Montana toying with license fees for shed hunters 💸

Welcome to 4th best day of the week besides Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

While we’re slowly inching back towards the weekend, let’s all take a minute to grab a coffee or whiskey (no judgement) and get into what this beautiful Tuesday has to offer.

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

• License and registration, please - Montana joins in on shed hunt licensing 🪪

• Washington grizzlies - The state wants to manage what little population they do have 🐻

• Fire fees - Hunting outfitter ordered to pay $500K for starting forest fire 🔥

• Moby Dick - Kayaker is swallowed whole by a humpback whale 🐋

WILL IT HELP?
MONTANA IS THE LATEST STATE TO PROPOSE POSSIBLE SHED HUNTING LICENSE REQUIREMENTS

Following in the footsteps of neighboring Wyoming and Idaho, Montana could be yet another western state to implement mandatory licensing for shed hunting. Introduced as House Bill 363, the new bill would establish separate licensing fees for both in-state and out-of-state shed hunters along with designated waiting periods for non-residents on specific state-owned lands.

The bill, which proposes a $10 fee for residents and a $50 fee for non-residents, would allow license holders to collect naturally shed antlers and dead heads so long as the animal died of natural causes. As for private landowners, they will continue to be able to collect any and all sheds from their property without a valid license…

🐻 Washington state bill aims to wrestle control over grizzlies away from Feds, into state management. Introduced as House Bill 1925, the proposed legislation is aimed solely at the state’s biggest apex predator: the grizzly bear. Currently managed under federal control, state lawmakers are trying to make a case for control and participation in grizzly recovery efforts.

With a very small and endangered population of grizzlies, supporters of the bill are under the belief that the state of Washington ought to have a say in how these large predators are managed. Feeling as though their hands are tied, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Larry Springer (D-Kirkland) feels as though the 30-year-old law has spurred an “on-again, off-again commitment” from the federal government. While state management is usually preferred, those in the livestock industry are skeptical about the possibility of forced reintroductions. Embattled with Canadian wolves, many producers are voicing their concerns about the additional import of Canadian bears and the impacts they could have on their operations.

While the bill does not mandate grizzly reintroduction, it does open the door for the state to take an active role in planning. A final committee vote on HB 1825 has not yet been scheduled. A do-pass recommendation is needed by the committee by February 21; otherwise, the bill is likely dead for this legislative session.

🧯 Hunting outfitter ordered to pay $500,000 to settle wildfire ignition allegations. A Colorado hunting outfitter has been slapped with a massive judgement for what is believed to have been their role in the devastating Cow Creek Fire in 2019. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado stated that the Cow Creek Fire was started by a wood-burning stove inside a wall tent in the Green Mountain Camp owned by Jackson Outfitters, LLC. The Attorney’s Office alleges that the fire started when embers and other materials exited the stove’s stovepipe and landed on dry vegetation. Alleging further that the outfitter’s stove was without a function and properly installed spark arrestor, the spark was then responsible for burning approximately 850 acres of the Uncompahgre National Forest in October 2019.

Jackson Outfitters, based out of San Miguel County, agreed to pay $500,000 to settle allegations it may have been liable for the ignition of the Cow Creek Fire.

After receiving reports of a man trespassing and hunting out of a converted Port-a-Potty that had been spray painted camo, game wardens spent the end of last season trying to catch the man in the act. By failing to be there at the right time, wardens opted for photographic surveillance this past season and finally had their man. Game wardens confronted the man on opening day before he could have a ‘sit’ in his utilitarian blind where he admitted to the wrongdoing. He was then charged and forced to remove his makeshift blind and feeder from the property.

1. It’s better to talk to yourself than to listen to yourself

2. Ut sementem feceris ita metes   (translation)

3. Write your obituary and try to figure out how to live up to it.

4. When you are on the right path, invisible hands come to your aid 🙏

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

🐋 A f**king humpback whale swallowed a dude in a kayak.  Sorry for cussing, but that’s some Moby Dick sh*t!

Apparently he’s fine.

Oh, and one more thing…