ven•a•tic: fond of or living by hunting
NORTH AMERICA’S MOST-READ OUTDOOR NEWSLETTER
Welcome to the Wednesday edition of the newsletter. If you’re still with us, that means you’ve made it to the middle of yet another week.
With that said, let’s all take a minute to grab a coffee or whiskey and get this mid-week dispatch out the door.
Here's what's worth reading about this morning:
“Crossbow Crazy” - SD conservation officer outlines brazen poaching case amid officer shortages 👮
Piss off! - Mass. Governor has implemented a new statewide regulation that bans the use and possession of natural deer scents ❌
Arrow strike - A Missouri bow hunter was flinging practice arrows and one ended up through the windshield of an Amazon truck 🤦
Hunters vs. activists - Florida’s bear tag lottery is open and the competition is heating up 🏷️
Attacker confirmed - Montana FWP has confirmed that the bear that attacked a bow hunter near Augusta was grizzly in nature 🐻
Smash or pass? - Check out the rack on this fella 🤔
Conservation officer supervisor Chris Dekker
DUDE SOUNDS LIKE A PIECE OF WORK
‘CROSSBOW CRAZY’: SOUTH DAKOTA GFP LAYS OUT POACHING CASE AGAINST FORMER OUTFITTER
South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks does not pretend it can watch every inch of the Mount Rushmore State. Conservation Officer Supervisor Chris Dekker made that the point of his presentation on Friday, when he put a single investigation in front of the GFP Commission and asked members to remember how most of these cases actually start.
With a phone call.
The file GFP internally labeled “Crossbow Crazy” belongs to Jon Paul Schell, a former Hill City man and former owner of Black Hills Destinations, a hunting, fishing and guide service. Dekker told commissioners the business operated without the U.S. Forest Service guide permits required to take clients onto national forest land…
QUICK HITS // FROM AROUND THE WEB
Pa. archery opens Saturday, with bowhunters now taking more bucks than in firearms seasons: For the past two years, Pennsylvania bowhunters have harvested a record number of deer, with an eye-popping 182,190 whitetails taken by archers statewide during the 2025-26 license year. That figure is higher than most states’ overall total deer harvests, and it’s up substantially from the 98,000-110,000 harvested annually across the Commonwealth just a decade ago. Read the full story.
‘Piss off!’: Healey administration bans use, possession of natural deer scents as hunting lures: Gov. Maura Healey’s administration has implemented a new statewide regulation that bans the use and possession of natural deer scents, deer urine being the most popular, as an attractant to lure in deer. The agency says it’s all in the effort to combat the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease in the Massachusetts deer population. Read the full story.
Hunters and activists vie for permits for controversial Florida black bear hunt: Animal-rights activists last year held long and often contentious debates over the hunt, buying up about one-third of the permits themselves to keep them from hunters’ hands. They said the state’s largest land mammal, once listed as a threatened species, didn’t have a large enough population to sustain what many described as a “trophy hunt.” Read the full story.
Arrow strikes Amazon delivery driver's van in residential neighborhood days before bow hunting season: St. Louis County police said the man who shot the arrow told police he was testing a new crossbow and overshot his target. Read the full story.
Amazon delivery driver Carl McCasland and the arrow that went through his windshield
Kansas game wardens warn against fraudulent landowner, tenant deer permits: To qualify as a landowner, an applicant must own at least 80 acres in Kansas in simple ownership and be named on the deed, wardens said. An individual does not qualify as a landowner if the property is deeded to an LLC or another legal entity. A person also cannot qualify as both a landowner and tenant for the same property. Read the full story.
New details on confirmed grizzly bear attack near Augusta: Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks have confirmed through evidence the attack on a hunter near Augusta was a grizzly bear. This was confirmed through bear hair that was collected on the victim at the scene along with tracks.
Officials say they also located the carcass of a domestic cow they suspect was killed by a bear about 150 yards from where the attack occurred. Read the full story.
VIDEO // SOME THINGS JUST HAVE TO BE SEEN
🤔 Now that would be an interesting one to have hanging on the wall. Could be disease, sickness or an old war wound that causes this kind of thing, but it sure does make for an interesting looking bull.
What do you say? Smash or pass?
QUOTABLES // WORDS TO LIVE BY
The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
HUMPDAY MEME // FOR A T-SHIRT?!?
WANDERINGS // A SFW GLIMPSE OF OUR BROWSER HISTORY
Rod Stewart paid the bills working a cemetery, Sting was a teacher, Tom Waits was slinging pies and a few other first jobs of some of the world’s most famous rockers. Talking in your sleep is a real thing, but for those of us that jabber through the late-night hours, we need not worry. Most of what we say is complete nonsense. Chocolate has a unique affect on all those that consume it. My wife humms delightfully while consuming her well-deserved square at the end of the day, while my children gyrate in their seats. But how does it affect rats you ask? Well, rats make an ultrasonic sound that could just be a window into their internal emotions. I have not read one as of yet, but there is apparently a strange allure surrounding the single sentence novel.
EYE CANDY // PICTURES > WORDS
My face when it’s hunting season.
📸 by @garretthammans_
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