NPS halts removal of the 'ungulate Berlin wall' ✋

Another weekend has come and gone and hopefully we’re all better for it on this glorious Monday morning.

With the weekend now in the rearview, let’s focus solely on coffee for today and get another Monday edition of your favorite outdoors newsletter out the door.

Here's what's worth reading about today:

• (Re)Build the wall! - NPS halts deconstruction of elk wall ✋

• Call the coroner - Illinois coroner dies in hunting accident 🙏

• Illegal woodies - Louisiana men charged for illegal duck scheme 💰

• Mixed bag in MT - Things were good this season in the west, iffy in the east 🌄

• Maine is going off - Deer numbers well ahead of last year’s 🦌

ANOTHER CONTENTIOUS WALL
NPS HALTS REMOVAL OF THE “UNGULATE BERLIN WALL” BUILT TO SEPARATE ELK AND LOCAL RANCHES

In what is quickly becoming one of the most contentious 2-mile stretches in the country, the National Park Service agreed in court on Friday to halt the removal of the Point Reyes Seashore fence.  Originally built as a barrier to help local dairy farmers and ranchers, environmentalists have been going after it in an attempt to ‘free’ the estimated 300 tule elk that live inside the 8-foot tall enclosure.

The fence was installed back in 1978 and came under scrutiny by environmentalists after they referred to it as the ‘ungulate Berlin wall,’ claiming that the fence was responsible for dwindling population numbers of tule elk. Filing suit in 2021, last week the freedom fighters were under the impression that they had won as the National Park Service finally agreed to start dismantling the fence and freeing the elk trapped within its boundaries.

Their excitement, as it would turn out, was short lived after the California Cattleman’s Association and member ranches clapped back at them in court on Friday. In last week’s hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley agreed to halt the fence’s removal, which had started just three days prior...

Central Illinois coroner dies in apparent hunting accident: Shelby County Coroner Brad Phegley’s was hunting waterfowl and was found in the water of Lake Mattoon about 2:50 p.m. Friday, according to a sheriff’s office news release. Read the full story.

Grand Rapids' urban deer hunt could start as early as January:  Grand Rapids has been working on an urban hunting initiative with the Michigan Chapter of the National Deer Association. A bow-and-arrow only hunt is the only option being considered. Firearms are not being considered.  Read the full story.

Two accused of illegally hunting wood ducks in Allen Parish: On Dec. 3, agents with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) said they observed Donald Fuselier, 68, of Kinder, and Jerry Bubsy, 66, of Reeves, hunting wood ducks near Kinder. Read the full story.

Montana General hunting season ends with increased success in western regions, mixed results in east: Following the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Montana’s 2024 general big game hunting season came to an end on Dec. 1. Hunters across the state had mixed results, with hunters in Montana’s western regions seeing increased harvests compared to 2023, while hunters in many of the eastern regions reported mixed or decreased harvest numbers. Read the full story.

Success of Maine deer hunters proves the herd was healthy: As of Dec. 2 and the start of muzzleloader season, MDIFW’s Harvest Dashboard showed 40,155 whitetails had been registered. While it may not top 2022’s record of 43,787, it’s already above last year’s kill (38,215). Read the full story.

🌵 Mescalero Reservation Elk: An Old New Mexico Hunt to Remember: The rutted track was thick with mud from yesterday’s showers; we’d left the truck far behind and were making slow going on foot. The dawn sky was still heavily overcast, but the clouds were moving quickly and would soon disappear behind snowcapped Sierra Blanca.

We checked a stock tank for tracks—the big, heart-shaped marks were there, but they were full of rain. Probably yesterday evening. Then from far up the canyon came nature’s eeriest sound—the bugle of a rutting bull elk. The hair on my neck stood up as the banshee wail sounded again, then faded away slowly. My partner and I looked at each other and grinned. Then we chugged up the ridge after our guide to take a closer look.

From the topside we heard the bugle again, going away from us. We were in an old burn, and the elk seemed to be headed for the untouched timber a thousand yards away. Paul and I both used our Zeiss binoculars. First there was nothing, and then the buff-and-chocolate forms appeared one by one. Our guide smiled slightly—he’d already seen them. Read the full story.

🥃 Willie’s Distillery: How an Army Veteran Made it as a Montana Moonshiner:  Willie Blazer has a hangover. Surrounded by a sea of military memorabilia in the tasting room of his distillery in Ennis, Montana, the big ginger from Appalachia sips water from a bottle, trying to gather the energy and mental clarity to tell me the story of Willie’s Distillery, the business he founded and has built into a local treasure and nationally distributed brand in his adopted home in the southwestern corner of the state.

The night prior, Blazer tied one on — as one sometimes does in Ennis — at the local saloon that sits kitty-corner to Willie’s in the single-street frontier town that almost passes for an Old West Hollywood set. The night full of beer and spirits started with a small fire team of military veterans and distillery employees and accelerated when more of Blazer’s Special Forces brothers and one of his old smokejumper friends showed up.  Read the full story.

🍣 Sitka’s Salmon Bonanza:  The brown bear 20 yards away is living its best life. The gravel road provides an elevated perch to watch, with great awe, a bear in a creek up to its neck, standing on its hind legs, as hundreds of migrating salmon swirl and swim by. For this sizable animal, the eddy is both cold plunge and buffet. Nearby, untold numbers of silvers stack up in a shallow stretch, unable to pass over the rocks despite their thrashing and tail beating. When the next rain comes, the creek will rise and these salmon will be able to move farther upstream as they instinctively head back to the location where they hatched.

“It’s incredible,” says Joshua Badder, co-owner of Wild Strawberry Lodge in Sitka, Alaska. “The life that they have… and the life they give.” Read the full story.

Oh, and one more thing…