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):
And Ohio man found himself in hot water last week
for crying bear to get himself a free ride out
of the woods. Local emergency dispatchers in Canawa County, West Virginia,
maybe it's Kanawah, I'm sure he'll tell me received a
call from a man who said he was being attacked
by bears. The man allegedly claimed that he had been
walking for days, his phone was dying, he had a
(00:44):
head injury, that the bears were circling him, and he
was going to die.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
These bears aren't massive.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Immediately regret this decision. The local sheriff's office sent search
and rescue crews to save the man from his army
of organized brow once. After a two hour search, in
which they requested a helicopter from state police, they found
forty seven year old Christian Lianhart. First Responders say the
man was not bleeding and did not have any visible injuries.
(01:13):
He apologized for wasting their time, but said he was
quote extremely intoxicated and wanted a ride out of the woods.
Ancestry dot Com says the last name Leonhart comes from
the words Leo meaning lion, and hard meaning hardy, brave,
and strong. Christian Lionhart turned out to be none of
these things. Law enforcement was not sympathetic and is charging
(01:36):
Lionhart with falsely reporting an emergency incident. Big thanks to
Jim Lane for sending us that story. This week, we've
got wolves, ballots, legislation, mink, and so much more. But first,
I'm going to tell you about my week. And my
week was a little odd, not spent chasing elk this
time of year, but I did manage to beg a
(01:57):
couple of sage grouse, so you get a bone snort report.
This week, we hiked all over hell and gone for sharptales,
who I feel have left the really fun cover during
a brief cold snap that puts snow on the mountains
here in Montana. I feel I did not find the
sharp tales because this touch of cold must have killed
off a significant amount of grasshoppers, so they moved on
(02:19):
to greener pastures, so to speak. On the way home,
we pulled into an area that I had seen both
sharptail and sage grouse in before starting our walk. We
quartered down wind along a fence line for about a mile,
then swung into the wind toward the opposite corner post
of the CRP. CRP stands for Conservation Reserve Program, which
(02:39):
is one of our best private land tools for wildlife.
CRP essentially means holding back acres that could be in
some sort of agricultural production and putting those acres ideally
into native grass that is then held in reserve. Sometimes
producers can graze the reserve ground in times of drought,
they can sometimes hay that ground, but for the most part,
(03:01):
it is there to hold top soil to the ground,
mitigate market volatility, sequester carbon, and provide shelter and food
for wildlife. For twenty twenty three, there will be two
point seven million acres of additional crop land enrolled in CRP,
with one point nine million acres rotating out, meaning that
it will once again be able to you know, be
(03:22):
farmed or grazed or what have you. We currently have
about twenty three million acres in the Conservation Reserve Program,
so we'll have a net gain of eight hundred thousand acres,
which is a lot of dog walking. Anyway. I knew
from previous hunts and e scouting on the old on
ax that in between us and that corner post was
a low spot in the field, probably an old buffalo
(03:45):
wallow turned cattle pond that was at least a little
bit different than the rest of the cover. When the
bird scent is thin, snort tends to range, meaning she
gets out beyond effective shotgun range, head held high, searching
for cent to how a pointing dog would do it.
This is something I have allowed as we've built up
trust in one another. I almost always have her whistle
(04:08):
around my neck and her fancy pants Garmin GPS collar
has a tone on it, a beat that she's been
conditioned to. A prolonged beat via a held button brings
her back to heel. A quick jab gets her looking
for me. When I see all fuzzy butt's head drop,
her pace and tail quicken, I know the scent is
picking up, so I give her a beat and hold
(04:29):
my hand high in a woe sign like wait for
me is what I'm saying. I close the gap and
I motion her on and just that quick, that fresh,
snow cleaned blue sky is full of relatively slow moving bombers,
the greater sage grouse, some small, some big. I pick
a small one out and it tumbles. Snort is on
(04:51):
the retrieve, and as I start to meet her a
big bird who ups at my feet, I have time
to realize that I have shot my back or second
trigger on the side by side, did that first instead
of second? And then I slide my hand forward to
the first trigger and bag a prolonged pair. You could
call it one big bird, one small equals one limit.
(05:13):
Here in Montana, Snort falters here a little bit by
dropping the young bird and sprinting to get the old
one before completing her hand off. Sage grouse legs and
thighs and fresh from the garden tomatoes, garum masala, peeri pierri, garlic, ginger,
and coconut milk. Absolutely fantastic and it was a heck
of a way to end a weekend. Snort and I
(05:35):
are starting to I random migrations of cranes in Canada geese,
but pheasant season is around the corner too. And if
this bird thing just does not do anything for you,
if you have a hankering to hang yourself in a
tree from like a saddle or stand on a platform,
pay special attention to the meat eater dot Com for Whitetailweek.
(05:56):
Lots of awesome content come your way from people who
really know how to hunt white tails. Lots of great
how tos, strategy, and a few deals on gear of
all kinds too. And oh my gosh, it's October. Holy cats,
I'm panicking. I swear if you close your eyes fall
will just be gone. It's the most wonderful time. Moving
(06:21):
on to the wolf desk, the US Fish and Wildlife
Service announced this month that it had approved Colorado's plan
to introduce an experimental wolf population in the state. This
rule was granted under Section ten J of the Endangered
Species Act, which allows the Fish and Wildlife Service to
designate an introduced population of animals as non essential and experimental.
(06:45):
Colorado Parks and Wildlife had asked for this status because
it gives the state the greater flexibility in how it
manages wolves in the state. Specifically, it allows landowners and
ranchers to kill wolves that are threatening and killing livestock.
The state will still have to confirm that a depredation
incident has taken place, but the TENJ designation gives Colorado
officials more options as they work to address the concerns
(07:09):
of residents and landowners. Coloradans who oppose the wolf reintroduction
plan are happy about this rule, and it's easy to
see why, but the fact that the Fish and Wildlife
Service approved the rule is more than a little ironic.
The Endangered Species Act allows a ten J population to
be established quote if it will be released into suitable
(07:29):
natural habitat outside the species current range. The habitat on
Colorado's western slope might be suitable, but many would argue
that it's not outside the species current range. In twenty nineteen,
Colorado Parks and Wildlife observed a female wolf in north
central Colorado that had traveled down from the Snake River
pack in Wyoming. Two years later, the agency confirmed that
(07:51):
a male wolf was traveling with that original female. Later
that year, biologists observed six puppies with the pair, and
one of those puppies has been collared by colorad Raato
Parks and Wildlife. This region of the state appears to
be within the proposed reintroduction area, which means this is
looking more like an addition than a reintroduction, but we
(08:11):
kind of already knew that. However, the voters have spoken.
Colorado hopes to have pause on the ground before the
end of the year, and the ten j designation is
a big step in that direction. Jumping over to one
of my favorite desks, which is the mustelid desk, as
(08:32):
many as eight thousand mink escaped to Pennsylvania Fir Farm
last week after officials say someone cut a hole in
their enclosure. State police are investigating who might be behind
the great mink escape, and they're urging locals to stay
away from the now wild animals. A local animal hospital
is offering to take in any mink that are captured
or found injured, but the vet says it will be
(08:53):
impossible to catch all of them. It looks like the
Northumberland area of Pennsylvania is going to have a mink
population for at least the next couple of I don't know,
weeks a month. This isn't the first time a company
of mink have made a break for it. As many
as ten thousand of the animals in the weasel family
escaped in Ohio ferm Farm last year, which we covered
(09:14):
in episode one eighty seven. More recently, about three thousand
mink escaped fur farm in Wisconsin. Behind each of these
escapades is an animal rights group called the Animal Liberation
Front or ALF. This is a loosely organized group of
what you may call eco terrorists, and their members regularly
engage in this kind of behavior. They say they received
(09:35):
an anonymous letter about this most recent jail break from
the person responsible. This person says in the letter that
they were inspired by the ALF website quote I saw
your mink prison recently and was not impressed, This person
allegedly said of the fur farm. When the cage latches
were opened, the mink jumped out to experience their first
steps in grass and mud. I hope most have escaped
(09:58):
to freedom and no more animal are ever imprisoned and
slaughtered here. Again. Whatever happened after I left, I hope
it was expensive. Local media has already reported that traffic
has slowed in some areas thanks to dead mink on
the roadway. Not all of the furry animals escape to
live their best lives. In fact, I'm sure weasels can
(10:18):
adapt better than a lot of animals, but they still
need to adapt really fast because they've never been around
anything that can kill them. Moving on to the legislative desk,
I have good news to report out of Washington, d C.
Which isn't something I say very often. Last week, the
US House passed the Duck Stamp Modernization Act on a
(10:40):
unanimous voice vote. Under current law, when a hunter purchases
an electronic federal duck stamp, that e stamp is only
valid for a period of forty five days. Once the
physical stamp is received, it must be signed by the
hunter and be in the hunter's possession while a field.
The Duck Stamp Modernization Act would allow hunters to use
that electronic version of the duck stamp throughout the entirety
(11:03):
of the season. It would still have the physical stamp
mailed to them, but not until after the latest waterfowl
season has ended. The US Senate passed a slightly different
version of this bill, but considering these strong support in
both chambers, I wouldn't be surprised to see this take
effect next year. Now, just a real refresher here, one
of the best things that you can do for wildlife
(11:25):
is by a duck stamp. A significant portion of your
twenty five bucks goes directly to our refuge system which
really needs the cash. Right now, hunter numbers are declining,
specifically waterfowl hunter numbers are declining, which is the main
revenue source. But everybody knows refuges provide not only a
ton of biodiversity, but a ton of enjoyment for folks
(11:47):
throughout the season, fantastic bird watching, wildlife watching, et cetera.
Not to mention great fishing, and there's some whitetail hunting
in some too. Anyway, the reason that the Modernization Act
has come around is because that stamp is supposed to
be a fixed to something, namely like your license, right,
(12:08):
but folks who travel can't take that stamp and a
fix it to another license. Also, are you supposed to
just fix that stamp to like the back of your
phone for all these states that do E tags and
e licenses. That's the situation that we're running into here.
So also, you know, the fact that you got to
sign the stamp is to prevent people handing that stamp
(12:29):
off to another hunter, like splitting the cost of one
duck stamp. But anyway, now you're caught up. That's the
reason for the need of the Modernization Act. The only
bummer is there's a lot of folks like me who
you know, buy multiple stamps every year. Not because we're
stamp collectors, Yes, we like conservation and helping out, but
(12:51):
because we always misplaced the darn things. Anyway, Buy a
duck stamp even if you're not gonna go waterfowl hunting
by two. Give them out like you know, stocking stuffers. Eh,
it's the most. Idaho Fishing Game is asking for the
public's feedback on two proposals that would close portions of
(13:13):
the state to shed hunting next year. In response to
last year's severe winter, the Idaho State Legislature passed a
bill giving the Fish and Game Commission authority to seasonally
restrict the possession, transportation, and collection of sheds. Doing so
would limit the number of people in the mountains during
the winter and help animals survive by keeping their stress
to a minimum. As we've covered before, when you bump
(13:35):
an elk or mule deer out of cover during these
winter times, that activity uses calories those animals may not
be able to replenish. Thus they cannot afford to lose
them during a harsh winner. Idaho Fishing Game has published
a short survey on its website that asks the public
whether they support closing the shed hunting season at all,
(13:55):
and if they do, which of the two proposals they support.
Both proposals would close shed hunting next year from January
one to April fourteen, but one would close shed hunting
in the Southeast region only, an the other would close
it in the Southeast region and the Upper Snake River
region as well. Idaho residents have until October nine to
(14:16):
submit those comments. The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners met recently,
and they discussed several topics that PA residents should keep
their eye on. First, they're asking for public comment on
a plan that would reintroduce American martins in the state.
Martins are a small fur bearing mammal which is also
a musculid, that were once found throughout Pennsylvania, but we're
(14:39):
mostly extirpated through deforestation and unregulated harvest. Research suggests that
they could be successfully reintroduced and that they would pose
little to no risk to other species, according to the commission.
The reintroduction plan can be viewed at the Game Commission's website,
and comments about the plan can be emailed to PA
(15:01):
Martin at PA dot gov By November fifteen. That's PA
m A r T E N at PA dot gov
by November one, five. The Pennsylvania Game Commission is also
considering a proposal that would prohibit using dogs to hunt
fur bears during the overlap of any regular deer or
(15:22):
bear season. Commissioners say they have received an increasing number
of complaints about hunters who use dogs to hunt coyotes.
These complaints come from deer and bear hunters who say
the dogs push and kill the animals they're targeting. The
Commission gave their initial approval to the ban, but it
is scheduled to be brought back to the January meeting
for final consideration. And yes, we have already covered but
(15:44):
I will mention again the situation in PA where designated
phishing game funds are getting hijacked. We got a lot
more to talk about on that. One short answer is
for those of you who have written in to askcl
at the meeater dot com for my opinion is, don't
let it happen. There's a lot of ways to support
(16:06):
wildlife and habitat without using these dollars. You just got
to stand up and demand it. Once these dollars move
away from the game side of things. They're not going
to come back New Jerseys, New Jerseys, Jersey folks, congrats.
The black bear season looks like it might become an
annual thing. Earlier this month, the Fishing Game Council unanimously
(16:28):
approved lethal and non lethal means to manage the Garden
state's bear population. Under the Plan Bears in Bergen Hunter
Done Mercer, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, and Sussex counties can be
hunted for a week in October and again for a
week in December. If the population management goals aren't met,
officials will extend the season. Like last year, hunters aren't
(16:50):
allowed to shoot any bear less than seventy five pounds
or hunt within three hundred feet of a bait pile.
The black bear saga in New Jersey shows that if
states refuse to manage their animal populations, the voting public
might not like the results. Here's looking at you, Washington.
Staying in New Jersey, the state Senate is considering a
bill that would legalize the possession of bear spray in
(17:12):
the state. The New Jersey House already passed the bill
by a wide margin, but the bill is now stalled
in the Senate. Economic Growth Committee on the topic of firearms.
A US appeals court just blocked a California law banning
gun marketing that is attractive to miners. The panel for
the ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals said the law
was unlikely to reduce gun violence or the unlawful use
(17:36):
of firearms. They said that hunting and sports shooting groups
were likely to prevail on their claims that the law
violates free speech rights under the First Amendment of the
US Constitution. In June of this year, Governor Gavin Newsom
signed a bill making it illegal for a firearm industry
member to market firearms two miners. Hunting and sport shooting
(17:56):
groups quickly sued, arguing that the law would effectively ban
hunting classes and clay shooting competitions for kids. This latest
ruling is a win for those folks, but it's unlikely
to be the last word. The California Attorney General can
still appeal the ruling to the larger circuit court up
in Colorado, animal rights activists are trying to get a
(18:17):
proposal on next year's ballot that would ban quote trophy
hunting of mountain lions, bobcats, and links the citizens' initiative
says that hunting these animals is quote inhumane, serves no
socially acceptable or ecologically beneficial purpose, and fails to further
public safety. The authors of the initiatives say that trophy
hunting is practiced primarily to display an animal's head for
(18:41):
or other body parts, rather than to harvest meat. However,
the actual text of the ballot measure doesn't distinguish between
the reasons a person might hunt a mountain lion. Instead,
it simply bans killing, wounding, or entrapping any of the
cats species listed. Once the initiative is approved by the
Colorado Secretary of State D eight, it must receive one
(19:01):
hundred and twenty four two hundred and thirty eight qualified
signatures to appear on the ballot in twenty twenty four.
Once on the ballot, it only takes a bar majority
to make it law. Just think coloraddoms. If this passes,
everyone in the state could pay for state officials to
kill these animals instead of hunters jumping north of the border.
(19:23):
In Canada, British Columbia is asking for public input on
a draft grizzly bear management plan. Grizzly bear hunting has
been banned in the province since twenty seventeen, but hunters
are hoping they can use this opportunity to push the
provincial government to reopen it. The Wild Cheap Society of
British Columbia has posted a call to action on their
website with all the details and link to the comment.
(19:44):
You can find the page by visiting Wild Cheapsociety dot
com and we'll also post a link on the meaeater
dot com forward slash col Moving on to the garbage desk,
a Colorado black bear died recently from what biologists believe
was a blocked intestinal tract. In other words, he died
of constipation. Of all the ways to go, that's not
(20:07):
what I'd choose. Remember this story when I tell you
about my week next week. Yeah, it's going to be
a doozy anyway. What kind of belly blockage battered this
beleaguered bruin. According to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife, it's
intestines were filled with trash. The four hundred pound bore
quote showed signs of infection and was suffering from a
(20:27):
severe intestinal blockage caused by consumed human trash. A photo
published with the press release showed a pile of wet
wipes along with other garbage that kept the bear from
digesting food. The bear was well known in the Telluride
area and is believed to have broken into a home earlier.
This summer, locals observed the bear acting strangely and called
wildlife officials. They confirmed that the bear had puffy eyes
(20:49):
and discharge from its eyes and mouth. They also noticed
that the bear walked in a humped fashion and seemed
reluctant to move, which indicated abdominal pain. The bear had
previously responded to hazing techniques, but it wasn't having it
when wildlife officials tried to scare the bear away. This time,
it bluff charged one of the officers, and the decision
(21:09):
was made to euthanize the animal. That turned out to
be a great decision and nekruptcy and covered an entire
convenience store worth of junk in the bear's digestive tract,
including paper towels, disinfectant wipes, napkins, parts of plastic sacks,
and wax paper food wrappers.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Let's keep buffipes cleaned.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Throw it in the trash dome, flush it. This plug
of trash was accompanied by French fries, green beans, onions,
and peanuts. Past the plug, these small and large intestines
were empty of anything except expanding colonies of bacteria. Keeping
trash away from bears and other wildlife isn't just about
protecting people. The junk we eat isn't great for animals,
(21:50):
but what's even worse is the junk that the junk
is wrapped in. If you've ever seen your dog go
after something wrapped in plastic, you know that they don't
care too much about ingesting a rapper here and there
to get that sweet or salty goodness in their belly.
Tell your ed has an ordinance requiring residents to secure
their trash, but there's no indication that this incident is
(22:10):
being investigated. Further, I'd expect enforcement of that ordinance to
tick up in the weeks to come. Let your VRBO
ers know what's up. Okay, Moving on to the dough desk.
White tail seasons are underway in states across the country,
and some of those states are begging hunters to shoot more.
Does listener Jeff McCormick sent me an open letter to
(22:33):
Michigan deer hunters, penned by Chad Stewart a deer management
specialist for the state's Department of Natural Resources, Stuart says
that hunters in the Lower Peninsula aren't taking enough doze
to control the growth of the deer herds in many areas.
The only year Michigan hunters took more does than bucks
was in two thousand and nine. Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin,
(22:54):
by contrast, all typically harvest between eight percent and twenty
five percent more doze than bucks in a given year.
Stuart says that most Michigan hunters go after bucks almost
exclusively for the first few weeks of the season. If
they get a buck, they might think about shooting a dough,
or they might keep holding out for a bigger buck
to come along. This buck first mindset is a problem
(23:16):
from a management perspective, because the Orange Army in Michigan
is predicted to drop down to four hundred and fifty
thousand hunters by the year twenty thirty. That's down almost
half from the eight hundred thousand hunters there were in
the year two thousand. Stuart also argues that taking more
does early in the season will give hunters a better
experience by Allogists say that deer herds tend to be
(23:39):
healthier with a balanced dough to buck ratio, and healthy
deer typically means bigger bucks. Taking does prior to the
rut also increases your odds of seeing more action during
the rut. If a buck has lots of options with
little competition, you won't be as motivated to move and chase.
With a more balanced dough to buck ratio, you're more
likely to say, see multiple bucks chasing a single dough.
(24:02):
Hunters worry that killing a doe early in the season
will spook any big bucks in the area. While I
suppose that could be true in some scenarios, I don't
think it's something hunters should be too worried about. You
might spook a buck tracking a wounded doe, but as
Tony Peterson pointed out recently in an article on the
meeater dot Com, it's likely that buck will be back
in its home territory within a few hours. I get
(24:25):
why hunters want to focus on their target buck before
thinking about a dough, but for the long term health
of the Michigan deer herd, it might be time to
change that paradigm and take it from me, people are
just more sympathetic when you're like listen. I went up
early in the season, but all I got was a dough.
I got this buck tag burning a hole in my pocket.
Can I get the afternoon off? That works? It does,
(24:49):
bag a doe. Go get yourself a buck. Later on,
jumping over to the mail bag desk, listener Erica Higgins
wrote in with a clarification on a segment. And we
did a few weeks ago about mushroom identification, and it's
a great one. I told you about foraging books written
by artificial intelligence, one of which recommended identifying mushrooms by
(25:09):
tasting or eating them. I mocked this as a bad idea,
considering how poisonous some mushrooms can be. But Erica pointed
out and absolutely one hundred percent correct, that in some
instances the nibble and spit method is very necessary to
identify certain mushrooms. In fact, it's in like a lot
of survival books out there too. Quote even the most
(25:31):
poisonous fun guy in the world can be safely tasted
and spit out. Micotoxins require metabolization through the digestive tract.
Often damage to the liver is the cause of fatalities,
so nibble and spit, as it's often phrased in mycology groups,
is a completely safe and common practice. While I have
found similar advice in forging books written by real humans,
(25:51):
the legal department here at Cal's Week in Review wants
me to issue a disclaimer that I do not recommend
the nibble and spit method. ID mushrooms by appearance is
the best approach, and it removes the chance that you'll
swallow a bit of deadly mushroom by mistake. However, I
found Erica's email to be extremely interesting, and it's true
that mushroom talksins must be ingested and that death is
often caused by liver or kidney failure. That's according to
(26:14):
the National Library of Medicine. Big thanks to Erica for
her email, and I'm going to tack an extra one
on here at the ask CAL desk. I found this
fantastic because it also tacks on to the thing that
I like to make fun of, which is vegan foods
that are labeled as meat. Aaron mcculluugh writes in saying,
(26:35):
I completely agree with your position on naming vegan foods
on you know anyway, we already covered it false advertising right,
like you can't call a pile of tofu ribbi steak anyway.
Aaron writes in and says, I'm sitting in the woods
squirrel hunting and looking around. I see shrimp of the woods,
lobster mushrooms, and chicken of the woods. What are we
(26:58):
going to do about naming delicious mushrooms? Got me there, Aaron?
Those are delicious mushrooms and I wouldn't change the thing
about them. That's all I got for you this week.
Thank you so much for writing in. Remember right in
to ask c Al that's Askcal at the Meatbeater dot com,
and let me know what's going on in your neck
of the woods. I'm sure the colors are changing. I
(27:20):
know they are staring out my window, so let's keep
the conversation flowing. On top of that, don't get stuck
on some old logging road because a windstorm came up
and knocked down a bunch of timber. Go to www
dot steel Dealers dot com and find a local, knowledgeable
steel dealer near you. Get yourself a clean, quiet, battery
(27:40):
operated chainsaw, or you know, a rip roaring computer chipped
buck up a ton of wood, fast gas powered machine
steel power equipment number one, naming chainsaws man, make it happen.
That's all I got for you this week. Thank you
so much for listening. Be safe out there in the woods,
be courteous, and Bubball get outside. Thanks again. I'll talk
(28:03):
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):
And Ohio man found himself in hot water last week
for crying bear to get himself a free ride out
of the woods. Local emergency dispatchers in Canawa County, West Virginia,
maybe it's Kanawah, I'm sure he'll tell me received a
call from a man who said he was being attacked
by bears. The man allegedly claimed that he had been
walking for days, his phone was dying, he had a
(00:44):
head injury, that the bears were circling him, and he
was going to die.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
These bears aren't massive.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Immediately regret this decision. The local sheriff's office sent search
and rescue crews to save the man from his army
of organized brow once. After a two hour search, in
which they requested a helicopter from state police, they found
forty seven year old Christian Lianhart. First Responders say the
man was not bleeding and did not have any visible injuries.
(01:13):
He apologized for wasting their time, but said he was
quote extremely intoxicated and wanted a ride out of the woods.
Ancestry dot Com says the last name Leonhart comes from
the words Leo meaning lion, and hard meaning hardy, brave,
and strong. Christian Lionhart turned out to be none of
these things. Law enforcement was not sympathetic and is charging
(01:36):
Lionhart with falsely reporting an emergency incident. Big thanks to
Jim Lane for sending us that story. This week, we've
got wolves, ballots, legislation, mink, and so much more. But first,
I'm going to tell you about my week. And my
week was a little odd, not spent chasing elk this
time of year, but I did manage to beg a
(01:57):
couple of sage grouse, so you get a bone snort report.
This week, we hiked all over hell and gone for sharptales,
who I feel have left the really fun cover during
a brief cold snap that puts snow on the mountains
here in Montana. I feel I did not find the
sharp tales because this touch of cold must have killed
off a significant amount of grasshoppers, so they moved on
(02:19):
to greener pastures, so to speak. On the way home,
we pulled into an area that I had seen both
sharptail and sage grouse in before starting our walk. We
quartered down wind along a fence line for about a mile,
then swung into the wind toward the opposite corner post
of the CRP. CRP stands for Conservation Reserve Program, which
(02:39):
is one of our best private land tools for wildlife.
CRP essentially means holding back acres that could be in
some sort of agricultural production and putting those acres ideally
into native grass that is then held in reserve. Sometimes
producers can graze the reserve ground in times of drought,
they can sometimes hay that ground, but for the most part,
(03:01):
it is there to hold top soil to the ground,
mitigate market volatility, sequester carbon, and provide shelter and food
for wildlife. For twenty twenty three, there will be two
point seven million acres of additional crop land enrolled in CRP,
with one point nine million acres rotating out, meaning that
it will once again be able to you know, be
(03:22):
farmed or grazed or what have you. We currently have
about twenty three million acres in the Conservation Reserve Program,
so we'll have a net gain of eight hundred thousand acres,
which is a lot of dog walking. Anyway. I knew
from previous hunts and e scouting on the old on
ax that in between us and that corner post was
a low spot in the field, probably an old buffalo
(03:45):
wallow turned cattle pond that was at least a little
bit different than the rest of the cover. When the
bird scent is thin, snort tends to range, meaning she
gets out beyond effective shotgun range, head held high, searching
for cent to how a pointing dog would do it.
This is something I have allowed as we've built up
trust in one another. I almost always have her whistle
(04:08):
around my neck and her fancy pants Garmin GPS collar
has a tone on it, a beat that she's been
conditioned to. A prolonged beat via a held button brings
her back to heel. A quick jab gets her looking
for me. When I see all fuzzy butt's head drop,
her pace and tail quicken, I know the scent is
picking up, so I give her a beat and hold
(04:29):
my hand high in a woe sign like wait for
me is what I'm saying. I close the gap and
I motion her on and just that quick, that fresh,
snow cleaned blue sky is full of relatively slow moving bombers,
the greater sage grouse, some small, some big. I pick
a small one out and it tumbles. Snort is on
(04:51):
the retrieve, and as I start to meet her a
big bird who ups at my feet, I have time
to realize that I have shot my back or second
trigger on the side by side, did that first instead
of second? And then I slide my hand forward to
the first trigger and bag a prolonged pair. You could
call it one big bird, one small equals one limit.
(05:13):
Here in Montana, Snort falters here a little bit by
dropping the young bird and sprinting to get the old
one before completing her hand off. Sage grouse legs and
thighs and fresh from the garden tomatoes, garum masala, peeri pierri, garlic, ginger,
and coconut milk. Absolutely fantastic and it was a heck
of a way to end a weekend. Snort and I
(05:35):
are starting to I random migrations of cranes in Canada geese,
but pheasant season is around the corner too. And if
this bird thing just does not do anything for you,
if you have a hankering to hang yourself in a
tree from like a saddle or stand on a platform,
pay special attention to the meat eater dot Com for Whitetailweek.
(05:56):
Lots of awesome content come your way from people who
really know how to hunt white tails. Lots of great
how tos, strategy, and a few deals on gear of
all kinds too. And oh my gosh, it's October. Holy cats,
I'm panicking. I swear if you close your eyes fall
will just be gone. It's the most wonderful time. Moving
(06:21):
on to the wolf desk, the US Fish and Wildlife
Service announced this month that it had approved Colorado's plan
to introduce an experimental wolf population in the state. This
rule was granted under Section ten J of the Endangered
Species Act, which allows the Fish and Wildlife Service to
designate an introduced population of animals as non essential and experimental.
(06:45):
Colorado Parks and Wildlife had asked for this status because
it gives the state the greater flexibility in how it
manages wolves in the state. Specifically, it allows landowners and
ranchers to kill wolves that are threatening and killing livestock.
The state will still have to confirm that a depredation
incident has taken place, but the TENJ designation gives Colorado
officials more options as they work to address the concerns
(07:09):
of residents and landowners. Coloradans who oppose the wolf reintroduction
plan are happy about this rule, and it's easy to
see why, but the fact that the Fish and Wildlife
Service approved the rule is more than a little ironic.
The Endangered Species Act allows a ten J population to
be established quote if it will be released into suitable
(07:29):
natural habitat outside the species current range. The habitat on
Colorado's western slope might be suitable, but many would argue
that it's not outside the species current range. In twenty nineteen,
Colorado Parks and Wildlife observed a female wolf in north
central Colorado that had traveled down from the Snake River
pack in Wyoming. Two years later, the agency confirmed that
(07:51):
a male wolf was traveling with that original female. Later
that year, biologists observed six puppies with the pair, and
one of those puppies has been collared by colorad Raato
Parks and Wildlife. This region of the state appears to
be within the proposed reintroduction area, which means this is
looking more like an addition than a reintroduction, but we
(08:11):
kind of already knew that. However, the voters have spoken.
Colorado hopes to have pause on the ground before the
end of the year, and the ten j designation is
a big step in that direction. Jumping over to one
of my favorite desks, which is the mustelid desk, as
(08:32):
many as eight thousand mink escaped to Pennsylvania Fir Farm
last week after officials say someone cut a hole in
their enclosure. State police are investigating who might be behind
the great mink escape, and they're urging locals to stay
away from the now wild animals. A local animal hospital
is offering to take in any mink that are captured
or found injured, but the vet says it will be
(08:53):
impossible to catch all of them. It looks like the
Northumberland area of Pennsylvania is going to have a mink
population for at least the next couple of I don't know,
weeks a month. This isn't the first time a company
of mink have made a break for it. As many
as ten thousand of the animals in the weasel family
escaped in Ohio ferm Farm last year, which we covered
(09:14):
in episode one eighty seven. More recently, about three thousand
mink escaped fur farm in Wisconsin. Behind each of these
escapades is an animal rights group called the Animal Liberation
Front or ALF. This is a loosely organized group of
what you may call eco terrorists, and their members regularly
engage in this kind of behavior. They say they received
(09:35):
an anonymous letter about this most recent jail break from
the person responsible. This person says in the letter that
they were inspired by the ALF website quote I saw
your mink prison recently and was not impressed, This person
allegedly said of the fur farm. When the cage latches
were opened, the mink jumped out to experience their first
steps in grass and mud. I hope most have escaped
(09:58):
to freedom and no more animal are ever imprisoned and
slaughtered here. Again. Whatever happened after I left, I hope
it was expensive. Local media has already reported that traffic
has slowed in some areas thanks to dead mink on
the roadway. Not all of the furry animals escape to
live their best lives. In fact, I'm sure weasels can
(10:18):
adapt better than a lot of animals, but they still
need to adapt really fast because they've never been around
anything that can kill them. Moving on to the legislative desk,
I have good news to report out of Washington, d C.
Which isn't something I say very often. Last week, the
US House passed the Duck Stamp Modernization Act on a
(10:40):
unanimous voice vote. Under current law, when a hunter purchases
an electronic federal duck stamp, that e stamp is only
valid for a period of forty five days. Once the
physical stamp is received, it must be signed by the
hunter and be in the hunter's possession while a field.
The Duck Stamp Modernization Act would allow hunters to use
that electronic version of the duck stamp throughout the entirety
(11:03):
of the season. It would still have the physical stamp
mailed to them, but not until after the latest waterfowl
season has ended. The US Senate passed a slightly different
version of this bill, but considering these strong support in
both chambers, I wouldn't be surprised to see this take
effect next year. Now, just a real refresher here, one
of the best things that you can do for wildlife
(11:25):
is by a duck stamp. A significant portion of your
twenty five bucks goes directly to our refuge system which
really needs the cash. Right now, hunter numbers are declining,
specifically waterfowl hunter numbers are declining, which is the main
revenue source. But everybody knows refuges provide not only a
ton of biodiversity, but a ton of enjoyment for folks
(11:47):
throughout the season, fantastic bird watching, wildlife watching, et cetera.
Not to mention great fishing, and there's some whitetail hunting
in some too. Anyway, the reason that the Modernization Act
has come around is because that stamp is supposed to
be a fixed to something, namely like your license, right,
(12:08):
but folks who travel can't take that stamp and a
fix it to another license. Also, are you supposed to
just fix that stamp to like the back of your
phone for all these states that do E tags and
e licenses. That's the situation that we're running into here.
So also, you know, the fact that you got to
sign the stamp is to prevent people handing that stamp
(12:29):
off to another hunter, like splitting the cost of one
duck stamp. But anyway, now you're caught up. That's the
reason for the need of the Modernization Act. The only
bummer is there's a lot of folks like me who
you know, buy multiple stamps every year. Not because we're
stamp collectors, Yes, we like conservation and helping out, but
(12:51):
because we always misplaced the darn things. Anyway, Buy a
duck stamp even if you're not gonna go waterfowl hunting
by two. Give them out like you know, stocking stuffers. Eh,
it's the most. Idaho Fishing Game is asking for the
public's feedback on two proposals that would close portions of
(13:13):
the state to shed hunting next year. In response to
last year's severe winter, the Idaho State Legislature passed a
bill giving the Fish and Game Commission authority to seasonally
restrict the possession, transportation, and collection of sheds. Doing so
would limit the number of people in the mountains during
the winter and help animals survive by keeping their stress
to a minimum. As we've covered before, when you bump
(13:35):
an elk or mule deer out of cover during these
winter times, that activity uses calories those animals may not
be able to replenish. Thus they cannot afford to lose
them during a harsh winner. Idaho Fishing Game has published
a short survey on its website that asks the public
whether they support closing the shed hunting season at all,
(13:55):
and if they do, which of the two proposals they support.
Both proposals would close shed hunting next year from January
one to April fourteen, but one would close shed hunting
in the Southeast region only, an the other would close
it in the Southeast region and the Upper Snake River
region as well. Idaho residents have until October nine to
(14:16):
submit those comments. The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners met recently,
and they discussed several topics that PA residents should keep
their eye on. First, they're asking for public comment on
a plan that would reintroduce American martins in the state.
Martins are a small fur bearing mammal which is also
a musculid, that were once found throughout Pennsylvania, but we're
(14:39):
mostly extirpated through deforestation and unregulated harvest. Research suggests that
they could be successfully reintroduced and that they would pose
little to no risk to other species, according to the commission.
The reintroduction plan can be viewed at the Game Commission's website,
and comments about the plan can be emailed to PA
(15:01):
Martin at PA dot gov By November fifteen. That's PA
m A r T E N at PA dot gov
by November one, five. The Pennsylvania Game Commission is also
considering a proposal that would prohibit using dogs to hunt
fur bears during the overlap of any regular deer or
(15:22):
bear season. Commissioners say they have received an increasing number
of complaints about hunters who use dogs to hunt coyotes.
These complaints come from deer and bear hunters who say
the dogs push and kill the animals they're targeting. The
Commission gave their initial approval to the ban, but it
is scheduled to be brought back to the January meeting
for final consideration. And yes, we have already covered but
(15:44):
I will mention again the situation in PA where designated
phishing game funds are getting hijacked. We got a lot
more to talk about on that. One short answer is
for those of you who have written in to askcl
at the meeater dot com for my opinion is, don't
let it happen. There's a lot of ways to support
(16:06):
wildlife and habitat without using these dollars. You just got
to stand up and demand it. Once these dollars move
away from the game side of things. They're not going
to come back New Jerseys, New Jerseys, Jersey folks, congrats.
The black bear season looks like it might become an
annual thing. Earlier this month, the Fishing Game Council unanimously
(16:28):
approved lethal and non lethal means to manage the Garden
state's bear population. Under the Plan Bears in Bergen Hunter
Done Mercer, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, and Sussex counties can be
hunted for a week in October and again for a
week in December. If the population management goals aren't met,
officials will extend the season. Like last year, hunters aren't
(16:50):
allowed to shoot any bear less than seventy five pounds
or hunt within three hundred feet of a bait pile.
The black bear saga in New Jersey shows that if
states refuse to manage their animal populations, the voting public
might not like the results. Here's looking at you, Washington.
Staying in New Jersey, the state Senate is considering a
bill that would legalize the possession of bear spray in
(17:12):
the state. The New Jersey House already passed the bill
by a wide margin, but the bill is now stalled
in the Senate. Economic Growth Committee on the topic of firearms.
A US appeals court just blocked a California law banning
gun marketing that is attractive to miners. The panel for
the ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals said the law
was unlikely to reduce gun violence or the unlawful use
(17:36):
of firearms. They said that hunting and sports shooting groups
were likely to prevail on their claims that the law
violates free speech rights under the First Amendment of the
US Constitution. In June of this year, Governor Gavin Newsom
signed a bill making it illegal for a firearm industry
member to market firearms two miners. Hunting and sport shooting
(17:56):
groups quickly sued, arguing that the law would effectively ban
hunting classes and clay shooting competitions for kids. This latest
ruling is a win for those folks, but it's unlikely
to be the last word. The California Attorney General can
still appeal the ruling to the larger circuit court up
in Colorado, animal rights activists are trying to get a
(18:17):
proposal on next year's ballot that would ban quote trophy
hunting of mountain lions, bobcats, and links the citizens' initiative
says that hunting these animals is quote inhumane, serves no
socially acceptable or ecologically beneficial purpose, and fails to further
public safety. The authors of the initiatives say that trophy
hunting is practiced primarily to display an animal's head for
(18:41):
or other body parts, rather than to harvest meat. However,
the actual text of the ballot measure doesn't distinguish between
the reasons a person might hunt a mountain lion. Instead,
it simply bans killing, wounding, or entrapping any of the
cats species listed. Once the initiative is approved by the
Colorado Secretary of State D eight, it must receive one
(19:01):
hundred and twenty four two hundred and thirty eight qualified
signatures to appear on the ballot in twenty twenty four.
Once on the ballot, it only takes a bar majority
to make it law. Just think coloraddoms. If this passes,
everyone in the state could pay for state officials to
kill these animals instead of hunters jumping north of the border.
(19:23):
In Canada, British Columbia is asking for public input on
a draft grizzly bear management plan. Grizzly bear hunting has
been banned in the province since twenty seventeen, but hunters
are hoping they can use this opportunity to push the
provincial government to reopen it. The Wild Cheap Society of
British Columbia has posted a call to action on their
website with all the details and link to the comment.
(19:44):
You can find the page by visiting Wild Cheapsociety dot
com and we'll also post a link on the meaeater
dot com forward slash col Moving on to the garbage desk,
a Colorado black bear died recently from what biologists believe
was a blocked intestinal tract. In other words, he died
of constipation. Of all the ways to go, that's not
(20:07):
what I'd choose. Remember this story when I tell you
about my week next week. Yeah, it's going to be
a doozy anyway. What kind of belly blockage battered this
beleaguered bruin. According to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife, it's
intestines were filled with trash. The four hundred pound bore
quote showed signs of infection and was suffering from a
(20:27):
severe intestinal blockage caused by consumed human trash. A photo
published with the press release showed a pile of wet
wipes along with other garbage that kept the bear from
digesting food. The bear was well known in the Telluride
area and is believed to have broken into a home earlier.
This summer, locals observed the bear acting strangely and called
wildlife officials. They confirmed that the bear had puffy eyes
(20:49):
and discharge from its eyes and mouth. They also noticed
that the bear walked in a humped fashion and seemed
reluctant to move, which indicated abdominal pain. The bear had
previously responded to hazing techniques, but it wasn't having it
when wildlife officials tried to scare the bear away. This time,
it bluff charged one of the officers, and the decision
(21:09):
was made to euthanize the animal. That turned out to
be a great decision and nekruptcy and covered an entire
convenience store worth of junk in the bear's digestive tract,
including paper towels, disinfectant wipes, napkins, parts of plastic sacks,
and wax paper food wrappers.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Let's keep buffipes cleaned.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Throw it in the trash dome, flush it. This plug
of trash was accompanied by French fries, green beans, onions,
and peanuts. Past the plug, these small and large intestines
were empty of anything except expanding colonies of bacteria. Keeping
trash away from bears and other wildlife isn't just about
protecting people. The junk we eat isn't great for animals,
(21:50):
but what's even worse is the junk that the junk
is wrapped in. If you've ever seen your dog go
after something wrapped in plastic, you know that they don't
care too much about ingesting a rapper here and there
to get that sweet or salty goodness in their belly.
Tell your ed has an ordinance requiring residents to secure
their trash, but there's no indication that this incident is
(22:10):
being investigated. Further, I'd expect enforcement of that ordinance to
tick up in the weeks to come. Let your VRBO
ers know what's up. Okay, Moving on to the dough desk.
White tail seasons are underway in states across the country,
and some of those states are begging hunters to shoot more.
Does listener Jeff McCormick sent me an open letter to
(22:33):
Michigan deer hunters, penned by Chad Stewart a deer management
specialist for the state's Department of Natural Resources, Stuart says
that hunters in the Lower Peninsula aren't taking enough doze
to control the growth of the deer herds in many areas.
The only year Michigan hunters took more does than bucks
was in two thousand and nine. Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin,
(22:54):
by contrast, all typically harvest between eight percent and twenty
five percent more doze than bucks in a given year.
Stuart says that most Michigan hunters go after bucks almost
exclusively for the first few weeks of the season. If
they get a buck, they might think about shooting a dough,
or they might keep holding out for a bigger buck
to come along. This buck first mindset is a problem
(23:16):
from a management perspective, because the Orange Army in Michigan
is predicted to drop down to four hundred and fifty
thousand hunters by the year twenty thirty. That's down almost
half from the eight hundred thousand hunters there were in
the year two thousand. Stuart also argues that taking more
does early in the season will give hunters a better
experience by Allogists say that deer herds tend to be
(23:39):
healthier with a balanced dough to buck ratio, and healthy
deer typically means bigger bucks. Taking does prior to the
rut also increases your odds of seeing more action during
the rut. If a buck has lots of options with
little competition, you won't be as motivated to move and chase.
With a more balanced dough to buck ratio, you're more
likely to say, see multiple bucks chasing a single dough.
(24:02):
Hunters worry that killing a doe early in the season
will spook any big bucks in the area. While I
suppose that could be true in some scenarios, I don't
think it's something hunters should be too worried about. You
might spook a buck tracking a wounded doe, but as
Tony Peterson pointed out recently in an article on the
meeater dot Com, it's likely that buck will be back
in its home territory within a few hours. I get
(24:25):
why hunters want to focus on their target buck before
thinking about a dough, but for the long term health
of the Michigan deer herd, it might be time to
change that paradigm and take it from me, people are
just more sympathetic when you're like listen. I went up
early in the season, but all I got was a dough.
I got this buck tag burning a hole in my pocket.
Can I get the afternoon off? That works? It does,
(24:49):
bag a doe. Go get yourself a buck. Later on,
jumping over to the mail bag desk, listener Erica Higgins
wrote in with a clarification on a segment. And we
did a few weeks ago about mushroom identification, and it's
a great one. I told you about foraging books written
by artificial intelligence, one of which recommended identifying mushrooms by
(25:09):
tasting or eating them. I mocked this as a bad idea,
considering how poisonous some mushrooms can be. But Erica pointed
out and absolutely one hundred percent correct, that in some
instances the nibble and spit method is very necessary to
identify certain mushrooms. In fact, it's in like a lot
of survival books out there too. Quote even the most
(25:31):
poisonous fun guy in the world can be safely tasted
and spit out. Micotoxins require metabolization through the digestive tract.
Often damage to the liver is the cause of fatalities,
so nibble and spit, as it's often phrased in mycology groups,
is a completely safe and common practice. While I have
found similar advice in forging books written by real humans,
(25:51):
the legal department here at Cal's Week in Review wants
me to issue a disclaimer that I do not recommend
the nibble and spit method. ID mushrooms by appearance is
the best approach, and it removes the chance that you'll
swallow a bit of deadly mushroom by mistake. However, I
found Erica's email to be extremely interesting, and it's true
that mushroom talksins must be ingested and that death is
often caused by liver or kidney failure. That's according to
(26:14):
the National Library of Medicine. Big thanks to Erica for
her email, and I'm going to tack an extra one
on here at the ask CAL desk. I found this
fantastic because it also tacks on to the thing that
I like to make fun of, which is vegan foods
that are labeled as meat. Aaron mcculluugh writes in saying,
(26:35):
I completely agree with your position on naming vegan foods
on you know anyway, we already covered it false advertising right,
like you can't call a pile of tofu ribbi steak anyway.
Aaron writes in and says, I'm sitting in the woods
squirrel hunting and looking around. I see shrimp of the woods,
lobster mushrooms, and chicken of the woods. What are we
(26:58):
going to do about naming delicious mushrooms? Got me there, Aaron?
Those are delicious mushrooms and I wouldn't change the thing
about them. That's all I got for you this week.
Thank you so much for writing in. Remember right in
to ask c Al that's Askcal at the Meatbeater dot com,
and let me know what's going on in your neck
of the woods. I'm sure the colors are changing. I
(27:20):
know they are staring out my window, so let's keep
the conversation flowing. On top of that, don't get stuck
on some old logging road because a windstorm came up
and knocked down a bunch of timber. Go to www
dot steel Dealers dot com and find a local, knowledgeable
steel dealer near you. Get yourself a clean, quiet, battery
(27:40):
operated chainsaw, or you know, a rip roaring computer chipped
buck up a ton of wood, fast gas powered machine
steel power equipment number one, naming chainsaws man, make it happen.
That's all I got for you this week. Thank you
so much for listening. Be safe out there in the woods,
be courteous, and Bubball get outside. Thanks again. I'll talk
(28:03):
to you next week.
Host
Cal Callaghan
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