Hunter illegally kills the first bear ever killed in Lancaster County 🤦

It’s January 2nd and things are kind-of-sort-of starting to feel normal again. Here’s to hoping we can ride out the next few days and find our routine again come Monday.

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:

• Illegal take - The first bear killed in Lancaster was taken illegally 🤦

• CWD stops cull - Minnesota’s DNR calls cull quits after CWD outbreak 🦠

• Calls for hunting ban - A headless deer was found in a school yard and the ant-hunting crowd is blaming hunters?!? 🦌

• Body found - A body of one of the two missing duck-hunting brothers has been recovered 🙏

UNFORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCES
PENNSYLVANIA GAME COMMISSION RULES THAT THE FIRST BEAR TAKEN IN LANCASTER COUNTY WAS ILLEGALLY KILLED

With no records of a hunter ever successfully killing a black bear in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the news of a dead bear earlier this month was seemingly a cause for celebration.  

The bear was shot by hunter John Stoltzfus, 47, of Drumore Township on December 10th on a parcel of land owned by Constellation Energy. According to Stoltzfus, he stated that he has been hunting that very same hillside that leads down to the picturesque Susquehanna River for many years and, until this incident, believed it was allowed.

With both a bear tag and a deer tag with him that day, Stoltzfus was ready for anything to walk out to him when the 240-pound boar finally made an appearance. Excited to see the bruin, he took the shot and promptly punched his tag on this apparent once-in-a-lifetime bear and headed home to finish field dressing the animal.

Despite it being his first bear hunt, Stoltzfus stated that he knew that all bears had to be checked in at a local check station for inspection by Game Commission officers. He placed a call to state officials and was soon visited by State Game Warden Daniel Gibble who was to inspect the bear…

Soaring CWD numbers in southeastern Minnesota prompt DNR to stop culling deer: DNR wildlife health officials detected an explosion of chronic wasting disease (CWD) cases this fall in hunter-harvested deer in southeastern Minnesota. Read the full story.

Deer advocates in Cincinnati push ban on bow hunting after headless deer found near school:  “Cincinnati Urban Deer Advocates said that they found the animal on Christmas Eve near a local high school. While the group is working on gathering signatures, conservationists argue that hunting is legal for a reason. Read the full story.

Body of 1 missing duck hunter found in Thermalito Afterbay: The body of one of the two brothers who went missing while duck hunting in Thermalito Afterbay weeks ago has been found, the Butte County Sheriff's Office said.   Read the full story.

Firearm Hunting For Deer Resumes In Maryland Jan. 10: The Maryland Department of Natural Resources will open the winter firearm deer hunting season on Jan. 10, 2025 in Deer Management Region B, which includes all of the state except the westernmost counties.  Read the full story.

👨🏻 Crabs, Narcos, and Tuna in Escobar’s Bar: We’re sitting at the pitted bar at one of Pablo Escobar’s coastal retreats, the deluge of tropical rain pounding a staccato beat on the roof outside and slowly flooding the foyer. I take another sip of Aguila beer and eye the crab scuttling his way across the rutted floor. He’s aiming for the artificial safety of a 1970s-style side table but I’m not entirely certain he’ll make it; there was a street cat prowling around the open-air building earlier who might want algo para picar.

Turns out the cat doesn’t surface—likely hiding away; this seems to be a place where people and animals alike come to do just that—and the crab makes it. He slides under the weather-worn mahogany table and I wonder who all that table was seen come through this bar. If only the dinged-up wood could talk. Read the full story.

🫎 Roosevelt’s Last Hunt: In July, after giving a major political speech and seeing his youngest son off to college, the 57-year-old “Bull Moose” jumped on a train in New York City and headed to the wilds of Quebec for “a fortnight” of moose and caribou hunting. His worn-out old body might have been beginning to tire a bit, but his attitude was full steam ahead.

Roosevelt was thrilled to have been invited to hunt on the well-known Tourilli fish and Game Club property with his good friend and companion of many previous hunts, Dr. Alexander Lambert. Composed primarily of wealthy American and Canadian sportsmen, the Tourilli Club then boasted some 250,000 square miles of prime hunting and fishing territory leased from the government in Quebec Province. The club, incidentally, still thrives today. Read the full story.

🏔️ Bozeman, Montana: How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Mountain Town:  In the 1990s, Bozeman was a magical place with dive bars that smelled like New Orleans in the summer and trailheads that were empty on a Sunday morning. Sometimes, I would take off to Yellowstone National Park for a long weekend in August and not even reserve a campsite. A southwestern Montana cowtown just 80 miles from Yellowstone, Bozeman had it all–uncrowded rivers, affordable homes, and $5 burritos.

Bozeman is not that place anymore. Montana is not that place anymore.  Read the full story.

Oh, and one more thing…