00:00:10 Speaker 1: From Meat Eaters World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is Cow's Week in Review with Ryan cow Klaian. Here's cal Next month, Col's Week in Review will turn seven years old. That means we've officially reviewed three hundred and sixty weeks and still going strong. A little bit more gray hair, a little softer in the middle, but you know, can still talk. Feels like a long time. Lots has changed since twenty nineteen, but one way of putting it in perspective is to consider that the show is still less than one tenth as old as Wisdom, the lais and albatross, who we covered back on the first episode, and who is the oldest known bird in the world. At age seventy five, Wisdom has flown well over three million miles since she was born. That's the equivalent to more than six back and forth trips to the moon. Wisdom has been a constant well spring of headlines for the Week in Review, and this week is no exception. As reported in Popular Science and elsewhere, Wisdom is now the proud grandmother of a new chick hatched sometime in the last month to the male albatross known by his leg band number N three three three, who was in turn born to Wisdom aka Z three three three in twenty eleven. Albatross famously mate for life, and typically once their mates die, they tend not to mate again. But when Wisdom's historic bo didn't appear on the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge after twenty twenty one, she proved she still had it by engaging in mating dances on the atoll in twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four, laying an egg in December of twenty twenty four. You know, it's like bendover. Let me see you shake a tail feather. That's where that comes from. Banding birds itself also has a long history. Although the US Geological Survey effort that banded Wisdom has been going since nineteen twenty, John James Autobond was the first to do it in America. In eighteen oh three, at his house in Milgrove, Pennsylvania, he attached silver thread to the legs of several Eastern thebes, and he managed to catch two of them the following spring. So although I'm not too confident that Cow's Weeken Review will be around in seventy five years, I'm hopeful that Wisdom's new Grand Chick and bird banding more generally will still be going strong. This week, we've got hunting poles, legislation, crime, and so much more. But first I'm going to tell you about my week. And my week has been spent running all over Capitol Hill here in d C, which is where I am recording this week's podcast. Our areas of focus have been House Joint Resolution one point forty, the use of the Cira trius in the mining moratorium in the Rainy River Watershed of northern Minnesota, which is of course upstream of the Boundary Waters Canoe area, which, due to the nature of copper sulfide, we are opposing not anti jobs, not anti mining, but anti mining when it comes to the wrong mind in the wrong place, which this is. I'm sure you know all this by now, but to reiterate again, not like you could stop me. It would be smart and helpful for you to write some emails and make some phone calls to your senators on this one. I talked to my Senator Tim Sheehey today and let him know that this one is just not one he wants to get involved with. It does not do the mass currently there's no vote for this schedule, and all we're asking is to keep it that way. Wrong mind, wrong place. Twenty years of production is not worth one hundred years of mitigation work or the contamination of our cold, clean water, the threat to a completely renewable annual billion dollars a year in recreational economy. Water is an extremely valuable resource or asset on our collective books, if you want to think about it that way. We also talked about the Roadless Rule recision, emphasizing that what we're looking for here is an opportunity to improve the Roadless Rule. We don't want a blanket rollback. It doesn't make any sense. We talked a lot about travel management plans. If you've been paying attention, that word access keeps getting thrown around. Access, access, access, and sometimes gang access just doesn't mean what you think it means. Access under the umbrella of responsible use is what we're after. Our big, awesome, unique public lands and public waters and public wildlife can exist while we provide access. It just has to be done under that responsible use ethos and mindset. Right. Not everybody can be every where, all at once or else. The flora, the fauna that good clean water that we're after isn't going to last. So we're encouraging our lawmakers right now, our decision makers to keep that in mind when these travel management plans come up for review or if they also get rescinded in the name of expanded motorized use. What else are we talking about, boy, All sorts of thanks, lots in the hoppers so much that we of course depend on all of you, the royal we to get in there, write email, call, testify, and go to Backcountry hunters dot org. Become a member. I'll thank you personally right now ahead of time membership matters, and then hit that action alert to let your representative or senator know exactly where you stand on these issues. Moving on to the survey desk commissioned by the Michigan Wildlife Council has found that support for hunting remains strong in the Mitten State, but support for hunters not so much. The surprising poll found that seventy five percent of Michiganders either strongly or moderately approve of hunting. That's a solid number, but what's even better is that only nine percent moderately or strongly disapprove responsive management. The outfit that conducted the survey noted that disapproval has dropped significantly in the state. That's great news because it means that the vast majority of the non hunting public isn't motivated to restrict hunting rights. They're happy to let hunters do their thing while they focus on issues they have stronger feelings about. However, when it comes to hunters themselves, just fifty eight percent of respondents approve of these individuals. While the public might support hunting in theory, they have more mixed opinions about the guys and gals who actually participate in the activity. Anglers also didn't escape unscathed. Of people support fishing, but only sixty nine percent of prove anglers themselves. I suppose this makes some sense. It's easier to have positive feelings about an activity than about the person doing it. You know, you golfers, you love the game, you don't mind that it exists, but you can really dislike that guy in the loud pants ahead of you that's playing so slow. You might be the only hunter some of your friends and family know, which makes you the ambassador to all of hunting. Don't be the reason they'd check no on the question do you like hunters? You can't make everyone like you all the time, but as far as you're able, be a good rep. Moving on to the crime desk, ramp season. That's right, you know, a little onion type of things delicious are ramping up in states across the country, and the US four at Service is hard at work protecting these delicious native delicacies. Ramps are a highly seasonal plant p by foragers and chefs. Also known as wild leaks, ramps have a pungent, garlic y onion flavor. The bulbs look a little like tiny onions, though they aren't as spherical. They're part of the genus Allium, which includes other vegetables like onion, garlic, scallions, shallots, and chives. They can be harvested in the Northeast, South, and Midwest starting in April and ending in June, though this year's mild winter likely means they'll start popping up earlier. They make a great addition to any meal, and I'd encourage you to look them up and pick a few on your next hike, as long as you follow all the rules and regulations and you know best practices guidelines, which brings us to why I'm talking about ramps on this week's Crime Desk. The US Forest Service published a press release last week highlighting an investigation into a ring of ramp poachures operating in the non Tehala National Forest. Forest Visitors reported seeing individuals leaving with a suspiciously large quantity of ramps. Foragers are allowed to harvest up to three pounds ramps for personal use in some parts of the forest, and commercial harvest permits are available, but these folks appeared to be taking more than was legal, and the subsequent investigation revealed they didn't have commercial permits. Once all was said and done, Forest Service law enforcement confiscated four hundred and twenty five pounds of illegally harvested ramps. These individuals have not been convicted, but they were charged with seventy Class B misdemeanors, each carrying a maximum penalty of up to six months in jail and or fines up to five thousand dollars per charge. They will also not be able to purchase a forest Products Removal permit for a minimum of one year. One of those things is going to hurt them. The other thing, Rollaby isn't going to be a consideration. Fortunately, all those delicious ramps aren't going to waste. The Forest Services working with local partners to donate them to fire departments, police departments, and area churches. Sounds like those officers, firefighters and church goers can look forward to a ramp suffer and probably shouldn't talk to each other when they're standing too close. Ramps cooked and lard and bacon fat and served with cranberry and pinto beans, corn bread, fried eggs, and bacon. My buddy's in West by God, Virginia like to smoke them with salt and then dehydrate everything and grind them together to make a ramp infused salt that is very good. Over in Ohio, the Department of Natural Resources reported some disturbing actions from a deer processor in Harrison County. According to DNR press release, fifty nine year old Rodney Shields, the owner of Rod's Custom Deer Processing, has pled guilty to illegally selling venison. The agency reports that many of these venison sales came from animals that had been donated by hunters and were supposed to go to local food banks and homeless shelters. On four days in December Ohio hunters could drop off deer carcasses to be checked and collected by DNR officers. The carcasses were processed by meat processing facility at the Pickaway Correctional Institution, and then the meat was distributed by the Mid Ohio Food Collective and the Ohio Association of Food Banks. Most states have a program like this and they're helpful for nonprofits trying to feed the less fortunate. One deer can provide meat for two hundred meals, so you can see how these programs are so successful. It's unclear exactly how mister Shields got access to these donated deer, who he was selling the venison iiO, or how much he sold. The DNR has declined to comment to the media, and Shields has gone a wall. What we do know is that he wasn't alone in these crimes. Thirty five individuals were convicted of a total of fifty five violations, and they collectively received six three hundred and thirteen dollars in fines, eight years of hunting licensed suspension, and twenty four months of suspended jail time. Shields himself was ordered to pay sixteen five hundred dollars in restitution which was divided among victims whose venison was stolen and sold and the DNR. He also received seventeen months of suspended jail time and two years of community control. Given the number of people involved, I wonder if Shields was working with hunters who received a kickback from those venison sales. I don't know if that's true, but most small time deer processors don't employ thirty five people. Moving on to Wyoming, late last year, we talked through the trade offs involved with helicopter hunting into landlocked public land. We knew that conflict was inevitable between ambitious hunters, werryland owners and established outfitters. There was going to be some budding of the heads. Well, that has turned out to be more true than we could have known. This week, a rancher from k C, Wyoming that's the home of Chris LaDou if you didn't know, has been charged with misdemeanor theft after allegedly taking the head of a trophy elk from a kill site on public land adjacent to his property and hiding it in a stand of trees. After pleading not guilty, Brett de Lapp is scheduled to appear in court on June twenty six. It seems that back in November last year, a group of five people hired a helicopter to bring them onto a mix of BLM and state school trust land in Johnson County, Wyoming, all surrounded by private land. From the hunter's point of view, things start out just great. Three hunters got dandy bowles after just two days in the field, but then things took a turn. When the hunters returned to the kill site early in the morning, they spotted a man with an elkhead in his hands, later identified as Brett de Lap, hurrying down the slope below them. They saw him go into the woods, and after they yelled for him to come out, he emerged empty handed. After a tense exchange, they asked him why he had taken the head, and he responded, quote, because I don't want you guys hunting on this outfit. To his credit, the Lap then led them to where the head was stashed and helped them retrieve it. All of this was captured on camera and posted to YouTube. After two more days, the hunters flew back out with their meat, trophies and gear. One of the hunters, Ryan Chuckle, filed the report with the Johnson County Sheriff's Office, which resulted in the theft charge. Wyoming Game and Fish have declined to bring a hunter hangrassment case against the LAP, possibly because the incident technically happened after the hunt had concluded. Definitely got some comments there. In response, Chuckle said quote, I don't wish ill upon the rancher, but I feel that it's not a good message that Game and Fish didn't pursue hunter harassment charges right because the guy stated he was stealing because the purpose was to deter hunting on that outfit. If that's not hunter harassment, I would love to hear from the state of Wyoming what the heck is. The LAP doesn't come out of this looking great now. As you recall back in episode four thirty eight, many questions arose out of the use of this helicopter flying up there to hunt, most of which land on the Wyoming Guides an outfitters association, not the hunters. However, the Wyoming Outfitters Board has already met and there has not been anything new to address the type of outfitting that was being done by the transporter, i e. The helicopter pilot in this case, We're dying for updates on this one. Again, that's public land out there, elk, dear wildlife, or a public resource. There's got to be a means of access to public ground. Corner crossing is a great step in the right direction, but this particular case could use an easement. Moving on to the legislative desk, listener Jay Scarr wrote in with an interesting policy controversy from his neck of the woods in South Dakota. For the last few years, the Mount Rushmore Estate has operated a bounty program for nest predators. The state offered ten dollars per tail for every raccoon, skunk, possum at red fox harvested. No person could earn more than five hundred and ninety dollars in one year, and no roadkill could be brought in. The goal is to decrease nest predator numbers at a local level while introducing kids to trapping. It was open to all ages, but gave kids eighteen and under a one month head start. In March. Bounties were paid out until the state allocated five hundred thousand dollars dispense. However, the South Kota Game and Fish and Parks Commission recently announced a major change to this program. Now only two hundred thousand dollars is available for bounties on nest predators, and only kids eighteen and under can submit tales. The remaining three hundred thousand is reserved for a new bounty program targeting coyotes. This program offers thirty dollars per coyote tail and is open to all South Dakota residents. You can't earn more than five hundred and ninety dollars per year, but you have three months from April to July to harvest your nineteen coyotes. As j pointed out, it's an odd switch for a program that was designed to eliminate nest predators and give upland birds, migratory birds, and turkeys a better shot at raising a large brood. Coyotes eat animals like raccoons, skunks, possums, and foxes, so eliminating more coyotes actually keeps nest predators on the landscape. It's also strange to allocate more money for coyotes and to offer more per tail. Coyotes can do a number on livestock during calving season. How the Koda ranchers can already take advantage of programs to dispose of problem coyotes. I should point out that these changes were recommended by the Game Fishing, Parks Department, but the Commission's resolution doesn't explain why the nest Predator program was successful. Last year, fifty one nine hundred and two tails were submitted, which exceeded the allocated five hundred thousand dollars. That strong participation and the vast majority of the bounties were claimed after the youth season. In fact, only one hundred and forty eight people submitted tales during that first month of the youth season. The remaining two one hundred and twenty three submissions came in the following three months, so it's unclear if the youth will even be able to meet the new lower two hundred thousand dollars quota. South the gotins. If you want to weigh in on this one, shoot me an email askcl that's Ascal at the meeater dot com. Moving on to the Illinois Bill HB five to one sixty five, the River Access Modernization Act has been introduced in the state legislature, although it hasn't yet come to a vote. Heads up, all you out there and the Land of Lincoln. You want to be ready to call your reps once this one makes it to the floor. It may surprise you that Illinois has some of the most restrictive stream access rules in the US. In nearby Wisconsin, any water you can float on is public, and you are legally allowed to walk all lake and stream beds below the high water mark. However, if you float south to Illinois, only about two percent of the flowing water is open for public use. The other ninety eight percent, the landowner on each side of the river owns the water all the way to the boundary in the middle, and that property line has the same and forceability as the one separating your backyard from your neighbors. All law enforcement in the Land of Lincoln carries chest waiters. This is not only terrible for all the people who want to paddle, float, and fish in Illinois, it also leads to some truly bizarre situations. For example, the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River is the only designated National Scenic River in Illinois, but the state doesn't recognize it as public. It's only accessible because local governments own the land on either side. In twenty twenty, the town of Mahomet built an eighta accessible public boat ramp into a non public portion of the Upper Sangamon River. In twenty twenty one, the town of Lyle did the same into the non public DuPage River. It's madness. All of this confusion comes down to how the state defines quote unquote navigability, the concept that allowed commercial watercraft to carry logs or beaver skins, or copper or any other cargo down rivers that were bordered by private property in the age before railroads and highways. That's where HB five one sixty five comes in. The bill would define what exactly navigable water means in Illinois and would affirm the public's right to use that water. Would also respect private property rights and protect landowners from liability. Critically, the bill grant's rulemaking authority to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to designate public access points, resolve conflicts, and maintain a listing of navigable waterways. Even though it might seem a little self serving, I need to recognize the Illinois Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, the organization where I serve as President and CEO, not only has Illinois BHA tirelessly worked to draft and advance this bill. They've also been putting a ton of work into educating people across the state about stream access. In twenty twenty four, they put together the Muddy Waters Tour to get people invested in to address worries about what changes might mean. It's that kind of work that turns nifty ideas into concrete change. So now that you know what the Illinois River Access Modernization Act would do, stand by for when the bill gets closer to a vote, and let's get those phones in the State House ringing off the hook. Moving on to the re visited Ethiopian hyena desk, final quick hit for you. Scientists recently published a study in the journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence quantifying the quote unquote ecosystem services provided by wild scavengers, most notably the spotted hyena. The study estimates that humans in the city of mckle, Ethiopia, produce about thirty four thousand metric tons of food waste every year, and that the scavengers who consume that waste save over one thousand tons of carbon emissions and hundreds of thousands of dollars in waste disposal and environmental impact costs. Now, these numbers involve a lot of guesswork, but I think the study provides a good opportunity to appreciate all the scavengers in our lives. Sure, we might not want to get up close and personal with the hyenas, coyotes, raccoons, rats, and pigeons around us, but we humans are gross. We leave a lot of our food around and without those scavengers, that rotting food would be sitting around off gassing and becoming a disease vector. Another way of thinking about scavengers that they're composters of last resort. Still, hyenas in the wild have been documented crushing giraffe bones that are over three inches in diameter, and that definitely makes me grateful that the critters who sometimes get into the trash where I live are snort size the grizzer bears ever made her into town. That's all I got for you this week. Thank you so much for listening, and remember to write in askcl that's Ascal at the meat eater dot com. Let me know what's going on in your neck of the woods. I appreciate it. Do me a favor, write an email, make a call, America's wilderness areas, such as the Boundary Waters Canoe area. We're not making any more of them, gang. They are rare gems that are increasing in scarcity, which means they're increasing in value. This particular one is located in a watershed. We're twenty percent of all the water in the US Forest Service system is located. Old Teddy Roosevelt himself designated the superior National Forest. Let's make sure that legacy lives on and we respect it and value what's there. So write your senators, give him a call, let them know how you want them to vote on HJAR one forty if she comes up there in the Senate. The return on investment for the American people just isn't their gang. That's all I got for you. Thank you so much for listening, and I'll talk to you next week.