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Here’s what’s worth reading today, Wednesday, September 18, 2019:
3 hunters injured in 2 Montana grizzly attacks: Three hunters were injured in two separate grizzly bear attacks in the same area of southwestern Montana less than 12 hours apart, wildlife officials said. Investigators were trying Tuesday to determine if the same bear was involved in the surprise encounters in the Gravelly Mountains, an area frequented by grizzlies about 70 miles southwest of Bozeman, said Morgan Jacobsen, a spokesman with Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Other hunters in the area were being asked to leave pending the outcome of the investigation. It would be unusual but not unprecedented for a single bear to be involved in back-to-back attacks.
How to survive a grizzly encounter: In 2005, 17-year-old Alex Messenger was on the trip of a lifetime: a 600-mile canoe trip through the subarctic Canadian tundra with five of his friends. They planned to be out in the wilderness for 42 days, paddling, camping, and enjoying the solitude. But all that changed when Messenger went on a short solo hike and was mauled by a grizzly bear. As Messenger crested a ridge, he came face-to-face with the bear, an encounter that surprised both of them. The grizzly was threatened by Messenger’s presence and tried to intimidate him with a few bluff charges, then attacked, swiping at his back and face and clamping its large jaws around his leg, barely missing his femoral artery — a bite that would’ve been fatal. Miraculously, Messenger survived to tell the tale and went on to work as a wilderness guide and search and rescue volunteer. Now he knows a little something more about bears and, more importantly, how to avoid and survive an encounter with an animal at the top of the backcountry food chain. His book about how he survived the attack, The Twenty-Ninth Day, comes out in November.
2019 Texas deer hunting forecast still looks ‘great’ despite dry conditions
Wild 411-pound feral hog wrangled on Texas golf course, pictures show: A massive 411-pound feral hog marauding through a Texas golf course was captured and removed last week, according to trappers. Wyatt Walton said he and his team from Lone Star Trapping wrangled the wild beast and tied it up alive at the Gateway Hills Golf Course in San Antonio on Thursday. Walton shared photos of the captured hog and another boar on Facebook. But it wasn’t an easy animal to catch. The “extremely large” hog was “trap smart” and they needed several hunting dogs to assist in taking it down, Walton wrote. “The work isn’t done,” Walton wrote. “As San Antonio continues to flourish in population, there’s that much more native land having developments built on it. To accommodate the growth, native wildlife is just being pushed and pushed. Eventually, you end up having instances with human interactions, as [the animals] are just trying to survive.”
Ted Nugent tells lawmakers deer baiting ban will hurt Michigan’s hunting industry: Michigan-born musician Ted Nugent slammed the state’s bans on deer baiting and feeding in the state Capitol, claiming the prohibition would “chase hunting families out of the sport for absolutely no reason.” The musician came to the House Government Operations Committee to support legislation that would allow deer and elk feeding in Michigan, and allow baiting during open season. The bill was introduced in response to baiting and feeding bans in the Lower Peninsula and parts of the Upper Peninsula put in place by the Natural Resources Commission — which sets the rules for hunting and fishing in the state – to limit the spread of chronic wasting disease.
Texas woman catches, releases 9-foot tiger shark in Corpus Christi: A Texas woman reached her personal best after she caught a 9-foot tiger shark in Corpus Christi earlier this month. Corpus Christi resident Jen Merchant said she was fishing 1,000 yards away from the North Padre Island shoreline at around 6:30 p.m. Sept. 7 when she found the tiger shark. After a 15-minute fight, Merchant said she reeled in the tiger shark, tagged it and then released it, adding she never took the shark out of the water.
Anti-poachers armed with guns and dogs are battling the illegal rhino trade in Africa. They’re ready to kill for it: When Jean pulls into a neighbor’s driveway in South Africa, he’s always on the lookout for footprints that seem out of place. Recently, on his way to a barbecue, he noticed some foot tracks at a friend’s gate. Worried something might be amiss, Jean quickly telephoned his friend before heading up to the house. “It’s not paranoid, it’s just super vigilant,” he told Insider, explaining he’s basically always on guard now for the possibility that animal-killers could be looming near his home in Limpopo province. By day, Jean is a field guide, going on walks with tourists to see the famed “big 5:” lions, leopards, rhinoceros, buffalo, and elephants. By night, and whenever else his neighbors sound the alarm, Jean (who did not want to reveal his last name for security reasons) moonlights as an anti-poacher, tracking down intruders on farms and private game reserves in the area.
Man fatally shoots brother while squirrel hunting: The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is investigating a death in Dodge County following a hunting-related incident. According to the DNR, three hunters were hunting squirrels near Mud Lake Road in Reeseville Tuesday morning. A DNR spokeswoman said according to a preliminary investigation report, a 61-year-old man saw movement and fatally shot his 65-year-old brother. “The way we handle any kind of incident where there’s a fatality, is we always want to treat it as if it is the worst possible incident, and we can always back it off later,” says Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt.
Hunters killed 918 alligators during 10-day Mississippi hunting season: Mississippi’s alligator program coordinator says great weather, high water and increasing expertise made for a good alligator season in public waters. Ricky Flynt of the state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks says hunters took 918 alligators from public waters this year. That’s 153 more than last year. The state record of 982 was in 2015, when 997 hunters and guests went out and nearly 70% of the groups harvested at least one alligator.
Whale emerges off New Jersey coast just feet from father, son fishing: They’ve got a whale of a story to tell. A Pennsylvania father and son captured the moment a whale emerged from the sea right before their eyes as they fished off the South Jersey coast. Mark Bevevino and his son Frank, of Malvern, were fishing about two miles from the coast of Sea Isle around 10:30 a.m. Thursday when they noticed a large school of bunker, Mark told ABC 6. “We were catching bunker and we thought we heard a whale come to the surface and saw some movement in the water,” he said. “I started filming while my son was taking a fish off the hook.”
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