Study Reveals How Cougars Alter Deer Behavior to Reduce Road Collisions 🐈

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:

IT’S ALL ABOUT BALANCE
STUDY REVEALS HOW COUGARS ALTER DEER BEHAVIOR TO REDUCE ROAD COLLISIONS

Each and every year, American drivers file more than one million insurance claims related to animal collisions and deer account for the vast majority of them. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the human toll related to these collisions clocks in at around 200 deaths per year, tens of thousands of injuries and billions in damages. As deer populations continue to swell in certain areas of the country, hitting one is now less of a freak accident and more of a seasonal hazard.

As we all do our best each fall to keep numbers in check, the fact remains that deer collisions continue to rise. As some areas offer additional tags and organize strategic culls, a study published this week in Current Biology offers an unexpected piece of the solution: mountain lions…

💪 Oregon Senator Proposes Constitutional Amendment to Protect Hunting and Fishing. Less than two weeks after a radical ballot measure that would’ve criminalized hunting and fishing in Oregon collapsed under its own weight, Republican gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan is moving to lock those rights into the state constitution.

In a new measure announced on Tuesday, Drazan proposed amending the state constitution to protect the rights to hunt, fish, and farm. Drazan, along with a bevy of Republican lawmakers framed the constitutional amendment as a proactive response, arguing that simply opposing future bans is not enough and that Oregonians should have the chance to permanently safeguard these activities.

Their proposed amendment would put hunting, fishing, and farming beyond the reach of the next wave of petitions and would go to voters in the 2028 general election if approved by the Legislature.

❄️ Hunter Who Fell Through Ice in 2009 Identified Nearly Two Decades Later. It took some time but human remains that were discovered on a remote island in western Alaska have finally been identified as those of a hunter who disappeared in 2009, according to the Alaska State Troopers.

George Smith Sr., 79, of Togiak, vanished on April 30, 2009, after his snowmachine broke through ice on the Ungalikthluk River during a hunting trip. Following his disappearance, extensive searches that lasted for months failed to locate him or his machine, and he was later presumed dead.

The remains were found on Nunivak Island in the Bering Sea later that same year but went unidentified for nearly two decades. This year, investigators with Alaska’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons unit collected DNA samples from Smith’s relatives and were able to match the previously unidentified remains through the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, finally providing answers and some closure 17 years after his disappearance.

🐻 Michigan Considers Ending 40-Year Bear Hunting Ban on Bois Blanc Island. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is considering lifting a more than 40-year prohibition on black bear hunting on Bois Blanc Island in Mackinac County. The ban was put in place by the Natural Resources Commission way back in May 1985, though records do not explain the original reason for the restriction.

Bois Blanc Island, also known locally as “Boblo,” covers about 34 square miles in Lake Huron and sits southeast of Mackinac Island. It is the only location within a designated bear management unit where state law currently prohibits bear hunting. Other species, including deer, small game, and waterfowl, can already be hunted there.

The DNR is currently accepting public comments on the idea, and any change would need approval from the Natural Resources Commission.

🐻 This bear puts on one hell of a chase. No word on how well the young moose fared once he got out of the water.

A lot of debate out there as to whether this was a grizzly or a black bear. I’m thinking grizz, what says you?

🐘 Hunter S. Thompson - Ivory Smuggler: During his time in Zaire, Hunter ran up a $30,000 bill for food and booze and God knows what else at Kinshasa’s Inter-Continental Hotel (a little over $200K in today’s money) and did enough drugs as to become completely incoherent. David S. Wills, author of “Rise and Fall of Gonzo,” told the Santa Cruz Sentinel in 2022 just how bad Hunter was during this period. “The fight was delayed and Hunter was there with access to unlimited cheap drugs in the company of all these journalists. His audio recordings from then are genuinely disturbing. He barely knows where he is. He’s rambling “The government is going to take our tickets. We’re not going to be able to watch the fight.”

It was during this drug stupor that Hunter came across a pair of elephant tusks for sale in an outdoor market. Read the full story.

🏞️ Stonewalls and Streams:  I wanted to slow down and fish for more than just bragging rights or the inevitable social media post that follows all successful days on the water. There was no better place to do that than my uncle’s secret brookie stream. 

The creek sits hidden in Virginia’s highlands. No more than ten feet across, it is where I learned to bow-and-arrow cast, roll cast, and the patience born from innumerable tangles and snags. I experienced my first Hardy reel and split-cane rod on its waters. Most importantly, it is the place where I learned what it meant to be a sportsman. From my uncle, then my dad, and now to me, this stream has taught and entertained three generations of fly fishermen.  Read the full story.

🥶 Cold Colorado : “Birds! Birds!” I shouted. Twenty feet away, Sal looked up. The ducks were coming in hot, wings folded tight against their bodies, in free fall against a winter-white sky. When they dropped below the crest of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains, I lost them for a moment in the confusing contrast of mountain and sky, then picked up the flash of set wings. I dropped a pair of mallards—one on the ice shelf along the far riverbank and the other in the narrow flume of open water that was racing down the middle of the river. Then Sal and I were on our feet and running, with Sal’s yellow Lab, Poppy, leading the way.

We could deal with the greenhead on the ice later, but the duck in the river was riding a ripping current and headed for a deadly confusion of shelf ice, ice floes, slush, and deep water. And Poppy was not turning back. Read the full story.

Oh, and one more thing…