Why is Parks Canada spending $12M to kill deer when hunters would do it for free? 🤷

If you’re still with us, that means you’ve made it to the middle of yet another week.

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

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

• Senseless waste - Parks Canada’s $12M deer hunt 💸

• Bump man - Louisiana man charged with cheating big bass contest  🎣

• Cows are kicking ass and taking names - Another cow elk attack, this time in Idaho 🫎

• Get it together - Five people have been jailed in Turks and Caicos for accidental ammo violations this year 🏝️

• We’re body slamming whales? - Well, one idiot in New Zealand did 🥝

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A REAL HEAD SCRATCHER
WHY IS PARKS CANADA SPENDING $12M TO KILL DEER WHEN HUNTERS WOULD DO IT FOR FREE

That is the question being asked by millions of Canadian hunters (and taxpayers) that are enraged by the news of yet another gargantuan waste of money in the Great White North. 

Learning from the best, Parks Canada seems to be taking a page out of the current government’s playbook by spending copious amounts of taxpayers dollars on wasteful programs that end up as complete wrecks. With a failed firearm buyback program and the utter disgrace of the famous ArriveCan debacle, the deer cull on British Columbia’s Sidney Island is fixing to join their ranks as well.

According to information brought to light by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Parks Canada has set aside $12 million to fund what they are referring to as a multi-phase “Fur to Forest” program. Rather than including Canadians, the program features foreign sharpshooters installed on fast-moving helicopters to help remove an invasive herd of European fallow deer from the small island off the coast of Victoria Island.

What is perhaps the most frustrating part of the program is the new $12 million price tag is double what the program was supposed to cost. Pair that with the fact that local private hunters have been managing to keep the herd in check, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for frustration.

🎣 ‘Bump’ man foils fishing tourney cheater - A Louisiana man has been arrested after stuffing a bass with 2.5lbs of lead at a fishing tourney in Sabine Parish. Wildlife officials arrested 38-year-old Aaron Moreau for “alleged bass fishing contest violations”, according to a statement by the agency. 

“…A fish was weighed in by an individual that indeed was recognized [as suspicious] by my bump man immediately,” said Big Bass Splash spokesman Chris Bennett in a video statement posted to Facebook. A ‘bump’ man is the tournament official who “bumps” a fish’s nose against the end of a tape to measure its length and ensure the fish is legal before weigh-in. 

“At that time we took proper protocol, sent signal to the weighmaster, and held that fish until authorities arrived,” Bennett continued. “When the authorities arrived they, along with a state biologist, determined that that fish indeed had been manipulated by lead weights. Since then they have asked us to cooperate with them for a few days while they did their thorough investigation.”

No word on whether Moreau is still behind bars or the full extent of the charges he is facing. According to LDFW  “fishing contest fraud brings up to a $3,000 fine and one year in jail” in Louisiana.

🫎 Another moose attack - This time in Idaho as a turkey hunter startled a cow moose and her calves. According to Idaho Fish and Game, a turkey hunter was attacked by a female moose on a section of BLM land bordering the Snake River last Friday. The hunter inadvertently startled the mother moose as she was walking with her twin calves. The cow then charged the hunter and though he managed to fire a pair of warning shots at the feet of the moose, she continued her charge. As she knocked the hunter to the ground, he fired another shot that made contact. At that point, the cow retreated, allowing the hunter to flee the area safely. He promptly contacted Fish and Game regarding the incident where he reported that as he left, he did observe the cow standing with her calves. The extent of her injuries remains unknown and the hunter is ‘bruised up’, but otherwise fine.

🏝️🔫 Don’t bring your guns to town Turks & Caicos - In what seems to be an uncharacteristically high incidence of Americans bringing ammunition on vacation, five Americans have been detained in the tiny island nation this year. Having gone through the legal process, Tyler Wenrich, a 911 operator from Virginia has since been released and is ‘glad to get home to his son’. He was hit with $9,000 worth of fines and served a three-week jail stay after accidentally bringing 9mm rounds in his luggage. He is the second to be released this year, as three additional Americans await sentencing. 

Ryan Watson of Oklahoma, Sharitta Grier of Florida, and Michael Lee Evans of Texas have also been charged with similar ammunition charges in Turks and Caicos. While all three await sentencing, Watson and Grier remain in the Caribbean, and Evans was allowed to leave due to a medical condition, according to ABC News.

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🤿 Body slamming a whale: An Auckland man has been fined after attempting to body slam an Orca whale off the New Zealand coast.

🐡 I’ve never heard of a paddlefish, but this one is YUGE: Watch as a North Dakota fisherman reels in a 131-pound paddlefish that tied the existing record set back in 2016.