Wisconsin poacher who 'made a game' of killing deer gets locked up 🚔

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. For those of you who have also made it through, a pat on the back is deserved.

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:

• C’mon man - Wisconsin farmer goes on a killing spree 👮

• Miami flips red - Redfish that is… 🎣

• Survivor - Polk County woman safe after gator attack 🐊

• Know your target - Another turkey hunting accident results in a man surviving a shot to the face 🤦

• Moose tracks - Watch as a moose goes after a dude on a snowmobile 🫢

FINES WERE A LITTLE WEAK
WISCONSIN POACHER WHO “MADE A GAME” OF KILLING OVER 150 DEER GETS JAIL TIME

Farming is tough work, especially when you are fighting against more than just Mother Nature. Given the destructive nature excessive deer can have on a farming operation, most state DNRs allow for agricultural damage permits that allow hunters to remove a certain amount of deer from their property.

In a system that is perfectly legal and seems to do the trick for the majority of farmers across the nation, there are some, unfortunately, who take things a little too far.

In a story coming out of Wisconsin, one Dairyland farmer has been handed his fate after illegally killing over 150 deer between 2020 and 2021. According to investigators, 61-year-old Dominick R. Stanek “made a game” of killing the deer and was eventually found out and brought to justice…

🐟 50,000 redfish released into Biscayne Bay for the first time in 30 years. In an effort to restore redfish populations along the Florida coast, the Coastal Conservation Association of Florida got busy yesterday with a huge release of redfish in Miami. The historic conservation effort took place in Biscayne Bay, as 50,000 juvenile redfish were released to restore the species' population along the East Coast. 

The event, led by CCA Florida and Duke Energy Florida, drew anglers, families, and conservationists to Matheson Hammock Park. Attendees, including children, participated in releasing the hatchery-raised redfish, which were specifically bred to match the East Coast habitat. This release, the largest in Biscayne Bay in 30 years, is part of CCA Florida's broader initiative to restock redfish populations across the state, with over 400,000 released so far.

🐊 Polk county woman narrowly survives alligator attack while kayaking. A woman kayaking in a canal connecting Lake Kissimmee and Tiger Lake in central Florida was bitten on the arm by an alligator and seriously injured. A 911 caller reported the incident, stating that the woman was bleeding heavily and in a lot of pain, at around 1:30 PM on Monday afternoon. The caller also mentioned that the alligator had pulled the life vest off another kayaker and was suspected to be lurking beneath it. First responders were quickly on scene and helped get the victim off the water before transporting the injured woman to a hospital. 

According to reports, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission later captured and euthanized an 8-foot-4-inch alligator believed to be responsible for the attack.

🤦 Pennsylvania man facing charges after shooting another hunting in the face. In a harrowing incident that has become all too common in the turkey woods lately, a hunter in Barree Township, Pennsylvania, finds himself facing serious charges after allegedly mistaking another hunter for a turkey and shooting him in the face. 

Scott Huber, was reportedly hunting with a shotgun when the incident occurred, and according to investigators, had experienced a misfire with his shotgun earlier in the day.  After rectifying the issue, he returned to the same area to continue his hunt. It wasn’t long before Huber observed movement in the distance and, believing it to be a turkey, fired his weapon. The devastating realization of his error only struck when he heard a voice cry out, "You shot me."

The victim was bow hunting from an elevated position at the time of the incident and was determined to be approximately 52 yards away from Huber.

Emergency services rushed the wounded hunter to Mount Nittany Medical Center, where he was treated for multiple gunshot wounds to his head, face, shoulder, back, and arm. Despite the severity of his injuries, the victim miraculously survived the shooting.

Huber has been charged with reckless endangerment and violations of Pennsylvania's hunting laws.

🫎 Watch as a moose charges at a snowmobiler in Idaho. There’s not a heck of a lot of information regarding what the hell went on here. Many of the comments accused the rider of taunting the moose, which seems pretty far-fetched at this point.

Big bulls have been known to charge in the fall season, but with snow on the ground they tend to be a bit more docile. My best guess is they crossed paths and surprised each other, but either way, that dude was lucky to get out of the way.

🥃 The Bartender Knows All: They’re the therapists of any hunting or fishing lodge; the listening ear ready to be bent by stories of the day’s victories or challenges. They’re the calm voice soothing frustrated tempers with a kind word and the practiced slide of a drink down the pitted, polished bar. They know just the right words to salve upset sports, delivered while their focus is unerringly maintained on crafting a magical creation that will ease away the day’s failure or success with equal ease.

They are the keepers of lodge drama; the omniscient character who is somehow always there when needed, ready to offer wisdom, consolation, or simply a double shot of whatever local alcohol is the most potent. Read the full story.

🍲 All That For Soup: As dusk approached, my Jeep trundled across the dunes, slowly traversing the ever-changing roadway, as fleeting as the grains of sand that it was comprised of. The landscape before us looked like an afterthought, a poorly made line-drawing where the foreground was finished first in great detail, and the background was rushed with overlapping lines. I parked near the clam bed we had discovered during an earlier foray; it had quickly become “our spot.” My green rubber boots sunk slightly as I opened the doors of the Jeep, releasing my two boys from their vehicular imprisonment and into the chill of the night air - their laughter quickly dissipated as the briny Pacific wind consumed all other sounds.  

Our quarry was the Pacific razor clam (Siliqua patula), a relatively large bivalve mollusk that has a considerable size variance depending on its latitude - measuring between 3 and 11 inches (increasing in size the further North one ventures) and is covered in a protective shell that calls to mind Winnie-the-Pooh’s shirt – barely containing the creature’s girth.   Read the full story.

👮‍♂️ "Security" By Hunter Thompson, 1955:  Security . . . what does this word mean in relation to life as we know it today? For the most part, it means safety and freedom from worry. It is said to be the end that all men strive for; but is security a Utopian goal or is it another word for rut?

Let us visualize the secure man; and by this term, I mean a man who has settled for financial and personal security for his goal in life. In general, he is a man who has pushed ambition and initiative aside and settled down, so to speak, in a boring, but safe and comfortable rut for the rest of their life. His future is but an extension of his present, and he accepts it as such with a complacent shrug of his shoulders. His ideas and ideals are those of society in general and he is accepted as a respectable, but average and prosaic man. But is he a man? Has he any self-respect or pride in himself? How could he when he has risked nothing and gained nothing? What does he think when he sees his youthful dreams of adventure, accomplishment, travel and romance buried under the cloak of conformity?

How does he feel when he realizes that he has barely tasted the meal of life; when he sees the prison he has made for himself in pursuit of the almighty dollar? Read the full story.

What do ya say?

Oh, and one more thing…