Grizzly Bears Set to Remain on ESL in Politically Motivated Move by Feds 🤦

I’m currently at the “it’s Thursday already?” phase of the workweek and am unsure as to whether or not that is a good thing as of yet. For those of you who have also made it through, a pat on the back is deserved.

With that in mind, let’s all take a minute to grab a coffee or whiskey (no judgement) and get this Thursday morning dispatch out the door.

Here's what's worth reading about today:

• Ya, no - Feds make last-ditch move to keep grizzly management out of state hands 🤦

• Woman shot - Another hunter is shot in hunting accident 🙏

• Country star’s hunt - Riley Green’s recent hunt was interrupted by a stop at the emergency room 🏥

• Fewer bucks - Looks like Vermont hunters didn’t get as many bucks as usual 🦌

MAKE IT MAKE SENSE
GRIZZLY BEARS SET TO REMAIN ON ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST IN POLITICALLY MOTIVATED MOVE BY FEDS

In a move believed to be that is politically motivated, the federal government has denied the request from multiple states to delist grizzly bears.

Clutching to their cards as tightly as they can in an effort to appease the powerful anti-hunting lobby, the feds ruled on Wednesday that grizzly bears remain threatened in the Lower 48 and as such, shall remain under federal protection and control.

The decision comes about a month after a Wyoming judge called on federal wildlife officials to finally make a decision on delisting Yellowstone grizzly bears. The decision, ordered by the U.S. District Court of Wyoming Judge, was vehemently supported by Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon who had previously accused officials of ‘hibernating’ on the issue.

Calling on the feds to “sh*t or get off the pot’, it seems as though, as noisy as Gordon’s request were, they were unable to contend with those who oppose state management of grizzlies... 

Proposed changes for Louisiana’s 2025-26 hunting seasons: In most years the proposed hunting seasons dates and regulations on resident game and migratory birds/waterfowl come with calendar changes. For waterfowl hunters, the biggest change comes from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The special September teal season will run 9 days, not the 16 days of recent years. Read the full story.

Nebraska Woman Shot During Scotts Bluff County Hunting Incident:  Jeff Clauson, Game and Parks law enforcement administrator, said the 24-year-old woman was shot by another member of the hunting party and later treated for non-life-threatening injuries in Scottsbluff. Read the full story.

Country singer Riley Green lands in emergency room after being ‘impaled’ on hunting trip: Country music singer Riley Green is not letting anything get in the way of his hunting trip – even after being hospitalized. Read the full story.

Preliminary tally shows Vermont hunters bagged fewer bucks: Preliminary numbers indicate Vermont hunters bagged fewer bucks this past hunting season.  Read the full story.

Deer are driving a Durham, NC neighborhood apart. Should hunting them in the city be easier? : In a quiet country-club community on the northern edge of Durham, the deer population has exploded in recent decades, and it’s driving neighbors apart.   Read the full story.

🐏 Of Caves and Rams: As I lay back down on my emptied Mystery Ranch 7500 pack, I thought back to the events of the previous ten days that had led to us spending the night in a cave on top of a Yukon mountain. Outside, the incessant wind-driven rain tried to make its way through the slab rock piled up at the cave’s entrance. Despite Nature’s best attempt to blow us off of the mountain, the only thing breaking the silence under 20 feet of granite was the rhythmic drip of rainwater. 

This adventure began when I learned I had drawn a resident thinhorn sheep tag in the north Richardson Mountains. It had only been reopened for permit hunting since 2003. With just two tags a year being issued and only four rams being taken since 2003 out of 700 sheep, it provided a great chance to hunt long-horned rams that are even longer in the tooth. Read the full story.

🐎 Herb Parsons: The “Wizard of Winchester”: Standing before an audience seated around him in an open field was a stout middle-aged man wearing a shooting vest and a white flat cap emblazoned with a big red “W.” In his left hand he held a Winchester Model 63 autoloader .22 rifle and in his right hand, a small wooden block. He jabbered to the audience non-stop as he tossed wood blocks into the air and split them with practiced ease.  

Next, he tossed marbles into the air and casually smashed every one while telling the audience “They are not hard to hit folks, just easy to miss.” Finally, a metal washer about the size of a quarter was thrown high into the air and at the sound of the rimfire rifle, it fell to the ground, apparently untouched. “He missed!” someone in the audience said. The shooter explained that he must have shot right through the hole in the washer.  Read the full story.

🦆 Cupped Wings: The Radius of Truth:  These are the times that try a waterfowler’s soul. I don’t know if Thomas Paine was a duck hunter, but if he was, he surely knew what I’m talking about. These are difficult days, full of difficult choices. Because another duck season is almost upon us, it is time to scout like mad. Which means it will soon be time to choose who to tell what and how much, if anything at all, about whether you have found ducks, or if you have not found ducks, and where they might be or might not be.

You can be forgiven if you want to hold these details close to your chest, but lying outright to inquisitive hunting pals goes against everything the Bible and your mother taught you. So, what’s a hard-scouting hunter to say about those three dozen greenheads milling around in the back corner of the river slough three bends from the boat ramp?  Read the full story.

Oh, and one more thing…