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Here’s what’s worth reading today, Wednesday, March 24, 2021:
Turkey hunting in Texas brings need to know tips, tactics, regulations
Fishing group spots large orca pod off Galveston coast
It’s probably one of the last sea creatures you’d expect to see off the coast of Galveston, but one lucky fishing group got up close and personal with a pod of orcas.
After catching 54 tuna and 280 snapper, it was an incredible overnight fishing trip aboard the New Buccaneer. But it was the ride home that they’ll never forget.
“I was driving along, and I saw something off the port bow,” Captain Sam Hardeman said.
They were about 100 miles off the coast of Galveston when Hardeman said it took a second to recognize what was right in front of him.
“We got closer, I thought it might be some pilot whales so I started to slow down,” Hardeman said. “Before I knew it, the killer whales, they were just on us. It happened immediately.”
Orcas in the Gulf just feet away from the boat.
We actually have no idea how many hunters there are in America
License data varies so wildly from state to state that there’s no accurate accounting of overall hunter numbers. Here’s why that’s a problem, and what’s being done to fix it.
Did COVID-19 send more hunters into the field last year than any previous season? Or was the pandemic spike more like a bump? Are recent efforts to recruit younger, more diverse hunters working?
It turns out, we don’t know the answer to any of those questions, and might not know for years. That’s because the mechanism used to tally license sales in any given state, let alone on a national basis, is clunky, inefficient, and complicated by agencies’ reluctance to share their customers’ information or buying habits.
The result is that journalists like me use whatever data we can find to report on hunting-participation trends. We often turn to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s annual census of National Hunting License Data. But it turns out that even those austere federal numbers aren’t particularly reliable.
“Even though the USFWS reports show ‘Calculation Year 2020 and Calculation Year 2019,’ they are in fact using sales data from 2018 and 2017,” says Jim Curcuruto, a consultant to the outdoor and conservation industry. “I bet less than 10 percent of people know those are 2-year-old data.”
Governor warned by Montana FWP for violating hunting requirement
Montana governor Greg Gianforte was given a warning by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) after reportedly trapping and killing a wolf last month while not having the proper education certification, which is a violation of state hunting laws.
The wolf was trapped and killed on private property near Gardiner north of Yellowstone National Park.
The Governor’s Office issued a statement after reports of the alleged violation surfaced: “After learning that he had not completed the wolf-trapping certification, Governor Gianforte immediately rectified the mistake and enrolled in the wolf-trapping certification course. The governor had all other proper licenses.”
FWP’s warning was issued on February 16, notifying Gianforte he had violated an FWP commission or department order or rule for general hunting, fishing, and trapping.
The recent trapping season for wolves ran from December 15, 2020 through February 28, 2021. A valid trapping license is required along with completion of mandatory wolf trapping certification.
Three Michigan men sentenced, fined $20,000 for illegally hunting, baiting waterfowl
Three Harrison Township men were recently arraigned and sentenced after allegedly illegally hunting and baiting waterfowl.
Richard Schaller, 52; Robert Kucinski, 49; and Timothy Morris, 58, were sentenced March 18 in 42nd District Court in New Baltimore. The trio was fined approximately $20,000 and pleaded guilty to a total of 13 misdemeanor charges, including: taking and possessing an over-limit of Canada geese; taking and possessing an over-limit of mallards; taking and possessing an over-limit of hen mallards; and taking and hunting waterfowl over a baited area. Shaller was also charged with one count of placing bait for the purpose of taking waterfowl.
Baiting waterfowl is federally prohibited and unlawful in Michigan. All game, bait and firearms were confiscated as evidence.
In total, the men killed 39 waterfowl, including 23 Canada geese — 14 over the limit — and 16 mallards, four over the limit. Eight of those were hen mallards, or an over-limit of two hen mallards.
Each man was ordered to pay $6,500 in reimbursement to the state— $500 per waterfowl, totaling $19,500 — as well as court fines totaling more than $3,000 collectively. Each suspect also permanently forfeited the firearms used to take the waterfowl and lost the right to hunt waterfowl through February 2022.
North Dakota lawmakers kill bill to allow bright pink hunting gear
North Dakota hunters still only have eyes for the color orange, since the Legislature voted to kill a bill that would have allowed them to deck themselves in fluorescent pink safety gear instead.
Sen. Kristin Roers, R-Fargo, who introduced the measure, has said she wanted to provide the alternate color option because she has found that many of the hunting clothes tailored for women are pink.
But opponents of Senate Bill 2143, which had previously advanced out of the Senate, raised safety concerns about allowing hunters to wear bright pink in place of the required orange, and the House of Representatives voted 14-78 to reject the bill. A similar bill was passed in Minnesota in 2017.
Current law requires hunters to wear at least 400 square inches of solid blaze orange. Roers’ bill would have allowed them to replace the orange with pink, or to wear a camouflage pattern of up to 50% for both colors.
North Dakota lawmakers opposed to the measure argued that pink and camo hunting gear doesn’t stick out for colorblind hunters who may not be able to differentiate the gradations of red, particularly against fall foliage.
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