Happy Canada Day to all of our Canadian compadres out there. 🇨🇦
I trust your day will be filled with Beavertails, poutine, a sampling of Moosehead beer and some of the best rye whiskey on God’s green Earth.
Stay safe and celebrate (somewhat) responsibly.
For the rest of us, 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:
That’s a W - Vermont Supreme Court sides with science-based wildlife management in contentious trapping case 🧑⚖️
Big changes - Delaware hunters have new Sunday hunting regulations and updated rules to review 🔎
A ‘herd’ of grizzlies - Montana rancher spots a ‘herd’ of seven grizzlies on his property 🐻
Wildfire szn - Utah officials are keeping an eye on fires and upcoming hunting seasons 🔥
Record bears? - Southern Mizzou has seen an uptick in bear sightings but biologists don’t believe that the population is exploding 📈
Riding shotgun - Watch as this dude finds a new passenger in his truck 😲
A WIN FOR THE GOOD GUYS
VERMONT SUPREME COURT BACKS SCIENCE-BASED WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT IN COYOTE HUNTING AND TRAPPING CASE
In a rare display of institutional sanity, the Vermont Supreme Court just told a coalition of professional wildlife worriers and their legislative allies to pound sand. In what is a significant victory for evidence-driven conservation, the ruling upholds the state's new coyote hunting and trapping regulations, affirming that science, field experience, and basic competence beat performative compassion and bureaucratic nitpicking.
This whole saga started in 2022 when Vermont lawmakers passed bills requiring the Fish and Wildlife Board to modernize rules for hunting coyotes with dogs, which was previously unregulated in the state, and update trapping best management practices. At the time, a temporary moratorium on hounding went into effect until the adults in the room could write something reasonable.
And that they did…
QUICK HITS // FROM AROUND THE WEB
Mo. hunters can apply online for managed deer hunts July 1: Applications will be accepted for the more than 140 managed deer hunts across Missouri beginning Wednesday, July 1. The online applications will be accepted through Friday, July 31. Read the full story.
Delaware expands Sunday hunting, updates rules in 2026-27 guide: Delaware hunters and trappers will see several rule changes ahead of the 2026-27 seasons, including expanded Sunday hunting opportunities, a year-round coyote season and updated information about Chronic Wasting Disease. Read the full story.
Elk Hunting and Forest Planning in Oregon’s Blue Mountains: Across more than five million acres of public land in northeast Oregon and southeast Washington, the Forest Service has been working for over 20 years to update the plan that guides how these forests are managed. The agency will soon take public comment on the Blue Mountains Draft Environmental Impact Statement, and the stakes are hard to overstate. Read the full story.
Holy Cow! Montana Rancher Spots 'Herd' Of 7 Grizzlies On Property: Montana rancher Neal Collins said a camera on his barn captured a "herd" of seven grizzlies on his property Monday night. The next morning, agents from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks hazed 10 grizzlies out of brush across the road from his place. Read the full story.
The ‘herd’ just passing through
Wildfires and Utah's 2026 hunting seasons: Utah is experiencing an early, very busy fire season, and we know that many of you have questions about possible impacts to your hunts this fall. Currently, it is too early to know the outcomes of any particular fire. Read the full story.
Grizzly bear relocated to reduce conflict potential: After consultation with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department captured and relocated a subadult male grizzly bear on June 29, 2026. The grizzly bear was captured at a cattle depredation site on public land in Sublette County. In cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Shoshone National Forest, the grizzly bear was relocated to the Five Mile Creek drainage approximately five miles from the east entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Read the full story.
South Mississippi bear numbers exploding? Here's why so many have been spotted: If you've spent any time on social media recently, particularly on the Mississippi Black Bears Facebook page, you've probably noticed a large number of bear sightings in South Mississippi.
There are several reasons for that, but it's not because the population has suddenly exploded. Read the full story.
VIDEO // SOME THINGS JUST HAVE TO BE SEEN
🐻 The moment you realized someone else called shotgun (and you obviously didn’t hear it). Watch as this dude out in Colorado Springs gets a surprise when he goes out to get something out of his truck while on the job site.
QUOTABLES // WORDS TO LIVE BY
I see the animal not only as a target but as a living creature with more freedom than I will ever have. I take that life if I can, with regret as well as joy, and with the sure knowledge that nature’s ways of fang and claw or exposure and starvation are a far crueler fate than I bestow.”
— Fred Bear
HUMPDAY MEME // I’M FOOTING THE BILL
WANDERINGS // A SFW GLIMPSE OF OUR BROWSER HISTORY
I’m more of a middle-of-nowhere-type freshwater swimmer, but a lot of people are apparently turning to urban swimming inside some of the country’s biggest cities. The reason why this person tried to smuggle 100,000 cockroaches into Australia. Why we decided to make pencils yellow. And just in time for summer, it’s the Louis L’Amour workout.
EYE CANDY // PICTURES > WORDS
Drop me off here.
📸 by @_buffalo_gal
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