Idaho Panhandle Poaching Spree Ends with Full Sentencing of Saint Maries Group

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:

ALL BUTTONED UP
IDAHO PANHANDLE POACHING SPREE ENDS WITH FULL SENTENCING OF SAINT MARIES GROUP

The final chapter has closed on a notorious Panhandle Region poaching case that saw three Saint Maries residents held to task for the illegal killing of seven mature white-tailed deer bucks in the fall of 2024.

In a release issued yesterday, Idaho Fish and Game announced the long-awaited sentencing for the third, and final, individual involved that was issued on May 11th. The case, which like many others, began with an anonymous tip and uncovered dozens of violations, stands as a stark reminder of the consequences of reckless, out-of-season big game killing and waste…

🔫 Alaska Woman Fends Off Bear Attack with Pistol After It Mauls Her Dog. An Alaska woman opted for her pistol over bear spray when it came to fending off a black bear after it attacked one of her dogs during a mushroom-foraging trip on the Kenai Peninsula.

On June 7th near Skilak Lake, Lori Price was out with her German shorthaired pointer, Chaos, and chocolate Labrador, Willis, when she heard a roar and realized a bear had engaged her dogs. She rushed toward the sound and found Chaos in a full-fledged altercation with the bear. Price instinctively drew her Glock 43 9mm pistol and fired, momentarily knocking the bear down. As she checked on her injured dog, the bear got back up, forcing Price to engage with her pistol once again, causing the bear to flee in the opposite direction.

Chaos suffered multiple bite wounds, significant blood loss, and other injuries, but after emergency veterinary care he was released the same day and is expected to make a full recovery. Her other dog Willis was uninjured while Price credited quick action with her firearm and the responding veterinarian with saving her dog’s life.

🤝 Montana Approves Elk Hunting Access Deals with 45 Landowners. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has approved the latest round of Elk Hunting Access (EHA) agreements, sometimes referred to as “454” agreements. At its June 12th meeting, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission approved deals with 45 landowners who had requested a total of 63 free elk hunting licenses or permits.

In exchange, these landowners agree to provide limited and controlled public access for elk hunting on their private land. Under the program, landowners typically must allow a minimum number of public hunters (often with the landowner getting to select one of them), while the tags they receive are valid only on their own property or leased agricultural land.

The EHA program, codified in Montana statute since 2001, serves as an incentive-based tool to boost public hunting opportunities on private land, aid elk management, and reward landowners who maintain habitat and open their gates. Participation has grown in recent years, with this round containing a notable increase over last year’s approvals. The program has however, faced ongoing scrutiny and debate around implementation details, fairness in hunter selection, the role of larger or out-of-state landowners, and the overall quality of access provided to the public.

🧐 Hero Grabs 10-Foot Python in Everglades, Gets Fined for “Handling Wildlife”. A Florida man who heroically grabbed an 10-foot Burmese python in Everglades National Park was rewarded with a $180 fine and citation for “handling wildlife” without a permit — a perfect example of bureaucratic absurdity in the fight against Florida’s invasive species.

While visiting Shark Valley, Yatir Nitzany spotted the snake and took matters into his own hands rather than letting another destructive python slither away. He held the writhing 10-footer for roughly 30 minutes as onlookers cheered and snapped photos, treating him like a local hero for doing what many wish more people would do in the Everglades.

Unfortunately for Nitzany, when the ranger arrived, the tone shifted and he was cited on the spot. Slapping him with a $180 fine, the ranger then took the snake, killed it and left Nitzany with a court date to defend himself.

In the weeks leading up to the hearing, he alleges that federal park rangers called him repeatedly, leaving four voicemails that explicitly threatened a federal bench warrant if he failed to appear. He saw it as a clear scare tactic designed to pressure him into simply paying the fine, knowing that prosecuting someone for removing an invasive python would generate terrible publicity.

In the end, Nitzany stayed strong and the case ended up being dismissed just ten minutes before he was set to enter the courtroom. The prosecutor’s reason? “The ticket was written incorrectly.”

😎 Don’t mess with the locals. Just like this gator, native Floridians are a pretty welcoming bunch. That is until you encroach on the land they love and start wreaking havoc.

This invasive python learned that the hard way…

🌅 Waiting Out the Tide: Yesterday marked 11 months since my world fell apart. It’s still fresh. So fresh that I haven’t learned to anticipate the pain that comes on the 4th day of each month, yet each month since July, that damn 4th day hits me like a ton of bricks being dropped from several stories above. When Wynne was killed part of me went with her—a part I’ll never recover on this side of heaven.

They tell me I’ll learn to balance the sadness with the joy. The numbness will subside and my passions will return. I might even find new passion I didn’t explore in my past life. Great. Can’t wait. Give me that pill and I’ll take it twice a day.

But “the work” takes time. For the past 11 months I’ve mostly been numb. Super. Something else I don’t want. In the past when I needed to get my head right, the solution was simple—get outside and go on an adventure. Hunt something, catch something, build something, learn something. Since becoming a father, the solution remained the same, but my role changed. For nearly a decade my medicine has been to get the kids outside and take them on an adventure. Wynne and I went on a lot of adventures. Adventures I hope to keep writing about. I want to take her little sisters on those adventures and many more. Read the full story.

🔎 Flawless function: It’s early summer, and Del Whitman, proprietor of D.C. Whitman Custom Gunsmithing, leans over the disassembled locks of a London Best. The gun came in for a basic strip-clean and some barrel work, but Del discovered a malignancy of rust throughout the internals that required immediate attention. What first looked like a few hours of labor turned into a day, then two, and it’s late now, the sun long ago having set over Lake Michigan. Del sits at his bench, fluorescent bulbs illuminating bits of bent and engraved metal laid out on his benchtop. These become the aperture through which Del Whitman considers Dickensian London, the intersection of execution and design, and the golden era of fine gunmaking.

Del is a historian, a student, a steward, and a tinkerer. These selves in aggregate are what make him an artist. He attends to the locks, removes neglect and corrosion, and “fixes what is broke.” So doing, he exposes the best efforts of a master artisan who employed the accumulated skills of several generations of the finest gunmakers the world has ever known. Del sees it as his personal responsibility to recognize the caliber of that work, to hold himself accountable to the same, and to execute accordingly. It’s a lot to think about.  Read the full story.

🦌 Laughter, Learnt as Friends : I never had a designated trophy room, but for about 15 years I lived in a large house on a small horse ranch in the southern Sierras. It had high, vaulted ceilings that easily accommodated almost all my trophies. I had never had them all together in one place and it took me a little while to realize much of the pleasure of having them came from what was not there, much as a piece of fine lace gets its beauty not so much from what is seen as from the empty spaces that define what is seen.

The deer and elk and pronghorn on the wall gave both pleasure and memories, but the empty spaces provided even more memories of the deer and elk and pronghorn not taken, the ones that stayed out of range, or never offered a clear shot, or simply vanished in the magical way of wild animals. Read the full story.

Oh, and one more thing…