Patriots legend admits to turkey hunting behind Gillette Stadium 🏟️

The first weekend of 2025 might not be here just yet, but your favorite dispatch from the great outdoors is. 

So grab your coffee or whiskey (no judgement) and let's get caught up on the outdoor news and views from the past 24-or-so hours. 

Here's what's worth reading about today:

• Man’s gotta hunt - Patriots tackle admits to hunting at Gillette 🏹

• Elusive killer caught - A Colorado goat killer has been dispatched 🐈

• Nice gift but… - NY Man busted for illegally killing a turkey and gifting it 🎁

• Three charged in Vermont - When deer trip goes awry 👮

• West Virginia bucks - Show up big for late fall season 🦌

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🏈 Patriots legend Matt Light admits to hunting turkeys behind Gillette Stadium - until Belichick found out. We’ve all got to work within the confines of our day jobs to carve out some time in the woods and legendary Patriots tackle Matt Light is no exception. Appearing on former teammate Julian Edelman’s podcast, Light said that he used to arrive a bit earlier to practice in order to chase turkeys behind the stadium - that is until coach Bill Belichick got wind of it.

According to Light, he’d previously asked Patriots owner Bob Kraft for permission to chase birds on the property and would reportedly shoot a bird before practice, breast him out and put him inside the fridge in the team’s meal room. Not thinking he was doing anything wrong, he was soon confronted by a security guard in the early morning hours that relayed the infraction to coach Bill Belichick. 

According to Light, Bill marched in one morning at breakfast and told the offensive tackle that he “couldn’t have a f*cking weapon on stadium property.” To which Light was foolish to argue about the differences between a firearm and a compound bow. It was an argument he obviously lost and one that quickly ended his career of hunting turkeys behind the famed stadium.

🐈 The elusive predator that has been snagging goats in a sleepy Colorado town has been nabbed. A string of deadly incidents has had farmers on edge in the small town of Longmount, just north of Denver this month. After reports of another goat depredation came in to Colorado officials late last week, Parks and Wildlife teams set out to investigate the killing. They soon located the dead goat, seemingly cached close to the farm - common behavior of mountain lion kills. 

Officials then set a trap for their would-be goat snatcher and not long after trapped a large female mountain lion they believe to be the caper in the mutton murder. With a string of other goat kills reported by nearby ranches and small farms, officials stated that there is, unfortunately, no way of attaching those kills to this particular cat. Given the lion’s rapsheet, she was not a candidate for relocation and was lethally dispatched by state officials. 

🎁 If you’re going to give a turkey to your buddy for his birthday, make sure you shoot it legally. A New York man has found himself on the wrong side of the law after his hair-brained scheme to shoot and give a turkey to his buddy went awry. 

On December 15th, a western New York resident watched as the accused rolled up in his car and shot a turkey in their field. Shortly after the lazy hunter picked up his kill, the resident placed a call to NYDEC to report the violation, complete with a picture of a boot print left in the snow on the property, a vehicle description, potential license plate number, and the alleged subject’s location. DEC officers soon tracked down the man who shot the bird from his car and eventually were able to match his boot print, tying him to the scene of the crime.

It didn’t take long for the accused to come clean and admit that he shot the turkey from the roadway and had gifted the carcass to a friend as a birthday present. DEC officers soon located the carcass at his friend's residence and confiscated the bird.

The man who illegally killed the bird was served with five violations including taking wildlife from a public roadway, illegal use of a rifle to hunt turkey, possession of a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle, taking game out of season, and discharging a firearm on a public highway.

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Maryland NRP Cracks Down: Fall 2024 Brings Arrests For Illegal Hunting, Oyster Poaching, And More: The Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) issued various citations and made numerous arrests for violations of criminal and natural resource law throughout the fall season of 2024.   Read the full story.

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries investigating deadly hunting incident:  The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is investigating a deadly hunting incident after a hunter was shot by another hunter near Kentwood. LDWF agents received information about a hunter that was shot by another hunter on the Sandy Hollow WMA around 8:45 a.m. on Dec. 28  Read the full story.

Three Vermont men charged after deer hunting trip goes awry: Three Vermont residents were charged in a shooting stemming from an attempted poaching in New York. The incident took place in Washington County on Nov. 30. The men were driving through the town of Salem to look for a deer to shoot, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation. Read the full story.

Illegal hunting leads to felony charges for two Dauphin County teens:  Two Dauphin County men are facing charges after police say they shot at a deer from a vehicle while driving on the Milton S. Hershey School campus last month. Read the full story.

West Virginia hunters harvest more than 40K deer in 2024 buck firearm season: According to the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, the preliminary data total for the two-week buck firearm season was 41,090 antlered deer harvested, which they say is a little below the five-year average of 43,143 antlered deer harvested. Read the full story.

CWD detection prompts new rules and incentives for Alabama hunters: These changes will allow baiting of white-tailed deer in Franklin County for the remainder of deer season and provide hunters with an opportunity to harvest an additional antlered deer, but only with a valid CWD Sampling Permit issued by ADCNR. Read full story.

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🫎 POV: A giant moose is about to kill you. Watch as Adam Grenda gets up close and personal with this big ol’ bull he’s been tracking for a number of years. Given the fact that he was already tagged out on this faithful day, he drew his Taurus 454 in defense as he made his way around the spruce before booking it home. Intense.

I don’t know much about Switzerland, but I think I might go.

📸 : @samir.sparks

Oh, and one more thing…

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