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Here’s what’s worth reading today, Friday, July 17, 2020:
Shotgun shooting helps teach youths importance of firearms safety
Shark pulls 10-year-old from fishing boat in Australia; dad jumps in to save him
A shark “grabbed” a 10-year-old boy from a fishing boat off Australia on Friday but swam off after his father jumped in to save him, officials said.
The boy was taken to hospital in stable condition with lacerations and cuts after the attack off the coast of the island state of Tasmania, the local government reported.
The child was accompanied by his father and two other men fishing three miles from shore when the shark “grabbed him from the boat,” it said in a statement.
“The boy, who was wearing a personal flotation device, suffered lacerations to his arm, and other cuts to his chest and head,” Ambulance Tasmania said in a statement posted to Facebook.
America’s great outdoors is showing its age. Congress is proposing a facelift.
Every 30 seconds in America, bulldozers pave over a green area the size of a football field. In the nation’s century-old parks system, there’s not enough money to fix crumbling roads, hiking trails and even restrooms, let alone preserve millions of acres of land.
The House is expected to approve a plan next week to invest nearly $2 billion per year to restore national parks, conserve land to ward off the impacts of climate change, and put parks and playgrounds in urban areas that sorely need them.
The Great American Outdoors Act, passed overwhelmingly in the Senate by a 73-to-25 vote on June 17, has been called one of the most important environmental bills in history because it could nearly eliminate a $12 billion National Park Service maintenance backlog and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) for the first time since it was enacted in the 1960s.
North Dakota man fined $74,000 for killing mule deer in New Mexico
A North Dakota man must pay $74,000 in restitution for poaching a trophy mule deer buck that led to an investigation lasting several years.
Sandoval County Judge James Noel ordered Cody W. Davis to pay $20,000 for killing the mule deer out of season without a license and $54,000 to reimburse the state Department of Game and Fish for an investigation in which officers logged 2,000 hours and 25,000 miles.
In December 2015, conservation officers found a large, headless mule deer near Lindrith. They conducted 24-hour surveillance of the area and four months later spotted Davis loading the severed head into his truck. They followed Davis across the Rio Grande, where he dumped the head. It took a team of officers and biologists almost two weeks to find the head.
Officers traveled to Davis’ North Dakota home, where they and other wildlife officials served a search warrant, prompting Davis to confess.
9 ways to actually get better at shooting your bow this summer
I am not a professional archer. You won’t see me winning any national 3D tournaments or catch me doing burpees before the Total Archery Challenge. But I am, proudly, an effective average-joe bowhunter.
I started shooting a compound when I was 12, and killed my first deer with one when I was 14. As a kid, my dad and I would shoot in the backyard a couple nights every week. He’d usually crack a cold beer or two to take the edge off after a long day of work at his welding shop, and maybe light up a cigar to keep the bugs away. We’d shoot until mom had dinner ready. This was back before shooting a bow was about “getting reps.”
While shooting at public ranges and deer camps over the years, I’ve noticed there are a whole lot of archers just like dad, who squeeze in an hour of practice after work whenever they can. Practice for them is about getting dialed in for the fall but also about enjoying a quiet summer evening. As I have gotten more bowhunting seasons under my belt, I’ve evolved those shooting sessions with dad and learned how to make sure I’m getting the most out of my practice time.
Changing up my shooting routine keeps practice sessions fun, and it’s more representative of the shooting conditions and positions I’ll experience during a hunt. What we all care most about is making a good, clean shot on an animal right? That means we should be practicing specifically for the shots we’ll get during a hunt. So if you’re one of us, an average-joe archer with an eye toward fall, check out the tips below and keep flinging arrows.
South Padre Island fishing tournament canceled for first time in 80-year history
The 2020 Texas International Fishing Tournament (TIFT) is canceled.
The TIFT executive board did not specify why the tournament was canceled but mentioned that they did “not come to this decision lightly.
Refunds for registration can be found on the TIFT website. The Texas International Fishing Tournament was first held in 1933 to showcase the amazing fishing opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley. It is one of the longest-running fishing tournaments in the world.
The 81st TIFT was scheduled for the first weekend in August 2020. TIFT’s executive board will now plan for the 2021 tournament scheduled for July 28-August 1, 2021.
Other Stuff That Might Tickle Your Fancy
The way it leaped over the dog bro LMAOAOAOAOAO pic.twitter.com/3KEdR0DgXn
— 6’5 THUG (@eastmepls) July 15, 2020
Something about this has me dead 🤣 pic.twitter.com/MNnBjkyzwZ
— Theo Shantonas (@TheoShantonas) July 16, 2020
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