Deer Hunter Harasser Busted After Stating He "Was Out There to Be a Pain” 🙈

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:

KEEP CALM AND HUNT ON
MICHIGAN MAN BUSTED FOR CONTINUOUSLY HARASSING DEER HUNTERS, PROCLAIMING HE “WAS OUT THERE TO BE A PAIN”

In a world that is drowning in performative moralizing, this story about a Michigan man who made it his personal mission to harass local hunters doesn’t fall short of that label.  Fortunately for law-abiding hunters in the Upper Peninsula this self-appointed forest busybody was finally cornered by law enforcement and charged for his playground-level spite after admitting he trashed blinds (among other annoyances) simply “to be a pain”.

According to a Michigan Department of Natural Resources enforcement report, Conservation Officer John Kamps and Sgt. Mark Leadman responded late last year (during the 2025 deer season) to a complaint from a hunter in Marquette County who reported ongoing harassment…

🐺 Wyoming Rancher Bags Wolf Miles from Any Known Population. A southeastern Wyoming rancher shot and killed a 2-year-old male gray wolf near the tiny town of Carpenter, an area where wolves are extremely rare and practically unheard of, in late January. The rancher, Royce Breeden, was out coyote hunting when he noticed unusually large tracks the day before, then spotted the animal at around 320 yards the following day. He initially mistook it for a large coyote but quickly realized it was something else, noting "that ain't no coyote" upon closer inspection. According to reports, the wolf weighed about 80 pounds and was not wearing a radio collar when Breeden reported it to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department , making it potentially the first recorded legal wolf kill in Laramie County.

Wolves in this part of the state are virtually nonexistent, with sightings and presence mostly confined to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem far to the northwest. In about 85% of Wyoming, wolves can be legally shot on sight without a license or tag as predators. WGFD spokeswoman Amanda Fry noted that the agency cannot release specifics on individual legal wolf takes beyond aggregate annual numbers due to state statute. The wolf's origin is unknown, but experts point to wolves' long dispersal ranges and recent reintroductions in neighboring Colorado as possible sources. This incident does illustrate how far young wolves can roam into unexpected territories, though it doesn't indicate an established population as of yet in southeast Wyoming.

🐻 Bill Advances to Restore Black Bear Hunting in Mississippi After 94-Year Hiatus. Mississippi lawmakers are advancing a bill that could bring back black bear hunting in the state for the first time in nearly a century. Senate Bill 2436, which has passed the Senate and cleared the House Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks committee, would require the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to establish and regulate a limited black bear hunting season starting in the 2027-2028 hunting year. The season would use a lottery system for harvest tags, with the number of tags based on the agency's population data. One tag each season would be reserved as a "Governor's Tag" for potential auction or donation to support bear habitat or populations. Non-resident tags could become available starting in 2032-2033, capped at no more than 10% of total tags.

The push comes amid reports of more frequent black bear sightings across Mississippi, drawing comparisons to neighboring states like Louisiana (which held its first modern bear hunt in 2024 after a long hiatus) and Florida (which resumed limited hunts in 2025 due to population concerns). Bears were once plentiful in the state—famously tied to the 1902 "Teddy Bear" incident involving President Theodore Roosevelt—but unregulated hunting and habitat loss decimated them by the early 20th century, dropping to an estimated dozen bears and ending legal hunts in 1932. The bill now awaits a full House floor vote; if it passes and is signed, it could mark a return to regulated bear management in the Magnolia State.

📉 30% Drop in Michigan Hunters Over Three Decades Sparks Push for Natural Resources Commission Reforms. Michigan’s hunting participation has declined by roughly 30% over the past three decades, sparking worries about shrinking hunter numbers, deer populations, and the effectiveness of state wildlife management. The drop is especially noticeable in northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, where local hunters and business owners report fewer successful outings, smaller game sizes, and a loss of out-of-state visitors. Gary Jurkovich, owner of TCH Gear in Interlochen, points to a cycle where disappointing hunts, especially for beginners facing harsh conditions, discourage new participants and lead to further declines in interest.

In response, lawmakers like State Rep. Parker Fairbairn (a fifth-generation hunter from the region) are pushing reforms to the Natural Resources Commission (NRC), the seven-member governor-appointed panel that sets wildlife policies. Fairbairn has introduced bills to require livestreaming of NRC meetings for transparency, create a separate NRC for the Upper Peninsula to better address its unique issues, and base region-specific policies purely on biological data while sidelining social science or special interests. Supporters argue these changes would improve representation, accountability, and hunter success to help reverse the trend. While Fairbairn credits the NRC's overall work, he stresses the need for better localized decision-making amid broader debates on DNR funding and policies.

🛝 This fella knows how to glide. This was filmed up in Ontario as a couple of snowmobilers rode alongside of him for a bit.

If only that frozen lake was angled slightly downhill…

🧸 Big Empty Encounter: I wasn’t worried when the big bear did not drop in his tracks. After a dozen kills, I had yet to see a bear die easy. He took the bullet just behind the left shoulder, then peeled off into the darkening woods. Thirty seconds later, the death cry came echoing up from the swamp.

I was deep in the heart of northern Minnesota – the Big Empty. The Homestead Act gave this land to any person desperate enough to take it, reckless enough to hack away the underbrush, notch together a cabin, plant a few potatoes, attempt to stave off starvation, hypothermia and madness for the next five years. Land-hungry Scandinavians came in droves. Very few of them made it.  Read the full story.

🦬 Of Bison, Ranching, Land and Life: My favorite book of my childhood was Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. I remember being unable to put it down, totally enthralled by the story of a boy surviving on his own in the Canadian wilderness.

As the years passed, my love of nature deepened. And, by the end of high school, I started to become aware that all was not well in the natural world. This concerned me, and the more I learned, the more it upset me.

For this and other reasons, I went to law school. And in the spring of my second year, I read A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. I consumed it in a day or two. Or, more accurately, I devoured it, like that grizzly on my bulletin board would take to a winter-killed carcass in the spring. Read the full story.

🧭 Presidents of the West: While campaigning for the presidential election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln was asked to write a pair of autobiographical sketches for voter information. In recalling a childhood spent in “a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals, still in the woods” and how as a 21-year-old he’d helped his family relocate from Indiana to Illinois by driving an ox-drawn wagon, Lincoln wasn’t simply reciting the dry facts of his life. He was tapping into a mythology that had long powered the American presidency.

Westward expansion, frontier moxie, the lure of the wild, and a spirit of self-sufficiency drove America’s political vision of itself throughout the 19th century. Protecting, expanding, and enhancing that vision has defined it ever since. Each U.S. president has had a special relationship with the West. Each created policies and supported or opposed legislation that shaped it, for better and worse. Read the full story.

Oh, and one more thing…