Felony Charges for Two Men Who Stole and Killed a Pet Pig to Win a Hunting Contest

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The weekend might not be here 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 few days. 

Here's what's worth reading about so far this week:

• Hunting contest fraud - Two Hawaii men hit with felonies for stealing/killing pet pig 🧑‍⚖️

• Droopy-eared-deer - The curious case of one droopy-eared buck👂

• Barefoot fisherman drops dead - A rare infection in Galveston leads to death of Texas man 🙏

• One very disappointed Yellowstone visitor- She wrote a note asking park workers to train the bears better 🤡

• Massive bear living in a dumpster - There’s a dumpster-diving bear in Canada and he’s YUGE 🐻

GIVING US A BAD NAME
FELONY CHARGES FOR TWO MEN WHO STOLE AND KILLED A PET PIG TO WIN A HUNTING CONTEST

Two Hawaiian men are up against felony charges after hunters foiled their plan to cheat their way into winning a local hunting contest.

With a $1,000 prize on the line, Jayden Jarnesky-Magana, 18, of Wailuku, and Krys-Ryan Saito Carino, 20, of Waiehu, came up with an elaborate scheme that involved breaking and entering kidnapping, murder and deceit.

The pair had their sights set on a pig named “Eddie”, a 250-pound domesticated pig that was living his best life at a sanctuary in Haiku known as Kitty Charm Farm. According to a Facebook post by the farm’s owner, the two men broke into the sanctuary hog-tied Eddie and dragged him off the property through a hole they cut in her fence. At this point, the pig was still alive and their plan was to record a “hunting’ video of them in pursuit of the large pig.

“They then used Eddie to stage a fake hunting video with their dogs. They killed him, gutted him, and transported him to a contest in Makawao that they had entered the night before,” farm owner Sarah Haynes wrote in a Facebook post.

Haynes went on to say that it was hunters who helped her locate her missing pig. After posting a picture of her beloved pig, several hunters shared the video that was used to win the contest, asking her if this was her missing pig…

🙉 The Curious Case of the Droopy-Eared Buck. After checking his trail camera in late January of 2022, 14-year-old Cooper Courtright had a new deer showing up, one that was easily identified by its unique ears. After looking at the pictures and sharing them with family, he, and others, believed what they had was a doe with ears that hung low like an old Basset hound. 

Time marched on and when hunting season came around that year, Cooper headed out to his stand in anticipation of bagging a buck. And bag a buck he did. As it would turn out, the buck he killed was the same deer his trail cam had photographed earlier in the year. Now with the unique animal in his possession, Cooper’s dad Jess contacted the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, who shipped the buck’s head immediately to the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the University of Georgia. 

Researchers poked and prodded at the ears of the animal and found them to be ridden with infection and, ultimately, too many indicators of disease to pinpoint the actual cause. They determined that the most likely cause is one of the following: 

• The buck may have developed an internal bacterial ear infection that led to disease throughout the external structures.

• In the reverse, the buck might have suffered wounds to the external part of both ears that damaged blood vessels and led to bacterial infection.

• Ticks could have played a role. Severe tick infestations have been associated with drooping ears in some domestic livestock. A past infestation of ticks in both of the buck’s ears could have started the tissue damage, leading to infections.

• Finally, there’s the possibility the buck was born with deformed ears, and their abnormal shape opened the door to infection.

🙏 A Texas fisherman dies suddenly from bacterial infection after wading in the Gulf in flip flops. It only took a week for Texas fisherman Randy Bunch to succumb to a rare infection after wading out to check his lobster traps in Galveston bay just like he’s always done. Although this time, he ventured out without his wading boots, wearing only flip flops instead.

According to his daughter, Bunch contracted vibriosis - a bacterial infection that is present year-round in the Gulf, but more prevalent in the hot summer months. It turns out Bunch had a small open wound on his foot and that is where the infection is believed to have originated from. 

Although the Galveston County Health District says “it’s rare for a person to develop a severe infection from Vibrio bacteria,” the chances of such an infection increase if that person has “a preexisting immune-suppressing health condition and open sores or wounds.” According to reports, Bunch had a blood disorder along with an open wound, making conditions unfortunately favorable.

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

AGFC announces changes to 2024 hunting and fishing regulations: The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has released its new Code of Regulations for the 2024 hunting and fishing seasons. Read more at KATV.

Wisconsin antlerless deer hunt, bonus authorizations available:  The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announced bonus antlerless harvest authorizations – formerly known as tags – will be available for the 2024 gun deer season. Read more at FOX6.

Nebraska Commissioners to consider bighorn sheep season:  The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will consider recommendations for a 2025 bighorn sheep hunting season at its Aug. 16 meeting at Fort Robinson State Park. See the property at NGP.

New York State announces a change to hunting and trapping licenses: New York State is changing how hunters and trappers can access and print licenses as they kick off 2024-25 season sales. Read more at WGRZ.

Greg Sheehan announced as the President and CEO of the Mule Deer Foundation : Sheehan has most recently served as the Utah State Director of the US Bureau of Land Management, where he managed millions of acres of public lands and worked with a diverse array of stakeholders to implement effective land management strategies. Read more at Mule Deer Foundation.

Indiana DNR now restricting moving deer from disease-positive areas: Due to the detection of chronic wasting disease in LaGrange County, the Indiana DNR is now restricting moving deer from disease-positive areas for rehabilitation. Read more at 953.

Quarantine issued in Nevada after Chronic Wasting Disease detected in deer carcass: A quarantine order for hunting districts in western Nevada has been issued after Chronic Wasting Disease was detected in a deer that was killed on a road near Bishop, California. Read more at 8NewsNow.

CONTROVERSY // ^{_{THIS WEEK’S SH*T DISTURBER}}

📝 One Yellowstone visitor was disappointed that the bears were not better trained to perform for the guests. In another installment of sh*t I read on the internet that makes me want to move to the mountains and never come out again, a recent visitor to Yellowstone National Park thought her stay was a bit overpriced, considering the absence of bears. Expressing her displeasure (totally assuming it’s a Karen on this one), the guest wrote:

“Our visit was wonderful but we never saw any bears. Please train your bears to be where guests can see them. This was an expensive trip to not get to see bears.”

If only we could train these types of folks to not be where I can see them…

VIDEO // ^{_{SOME THINGS JUST HAVE TO BE SEEN}}

🐊 There’s a gator on my deer bait pile. You’ve done all the prep, hung your stand, placed your corn pile and headed out for the morning hunt. Suddenly, you hear something coming, and it’s big. But it’s not a deer, it’s a 13-foot gator…

🐻 An absolute boss of a bear was filmed dumpster diving somewhere in Canada. It must be out back of a steakhouse or something because this bear is JACKED.

THE POD // ^{_{LISTEN ON THE GO}}

In episode #1, I cover the legend of Vince "Trapper" Nelson, a man who hunted, trapped and played Tarzan to bored Palm Beach housewives all while sly developers tried to dismantle his 1,000+ acre real estate holdings along the wild and scenic Loxahatchee River during the 1940s and 50s. His mysterious death in 1968 sent shockwaves through the sleepy South Florida community and was eventually ruled a suicide, despite what many believed to have been a hasty investigation.

CAMP TALK // ^{_{BEFORE YOU GO}}

We get a lot of questions and comments on here, and we figure it’s time to repay the favor. As part of our new Camp Talk section, we’re going to ask you, the reader, your opinion on some serious (and not so serious) topics to close out each newsletter.

On Wednesday I asked, lots of comments on the poaching stripers to make a living story. What are your thoughts?

To which you law-abiding, class-act humans all answered:

1. The laws are just and should be adhered to

Here’s today’s question…

Oh, and one more thing…

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