Western Lawmakers Demand Grizzly Delisting, Call USFWS Plan “Ludicrous” 🐻

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:

• “Ludicrous” plan - Western lawmakers clap back on feds over grizzly delisting 🐻

• Harsh reality - Famous grizzly cubs gobbled up by male grizz 👶

• Cash on the dash - Utah puts hunters and anglers $ to work 💵

• Badger state birds - Turkey numbers slightly down in Wisconsin 🦃

• Dude is jacked - Watch this buck get stopped dead by a big ol’ Kodiak 😳 

IS IT TIME TO DELIST?
WESTERN LAWMAKERS DEMAND GRIZZLY DELISTING, CALL USFWS PLAN “LUDICROUS”

A coalition of 11 Western lawmakers, led by U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT), sent a strongly worded letter to Paul Souza, acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), urging the agency to reverse its January 2025 decision to keep grizzly bears listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). 

Representing Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, the lawmakers praised the impressive recovery of grizzly populations while criticizing the agency’s new approach of managing bears. As the feds continue to push forward with their plan to manage grizzlies as a single population across the Lower 48, these western lawmakers regard the idea as impractical and one that openly dismisses conservation achievements.

“We should be celebrating the recovery grizzly bears have made through the dedication and sacrifice of the people who must live with these bears in their backyards,” the letter states. “We strongly oppose the proposed [4(d) rule] and urge you to review the population data to acknowledge the recovery of grizzlies.” 

👶 Male Grizzly Kills, Cannibalizes Two of Grizzly 1063’s Yearling Cubs in Grand Teton. Speaking of grizzlies, a raw and unadulterated incident in Grand Teton National Park has captured national attention after a pair of Grizzly #1063’s three yearling cubs were found dead earlier this week, and believed to have been killed and partially eaten by a male grizzly. The carcasses, discovered 250 yards apart in a closed area south of Colter Bay, showed signs of attack by a larger bear, according to the National Park Service (NPS). This event, while devastating to fans of the seven-year-old sow, reflects a natural, if brutal, behavior among male grizzlies aiming to eliminate unrelated cubs to bring the mother back into heat.

Grizzly 1063, a first-time mother who emerged with her cubs in 2024, had been a focal point for wildlife enthusiasts, especially after the death of the iconic Grizzly 399. Park officials had been hazing the bear family away from developed areas near Colter Bay to reduce human-bear conflicts. The whereabouts of the third cub remain unknown, leaving a glimmer of hope to some that Grizzly 1063 may still have one offspring by her side.

💵 Utah Habitat Council Invests $3.4 Million from License Sales in 2025 Wildlife Restoration Projects. Last month, the Utah Habitat Council allocated approximately $3.4 million from hunting and fishing license sales to fund 71 habitat restoration projects across the state, aimed at conserving fish and wildlife habitats. These projects, set to run from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, include efforts like improving fish habitats in streams, restoring sagebrush and wetland areas, and controlling invasive species to support native wildlife such as mule deer, sage grouse, and various fish species.

Notable projects include restoring fish passage in the Weber River, enhancing sagebrush habitats in the West Desert, and improving wetlands near the Great Salt Lake to benefit migratory birds. These initiatives build on Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative, which has improved over 2.7 million acres since 2006. According to DWR Habitat Restoration Biologist Tyson Lovell, the funds ensure critical habitats remain viable, supporting both wildlife and the hunting and fishing opportunities valued by Utahns. This allocation complements other recent conservation funding, including $6.6 million from conservation permits and $4 million from the Utah Species Protection Account.

🦃 Wisconsin Spring Turkey Harvest Dips 7% in 2025, Still Within Historical Norms. Through the first three periods of Wisconsin’s 2025 spring turkey hunting season, hunters registered 31,285 wild turkeys, a 7% decrease compared to the same period in 2024, when 33,672 birds were harvested. The 2025 total, which includes turkeys taken during the youth hunt (April 12-13) and Learn to Hunt events, remains within the range of harvests seen over the last 15 years, despite falling short of last year’s robust 50,435 birds—the fourth-highest in state history. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) attributes the decline to factors like variable weather and reduced hunter participation, with final harvest results expected by late May or early June.

Wisconsin’s spring turkey season, a tradition since 1983, features a two-day youth hunt followed by six seven-day hunting periods, concluding May 27. The DNR issued 246,068 harvest authorizations for 2025, with 150,098 awarded via a December drawing and the rest sold starting in March. The state’s turkey population, restored through a successful 1976 reintroduction effort with the Missouri Department of Conservation and the National Wild Turkey Federation, remains healthy across all 72 counties.

😳 That big fella would stop me dead in my tracks too. There are big bears and then there are big yoked Kodiak bears like this fella who most definitely eats his Wheaties.

And anything else he wants…

🍝 The Mafia Had a Hunt Club?: When I first heard about a Gambino Family hangout called the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club, I had to know more. As a guy who likes chasing whitetails and watching way too many Al Pacino and De Niro movies, the thought of the Mafia having a secret headquarters where they went and shot bucks, caught trout, and planned their takeover of New York captivated me like no other. I could just picture Carlo Gambino and John Gotti taking off their custom-tailored suits and donning flannel to have a picture taken with them and the 10-point buck they just bagged on the hood of some badass Cadillac, fat cigars hanging from their mouths. Much to my chagrin, the only killing that happened at Bergin was probably just people breaking omertà.

The Bergin Hunt and Fish Club was created in the 1960s by Gambino capo Carmine Fatico when he chose to move his operations from Brooklyn to Queens. Queens? That’s a weird place to go hunting… unless you’re looking for sewer rats. It turns out that the “Hunt and Fish” designation might as well have said “Social” or anything else, because it was just a simple place to drink and talk business. Fatico used the unassuming and unmarked brick building to run his operations while mentoring a young John Gotti. Read the full story.

🌄 John Colter: First White Dude to See Yellowstone’s Hell on Earth: John Colter was as mountain man as a man could be. By all accounts, he used up his nine lives a few times over exploring Montana, including being forced to wade into the Missouri to out-maneuver a pursuing grizzly. For $5/month, he enlisted in Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery in his early 30s, proving himself a competent hunter and interpreter. Colter even got out of building Fort Clatsop, being told to hunt elk along the Oregon Coast instead. On his way back east with Lewis and Clark, Colter got permission to leave the expedition and join two trappers in Montana and Wyoming. In 1807, he ventured solo exploring the Grand Tetons during the coldest months of a Rocky Mountain winter.  Read the full story.

🦌 The Anticosti Experience:  Anticosti. Just drop this single word before any dedicated deer hunter and you immediately spark visions of a deer hunter’s paradise, a mythical place of dreams, where whitetails abound in a wild setting of dense black spruce thickets, daily snow squalls, winding rivers and low-lying open bogs.

The ads and the websites for the Anticosti Island deer hunts tell you all of this. It is not mere promotional hype. For any deer hunter, novice or veteran, Anticosti Island is truly a deer hunter’s paradise. I know. I hunted there for a week in early December. The five-day hunt for me was the adventure of a lifetime, and I have had a few hunting adventures over the years.  Read the full story.

Oh, and one more thing…