Decades of Debate Leave Catalina Trapped in Deer Overpopulation Crisis 🦌

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:

IT MIGHT BE TIME
DECADES OF DEBATE CONTINUE TO LEAVE CATALINA TRAPPED IN DEER OVERPOPULATION CRISIS

Catalina Island, a jewel off the Southern California coast (and home to one of the world’s finest wine mixers), continues to face a critical environmental crisis that has been simmering for nearly a century. Introduced mule deer, once brought in to boost tourism through hunting, have since overrun the island's delicate ecosystem. Without natural predators, their population has exploded, leading to severe overgrazing of native plants, increased wildfire risks, and extreme biodiversity loss. The Catalina Island Conservancy's latest proposal—a five-year ground-based professional hunting program to fully eradicate the deer—represents a science-backed, humane solution to this longstanding problem.

Yet, despite decades of evidence and successful precedents elsewhere, local residents and some outsiders continue to oppose any form of culling, prioritizing sentiment over sustainability…

🥶 Cautious Optimism as Northwest Colorado Elk Herds Rebound from Deadly Winter. In northwest Colorado, the winter of 2022-2023 was a record-breaking disaster for wildlife, particularly devastating two of the state’s largest elk herds, Bears Ears and White River, which lost 30-40% of their populations due to relentless snow, freezing temperatures, and starvation. The deep snowpack buried critical food sources, forcing elk to compete with livestock for hay, get caught in fences, or die on roads, with countless carcasses littering the landscape. Colorado Parks and Wildlife responded sharply by slashing hunting licenses by up to 89% in affected areas and providing limited baiting to divert elk from ranches, a move driven by both ecological and economic necessity, as hunting is a billion-dollar industry in Colorado.

Fast forward two years later, and there’s cautious optimism as the elk herds are rebounding better than expected, fueled by lush vegetation growth in spring 2023 and two milder winters. The White River herd is nearing its population target, while Bears Ears is close behind, though pronghorn and mule deer continue to struggle. CPW’s conservative approach, including reduced hunting pressure, has been key, but concerns linger about upcoming challenges from recent wildfires, drought, and a predicted harsh winter that could strain limited winter forage. While the recovery is promising, experts warn that the herds aren’t fully out of the woods, with careful management needed to sustain this progress.

🥊 Oklahoma Man Arrested After Punching a Deer in the Face. In a bizarre incident in Ponca City, Oklahoma, a 38-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday after police found him punching an injured deer in the face along Lake Road. The man claimed he was trying to "put the deer out of its misery" after it had been hit by a vehicle and was also punching at passing cars out of frustration because no one would give him a ride. Police observed blood on his hands and noted his erratic behavior, leading to his arrest on suspicion of public intoxication and providing false information after he lied about his identity.

While being transported to the Kay County Detention Center, the suspect escalated the situation by attempting to break the patrol car's windows and later starting a fight with officers at the jail. He faces complaints of animal cruelty, assault and battery on a police officer, and placing bodily fluids on a law enforcement officer, though formal charges are pending. The injured deer was euthanized by Ponca City police along with the perpetrators dignity.

🫎 Idaho officials investigating illegal killing of up to 4 moose in Elk River and Clarkia areas. Idaho Fish and Game conservation officers began investigating the illegal killing of up to four moose in the Elk River and Clarkia areas. The moose were killed on PotlatchDeltic corporate timber lands between Oct. 3 and 5. Conservation officers are looking for additional information including kill sites and people in the area hunting or transporting moose.

Moose are considered trophy animals in Idaho with limited tags available to hunters via a draw system. A successful hunter that harvests a moose will not be granted a tag again, hence its ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ status. At the time of this incident there is an open moose season in the area with only twelve tags awarded between the two areas.

👀 I’m not sure how this fella got all hooked into this, but he’s getting some serious air. Watch as this deer got tangled up and went for an absolute ride.

In the end the boys managed to grab ahold of him…

🦌 Benoit the Legacy : Larry Benoit was born in the mountains of Vermont in 1924. I’m sure growing up in the Depression made a lasting impression on him the rest of his life. Most people in Maine lived on deer meat and biscuits in those lean years, and I’m sure the citizens of Vermont did likewise. A background like that would tend to make you a good hunter, but with Larry it became more than that. He developed such a reputation that a book was published about his exploits in 1975.

“How to Bag the Biggest Buck of Your Life” was read by a 13 year old kid from New Vineyard, who promptly went north and killed a big buck of his own in 1979. This kid would bump into Larry on the road about 15 years later, while heading to Kokadjo to tag another big buck. Read the full story.

🥪 Gumbo Roads and Catfish Sandwiches: It’s hard to put the Missouri River Breaks of Montana into words. Growing up, we always simply referred to the area as “The Breaks,” a swath of craggy, intermittently forested badlands and plains in that no-man’s land between the highline town of Havre and the central dot on a map otherwise known as Lewiston. The Breaks lie west of the Fort Peck Reservation and east of Helena, in that nebulous zone of the state that’s thankfully largely ignored by out-of-staters and most certainly by the Yellowstone-watching wannabe cowboys of Bozeman. 

The Breaks come with their own lingo; their own rules of living. If a heavy rain is coming—and you’ll see it coming hours before, dark crossing rough-edged countryside—it’s time to get out and find some pavement. Because storm time means gumbo time. Read the full story.

🎣 Solo Salmon Quest in Nome, AK: The biologists at the fisheries office in Nome, Alaska, gave me a tip: There were still late-run sockeye 40 miles inland on the Nome-Teller Road at the outlet to aptly named Salmon Lake. The drive was one of those peak experiences you never forget.

At that latitude, the sun shines at a sharp angle all day, which makes the rust-and-umber foliage of the landscape luminous. And as I drove, I viewed it through the cracked-in-three-places windshield of an old mud-encased Jeep while listening to my new favorite radio station, KNOM, for as long as the signal held. Because Alaska is so big, the region-by-region weather forecast takes almost 10 minutes. Then comes the salmon report: Chums are way up the Yukon River and in bigger-than-usual numbers.  Read the full story.

Oh, and one more thing…