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:
Indicted - Pro Angler at the helm of deadly boat crash is facing multiple charges after video evidence is released 🎥
Prices increasing - Missouri officials announce 2026 hikes to fishing and hunting license fees 💸
It’s good to be a gator (hunter) - Arkansas gator hunters post up record numbers 🐊
That’s not a deer - Georgia hunters find more than deer sign while checking on food plots 🐍
Poached - Idaho officials reach out to the public for help with poached deer carcass 🦌
Tent crasher - What it looks like when a polar bear crashes the party 🐻❄️
PRETTY DAMNING FOOTAGE
PROFESSIONAL BASS ANGLER INDICTED ON MANSLAUGHTER CHARGES AFTER DEADLY BOAT CRASH FOOTAGE RELEASED
In a tragic incident that has shaken the bass fishing community, 22-year-old professional angler Flint Davis from Leesburg, Georgia, is facing serious criminal charges following a high-speed boat collision on Lewis Smith Lake in Cullman County, Alabama. The crash, which occurred during a Major League Fishing (MLF) tournament on April 16th, resulted in the deaths of three men and severe injuries to two others. On Friday of last week, authorities released harrowing video evidence, highlighting the preventable nature of the accident and prompting further calls for enhanced safety measures in competitive fishing events.
The accident unfolded around 7:03 a.m. on a calm, clear morning near the Miller Flats area of Smith Lake. Davis was piloting a Nitro Z21 bass boat at an estimated speed of 67 mph as part of the Tackle Warehouse Invitational, the second day of a three-day MLF event. His vessel collided with an anchored 2007 Cape Craft CC22 center-console boat carrying a group on a company-sponsored striped bass fishing trip.
The impact was obviously catastrophic…
QUICK HITS // FROM AROUND THE WEB
Missouri Conservation Commission Approves Changes to Permit Pricing for Certain Hunting and Fishing Permits: Big changes are coming to the cost of hunting and fishing in Missouri. Starting in January, Missouri residents will see price increases for several hunting and fishing permits. Read the full story.
New York State now accepts electronic hunting licenses and tags: "When a hunter purchases their license, their electronic profile will have their license and all of their tag holdings present in the New York HuntFish app. [It] makes it really easy for hunters just to have all their information in one place," he said. "When they then are successful harvesting a deer, bear, or turkey, they can report that animal right there and that act of reporting the animal with their app suffices as their carcass tag." Read the full story.
Arkansas gator hunters set harvest record in 2025: Arkansas’s two-weekend alligator season wrapped up in the pre-dawn light of Monday, Sept. 29, and when the last harvested alligator was checked, hunters had tallied 205 alligators, narrowly edging out the previous record of 202 harvested in 2023. Read the full story.
Hunters get surprise while scoping out deer. It was not a mammal: Deer hunters near the Meeks Community in Johnson County found an unexpected surprise while planting food plots, according to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. Instead of deer, they found a 9-foot-long boa constrictor. Read the full story.
Gross.
Idaho Fish and Game seeks tips: Poached deer carcass found wasted in Southeast Idaho: Idaho Fish and Game is seeking information regarding a white-tailed deer buck that was illegally shot and left to waste in Game Management Unit 68A in southeast Idaho sometime between Sept. 20 and Sept. 23. Read the full story.
MS buck weights, antlers appear in decline as deer population estimate is at record high: Mississippi deer hunters have long been recognized for passing on younger and smaller bucks and waiting to harvest a mature buck and hopefully one with exceptional antlers. While this style of management can allow bucks to reach their potential when it comes to big antlers, it appears it can have unintended consequences. Read the full story.
VIDEO // SOME THINGS JUST HAVE TO BE SEEN
🐻❄️ What in tarnation is going on in this tent?? Watch as these fellas took care of a surprise visitor and lived to tell the tale.
Now, who’s turn to clean up??
QUOTABLES // WORDS TO LIVE BY
“In the high country, where stone speaks louder than scripture, the hunter learns that solitude is not absence but the land's own voice—raw, indifferent, carving canyons from the soft insistence of water.”
— Nan Shepherd
HUMPDAY MEME // ALWAYS
WANDERINGS // A SFW GLIMPSE OF OUR BROWSER HISTORY
The cyberattack that is bringing Japan’s most popular beer and brewery to its knees. “Ring around the moon, storm coming soon“, “When leaves fall early, fall and winter will be mild; when leaves fall late, winter will be severe” and a few other pieces of grandma’s weather lore that are hard to decipher between fact and fiction. I always loved a good steam room, but I’ll take a sauna, I suppose, especially if it’s out in the yard. Here’s the best choices on the market today. One of my kids is a lefty so I always try and use my non-dominant hand to compete with her (mainly at throwing, which I suck at). Well, as it turns out, there are some incredible cognitive benefits to doing just that. I’m still waiting on them to show up though…
EYE CANDY // PICTURES > WORDS
SHARE WITH FRIENDS // WE’LL SEND YOU COOL SH*T
It’s easy. Copy your link below and send it to your friends. If they sign up, you get free stuff.
Now, do it. (Please).
Oh, and one more thing…
