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:
Baiting allowed - Trump admin restores bear baiting in Alaska’s National Preserves 🍩
Chopped - North Dakota closes four units for antlerless deer hunting amid EHD outbreak 😷
Bear market - New Jersey’s fourth installment of the state’s bear hunt is off to a strong start 🐻
Release the
houndspheasants - Michigan is releasing nearly 7,300 pheasants ahead of this year’s season 🪶Heck of a bear dog - Who said a Yorkie couldn’t tree a bear? 🐶
IT’S NOT WITHOUT CONTROVERSY
TRUMP ADMIN RESTORES BEAR BAITING FOR SPORT HUNTERS IN ALASKA NATIONAL PRESERVES
As part of an announcement on Friday, the Trump administration says sport hunters will once again be able to take bears over bait in Alaska’s national preserves under a final rule issued by the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior.
The rule, which was published in the federal register yesterday and is now scheduled to take effect November 18th, overturns restrictions imposed during the Obama and Biden administrations. It restores a management approach that deferred to Alaska Department of Fish and Game regulations for sport hunting in national preserves for most of the period since Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) back in 1980…
HEADLINES // DIGESTIBLE SNIPPETS
North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong highlights affected areas | ND Governor’s Office
🤮 North Dakota Closes 4 Units to Antlerless Whitetail Harvest Ahead of 2026 Deer Gun Season. Taking to the press on Monday, North Dakota Game and Fish announced additional restrictions and closures ahead of this year’s deer gun season. As per the announcement, the department is closing four hunting units (3E1, 3E2, 3F2, and 3C) to antlerless whitetail hunting, hoping the move will help white-tailed deer numbers rebound from an ongoing outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) in the southwestern and south-central parts of the state.
The agency also said that they will be offering full license and bonus-point refunds to hunters in 13 additional units. In total, about 350 tags are affected by the closures as Gov. Kelly Armstrong and Game and Fish Director Jeb Williams urged hunters in affected areas to check conditions with landowners and consider returning tags if they are unsure.
This follows similar EHD-related refund offers in recent years (including a milder 2025 outbreak in western units) as the state’s deer herds continue recovering from weather, habitat loss, and prior disease impacts.
🐻 New Jersey Hunters Take 362 Black Bears in First Segment of 2026 Season. Garden State hunters dropped 362 black bears during the first segment of the state’s 2026 black bear hunting season, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Fish and Wildlife division. Opening day (Oct. 12th) produced the highest daily total of bears (110) and Sussex County took the cake when it came to total number of bears on the ground. The northernmost county in the state was responsible for 176 kills followed by bordering Warren county where 86 bears hit the dirt.
This marked the fourth full year of the controversial hunt since it was reinstated in December 2022. The season had been canceled entirely in 2021 under then-Gov. Phil Murphy, that is until the Fish and Game Council declared an emergency and restored a regulated hunt amid rising human-bear conflicts. Up to 11,000 permits were issued for 2026, with a second segment slated for kickoff on Dec. 7th that allows for shotguns and muzzleloaders only. Segment B can either close early if the cumulative harvest reaches 30% of tagged bears so far in 2026, or can extend to December 16–19 if the rate stays below 20%.
🪶 Michigan DNR Releasing Nearly 7,300 Pheasants Across Southern Game Areas for 2026 Season. Michigan’s DNR is releasing nearly 7,300 pheasants across 13 state game areas throughout the southern Lower Peninsula ahead of this year’s hunting season. This marks the seventh year of the program and the partnership with the Michigan Association of Gamebird Breeders and Hunting Preserves that proudly supplies the birds.
Releases run October 20th through November 14th and again from December 1st through January 1st, aligning with the ring-necked pheasant season in the southern Lower Peninsula. The program aims to give hunters a chance to experience pheasant hunting on public land, an experience that was not readily available after wild populations declined sharply from their mid-20th-century peak due to widespread loss of grassland habitat.
THOUGHTS FROM THE STAND // FROM OUR NOTEPAD
This past weekend marked 15 years since my first daughter was born. It forever changed the trajectory of my life in amazing ways I could have never imagined at the time. Find your person, marry them and don’t stop practicing making babies until you get one…or seven.
Sure, flying cars are cool, but have you ever sat on the side of a hill in the middle of the forest and just watched the birds?
Make sure your mind isn’t more active than your body.
We drown in entertainment to avoid the silence where God speaks, then complain that he is silent. 🙏
VIDEO // SOME THINGS JUST HAVE TO BE SEEN
🐩 Who says Yorkies couldn’t get it done in the bear woods?? Watch this tenacious little fella scramble that young bear all the way up the tree in a North Carolina backyard.
Honestly, it’s exactly how I act around small dogs…
WANDERINGS // A SFW GLIMPSE OF OUR BROWSER HISTORY
After the famous poet was jailed for “gross indecency”, the British Library suspended his library card and didn’t reinstate it until 130 years later. We’ve been making fun of pompous know-it-alls for centuries now. Bar Hemingway, Chateau Marmot and a few other bars where you can still carry on like it’s the 1990s. I just acquired a few of the final elements I needed to pull of this year’s edition of my annual Halloween costume. I have to admit though, even though it’s my birthday, I am guilty of being completely boring some years, and going without a costume.
EYE CANDY // PICTURES > WORDS
The way I smile at my wife after I book another hunt.
📸 by @grensmaag
Oh, and one more thing…
