Here’s what’s worth reading today, Wednesday, May 15, 2019:
Jimmy Carter’s turkey hunting ruffles PETA’s feathers: Former President Jimmy Carter’s “main concern” after undergoing hip surgery was he’d fail to kill the maximum allowed number of turkeys this hunting season, a thought that earned him condemnation from animal-rights group PETA.
Officials warn of fish from some Texas bays after accident: Texas health officials have advised people not to fish or eat seafood from parts of some Houston-area bays as cleanup continues following last week’s tanker and barges accident and toxic leak.
Man charged in connection with Texas fishing tournament fraud: A man is accused of fraud for violating rules in a high school fishing tournament. Ryan Lovelace was the supervisor for the team of students in the competition. He’s charged with “freshwater fish tournament fraud,” a Class A misdemeanor in the Parks and Wildlife Department.
Texas boater education key to reducing accidents, fatalities on waterways
Anti-hunting Democrat & Congressmen introduces grizzly bear hunting ban: Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) has introduced legislation that would ban the hunting of grizzly bears anywhere in the country except for Alaska. Grijalva, who chairs the House Resources Committee, is a frequent author of anti-hunting bills and is consistently rated at 100% by the Humane Society of the United States.
TPWD honoring law enforcement with weekend of free fishing: The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department announced its first weekend of free fishing for law enforcement, honoring law enforcement officers across the state with a free day of fishing. From May 18-19, those with an active peace officer license under chapter 1701 of the Texas Occupations Code can fish for fun without the need for a valid fishing license or endorsement.
Tanzania to offer 26 big game hunting blocks in new auction: Tanzania plans to introduce a new auctioning system for big game hunting blocks next month, in a move aimed at enhancing transparency and curbing corruption in that part of the tourism industry.
Meet the Burmese python hunters of the Florida swamps: Dusty “the Wildman” Crum is a freelance snake hunter in Florida. He tracks down and wrangles Burmese pythons, which can grow longer than 17 feet, wandering the mangroves barefoot because, Crum says, “If you have a rubber sole between foot and Earth, you can’t absorb what nature is telling you.”
Hilton Head Island native Ben Green thinks fishing can cure mankind. Here’s why: Some people go to the moon looking for peace. Ben Green goes the town dock. He goes to the Squire Pope Community Park on a bend in the IntracoastaHe stands over the salty waters we call Skull Creek that have been gliding and glistening there all the days of his life. He was born 69 years ago in a house across from today’s Crazy Crab restaurant on Jarvis Creek. Green doesn’t go to the water alone. He invites children to come, so he can teach them to fish.
Fisherman says record-breaking disqualified walleye spoils his love of fishing: Tom Volk’s would-be record breaking walleye was disqualified. Now he says the Game and Fish Department needs to change how it reviews catches. Volk says there’s no evidence that the fish was hooked in the back, despite Game and Fish saying the Walleye was “foul-hooked.” “When you hook a fish in the mouth, you’ll feel the ‘tonk,’ you’ll feel the fish actually pick up the jig and it’ll be like a quick jerk, jerking motion, and that’s exactly what this fish did, just like every other fish,” said Volk.
Minnesota women’s groups breathe new life into fishing: The roots of angling in literature can be found in the Bible, in the story about Simon Peter fishing at night with a few buddies on the Sea of Galilee, and being skunked. Centuries later, in 1653, Izaak Walton published a genre follow-up, “The Compleat Angler,” which, like Simon Peter’s biblical tale, is dominated by men — so much so that even Walton’s fish are assigned male pronouns. Lo now these many years afterward, with the advantage of hindsight, perhaps if women had been invited on some of those early angling adventures, fishing, the sport, wouldn’t be in the pickle it is today, with license sales in Minnesota and elsewhere declining even as the nation’s overall population swells.
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