
disapproved of legal hunting, which is higher than the average
(16:17):
of fifteen point six percent since nineteen ninety five. The
survey also showed a drop in support for some of
the most common reasons hunters go out into the field.
Approval of hunting quote for the meat drop from eighty
four to seventy five percent between twenty twenty one and
this year. Approval for hunting for wildlife management dropped by
(16:38):
five points, and approval for hunting to protect humans from
harm drop by seven points. To protect humans from harm,
for wildlife management, and for meat are the top three
most approved reasons for hunting. I won't bore you with
a full rundown of all the data. It's super interesting,
but you can look it up for yourself. In an
article by Eli Fournier at the Meat Eater dot com,
(17:00):
I'll leave you with just a few interesting observations. Deer, turkey, rabbits,
and ducks top the list of species that Americans are
okay with being hunted, while elephants, lions, and cougars are
at the bottom. Strangely, Americans voice to higher approval for
hunting black bears than hunting mourning doves, which throws a
wrench in the idea that we care more about animals
(17:20):
with eyelashes. Sixty four percent of the survey respondents said
they consider themselves conservationists, but only fifty five percent of
non hunters said they'd ever taken trash that wasn't theirs
out of the woods. Among hunters, anglers, shooters, and trappers,
on the other hand, eighty percent said they'd picked up
someone else's trash and disposed of it themselves. Good work everyone,
(17:43):
That's what I like to hear. Don't stop working, you
got plenty to do. Moving on to the overseas desk.
While Australia considers a band on duck hunting, some folks
in the United Kingdom think it's time to start eating
more venison. There are more deer on the Bridge Isles
than at any point in history, according to experts who
(18:03):
spoke with the English newspaper I News between native species
such as red deer and invasive species like muntjack. Biologists
believe there are over two million deer on the islands.
To put that in perspective, Oregon, which is just a
little larger than the UK, only has about four hundred
thousand deer. Virginia, another place biologists say is overrun with deer,
(18:25):
has less than one million. While some deer species are
a natural part of the UK's ecosystem, too many deer
can threaten woodland landscapes without any natural predators. These populations
have grown out of control, which is why about three
hundred and fifty thousand deer are called every year. Even
though three hundred and fifty thousand animals is a lot,
(18:46):
it's still not enough, so the Forestry Commission and the
government are working on a solution. Right now, it doesn't
make economic sense for grocery stores and butchers to stock venison.
The health and safety standards are too high. Most venison
sales are direct to consumer through specialist butchers and restaurants.
But DEFRA that's the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,
(19:09):
recently announced a new industry standard known as quote wild
Venison Quality Assurance Scheme. This new health standard is safe
for consumers, but it will help big grocery stores more
easily stock wild British venison. The government also has some
pr work to do. Grocery stores can stock all the
venison they want, but if the public still believes venison
(19:31):
tastes harsh and gamey, they'll still have a dear problem.
Changing public opinion can be even more difficult than changing
government regulations, but right now it looks like the British
government doesn't have much choice. Moving on to the snake desk,
a group of python hunters in Florida just bagged what
some say is the longest Burmese python ever captured in
(19:53):
the US. The giant female snake clocked in at nineteen
feet and weighed one hundred and twenty five pounds. The
previous record was eighteen feet nine inches. Twenty two year
old Jake Wallery found the snake in the Big Cypress
National Preserve, and like any self respecting twenty two year old,
he made sure someone filmed the catch and posted it
to social media. If you want to check it out
(20:15):
for yourself, search Glades Boys Python Adventures on the Old Instagram.
Here's Jake describing what happened that night.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
And then around one o'clock in the morning, we stumbled
upon this giant snake that I thought was just a
good sized snake of first, maybe ten feet, and then
we cruised up real close to it and I realized
it was an absolute monster. And we wrestled this thing
for about three minutes before I got a hold of
the head. It was a fight, and it was a
good one, definitely want to remember.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Jake and his crew are donating the snake to the
Conservancy of Southwest Florida so biologists there can learn more
about the python population in the Florida Everglades. The invasive
species is a huge problem in the area, and despite
the best efforts of python hunters, biologists believed the population
is not only stable but growing. Still can't hurt to
get this giant female off the landscape. The average Burmese
(21:06):
python lays about fifty eggs, but they can lay as
many as one hundred in a single clutch. In fact,
another python record was set in Florida this month when
a snake was captured in the Everglades with the nest
containing one hundred and eleven eggs. The capture was carried
out by a contractor working for the state's Python Action
Team Removing Invasive Constrictors, or Patrick for short. If you'd
(21:31):
like to catch a record breaking Python of your own,
there may be some money in it. The twenty twenty
three Florida Python Challenge is running from August fourth to
August thirteen, and cash prizes are going to the folks
who remove the most snakes from the Everglades and for
the longest snake cot To register, just search Florida Python
Challenge on the old Google machine. That's all I got
(21:52):
for you this week. Thank you so much for listening,
and remember to write in to ask cl that's Asscal
at the meat Eat dot com and let me know
what's going on in your neck of the woods. On
top of that, hit up www dot steel Dealers dot
com to find a local, knowledgeable steel dealer near you.
They're gonna get you set up with what you need
and they're not gonna try to send you home with
(22:13):
what you don't. Thanks again and I'll talk to you
next week.
From Mediators World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is
Cal's weekend review, presented by Steel. Steel products are available
only at authorized dealers. For more, go to Steel Dealers
dot com. Now here's your host, Ryan cal Callahan.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
A Canadian man, has been fired from his job after
he says he saved a moose calf from a black bear.
Thanks to everyone who sent me this story. British Columbia
resident Mark Skage told the Canadian Broadcasting Company that he
was traveling in the northern part of the province when
he noticed the female calf alone on the side of
the road. He says he didn't see an adult moose
anywhere in the area, and the calf was nearly hit
(00:44):
by several cars. Skage decided to pull over and try
to scare the moose off the highway, but when he
opened his car door, the moose trotted up and hopped in.
Was this baby moose on a whirlwind hitchhiking tour to
escape her overbearing parents and find her true self? Maybe?
Probably not. Skage says he saw black bear about fifty
(01:04):
yards off the road, and the moose apparently decided that
the strange man in the metal machine looked safer than
the predator in the woods. Kind of a devil you
don't know is better than the devil you do scenario. Anyway,
Skage waited another few minutes for the mother moose to
show up, but eventually decided to keep driving and give
the BC Conservation Officer service a call. He took a
(01:26):
video of the moose riding shotgun, and she looked surprisingly calm,
almost like she'd been waiting her entire life to break
away from her small town existence, spread her wings and
learn how to fly. But her Kelly Clarkson fantasy was
not to be. Skage transferred the caf to conservation officers
and she was taken to a rehab facility several days later.
Skage said he knows that it's usually best to let
(01:48):
nature take its course, but he doesn't regret his decision. Unfortunately,
his employer, AfD Petroleum, Inc. Didn't see it that way,
they said in a statement quote. Instead of reporting the
situation to a conservation officer, the individual made the independent
decision to transport an uninjured moose a wild animal in
the front seat of his company vehicle for many hours.
(02:12):
This not only put the employee and other road users
at risk, but also potentially cause distress and harm to
the moose. Skage was fired from his job and may
have to pay a fine pending a Conservation service investigation,
but he still maintains that he did the right thing.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I'll admit I didn't sit there for half an hour
going over every scenario.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Who led upset or I just went you came for help.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
I gotta give you help now.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Making the mistake of helping the calf moose is very human.
But the big question is should he have been fired
for doing this right calf moose freaks out in the
cockpit of the big rig and sends it kreening off
the road. You know, certainly an argument there. Let me
know what you think at askcl at the meat Eater.
(03:07):
This week we've got pandemic Arkansas access win and survey says.
But first I'm going to tell you about my week.
In My week was real interesting. Old Chat and I
put the hurt on the walleye in the morning, after
a spirited debate of whether or not we'd regret not
taking an additional five minutes that morning to purchase nightcrawlers,
(03:30):
we found ourselves with nobody else around consistently putting fourteen
inch walleyes on ice. I've mentioned these folks before, but
a Colorado company called Biobait makes a bunch of fantastic,
fully biodegradable spbs or soft plastic baits, only they're not plastic,
and the walters were hammering them, mostly in the earth
(03:51):
tone three to four inch swim bait category. Then, after
cleaning the catch and the boat, I rounded up some
friends and family and met the crew of a C
one thirty j gunship when they landed here in Bozeman.
A friend I met through backcountry hunters and anglers, his
son is actually one of the pilots. They invited myself
and filled the engineer. I got to bring my sister
(04:14):
and brother in law and the niece and nephew over
super fun four forty six hundred horsepower turboprop engines, one
hundred and five millimeter howitzer, a thirty millimeter cannon, hell
fire missiles, laser guided bombs, one hundred and seventy five
thousand pound max payload, which by the way, is the
(04:35):
equivalent of roughly thirty five f one P fifty trucks.
And on top of all that, just the sweetest crew
you could ever imagine, which is really awesome. On top
of being hunters and anglers, these guys took almost two
hours at the end of a ten hour day to
answer a bunch of questions and corral little kids as
(04:56):
they crawled through and on everything in the ship. Super cool,
Very proud to have guys like that around for a
lot of reasons. Thank you, guys. A couple of fun
facts for you. That thirty millimeter cannon can fire high
explosive rounds which are about the equivalent to a hand
grenade two hundred times a minute. Actually more than that,
(05:17):
but the barrel will melt down. And the C one
thirty j is the home to the only flying one
hundred and five millimeter field artillery piece, which launches fifty
five pound shells, the recoil of which moves the plane
ten feet, and they can fire six to eight rounds
per minute. It's just wild to think about, it really is, Fellas.
(05:38):
If you're listening, we'll get some fishing in next year.
On top of that, if you are dying of heat
and escaping by dreaming of ducks, flying geese, honking cranes,
and snows faint on cold morning breezes, snort, and I
are right there with you. It's officially too hot right now.
If you want to transport yourself away to Magic Fall scene,
(06:01):
we're gonna help you do that by dropping some of
the brand new twenty twenty three first Light Waterfowl line
on the website here shortly and shortly after that, we'll
be using the stuff. It's gonna be great. Oh. You
know what I should say here is it hasn't happened yet,
but you will be hearing this on the back end
(06:21):
of the Ohio Muster in the Marsh event for Ohio
backcountry hunters and anglers. So I'll just say, hey, thanks
for attending, showing up, rallying for conservation, spending some hard
earned cash, the great conversations, and you know, hopefully some
big old smallmouth pass or something like that. Anyway, moving
on to the Pandemic Desk. It's been a while since
(06:46):
we had an update over at the Pandemic Desk, but
listener and biologist Brian Peterson wrote in to tell me
about a new study that sheds light on one of
our favorite questions from the past few years. Can deer
spread COVID to humans? The study published last week in
the journal Nature Communications, analyzed eighty eight hundred and thirty
samples collected from wild whitetailed deer across twenty six states
(07:09):
and Washington, d c. They concluded that humans transmitted COVID
to deer at least one hundred and nine times, and
deer transmitted COVID back to humans at least three times.
They reached these conclusions by analyzing the strains of the
COVID virus found in these samples and comparing them to
publicly reported samples from databases of human infections around the world.
(07:32):
Scientists clarified in a press release that whitetail deer do
not play a major role in spreading the virus to humans,
but they still want to study deer because they worried
that the animals could act as reservoirs for the disease.
They found that while the omicron variant overwhelmed other variants
in the human population, older versions of the COVID virus
remained active in whitetail that would be the alpha, gamma,
(07:55):
and delta variants you may remember from the early days.
Further study will be necessary to determine whether this could
result in a resurgence of COVID down the road. It's
also worth pointing out that none of the three people
who caught COVID from deer said they had any interaction
with whitetail. The studies' authors say they weren't able to
speculate exactly how that transmission occurred. In other deer disease
(08:20):
related news, biologists at the University of Wisconsin Madison believed
that TICS could be spreading chronic wasting disease among deer
in the Badger State. This study was published in the
journal Scientific Reports, and it concluded that TICS can harbor
transmissible amounts of the protein particle that causes CWD. Biologists
analyzed tics in a lab as well as in the
(08:41):
wild and found that in gorged tics harvested from whitetail
in Wisconsin carry enough CWD preons to infect other deer.
One scientist described the tics as little CWD tic tax
than that cute and horrifying by the way. Deer may
contract the disease from tics because they engage in something
called alo grooming, also called social grooming. This is a
(09:04):
behavior in which young high school students in the bleachers
and social animals clean or maintain one another's body or appearance.
For deer, this means cleaning each other in hard to
reach places and biting insects from one another's hides. It
is theoretically possible that a white tail could contract CWD
from another deer by eating the ticks off its body.
(09:25):
I say theoretically because this study did not investigate this hypothesis.
It only confirmed that ticks contain enough cwdpreons to infect
a deer, not that CWD is actually spread this way. Still,
if this theory proves to be true, tick suppression techniques
could be another arrow in the CWD mitigation quiver. In
(09:46):
that battle, we need all the arrows we can get.
Thanks to listener Ryan van Landet for sending this one.
In moving on to the public land desk, the Arkansas
Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Angler's notched a big win
last week with the land purchase that increased access for
hunters in the state. Board members Brad Green and Scott
(10:07):
Knight led the effort to develop a relationship with the
landowner and eventually purchased one acre of land. That single
acre surrounds a road and gives the public access to
one hundred and three acres of the Cedar Creek Wildlife
Management Area. The purchase also gives the public another access
point to over one hundred and fifty thousand acres of
(10:29):
the Muddy Creek Wildlife Management Area, a cooperatively managed portion
of the Wachidah National Forest. After purchasing the acre, the
Arkansas BHA will donate it to the Arkansas Game and
Fish Commission, which will oversee its management. Prior to this purchase,
the public could only access the Cedar Creek WMA by
the Muddy Creek WMA to the south. That's a serious hike,
(10:52):
and it made accessing Cedar Creek difficult. The current landowner
had allowed access through his property on the northern border
of the WMA, but previous landowners had not been so friendly.
Because the WMA lacked any permanent legal access, hunters and
anglers were forced to rely on the good graces of
whoever happened to own that particular property. As we've covered
(11:13):
on this podcast many times before, relying on land owners
for access to hunting ground is a dangerous proposition. Property
changes ownership all the time, and someone's personal financial trouble
can mean hundreds of outdoor folks can no longer access
their favorite hunting and fishing spots. Arkansas hunters don't have
to worry about that anymore, at least not on the
(11:33):
Cedar Creek. WMA BHA Arkansas Chapter board member James Brandenburg said, quote,
our chapter is grateful for the opportunity to partner with
a willing seller in the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
Securing this access shows what is possible when we put
our minds to solving access problems here in Arkansas. Nice work,
(11:54):
Arkansas BHA. That's amazing, It's a dream. Well done. Now
get out there and enjoy that land you already own.
Moving on to the waterfall desk. Waterfowl seasons are still
a long way off in the US, but duck hunting
is at top of mine. In the Australian state of Victoria,
(12:17):
decades long campaign to ban duck hunting has grown so
strong that the province's trade labor unions are threatening to
strike if the government bans the sport. Thanks to listener
Stu Davis for sending us this story. Yahoo News reported
that the Electrical trade union state Secretary Troy Gray all
but guarantee to strike. Get it tattooed on your arm.
(12:40):
It's gonna happen. It is not a message, it is
not a threat. It's going to happen. How's that for
a quote. Other trade unions for transport workers, plumbers, and
construction workers also said their members are upset about the
ban and will stand behind them if they choose to strike.
A mass walkout would shut down infrastructure project across the
(13:00):
state and would likely be a disaster for the Labor Party,
which currently controls the state government. Of course, it's not
a great sign when you have to rely on labor
unions to fight battles for hunting rights and public access.
The campaign to ban duck hunting in Victoria began all
the way back in the nineteen eighties. The number of
duck hunters has decreased significantly in recent years, and in
(13:21):
twenty twenty two, only eleven, five hundred and forty nine
hunters took part in the season that stretches from March
to July. Meanwhile, sixty six percent of the public opposed
duck hunting, and animal rights groups have grown more powerful
in state government. None of this is good news for
the duck hunting community in Victoria, and they have even
(13:41):
more reason to be concerned. Last year, the government decided
to shorten the season and decrease the bag limit to
just four birds. Government officials described this decision as a
quote precautionary approach. They cited concerns about wounding ducks, poor
behavior by some hunters, and supposed long term decline of
water bird abundance. Wounded ducks are the primary way animal
(14:04):
rights groups have changed public opinion about duck hunting. They
travel to wetlands during the hunting season and supposedly rescued
wounded ducks. They also bring duck carcasses into Melbourne and
use them in street demonstrations in front of Parliament. They
get lots of media attention for stunts like this, and
their tactics are working. We'll see if the labor unions
have enough clout to ward off this year's ban, But
(14:26):
I don't think anyone is hopeful about the long term
future of waterfowl hunting in Australia, which is a real bummer.
But these labor unions could also bring ducks into downtown
Melbourne along with barbecue grills. That, my friends, is the
most effective way to convince people that duck hunting is
a good thing. That and pointing out the loads and
(14:48):
loads of poop on public property. Good luck down under
waiting on my invite. If I can get snort down there,
it'd be a guarantee. Moving on to the survey desk,
speaking of public support for hunting, the Outdoor Stewards of
Conservation Foundation released a survey earlier this month that contained
(15:09):
some concerning trendsfer hunters here in the US. It found
that seventy seven percent of Americans approve of legal hunting.
That's a four percent decline since twenty twenty one, when
eighty one percent of Americans said they either strongly or
moderately approve of the sport. However, contrary to some of
the coverage you may have seen, this year's mark isn't
outside the historical average lower percentages of Americans voice support
(15:33):
for hunting in nineteen ninety five, two thousand and three,
and twenty eleven. This survey has been conducted ten times
since nineteen ninety five, and the average approval rating is
seventy seven percent, so exactly what it was this year.
What's more, eighty six percent of US residents agreed that
regardless of their opinion on hunting, it is okay for
(15:55):
others to hunt if it is done in accordance with
laws and regulations. Only nine percent disagreed that doesn't mean
everything is hunky dory. While approving numbers are down a bit,
disapproval numbers are about one and a half points above average.
Seventeen percent of Americans said they either strongly or moderately
disapproved of legal hunting, which is higher than the average
(16:17):
of fifteen point six percent since nineteen ninety five. The
survey also showed a drop in support for some of
the most common reasons hunters go out into the field.
Approval of hunting quote for the meat drop from eighty
four to seventy five percent between twenty twenty one and
this year. Approval for hunting for wildlife management dropped by
(16:38):
five points, and approval for hunting to protect humans from
harm drop by seven points. To protect humans from harm,
for wildlife management, and for meat are the top three
most approved reasons for hunting. I won't bore you with
a full rundown of all the data. It's super interesting,
but you can look it up for yourself. In an
article by Eli Fournier at the Meat Eater dot com,
(17:00):
I'll leave you with just a few interesting observations. Deer, turkey, rabbits,
and ducks top the list of species that Americans are
okay with being hunted, while elephants, lions, and cougars are
at the bottom. Strangely, Americans voice to higher approval for
hunting black bears than hunting mourning doves, which throws a
wrench in the idea that we care more about animals
(17:20):
with eyelashes. Sixty four percent of the survey respondents said
they consider themselves conservationists, but only fifty five percent of
non hunters said they'd ever taken trash that wasn't theirs
out of the woods. Among hunters, anglers, shooters, and trappers,
on the other hand, eighty percent said they'd picked up
someone else's trash and disposed of it themselves. Good work everyone,
(17:43):
That's what I like to hear. Don't stop working, you
got plenty to do. Moving on to the overseas desk.
While Australia considers a band on duck hunting, some folks
in the United Kingdom think it's time to start eating
more venison. There are more deer on the Bridge Isles
than at any point in history, according to experts who
(18:03):
spoke with the English newspaper I News between native species
such as red deer and invasive species like muntjack. Biologists
believe there are over two million deer on the islands.
To put that in perspective, Oregon, which is just a
little larger than the UK, only has about four hundred
thousand deer. Virginia, another place biologists say is overrun with deer,
(18:25):
has less than one million. While some deer species are
a natural part of the UK's ecosystem, too many deer
can threaten woodland landscapes without any natural predators. These populations
have grown out of control, which is why about three
hundred and fifty thousand deer are called every year. Even
though three hundred and fifty thousand animals is a lot,
(18:46):
it's still not enough, so the Forestry Commission and the
government are working on a solution. Right now, it doesn't
make economic sense for grocery stores and butchers to stock venison.
The health and safety standards are too high. Most venison
sales are direct to consumer through specialist butchers and restaurants.
But DEFRA that's the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,
(19:09):
recently announced a new industry standard known as quote wild
Venison Quality Assurance Scheme. This new health standard is safe
for consumers, but it will help big grocery stores more
easily stock wild British venison. The government also has some
pr work to do. Grocery stores can stock all the
venison they want, but if the public still believes venison
(19:31):
tastes harsh and gamey, they'll still have a dear problem.
Changing public opinion can be even more difficult than changing
government regulations, but right now it looks like the British
government doesn't have much choice. Moving on to the snake desk,
a group of python hunters in Florida just bagged what
some say is the longest Burmese python ever captured in
(19:53):
the US. The giant female snake clocked in at nineteen
feet and weighed one hundred and twenty five pounds. The
previous record was eighteen feet nine inches. Twenty two year
old Jake Wallery found the snake in the Big Cypress
National Preserve, and like any self respecting twenty two year old,
he made sure someone filmed the catch and posted it
to social media. If you want to check it out
(20:15):
for yourself, search Glades Boys Python Adventures on the Old Instagram.
Here's Jake describing what happened that night.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
And then around one o'clock in the morning, we stumbled
upon this giant snake that I thought was just a
good sized snake of first, maybe ten feet, and then
we cruised up real close to it and I realized
it was an absolute monster. And we wrestled this thing
for about three minutes before I got a hold of
the head. It was a fight, and it was a
good one, definitely want to remember.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Jake and his crew are donating the snake to the
Conservancy of Southwest Florida so biologists there can learn more
about the python population in the Florida Everglades. The invasive
species is a huge problem in the area, and despite
the best efforts of python hunters, biologists believed the population
is not only stable but growing. Still can't hurt to
get this giant female off the landscape. The average Burmese
(21:06):
python lays about fifty eggs, but they can lay as
many as one hundred in a single clutch. In fact,
another python record was set in Florida this month when
a snake was captured in the Everglades with the nest
containing one hundred and eleven eggs. The capture was carried
out by a contractor working for the state's Python Action
Team Removing Invasive Constrictors, or Patrick for short. If you'd
(21:31):
like to catch a record breaking Python of your own,
there may be some money in it. The twenty twenty
three Florida Python Challenge is running from August fourth to
August thirteen, and cash prizes are going to the folks
who remove the most snakes from the Everglades and for
the longest snake cot To register, just search Florida Python
Challenge on the old Google machine. That's all I got
(21:52):
for you this week. Thank you so much for listening,
and remember to write in to ask cl that's Asscal
at the meat Eat dot com and let me know
what's going on in your neck of the woods. On
top of that, hit up www dot steel Dealers dot
com to find a local, knowledgeable steel dealer near you.
They're gonna get you set up with what you need
and they're not gonna try to send you home with
(22:13):
what you don't. Thanks again and I'll talk to you
next week.
Host
Cal Callaghan
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