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Here’s what’s worth reading today, Tuesday, July 21, 2020:
Texas spring hunting pursuits bring out critters that bite back
How 45 million hunters and anglers are aiming to bypass Hollywood
The ideological fault lines running between the coasts and the American heartland, turning red and blue to code words, are manifesting in everything from politics and religion to television and films. For many middle Americans who are so often portrayed as uneducated rubes by coastal content companies, there’s a move afoot to leave media giants behind and chart their own path forward.
For Jim Liberatore, the CEO of a Denver-based media company that owns cable channels and scores of magazines devoted to American hunters and anglers, it’s time to showcase the true heartland way of life…and for tens of millions of red state residents that includes hunting.
“There are more than 45 million Americans who hunt and fish,” says Liberatore, “that’s more people than live in the country’s 10 largest cities but no one is engaging them…at least not in ways that showcase the truth about their lifestyle. That’s why I’ve brought a team together to create The Harvest, a film that aims to help dispel myths about the way many middle Americans think and live.”
According to the Congressional Sportsman’s Foundation — part of the largest bipartisan caucus of the U.S. Congress — American sportsmen are a $76 billion annual economic force. To put that in perspective, spending by hunters and anglers amounts to more than the revenues of Facebook and Yahoo combined. Hunters and anglers, moreover, outnumber motor sports fans by two to one. In fact, they could fill every NASCAR track 13 times over.
Men sentenced for poaching Arizona mule deer, defrauding hunting organizations
After running an investigation for nearly two years, the Arizona Game and Fish Department finally arrested two big-time poachers: Blake R. Owens and Thomas “TJ” Purinton. Both men were charged with a variety of felony and misdemeanors after they were linked to poaching big game on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests in Arizona and “conning hunting organizations into awarding them prizes and recognition for their ill-gotten gains,” the White Mountain Independent reports.
While the two used the poached animals for notoriety, Purinton also used the illegally taken deer to promote his taxidermy business on social media and Owens worked as a guide during the timeframe when three of the mule deer bucks were poached. The two are also listed as co-defendants in multiple criminal charges regarding the illegal take of big game as well as “related fraudulent schemes and practices,” according to the White Mountain Independent.
“The individuals in this case are thieves, stealing wildlife from all of us. They were motivated by greed, notoriety and personal gain,” said AZGFD Law Enforcement Branch Chief Gene Elms. “The vast majority of hunters in Arizona are law abiding citizens participating in fair chase and ethical, sustainable hunting practices.”
Both men have had their hunting, fishing and trapping licenses suspended for 10 years in Arizona and other states that honor the Interstate Wildlife Violater Compact.
From football to fishing, Camden native still brings the ‘boom’
On the football field in Camden, Neaven Reevey earned the nickname “Boom” for all the bells he rang on defense.
Reevey, 26, loved the sport and hoped to play in college after graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School, and the internet’s still filled with his highlight reels from the gridiron. But new footage of Reevey is floating around these days, too — videos of him out on the water, among the lily pads, where he’s known as “Boomerang” for casting fishing lures and retrieving them, over and over for hours at a time, several days a week.
His father first took him and his older brother fishing, in saltwater, when each was 3 years old. “He used to tie a rope around us in case we got too far away,” Reevey said.
Fishing is the new football for the East Camden native, and his prowess on the water is earning him attention and sponsorships. On a recent weekday afternoon, Reevey was standing on his new 12-foot Vibe kayak out by lily pads again in Collingswood’s Newton Lake. The kayak retails for $1,300, but thanks to Reevey’s 4,670 Instagram followers and his constant posts, tags, and story updates, he’s part of the company’s “field staff.” He’s known as @boomerang_fisher and has his own jersey.
Texas Parks and Wildlife seeks public input on potential catfish regulations
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is requesting feedback from the public on a new suite of potential harvest regulation options for blue and channel catfish. The goal is to obtain input from anglers on these options before proposing any changes to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission early next year.
“A team of TPWD fisheries biologists have worked for the past two years to review our current catfish regulations with the goals of continuing to provide good angling, meeting current angler needs, and reducing the number of regulations,” said Dave Terre, TPWD’s Fish Management Chief. “Obtaining feedback and making sure any new regulation options are acceptable to anglers is an important step in these ongoing efforts.”
These potential options were recently presented in webinars to a group of catfish anglers, fishing guides, and outdoor writers to discuss and get their input.
The first option would modify the current statewide regulations for blue and channel catfish of a 12-inch minimum length limit and a 25-fish daily bag limit that combines both species. The potential new statewide regulation would remove the minimum length limit (fish of any length could be harvested) and retain the 25-fish daily bag. However, of the 25 blue or channel catfish that could be harvested per day, anglers would be limited to harvesting no more than 10 fish that measure 20 inches or longer.
‘It’s loaded with fish’: With monuments on the horizon, local anglers love fishing the Potomac
In 2019, Wesley Hanks of D.C.’s Capitol Hill neighborhood would have spent his afternoons and evenings in the late spring and early summer playing baseball or participating in other structured activities. This year, with so many extracurricular activities on hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 12-year-old has been having somewhat of a throwback childhood.
While school was in session, he was finishing his distance-learning assignments in the early afternoon and then grabbing his fishing gear and hopping on his bike for the short ride down to Yards Park or the Tidal Basin from his home near Lincoln Park.
He wasn’t alone in finding a soothing activity during this year’s time of rapid change and turmoil, saying “a day spent fishing is better than a day at work.” Armed with torn-up tortilla as bait, Hanks found himself “shooting fish in a barrel” when he tried to catch catfish at the water’s edge. Toss a few strips of the tortilla in the water and, like chum for a shark, the fish would come calling.
In early June, he had a plan. He was going to snag a big blue catfish and bring it home for dinner. He asked his mother, Sarah, for a ride down to Yards Park because this time, he had a cooler filled with water so he could keep his prize alive.
In just a few minutes, he had a fish.
Other Stuff That Might Tickle Your Fancy
'PLAY DEAD!' A woman in Yellowstone National Park was unharmed after a bison charged toward her as frightened onlookers urged her to lay still on the ground. https://t.co/V7ZirNdyHo pic.twitter.com/LLJf0iVdKh
— ABC News (@ABC) July 21, 2020
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