County Commissioner and Hunting Guide Plead Guilty in Illegal Black Bear Killing 🧑‍⚖️

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:

SOUNDS LIKE THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING
NEVADA COUNTY COMMISSIONER AND HUNTING GUIDE PLEAD GUILTY IN ILLEGAL BLACK BEAR KILLING CASE

Pershing County Commission Chairman Joe Crim and professional hunting guide Michael Stremler have resolved felony charges stemming from the unlawful killing of a large black bear in Washoe Valley, pleading guilty to reduced misdemeanor counts and receiving suspended jail sentences, fines, and hunting bans.

The original charges are the result of an incident that occurred way back in November of 2023, in a closed wildlife management area not designated for bear hunting. According to court documents and Nevada Department of Wildlife reports, Crim, 58, and Stremler, 54, who is the owner of Secret Pass Outfitters, pursued and killed an eight-year-old male black bear estimated to weigh in at about 575 pounds. According to reports, the pursuit involved at least one dog, and Stremler was without a master guide license at the time of the killing…

🐻 First Confirmed Grizzly Sighting of 2026 Reported in Yellowstone National Park. The country’s oldest National Park recorded its first confirmed grizzly bear sighting of 2026 earlier this week, when park biologists spotted a male grizzly in the northern backcountry feeding on a bull bison carcass. This marks the official start of the grizzly emergence season, as male bears typically wake from hibernation earlier than females, driven by intense hunger after months without food. Seeking out high-calorie sources like winter-killed bison or elk carcasses to quickly rebuild fat reserves, Monday’s sighting aligns with historical patterns as last year's first grizzly appeared on March 14. An earlier unverified grizzly observation in late January was not counted as official due to insufficient details on the bear's condition.

Park officials noted that emerging grizzlies can be particularly dangerous when feeding on carcasses, as they may react aggressively to human encounters while defending food. With Yellowstone's estimated population of over 1,000 grizzlies, more sightings are expected in the coming weeks as snow melts and additional carcasses become accessible. The park remains largely closed to regular visitors this time of year (accessible mainly by snowmobile or snowcoach), reducing immediate risks, but officials urged bear-aware precautions. The unusually warm winter hasn't drastically shifted the timeline, signaling a typical onset of "bear season" in the park.

🐊 New Bill Would Open Recreational Gator Hunting in Louisiana. Senate Bill 244 introduced by Sen. Robert Allain in the Louisiana Legislature, proposes creating a recreational alligator hunting season to make use of thousands of unused commercial hunting tags returned each year and to help manage the state's growing alligator population. The bill passed out of committee without objection yesterday and is set to advance in the process. If approved, it would issue up to 10,000 non-commercial tags annually (with each applicant eligible for two), keeping the existing commercial industry fully intact by preventing recreational harvests from entering commercial markets through scannable tags and strict enforcement, meaning if a recreational tag appears at a processor or tannery, it can't be sold.

Under the proposal, recreational hunting would use hook-and-line methods only, from riparian land or property (no harvesting or shooting from boats). Sen. Allain noted the population can sustain the extra harvest, calling it "just another avenue to fill those tags." No opposition was reported in committee, and the bill could enable a first recreational season as early as October, if passed.

🗳️ Black Bear Hunting Season Proposal Fails in Mississippi Legislature. Magnolia State lawmakers have voted down Senate Bill 2436, a proposal that would have authorized the state's first regulated black bear hunting season in nearly a century. The bill, which had passed the Senate earlier in the session in February and cleared the House Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Committee, aimed to allow the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to establish a lottery system for harvest tags and manage a controlled hunt—potentially starting as early as the 2027-28 season.

The rejection came amid opposition from animal welfare groups and some residents, who circulated online petitions urging a "no" vote, citing concerns over slow reproduction rates in black bears, the need for more scientific research, and a preference for non-lethal conflict management strategies like securing trash and public education. The measure failed to advance to a full House vote or secure enough support before the legislative session progressed, effectively killing the proposal for the year.

⛳️ I couldn’t make this shot without the damn deer in the way. Watch this fella masterfully chip up over this young buck.

Heck of a shot…

🍂 The Ballad of “Ole Miss”: In the South, college football isn't a sport; it's a secondary religion. I'll admit, I usually don't tune in until the playoffs—and what fun it was watching Indiana University take the national title this year—but when you're out quail hunting with a shotgun in hand, you quickly realize you can't escape the fandom.

Our expedition took us across two cathedrals of the uplands: the rugged, sprawling acreage of the Guitar Texas ranch and the wide-open, wind-swept Oklahoma sportsman lease. I was out with the kind of friends every hunter hopes for. To borrow a sentiment from Harry Chapin, old friends mean more than new friends because they can see where you are and they know where you've been.

We were chasing wild quail—a first for this particular crew. We were a ragtag assembly of concerns: ballistics, aging hips, dog power, and the setting sun.  Read the full story.

🐷 Pig Medicine: The truth is that I bought the rifle in large part because I had run out of handloading projects. When Ken mentioned a friend of his was liquidating an estate and casually asked, “You have any interest in a .300 H&H?”, the die was cast. I had been interested in the .300 H&H since the late 1980s, when I first began to combine my love of history with that of firearms and cartridges.

Sometimes you just get lucky. TR had his “Big Medicine”; I now have “Pig Medicine.” Read the full story.

🗓️ March is the Cruelest Month: So long as I have a mind that thinks, I will remember my brother Gary and the little creek valley that bore our footsteps when we were young. We were transients moving from one epoch in life to another, but the little stream and the fields it drained live larger than one can imagine.

Mystic chords tug on me from a period so long ago. My family moved from New Mexico to Ohio in the 1970s; I came of age near the Indiana line where the till plains flat as a pan meets the hilly glacial moraines. Cornfields and woodlots checker-boarded the gentle hills piled up by mile-thick glaciers. Indian Creek, named for the ancient Adena mounds along its course, cut sinuously through the straight-line right-angles of fence rows and farm roads laid over section lines. The creek purled into Ohio and then beneath the steel rib cage of a truss bridge. Friendly farmers afforded us trespass to fish. Read the full story.

Oh, and one more thing…