Senate Proposal Set to Sell Upwards of 3 Million Acres of Public Land 🏞️

The weekend might not be here just yet, but your favorite dispatch from the great outdoors is. 

So grab your coffee or whiskey (no judgement) and let's get caught up on the outdoor news and views from the past 24-or-so hours. 

Here's what's worth reading about today:

• Deja vu - Another public land sell off is coming, this time with 6x the land 🏞️

• Permission to buzz the tower - Yellowstone touron nailed for flying a drone over osprey nest 🪹

• Sunday hunting showdown - PA is thiissss close to a full week of hunting 🤏

• New pups - Colorado rancher spots some new pups on his ranch 🐺

• A non-issue - Has Michigan's deer hunter problem bottomed out? 🦌

• Putting with dinosaurs - Honestly, this guy just wanted to play through ⛳️

Miss something this week?

LET’S TRY THIS AGAIN
SENATE PROPOSAL SET TO SELL UPWARDS OF 3 MILLION ACRES OF PUBLIC LAND

Late Wednesday evening, a Senate proposal to sell or transfer 2 to 3 million acres of public land across 11 Western states ignited a firestorm of opposition from hunters, anglers, and conservationists. Introduced by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the plan is tucked into the federal budget reconciliation bill, dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” If passed, it would mark the largest federal land sale in modern U.S. history.

If you feel like you might be having a moment of deja vu, it’s because you are. If you’ll recall, at the beginning of May, the House made some late night moves of a similar fashion in an effort to sell off a bunch of public land in Nevada and Utah - a move that was swiftly (and thankfully) defeated.

And just as we were cleaning up the celebratory champagne bottles, a new Senate proposal was dropped in our laps. In a sobering move, Wednesday’s draft bill is targeting Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service lands in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming…

HEADLINES // ^{_{DIGESTIBLE SNIPPETS}}

🚁 Yellowstone tourist cited with misdemeanor for buzzing an Osprey’s nest with his drone. It’s officially touron season in Yellowstone and many of our other National Parks. That means that in addition to framing a nearby moose, elk or bison with their selfie stick, tourists are also busy lighting up the sky in an effort to get more content for the ‘Gram. 

Even though launching a drone in the country’s most popular National Park is highly illegal, in today’s day and age, rules are seemingly no longer for the obedience of fools. Flipping the script on the would-be filmmaker, California resident Vince Botkin confronted the drone pilot just as he skillfully banked his drone within feet of an osprey nest. 

According to Botkin, he and a number of other tourists had gathered to watch the senior ospreys work on their nest just before the pilot buzzed the tower, causing both of the raptors to escape in flight. In what Botkin called the most “flagrant violation” he’d ever seen, things only heated up after he confronted the man with the drone’s remote in his hand. According to Botkin, the pilot told him to mind his own business and went on to taunt his accuser by hovering the unmanned aerial unit over his head.

Fed up with the situation, Botkin snapped a couple of pictures of the violator and headed into an area where he could get cell phone reception. He soon managed to call in the violation and was later visited by Park Rangers who told him that they managed to catch up with the suspect and had slapped him with a ticket that carries the possibility of six months in jail and $5,000 in fines.

According to reports, the ospreys seem to be unfazed by the hazing.

⛪️ A bill set to repeal Pennsylvania’s Sunday hunting ban has passed the state House and is on its way to the Senate. In a ruling that has been literally over 100 years in the making, Pennsylvania’s House Bill 1431 is on its way to the Senate floor. The bill, which would legalize all forms of hunting on Sundays first passed the state’s House Game and Fisheries Committee on June 3rd, and on Wednesday, cleared the entire house by a vote of 131-72. 

The prohibition of Sunday hunting in the Keystone State dates all the way back to 1873, making it one of the last states in the union with such restrictions in place. The ban, which was initially in place for religious observance and “blue laws” that limit a number of activities on Sundays did allow for certain exceptions including hunting foxes, coyotes and crows. 

It wasn’t until a 2019 ruling that, after decades of advocacy, the Pennsylvania legislature passed Senate Bill 147, allowing limited Sunday hunting for the first time in over a century. This law permitted three Sundays per year for hunting: one during rifle deer season, one during archery deer season, and a third chosen by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. This was a compromise, as hunting groups initially sought up to 14 Sundays. 

On the heels of that 2019 ruling, the new bill is something of an extension of it. With hunters looking for more time to get afield, many believe that opening up Sundays will lead not only to more license sales, but better management. Both the PGC and its executive director have endorsed the bill, which now is up for a final Senate vote and potentially the governor’s signature before becoming law.

🍼 Colorado rancher spots new wolf pups growing up alongside his cattle ranch. After being smack dab in the middle of the Memorial Day weekend bloodletting, a Colorado rancher, who managed to salvage a calf during the incident, has spotted signs of new life near his ranch. 

While no rancher, particularly in Colorado, is overly thrilled with the sighting of wolves, Mike Cerveny of the Lost Marbles Ranch, has reportedly spotted a number of newborn wolves alongside his property. According to Cerveny, he’s got three or four pups being raised up on the edge of his ranch, something he’s confirmed via thermal imaging.

Colorado officials have yet to corroborate the sightings but have stated they are working on attempting to divert the wolves attention away from local ranches. By strategically collecting and placing bait sights away from populated ranches using roadkill, officials are hopeful that perhaps these wild K9s will abandon what is bred into them and forgo hunting altogether.

And in the event that the whole changing a wolf’s ethos through roadkill project doesn’t go according to plan, CPW has recently publicized their efforts to raise additional funding for non-lethal wolf mitigation through the sale of specialty license plates. Earlier this week, the agency proudly boasted of the 18,000 “Born to be Wild” license plates that were sold, raising nearly $950,000 for additional conflict mitigation resources. While funding is undoubtedly helpful for an agency’s budget, especially one whose reimbursement fund is in the toilet, I still don’t expect a lot of flashy plates adorning ranch vehicles any time soon.

Miss something this week?

QUICK HITS // ^{_{FROM AROUND THE WEB}}

Virginia DWR makes adjustments to hunting regulations for bears: Carl Tugend, Bear Project Leader for Virginia, said that for bear hunting in the state, bears are listed as a game species. Some recent changes were made to firearm bear hunting to help with the bear population.  Read the full story.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources Rolling out New Licensing System, MD Outdoors: The Maryland Department of Natural Resources will introduce its new online licensing system, MD Outdoors, on June 24. This centralized system replaces the current system, COMPASS.  Read the full story.

Ohio DNR confirms first sighting of black bear in Licking County in more than 20 years: A black bear was caught on camera roaming a field east of Pataskala Tuesday morning, marking the first confirmed sighting in Licking County in more than 20 years, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).  Read the full story.

Has Michigan's deer hunter problem bottomed out?: After years of declines, new data from the state's latest deer harvest report offers some of the most promising information that wildlife managers have seen since the mid-90s. Read the full story.

Now available: Idaho controlled hunt drawing results for deer, elk, pronghorn, fall bear, turkey, and swan: Results of the deer, elk, pronghorn, fall black bear, fall turkey, and swan controlled hunt drawings are now available. Fish and Game will NOT be sending any postcards this year, so hunters are encouraged to review their email to verify their results or log into their online account at GoOutdoorsIdaho.com. Read the full story.

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🐊 Squeaking a round in as a damn DINOSAUR tries to play through. Gators and golf kind-of-sort-of go together down in Florida but this particular gator isn’t necessarily your run of the mill neighborhood gator, if you know what I mean.

Seriously. How am I supposed to putt with this stuff going on?

Miss something this week?

The pull of the weekend.

📸 : @loganmatthewdyer

Oh, and one more thing…