00:00:10
Speaker 1: From Meat Eaters World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is Cow’s Week in Review with Ryan cow Calahan. Here’s cal longtime listeners know that I am no fan of wild pigs. They destroy habitat, out compete native species, spread like wildfire raid nests. The list goes on. So I was interested in a video that went viral last week of a humanoid robot chasing a pack of pigs through a parking lot in Poland. The sleek white robot jogs along after the pigs, who scurry through the parking lot, crossover grass lane dividers, and finally disappear into the woods. The video seem to show a new effort to control pig numbers over in Central Europe. Well I asked the writers for the Week in Review to do a little more research, and they discovered a huge scoop. A few months from now, one of the pigs in the video will give birth to the leader of the resistance to Unitree, the artificial intelligence company that produced the robot. In a little less than a year, that mama pig will have a showdown and a foundry with another Unitary robot, and an intense final showdown she’ll get a revenge just before being dropped into a vat of molten steel. That pig’s name, of course, is not Sarah Conner, it’s Sue Scrafa baby foolishness aside, I still have some left in me. While pigs have reached epidemic levels in Poland, and the video claims to be a part of an effort to knock them back, but in fact it’s just a publicity stunt by the Chinese robotics company Unitree, in case you didn’t pick that one up, which has been marketing it’s G one model since twenty twenty four. So far, what we’re seeing is just robots chasing things. We’ve covered the robots defending streets in Japan from bears. If you’re wondering if Unitree robots will be outfitted with weapons to kill the pigs, the answer is yes. The company has sold battle robots to the Chinese military and the United States Marines released a video of a four legged Unitary robot get it out with a rocket launcher on its back, which, again, if you’ve seen the series Terminator, this is how it starts. They just I think skipped the pig eradication in the first movie Talk to the Hand. This week we’ve got pigs, bears, turkeys, so much more. But first time to tell you about my week. In My week, as you can guess, has been full. We landed in DC Monday night, back once again to the Big Capitol Hill, visiting with our elected officials. DC weather is about as good as you can ask for, no real humidity, cool mornings, and that feeling of you better get it while you can the heat is about to turn on. This was a big week on the hill, as on the back country Hunters and Anglers front. We hosted a fly in which where you bring a bunch of people, in our case are unbelievably selfless, fantastic volunteers from across the membership and also across the country to represent their parts and pieces and perspectives of public land. We followed up with folks from both the House and the Senate on boundary waters, which, if you remember that vote, we’ve been talking about it a bunch the last three months did not go our way in spite of determined, consistent effort at the federal level, which ultimately fell largely along party lines with a vote of fifty to forty nine. Exceptions being Senator Susan Collins, a Man, and Tom Tillis and North Carolina. Big thank you to those two for bucking that trend and just sticking to your guns. That fight is now over momentarily anyway at the federal level and will fall back to a state situation where the push will continue for clean water. In addition to that, we spend time advocating for the roadless Rule, reminding electeds of how many opportunities exist because of that layer of protection. The Legacy Restoration Fund, which is a companion to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, focused on maintaining our public lands, infrastructure and systems. That’s an important one. You’ll be hearing more about that. We’ll keep you up to date. Fun one that just popped up while in Senator Bennett’s office, they told us about an amendment to the budget reconciliation process that would prevent public land sell off from being added to that process. If you recall last summer, that was a pretty big issue to which we all rose to the occasion and let our elected officials, including Senator Mike Lee, know that was not going to work for us. Senator Martin Heinrich out of New Mexico has already signaled he’d sign on to that one, as have several Republicans from the great State of Idaho. But we’ll see what happens when we get ink on the paper. We even got some time in with some of our senators from agricultural zones to talk about my buddy Ted Cook’s great plan to save the Lesser Prairie Chicken. It would really behoove you. You just get a kick out of it. To check out the Lesser Prairie Chicken land Owner Alliance. Also, you can search role Ted Cook and as episode here on this year podcast. It’s a good one. Still educate on that one. Even old Joe Rogan talked about that dance and chicken. So on top of that, Chef Sean Johnson just rolled in from New Jersey. If you don’t know this guy, you should check him out on the Instagram. He’s got a highly educational and entertaining Ways to Ruin Venison series. I don’t know if you know much about New Jersey, but there’s kind of an endless supply of white tail deer. He brought a bunch of it here to DC for our first ever Backcountry Hunters and anglers Capitol Hill reception. It’s a non partisan, bipartisan public land event, very chill fun and the goal is to just spread the love and appreciation for our public lands through iconic imagery and venison diplomacy. We’re bringing the good stuff to the Hill so we can keep our public land turkey hunting spots to ourselves. Weekend gobbles are in my future. Moving on. Spring has sprung almost everywhere, and that means that the phone at the bear desk is ringing off the hook. First off, Texas Parks and Wildlife has announced that a bear they’ve been monitoring since last summer has re emerged from its winter down along the Natchez River. This would be the first recorded black bear over wintering in the eastern part of the Lone Star State since they were extirpated there in the early twentieth century. Black bears have been making progress for years over in the western part of the state, where they’ve migrated in from Mexico, New Mexico, and Colorado, and now there is a healthy resident population there. However, in the eastern part of the state have occasionally crossed over from neighboring Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, but it hadn’t yet stayed year round to establish denning, feeding, and mating territories. But since the reintroduction of bears from Minnesota to Arkansas in the fifties and sixties, well URSUS Americanas has spread throughout the region, and eastern Texas has everything a bear could want, including lush for us plenty of food. We don’t know yet if this bear on the Natchez is gonna jump back over into the Arkansas zone, but chances are you could just find a mate and settle down there in the Lone Star State. Bears are currently a protected species in Texas and will remain that way for the foreseeable future. But the way things are going across the US, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a bear season there about a decade from now. I for one, will be very, very interested to see what Texas chef and hunter Jesse Griffith is able to do with the meat and grease of a native Texas black bear. Speaking of new bear hunt opportunities, that the California Fish and Game Commission has voted to allow hunters to buy a second bear tag each season. They are also expanding the hunt zones and Lassen and Modoc counties in the northeastern part of the state as the bear population there continues to skyrocket. These are both great developments in themselves, and I have to call out the outstanding work the California BHA has done to get these measures over the finish line. The state chapter has been on the front lines for years, and together with other conservation orgs, has turned back challenges from animal rights groups that would have outlawed bear hunting in California altogether. However, maybe the most encouraging thing about this news is just that any policy steps at all are being made in favor of hunting in California. Simply adding another tag isn’t likely to lead to significant increases in bear harvest, simply because hunting bears with dogs and using bait are both illegal there, and bears are just too spread out and spend too much time walking around in the dark to make too much of a dent without those other tools in the tool belt. California bear hunters don’t have a great history of hitting that bear quota. They likely will not with the second tag either, but we’ll see what happens anyway. It’s a great sign that Californias know that the state’s bear population is robust, and they know that well regulated hunting will bring populations into better balance. Today we got another tag in slightly bigger hunt zones tomorrow that momentum might bring back the use of hounds. Progress is almost always incremental, and this news is most definitely progress staying in California, three people have been sentenced to jail for dressing up as a bear, attacking their own fancy cars, and then collecting one hundred and forty one thousand dollars from insurance companies for the damages. I’m going to go ahead and say that narcotics likely later role in the planning and execution of this crime. It’s unclear which member of the ring actually donned the costume, but securitycam footage shows someone really hamming it up as they opened the passenger door of each car, roam into the backseat, and then whack the dashboard. A bear biologist brought in to examine the video so that the animal was quote clearly a human in a bear suit. The photos of the damage show scratch marks so straight and parallel that they could have been made with a ruler, but they were in fact, made with a pair of those handheld meat claws that people buy for their barbecues and then never use. Photos released by the California Department of Insurance showed the clause and the store bought costume seized as evidence. Despite how amateurish the performance was, I think these guys might actually have gotten away with it if they hadn’t submitted three claims on three different cars, all on the same date in the same location. We’ve talked before on the show about how many indigenous cultures around the world believe that bears are non human people. Well, in this case, I think that the bears might be offended by the comparison. Sticking with costumes. With spring bear sightings increasing, authorities in the Japanese prefecture of Kanagawa have released another video of a police drill involving local hunters demonstrating how they would kill a brown bear under the looser hunting restrictions that went into effect last year. It certainly looks to be a very well organized and controlled procedure that won’t harm anyone nearby. But again, the poor actor in the bear suit looks just as embarrassed as the guys in all of the earlier Japanese bear control videos I’ve seen. I will also say that the hunters in the video are very, very elderly. That’s not a knock on them. Forty three doesn’t make me, you know, all that young anymore. And I hope and planned to be still in the game way late in my years. I’m just saying that if hunter numbers are ever going to grow enough to be able to control bear populations in Japan, these videos are going to have to make hunting look a little more hip. There is definitely a niche for a young Japanese hunting influencer put a great stock on a bear and then cook a mouth watering bear tempura or something. There’s just so much amazing Japanese food and TV and movies. I have to believe that all these bear attack demonstration videos can achieve much more. The bar has been set a little bit low. Finally, in our bar round up Anchorage, Alaska, two American soldiers stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson were attacked by a brown bear during a quote unquote land navigation training event. The bear are a part of the eleventh Airborne the so called Arctic Angels and were injured in what appeared to be a defensive attack by a bear, leaving its dent. The Army hasn’t released details about the victim’s identities or the extent of their injuries. The Arctic Valley training area is in the Chugach Mountains, which is a hot spot for bear human conflict because it’s so close to the state’s largest population center. Two hikers were killed in nineteen ninety five by Albert protecting a moose kill, and several other serious attacks have happened since then. In twenty twenty two, in fact, two soldiers from the same base were attacked during training by a bear emerging from the den, and one thirty year old staff Sergeant Seth Michael Plant died of his injuries. Fellas if you’re listening, sorry you got scratched up, wishing a quick and speedy recovery. Moving on to the Turkey desk. A shocking incident took place in Racine County, Wisconsin, during the state’s two day youth only Turkey season, when a three year old accidentally shot a man and his seven year old. The three year old was reportedly being mentored by their thirty four year old parent. The incident took place on a public wildlife area. The three year old and their parent reportedly saw what they thought was a turkey fan moving about thirty five yards away, and the parent instructed end quote aided in the positioning, aiming, and firing of the firearm at the movement end quote, ultimately hitting another pair of hunters with pellets from a twelve gage shotgun. Victims of the accident were treated at a hospital, but thankfully, their wounds were not life threatening. Several of you have written in with questions about this eye popping incident, the most common one being why would anyone consider it their three year old capable of hunting. In many states, there are age minimums for youth hunts, but in Wisconsin and many other states, it’s left up to the discretion of parents whose miners must be accompanied by qualified mentors in the field. Those mentors are typically required to have their hunter safety though in this case, the mentor had a military exception, meaning their military firearm training exempted them from also having to take hunter safety Regardless, the mentor clearly didn’t practice adequate judgment When it comes to field safety, remember, identify your target and beyond. Another issue that some turkey hunters have raised is whether the victims had been reaping or fanning, which involves using a handheld turkey fan to get into range of fired up tops. The controversial method is known to increase accidents when done in public land because you’re holding a part of a turkey in front of your face. Additionally, some folks just don’t consider it fair on old Tom. The Wisconsin DNR hasn’t released whether this was the case in the incident, though reaping is legal in the state. The DNR has also not released the names of anyone involved in the accident, pending further investigation, which may involve criminal charges. Wisconsin DNAR Hunter Education administrator renee Toke told meat eaters Pat Dirkin quote, I’m just glad everyone will be okay for the sake of both juveniles. I hope this instant doesn’t deter them or anyone else from hunting again. This is a reminder that you can’t be complacent about safety. Many many, many times when I’m talking, in fact this week, talking with non hunting folks, they really do want to hear about safety outside of the non hunting folks. Whenever hunting with folks, I’ve hunted with forever or hunting with for the first time that day, there’s always some sort of a safety talk, and we’ve well established that it is always, always, always okay to remind anybody about muzzle control open actions. That’s not something that should ever be a point of contention or embarrassment, even for us, you know, big old tough guys. Moving on to the fishing desk, Connecticut’s new state record rainbow trout was caught on April eleven, when twenty year old Richard Courtright Junior landed a sixteen pounds seven and a half ounce toad out of the West branch of the Farmington River. Courtright Junior said he threw basically everything in his tackle box at the fish, but failed to get it to bite before he reverted to a good old meal worm. The whopper put up quite the battle, considering court Right Junior was only using six pound test quote, it felt like fighting a piece of plywood, he told The Connecticut Insider. The rainbow trout was thirty one inches long with a girth of twenty one and a quarter inches, and there’s actually a reason it got so big. According to Connecticut Fish and Wildlife, The fish was a stalker from the Kensington hatchery, but that hatchery doesn’t typically raise trout and instead focuses on Atlantic salmon. Funny enough, hatchery managers have trouble getting Atlantic salmon to feed. That’s where this fish and some of his other rainbow trout compatriots come in. They are put in with the salmon and start gorging on pellets immediately during feedy time. Their enthusiasm and splashing apparently gets the salmon into the mood. So not only did this fish get big enough to smash the old Connecticut state record, but it also led a life of servitude in getting salmon to eat. Moving on to the crime desk, fair warning, this one might make your gut turn. Anglers and guides. In Missouri’s Lake the Ozarks have been catching paddlefish with vulgar language carved into their bodies and in one case, a paddle shaped rostrum that have been mutilated into a saw tooth pattern. It’s not only illegal and outright cruel, but the species being tampered with. Paddlefish or spoon bills, whatever you call them, are an ancient, slow growing species that have seen serious declines from a conservation perspective in the Missouri and Elsewhere guide to Austin McClure posted graphic photos of the vandalized paddlefish on Facebook and pledged a cash reward for anyone willing to provide information leading to the conviction of the people responsible for the acts of mutilation. He’s been joined by numerous other outfitting operations which have so far pledged over ten thousand dollars in reward money and promised anonymity for anyone willing to come forward with information in this appalling case. Can’t and shouldn’t speculate as to what the most motivation is here living dinosaur man, super super cool fish. The heck of a story we you know, don’t have time to get into, but got to respect our wildlife man crazy. Moving on to the deer desk, last week we reported on some proposed regulation changes in Utah, where mwlely populations have bounced back in the years following the harsh twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three winter. Similarly, some of neighboring Wyoming’s muley herds have bounced back since then too, and there are some differences of opinions as to how to adjust hunting REGs there as well. The population lows in twenty twenty three had prompted Wyoming Fish and Game officials to shorten hunting seasons and impose an antler requirement for its famed Wyoming Ranch and sublet herds. Now, the agency staffers have proposed returning to a normal length season and doing away with antler requirements. Quote we’re quick to shorten seasons in response to win or kill. Now we’re trying to encourage managers to liberalize opportunities as the populations bounce back as well, said Wyoming Fishing Game Wildlife Management Coordinator Brandon Skirlock. He added that the changes are unlikely to impact the population trajectories of the herds, which are largely tied to fawn production, not hunter harvest. But most public comments the agency received on the matter came from hunters who opposed the regulation changes, arguing that removing restrictions too soon could jeopardize recovery. Quote changing it to anybuck is a step in the wrong direction, wrote Casper Resident Tanner Fisher. This will put additional pressure on younger deer that should be allowed to mature and help rebuild the population. Wyoming regulations decide. The debate over how to best managemuly populations in Western States will not end anytime soon. It is a multi faceted, multi pronged effort, which of course involves migration, corritors, habitat connectivity. All the buzzwords, the least sexy but possibly most important of them being noxious weeds. Great place for the agriculture and hunting community to come together. That’s all I got for you this week. Thank you so much for listening. Remember to write in to ask C A L. That’s askcal at themeaeater dot com. You know we appreciate you. Thanks again and I’ll talk to you next week.
Read the full article here