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Speaker 1: From Meat Eaters World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is Cow’s Week in Review with Ryan cow Klaan. Here’s Cow. A recent news story from the UK is enough to make any American patriots blood boil. The BBC headline reads, quote chip shops sell cheap catfish as traditional fish and chips cheap catfish. Our listeners, especially those from down south, might object, what the heck’s wrong with catfish? Fried? Catfish done right is a meal fit for any king, even the old King of England. Well, this fight might not be about favorite fish, but more about economics over there. In England, cod has been the traditional fish species used for fish and chips, and like pretty much everything else, cod has gotten a lot more expensive recently. In December two twenty four, to a forty five pound box of cod cost UK restaurants one hundred and ten pounds or about one hundred and fifty bucks. Today, that same box costs three hundred and thirty pounds or four hundred and fifty dollars. Cash Strapped fish and chip shops have turned to catfish imported from Southeast Asia to reduce their costs. The problem comes when certain shops try to pass off the less expensive fish while charging the same price for it. ABBC Investigation DNA tested ten fish samples from restaurants in North England and found that three of them were selling catfish at the same price as cod and had it to their credit, though these shops weren’t claiming to offer cod, but had instead labeled what they were selling as quote unquote whitefish, traditional fish, and chips and my favorite quote normal fish. Doesn’t that make your mouth water? Hey, kids? Normal fish. Interestingly, the US went through a similar controversy back in the early two thousand, the so called catfish War, when American fish sellers accused Vietnamese suppliers of dumping low cost catfish into the domestic market and artificially depressing prices. US catfish farmers even organized a taste test through Mississippi State University to prove that American farmed fish tasted better than imports, but in a blow to national pride, the participants preferred the Vietnamese samples three to one. When I’m in the mood for catfish, I want the stuff that’s been feeding from the bottom of a river instead of one feeding at the bottom of a tank. In that spirit, maybe you patriotic listeners who live nearby, you can pull in a few catfish from your trot lines, invite some friends over, and offer some fish and chips entirely free of charge. This week, we’ve got what’s happening in your state, proof that in the duck hunting game you can always spend more and mule deer. But first, I’m going to tell you about my week, and my week is really turkey oriented. Took a couple of days off and loaded up the lady and dogs for our annual turkey canamp out. This year was different in a handful of ways. Normally we’ve gotten a lot of turkey hunting in around the home state, if not other states. At this point this year, all my prior hunting amounted to about two hours on opening day. On top of that, and something not previously mentioned here on this podcast, I’m about to be a dad. The lady is ultra pregnant do any day now, but turkeys are probably the highest on the hunting list for her, and they happen to be a direct correlation between the amount of white meat we consume in a year to the amount of turkeys we kill in the sprint. Plus we use the entire bird from toenails to snood, minus the intestinal track. Pretty much, I’ve got quite the stock portfolio, if you know what I’m talking about. Gang Okay, everything goes in that pot. One could call it rough stock even. And the lastly in the string of differences, there is a brand new new spring turkey tag option on the state website. This one private land only, so we each grabbed one, as I have a hunting permission for turkeys in eastern Montana going on about twenty years now, so we were stoked to see that extra opportunity. We had a bad ass hunt. We found a few shed antlers, and the lady hiked her butt off in spite of her growing and already substantial gut. We made good food and had a gorgeous view and could hear gobbles from camp. We got two toms to come into the Dave Smith half strut jake and laying hen decoys, which until this point that half strut Jake I’ve tried many times and he’s only worked to make birds wary or run away, so this event was very special. Toms came in and danced and beat up Jake, and then one split off and tried its best to copulate perform the old chloacle kiss with the breeding hen decoy. It was during this act that he stuck his neck out a little too far and the four ten went bang and Sam got herself a real nice tom. Great trip. Oh. I observed that timing wise whatever the turkey spurs were like in stages of molting, which was really interesting. I’ve never seen that this time of year before. And that tom that Sam killed was super heavy had one spur, so that was just oddball deal. I also observed a raven land in a really strange spot, which made me pick up the binoculars and stare at him, and I watched him waddle over and eventually fly away with a whole turkey egg. Add that to your list of nest predators. Like I said, great trip, But here’s the rub. Those private land tags are only good in the fall. Now. During the online purchase process, it doesn’t say spring or fall. It’s just a tag option that’s available in printed form or e tag form, of which we had both. It doesn’t say spring or fall. But if you track that tag down in the Montana state regulations, which I obviously did not do ahead of time, it does say valid in the fall only, so as it happens, your gut doesn’t like that. So I picked up the phone, called the game warden and self reported that we killed birds and put illegal tags on them. Fortunately I got a warranning, as did Sam. But I thought I should also self report here on the podcast because it was a really easy mistake to make, and I am sure there’s a few other folks here in the home state who did what I did and said, wow, extra bird, that will really help justify the cost of diesel for turkey hunting out east this spring, which it still can, but only the fall. So always double check the rags and if it seems too good to be true, it is. Moving on to the New York State, a new bill is making its way through the state legislature that would expand access to deer management permits in the northern part of the state. Currently, New York law prohibits the Department of Environmental Conservation from issuing DMPs in the nine wildlife management units that make up most of Adirondack Park. These areas together are gigantic, nearly a quarter of the state’s total land and about a half of all state owned public land. In principle, this limit on DMPs should be undone, just because state agencies should be in charge of all policy affecting wildlife. But up until recently, the restriction wasn’t a big problem in this part of New York because deer populations were fairly low there. However, warmer temperatures caused by climate change have allowed deer to spread further north, and increased developed in this area has created more edge habitat where white tails do particularly well. That means that deer is starting to exceed the carrying capacity of the landscape. They’ve been hammering local vegetation and the other species that depend on it. New York DEEC should have deer management permits in their toolbox to increase the take of antler list deer to control population numbers. The good news is that a bill allowing just that recently passed the State Assembly, and the Senate version of the bill, S nine four six two is currently before the Senate and Environmental Conservation Committee. Empire Staters, this would be good for habitat and would increase your hunting opportunity, So contact your senators and ask them to push for S. Nine four six’ two to come to a floor. Vote troubling news From, wisconsin where the State’s Finance committee seems to be withholding authority from The department Of Natural resources to spend its, funds leading to the closure of fish hatcheries and large reductions in stocking of, muskies, walleye and. Pheasants as reported By Wisconsin Public, radio THE dnr was able to fill budget shortfalls last year with a thirty million dollar transfer from the state’s forestry, account but THE dnr needs authorization from The republican Controlled Budget office to get that money out the, door and despite two letters FROM Dnr Secretary Carrie higham that authorization hasn’t come through, already the consequences are being. Felt all in, all there will be five hundred thousand fewer fish stocked this, year including forty thousand fewer muskies and three hundred thousand fewer. Walleye even if the funds were opened up, today THE dnr has said that those cuts would still have to go into. Effect two fisheries in the northern part of the state are currently. Shuttered pheasant stocking will also decline by ten thousand, birds and other prospective cuts will go into effect if funding isn’t available, soon including wildlife, monitoring forest, management wolf, TRACKING cwd, testing and maintenance of facilities open to the. Public the hold up might be strategy to impose fiscal responsibility on THE, dnr but an audit commissioned By republican members of the legislature last year found that the agency wasn’t mismanaging. Funds the state’s Fishing wildlife account has faced a deficit of sixteen million, dollars largely due to a decline in revenue from license, sales but the cost of those licenses hasn’t meaningfully increased since two thousand and, five even though everything that THE dnr has to pay for has gone up by sixty nine point one percent over that same time, span according to the inflation calculator at THE Us bureau Of Labor. Statistics the number of licenses sold has also. Declined But i’m going to guess that closing, hatcheries not stocking, fish not maintaining, facilities and not managing habitat is going to cause an even more rapid decline in people buying. Licenses Governor Tony evers has proposed an increase in the cost of hunting and fishing licenses which The republican controlled legislature has. BLOCKED i can relate to wanting to keep the cost down for people to try to get out into the field and bring home some calories for themselves and their, Families but hamstringing the agency that lets people being able to do that seems pretty. Shortsighted raising license fees on one hand or getting creative with funding on the other is a tough decision to, make but we hire elected officials to make tough. Decisions simply standing in the way of everything and letting an agency starve makes no. Sense, badgers call up your state, senators especially if they’re on The republican, team and ask them to free up these funds and get THE dnr movement again heading up north cross The canada. Line last, year we told you About Jeff, evely The canadian hiker who purposely Violated Nova scotia’s ban on hikers entering the woods during a time of elevated wildfire. Risk evely was issued a violation and a fine of twenty eight Thousand canadian, dollars and that gave him legal standing to challenge the ban in. Court that challenge went all the way To Canada’s Supreme Court, court and a couple weeks, ago The court ruled In evely’s, favor declaring that the ban was. Unreasonable the court said that the ban didn’t reasonably Consider section six of The Canadian charter Of rights And, freedoms which protects a citizen’s ability to move freely within the. Country Justice Jamie campbell also ruled that issuing a ban on simply entering quote unquote the woods is too, broad exposing people to a possible violation because they don’t know where some trees end and the woods. Began, however the court didn’t officially strike down the ban because it was no longer in, effect and it didn’t rule out the possibility of a similar ban in the, future as long as the rule took into account People’s charter rights and was more specific about the area affected by an. Order Justice campbell wrote about a possible future ban quote with the benefit of, hindsight it might be something that could be considered before the next. Emergency considering the abysmal snowfall this, year the next fire emergency might already be on the. Horizon we’ll see what restrictions go in to effect to limit the human causes of those fires north and south of the border as the year goes. On moving on To, wyoming where a couple of weeks ago we talked About wyoming’s plans to extend the seasons And nick’s antler requirements on its sublet And Wyoming range mule deer, herds and the controversy surrounding the. Decision quick recap wildlife managers said that the herds have recovered enough from recent that the restrictions are no longer necessary or even. Beneficial many, hunters, however were worried that the actions were too, much too. Soon while The Wyoming game And Fish commission met and at the behest of some hunters and outfitters largely Rejected Wyoming game And fish biologists, recommendations The, commission which is politically, appointed decided to extend the season only by two days instead of the proposed, four and to keep the antler restrictions in place. Indefinitely game And fish biologists seemed a bit miffed by the brew haha. Quote, frankly none of our season proposals affect population growth and management towards, recovery Said game And Fish Jackson Region Wildlife Coordinator Cheyenne. Stewart Brandon, skirlock the wildlife management coordinator For Wyoming game And Fish Departments Pinedale, region added that quote there’s a false notion out there that antler point restrictions are going to create more big bucks on the. Landscape they’re just. Not he went on to explain that concentrating harvest among older bucks can actually put the ratio of mature bucks in. Decline, additionally poaching and wasting deer tends to increase when folks unintentionally harvest bucks whose antlers aren’t up to. Snuff not all hunters fought The game And fish, proposal And Jason, west the president Of Wyoming Mule Deer, alliance for, instance urged the committee to follow science based wildlife. Management that didn’t sway the, commissioners, however though Even Ken, roberts a commissioner From kemerer and a big proponent of the, decision admitted that ignoring the recommendation of the agencies was quote a, tough tough, call and conceded that the science didn’t support keeping the antler restrictions in. Place head over to our friends at One biofile for a nuanced breakdown in the. Story moving, on to the Pam, Handle, idaho where state legislators have been busying themselves updating some of the laws concerning. Hunting one of the biggest changes Was House built nine three to, nine which had to do with the use of technological aids for. Hunting in, short legislators outlawed the use of thermal, imaging night, vision and drones to scout and hunt big game and. Birds the bill also banned the use of cell cams on public lands during fall hunting. Seasons the moves were made with the interest of fair chase in mind and are consistent with many regulations elsewhere in The. West the final version of this bill included a couple of carve outs that were important to, hunters such as creating exceptions for predators like mountain lions and, wolves as well as for game, recovery, trapping and livestock. Protection good old fashioned trail cams were not affected. Either, obviously we have reported here that all of these means for the purposes of livestock protection always have been. Available there’s another program out there for stock growers and their agents to where you. Can you can pretty much do what you want as long as you let the law know that you got a situation out there that needs to get. Handled as for allowing this stuff for game, recovery that’s like taking your best game wardens out there and shooting them in one. Foot it’s going to be real hard to say were you actively hunting or were you trying to recover? Game, now just a couple of weeks before A House bill nine three nine was signed into, law state legislators Passed House bill eight five to, five which increased the residency requirement for snagging a lifetime hunting license from six months to five. Years, apparently local hunters were worried about non residents moving there briefly to get residency, status purchasing a lifetime, license then returning to their home state while being able to apply For idaho resident tags for the rest of their. Days it’s not clear how many folks were actually attempting this, gambit BUT i know of a. Few the five REQUIREMENT i will make it a lot harder for those folks who just want it so bad they’re willing to do anything like maintain a po box in the state Of idaho while not really living. There it does. Happen moving on to The Waterfowl desk two collectible duck decoys recently sold for over one million dollars each and shattered records in the. Process the high dollar sales took place at A giet And deeter, auction which was selling pieces from The gym And Diane cook, collection, which according to the auction, house is akin to The Super bowl Or tour De france but for the sport of decoy. Collecting the deck that fetched the highest bid was a wood duck carved By massachusetts Man Joseph lincoln in the early nineteen hundreds and went for a whopping one point two six million. Dollars interestingly, enough the decoy was so valuable not just because of its impeccable, beauty but Because lincoln and other carvers of didn’t carve many wood duck. Decoys there was a good reason for this at the, time the species was seriously struggling following the days of market, hunting and sport hunting for them was banned from nineteen toot to six through nineteen sixty. One the other decoy that fetched over a million dollars was a quote preening, wigeon which was carved by another Legendary massachusetts decoy carver from the same time, period A Elmer crowell His wigeon went for one point one four million. Dollars according To giet And, eeter both decoys topped the previous record for a collectible decoys sold ad, auction which was eight hundred and fifty six thousand, dollars and A merganza that was sold in two thousand and. Seven they are also the most expensive decoys ever, sold at least, publicly according to The Guinness Book World. Records the previous highs were A Preening Pintail drake And Sleeping Canada, goose both By, crowell that went for one point one three million apiece in a private deal back IN ot. Seven while these wooden decoys were made to be hunted, over they probably won’t be anytime. Soon head over to our friends over at The split read for the full. Story those stories are, important, gang because we wouldn’t be dealing with some of the conservation issues that we’re dealing with right now if our memories were a little bit. Longer those folks who complain about shooting nothing but wood ducks and you’re dying for a, mallard you’re in the same zone where we had almost extirpated the wood, duck and they’re pretty darn. Special as another fun of, reference a million dollars which these old the old boy decoy carvers carved way back in nineteen. Ten have they been able to sell a decoy in nineteen ten for a million? Dollars that would be the equivalent of thirty four point seven six million dollars in today’s, dollars and thirty four million in nineteen ten would have been worth one point one eight billion billion. Dollars moving, on Dul michigan researchers are investigating quote unquote zombie lake trout that are turning up in surveys in the depths Of Lake. Superior the lakers are so emaciated That Sean, sittire the fisheries research by All just for The Michigan department Of Natural, resources said they look like they’re suffering from. Famine many of them also have deformed, spines and as many as fifty percent of the surveyed catch in deep water exhibit the strange. Conditions, unfortunately scientists aren’t exactly sure what’s causing. It they’re looking into everything from a lack of forage, items, disease the impact of sea lampreys and even contamination from. Toxins the worrying news comes just a couple of years after The Great Lakes Fishery commission had announced That Lake trout And Lake superior had. Recovered about sixty years, ago the native species was nearly wiped out from the lake by invasive, lampreys and it took decades for The lake trout population to bounce. Back let’s hope that scientists figure out whatever’s causing the zombie fish and it won’t cause the population to drop. Again that’s ALL i got for you this. Week thank you so much for, listening and remember to write in to ask C al That’s ascal at the meat eater dot. Com let me know what’s going on in your neck of the. Woods you, know we appreciate. It if you hear about this stuff on this your podcast and it’s not in your, state chances are we just didn’t get to. It SO i implore you to investigate on your. Own there’s lots of good resources out. There sign up for those conservation group, NEWSLETTERS, TRCP, nwtf DU, Rmef Delta waterfowl good, information and of course backcountry hunters and anglers which can be found at backcountry hunters dot. Org we have legislative tracking tools at your disposal that you can just click in and see what’s going. On no excuse not to be. Informed, also become a. Member membership gives organization independence to consistently do the right thing at all. Times doesn’t matter if you’ve got fancy donors or big government. Contracts if you’ve got a lot of, Members so become one. Today i’ll work my butt off for. You only thirty five, bucks all, right that’s really ALL i got for. You thank you so much for. Listening i’ll talk to you next. Week
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