New Study Reveals New Transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease 🤰

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.

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:

THEY’RE BEING BORN WITH IT
NEW STUDY REVEALS VERTICAL TRANSMISSION OF CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE IN WILD DEER

In the event you were hoping things would get better before they got worse, a groundbreaking new study published in Scientific Reports is indicating that things seem to be working in the opposite direction. At least for now.

The research has since confirmed that Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), a fatal prion disease affecting deer, can be transmitted from mother to fetus in free-ranging white-tailed deer populations. This discovery, as outlined in the study aptly titled, "Vertical transmission of chronic wasting disease in free-ranging white-tailed deer populations," is now reshaping our understanding of how this devastating disease spreads in the wild and poses new challenges for wildlife management.

Chronic Wasting Disease, often dubbed "zombie deer disease," is caused by misfolded proteins called prions that attack the nervous system, leading to progressive deterioration and death in cervids like white-tailed deer. Historically, CWD transmission was thought to occur primarily through horizontal routes: direct contact between animals or indirect exposure to prions lingering in the environment, such as in contaminated soil or plants. These prions are notoriously resilient, persisting for years and driving outbreaks in endemic areas across the United States and Canada…

✈️ Greenland Airport Grinds to Halt as Security Team Ditches Work for Deer Hunt. Earlier this month, Nuuk Airport (GOH) in Greenland faced a bizarre disruption when United Airlines flight UA81 to Newark, scheduled for a 9:00 AM departure, was delayed for over three hours before finally taking off at 12:13 PM. The cause wasn’t weather or mechanical issues but the absence of the airport’s security team, who skipped work to join the opening of reindeer hunting season. In Greenland, where hunting is a cultural and practical necessity for stocking food supplies through harsh winters, the lure of fresh game on the tundra led security personnel to prioritize rifles over scanners, leaving passengers stranded and airport operations in disarray.

The incident comes just two months after United Airlines kicked off their new seasonal Nuuk–Newark route, using Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. The roll-out has obviously brought logistical hurdles, amplified by limited diversion options and strict FAA fuel reserve rules, to the surface. Local sentiment, reflected in online debates, defends the hunters’ priorities, emphasizing that travelers and airlines must adapt to Greenland’s cultural rhythms, where stocking freezers with reindeer meat trumps all else during the season. 

I can’t say I blame them.

🛑 Maine Hunting Guides Chase Down Shooting Suspect in High-Stakes Pursuit. Just last week, Matt York and Kyle Beaudet, a pair of hunting guides from Sebago’s Backroads Guide Service, witnessed a deadly shooting on Route 302 in Windham, Maine. According to reports, 48-year-old James Ford allegedly shot and killed 33-year-old Erin Hayne in what police described as a random act right in front of the two men. The guides, accustomed to high-pressure situations in the Maine wilderness, were loading hunting gear into a U-Haul when they heard gunshots and saw Ford open fire. Instinctively, they pursued him in their truck, following him into a Hannaford parking lot where he nearly hit shoppers, and continued the chase while relaying his license plate and location to police, despite being advised to stop.

The pursuit escalated as Ford turned off the main road, confronting York and Beaudet with his gun drawn, firing at their vehicle. York swerved to avoid a collision, narrowly escaping harm, and Ford fled. The guides’ seemingly good experience in tracking game under pressure aided their resolve, though York considered shooting out Ford’s tires but refrained due to the crowded area. Police later found Ford dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, ending the hours-long manhunt that prompted a shelter-in-place order. York and Beaudet, shaken but resolute, said they’d chase again to prevent further harm, but prefer the safety of Maine’s woods over public chaos.

🐺 Wyoming Boosts Wolf Hunting Quota to 44, Keeps Mountain Lion Limits Steady Through 2028. The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission voted at last month’s meeting to increase the wolf hunting quota from 38 to 44 in the Wolf Trophy Game Management Area. Led by biologist Ken Mills, the department is aiming to maintain a stable population of around 160 wolves in the area. The decision, effective for the fall 2025 hunting season and lasting through 2028, is based on recent data illustrating 163 wolves currently in the area, a number that sits slightly above the target. Wolves in Wyoming are managed under a dual-classification system: they are trophy game animals in the northwest management area, where quotas apply, and predatory animals elsewhere, with seasonal variations in western Wyoming.

Meanwhile, the commission opted to keep mountain lion hunting quotas unchanged for the next three years, reversing an earlier proposal to increase limits in Hunt Areas 5 and 6. This decision followed public testimony from houndsmen and others, alongside data on mountain lion population trends, as noted by large carnivore specialist Daniel Thompson.

🙋 Raise your hand if you want to fight your mom for dinner. Watch as this young cub decides it to be a good idea to do just that.

No word on how it ended, but I’m assuming he got his a*s whipped….

🦞 Crayfish on the Russian Border: Crayfish aren’t the most exciting game. You’re not strapped into a chair; no giant tarpon is jumping on a tropical horizon. There is, however, a quiet dignity to the process.

We were on a lake in Finland near the Russian border, and it was the first day of crayfish season. Rowing across the perpetual twilight of a northern summer evening, we looked for structure in the clear lake. The traps are simple; there’s an easy way in and a hard way out. My host didn’t listen to his neighbors, using old chicken bits as bait instead of perch he caught himself.

We found the spots and threw the traps in. A piece of blue cord floated from them, but the water was clear and still enough to see them without a bobber. We slowly rowed back to shore. This is a waiting game, and tomorrow morning we’d see what we caught. On such a peaceful night, it’s hard to imagine that Russia, the global boogyman, was just across the lake. A military helicopter patrolling the border reminds us of the situation. Read the full story.

🗺️ The Race of Will Steger's Life:"The most beautiful thing in the world ever would be to transport myself 150 years back so that I could walk through the virgin forest of Minnesota,” Will Steger says. “Or explore the west with Lewis and Clark. That would be heaven.”

There are few better ways to spend a Sunday afternoon than to enter Will Steger’s world. Steger, the Minnesota-based polar explorer who is now 80 years old, looks as fit and wiry as he was 20 years ago when I first met him. Today he’s in good spirits at the tail end of the Thanksgiving holiday, relaxed and removed from his peopled life in St. Paul, where he lives in a moored houseboat on the Mississippi River.

We’re enjoying a lunch of garbanzo bean soup and sourdough bread in his cabin perched on a cliff overlooking Picketts Lake, almost a stone’s throw from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness northwest of Ely. Outside, there’s enough snow on the ground that it feels like winter. Steger bought his first 28 acres of land here when he was 19 years old. Over the decades he expanded that acreage to 230."  Read the full story.

🐟 Papa’s Cuba: Hemingway’s Home Away from Home: Cuba offers a party atmosphere: sunshine, sparkling seas and miles of white sand. It also offers some of the best cocktails and cigars on Earth. But as anyone knows who visits here, when it comes to attractions, its people are its greatest stock in trade. Cubans are super-sensitive, polite and warm-hearted. They are well-educated in world affairs, yet remain steeped in the old Latin American traditions, superstitions, religions, love—seduction is a national pastime—literature, revolution and their passion for life. Because Ernest Hemingway loved this country and praised its people, in his books and in real life, Cubans have kept a special place in their hearts for the American writer. Fifty-odd years after his death this is still the case.  Read the full story.

Oh, and one more thing…