Fourth-Grader Helps Designate Hunting as Idaho State Sport ✊

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:

ATTA GIRL
FOURTH-GRADER HELPS DESIGNATE HUNTING AS IDAHO STATE SPORT

In what was a heartwarming ceremony that involved a determined fourth-grader from Twin Falls and the Idaho Governor at the State Capitol yesterday, House Bill 652 was signed into law, designating hunting as the Gem State’s official state sport.

Betty Grandy, a 9-year-old homeschool student, stood proudly beside the governor as he put pen to paper on the ceremonial copy of the bill. Moments later, she stepped up to the podium to share her story with lawmakers, family members, and members of the media gathered in the governor’s office.

It all started simply enough in Betty’s Idaho history studies. While reading her textbook, she noticed that unlike many other states, her home state of Idaho was without their very own official state sport.

“I realized Idaho did not have an official state sport,” Betty explained. “I thought that I should ask people in my community so it wasn’t just me picking — Idaho was picking.”

Rather than leave it at that, the enterprising fourth-grader took action…

Montana FWP Block Management program opens millions of acres of private land for hunters across the state: Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is tasked with managing the state's wildlife, and one of its main management tools is hunting. With almost 63 percent of Montana's land being privately owned, FWP utilizes access programs like Block Management to open some of those lands to hunting. Read the full story. 

Elk boost: CPW proposes an increase in hunting licenses: CPW said the proposal is due to an increase in elk populations in northwest Colorado. CPW said area biologists saw elk in the Bears Ears and White River areas returning to the population objective range for the first time since the severe winter of 2022-23.  Read the full story.

Sweeping changes proposed for Michigan deer hunters: The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has unveiled a suite of sweeping proposals aimed at reshaping the state’s deer hunting landscape to better manage a surging population and a declining number of  hunters. Read the full story.

RMEF Commits $3 Million to Wildfire Restoration: Continuing important work to rehabilitate quality big game habitat destroyed by wildfire, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation will contribute up to $3 million toward wildfire restoration efforts over the next three years.  Read the full story.

New law expands age range of lifetime hunting and fishing license for kids in Kansas, restores license option for older adults: Kansas Governor Laura Kelly approved Senate Bill 364 on April 6. The bill consists of two sections addressing the resident combination hunting and fishing license offered to older adults and the Kansas kids lifetime combination hunting and fishing license. Read the full story.

Hunters Share the Harvest hits 100,000 donation milestone in Massachusetts: The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife announced that hunters have donated more than 100,000 meals of venison to families facing food insecurity. Read the full story.

🦝 That moment the neighborhood kids show up and ruin your turkey hunt. Watch as this gaggle of raccoons wreaks havoc on this fella’s evening sit.

Dang nest raiders…

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