September 10, 2023 • 30 mins
This week Cal talks about technology and hunting, snorts progress on a hot hunt, misappropriation of license dollars, and so much more.
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Episode Transcript
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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):
For the first time ever, scientists have cryo preserved and
then revived an entire piece of ocean coral. You may
remember cryopreservation from documentaries like Mel Gibson's Forever Young and
Star Wars. Researchers are still a long way from freezing
han solo, but I'd say this is a good start.
Scientists used anti freeze and liquid nitrogen to freeze coral
(00:44):
fragments in a glass like state, and then thaw them
and return them to seawater. They report in a study
published in the journal Nature Communications that for twenty four
hours after the corals were revived, they consumed oxygen at
rate comparable to corals that had never been cryo preserved.
This is important because it could give biologists an easier
(01:06):
way to preserve biodiverse genetic material from coral reefs around
the world. The current method for preserving this genetic material
is to collect and freeze coral sperm and I bet
you didn't even know coral had sperm, But that's why
you listen to this podcast anyway. Learn something new every
day right here. Three quarters of all stony corals reproduce sexually,
(01:28):
meaning they're composed of males and females. When a male
coral and a female coral love each other very much,
you guys know the deal, and love doesn't really need
to come into it because corals just broadcast their goods
out there and they mingle and figure it out on
their own. Females in fact, release millions of eggs into
(01:48):
the ocean, and males release millions of sperm. The Earth
has lost about half of its coral reefs since nineteen fifty,
so scientists have tried to preserve genetic material by collecting
and freezing coral sperm. The problem is coral only releases
sperm a few days a year. These days are difficult
to predict, and sometimes marine biologists missed the event entirely.
(02:10):
That's why they're so jazzed about being able to preserve
an entire piece of coral. This new cryo preservation method
will allow them to methodically collect coral from around the world,
freeze it, and have it on hand to grow new
reefs in the future. Just like with animal gene banking
and cloning, we shouldn't rely on this technique to save
coral reefs. It's much easier, much easier, and much less
(02:34):
expensive to conserve what we have right now, rather than
you know, hunting the coral down the road and letting
science and magic swoop in in some unnamed date to
rectifire laziness. But as one tool of many to help
save coral reefs and the species that rely on them,
(02:54):
it's still pretty cool, you know, so like again space
travel movies right one step clothes sir, or can you
imagine like the self driving car and you just kind
of like freeze yourself and wake up in the armpit
of Florida when the tarpent are running. Right, there are
applications that I could see would be helpful. This week
(03:14):
we've got the Snort Report, drones regulations, and keep your
hands off our wildlife dollars. But first I'm gonna tell
you about my week, and for those of you who
listen to me drone on and on about the anxiety
of the all two brief hunting season last week, I
have to recap with the first official Snort report of
(03:35):
the season that little dog does not tolerate the heat well,
and it was hot. Despite this, she has not lost
anything from last season. It is crazy to me to
think that we can pick up where we left off.
We joined up with my old buddy, Garrett Smith aka
Dirtmth and a new friend, Bob. Bob has a two
(03:56):
year old female Griffon and is the type of fellow
that gives you the full rundown on his dog and
what to expect, exactly how you should do it. Neither
of our dogs paid much attention to each other. The
pointer ranged around and pointed things, and the lab stayed tight.
And just for context, you got to remember this as
little bird season in Montana, grouse and partridge, not peasant.
(04:20):
And I'll be honest here, for the high prairie, a
pointer is the better tool in the doggy tool chest.
But don't tell Snort I said so anyway. I'd say
sixty to seventy percent of our four mornings of hunting,
the pointer did the bird finding and the retriever did
the retrieving. Conditions were hot and dry, with the exceptions
(04:42):
of irrigated bottom land, there just wasn't much moisture not
even enough to make do, which is kind of a pun,
but not good conditions for dogs in general, and not
good conditions for picking up ccent. Despite this, our first
day we located two groups of birds. The pointer got
some great points, most of which were real life game birds.
(05:04):
Bob Garrett and I shot well enough to put most
of our bird opportunities in the bird bags. Snort was
killing it on the retrieves and on marking where the
birds went down. In those conditions, it's very hard for
a dog to smell a bird on the ground, particularly
when it just drops out of the sky. Despite that,
she found them fairly automatically with the heat, she wasn't
(05:27):
really interested in bringing those birds to hand, meaning that
she would really want to drop them as she got
to me. But she would hold a bird when I
prompted her to do so. Holding a bird after you
just did a wind sprint in eighty degrees looked miserable,
so I wasn't pushing it. Unfortunately, as we crept into
(05:47):
the third day, we had some sore cactus feet and
our hottest day yet. At this point, we were fortunate
enough to get permission on a hayfield that was cut
and we could drive in Hayfield. And this is where
and how we encountered our best opportunity of the trip
in order to save the dogs. Because it was so
(06:07):
stinking hot, we just drove my truck until we found
a covey of sharptails, and man, did we find a
big covey of sharptails. We geared up and then we
kind of like worried those birds until they eventually flushed
out into the big tall prairie grass. So they left
the short cover got into the tall cover. And during
(06:29):
that I even picked up one young sharptail that let
us get a little too close. I picked up, I
mean shot and snort retrieved it. It was great. Anyway,
the stage was set. We were three days in. The
dogs had worked beautifully together, we had shot great and
now we had a huge covey, biggest covey of the trip,
(06:50):
pushed into the tall grass. For those of you don't
obla sharptail hunting, birds that you see, land and thick
cover are much easier to get in to close shooting
distance to and a big flock that hasn't been shot
at in this particular situation should be easy pickings. We
communicated well, we had our location landmarked and our shooting
(07:13):
zones set. Then the birds flushed and dogs ran, and
Bob and I yelled. We yelled at the dogs. We
yelled at Garrett to keep shooting, and then we yelled
at Garrett to reload and shoot some more. And then
we shot and yelled at more dogs, and we shot
too far and nothing fell, and the birds just kept
popping out of the grass. At this point, I was
(07:35):
so disgusted that I wasn't even reloading. We just looked
at each other and kind of jointly agreed that we
just acted like a bunch of amateur jackasses or professional jackasses.
Maybe you be the judge right. And I couldn't help
but think about that one for a while. And it
was good to get it out of the system, I suppose.
(07:55):
The last day, Bob and Garret headed west for home.
The sky it was amazing. It was dark and brooding,
full of contrast, A little sniff of rain in the air,
a few degrees cooler and snort and I struck out
and found a long drought of walk. There were no
cattle in it. It hadn't been hayd It was just
a big, beautiful, thick grass bottom and we enjoyed it.
(08:20):
And honestly, it was just kind of nice to be
out there walking in just a small team. And just
about the time our walk could be summed up as
just a walk, all fuzzy Butt started picking up the pace.
Her sniffer sending unknown information, threw her muscles in the
form of electric shocks. Looks like when you get go
(08:42):
to physical therapy and they hook up electrodes to you
and your muscles dance. That's what Snort looks like when
she's on birds. It was a phenomenal little walk, maybe
even too easy, I'd guess, like three and a half
mile loop, and we put four birds in the cooler
and a really tired dog in the back seat. It
(09:03):
was a heck of an end to the first trip
and a heck of a general start to the season.
Last thing I want to tell you in the Snort
report here, aside from the fact that the new side
by side is an absolute delight in the field, a
new obsession of mine that weather be will soon be
severely back ordered on. I am sure, because they are amazing.
(09:24):
When we got home, Snort and I did work on
some backyard, retrieving and getting that bird to hand, and
that little shit was perfect. Would hardly drop a bird
when I asked, maybe ice cold sharp tail is the
labrador's popsicle on a hot day. Moving on to the
white tail desk. Should hunters be allowed to use drones
(09:46):
to recover game? According to the State of Michigan, the
answer is no. The state is in the midst of
a lawsuit brought by an entrepreneur from Ohio named Mike Yoder.
Yoder started a company last year called Drone Deer Recovery
that uses high tech drug ozones equipped with thermal imaging
to find whitetailed deer that have been shot and lost
by hunters. Yoder has over thirty drone pilots in fifteen
(10:08):
states that hunters can call in to help them recover
their deer. The drones fly about four hundred feet in
the air so they don't disturb other deer or wildlife,
and once they find a heat signature, they confirm the
deer's location using a camera. Yoder told the outlet Agweb
that if temperatures are between thirty and forty degrees fahrenheit,
he can pick up a heat signature up to forty
(10:28):
eight hours after a deer has died. Yoder says most
of his clients are archery hunters, and that makes sense.
Studies unlost game very widely, but low end estimates are
that archery hunters lose ten percent of the animals they shoot.
Other studies put that number above fifty percent. Whatever the
real number is, Yoder says his service isn't all around positive.
(10:49):
Hunters can recover the animal they killed without spending hours
tropping through the woods, and since the hunters don't own
the drones themselves, they don't have the opportunity to do
any surreptitious scale, meaning they're not going to abuse the technology.
Yoder operates in states from Idaho to New York, but
most of his drone pilots are throughout the Midwest. But
he doesn't have any pilots in Michigan. That's because Michigan's
(11:13):
drone statute prohibits hunters from using drones to quote take game.
In another statute, the law defines take to include collecting animals,
which is why Michigan is currently barring Yoder and his
drone pilots from their borders. In a complaint filed by
the Pacific legal foundation. Yoder argues that this restriction violates
his First Amendment rights. When Yoder locates a deer, he
(11:36):
sends the location of that deer to the hunter so
the hunter can collect it. This location data is the speech,
Yoder says, Michigan is restricting. According to the complaint, the
state's drone statute quote singles out a particular type of
speech and prohibits its creation and dissemination if it will
be used to collect the game. This, he says, constitutes
(11:57):
a First Amendment violation. He wants the court to declare
that the statute is unconstitutional and impose an injunction restraining
the Michigan DNAR from enforcing it in this way, which
of course makes me just wonder how many archery hunters
are using this service if Yoder has the cash to
take that type of an argument to court. The DNR
(12:21):
has so far declined to comment, citing the pending litigation,
but you can imagine why they'd be hesitant to give
anyone permission to operate a drone for any kind of
hunting activity. I doubt Yoder and his drone pilots are
helping their clients scout for deer well. They look for
a deer carcass. But I suppose it is possible. And
if the DNR starts allowing hunters to use drones to
(12:41):
find dead deer, what's to stop them from also using
those drones for other hunting purposes. I'm not saying it's
a great argument, but I can see where they're coming from.
Whether you live in Michigan or not, you'll probably have
to wrestle with this issue. Drone technology has gotten better
and less expensive. Average joey oters can now afford technology
(13:02):
that would have been way out of reach just a
decade ago. How and when a average Joe can use
that drone is a question worth asking, and I'm curious
to see how the Michigan courts will respond. If you
want to know what I think, why would you put
a beautiful, super fun to watch blood trail following dog
out of work to fly a fricking drone? That's what
(13:24):
I think. Technology is not always the solution. You're a hunter,
Dogs and game retrieval go together very well. For those
of you who say, yeah, but a dog running a
blood trail could mess up more hunting, I say this
take a better shot. Moving on to the wildlife funding, desk.
(13:48):
Federal auditors have accused Maine state government of diverting two
point six million dollars that was supposed to be used
to fund wildlife habitat projects, hunter education programs, and outdoor recordation.
Hunting licenses and gear purchases generate billions of dollars every
year for federal and state governments. This money is supposed
to be used for wildlife and outdoor recreators, but sometimes
(14:11):
public officials can't keep their greasy little pause off that
pile of cash. That appears to be what happened in
Maine between twenty seventeen and twenty nineteen. State officials siphoned
off money that was supposed to be used for hunting
and fishing and used it to pay for the state's
pension fund. One point two million, for example, was supposed
to be used for wildlife assessment and management, eight hundred
(14:34):
and seventeen thousand was supposed to be used for fisheries,
and another one hundred and eight thousand was supposed to
be used for land acquisition. Auditors say the state also
diverted about five hundred and fifty thousand dollars of hunting
and fishing license sales, which is typically like the operational
budget of a game and fish agency to build a
private shooting range for law enforcement personnel. These grants came
(14:58):
from the federal government, which is how well US auditors
got involved. They say the state used thirty percent of
the money that was intended for the grant's payroll expenditures,
so the money used to pay biologists, wardens, and other
personnel and used it to shore up the state pension fund.
Yeh yay, yay yay. State officials claim they did nothing
wrong and that this is common practice in other states.
(15:22):
What other states, please tell the federal auditors. Now Here
are some examples, but don't think that this is common.
It is not right, it is not good, and we
don't want it to become common anyway. In Ohio, for example,
the same auditors found that the state used one point
four million dollars of federal fishing, hunting, and wildlife grant
(15:45):
funds to pay down its unfunded state pension debt. You
might argue that by paying into the state pension fund,
this money is going to benefit the state employees who
would be doing the conservation work anyway. But those are
the only people who would benefit. Habitat restoration, hunter education,
and fisheries management benefits everyone in the state, not just
(16:06):
public employees. Hunters and anglers are happy to pay the
federal excise taxes to help keep our wildlife healthy and
our environment clean. But if that money is instead being
used to make up for a state's poor financial planning,
I'd say we got a problem. Speaking of sweaty palm
to public officials, the Pennsylvania Senate passed a bill last
(16:26):
week that would transfer money from the Game Fund to
an agricultural initiative. The Senate passed HB thirteen hundred that's
one three zero zero on a twenty nine to eighteen vote.
Buried in the giant spending bill is a line that
takes one hundred and fifty million dollars from the state
Game Fund and transfers it to the Clean Streams Fund.
(16:48):
Everyone is for clean water, and the Clean Streams Fund
was created to help farmers reduce sediment in waterways that
could harm marine life. That sounds good, but this bill
could have unintended const quinces. The Pennsylvania Chapter of Backcountry
Hunters and Anglers is concerned because this would set a
dangerous precedent. The PA Game Commission functions entirely on money
(17:10):
from the game fund. They don't get any general fund
or tax dollars. Quote. If future legislators follow suit and
conduct further raids on the fund, it will result in
immense damage to the Commission's ability to carry out its mission.
PA hunters are also concerned because diverting money from the
commission could make the state ineligible to receive Pittman Robertson funds.
(17:32):
This all gets a little complicated, but I'll try to simplify.
Federal code prohibits states from diverting money generated from hunting
license sales away from the state Wildlife Agency. The money
being diverted from the Clean Streams Fund didn't come directly
from license sales. And listen as I'm saying this, I
hope the state of Washington is paying attention. This is
(17:54):
something that just like burns in my brain every time
we talk about the governor and the state Game Commission
in that state, like they are not going to function
without these federal funds, and they're spitting in the eye
of the program that feeds them. I digress. Federal code
prohibits states from diverting money generated from hunting license sales
(18:15):
from the State Wildlife Agency. The money being diverted from
the Clean Streams Fund didn't come directly from license sales,
but some of it is coming from oil and gas
leases on state game lands purchased by licensed sales. This
also isn't allowed under Pittman Robertson, so hunters and anglers
in Pennsylvania are worried the state could lose out on
(18:37):
the tens of millions of dollars it receives from Pittman
Robertson every year. And keep in mind that Pittman Robertson
excise tax dollars is hunter paid and shooter paid tax
revenue from the purchase of firearms and ammunition. It's also
worth noting that, according to the Pennsylvania Backcountry Hunters and Anglers,
(18:57):
this amendment was proposed and passed quickly before anyone could
be made aware and offer a response. I wonder why
that is. The good news is this bill still needs
to pass the House to become official. The House can
make any necessary amendments to make sure wildlife funding continues
and we help farmers control runoff and protect streams. Check
(19:18):
out the Pennsylvania BHA's website for a call to action.
Or visit themeaeater dot com forward slash col Moving on
to the wetland desk, protecting streams and wetlands on the
state level is more important now than ever. The Biden
administration just released a new rule to comply with a
(19:40):
recent Supreme Court decision, and conservation professionals are extremely concerned.
You'll remember back in episode two fourteen when we covered
a Scotus ruling that reduced federal wetland protections under the
Clean Water Act. Now, a wetland area can only receive
federal protections if it has a continuous surface connection with
(20:00):
a larger navigable body of water. This contradicted earlier interpretations
that allowed protections for wetlands that had a significant nexus
to navigable waters, even if the wetland didn't connect on
the surface. Now, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army
Corps of Engineers have issued a new rule to comply
with the Court's decision. According to Trout Unlimited, the rules
(20:23):
removes federal protections for millions of acres of wetlands and
raises questions about coverage for millions of miles of tributary
streams previously covered by the Clean Water Act. Chris Wood,
president and CEO of Trout Unlimited, said the rule will
make our rivers and streams less fishable, swimmable, and drinkable.
One of the primary functions of the Clean Water Act
(20:45):
is to require companies and individuals to secure permits for
filling and dredging work that will impact rivers, lakes, streams,
and other bodies of water. Before handing out these permits,
environmental experts visit the site to make sure the work
being done won't impact water quality. If the Clean Water
Act applies to fewer of these water sources, filling and
(21:05):
dredging cannicker more often without any kind of environmental review.
It's worth noting that state agencies also have permitting requirements,
so some states will continue to review filling and dredging
projects carefully, but some states policy is written to mere
federal policy, so the Supreme Court decision and the new
clean Water Rule will apply to those states. This is
(21:28):
an extremely complex issue, and the you know, the ping
pong ball gets tossed back and forth on the Clean
Water Act from administration to administration. So I'm painting with
a broad brush here. I'm not saying your favorite duck
hunting spot will be a gravel pit by the time
duck season rolls around. But it's always extremely concerning whenever
we weaken federal protections for wildlife habitat. When organizations like
(21:52):
TROD Unlimited TRCP, DU Delta Waterfowl sound the alarm, hunters
and anglers should sit up and pay at ten. Now,
none of this really affects the individual, right, So, intermittent
wetlands are incredibly valuable to wildlife. They also create like
(22:12):
very healthy soil, so they are something that gets envious
eyes from farmers. Okay, but there's a ton of programs
out there in the farm bill many many states have
great easements that will pay you to subscribe to certain
farming practices. That you can go in there and you
(22:33):
can do some hay cutting, you can plant during certain
times cash crops. But you just can't permanently tie a
that beautiful little intermittent wetland that produces ducks, deer, birds, bees,
all the stuff that you like to pay attention to
while you're out there riding on the tractor. You just
(22:54):
can't drain that thing, right. Seems like a good middle
ground there anyway, Moving on to the mushroom desk, quick
public service announcement. Here, my cologists, which is a fancy
word for mushroom experts, are warning about a bunch of
foraging books being sold on Amazon that appear to be
(23:16):
written by chat GPT, which I suppose is like the
new lazy man's way of busting out a book. Since
eating the wrong mushroom can be deadly, they worry that
amateur foragers could be at a serious risk if they
take advice from these books. A few titles are The
Supreme Mushrooms Books, Field Guide of the Southwest and Wild
(23:40):
Mushroom Cookbook From Forrest to Gourmet Plate, A Complete Guide
to Wild Mushroom cookery. Experts say these books contain serious flaws,
one of which is a recommendation to identify mushrooms by
smelling and tasting them. You can see where this may
go seriously wrong. Never taste a mushroom unless you know
for certain that and it won't kill you. And for
(24:01):
great advice on all things wild foods that you know
was written by a real human, check out all the
great offerings on the meat eater dot com, which is
a shameless plug, but we have you know, people who
know their stuff, like Genneroseel for instance, Okay, that lady
tells you to eat something, you can eat it. Don't
just go buy something on Amazon. Research the author. It's
(24:24):
an extra step. It's no longer a one click process.
You gotta think through it. Okay, PSA, don't go dying
on me. I need you. Moving on to the public
Land Desk. I have good news and bad news here
at the public Land Desk. The good news is that
we saw several stories this week of federal and state
(24:45):
governments doing their darnedness to increase public access to thousands
of acres of great hunting and fishing property. In Idaho,
the Bureau of Land Management opened a new backcountry conservation
area called Bennett Hills. Bennett Hills is a one hundred
in twenty thousand acre parcel of rolling grasslands in southwest Idaho.
It's home to upland gamebird species and serves as winter
(25:07):
habitat for elk and mule deer. Backcountry conservation areas are
a relatively new type of public land. The BLM launched
the program in twenty seventeen to conserve backcountry areas that
contain priority habitats for quote recreationally important fish and wildlife species,
meaning game animals that drive the mass of hunting and
fishing economy in places like southwest Idaho. Designating land as
(25:30):
a backcountry Conservation Area or BCA doesn't ban other uses
such as mining. However, according to Brian Brooks of the
Idaho Wildlife Federation, it does make it more difficult for
activities like mining to be approved. He told Poise State
Public Radio that developers would be met with opposition from
the BLM, as well as hunters and anglers who recognize
(25:51):
the value of keeping these back country areas intact. Quote,
it would be a very significant battle that developers may
not be willing to take on. Bennett Hills is just
the third BCABBLM has established, but so far it's the largest.
Hopefully it's the third of many more to come. Hunters
may be getting more opportunities in South Dakota. Pheasants Forever
(26:14):
is partnering with South Dakota Tourism, on ex Hunt, and
other organizations to launch a program they hope will open
ten thousand new acres per year to public access. It's
called PATH, which stands for Public Access to Habitat. The
program will pay landowners a base rate of twenty five
dollars per acre for new, high quality, undisturbed habitat that's
open for hunting pheasants. Forever says that for every two
(26:37):
hundred and fifty thousand dollars raised, they'll be able to
open ten thousand acres. South Dakota is already the pheasant
capital of the world, and programs like this aim to
keep it that way. God, I mean, just pay attention
to other states. My goodness, South Dakota just kicks ass,
no other way to say it. Moving on to the
bad news, several of you in to tell me about
(27:01):
a proposal that would build a bridge through prime waterfowl
habitat in Decatur, Alabama. The Swan Creek Waterfowl Management Area
is located in northern Alabama, and I've heard from several
residents that it's one of the best waterfowl hunting areas
in a state that doesn't have much waterfowl hunting to
begin with. That's open to the public anyway. The city
(27:21):
of Decatur is located just south of Swan Creek, and
they're considering a proposal that would build a bridge straight
through the middle of that area. Now, for those of
you who have ever stood in a marsh and swung
a shotgun on a bird. A bridge in the back
drought full of cars is not what you want to see,
they say. As in the city of Decatur. The bridge
(27:41):
is necessary to relieve traffic congestion, but waterfowl hunters say
it would also decimate habitat and eliminate waterfowl hunting on
Swan Creek. The construction company has proposed six routes for
the bridge, all of which impacts Swan Creek in some way,
but some are better than others. One of the roots
through a smaller portion of the WMA, and future generations
(28:03):
of hunters might not be as heavily impacted. But construction
is still projected to take eight to ten years. And
you can bet that all those excavators, dump trucks, and
human activity are going to take a toll no matter
where the bridge is eventually built. Not to mention, a
lot of the folks that I know that work on
construction sites probably will take a toll on waterfowl numbers two.
(28:26):
If you live in Alabama or southern Tennessee, and especially
if you live in Decatur, now's the time to get involved.
The mayor of Decatur is named tab Bowling. You should
definitely know how his constituents feel about this project. I'd
also contact members of the city council. I've seen news
reports that say several of them are on that fence,
and I think a few thoughtful and respectful notes from
(28:47):
their voters might make all the difference. We'll post links
to all that contact info at the mediator dot com,
forward slash col get a hold of Delta Waterfowl Ducks Unlimited,
and backcountry Hunters in Angle Auto Bound Society. All of
those folks should be able to weigh in heavily on
the imposition of a bridge through prime wetlands. And lastly,
(29:11):
thank you so much to everybody who wrote in on
that subject. I'm reaching out to a few folks as well,
try to add a little heat to the fire there.
Thank you so much for listening. That's all I got
for you this week, ma'am. Lot's happening. It's fall. We're
gonna keep it coming. It's going to be a struggle.
Keep your ears on, your wits about you, head on
a swivel, all that good stuff. Thank you so much
(29:34):
for listening. Thank you so much for writing in. I
want to hear from you so right in to ask
c Al that's Askcal at the Meat Eater dot com
and let me know what's going on in your neck
of the woods. On top of that, don't get stranded
someplace you gotta, you know, cut your way out of
Go to www. Dot Steel Dealers dot com and find
(29:54):
a local, knowledgeable steel dealer near you. Yeah, you can
get your clean, quiet electric chainsaw, but you can also
get a set of like thirty inch steel oppers, or
just a nice set of handheld pruning shares that's going
to aid you in busting down deer for quick and
easy removal home butchery projects, as well as waterfowl and
(30:15):
upland birds. Trust me, I use them all the time.
Just last night, I was using my steel pruning sheares
to knock the wings off of sharp tail grouse and
then their little tiny fuzzy feet too. Snort. Got a
real kick out of that. I promise you 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):
For the first time ever, scientists have cryo preserved and
then revived an entire piece of ocean coral. You may
remember cryopreservation from documentaries like Mel Gibson's Forever Young and
Star Wars. Researchers are still a long way from freezing
han solo, but I'd say this is a good start.
Scientists used anti freeze and liquid nitrogen to freeze coral
(00:44):
fragments in a glass like state, and then thaw them
and return them to seawater. They report in a study
published in the journal Nature Communications that for twenty four
hours after the corals were revived, they consumed oxygen at
rate comparable to corals that had never been cryo preserved.
This is important because it could give biologists an easier
(01:06):
way to preserve biodiverse genetic material from coral reefs around
the world. The current method for preserving this genetic material
is to collect and freeze coral sperm and I bet
you didn't even know coral had sperm, But that's why
you listen to this podcast anyway. Learn something new every
day right here. Three quarters of all stony corals reproduce sexually,
(01:28):
meaning they're composed of males and females. When a male
coral and a female coral love each other very much,
you guys know the deal, and love doesn't really need
to come into it because corals just broadcast their goods
out there and they mingle and figure it out on
their own. Females in fact, release millions of eggs into
(01:48):
the ocean, and males release millions of sperm. The Earth
has lost about half of its coral reefs since nineteen fifty,
so scientists have tried to preserve genetic material by collecting
and freezing coral sperm. The problem is coral only releases
sperm a few days a year. These days are difficult
to predict, and sometimes marine biologists missed the event entirely.
(02:10):
That's why they're so jazzed about being able to preserve
an entire piece of coral. This new cryo preservation method
will allow them to methodically collect coral from around the world,
freeze it, and have it on hand to grow new
reefs in the future. Just like with animal gene banking
and cloning, we shouldn't rely on this technique to save
coral reefs. It's much easier, much easier, and much less
(02:34):
expensive to conserve what we have right now, rather than
you know, hunting the coral down the road and letting
science and magic swoop in in some unnamed date to
rectifire laziness. But as one tool of many to help
save coral reefs and the species that rely on them,
(02:54):
it's still pretty cool, you know, so like again space
travel movies right one step clothes sir, or can you
imagine like the self driving car and you just kind
of like freeze yourself and wake up in the armpit
of Florida when the tarpent are running. Right, there are
applications that I could see would be helpful. This week
(03:14):
we've got the Snort Report, drones regulations, and keep your
hands off our wildlife dollars. But first I'm gonna tell
you about my week, and for those of you who
listen to me drone on and on about the anxiety
of the all two brief hunting season last week, I
have to recap with the first official Snort report of
(03:35):
the season that little dog does not tolerate the heat well,
and it was hot. Despite this, she has not lost
anything from last season. It is crazy to me to
think that we can pick up where we left off.
We joined up with my old buddy, Garrett Smith aka
Dirtmth and a new friend, Bob. Bob has a two
(03:56):
year old female Griffon and is the type of fellow
that gives you the full rundown on his dog and
what to expect, exactly how you should do it. Neither
of our dogs paid much attention to each other. The
pointer ranged around and pointed things, and the lab stayed tight.
And just for context, you got to remember this as
little bird season in Montana, grouse and partridge, not peasant.
(04:20):
And I'll be honest here, for the high prairie, a
pointer is the better tool in the doggy tool chest.
But don't tell Snort I said so anyway. I'd say
sixty to seventy percent of our four mornings of hunting,
the pointer did the bird finding and the retriever did
the retrieving. Conditions were hot and dry, with the exceptions
(04:42):
of irrigated bottom land, there just wasn't much moisture not
even enough to make do, which is kind of a pun,
but not good conditions for dogs in general, and not
good conditions for picking up ccent. Despite this, our first
day we located two groups of birds. The pointer got
some great points, most of which were real life game birds.
(05:04):
Bob Garrett and I shot well enough to put most
of our bird opportunities in the bird bags. Snort was
killing it on the retrieves and on marking where the
birds went down. In those conditions, it's very hard for
a dog to smell a bird on the ground, particularly
when it just drops out of the sky. Despite that,
she found them fairly automatically with the heat, she wasn't
(05:27):
really interested in bringing those birds to hand, meaning that
she would really want to drop them as she got
to me. But she would hold a bird when I
prompted her to do so. Holding a bird after you
just did a wind sprint in eighty degrees looked miserable,
so I wasn't pushing it. Unfortunately, as we crept into
(05:47):
the third day, we had some sore cactus feet and
our hottest day yet. At this point, we were fortunate
enough to get permission on a hayfield that was cut
and we could drive in Hayfield. And this is where
and how we encountered our best opportunity of the trip
in order to save the dogs. Because it was so
(06:07):
stinking hot, we just drove my truck until we found
a covey of sharptails, and man, did we find a
big covey of sharptails. We geared up and then we
kind of like worried those birds until they eventually flushed
out into the big tall prairie grass. So they left
the short cover got into the tall cover. And during
(06:29):
that I even picked up one young sharptail that let
us get a little too close. I picked up, I
mean shot and snort retrieved it. It was great. Anyway,
the stage was set. We were three days in. The
dogs had worked beautifully together, we had shot great and
now we had a huge covey, biggest covey of the trip,
(06:50):
pushed into the tall grass. For those of you don't
obla sharptail hunting, birds that you see, land and thick
cover are much easier to get in to close shooting
distance to and a big flock that hasn't been shot
at in this particular situation should be easy pickings. We
communicated well, we had our location landmarked and our shooting
(07:13):
zones set. Then the birds flushed and dogs ran, and
Bob and I yelled. We yelled at the dogs. We
yelled at Garrett to keep shooting, and then we yelled
at Garrett to reload and shoot some more. And then
we shot and yelled at more dogs, and we shot
too far and nothing fell, and the birds just kept
popping out of the grass. At this point, I was
(07:35):
so disgusted that I wasn't even reloading. We just looked
at each other and kind of jointly agreed that we
just acted like a bunch of amateur jackasses or professional jackasses.
Maybe you be the judge right. And I couldn't help
but think about that one for a while. And it
was good to get it out of the system, I suppose.
(07:55):
The last day, Bob and Garret headed west for home.
The sky it was amazing. It was dark and brooding,
full of contrast, A little sniff of rain in the air,
a few degrees cooler and snort and I struck out
and found a long drought of walk. There were no
cattle in it. It hadn't been hayd It was just
a big, beautiful, thick grass bottom and we enjoyed it.
(08:20):
And honestly, it was just kind of nice to be
out there walking in just a small team. And just
about the time our walk could be summed up as
just a walk, all fuzzy Butt started picking up the pace.
Her sniffer sending unknown information, threw her muscles in the
form of electric shocks. Looks like when you get go
(08:42):
to physical therapy and they hook up electrodes to you
and your muscles dance. That's what Snort looks like when
she's on birds. It was a phenomenal little walk, maybe
even too easy, I'd guess, like three and a half
mile loop, and we put four birds in the cooler
and a really tired dog in the back seat. It
(09:03):
was a heck of an end to the first trip
and a heck of a general start to the season.
Last thing I want to tell you in the Snort
report here, aside from the fact that the new side
by side is an absolute delight in the field, a
new obsession of mine that weather be will soon be
severely back ordered on. I am sure, because they are amazing.
(09:24):
When we got home, Snort and I did work on
some backyard, retrieving and getting that bird to hand, and
that little shit was perfect. Would hardly drop a bird
when I asked, maybe ice cold sharp tail is the
labrador's popsicle on a hot day. Moving on to the
white tail desk. Should hunters be allowed to use drones
(09:46):
to recover game? According to the State of Michigan, the
answer is no. The state is in the midst of
a lawsuit brought by an entrepreneur from Ohio named Mike Yoder.
Yoder started a company last year called Drone Deer Recovery
that uses high tech drug ozones equipped with thermal imaging
to find whitetailed deer that have been shot and lost
by hunters. Yoder has over thirty drone pilots in fifteen
(10:08):
states that hunters can call in to help them recover
their deer. The drones fly about four hundred feet in
the air so they don't disturb other deer or wildlife,
and once they find a heat signature, they confirm the
deer's location using a camera. Yoder told the outlet Agweb
that if temperatures are between thirty and forty degrees fahrenheit,
he can pick up a heat signature up to forty
(10:28):
eight hours after a deer has died. Yoder says most
of his clients are archery hunters, and that makes sense.
Studies unlost game very widely, but low end estimates are
that archery hunters lose ten percent of the animals they shoot.
Other studies put that number above fifty percent. Whatever the
real number is, Yoder says his service isn't all around positive.
(10:49):
Hunters can recover the animal they killed without spending hours
tropping through the woods, and since the hunters don't own
the drones themselves, they don't have the opportunity to do
any surreptitious scale, meaning they're not going to abuse the technology.
Yoder operates in states from Idaho to New York, but
most of his drone pilots are throughout the Midwest. But
he doesn't have any pilots in Michigan. That's because Michigan's
(11:13):
drone statute prohibits hunters from using drones to quote take game.
In another statute, the law defines take to include collecting animals,
which is why Michigan is currently barring Yoder and his
drone pilots from their borders. In a complaint filed by
the Pacific legal foundation. Yoder argues that this restriction violates
his First Amendment rights. When Yoder locates a deer, he
(11:36):
sends the location of that deer to the hunter so
the hunter can collect it. This location data is the speech,
Yoder says, Michigan is restricting. According to the complaint, the
state's drone statute quote singles out a particular type of
speech and prohibits its creation and dissemination if it will
be used to collect the game. This, he says, constitutes
(11:57):
a First Amendment violation. He wants the court to declare
that the statute is unconstitutional and impose an injunction restraining
the Michigan DNAR from enforcing it in this way, which
of course makes me just wonder how many archery hunters
are using this service if Yoder has the cash to
take that type of an argument to court. The DNR
(12:21):
has so far declined to comment, citing the pending litigation,
but you can imagine why they'd be hesitant to give
anyone permission to operate a drone for any kind of
hunting activity. I doubt Yoder and his drone pilots are
helping their clients scout for deer well. They look for
a deer carcass. But I suppose it is possible. And
if the DNR starts allowing hunters to use drones to
(12:41):
find dead deer, what's to stop them from also using
those drones for other hunting purposes. I'm not saying it's
a great argument, but I can see where they're coming from.
Whether you live in Michigan or not, you'll probably have
to wrestle with this issue. Drone technology has gotten better
and less expensive. Average joey oters can now afford technology
(13:02):
that would have been way out of reach just a
decade ago. How and when a average Joe can use
that drone is a question worth asking, and I'm curious
to see how the Michigan courts will respond. If you
want to know what I think, why would you put
a beautiful, super fun to watch blood trail following dog
out of work to fly a fricking drone? That's what
(13:24):
I think. Technology is not always the solution. You're a hunter,
Dogs and game retrieval go together very well. For those
of you who say, yeah, but a dog running a
blood trail could mess up more hunting, I say this
take a better shot. Moving on to the wildlife funding, desk.
(13:48):
Federal auditors have accused Maine state government of diverting two
point six million dollars that was supposed to be used
to fund wildlife habitat projects, hunter education programs, and outdoor recordation.
Hunting licenses and gear purchases generate billions of dollars every
year for federal and state governments. This money is supposed
to be used for wildlife and outdoor recreators, but sometimes
(14:11):
public officials can't keep their greasy little pause off that
pile of cash. That appears to be what happened in
Maine between twenty seventeen and twenty nineteen. State officials siphoned
off money that was supposed to be used for hunting
and fishing and used it to pay for the state's
pension fund. One point two million, for example, was supposed
to be used for wildlife assessment and management, eight hundred
(14:34):
and seventeen thousand was supposed to be used for fisheries,
and another one hundred and eight thousand was supposed to
be used for land acquisition. Auditors say the state also
diverted about five hundred and fifty thousand dollars of hunting
and fishing license sales, which is typically like the operational
budget of a game and fish agency to build a
private shooting range for law enforcement personnel. These grants came
(14:58):
from the federal government, which is how well US auditors
got involved. They say the state used thirty percent of
the money that was intended for the grant's payroll expenditures,
so the money used to pay biologists, wardens, and other
personnel and used it to shore up the state pension fund.
Yeh yay, yay yay. State officials claim they did nothing
wrong and that this is common practice in other states.
(15:22):
What other states, please tell the federal auditors. Now Here
are some examples, but don't think that this is common.
It is not right, it is not good, and we
don't want it to become common anyway. In Ohio, for example,
the same auditors found that the state used one point
four million dollars of federal fishing, hunting, and wildlife grant
(15:45):
funds to pay down its unfunded state pension debt. You
might argue that by paying into the state pension fund,
this money is going to benefit the state employees who
would be doing the conservation work anyway. But those are
the only people who would benefit. Habitat restoration, hunter education,
and fisheries management benefits everyone in the state, not just
(16:06):
public employees. Hunters and anglers are happy to pay the
federal excise taxes to help keep our wildlife healthy and
our environment clean. But if that money is instead being
used to make up for a state's poor financial planning,
I'd say we got a problem. Speaking of sweaty palm
to public officials, the Pennsylvania Senate passed a bill last
(16:26):
week that would transfer money from the Game Fund to
an agricultural initiative. The Senate passed HB thirteen hundred that's
one three zero zero on a twenty nine to eighteen vote.
Buried in the giant spending bill is a line that
takes one hundred and fifty million dollars from the state
Game Fund and transfers it to the Clean Streams Fund.
(16:48):
Everyone is for clean water, and the Clean Streams Fund
was created to help farmers reduce sediment in waterways that
could harm marine life. That sounds good, but this bill
could have unintended const quinces. The Pennsylvania Chapter of Backcountry
Hunters and Anglers is concerned because this would set a
dangerous precedent. The PA Game Commission functions entirely on money
(17:10):
from the game fund. They don't get any general fund
or tax dollars. Quote. If future legislators follow suit and
conduct further raids on the fund, it will result in
immense damage to the Commission's ability to carry out its mission.
PA hunters are also concerned because diverting money from the
commission could make the state ineligible to receive Pittman Robertson funds.
(17:32):
This all gets a little complicated, but I'll try to simplify.
Federal code prohibits states from diverting money generated from hunting
license sales away from the state Wildlife Agency. The money
being diverted from the Clean Streams Fund didn't come directly
from license sales. And listen as I'm saying this, I
hope the state of Washington is paying attention. This is
(17:54):
something that just like burns in my brain every time
we talk about the governor and the state Game Commission
in that state, like they are not going to function
without these federal funds, and they're spitting in the eye
of the program that feeds them. I digress. Federal code
prohibits states from diverting money generated from hunting license sales
(18:15):
from the State Wildlife Agency. The money being diverted from
the Clean Streams Fund didn't come directly from license sales,
but some of it is coming from oil and gas
leases on state game lands purchased by licensed sales. This
also isn't allowed under Pittman Robertson, so hunters and anglers
in Pennsylvania are worried the state could lose out on
(18:37):
the tens of millions of dollars it receives from Pittman
Robertson every year. And keep in mind that Pittman Robertson
excise tax dollars is hunter paid and shooter paid tax
revenue from the purchase of firearms and ammunition. It's also
worth noting that, according to the Pennsylvania Backcountry Hunters and Anglers,
(18:57):
this amendment was proposed and passed quickly before anyone could
be made aware and offer a response. I wonder why
that is. The good news is this bill still needs
to pass the House to become official. The House can
make any necessary amendments to make sure wildlife funding continues
and we help farmers control runoff and protect streams. Check
(19:18):
out the Pennsylvania BHA's website for a call to action.
Or visit themeaeater dot com forward slash col Moving on
to the wetland desk, protecting streams and wetlands on the
state level is more important now than ever. The Biden
administration just released a new rule to comply with a
(19:40):
recent Supreme Court decision, and conservation professionals are extremely concerned.
You'll remember back in episode two fourteen when we covered
a Scotus ruling that reduced federal wetland protections under the
Clean Water Act. Now, a wetland area can only receive
federal protections if it has a continuous surface connection with
(20:00):
a larger navigable body of water. This contradicted earlier interpretations
that allowed protections for wetlands that had a significant nexus
to navigable waters, even if the wetland didn't connect on
the surface. Now, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army
Corps of Engineers have issued a new rule to comply
with the Court's decision. According to Trout Unlimited, the rules
(20:23):
removes federal protections for millions of acres of wetlands and
raises questions about coverage for millions of miles of tributary
streams previously covered by the Clean Water Act. Chris Wood,
president and CEO of Trout Unlimited, said the rule will
make our rivers and streams less fishable, swimmable, and drinkable.
One of the primary functions of the Clean Water Act
(20:45):
is to require companies and individuals to secure permits for
filling and dredging work that will impact rivers, lakes, streams,
and other bodies of water. Before handing out these permits,
environmental experts visit the site to make sure the work
being done won't impact water quality. If the Clean Water
Act applies to fewer of these water sources, filling and
(21:05):
dredging cannicker more often without any kind of environmental review.
It's worth noting that state agencies also have permitting requirements,
so some states will continue to review filling and dredging
projects carefully, but some states policy is written to mere
federal policy, so the Supreme Court decision and the new
clean Water Rule will apply to those states. This is
(21:28):
an extremely complex issue, and the you know, the ping
pong ball gets tossed back and forth on the Clean
Water Act from administration to administration. So I'm painting with
a broad brush here. I'm not saying your favorite duck
hunting spot will be a gravel pit by the time
duck season rolls around. But it's always extremely concerning whenever
we weaken federal protections for wildlife habitat. When organizations like
(21:52):
TROD Unlimited TRCP, DU Delta Waterfowl sound the alarm, hunters
and anglers should sit up and pay at ten. Now,
none of this really affects the individual, right, So, intermittent
wetlands are incredibly valuable to wildlife. They also create like
(22:12):
very healthy soil, so they are something that gets envious
eyes from farmers. Okay, but there's a ton of programs
out there in the farm bill many many states have
great easements that will pay you to subscribe to certain
farming practices. That you can go in there and you
(22:33):
can do some hay cutting, you can plant during certain
times cash crops. But you just can't permanently tie a
that beautiful little intermittent wetland that produces ducks, deer, birds, bees,
all the stuff that you like to pay attention to
while you're out there riding on the tractor. You just
(22:54):
can't drain that thing, right. Seems like a good middle
ground there anyway, Moving on to the mushroom desk, quick
public service announcement. Here, my cologists, which is a fancy
word for mushroom experts, are warning about a bunch of
foraging books being sold on Amazon that appear to be
(23:16):
written by chat GPT, which I suppose is like the
new lazy man's way of busting out a book. Since
eating the wrong mushroom can be deadly, they worry that
amateur foragers could be at a serious risk if they
take advice from these books. A few titles are The
Supreme Mushrooms Books, Field Guide of the Southwest and Wild
(23:40):
Mushroom Cookbook From Forrest to Gourmet Plate, A Complete Guide
to Wild Mushroom cookery. Experts say these books contain serious flaws,
one of which is a recommendation to identify mushrooms by
smelling and tasting them. You can see where this may
go seriously wrong. Never taste a mushroom unless you know
for certain that and it won't kill you. And for
(24:01):
great advice on all things wild foods that you know
was written by a real human, check out all the
great offerings on the meat eater dot com, which is
a shameless plug, but we have you know, people who
know their stuff, like Genneroseel for instance, Okay, that lady
tells you to eat something, you can eat it. Don't
just go buy something on Amazon. Research the author. It's
(24:24):
an extra step. It's no longer a one click process.
You gotta think through it. Okay, PSA, don't go dying
on me. I need you. Moving on to the public
Land Desk. I have good news and bad news here
at the public Land Desk. The good news is that
we saw several stories this week of federal and state
(24:45):
governments doing their darnedness to increase public access to thousands
of acres of great hunting and fishing property. In Idaho,
the Bureau of Land Management opened a new backcountry conservation
area called Bennett Hills. Bennett Hills is a one hundred
in twenty thousand acre parcel of rolling grasslands in southwest Idaho.
It's home to upland gamebird species and serves as winter
(25:07):
habitat for elk and mule deer. Backcountry conservation areas are
a relatively new type of public land. The BLM launched
the program in twenty seventeen to conserve backcountry areas that
contain priority habitats for quote recreationally important fish and wildlife species,
meaning game animals that drive the mass of hunting and
fishing economy in places like southwest Idaho. Designating land as
(25:30):
a backcountry Conservation Area or BCA doesn't ban other uses
such as mining. However, according to Brian Brooks of the
Idaho Wildlife Federation, it does make it more difficult for
activities like mining to be approved. He told Poise State
Public Radio that developers would be met with opposition from
the BLM, as well as hunters and anglers who recognize
(25:51):
the value of keeping these back country areas intact. Quote,
it would be a very significant battle that developers may
not be willing to take on. Bennett Hills is just
the third BCABBLM has established, but so far it's the largest.
Hopefully it's the third of many more to come. Hunters
may be getting more opportunities in South Dakota. Pheasants Forever
(26:14):
is partnering with South Dakota Tourism, on ex Hunt, and
other organizations to launch a program they hope will open
ten thousand new acres per year to public access. It's
called PATH, which stands for Public Access to Habitat. The
program will pay landowners a base rate of twenty five
dollars per acre for new, high quality, undisturbed habitat that's
open for hunting pheasants. Forever says that for every two
(26:37):
hundred and fifty thousand dollars raised, they'll be able to
open ten thousand acres. South Dakota is already the pheasant
capital of the world, and programs like this aim to
keep it that way. God, I mean, just pay attention
to other states. My goodness, South Dakota just kicks ass,
no other way to say it. Moving on to the
bad news, several of you in to tell me about
(27:01):
a proposal that would build a bridge through prime waterfowl
habitat in Decatur, Alabama. The Swan Creek Waterfowl Management Area
is located in northern Alabama, and I've heard from several
residents that it's one of the best waterfowl hunting areas
in a state that doesn't have much waterfowl hunting to
begin with. That's open to the public anyway. The city
(27:21):
of Decatur is located just south of Swan Creek, and
they're considering a proposal that would build a bridge straight
through the middle of that area. Now, for those of
you who have ever stood in a marsh and swung
a shotgun on a bird. A bridge in the back
drought full of cars is not what you want to see,
they say. As in the city of Decatur. The bridge
(27:41):
is necessary to relieve traffic congestion, but waterfowl hunters say
it would also decimate habitat and eliminate waterfowl hunting on
Swan Creek. The construction company has proposed six routes for
the bridge, all of which impacts Swan Creek in some way,
but some are better than others. One of the roots
through a smaller portion of the WMA, and future generations
(28:03):
of hunters might not be as heavily impacted. But construction
is still projected to take eight to ten years. And
you can bet that all those excavators, dump trucks, and
human activity are going to take a toll no matter
where the bridge is eventually built. Not to mention, a
lot of the folks that I know that work on
construction sites probably will take a toll on waterfowl numbers two.
(28:26):
If you live in Alabama or southern Tennessee, and especially
if you live in Decatur, now's the time to get involved.
The mayor of Decatur is named tab Bowling. You should
definitely know how his constituents feel about this project. I'd
also contact members of the city council. I've seen news
reports that say several of them are on that fence,
and I think a few thoughtful and respectful notes from
(28:47):
their voters might make all the difference. We'll post links
to all that contact info at the mediator dot com,
forward slash col get a hold of Delta Waterfowl Ducks Unlimited,
and backcountry Hunters in Angle Auto Bound Society. All of
those folks should be able to weigh in heavily on
the imposition of a bridge through prime wetlands. And lastly,
(29:11):
thank you so much to everybody who wrote in on
that subject. I'm reaching out to a few folks as well,
try to add a little heat to the fire there.
Thank you so much for listening. That's all I got
for you this week, ma'am. Lot's happening. It's fall. We're
gonna keep it coming. It's going to be a struggle.
Keep your ears on, your wits about you, head on
a swivel, all that good stuff. Thank you so much
(29:34):
for listening. Thank you so much for writing in. I
want to hear from you so right in to ask
c Al that's Askcal at the Meat Eater dot com
and let me know what's going on in your neck
of the woods. On top of that, don't get stranded
someplace you gotta, you know, cut your way out of
Go to www. Dot Steel Dealers dot com and find
(29:54):
a local, knowledgeable steel dealer near you. Yeah, you can
get your clean, quiet electric chainsaw, but you can also
get a set of like thirty inch steel oppers, or
just a nice set of handheld pruning shares that's going
to aid you in busting down deer for quick and
easy removal home butchery projects, as well as waterfowl and
(30:15):
upland birds. Trust me, I use them all the time.
Just last night, I was using my steel pruning sheares
to knock the wings off of sharp tail grouse and
then their little tiny fuzzy feet too. Snort. Got a
real kick out of that. I promise you thanks again,
and I'll talk to you next week.
Host
Cal Callaghan
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