South Dakota Conservation Officers Seize 70 Ducks After Routine Traffic Stop 🦆

ven•a•tic: fond of or living by hunting

NORTH AMERICA’S MOST-READ OUTDOOR NEWSLETTER

As we continue to slowly but surely inch back towards the weekend, let’s all take a minute to grab a coffee or whiskey (no judgement) and get into what this beautiful Tuesday has to offer.

Here's what's worth reading about so far this week:

HOPEFULLY THEY DON’T GET WASTED
SOUTH DAKOTA CONSERVATION OFFICERS SEIZE 70 DUCKS AFTER ROUTINE TRAFFIC STOP

It was a lovely mid-October day when a routine traffic stop in South Dakota turned a little interesting. After blazing by a South Dakota Highway Patrol trooper in Union County, the driver was soon pulled over. As the officer approached the vehicle, he noticed that the driver was transporting a little extra cargo, prompting a call to the state’s Game, Fish and parks department.

Inside the vehicle, the state trooper got eyes on what turned out to be 70 dead ducks, which is quite a bit higher than South Dakota’s possession limit of 18. A quick bout of roadside math soon determined that the driver was therefore 52 ducks over the limit, which is the kind of margin that suggests either a profound misunderstanding of the rules or a deliberate decision to stop counting. Only three of the birds met the state’s transportation requirements, which demand that a head or a fully feathered wing remain attached so an officer can identify the species and, more importantly, count. The remaining 67 birds appeared to have been processed into meat and bagged. Officials have not said how the meat was packaged beyond noting that most of it failed the test, though the released photographs show a truck bed containing both whole birds and a large number of plastic bags.

At this point, the driver’s name has not been released. Neither has his destination, his speed, or where the ducks were taken. Game, Fish and Parks described the matter as an active investigation, which is the institutional way of saying they are still deciding how many additional questions they need to answer before the story becomes less interesting.

The ducks were seized. The driver was cited. The rest remains, for the moment, an active investigation.

🦌 Iowa Youth Hunter Tags 206-Inch Buck on Final Season. One young Iowa deer hunter managed to close out his final year of youth season eligibility with a monster buck towards the end of September. Hunting with his dad Ryan, Parker Egan had been out several times since the season opener with no success. After a near miss on a 180-class buck the night before, they headed out again and made a last-minute call based on wind direction to switch to a different farm they hadn’t hunted yet this year.

The paid soon set up behind a row of hay bales overlooking an alfalfa field just after 6 p.m. After passing on a mature eight-point and watching a doe nearly blow the hunt at close range, a much larger buck appeared. Parker took a shot at roughly 125 yards as the buck stood near the edge of the brush, and after a short recovery, they found the deer nearby. The heavy-antlered buck, which they named “Kimbo Slice,” unofficially grossed 206 inches green while trail-camera footage from the year before showed the same buck had put on roughly 70 inches of antler. In what was truly a full-circle moment, the deer that would end this young man’s youth hunt eligibility was killed a mere 40 yards from the spot where he took his first buck.

🐻 Oklahoma, Missouri Set Record Black Bear Hunt Numbers as Midwest Totals Climb. It’s apparently been a good year to be a bear hunter according to kill data coming out of a number of states this year. Down in Oklahoma, bear hunters took 147 black bears this fall according to a statement from ODWC Director Wade Free at yesterday’s wildlife commission meeting. That total shattered the previous record of 86 set in 2023 and was nearly double the harvest from the year before.

Up in neighboring Missouri, hunters set a new record of their own with 36 black bears hitting the ground during the state’s sixth regulated season. The Missouri Department of Conservation reported the total against a statewide maximum of 60, with Zone 1 nearly hitting its cap at 29 of 30. MDC biologist Nate Bowersock noted the record came despite a potentially above-average acorn crop and after the agency increased permit numbers.

Heading north into the midwest, Minnesota and Wisconsin also posted strong seasons. Minnesota hunters registered 4,168 bears through the Oct. 18th close, which just so happens to be one of the highest totals in state history and the third-highest on record. Wisconsin hunters took a preliminary 4,275 bears, slightly above the statewide target of 4,160 and up from 3,724 the year before.

🐟 Texas Closes Flounder Season for Six Weeks During Spawning Migration. Texas Parks and Wildlife has closed the state’s flounder fishery for six weeks to protect southern flounder during their annual fall migration from the bays into the Gulf to spawn. Kelley Kowal, regional director of TPWD’s coastal fisheries division, says the closure, which began on Sunday and is set to run through December 14th, is nothing new and has been implemented for roughly the past six years to help stabilize the population by giving mature females—targeted because of their larger size—a chance to reproduce.

Southern flounder rank as the third most sought-after recreational species in Texas coastal waters and spend most of the year in the bays and estuaries before moving offshore in the fall. Before the closure took effect, fishing guides and charters were pushing last-minute trips, with reports of strong action around places like the Texas City Dike and Galveston Bay. The season is set to reopen on December 15th with a daily bag limit of five fish and a minimum size of 15 inches.

😆 Relax, guys. He’s just chasing that cute little chipmunk. Watch as this group of tourists gets a real scare as this young grizz takes after a chipmunk running in behind them.

We can laugh, but I don’t blame them…

Oh, and one more thing…