6-29-25 - The Straight Truth About Native and Invasive Species

Jim and Scott tackle wildlife conservation issues and its challenges in the future.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
News Radio eight forty whas welcomes you to Jim Straighter Outdoors,
the area's leading authority on hunting and fishing. Jim Straighter
Outdoors is brought to you by Massioak Property's Heart Realty.
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(00:23):
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(00:44):
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Outdoors on news Radio eight forty whas.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Good evening, everybody, Jim Straighter here and welcome aboard to
Jim straighter outdoors Tonight, We've got a great show for
you this evening, folks. We're gonna talk conservation tonight, and
it's gonna be a really extensive program about some of
the concerns that my co host, Scott cron and I

(01:22):
have about things that we have observed through the years
in the environment. We're gonna take a walk back in
time and some things that I've seen in the number
of decades I've been in the outdoors and some of
the big changes that have been wrought by land practice
techniques that have changed tremendously through the decades. We're gonna

(01:45):
talk about the scarcity of a lot of critters that
used to be very, very common and many of which
are near and dear to our hearts. We're gonna talk
about insects, We're gonna talk about invasive species, and we're
going to talk about the disappearance from things from fish
to frogs, that amphibians, birds and mammles. So this is

(02:09):
gonna be a kind of a very extensive show, as
I mentioned, and I think you'll be very pleased at
where these concerns come from, and I think you'll share
most of them when we try them out for you tonight.
So without further ado, I'm going to go to break.
This break is presented by SMI Marine. There are eleven

(02:31):
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take care of all your voting problems, troubleshoot problems, help
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So go see them and remember you never get soaked
by my friends at SMI Well Scott, We're gonna cover

(02:54):
a lot of ground the night. Let's give folks little
taste of where we're going with this.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
Speaking of covering a lot of ground, I'm sure over
your years a lot of people would consider you more
than just an expert. My experience with you, listening to
you as a kid growing up, now co hosting the
show with you is experience means expertise. And I'm sure
between the troll and motor batteries that you've drained the

(03:21):
leather that you've put to use from your boots, your
rubber boots you've worn out. You've got to hike and
hunt and fish a lot of miles of rivers, lakes, woods.

Speaker 4 (03:31):
All across this country.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
And I want to start off asking you why, when
and where did we lose touch with our wildlife species.
And I want to start off with the numbers of
grouse and quail and where they've gone over the years
and not made a successful comeback in most areas and

(03:53):
almost quietly disappeared as far as that game species being
hunted in the Commonwealth.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
That is a great place to start, because if we
don't impart any other thing to the audience. Tonight, I
watched the quail disappear, I watched the rabbit's plummet, and
I watched grause get the down where they're just hardly
worth hunting throughout the Appalachian Mountains in general. And these

(04:22):
things happen, you see a pattern start and it revolves
around a lot of things. But where I'm going with
this is people have a lot of concerns about the
wild turkey right now. You and I have been working
with the various agencies around the country that help conserve
the wild turkey, that protect the wild turkey, and everybody's

(04:46):
got these concerns. Well, don't ever think, folks that the
turkeys can't plummet like the quail or the grouse, because
the habitat, loss, the predation, they're all part of it.
But let me explain this way. I think her mut
You understand when I was a young man and when
I was really hard bitting with upland game hunting, which

(05:07):
I still am today. But I can't hunt quail anymore.
I don't ower a bird dog anymore because they're not
enough quail for me to feed a dog and feel
like I'm doing the dog any justice. It's either released
birds or you're going to travel. It's one of the two.
In our area, whether you're talking about Kentucky, most parts

(05:29):
of Tennessee, Indiana, whatever, they're just not there anymore. And
there was a lot of things that entered into that,
but there was a climactic dial in the seventy eight winners,
no question about that. A lot of the biologists pushed
back on me on that said, although rebound, well, they

(05:50):
weren't taking in consideration the changes in farming practices they
coincided with that. You know, back in those days on
a good piece of habitat where you had lesbides and fields,
clover fields soy bean where farmers couldn't combine the way
they do now, and you had ditch rolls full of

(06:10):
honeysuckle and hard brier, and that cover, well, all that
shifted in a very rapid fashion, rise zipped forward. Quailer
scares today. Grouse, my goodness, was I heard bent with
grouse hunting had a grouse dog that I don't mind
bragging on a bit, but I won't go in detail.

(06:31):
But she was Crackerjack and by the time she was
seven or eight years old. And the folks in Heartland,
which was a group of radical people that really caused
the stoppage of clear cutting international forests, they ruined it.

(06:51):
And what they didn't realize they also ruined habitat for
a lot of salt birds, a lot of mammals, a
lot of other critters that need stem growth. A good
example of that, I've said all my life hunting gross,
if I'm in cover that a hawk can fly through,
I'm not gonna see many grouse because they're almost like

(07:12):
a tame chicken in the way they move through habitat.
If they don't have an overstory, if there's not briars
pawing at you, you're not gonna find many grous. Let's
riz szip forward on something. What do people think happens
to turkeys, and there is where they don't have things
that you and I have been preaching forever about the

(07:34):
need for hard stemmed plants. They go through the summer
and protect those polts because, let me tell you, some
folks they didn't call Cooper's hawks and retail hawks chicken
hawks back in the day for nothing. What do you
think happens when young poults they're less than half grown,

(07:55):
step out in these open fields and don't have seclusion anywhere.

Speaker 4 (07:59):
They're picked off.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
They're picked off. And is that the whole picture? Heck no,
But we're going to talk to a good bit about turkeys.
But who's where I'm going with this. None of this
is a joke. This is a serious point in history
and it can happen again. And turkeys is one of
the species that I'm really really concerned about. Scott, Let's

(08:22):
talk about some other birds here. Let's stay on the
bird trade for a bit.

Speaker 3 (08:26):
Well, as you mentioned that, and the bush hog stayed
active and these critters started disappearing. Those folks that started
to hunt them disappeared.

Speaker 4 (08:35):
Well we get.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
Into now with the modern era that we're in, that
tonight we're not going to talk just about the game
birds that we hunt so much of the quail and
the grouse and the turkey pheasants that are across North America, Jim.
A lot of people that have conducted their own independent research,

(08:58):
and we'll talk how important this is in a little bit,
but they're finding that ground nesting birds in general are
down across the board. And it's not just Kentucky. It's
a national and a global you know, an enlightenment to
folks as they track this data and what we're learning
as we watch these biologists and these reports come in

(09:21):
that these ground nesting birds, it's not just the agriculture practice,
it's not just the predators. It's not just the weather
and the flooding, but all of that combined. Instead of
just happened one or two years of low production, Jim,
we're starting to see ten, fifteen, and twenty five year
patterns developed where folks are really starting to come together

(09:41):
and trying to figure out a way in which we
can advocate and put better habitat into production for these species.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Okay, let's give a perfect example to the turkey hunters
out there, the campers out there, folks that are out
in woodland habitats a lot. What was the last time
any of us heard a bunch of whipper wheels? When
was the last time? Minute? If it's heard the chuck
wills widow, which is the relative to the whipper wheel.
I don't know about everybody else, but that was one

(10:09):
of the most beautiful lullabies for me when I was
camping out doors. You and I have talked about this
and we're in straight kinship on that. And nothing is
pretty to hearing those whipper wheels at night, seeing them
on the roads when you're driving into your camping sites.
They're gone. I'm not saying they're extinct, but buddy, if

(10:30):
I'll put this way, if you spend time in the
woods again, knows this, it's because you weren't paying attention,
and it's a tragy. Back to your deal about ground
nesting birds. Think about species like the metal ark. You know,
when I was a kid, you went into any meadow,
there was metal arts all over the place. Whether it

(10:52):
was a cover field, whether it was a hey production field,
no matter what it was. But with the chemical sprays
and the rotation practices, we've got down the fact that
they mowed down to where it's hardly anything left a
little stem. They don't have any post to hat, they
don't have any post to nest. And to your point,

(11:15):
they're not a game species, but manda missile.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
And it's not just agriculture. I'm you know, look at
this the impact of urban sprawl and what feral cats
can do to gain.

Speaker 4 (11:27):
Populations and species.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
Look at the amount of ground that can't be set
idle now because it's got a real estate signing it
and it's become an asphalt and concrete. But one of
the things that I'm interested to learn about tonight's interview
with you on this is where are we as far
as my generation and a younger generation. Do we have

(11:52):
our head wrapped around this? Do we understand how important
it is for conservation and habitat work and to make
sure that the acres that we do have are being
put into best production this like later we'll talk about
Kentucky thirty one Rescue. Are we as a younger hunting
society my age group, are we as in tune with

(12:13):
mother nature and the woods as what the guys and
the gals were when you were my age.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
I hate to say this, but it's the unvarnished truth
from my perspective. No, the younger generations are not. And
here's why. They've got access to better equipment that makes
it easier to mow. They're more accustomed to seeing a
mode slick surface to look out over what you and

(12:39):
I know are food items like iron weed, and you
know all the different forbes that are out the forbes. Basically,
folks are what most people call weeds, and folks that
have been raised in these later generations. Despite as weeds,
you know, they get allgically about you name it. I mean, dandelions,

(13:03):
for example, are iron weeds. I mean, I can't go
on and on the warm season grasses even they'd rather
see a mode rescue. And we will talk a bit
about fescue. But the reason that concerns me is they
don't really know. I'm not They're not stupid right by

(13:28):
any means. They're not. I'll just put this way. They're
uneducated with the ways nature is supposed to work. They
bought into chemicals or the answer. They bought into these
modern contrivances that can keep everything looking manicured for about

(13:49):
better way to or lack of a better way to
describe it, and that that's a big concern for me.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
Well, what scares means him is that we've got a
lot of people that are very.

Speaker 4 (13:59):
Knowledgeable on great gear.

Speaker 3 (14:01):
We've got better gear and better things to our disposal
than we've ever had in a lot of ways. But
when it comes to the year round engagement with mother nature,
being in the woods, seeing what's going on, I'm just
afraid that there's a lot of people that are filling
tags really quick on opening day or opening weekend, or

(14:22):
just getting out and hunting doves that opening day is season,
or only fishing on the pretty days and they get
just a little bit, just enough to say that they've
done it. But I'm not sure that we're creating conservationists
and all around outdoorsmen. It seems we're getting more specialized.
We've got a good deer hunter, we have a good

(14:43):
turkey hunter, and we don't have as many people now
when you ask them do they hunt, you almost got
to ask them what they hunt, because I don't know
if they're hunting for rabbits and squirrels and deer and
turkey and doing at all. I'm not And it's not
taking anything away from them. Some of it's just based
off of the time they have or the access to
the properties private or public that they have. But it's

(15:06):
harder for me now to find someone to talk to
about true conservation. How to cut their forest, how to
manage their land, wind to mow, what to plant, how
much game should be harvested, and what ratio of buck
to doe should be getting taken. And to be quite frank,
because of the power of YouTube and podcasts, there's a

(15:26):
whole lot of people that make themselves experts. Gim and
when we come back from the break, I want you
to elaborate over what you've done for all of these
years to advocate not just for the commonwealth, but for
species of wildlife and habitat. You don't just bring a
talk show to the radio to talk about what you're

(15:49):
harvesting or what you're catching. You're always trying to have
foresight and forward thinking about the populations and what we're
doing good. And you've always got the gut instinct to
kind of let us know what's coming up or what's
around the corner. You've got that insight better than anybody
that I've ever met.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Well, that's a high compliment, and I hope I can
live up to it. I consider myself a naturalist. Honestly,
I'm not the best big buck hunter in the world.
I pretty much can hold my own with most anybody
with turkeys. As a dog trainer, I've had squirrel dogs,
burden dogs, retrievers. I've done all that. And what I

(16:29):
was always wanting to learn in my journey through journalism
was what did people want? What does the average hunter
or angler want to know? And you just hit something
on the head that's pretty important. Sometimes I think we
had become too specialized. We've lost sight that the outdoors

(16:53):
is a place to obtain meals. The outdoors is a
place where we have to exhibit stewards ship. The outdoors
is a place where we definitely better keep our eye
on the next generations. You touched on that. That's a
real big one. It's me as you know, well, I say,
as you know, we are both very passionate about introducing

(17:16):
you to the outdoors. Absolutely, why because it's a lifestyle.
It's not a one dimensional thing, and everybody doesn't have
time to do it all. You can be a year
round deer hunter and immerse yourself and that's great. But
here's what I'll tell you you know something that makes
me sick is watching outdoor TV shows where they'll take

(17:39):
an animal, kill an animal. I'm not gonna talk about harm.
Let's to kill him. We're run and done. We got
her done today. That isn't what it's about. I'm sorry.
If it isn't about the experience, if it isn't about
your learning with the animal, if it didn't learning about
how to handle the weather and adjust the most importantly

(18:01):
in tonight's show, if it isn't about awareness of the environment,
and I'm talking about the environment in general. We as
sportsmen at outdoor women have been at the forefront of
conservation since conservation became an issue. That's indisputable. We've spent
billions and billions of dollars through our taxes that we

(18:23):
asked for Pitman Robertson money Jingle, Johnson Money's. We have
been at the forefront of that. And here's what I'm
going to tell you. We damn well better stay that
way or it can go south really really quickly.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
Listening to you talk not just has the conservation and
some of these game numbers changed. Putting that game on
the table has changed, and I think that's had a
tremendous impact too. I think we have forgotten how important
game wild game was to feed not only the man
or the woman who harvested it was what fed their families.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
Jim generally speaking clothing thought sholrymand that doesn't need his game,
eat his fish to have burned out for two long
he or she generally won't last us in the sport
very very long. All right, folks, gotta go to break here.
This break is presented by Paul Thomas and Massia Property's
Heart Realty. Paul is an outdoorsman himself, got all kind

(19:21):
of vacation homes, wildlife properties in farms for sale. Check
out all his listings at mop h A r trealty
dot com.

Speaker 3 (19:32):
Jim Strader, the bush hog or the brush hog, no
matter what you want to call it, has always come
up in conversations when it comes to game numbers. I
don't know as many hunters that own a pair of
brier proof pants or bids anymore. They own a lot
of gore tex and a lot of fancy camo, but
they're not bleeding when they're walking through a lot of farms.

(19:53):
And mean you talk about that a lot on how
the habitat. It doesn't all need to be that way,
but a lot of the small and a lot of
triggers we want to hunt. If we can walk the
farm and not bleed on it, then it may not
have good habitat. But just the amount of seed that's
left over from a combine's not there. We're in such
an early busy hurry anymore to get things planted earlier

(20:15):
than we ever have. We're harvesting crops earlier than we
ever have. We're leaving such a habitat desert out there.

Speaker 4 (20:23):
We don't have those briers, we don't have.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
That habitat of blackberries. We don't have multiple rows and
all of this stem count. That's so important. And in
your years of walking in your leather boots or your
rubber boots, or maybe converting to riding the side by
side versus walking in two miles from the truck, where
are we at right now on just the amount of

(20:50):
good natural habitat that gain needs to flourish in our area.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
Overall, we're at a bad place. And here's why I
say that. And I'm talking here to you guys that
hunt rabbits with beagles. I'm talking here to you guys
that are so hard bitting, you're still chasing quail. You
know you're down to a point where if you run
into one cove, you've had a good day. I believe
for you. But it doesn't have to be that way.

(21:19):
And I have said this for many, many years, and
you have to if you're not getting stuck and bleeding
as you refer to. I'll put this way. I watched
the coach come across the Ohio River in nineteen seventy
eight winter when the river froze. You talk about a
game changer. Both jokers went from being here. I was

(21:43):
the first guy that wrote about it. I was fortunate
enough to have a trapping buddy that caught one very quickly.
At the tail end of that winter. I said, oh
my gosh, they're here. And because they're here, Kadie bar
the door. And just where we're at today, what that
means is there's only so many things you can do
to help our wildlife. One of them, and you and

(22:04):
I talk about a lot, and we preach it, and
we're gonna keep preaching it is trapping. If you're not
tramping your property, you're not doing your part. Don't come
gripping to me, if you're not seeing turkeys, if you're
not seeing quail and rabbits, if you've got the habitat,
that's number one. Number two, the need for escape cover

(22:30):
for critters today is more important than it's ever been.
We've got so many avian predators today, it's unreal. You know,
back in my day you could still legally kill al's
and hawks and that. Did that need to change? Yes,
but I'm not sure in the little overboard at this point,

(22:50):
the number of retail hawks and stuff you see that's
pretty incredible. I'm not advocating we do that. What I'm
advocating is we create cover where they can't quotes rule
the roost. What do we mean by that? You referred
to it. You've got to have hard brier as a
rabbit hunter in today's world, which I do still participate

(23:10):
in a lot. If I don't see huge gross of
honeysuckle choking brier and our tree laps that are overgrows
so thickly that it's tough for you to get through
it and a little bit hard for the dogs to
get through it, I move on. You're not gonna kill
many rabbits there The days of kicking a fencerol there

(23:31):
in the past, it's done.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
The leafs, the stems, the seed, all that was part
of the habitat. It was the cover, It was the space,
It was the food. And even to jump into it
a little bit further, if we really get into this
habitat and how we hunt in the cover, look at
how many ponds are just bear and open. Look at

(23:55):
how many ponds have silted in. Look at all of
these places that men walk and their brierproof pants and
their brierproof bibs were two and three inches shorter than
the n some other blue jeans, you know.

Speaker 4 (24:07):
They the bottoms looked.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
Like Freddy Couger had shredded up, I mean, and these
were faded. These were things that were worn for fifteen
twenty years.

Speaker 4 (24:17):
As you as you.

Speaker 3 (24:18):
Walk and you and you cover this ground and you
reflect back on your hunting career.

Speaker 4 (24:23):
Is water part of that habitat? Cos it's huge.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
It's huge in many counties in Kentucky, as you drive around,
you don't see the number of farm ponds you did
back in the earlier years. Why again, this move towards
huge tracks of monocultural agricultural land. They took out the ponds,
they took out the fence rolls, they took out the ditches,

(24:50):
straightened them, tiled the fields. I mean, it's no mystery
about why a lot of these critics are in shorter supply.
But I guess here's here's the important thing to realize here, Scott.
I've forgotten what the percentage is, but I think it's
notinety something percent of Kentucky's land is privately owned.

Speaker 4 (25:13):
That is correct.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
The agency isn't going to do this for you. No,
they can't do it for you. They don't have the money,
the human resources, et cetera. However, I will say this
when I tour our wildlife management properties, Excuse me, I'm
not overly impressed with how they're being managed. Uh. There's
just not a balance between food, water, and cover. I'm

(25:37):
talking about good, impenetrable kyle deterring redtail hawk deterring cover
for these small game species.

Speaker 4 (25:49):
Well, that that right.

Speaker 3 (25:50):
There's a great point because it's not necessarily about working harder.
It's about working smarter when you mow, how you mow,
making the best management practices you can in passing that
on and giving folks that advice. I mean, when you
walk on to a farm. I bet you before you
even start to hunt or fish that you can tell

(26:11):
whether or not it's going to be a good day,
just about how your eyes and your brain.

Speaker 2 (26:15):
Yet thirty minutes, I'm trying to tell you we're going
to have a dry hunting here, boys, or a thin hunt.
And I can also not that I'm some genius, but
I'm looking for as the things we're describing. If I
don't see hard secessional cover, let me give you a
good example. Somebody asked me one time, Jim, when you
want to go to a new farm and you want
to figure out how you want to hunt it that

(26:37):
next far or the next winter, what do you look for?
I said, I want to see it in January and February.
And if there's not hardcover, if there's not brier, if
there's not Japanese hunting somecle. I didn't say bush, honey something,
because we're going to talk about that in a little bit.
If I don't see a lot of blowdowns that are
growing up, you know, in a wooded setting, I don't

(27:00):
waste my time there.

Speaker 3 (27:01):
Well that's another talking point too. I'm sure you've seen
it a thousand times and give us some feedback on this.
You walk a farm for the very first time, very
first time you've ever been on it.

Speaker 4 (27:12):
Maybe it's somebody that's bought a farm.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
You've got to bleed a little bit, maybe even cuss
or say a bad word to get through it. You
got to walk backwards. Your feet are getting tangled up,
you're wishing it. Maybe you had a little bit thicker
particle of clothing on. But what's the very first thing
people want to do. They want to bushog a path
to make it easier to get back there.

Speaker 4 (27:32):
They want to clean this up, they want to clear
that out.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
The thing that is and it absolutely chills me to
the boat. I want to clean this place up.

Speaker 4 (27:40):
I want to clean it good.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
You just gave a death del to But most of
the critics that live there no doubt.

Speaker 3 (27:46):
And you can walk and walk and walk a piece
of property. And when it looks the same, open and clear.
What normally happens? What does jim straight or see when
he finally gets some cover where you better look down
at your feet and look ahead where you're walking because
you've got to navigate through it. What happens does a
rabbit jump out or a deer get up. Absolutely, is

(28:07):
there a good buck sign in there, even from the
previous year.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
Every critter people forget this. I want to point out
another thing that really gulls me. Okay, you go on
these outdoor shows and these guys talking about deer management,
ninety percent of the conversation is about a kill plot.
I'll let you describe a kill plot to me. It's

(28:32):
just simply a place to kill a deer at a
specific time of year. It's not a plot to feed
those deer on that property year round. It's not a
place where they're talking about habitat around it. It's just like,
you know, I drew this food, and I drew those
deer in here and fall I killed my big buck. Well,
good on you, But how long is that going to last?

(28:55):
Right on a continuing basis, it's not good. There is
a bright spot here, however, and I want to continue
this conversation after the break, because in addition to staying
off the bush home, you want to know one of
the bright stars. I see what's that is these warm
season grasses. It is absolutely something that I have seen

(29:16):
progress through the last decade or so to where I'm
convinced if there's going to be a savior on many
properties that's gonna beget and I know you're an expert
in that field, so we'll talk about after the break.
This break is presented by send Ring. We'll see Tim
Addington and the staff. They'll do great care for you
on all your problems with your boats. They've got all

(29:38):
kind of boats for sale. They've even got some used
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Speaker 3 (29:49):
Gem Straighter. When it comes to these warm season grasses,
it takes a little bit of time, it takes a
little bit of love, and it takes a little bit
of money to get them established. And we have a
lot more acceptance to the people who take the time
to understand burning and planning in the first year, the

(30:09):
second year, the third year. But why are these warm
season grass is so important?

Speaker 2 (30:14):
Well? Number one, their native species. Let me start off
with that. In other words, critters take to them because
it's what they naturally evolved in to begin with, and
that's a big deal. Number Two, they have a higher
food value than most people realize. But the cover value

(30:35):
that it provides from hawks, owls, kyots, etc. For rabbits
and quail and you know all these critters, song birds.
It's just a wonderful adjunct to any property that you
want to manage for wildlife. The only thing that drives

(30:57):
me crazy about some of these things, some of those
government programs where they require you to mow it at
the very time of the year when these credits are
going to need that cover going in the winter. That
drives being saved.

Speaker 3 (31:11):
We won't jump in the weeds in it, but we
will walk around the weeds in it. The government has
told us saying such as cut zoo autumn olive. There
are multiple species out there they've told us to plant,
only fifteen to twenty years later that there's fines and policies.
If you don't remove them from your farm, you'll be
fine or penalized. And that's a subject we may or

(31:32):
may not get into a little letter. But what you're
talking about on those warm season grasses, they're bunch style grasses,
you're Indian grasses, buffalo grasses, and instead of it just
being a mat, those things grow to the point to
where the wildlife can get underneath the canopy of those grasses.
They have the bare ground to get the seed, they

(31:55):
have the nesting habitat, they've got the security of the cover.
It's even there form as a thermal in different parts
and times of the year shade and not this shade.
It's there for warmth. And unfortunately, if folks don't find
a way to be incentivized from the reward of having

(32:15):
this better wildlife habitat on the property or the paycheck
from planning this warm season, grasses a lot of times,
Jim go just ignored and forgotten about.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
Absolutely, And are they a panasa? You know? Are they
answer everything? No, you need to have a significant amount
to make a huge impact. Here's what I mean by this.
A twenty or thirty or fifty foot strip really isn't
enough to detercoats and do the things that you would
like to do. And then the mowing practices have to

(32:51):
be done, in my opinion, in ways where the critters
can move to the next session section of the ground
while that one regenerates. You don't want to zip it
all at once. There are places and times you have
to We both know that if you get woody cover
in it and it needs renovation, there's places in towns.

(33:12):
But for it to be optimal cover. In addition to food,
there's just a lot of things to be considered. And look,
let's talk a little bit here about some other things
that are in that category. Warm season plants, partridge p
I'm big on partridge pa. If you want quail, if
you've got partridge pea and warm season grasses and maybe

(33:35):
a clover pot or two to feed your deer in conjunction,
you'll be golden. At some point. If there's a quail
in your immediate vicinity, they will end up in there.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
The best thing about the plants you're talking about, when
they're plant in the proper order or they're allowed to
come back in succession. You don't have everything ready at
just one time of the year. You have things that
are constantly going through a cycle. One when one is flourishing,
the other one may be going out on the end note,
and what this does it makes that area of land

(34:09):
available for good habitat of these species more than just
a few days a year. It works for the species
most of the time, not only for the year, but
long term one year, two year, three years.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
Back to my criticism of kill plots, you know, we
went on a wrong turn there for a number of years.
You know it, I know it. We saw it outdoor television.
We saw it even with some of the agencies, and
we need to have a bigger vision than that. Food cover, water,
food cover, water, mineral supplement is a huge thing, as

(34:46):
we both know. So the native plannings that we can
do in addition to allowing native forbes to grow or
proliferate by staying off the bushog you know you're talking
about start talking about some magic stuff here. This is
stuff that will sustained wildlife through the year round process.

Speaker 4 (35:09):
There's a whole lot of these plants.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
To Jim, that's beneficial because when you look at traditional natives,
a lot of those plants, even when you talk to
the experts, it doesn't matter if you're at Roundstone Native
Seed or working with and independent biologist. They don't require
the pH and fertility costs that some of these modern
crops that folks are putting in for these things you

(35:32):
call kill bloods.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
And you know by secessional mooring, by that I mean
on a yearly rotational basis, let's say every two to
three years. Let it go, let it let have step growth,
let it have flowering, Let reseed itself. And then whack it,
but do it where the one next to it's still
got that cover and food for the wildlife. It's not

(35:55):
rocket side really, when you get down to.

Speaker 4 (35:58):
It, mowing and burning does a whole on a good rotation?

Speaker 2 (36:01):
Yes, sir, rotations of kitty in my opinion, all right,
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Speaker 3 (36:25):
A grass that's not so well loved like the warm
seasoned grasses is the famous Kentucky thirty one fescue. And
I'm going to tell on my age just a little bit.
I remember when Kentucky thirty one fescue was new, and
I remember when every contractor and every landscaper and every
homeowner was buying a.

Speaker 4 (36:46):
Bag of it.

Speaker 3 (36:47):
And then the next thing you realized people were sewing
it in their pastures. They were putting it in for hayfields.
What is Jim Strader's opinion, knowledge and expertise with Kentucky
thirty one fisking.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
I make this real simple. I hate that stuff. I
literally hate it. And there's a variety of reasons, but
I can give one that our beegal hound rabbit hunting
and our quail people will understand. Back in the day,
our number one thing that was in most of our
pastures to help hold soil was Korean lespidisa. Korean lespidisa

(37:25):
is a favorite of mine. I know it's falling out
of favor, and it's a little bit expensive nowadays because
it's not as available as they used to. But we
always call it poor man's alfalfa because it loves or
can tolerate acidic salt, has a very deep tap root.
That's one of the things that the people need to

(37:47):
keep in mind. What does that mean. It's drought resistant,
much more so than clover, for example, and I like
to integrate it in my clover plots. Hint, hint for
those who are paying attention here. And the seed was
very attractive to rabbits and quail, all kinds of songbirds,
et cetera. The problem was fescue that I stumbled across

(38:11):
through some equine research at the University of Kentucky was
the fact that it contains a fungus an end to
fight is a proper term that inhibits milk production or
lactation in mammals. Well, I looked into it with a

(38:31):
couple of the really good biologists back in the day.
This is going back into the seventies, and what we
discovered was if rabbits main food item was fescue, they'd
get what was called rabbit fever. The mama rabbit in
her tits could not produce milk. Well, guess what that does.

(38:51):
That kills baby rabbits. You kill the babies. You're in
a bad place. So now you're talking about a triple whammy.
That was about the same time with Kyle's got here.
That was about time all this stuff started hammered at
the rabbits, at the quail, you lost cover. You had
this really bad wildlife habitat that wasn't good for much

(39:16):
of anything. And that stuff, that's one of the things
for me, that's devil's work, and I hate it. I
hate it.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
And before we jump to these specific animals we're going
to talk about, you've got to know the full name
of these plants. It's not just honeysuckle. You need to
know which honeysuckle it is, it's just not rye. You
need to know which ride is. It's not just to fescue.
You need to know is it tall f ask you
is it Kentucky thirty one Rescue talk to us a

(39:47):
little bit about how these newer plants that have come about,
maybe have come in a fashion in a quick and
easy way to help control erosion, but long term it
has really controlled and helped maintain some.

Speaker 4 (40:04):
Of these low numbers in our wildlife species.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
Well, the fescue is one of the number ones. The
things that people are planning in some of these fields
are just not all that beneficial. I mean they are
to an extent, but the amount of chemical that needs
to be used to keep it vibrant. I'll give you

(40:28):
an example that I know I'm going to get criticized
for this, and I'm okay with it. People all the
time talk about turnips and what's all the amount of
humans or breakdown as a result does for the soul
which are morphous with aerial right, my partial regress talk

(40:50):
about protea and available to the carbohydrates and everything. Can
you look it up up? What's going any of the
websites that the he's a cultiversity's head and look with
it the so it's a huge system and command as
if the deer now put them out. You're right, forget

(41:10):
for turf, you know that's for your yard. That's not
but there to me is the best possible. It's cheap
on your fertiles bill. It doesn't been slaw and it's
want to go to tricks in my clover fields, expect
to feed their sprint up to about first to just
how cold gets go in and the default. See you're

(41:32):
right and great, right, guess what happens is the clover
plays that just feed the deer winter what happened to sprint?
Come in like you should anyway be spreading for overt
and you want to bang for your cares or playing.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
Well, we'll close out on this right here. How good
or bad in your opinion? Has this seed game become
when it's just a bag of sea and a picture
of a shutting turkey or a deer on the bay,
do we need to It goes back to how well
do we know our stuff? Have we marketed to the

(42:07):
point to where we forgot about the education and the
real world experience and put the photo and the price
on the bag to be more important than what's in
the bag.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
Well, you and I both know from dealing with entities
like Bardstown Mills and Roundstone Weed and some of these
other entities that are in that business, there's a big
difference between seeds with fillers in it, lack of purity,
noxious weeds that may or may not be present. You
better be careful who you do business with. And I

(42:37):
will say this, the proliferation of so called wildlife seed
companies that's out to today deserves a little bit of
hesitant introspection. What I mean by that, be careful what
you're buying. It's easy for them to make it sound good,
but the proofs in the pudding. And I will say something,

(42:59):
I'm proud of partnering with you. When we mentioned products
on the air, it's products we have experience with. Now
we do mention products that are new and appear to
be innovative, But what I'm getting that is through you know,
I've been in wildlife management now for over fifty years,

(43:21):
not fifteen five zero. You've been in for how many.

Speaker 4 (43:25):
Now, I'm pushing thirty five years, you know, So when.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
We speak to these issues, it's not off the cuff. Hey,
this is what we think. We try to pass on
what we've seen through experience. We know and are there
some new exotic things out there in New Clover this
and that. Sure there is, and we'll talk about it.

(43:51):
But I can tell you if you stick to the basics,
you're probably pretty well off.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
There are some pillars and there is some foundation there in.
Every thing is always compared back to the proven basics,
every bit of it.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
And if you don't have that, you're it's a gibbick.
Let me put it.

Speaker 3 (44:11):
Well, changing on the plants, just a little bit between
the animals that have tails, some of the fish that
swim in our waters four legged, two legging.

Speaker 4 (44:22):
We've seen some declines in some of.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
The species that we are passionate for, and we have
seen some increased numbers in some of the.

Speaker 4 (44:30):
Species that we both advocate for.

Speaker 3 (44:32):
That people should maybe have a little more awareness on
whether or not if those critters are really good or not.
Talk to us a little bit about the gray fox
and the otter and the coat and what you've seen
over these years.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
Well, let me start with this. In my view, a
good coat is a dead cowt. And I'm going to
qualify that they are not a native species. They were
not native to hear the wolves controlled this environment going
back in time, and that wolves will not tolerate cowns.

(45:08):
We had, you know, several species of wolves here and
they wouldn't tolerate them. So when they came in here
and trapping declined, trapping was already in declined about the
time the counts hit. It was a bad, bad situation.
What went by the wayside? Gray fox. When I was
a kid, you saw gray foxes all the time. And

(45:30):
I say a kid, even a young man, and you
saw a lot of red fox, red fox and gray
fox despite what people painted them ass as rabbit killers
and quail killers back in the day. Did they take
the occasional yes, but they're primarily mauss and they're big
on insects, believe it or not. Gray and red fox

(45:51):
eat grasshoppers. Interestingly, you know this, They love perciments. They
feed on a lot of things that most people don't
really understand. And there they were native. So I miss
seeing gray fox. You know, they're part of our heritage.
Year why wouldn't I miss them? Uh? I got another

(46:12):
one I hate, and it's one of the biggest mistakes
on a reading introduction of a species that I've seen
in my lifetime. And I'm very passionate about it because
I'm a fisherman. You know where I'm going. I hate honors.
They never should have been brought back here. They have

(46:32):
decimated the small Mouth and rock Bass and so many
of our premier streams in this state. It's pathetic. They
have ruined I don't know how many thousands of farm
ponds across the region. And as far as I'm concerned,
they're cute, I get it, But you know what, I'm

(46:54):
just not in favorite of honors. And here's where I'm
at with that. There should not be restrictions on trapping
or shooting dodders. Sorry, if they become a problem, you
shouldn't have to call a conservation officer or a trapper.
You gotta be able to take care of business. And
I feel very strongly about that because I'll give you example.

(47:15):
I fished one of my favorite streams going back forty
years this summer was a friend of mine. We fished
a mile and a half of stream with the most
beautiful mussel beds, crawfish everywhere, metals. The biggest sunfish I
saw was maybe three inches. There were no small amounth.
It wasn't a bad day of fishing. They weren't there.

(47:37):
You fished with me before. I stand up in the
boat and I'm looking everywhere. I'm looking under cuts in
the bank, I'm looking out and the breaks in the rocks.
I'm looking on the gravel bars. They were gone. I
told my buddy, I said, you know what, something really
bad's happened here. And my best guess is, honors, guess
what happened on the way back to the ramp when
we gave up the day I seen one saw a

(47:59):
whole yeah, scattered of the bank, rooting under the undercuts.
Everything that they do, and I'm sorry. I'll have a
big place for them. So I'm gonna go to break
here real quick and we'll talk more about this coming
back from the break. This break is presented by SMI
go see them. They'll take great carr. You remember you

(48:19):
never get soaked by my friends at SMI.

Speaker 4 (48:25):
Jim Bowl.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
The old raccoon is getting fed by the deer hunters.
The cold is always in question, and the bobcats are
as controversial as any species you'd want to talk about,
especially in Indiana. Those are the three big whimmis I'm
going to throw at you to impromptu us on where
we're at with them and where we need to be

(48:47):
knowledgeable about them to help control them and to adapt
with them, because they've definitely adapted to us.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
There's too much talk and agency biological scles about how
habitat can cure what those animals, those predators are doing
to our game species. I'm sorry, but it doesn't work
that way. The burden of proof of that is almost

(49:15):
everyone that I and you managed for we tell them
right out of the box. If you're not trapping, you're
missing the boat. Even with good habitat, what your hard
earned work is going to produce is going to be
minimized by those creators. I cannot believe in the state

(49:36):
of Indiana, with the mount of bobtat that have exploded
in southern Indiana, what in the world they're thinking, because
those creators got to be controlled. I'm sorry, they're an
apex predator. What are they hard on? Turkeys, fawns, rabbits,

(49:57):
whatever quail we got left you name it. I mean,
they're an apex predator and predators need to be controlled
in today's environment with the shortage of quality habitat on
a big basis. You know, I'm talking about one thousands
of acres. You better do on your acreage what you can.
You touched on the coon, as you know, that's a

(50:18):
big one with me. You feed these coons all winter
around these deer feeders, which increases the amount of pupps
they can have. What's next, boom a population explosion? What
are they gonna eat? Turkey eggs? Come on, guys, get
with the programs. Nothing's easier to trap the a coon.

(50:38):
I mean, if you're not incorporate trapping into your management plans,
you're just missing the boat coyots I said it earlier.
Good coyots a dead cold. I have a rule on
all my hunting properties. You see a coat, you shoot
a cout, no questions asked. I don't care if you're
working a gobbler. I don't care if there's a buck

(51:00):
on the way. That is a day when you saved
a whole bunch of critters. Why did I say that, Well,
let's look at this way. During the fawning season. You
and I have seen through the years the effects and
not only that, there was a big QTMA study that
I challenged them with back in the day to do

(51:21):
into Carolinas where they studied a property that was trapped
for colds and a property that were and the far
mortality in that property that had the colts the work
trapped was unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (51:33):
I can assure you nine out of ten times, whether
it's been hunting myself, hunting others, film and television shows,
folks that think they're going to kill that deer or
that gobbler because they're not going to shoot the cow.
You know how the hunt normally ends. They could have
killed the cow and they never got a shot at
the gobbler of the deer, and they should have executed

(51:55):
the shot on the cow. They thought that maybe just
made that buck or that turkey may come in. It's
a major mistake.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
It is a mistake because how many faun deer were
killed by that cow into three point sixty five that
they're on the landscape for a rabbit hunter whatever you
want to talk about these Again, a cow's not native
to begin with, and bobcats, why in the world they're

(52:25):
in such an explosion kind of causes me to scratch
my head a lot of times. But you know what,
you study something to death. We don't need to study it.
And that goes to something that you and I are
passionate about. When are these agencies going to listen more
to a hundred feedback? Because when you've got a lot
of hunters that have had boots on the ground on

(52:48):
a year round basis through all these critters we're talking about,
why wouldn't you listen to them?

Speaker 3 (52:53):
For God's say, you're not telling me, demonstrator that a
game agency would load questions and only select and stakeholders
to interview with limited surveys to get to that that
they want. That's not what you're telling me, is it?

Speaker 2 (53:06):
It's exactly what I'm telling Okay, worked about it? Yeah,
Well I'm started these stacked surveys that leads you down
to a primrose path where what was this word happen?
What is that? I'm not stupid, and neither the average.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
Hunter by the way, no sarcasm there. It's happening too
often and it's beyond evident what they're trying to do.
Now let's talk about.

Speaker 2 (53:28):
Well why are they doing it?

Speaker 4 (53:29):
Well?

Speaker 2 (53:30):
They we can't move off that they're looking for funds
to do grant studies.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
That's why they can get approval and they can get
things moving away they want to if they can control
the equation. And that's what's happening now. Not honorable mention,
horrible mention. Let's come back here in a little bit.
Let's talk about these pigs, especially down around the lbl area,
and how that could be the next specie that becomes

(53:57):
in the top three.

Speaker 4 (53:58):
Of the talks other than Raccoon's and bobcat.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
Absolutely, that's a great idea. All right, folks got to
go to break here. This break is presented by SMI Marine.
They're eleven four hundred Westport Road. Jim adding to the
staff are experts of troubleshooting any of the boats. You're
having troubles you're having with your boat, and remember you
never get sold by my friends at SMI. Jim.

Speaker 3 (54:22):
Straitor's Kyle management plan is see killikole Jim. In the
last few years, especially around the land between the Lakes area,
certain sections along Pond River in western Kentucky, we're having
this issue with these wild pigs, and it's a very
controversial issue because of the government agencies ways in which

(54:43):
they do not want hunters to harvest and shoot a
pig when they sing them say, for example, they're on
a quota hunt on a piece of public land.

Speaker 4 (54:53):
They want you to call and report it.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
There's a number.

Speaker 3 (54:56):
We have mutual friends that have called the number and
never got a call back, and they could have executed
and took that pig out right down the spot. So
it's open to you, big boy, share your opinion on it.

Speaker 2 (55:08):
I have a personal friend of mine who is one
of the best wildlife managers. I know I'm not gonna
mention him because I haven't asked his permission, But since
you posed this question to me, he reported wild pigs
almost a month ago down in western Kentucky. No response,
no return phone calls. And I've heard this I don't

(55:30):
know how many places. I got very long term friend
of mine up in northern Kentucky that had problems with hawgs.
Partner said, I, we need to come in. We need
to trap them. If you disperse them by shooting into them,
they'll disperse, they'll be gone. I ain't buying it. I
ain't buying it for a lot of reasons. Number one,

(55:51):
what I just stated, they don't show up the way
they say. They don't have the mind power to show
up the way they say, Do I think that trapping
of pigs is super? In fact, if you bet, I do.
But here's what I'll tell you. Every pig you kill,
every pig you kill, is a pig that won't reproduce. Now,
isn't it how it works? Well, if that's the way

(56:12):
it works, then tell me where the logic kids, because
they say, well, the sounders which is the word for
the you know, families and pigs will disperse and they
won't be able to trap them. Not in my experience,
not my experience in all the properties that I've managed
to been associated with down in the Deep South in Georgia, Florida, Alabama,

(56:33):
doesn't work that way. Well, those folks do. But if
they get it after with dogs, they get it after
them with their rifles, they get after with traps, they
get it after with tannerite, which is kind of an
ugly subject. Then they get after them with helicopters. They
kill them any in every way they can. And you
know what, we better because if they ever take hold here,

(56:55):
Katy Barrowdor for the farmer, and Katie Barrowdoor for most
of our native wild life. See a pig kill a pig,
that's my mantra.

Speaker 4 (57:05):
All right, let's keep trucking down the road.

Speaker 3 (57:07):
We've got Bradford pears, we have Asian cart we have
all of these issues going on with how many hunters
we have and the percentage of the hunting population. Where
you want to go, what's Jim Strader want to talk
about when it comes to conservation invasive native species and
promoting hunting and fishing and a sustainable wildlife population for

(57:31):
the next generation.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
Well, to begin with this mantra that we've heard out
of Kentucky fish in my life is we've got less hunters.
Is not true. We've actually got more hunters. We just
got less in the percentage of our Kentucky population of people.
But we actually have more hunters. What are we doing

(57:55):
to provide for them. If there's a small gaming hunter
out there that thinks that I'm doing an excellent job
of managing for small game, I'd like to hear from
them everywhere I go. All I hear is they've forgotten
a small game. It's all about health, deer and turkeys.
I'm all far those three species. I'm all about it.

(58:16):
But these game agencies got lazy, quite frankly, when deer
came along, and Turkey came along, and they were exploding
management parameters and the money that needs to be spent
was easy because they were exploding. But meantime they forgot
the small game hunter. And in forgetting the small game hunter,
which is a huge subject for another show down the road,

(58:39):
is the leasing of land by non residents that is destroying,
literally destroying Kentucky's hunting heritage. In my opinion, what is
the number one reason folks quit hunting today is because
they cannot find a place to hunt. Why are they
not able to find a place to hunt? Because the

(59:00):
private lands are being leased up at an alarming rate.
Somebody want to argue with that, come on the show.
I'd love to do it with you, because it's irrefutable.
It is. It's just irrefutable. That's the number one reason.

Speaker 3 (59:14):
The truth of the matter is there's less acres to
hunt on than there ever has been. Absolutely, and that's
going to continue as people lock land up, whether it's
with leasing, whether it's with commercial development. Lots of things
to go at their at a future show, But Asian
cart where yet, huh?

Speaker 2 (59:34):
The big problem? I will say this, I got to
give kudos to the Department and to TVA and everybody
got involved with that. They're starting to get it under control.
The small mouth are on the inclif at Kentucky and Berkley.
You know, I got to give kudos where they're due.
That's right, the bluegill or back up towards size. They

(59:55):
were the crappy fishings coming back. But those jokers, what
they're going to do across the United States, nobody's gonna
believe because what they did is Kentucky, Barkley, They're into
Tennessee River. Guys. You know what's next, Gunnersville, Wilson Wheeler.
I mean, where are they going next? They better be
on the game because old jokers, we saw what they did.

(01:00:18):
We know the history. It's ugly. But I really have
to take my hat off to what Kentucky fishing while
I did in conjunction with TVA and those other agencies
on that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:29):
While we're on the subject of agencies, any feedback, any
type of knowledge that we can pick from old Jimbo
about places like the EPA or any other agencies.

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
I'm glad you asked me about the EPA. This is
going to be probably one of the most explosive things
I've ever said in my radio career.

Speaker 4 (01:00:48):
Well, let's hear it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
The EPA as it exists today in terms of curbing pollution.
I'm especially talking about pollution out of sewage treatment plants
all across the United States is a joke. Here's why
people don't understand this. They don't as a result of reporting,
shut those sites down about the pollutants they are trying

(01:01:14):
to curb. They find them. What has happened here? It's
easier for those people that run those pollution sites to
pay the fine than it is to redo the whole plant.
So what has evolved here? It has evolved into a
huge money laundry scheme where the EPA is self funded

(01:01:35):
through allowing people to actually pollute.

Speaker 3 (01:01:38):
And you're telling me the green buck takes priority over
the white tail.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
But Son, I just said it as plane as I
ever knew how to do. When I found that out
as a reult of reporting some pollution sites that I
knew about, it blew my mind. I couldn't believe it.
I thought, this can't be true. Guess what it's true? People,
This is a calamity, and what does it lead to?

(01:02:02):
All kinds of problems we real report before we get
out of the show, especially when it comes to amphibians,
fish at frogs, and a lot of other things that
we've mentioned on the program before. Got to go to
break real quick, folks. This break is pacific. But I'm
also properties heart Realty. Check about at mop Hrtrealty dot Kyle.

Speaker 3 (01:02:24):
One of the greatest things about bringing Jim Strator to
you tonight in a different interview style is to brag
on his spine and how solid his feet can plant
when it comes to tough subjects and Jim right now,
in today's world, I don't know of a more difficult
subject to talk about than pesticides, and specifically with pesticides,

(01:02:47):
I'm talking about our insecticides that are being used to
help with mosquito control. They're being used to help with
tics and a lot of these are being used by
county and state and federal government in Jim, But unfortunately,
you know and I know from using herbicides that you
can have selective and non selective herbicides. But we're both

(01:03:08):
in agrants that our grasshoppers are pollinators and a lot
of these little insects and bugs that people don't like,
but our wildlife loves they're in some of the greatest
dangers of the wildlife species that we could spend time on.

Speaker 2 (01:03:22):
Well, you just mentioned a couple, and I'll refer back
to the turkey here because this is a big deal.
When I was a young man growing up through most
of my life, when you went out into fields and
crop lands and especially pastures, especially pastures, you see clouds
of grasshoppers. One of my fondest memories of wild turkeys

(01:03:45):
is watching flocks of poles glide up in the air
and flushing grasshoppers and getting up there and snatching them
out of the air. There was nothing more satisfying to
me visually than seeing something like that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:00):
Jimshreyer, I don't know anybody past the age of forty
five that doesn't have a good memory of catching their
own fishing bait.

Speaker 4 (01:04:06):
It's hard to do for a kid.

Speaker 2 (01:04:08):
Absolutely is. I used to put a meticaint on the
front of a truck, drive it through a pasture and
having no caress ipres to fish for a week, no doubt,
I mean literally, you can't do that anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:04:19):
Earthworms, nightcrawlers, it's all there. It's such an impact. We
don't realize what the long term consequence is sometimes of
what we're doing right now.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
We don't. I mean, look at the decline of the butterfly.
Bees have got problems. And when was the last time
somebody saw a junebug? My goodness, when I was a kid,
you went on any golf course or out in any pasture.
I don't know if you remember this year, probably too young.
We used to put a thread on the flying around

(01:04:51):
like a minister airplane.

Speaker 4 (01:04:53):
My old man told me about it.

Speaker 3 (01:04:54):
And and as you talk about this, what's happening is
our invasive species are increasing, our native species that are
going down, the native species that we need are it's
hindering the fact that our natives don't have them to
thrive on. In the end, the big word in today's world, Jim,
is sustainability. And if we don't take the time to

(01:05:16):
focus on these things, we're not sustainable.

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
No, we're not. And to give some other examples in
another regard, look at the Japanese beetles, look at the
Asian stink bugs that we've got now, stuff that we
don't want. It's like for every step forward, taking steps backwards.
And it's just kind of a crazy situation that I

(01:05:39):
think deserves a lot of real thought here. There's a
lot of invasive species that we probably are mentioned here
because they have done some really bad things, and you're
a real expert on me. These brad for Paris, for example.

Speaker 3 (01:06:01):
Goodness man, they are the cancer of succession. They are
the cancer of a young starting establishment.

Speaker 4 (01:06:10):
Of a woodlot.

Speaker 3 (01:06:11):
They absolutely have taken over and it is definitely it
is easier seeing now in the last two years than
any other time and they are at a peak of
showing up where they don't need to be Jim. When
we look at this, we spent years talking about endangered species.

Speaker 4 (01:06:32):
We've talked about species.

Speaker 3 (01:06:34):
That were exempt, and we need to spend as much
or more time on the word native and invasive. And
that's where we're at. These Bradford pairs. How many thousands
of brad prepairs, gyms, traders has, department stores and retail
stores sold for people to line their driveway with.

Speaker 2 (01:06:52):
Well, the crazy thing about them once they took hold,
I mean, anybody guys up down to the interstates or
gets out fields areas can see what they do. They're
the most prolific thing I've ever seen about life. I mean,
they're just crazy and I don't really see the benefits
to wildlife they're at all.

Speaker 3 (01:07:10):
Oh, anybody's not knowing what maybe a little shade, yeah,
but I mean basically the wind barely blows and they break.
I mean, they're they're they're a pain. And it goes
to show it from earlier in the program. You need
to know the full name of what you're planting. You
need to know what you're planning, and you need to
know what the positive and the negative impact can be

(01:07:31):
of what's going in the ground. We have to know
and be knowledgeable of what seed we sow and what
seed we sow or what plant we put in the ground.
It's going to give a short term, mid term and
long term benefits and or problems.

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
Let's talk about another one. Bush honey so not Japanese
honly soble Japanese honey sohle was it a introductive thing,
but it provides such to us deer and rabbits and
or quail.

Speaker 3 (01:08:03):
Whatever's left Collins or our problem is bush out something.

Speaker 2 (01:08:07):
On the other hand, beyond being one of the first
things that greens up in the spring, look at the
way it is destroying the understory in the oak. Hickory et. Cetera.
Saplings ability to reach sunlight in the forest.

Speaker 4 (01:08:25):
It suffocates succession.

Speaker 2 (01:08:27):
It is it great. That is a great way of
saying that. Thank you for saying that, because that is
exactly what it does. Not only that, trying to hunt
in that stuff, you can't see a deer forty yards away,
much less run and air throd. I mean that stuff
is bad, bad, bad stuff, and unfortunately it's hard to eradicate. Well,

(01:08:51):
probably maybe need to do the show about the eradication
of some of this stuff here in the near future
because it's just really, really bad. There's other species we
can talk about all across the board. But well, here's
one look at the horror show that the Emerald Ash

(01:09:12):
Board did. The horror hash trees in Heart region.

Speaker 3 (01:09:16):
And the hazard it created anybody that wants to hike
or walk through the woods. It's not this didn't just
impact hunters. This impacted the economy. It impacted just any
time that a person was in any type of canopy
of the woods. And unfortunately it was one of those
true ugly aesthetic values that come on to many landowners

(01:09:39):
private properties, and they were absolutely destroyed, destroyed, thousands of trees.

Speaker 2 (01:09:46):
Thou and the ash tree was a very important species
from the catkins with squirrels eight for the shade value
for the timber, I mean and I mean, buddy, it
got zipped. That's the best way I describe it. It's horrible,
and I will tell folks this, this is a separate issue.

(01:10:06):
But you'd better be careful where you set a tree
stand nowadays, because those things are winnow bakers. Despite aspect
of how a ash tree grows, when it dies, if
it were to fall on you, you will be impaled.

Speaker 3 (01:10:23):
And for the common person who doesn't think that there
is some issues with these emerald ash boards and some
of these other invasive species, just try to go camping
somewhere where you have to have certified farwood. It has
created a mess, Jim. It's created a mess for people
who want a camp. It's created a mess for people
who want to sell firewood. It's created a mess for

(01:10:44):
people trying to get something to go here. And there's
a lot of people that can't do what they want
to do because these invasive species have put regulations into place,
and to get quite frank, it's hit people in the
back pocket.

Speaker 2 (01:10:57):
Oh absolutely, it has absolutely has. I guess in closing here, folks,
what we want to impart to you is these are
different times, we have much different challenges. A lot of
these things have galloped upon us in very rapid fashion.
And if we don't become more environmentally conscious, we're going

(01:11:20):
to see the disappearance and more of our native species.
We're going to see more invasive species donnate the landscape,
and none of that's good.

Speaker 4 (01:11:28):
None of that will close.

Speaker 3 (01:11:29):
Imonstrator, thank you for all you've done all the years
get people informed and engaged with making wildlife and habitat
and better.

Speaker 2 (01:11:39):
Well, it's been my passion, my whole life. Thank you
for the compliment. I'll try to live up to every
word of it. God bless everybody.