August 20, 2023 • 23 mins
This week Cal talks about cocaine fishing, the Maui fire, and whether we should ban inner tubes on rivers for public safety.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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):
The mayor of Tampa Bay, made international news last week
after she hooked into a million bucks worth of cocaine
on a fishing trip in the Florida Keys. Tampa Bay
Mayor Jane Caster told local media that she and her
family were fishing for lobster and mahi mahi when her
brother spotted something floating in the water. Hoping to find
fish in the shadow of the debris, they went to investigate.
(00:43):
Castor is a former narcotics officer, but it didn't take
a narco to notice something fishy about the tightly wrapped
packages of white powder. The plastic wrapping had started to decay,
but they could still make out an image of a
blue and purple butterfly on each. They found twenty four
kilos in total, which equal about seventy pounds of snow,
valued around one point one million bucks. The mayor and
(01:05):
her family brought the coke back to shore and called
the local Sheriff's Office US Border Patrol took the narcotics
into custody, and you can find images of the bales
of sneeze online. This isn't the first time a keel
full of nose candy was found in the ocean. In
April of this year, law enforcement found nearly four hundred
and forty million dollars worth of cocaine in Italian waters,
(01:25):
and in February, authorities in New Zealand seized more than
three tons of cocaine floating in the ocean. So while
it might seem a little coincidental that a former police
officer and current mayor of a major American city just
happened to find a bale of blow in the ocean,
international drug dealers apparently have a tough time securing their
bump on their boats. Now, before we get serious on
(01:46):
this story, let's just clear the air here. Common slang
terms for cocaine, according to American Addiction Centers dot Org,
would be blow, bump, see your big sea, coke, crack,
dust flake, the line, nosecandy, pearl, rail, snow, sneeze, sniff, speedball, toot,
and white rock. All right, if I missed any, don't
bother sending it in unless it's really funny. Anyway, if
(02:11):
you are wondering what cocaine does to fish, I could
find exactly one study that was published in the journal
Toxicology in twenty sixteen. That study involved zebrafish dancing with
the White Lady, and in that study, it would suggest
that fishing underleaking bales of booger sugar out in the
ocean could be unproductive, as cocaine largely bypassed the zebrafish's
(02:36):
brains and accumulated in their eyeballs in quantities large enough
to kill them. What causes hyperactivity in humans through the
ingestion of cocaine appeared to cause the zebrafish to become
less active, which means it would be a slow bite
under a bale of cocaine. So here's a takeaway one.
If you're looking at floating bales of blow, you may
(02:58):
want to skip over them and fish more traditional celt
patties because the bite's going to be slow. And if
you do keep a fish that you caught underneath a
bail of disintegrating cocaine in the big blue, you may
want to skip eating the eyeballs kind of swim here
with wasting big enough for you or something like that.
Huh problem buddy, huh huh do you do you? Do
(03:21):
you one piece of meat?
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, I'm scared. Now. This week we've got animal attacks,
legal eese, citizens, science, and so much more. But first
I'm going to tell you about my week, and my
week was great. Met up with Hayden Hansen, the fine
gentleman who won the get Ready for the Season auction
at BHA Rendezvous. We headed over to the weather Be
Factory and Shared in Wyoming, where we met the crew
(03:44):
on the factory floor, had all of our production line
questions answered. Then we zeroed in some different rifle combinations,
headed out to the range and rang steel all the
way out to one thousand yards. Then we switched gears
and busted clays with the new Weatherby side by sides,
which are amazing. We even got to tinker around with
some stuff that's not released yet. Had a great time,
(04:04):
and old Hayden is having a brand spanking new custom
three to oh seven topped with a Vortex razor LHT
ship to his nearest FFL, So be on the lookout
for that package this next rendezvous. Hayden told me he's
probably gonna try to buy it again. It's a ton
of fun, you'll be more prepared for the season ahead,
and the cash goes to protecting access to public lands
(04:27):
and wildlife. And if you haven't noticed, this year's land
Access Initiative project is up and a running. We've found
a really amazing place on the Lower Yellowstone here in Montana,
big old Cottonwood bottoms home to big game, small game,
migratory and upland birds. It's truly an incredible place, and
(04:47):
the fishing will blow your socks off too. I just
cannot believe there are still people out there who will
turn down big money to help provide more access to
hunting and fishing. This particular owner did just that in
order to preserve his property for the use of generations
of outdoors people to come. So, if you want to
contribute to increasing the areas of hunting and fishing in
(05:10):
this great country, you can head over to the Meat
Eater auction House of Oddities and place a bid on
something cool and unique. We are adding a surprise round
of items just for you. You can always round up
for conservation after making a purchase at the meat eater
dot com, as well as donating directly to this project
in a text deductible fashion by sending a good old
(05:32):
fashioned check to my friends at Pheasants Forever Dash, Montana
build a wildlife area at seventeen eighty three burkl Circle
still can't pronounce that b U E r K L
E Circle, Saint Paul, Minnesota five five one one zero
and last, but not least, before we move on, I
(05:52):
do want to call out that we will cover some
portions of the Maui will fire situation on this episode.
I and we at meat Ea have had so much
fun in the state of Hawaii. I have a bunch
of friends on Maui who have shared so much with
me over the years, killer experiences, family dinner tables, fishing
and hunting spots, local knowledge, and just super limited in
(06:15):
how we can help from my landlocked state of Montana.
It's crappy feeling after lots of texting, there's some great
options for you to help by sending donations. You can
find those options at link tree slash Canoe Patch that's
l I n K t R dot ee forward slash
(06:36):
KA n P A c H. There you will find
the Maui Strong Fund, as well as a lot of
direct venmo options for displays families. Moving on to the
animal desk. Animal attacks are frequent on this here podcast,
but this week some of the strangest encounters I've heard
(06:58):
of occurred. At the top of the list is a
freak accident that many people have heard of but may
not have happened before. A sixty four year old Texas
woman named Peggy Jones was mowing her lawn in late
July when a snake landed on her arm. We aren't
sure what type of snake it was for reasons that
will be clear in a minute, but she told local
media that the serpent wrapped itself around her arm, struck
(07:20):
at her face, and spewed venom on her glasses. She
flung her arm around trying to get the snake off,
but it hung on for dear life. Moments later, another
animal entered the fray, a hawk, which Jones believed had
been carrying the snake through the air. The hawks circled
back to retrieve its dinner. It swooped at Jones four times,
clawing at her arm and trying to get the snake
to release. After a few more hectic moments, the hawk
(07:42):
managed to pry the reptile off of Jones's arm and
fly away. The woman suffered puncture wounds, cuts, abrasions, scratches,
and severe bruising. She was given antibiotics at the hospital,
but it sounds like the mental injuries are worse than
the physical ones. Hey, at least he got a great
excuse to not mow the yard. She told CBS News
that she's slept eight hours in the last two weeks
(08:04):
and she wakes up feeling panicked, which is understandable. Another
odd animal attack took place last month in the western
Ontario town of Sioux Lookout. A lynx reportedly sent someone
to the hospital after a run in around eleven thirty
in the evening. Officials haven't released much additional information, but
this story caught my eye because of how rare it
is for a links to even be seen by a human,
(08:26):
much less attack one. In fact, this may be the
first recorded LINKS attack on a human in North America.
It's not hard to find reports of links attacking chickens
or dogs, but a wildlife biologist with Alaskaficient game told
the Anchorage Daily News that no one in North America
has ever documented a Lynx attack on a person. It's
unclear what motivated this specific attack, but Ontario officials urge
(08:49):
residents to avoid leaving food outside, install motion activated lights,
and never run from a cat or a couple of
things you can do. By now, you've probably heard about
the otter attack that took place in Montana a few
weeks ago. Three women were attacked while floating in inner
tubes on the Jefferson River and one of them had
to be airlifted to the hospital. You can read more
(09:10):
details and check out the grizzly images for yourself on
the meat eater dot com, which I'm just gonna say it.
Quit floating rivers and inner tubes. Just leave those rivers
for the hunting and angling crowd. Okay. Now, some ranchers
are using the attack to push for more aggressive otter management.
The Cowboys State Daily interviewed several Wyoming residents who say
(09:32):
the otter population has grown too large. They say conflicts
between otters and humans are on the rise, and they
want to see Wyoming legalize otter trapping. One of the
ranchers said, quote, they're getting aggressive. They're not afraid of humans.
It's no different than the friggin Grizzly bears. I can
think of a few differences, but I've also never been
attacked by an otter, so who can really say for sure?
(09:54):
Limited to otter trapping takes place in Montana and Idaho,
along with several other states, but Wyoming Game and Fish
says the population isn't robust enough to handle a trapping season.
Moving on to the legal desk, New Mexico Attorney General
Raoul Torres announced last week that his office would be
aggressively investigating landowners who block access to public waterways. Last year,
(10:18):
the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that the public could
weigh down the beds of rivers and streams even if
they passed through private property. Prior to this ruling, the
New Mexico Game Commission had issued permits to some private
landowners allowing them to fence off stream access in a
direct violation of the state constitution. The court decision invalidated
those permits and told landowners they'd have to remove the
(10:40):
barriers and let the public through. But Attorney General Torres
said in a press release that his office is receiving
reports from anglers of rivers and streams that remained blocked.
They took photographs of barbed wire and other types of
fencing stretching across streams and impeding access. The AG's office
says they've even received reports of barbed wire at or
below the water level, which is obviously a serious public
(11:03):
safety hazard. In response to these reports, Torres reaffirmed that quote,
these waters belong to the people of the state, and
we stand ready to use every available tool to ensure
public access to these natural resources. Good on your New Mexico.
In other legal news, as I mentioned a few weeks ago,
the judge in the Wyoming Corner Crossing case has ruled
(11:24):
again in favor of the Corner Crossers. This time he
rejected a motion by Ironbar Holdings to stay his ruling
while the case works its way through the appeals court.
You can read the full ruling for yourself at the
medieater dot com forward slash cal but I wanted to
highlight a message the judge sent to public land hunters again.
Lawyers for Ironbar Holdings argue that the judge should stay
(11:47):
his previous ruling because their client is at risk of
irreparable harm if the ruling is not put on hold.
Remember that in the original decision, judge Scott Scovdahl said
there is no liability for trespass as long as hunters
cross between corners of public land in a checkerboard pattern
and do not set foot on or damage private property.
(12:09):
Lawyers for Ironbar Holdings say their client is at risk
of irreparable harm because he has received calls, emails, and
mail that contain threatening or abusive language. Apparently, some folks
aren't happy that Ironbar Holdings and its owner, fred Eshlman
sued the corner crossers, and they've sent nasty messages to
him and his employees. The judge called these messages immature, improper,
(12:31):
and potentially subject to legal action. While he rejected the
argument that these messages had much to do with his ruling,
he did have a direct message to hunters who might
be tempted to harass Eshelman and his employees. Quote. This
Court's decision should not be perceived as a license or
opportunity to engage in malevolence or vitriolic conduct against plaintiff's owner,
(12:53):
Plaintiff's employees, or anyone else. The Court has faith that
the general public recognizes and respects the life, egal process
and rights determined defined and protected through the judicial system,
not vigilanteism. In other words, don't give Eshelmann or any
other landowner a hard time about corner crossing. In fact,
(13:13):
part of the reason the Missouri corner crossers won their
case is because they didn't engage in this kind of harassment.
Judge Skovdahl emphasizes that those hunters never acted in a
threatening or aggressive manner, which is a big reason they
won their case in the first place. Conflicts between you
and a landowner aren't just about you and that landowner.
You are a representative of the hunting and fishing community,
(13:35):
and you never know who else that conflict could impact.
Moving on to the science desk, the Wisconsin Department of
Natural Resources is asking for the public's help collecting data
on white tailed deer and game birds. Hunters and other
members of the public can download an app and record
(13:56):
their observations of deer and birds in August and September.
The process is really simple and doesn't cost a thing.
You just download the Survey one two three app, scan
the QR code on the DNR website, and record your observations.
The agency asks participants to record things like number of animals, location,
and sex. The DNR uses this data to estimate population density,
(14:18):
population change over time, and the ratios between adults and young. Ultimately,
this information is used to inform game management plans, which
determine seasons, bag limits, and other rags that hunters should
care about. The more folks participate, the more data the
DNR can collect, and the better decisions they can make.
We'll post a link with a sign up info at
the meeater dot com forward slash cal The Boone and
(14:42):
Crocket Club is also asking for the public's help to
get a window into the minds of poachers. They've partnered
with the Wildlife Management Institute and university researchers to investigate
what motivates people to poach animals and how often they
do so. They're interested in big game poaching of deer,
black bear, brown bear, elk, turkey, mountain lion, and several
other species. Respondents will fill out a brief online survey,
(15:05):
and they may also be contacted for longer follow up interview.
Whether you've accidentally shouted deer out of season or you
are a hardened wildlife criminal, the Boon and Crockett would
love to hear from you. They assure respondents that their
information will be held securely and destroyed after the completion
of the study. So I don't believe this is some
kind of elaborate sting operation. And if you're skeptical that
(15:25):
poachers would volunteer to tell someone else about their crimes,
consider this. Poachers, like many criminals, love to brag about
their exploits and they love to eliminate the competition too,
So that's why game wardens love Facebook. Maybe instead of
posting on Instagram about the Bucky spotlighted, you use your
experience to do some good in the world. You can't
(15:46):
put that deer back in the forest, but maybe you
can help game wardens figure out better ways to keep
others from making the same choices. Jumping over to Minnesota
in the same survey situation, you may remember back in
an episode, I told you about a campaign to protect
native so called rough fish in Minnesota. Rough fish can
be native to an area, but for whatever reason, aren't
(16:08):
considered a cool and people don't want to eat them,
and they just kind of get labeled as trash fish.
Right There isn't a size or bag limit on these
fish typically, and biologists can't be sure how the populations
are doing. I'm very pleased to report that the rough
fish campaign, spearheaded by the Isaac Walton League is gaining traction.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources released a survey asking
(16:32):
anglers whether quote native rough fish should receive the same
protection from waste and over harvest as native birds and mammals.
Tyler Winter from the Isaac Walton League says that our
audience is exactly the folks the Minnesota DNR needs to
hear from. So if you'd like to see big mouth, buffalo, bowfin,
drum and gar getting these same protections as other species,
(16:55):
and I wanted to find same protections right, Basically, we're
gonna put cash into understanding population size, better understandings of
their roles in the aquatic ecosystem, and at a minimum,
there's going to be some guardrails set up instead of
the current free for all situation. Don't think that you know,
(17:15):
grasscarp are going to get the same slot limit regulations
as your big walleye trophy lake. Okay, got it, got it.
Let's stop stop spreading those rumors kids. Anyway, check out
the link. We'll post it at the meat eater dot
com forward slash col You can also find the survey
by googling Minnesota rough Fish survey. Moving on to the
(17:37):
fishing desk, we covered that rough fish may be undervalued,
but we know that blue marlin are not. In fact,
last weekend, a six hundred and forty pound blue marlin
earned its anglers the biggest cash prize of any fish
in history, at least that we're aware of. Ten point
five million was up for the grabs at the fiftieth
Annual White Marlin Open in Ocean City, Maryland, but angler
(18:00):
were having a tough time landing fish that met the
one hundred and fourteen inch minimum. Anglers caught five hundred
and fifty one white marlin and forty six blue marlin
throughout the course of the tournament, but only three were
brought in and only two were weighed. One missed the
cutoff by just two inches, which almost certainly lost those
anglers millions of dollars. Other anglers who didn't make the
(18:23):
cut included a little known basketball player named Michael Jordan,
who went after marlins from his eighty four foot custom
yacht cleverly titled Catch twenty three. But I just mentioned
that because his airness is you know, a hot topic,
and no he doesn't need the prize money anyway. On
the last day of the tournament, the boat titled Floor
Reel slid in with a fish that left no doubt
(18:46):
about whether it would qualify. According to tournament officials, the
marlin measured one hundred and eighteen inches and weighed six
hundred and forty point five pounds. It was caught by
Maryland resident John Owles, and you can see images over
at the meat eater dot com. Because it was the
only bill fish that qualified for the entire tournament, it
won all the prizes in that category, which totaled a
(19:06):
whopping six point two million dollars. Tournament officials say this
is a new world record prize for the catch of
a fish. The previous record, a measly four point four
to five million, was won at the same tournament last
year for a seventy seven point five pound white marlin.
Of course, you can't have winners without losers. MJ was great,
but he needed John Stockton Carl Malone to beat in
(19:28):
the finals every year. That's a nineties basketball reference for
you kids out there. Even though Floor Reels Marlin was
the only one to qualify, the tournament rules say that
if no marlin are caught, the prize money goes to
the heaviest tuna in that division. That means that before
this marlin was brought in the boat row, Chambeau was
sitting on a seven point one million dollar prize for
(19:49):
its two hundred and fifteen pound tuna. They still took
home one point seven million, but I can't imagine their
disappointment when floor Reel sailed in with their catch. The
Ocean City White Marlin Open was first held nineteen seventy four.
It's known as one of the richest billfish tournaments in
the world, but this year's official say anglers were particularly
conservation minded. It is unusual that of the six hundred
(20:13):
and five billfish caught during the five day tournament, all
but three were released, with over seven million dollars of
the total ten and a half million perse reserved for billfish.
It was remarkable that not one boat brought a non
contender to the scale before the closing day on Friday.
Moving on to the wildfire desk. By now you've heard
(20:36):
about the devastating wildfire on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
As of this recording, the death toll is extremely speculative,
but it's a lot. There's confirmed reports through eyewitnesses, personal
friends of mine. Of yeah, some serious human devastation numbers
aren't being released because they haven't been verified through DNA.
(20:57):
This is already the fifth deadliest wild fire in US
history and the worst fire tragedy in over a century.
Nearly three hundred homes and other structures were destroyed when
the fire ripped through the town of Lahina, and preliminary
estimates put the economic cost between three and seven and
a half billion. How wildfires impact animals is a super
fascinating topic that we've covered in previous episodes. But this
(21:19):
fire is different from some of the other fires we've
seen in the western US. It was incredibly fast, driven
by eighty mile per hour winds produced by a hurricane
several hundred miles off shore. It was also a relatively
small fire in terms of acres, but it was highly
concentrated in urban and suburban areas. That's why it was
so deadly for people and animals alike. There's no estimate
(21:41):
on how many animals died in the fire, but I'm
sure it's well into the hundreds, and unlike in other fires,
many of the craters are pets rather than wild animals.
The Maui Humane Society has been inundated with pets that
have been recovered from the street or that have been
dropped off by families who no longer have the ability
to care for them. Coordination efforts are underway to try
to reconnect pets with lost families, but that's an extremely
(22:03):
difficult task given all the chaos. Folks have been posting
images of their pets to local Facebook groups asking whether
anyone has seen their dogs, cats, horses and birds. It's
understandable how pets get left behind in the rush to
escape a wall of fire, but hopefully those folks can
reconnect with their furry friends. Everyone knows that dogs are
wonderful support animals. Seriously, hearts go out all you folks
(22:27):
over there. Real nasty situation and hopefully some better means
of help and develop here pretty quick so we'll stay
on top of it. Feel free to write into askc
al that's askcl at the Meat Eater dot com and
we'll see you can't direct a little bit of traffic
your way. Also, those cleanup crews go to www dot
(22:48):
Steel Dealers dot com find a local knowledgeable steel dealer
clean things up in a jiffy. Thanks again, and I'll
talk to you next week. It of so often became
a
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):
The mayor of Tampa Bay, made international news last week
after she hooked into a million bucks worth of cocaine
on a fishing trip in the Florida Keys. Tampa Bay
Mayor Jane Caster told local media that she and her
family were fishing for lobster and mahi mahi when her
brother spotted something floating in the water. Hoping to find
fish in the shadow of the debris, they went to investigate.
(00:43):
Castor is a former narcotics officer, but it didn't take
a narco to notice something fishy about the tightly wrapped
packages of white powder. The plastic wrapping had started to decay,
but they could still make out an image of a
blue and purple butterfly on each. They found twenty four
kilos in total, which equal about seventy pounds of snow,
valued around one point one million bucks. The mayor and
(01:05):
her family brought the coke back to shore and called
the local Sheriff's Office US Border Patrol took the narcotics
into custody, and you can find images of the bales
of sneeze online. This isn't the first time a keel
full of nose candy was found in the ocean. In
April of this year, law enforcement found nearly four hundred
and forty million dollars worth of cocaine in Italian waters,
(01:25):
and in February, authorities in New Zealand seized more than
three tons of cocaine floating in the ocean. So while
it might seem a little coincidental that a former police
officer and current mayor of a major American city just
happened to find a bale of blow in the ocean,
international drug dealers apparently have a tough time securing their
bump on their boats. Now, before we get serious on
(01:46):
this story, let's just clear the air here. Common slang
terms for cocaine, according to American Addiction Centers dot Org,
would be blow, bump, see your big sea, coke, crack,
dust flake, the line, nosecandy, pearl, rail, snow, sneeze, sniff, speedball, toot,
and white rock. All right, if I missed any, don't
bother sending it in unless it's really funny. Anyway, if
(02:11):
you are wondering what cocaine does to fish, I could
find exactly one study that was published in the journal
Toxicology in twenty sixteen. That study involved zebrafish dancing with
the White Lady, and in that study, it would suggest
that fishing underleaking bales of booger sugar out in the
ocean could be unproductive, as cocaine largely bypassed the zebrafish's
(02:36):
brains and accumulated in their eyeballs in quantities large enough
to kill them. What causes hyperactivity in humans through the
ingestion of cocaine appeared to cause the zebrafish to become
less active, which means it would be a slow bite
under a bale of cocaine. So here's a takeaway one.
If you're looking at floating bales of blow, you may
(02:58):
want to skip over them and fish more traditional celt
patties because the bite's going to be slow. And if
you do keep a fish that you caught underneath a
bail of disintegrating cocaine in the big blue, you may
want to skip eating the eyeballs kind of swim here
with wasting big enough for you or something like that.
Huh problem buddy, huh huh do you do you? Do
(03:21):
you one piece of meat?
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, I'm scared. Now. This week we've got animal attacks,
legal eese, citizens, science, and so much more. But first
I'm going to tell you about my week, and my
week was great. Met up with Hayden Hansen, the fine
gentleman who won the get Ready for the Season auction
at BHA Rendezvous. We headed over to the weather Be
Factory and Shared in Wyoming, where we met the crew
(03:44):
on the factory floor, had all of our production line
questions answered. Then we zeroed in some different rifle combinations,
headed out to the range and rang steel all the
way out to one thousand yards. Then we switched gears
and busted clays with the new Weatherby side by sides,
which are amazing. We even got to tinker around with
some stuff that's not released yet. Had a great time,
(04:04):
and old Hayden is having a brand spanking new custom
three to oh seven topped with a Vortex razor LHT
ship to his nearest FFL, So be on the lookout
for that package this next rendezvous. Hayden told me he's
probably gonna try to buy it again. It's a ton
of fun, you'll be more prepared for the season ahead,
and the cash goes to protecting access to public lands
(04:27):
and wildlife. And if you haven't noticed, this year's land
Access Initiative project is up and a running. We've found
a really amazing place on the Lower Yellowstone here in Montana,
big old Cottonwood bottoms home to big game, small game,
migratory and upland birds. It's truly an incredible place, and
(04:47):
the fishing will blow your socks off too. I just
cannot believe there are still people out there who will
turn down big money to help provide more access to
hunting and fishing. This particular owner did just that in
order to preserve his property for the use of generations
of outdoors people to come. So, if you want to
contribute to increasing the areas of hunting and fishing in
(05:10):
this great country, you can head over to the Meat
Eater auction House of Oddities and place a bid on
something cool and unique. We are adding a surprise round
of items just for you. You can always round up
for conservation after making a purchase at the meat eater
dot com, as well as donating directly to this project
in a text deductible fashion by sending a good old
(05:32):
fashioned check to my friends at Pheasants Forever Dash, Montana
build a wildlife area at seventeen eighty three burkl Circle
still can't pronounce that b U E r K L
E Circle, Saint Paul, Minnesota five five one one zero
and last, but not least, before we move on, I
(05:52):
do want to call out that we will cover some
portions of the Maui will fire situation on this episode.
I and we at meat Ea have had so much
fun in the state of Hawaii. I have a bunch
of friends on Maui who have shared so much with
me over the years, killer experiences, family dinner tables, fishing
and hunting spots, local knowledge, and just super limited in
(06:15):
how we can help from my landlocked state of Montana.
It's crappy feeling after lots of texting, there's some great
options for you to help by sending donations. You can
find those options at link tree slash Canoe Patch that's
l I n K t R dot ee forward slash
(06:36):
KA n P A c H. There you will find
the Maui Strong Fund, as well as a lot of
direct venmo options for displays families. Moving on to the
animal desk. Animal attacks are frequent on this here podcast,
but this week some of the strangest encounters I've heard
(06:58):
of occurred. At the top of the list is a
freak accident that many people have heard of but may
not have happened before. A sixty four year old Texas
woman named Peggy Jones was mowing her lawn in late
July when a snake landed on her arm. We aren't
sure what type of snake it was for reasons that
will be clear in a minute, but she told local
media that the serpent wrapped itself around her arm, struck
(07:20):
at her face, and spewed venom on her glasses. She
flung her arm around trying to get the snake off,
but it hung on for dear life. Moments later, another
animal entered the fray, a hawk, which Jones believed had
been carrying the snake through the air. The hawks circled
back to retrieve its dinner. It swooped at Jones four times,
clawing at her arm and trying to get the snake
to release. After a few more hectic moments, the hawk
(07:42):
managed to pry the reptile off of Jones's arm and
fly away. The woman suffered puncture wounds, cuts, abrasions, scratches,
and severe bruising. She was given antibiotics at the hospital,
but it sounds like the mental injuries are worse than
the physical ones. Hey, at least he got a great
excuse to not mow the yard. She told CBS News
that she's slept eight hours in the last two weeks
(08:04):
and she wakes up feeling panicked, which is understandable. Another
odd animal attack took place last month in the western
Ontario town of Sioux Lookout. A lynx reportedly sent someone
to the hospital after a run in around eleven thirty
in the evening. Officials haven't released much additional information, but
this story caught my eye because of how rare it
is for a links to even be seen by a human,
(08:26):
much less attack one. In fact, this may be the
first recorded LINKS attack on a human in North America.
It's not hard to find reports of links attacking chickens
or dogs, but a wildlife biologist with Alaskaficient game told
the Anchorage Daily News that no one in North America
has ever documented a Lynx attack on a person. It's
unclear what motivated this specific attack, but Ontario officials urge
(08:49):
residents to avoid leaving food outside, install motion activated lights,
and never run from a cat or a couple of
things you can do. By now, you've probably heard about
the otter attack that took place in Montana a few
weeks ago. Three women were attacked while floating in inner
tubes on the Jefferson River and one of them had
to be airlifted to the hospital. You can read more
(09:10):
details and check out the grizzly images for yourself on
the meat eater dot com, which I'm just gonna say it.
Quit floating rivers and inner tubes. Just leave those rivers
for the hunting and angling crowd. Okay. Now, some ranchers
are using the attack to push for more aggressive otter management.
The Cowboys State Daily interviewed several Wyoming residents who say
(09:32):
the otter population has grown too large. They say conflicts
between otters and humans are on the rise, and they
want to see Wyoming legalize otter trapping. One of the
ranchers said, quote, they're getting aggressive. They're not afraid of humans.
It's no different than the friggin Grizzly bears. I can
think of a few differences, but I've also never been
attacked by an otter, so who can really say for sure?
(09:54):
Limited to otter trapping takes place in Montana and Idaho,
along with several other states, but Wyoming Game and Fish
says the population isn't robust enough to handle a trapping season.
Moving on to the legal desk, New Mexico Attorney General
Raoul Torres announced last week that his office would be
aggressively investigating landowners who block access to public waterways. Last year,
(10:18):
the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that the public could
weigh down the beds of rivers and streams even if
they passed through private property. Prior to this ruling, the
New Mexico Game Commission had issued permits to some private
landowners allowing them to fence off stream access in a
direct violation of the state constitution. The court decision invalidated
those permits and told landowners they'd have to remove the
(10:40):
barriers and let the public through. But Attorney General Torres
said in a press release that his office is receiving
reports from anglers of rivers and streams that remained blocked.
They took photographs of barbed wire and other types of
fencing stretching across streams and impeding access. The AG's office
says they've even received reports of barbed wire at or
below the water level, which is obviously a serious public
(11:03):
safety hazard. In response to these reports, Torres reaffirmed that quote,
these waters belong to the people of the state, and
we stand ready to use every available tool to ensure
public access to these natural resources. Good on your New Mexico.
In other legal news, as I mentioned a few weeks ago,
the judge in the Wyoming Corner Crossing case has ruled
(11:24):
again in favor of the Corner Crossers. This time he
rejected a motion by Ironbar Holdings to stay his ruling
while the case works its way through the appeals court.
You can read the full ruling for yourself at the
medieater dot com forward slash cal but I wanted to
highlight a message the judge sent to public land hunters again.
Lawyers for Ironbar Holdings argue that the judge should stay
(11:47):
his previous ruling because their client is at risk of
irreparable harm if the ruling is not put on hold.
Remember that in the original decision, judge Scott Scovdahl said
there is no liability for trespass as long as hunters
cross between corners of public land in a checkerboard pattern
and do not set foot on or damage private property.
(12:09):
Lawyers for Ironbar Holdings say their client is at risk
of irreparable harm because he has received calls, emails, and
mail that contain threatening or abusive language. Apparently, some folks
aren't happy that Ironbar Holdings and its owner, fred Eshlman
sued the corner crossers, and they've sent nasty messages to
him and his employees. The judge called these messages immature, improper,
(12:31):
and potentially subject to legal action. While he rejected the
argument that these messages had much to do with his ruling,
he did have a direct message to hunters who might
be tempted to harass Eshelman and his employees. Quote. This
Court's decision should not be perceived as a license or
opportunity to engage in malevolence or vitriolic conduct against plaintiff's owner,
(12:53):
Plaintiff's employees, or anyone else. The Court has faith that
the general public recognizes and respects the life, egal process
and rights determined defined and protected through the judicial system,
not vigilanteism. In other words, don't give Eshelmann or any
other landowner a hard time about corner crossing. In fact,
(13:13):
part of the reason the Missouri corner crossers won their
case is because they didn't engage in this kind of harassment.
Judge Skovdahl emphasizes that those hunters never acted in a
threatening or aggressive manner, which is a big reason they
won their case in the first place. Conflicts between you
and a landowner aren't just about you and that landowner.
You are a representative of the hunting and fishing community,
(13:35):
and you never know who else that conflict could impact.
Moving on to the science desk, the Wisconsin Department of
Natural Resources is asking for the public's help collecting data
on white tailed deer and game birds. Hunters and other
members of the public can download an app and record
(13:56):
their observations of deer and birds in August and September.
The process is really simple and doesn't cost a thing.
You just download the Survey one two three app, scan
the QR code on the DNR website, and record your observations.
The agency asks participants to record things like number of animals, location,
and sex. The DNR uses this data to estimate population density,
(14:18):
population change over time, and the ratios between adults and young. Ultimately,
this information is used to inform game management plans, which
determine seasons, bag limits, and other rags that hunters should
care about. The more folks participate, the more data the
DNR can collect, and the better decisions they can make.
We'll post a link with a sign up info at
the meeater dot com forward slash cal The Boone and
(14:42):
Crocket Club is also asking for the public's help to
get a window into the minds of poachers. They've partnered
with the Wildlife Management Institute and university researchers to investigate
what motivates people to poach animals and how often they
do so. They're interested in big game poaching of deer,
black bear, brown bear, elk, turkey, mountain lion, and several
other species. Respondents will fill out a brief online survey,
(15:05):
and they may also be contacted for longer follow up interview.
Whether you've accidentally shouted deer out of season or you
are a hardened wildlife criminal, the Boon and Crockett would
love to hear from you. They assure respondents that their
information will be held securely and destroyed after the completion
of the study. So I don't believe this is some
kind of elaborate sting operation. And if you're skeptical that
(15:25):
poachers would volunteer to tell someone else about their crimes,
consider this. Poachers, like many criminals, love to brag about
their exploits and they love to eliminate the competition too,
So that's why game wardens love Facebook. Maybe instead of
posting on Instagram about the Bucky spotlighted, you use your
experience to do some good in the world. You can't
(15:46):
put that deer back in the forest, but maybe you
can help game wardens figure out better ways to keep
others from making the same choices. Jumping over to Minnesota
in the same survey situation, you may remember back in
an episode, I told you about a campaign to protect
native so called rough fish in Minnesota. Rough fish can
be native to an area, but for whatever reason, aren't
(16:08):
considered a cool and people don't want to eat them,
and they just kind of get labeled as trash fish.
Right There isn't a size or bag limit on these
fish typically, and biologists can't be sure how the populations
are doing. I'm very pleased to report that the rough
fish campaign, spearheaded by the Isaac Walton League is gaining traction.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources released a survey asking
(16:32):
anglers whether quote native rough fish should receive the same
protection from waste and over harvest as native birds and mammals.
Tyler Winter from the Isaac Walton League says that our
audience is exactly the folks the Minnesota DNR needs to
hear from. So if you'd like to see big mouth, buffalo, bowfin,
drum and gar getting these same protections as other species,
(16:55):
and I wanted to find same protections right, Basically, we're
gonna put cash into understanding population size, better understandings of
their roles in the aquatic ecosystem, and at a minimum,
there's going to be some guardrails set up instead of
the current free for all situation. Don't think that you know,
(17:15):
grasscarp are going to get the same slot limit regulations
as your big walleye trophy lake. Okay, got it, got it.
Let's stop stop spreading those rumors kids. Anyway, check out
the link. We'll post it at the meat eater dot
com forward slash col You can also find the survey
by googling Minnesota rough Fish survey. Moving on to the
(17:37):
fishing desk, we covered that rough fish may be undervalued,
but we know that blue marlin are not. In fact,
last weekend, a six hundred and forty pound blue marlin
earned its anglers the biggest cash prize of any fish
in history, at least that we're aware of. Ten point
five million was up for the grabs at the fiftieth
Annual White Marlin Open in Ocean City, Maryland, but angler
(18:00):
were having a tough time landing fish that met the
one hundred and fourteen inch minimum. Anglers caught five hundred
and fifty one white marlin and forty six blue marlin
throughout the course of the tournament, but only three were
brought in and only two were weighed. One missed the
cutoff by just two inches, which almost certainly lost those
anglers millions of dollars. Other anglers who didn't make the
(18:23):
cut included a little known basketball player named Michael Jordan,
who went after marlins from his eighty four foot custom
yacht cleverly titled Catch twenty three. But I just mentioned
that because his airness is you know, a hot topic,
and no he doesn't need the prize money anyway. On
the last day of the tournament, the boat titled Floor
Reel slid in with a fish that left no doubt
(18:46):
about whether it would qualify. According to tournament officials, the
marlin measured one hundred and eighteen inches and weighed six
hundred and forty point five pounds. It was caught by
Maryland resident John Owles, and you can see images over
at the meat eater dot com. Because it was the
only bill fish that qualified for the entire tournament, it
won all the prizes in that category, which totaled a
(19:06):
whopping six point two million dollars. Tournament officials say this
is a new world record prize for the catch of
a fish. The previous record, a measly four point four
to five million, was won at the same tournament last
year for a seventy seven point five pound white marlin.
Of course, you can't have winners without losers. MJ was great,
but he needed John Stockton Carl Malone to beat in
(19:28):
the finals every year. That's a nineties basketball reference for
you kids out there. Even though Floor Reels Marlin was
the only one to qualify, the tournament rules say that
if no marlin are caught, the prize money goes to
the heaviest tuna in that division. That means that before
this marlin was brought in the boat row, Chambeau was
sitting on a seven point one million dollar prize for
(19:49):
its two hundred and fifteen pound tuna. They still took
home one point seven million, but I can't imagine their
disappointment when floor Reel sailed in with their catch. The
Ocean City White Marlin Open was first held nineteen seventy four.
It's known as one of the richest billfish tournaments in
the world, but this year's official say anglers were particularly
conservation minded. It is unusual that of the six hundred
(20:13):
and five billfish caught during the five day tournament, all
but three were released, with over seven million dollars of
the total ten and a half million perse reserved for billfish.
It was remarkable that not one boat brought a non
contender to the scale before the closing day on Friday.
Moving on to the wildfire desk. By now you've heard
(20:36):
about the devastating wildfire on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
As of this recording, the death toll is extremely speculative,
but it's a lot. There's confirmed reports through eyewitnesses, personal
friends of mine. Of yeah, some serious human devastation numbers
aren't being released because they haven't been verified through DNA.
(20:57):
This is already the fifth deadliest wild fire in US
history and the worst fire tragedy in over a century.
Nearly three hundred homes and other structures were destroyed when
the fire ripped through the town of Lahina, and preliminary
estimates put the economic cost between three and seven and
a half billion. How wildfires impact animals is a super
fascinating topic that we've covered in previous episodes. But this
(21:19):
fire is different from some of the other fires we've
seen in the western US. It was incredibly fast, driven
by eighty mile per hour winds produced by a hurricane
several hundred miles off shore. It was also a relatively
small fire in terms of acres, but it was highly
concentrated in urban and suburban areas. That's why it was
so deadly for people and animals alike. There's no estimate
(21:41):
on how many animals died in the fire, but I'm
sure it's well into the hundreds, and unlike in other fires,
many of the craters are pets rather than wild animals.
The Maui Humane Society has been inundated with pets that
have been recovered from the street or that have been
dropped off by families who no longer have the ability
to care for them. Coordination efforts are underway to try
to reconnect pets with lost families, but that's an extremely
(22:03):
difficult task given all the chaos. Folks have been posting
images of their pets to local Facebook groups asking whether
anyone has seen their dogs, cats, horses and birds. It's
understandable how pets get left behind in the rush to
escape a wall of fire, but hopefully those folks can
reconnect with their furry friends. Everyone knows that dogs are
wonderful support animals. Seriously, hearts go out all you folks
(22:27):
over there. Real nasty situation and hopefully some better means
of help and develop here pretty quick so we'll stay
on top of it. Feel free to write into askc
al that's askcl at the Meat Eater dot com and
we'll see you can't direct a little bit of traffic
your way. Also, those cleanup crews go to www dot
(22:48):
Steel Dealers dot com find a local knowledgeable steel dealer
clean things up in a jiffy. Thanks again, and I'll
talk to you next week. It of so often became
a
Host
Cal Callaghan
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