A Bull Elk, A Gaming Machine Jackpot, and $2M Lottery Win 🤑

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:

HELL OF A STREAK
WYOMING MAN HITS THE TRIFECTA: A BULL ELK, A GAMING MACHINE JACKPOT AND A $2M LOTTERY WIN

In a wild and crazy turn of fate for one Wyoming man, he’s had one hell of a run in the month of September, stacking up a trifecta of unbelievable wins after a drawn-out dry streak. According to 48-year-old Jerry Ragsdale, he always believed that no matter what happens in life, as long as you take care of yourself and others around you, something good will come your way. And after bagging a bull elk on Casper mountain, hitting a $10K jackpot on a gaming machine and having a $2 million Powerball ticket in his hand, it certainly sounds as though the tide has changed for this single father of two.

A seasoned outdoorsman, Ragsdale noted that he had been chasing an elk on Casper Mountain for the last four years without any sort of success. Rather than becoming frustrated, he kept hitting the mountain in hopes of downing a beautiful bugler. Earlier this month, he set out around 6 a.m., enduring pouring rain for three hours and navigating past mule deer, a doe, and a flock of sage grouse to line up his shot on a small bull he spotted earlier in the morning…

🏆 Ben Roethlisberger Wins Big at Laredo's Cola Blanca Big Buck Contest with Top Archery Score. In the 2024-25 edition of Laredo's prestigious Cola Blanca Big Buck Contest, a premier South Texas deer hunting event founded in 1986, former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger emerged as a standout winner. The contest, which celebrates the region's "biggest and best fair chase and free-ranging whitetails," includes diverse categories like Men's, Women's, Youth, Archery, and more. The two-time Super Bowl champion, took first place in the Archery Most Points category with an impressive 177 1/8 Boone & Crockett score, featuring a 16 3/8-inch spread, 15 points, and 35 7/8-inch mass.

Big Ben outshone even the world-renowned bow hunter Cameron Hanes, who took second in the archery category with 14 points, followed by Sonny Thompson in third, proving his championship prowess extends from the NFL gridiron to the fiercely competitive hunting grounds of southern Texas.

🙏 Youth Baseball Coach Struck by Illegal Hunters’ Stray Bullet. On Sunday, a terrifying incident unfolded during a youth baseball game in Katy, Texas, when gunfire erupted from what turned out to be illegal hunting on adjacent property. Video footage captured shows players and coaches warming up on the field at a local ballpark when multiple shots rang out, prompting chaos as everyone scattered for cover. Voices in the recording urgently shouted "get down!" to ensure safety amid the panic.

According to reports, a 27-year-old coach was struck in the shoulder by a stray bullet that ricocheted off a pole. He was airlifted to a hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. Local police have identified three individuals believed to be responsible for the unauthorized hunting, but as of the latest reports, they remain at large with pending charges of deadly conduct.

🐊 Florida Man Charged with Illegally Killing 13 Alligators. Jacob Latreille, a 21-year-old from Edgewater, Florida, is facing 15 counts of illegally killing, possessing, or capturing American alligators in Brevard County, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The incidents occurred between April 19 and April 29, 2025, near the St. Johns River at the Hatbill Park Boat Ramp. Videos recovered from Latreille’s and others’ cellphones, supported by metadata, show him operating an airboat and directing the capture of multiple alligators, some of which were found dead on ice in his vessel. Notably, neither Latreille nor his accomplices possessed required CITES tags for legal alligator possession.

Additional evidence includes footage from April 24 showing Latreille facilitating the killing of a 5-foot alligator, and videos from April 28 and 29 depicting him and others posing with five dead alligators on his airboat and at a residence in Mims. According to the FWC, three other men involved also face active warrants.

😮 One of those rare face-to-face encounters out in the wild. Watch as this fella comes upon a black wolf while out for a ride.

It ain’t very often you get to stare one of these guys down…

🪶 The Art of Restraint : The horizon is nothing more than a shift in color where the undulating plains end and the gray sky begins. The land seems empty. Cattle have been brought in and the deer hunters have all gone home. Snow starts falling. My muffled steps feel like an intrusion.

I plod along, eyes half closed to keep out the drifting flakes. Suddenly the chatter of a departing covey breaks the silence. A dozen partridge sail across the contours and land in wolf willow and Saskatoon serviceberry.

The huns have perched high. They watch my approach and fly once more, voicing their disapproval. My fingers are freezing inside my inadequate gloves. I take them off and tuck my hands under my shirt to warm them up. Two steps later, a single partridge rises, presenting a perfect crossing shot that I can’t take. Read the full story.

👣 Ten Toes Don’t Maketh a Man: My wife and I were hiking toward a little used and often forgotten mountain lake within the Cascade foothills. Traversing the various deer paths, we spotted all of the usual prints: deer, elk, bobcat, coyote, bear, etc. We didn’t see a single human footprint along the way – booted or otherwise. As we approached the lake, there was a gulley with a small stream flowing into it; we squatted down and half-crawled under some fallen trees that were toppled by the harsh winter storms.  

The lake was stunning, and after taking in its natural beauty, our eyes returned to the ground. Along the edge, we spotted an odd print, different from the others yet uncomfortably familiar. It looked human, yet longer and wider than any I had seen. Measuring about 18 inches in length, it had five distinct toes, a flat foot, and a heel. I instantly knew what it looked like, but I had to get closer. I kneeled next to it, my knees sinking into the mud. It had toe and heel prints (dermal ridges) and showed active movement from when the foot flexed under motion. The print was deep, so I removed my boot and sock for a comparison. I weighed 200 pounds, and the print was easily three times as deep as my own. Read the full story.

🫎 Paul Mauser: The Man Who Repurposed the Door Latch:

The spoor, braided at first, was unraveling. “Ready to bed,” John mouthed the words. Short yards ahead, a patch of dried mud came to eye—two feet off the ground. Hand-signals split the trackers. 

Probing carefully, we located seven bulls. One lay to the west. “Dagga boy.” Again, silent words. I crept windward, over a fold in the earth. This buffalo wore a cloak of fresh mud. It glinted above a dark delta, visible through a cleft in the grass. Bead a-quiver on that pie-slice of shoulder, I pressed the trigger. Read the full story.

Oh, and one more thing…