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Here’s what’s worth reading today, Friday, July 5, 2019:
Florida man contracts flesh-eating bacteria without even touching water: Tyler King was at work in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, last week, when he noticed his left bicep starting to swell. He tried taking Benadryl but just a few hours later his arm had nearly tripled in size. He rushed to the emergency room. “When I was a little bit younger, I probably would have tried to tough it out. Well, that would have been the worst thing that I could do,” King said. “If I had gone to sleep … and had woke up with it at the rate it was spreading, I might not have an arm right now.” King had contracted vibrio, a bacteria commonly found in warm, brackish water – a mix of salt and fresh water. When exposed to an open wound, vibrio can cause a skin infection. If left untreated, the bacteria can be deadly.
Indiana man accused of authorizing illegal hunting on someone else’s property: A southern Indiana man has been arrested for allowing people to illegally hunt on property that wasn’t his. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources said a tip led them to Branden Fischbach, 28, of Corydon. Investigators said Fischbach called in a wild turkey for an unlicensed Michigan hunter, who killed the animal on property Fischbach claimed to own in Harrison County. The animal was then taken back to Michigan. Not only does Fischbach own no property in Indiana, according to investigators, but he also invited multiple other people to hunt on the farm. Throughout 2018-19, three white-tailed deer, a wild turkey and a bobcat were all illegally killed on the property.
Painfully hooked: Adirondack hospital fishing lure display is no joke: Sometimes fishermen get hooked in a painful way. Gary Nye, a physician’s assistant in the emergency room at the Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake for more than 20 years, has treated numerous anglers who’ve come in with the treble hooks from fishing lures stuck on their thumbs, arms or legs, ears, noses, eyelids, lips, the side of their necks, the back of their heads – nearly every body part. He said he’s taken lures off several patients’ penises and scrotums, adding those incidents occurred when the individuals were fishing with small bathing suits, or skimpy, loose-hanging shorts with nothing on underneath. “Usually alcohol has something to do with it,” he added. As a testimony to Nye’s services and other hospital staff to Adirondack area anglers, the hospital in 1990 began asking individuals to contribute the lures staff removed for posting on a bulletin board where they could be displayed for all to see.
Alaska bear put down after breaking into fishing lodge in search of dinner: A brown bear walked into the kitchen of a fishing lodge in Alaska in search of a meal over the weekend and had to be put down when it showed no fear of humans. The staff at the Highliner Lodge in Pelican were prepping for a dinner service when the surprise guest walked in through the back of the restaurant, the lodge wrote in a detailed Facebook post. Owner Steve Daniels thought it was a prank until the head chef showed him the bear eating and sniffing around kitchen supplies.
This man left corporate America for a career in the wild: Robert Field had owned a kayak for all of five months and paddled it into the open ocean just twice. Both times he had tagged along with more experienced anglers and ventured 4 miles out into the Gulf of Mexico, where the water was as flat as a millpond and the fish practically jumped into his boat. “King, mackerel, red snapper—they were bitin’ like crazy,” Field says. “And I’m thinking, ‘This offshore stuff, everyone acts like it’s hard. Clearly, I’m a natural.’ ” For his third Gulf outing, he decided to head out alone and fish for sharks off the shore of Galveston, Texas. Undeterred by high winds and rough seas, Field paddled out and hooked a 6-foot black tip, which towed him a mile and a half before he reeled it in.
Hunting, fishing program showcases disabled hunters, anglers: Since 2014, Brett Surplus has known he wanted to start a hunting television show. But the Rathdrum resident also knew he didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of the standard hunting television format. “There is no substance to it,” he said of most mainstream hunting shows. “It’s pretty much, ‘Hey, look at me go and shoot this animal.’ ” That approach focuses on trophy hunting and shows that the television producers are “basing hunting and fishing on tape measures,” Surplus said. That’s not the reason Surplus hunts and it wasn’t the show he wanted to create. So the idea sat dormant until about a year ago when he met Tim Scott.
Louisiana hunters can use some, but not all, deer urine lures: The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission passed a declaration of emergency during its July meeting that modifies the deer urine ban for the 2019-20 hunting season. The ban is part of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ and LWFC’s effort to prevent chronic wasting disease ) from entering the state. New testing procedures have been made available to producers of deer urine that can detect the presence of CWD in urine-based products. The modified regulation reads as follows: “It is unlawful to use or possess scents or lures that contain natural deer urine or other bodily fluids while taking, attempting to take, attracting or scouting wildlife, except natural deer urine products produced by the manufacturers or entities that are actively enrolled and participating in the Archery Trade Association Deer Protection Program, which have been tested using real-time quaking induced conversion and certified that no detectable levels of CWD are present and clearly labeled as such.”
Fishing boat captain stops at store for a drink — and wins $1 million in NC lottery: The sun-burned captain of a fishing boat stopped to buy a drink Tuesday at a convenience store in Wilmington and ended up winning $1 million, according to the N.C. Education Lottery. Austin Eubank, a husband and father, said in a release that the win is all the more surprising given he “doesn’t normally play the lottery.” Eubank said he didn’t have anything special in mind for spending the money, but his wife told lottery officials she knew instantly their first purchase would be a fishing pole for their 14-month-old son, Baylor.
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