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Speaker 1: From Mediators World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is

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Speaker 1: Cal's weekend review, presented by Steel. Steel products are available

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Speaker 1: only at authorized dealers. For more, go to Steel Dealers

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Speaker 1: dot com. Now Here's your Host. Ryan cal Callahan.

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Speaker 2: An employee with the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources,

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Speaker 2: was sent to the ICU last week after he got

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Speaker 2: hit with a tranquilizer dart meant for an ELK. The

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Speaker 2: man's name has not been released, but the West Virginia

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Speaker 2: Metro News reports that the gun's double safety feature failed

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Speaker 2: as the man was getting into a truck. He was

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Speaker 2: not holding the gas powered gun at the time it

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Speaker 2: darted him, and it's unclear exactly what happened. He was

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Speaker 2: flown to a hospital in Nashville and is expected to

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Speaker 2: be okay. The man was part of a project by

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Speaker 2: the West Virginia DNR to reintroduce elk to the state.

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Speaker 2: The DNR has been importing elk from other states since

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Speaker 2: twenty sixteen. In the latest ship hunt from Kentucky should

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Speaker 2: number about forty animals. That would be a big booze

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Speaker 2: to the state's current population, which is hovering around one hundred.

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Speaker 2: State officials said at a meeting in December that once

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Speaker 2: the population rises closer to three hundred, they'd start considering

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Speaker 2: opening a limited hunt. I think it's safe to say

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Speaker 2: that DNR employees are putting their bodies on the line

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Speaker 2: to make it happen. If West Virginians ever get the

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Speaker 2: chance to hunt the Appalachian Mountains looking for elk, they

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Speaker 2: should give this employee a metal after he and his

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Speaker 2: crew complete a firearm safety refresher course. Remember, treat every

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Speaker 2: gun as if it's loaded, and don't point it at you,

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Speaker 2: even if it's unsafe. They say it can puncture the

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Speaker 2: skin of a rhino from a point. Oh, you just

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Speaker 2: took one in the jugular.

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Speaker 1: Man, this is bad. You should pull that out. It

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Speaker 1: is not cool.

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Speaker 2: This week, we've got the Snort Report, Hunter Harvest, box

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Speaker 2: store fishing, and so much more. But first I'm going

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Speaker 2: to tell you about my week. In My week was

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Speaker 2: awesome because it's also the Snort Report. I met up

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Speaker 2: with a couple of my good hunting buddies down in

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Speaker 2: the Sacramento Valley, of all places to hunt ducks for

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Speaker 2: the weekend. It's an odd thing that at some point

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Speaker 2: it becomes easier to connect with your hunting buddies when

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Speaker 2: you travel fourteen hours to another state. We converged on

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Speaker 2: the farm of my friend Sean Doherty to hunt ducks

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Speaker 2: over his rice fields. The weather went from blue skies,

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Speaker 2: zero wind and almost seventy degrees terrible duck hunting weather

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Speaker 2: on Friday to forty mile per hour sustained winds and

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Speaker 2: rain on Saturday, to low fog and seven to ten

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Speaker 2: miles an hour breeze on Sunday. We shot birds every day.

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Speaker 2: We should have had limits on Saturday, but we'd just

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Speaker 2: shot terribly more shotgun shells on the bottom of the

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Speaker 2: blind than I've seen in a long while. Sunday was amazing,

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Speaker 2: crazy flights of teal and widgeon, lots of birds working decoys.

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Speaker 2: It was awesome. The variety down there is incredible. We

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Speaker 2: shot in one day green wing, teal, gadwall, wigeon, mallards,

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Speaker 2: northern shoveler, and pintails, which is an amazing mixed bag.

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Speaker 2: There were also enough geese around to fill a line

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Speaker 2: of train cars from Sacramento to San Francisco. Longtime listeners

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Speaker 2: know the scene of this hunt, but the blinds are

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Speaker 2: sunken into the rice check a rice check is essentially

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Speaker 2: like a small earth and dike that forms the retaining

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Speaker 2: edge of a rice field. The soil composition is primarily clay,

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Speaker 2: so the bottoms are more firm than they are soft,

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Speaker 2: and the water depth is about fourteen inches. When seated

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Speaker 2: in the blinds, a hunter's face is about the same

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Speaker 2: distance from the water, you know, fourteen inches or so.

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Speaker 2: And that makes for a really cool experience, and one

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Speaker 2: that still strikes me as unique, even though I've done

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Speaker 2: it a couple of times. Running the dog in this

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Speaker 2: scenario is fantastic. She has a great field of view,

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Speaker 2: no obstructions. The line of sight is as far as

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Speaker 2: a dog can see. We lost a handful of birds

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Speaker 2: over the weekend, but these were all birds that we

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Speaker 2: knew were hit but never saw him go down. Everything else,

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Speaker 2: even if it were crippled, and diving snort grabbed often

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Speaker 2: just by the tip of the butt. Had this been

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Speaker 2: a small pond with like brush and grassy bottoms, I

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Speaker 2: don't think this would have been the case. But the

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Speaker 2: clay bottom made it like a duck in a bathtub,

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Speaker 2: even though the bathtub was very large. Great diving duck

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Speaker 2: practice for the girl. Lots of shooting, so great practice

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Speaker 2: on not breaking and marking birds, and I got to

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Speaker 2: concentrate on the dog and bsing with my buddies instead

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Speaker 2: of depending on only myself to shoot. We still had

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Speaker 2: issues with bringing birds to hand. She's more willing to

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Speaker 2: drop them off within reach than kind of pretend like

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Speaker 2: they just don't exist when I tell her to pick

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Speaker 2: them up again. But then if I actually get my

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Speaker 2: butt out of the blind and work with her, she's

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Speaker 2: completely compliant, as if she's saying, well, you got to

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Speaker 2: do some work in this relationship too. This is not

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Speaker 2: a cop out, okay, but it's more of like an

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Speaker 2: in due time thing with us because we just don't

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Speaker 2: get a constant trade on being water fowlers as much

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Speaker 2: as we should need more reps coach, is what I'm saying.

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Speaker 2: At the end of every day, we had a very muddy,

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Speaker 2: very tired pup, and the three of us weren't ever

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Speaker 2: able to burn any of our sagging belly fat on

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Speaker 2: retrieving our own birds because the snort report was all

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Speaker 2: over it. One thing that was just so much fun

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Speaker 2: because we had so many working birds that like never

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Speaker 2: got into the decoys is just sitting there watching that

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Speaker 2: dog's eyeballs follow birds, track them across the sky. That

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Speaker 2: is something I will never fall out of love with.

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Speaker 2: If you haven't seen it yet, Old Snort Report and

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Speaker 2: Uncle Brad Leoni are live on the Mediator YouTube channel

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Speaker 2: where we bagged some big Canada geese on a field hunt.

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Speaker 2: You'll see Snort do some breaking on that episode, but

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Speaker 2: you know that's a year ago. Give it a watch

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Speaker 2: and let me know what you think, and you know,

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Speaker 2: let me know what we want to see us do next.

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Speaker 1: Now, last night I turned into a dog, then I

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Speaker 1: turned back into being human. He can't ignore it, the

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Speaker 1: shaggy dog.

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Speaker 2: Moving on to the deer desk. Whitetail seasons are over

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Speaker 2: in most states, which means it's a great time to

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Speaker 2: take stock of America's most popular big game animal. The

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Speaker 2: National Deer Association released its annual report last week, and

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Speaker 2: it shows some interesting trends for the twenty twenty two

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Speaker 2: through twenty twenty three season. First, individual hunters success rates

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Speaker 2: are down about seven percent from where they were in

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Speaker 2: twenty eleven. Forty one percent of hunters harvested at least

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Speaker 2: one deer last year, while that number was closer to

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Speaker 2: fifty percent ten years ago. At the same time, the

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Speaker 2: overall deer harvest topped out at nearly six million, which

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Speaker 2: is near record level since the NBA started tracking that number.

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Speaker 2: How individual success rates could be down while overall harvest

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Speaker 2: remains strong is kind of a mystery. One explanation could

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Speaker 2: be that more hunters are harvesting more than one deer,

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Speaker 2: but the NDA actually finds that the rates of multi

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Speaker 2: deer hunters are down since twenty eleven. Another explanation is

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Speaker 2: that there are simply more licensed hunters than there were

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Speaker 2: a decade ago. The number of hunters relative to the

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Speaker 2: general population has declined, but the absolute number of hunters

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Speaker 2: might be going up. Whatever explains that apparent contradiction, it's

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Speaker 2: clear that there are some states with much higher rates

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Speaker 2: of success than others. South Carolina takes the top spot,

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Speaker 2: where seventy one percent of hunters are successful. Tennessee is

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Speaker 2: next at sixty five percent, Texas is third at sixty

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Speaker 2: four percent, and Mississippian Rhode Island tie for fourth at

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Speaker 2: sixty one percent. On the other end of the spectrum,

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Speaker 2: New Hampshire hunters are the least successful. Only eighteen percent

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Speaker 2: of hunters bagged a deer last year in the Granite State,

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Speaker 2: Maine and Connecticut were only slightly better at nineteen percent.

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Speaker 2: Vermont clocked in at twenty one percent, while Washington State

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Speaker 2: posted to a twenty three percent success rate. If your

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Speaker 2: state wasn't mentioned here, it means you're somewhere in the middle. Now.

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Speaker 2: I wouldn't dare suggest that these no numbers say anything

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Speaker 2: about the hunting chops of folks in any of these states,

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Speaker 2: even though Cow's Weekend Review writer Jordan Sillers included some

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Speaker 2: nonsense in here about Texans being obviously the best hunters.

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Speaker 2: If you want to include folks who stare through cactus

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Speaker 2: at bait piles, you know that's a type of success,

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Speaker 2: don't you dare take the name of Texas in vain.

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Speaker 2: I'm just pulling on your legs. Texans come on. Success

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Speaker 2: rates fluctuate with deer populations and hunting regulations and landscape

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Speaker 2: play a big role as well. If you live in

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Speaker 2: New Hampshire and you brought home some venison this year,

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Speaker 2: congrats you did what over eighty percent of your fellow

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Speaker 2: hunters failed to accomplish. One last highlight from this fifty

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Speaker 2: six page report, white tail hunters are passing on more

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Speaker 2: young bucks than ever before. Yearling buck harvest rates are

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Speaker 2: at the lowest recorded levels, but the percentage of three

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Speaker 2: and a half year old and older bucks in the

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Speaker 2: harvest is forty two percent of the total antlered buck harvest.

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Speaker 2: This is the highest percentage of this age group ever recorded.

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Speaker 2: A couple factors might explain this trend. Some states have

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Speaker 2: imposed antler restrictions that take most young bucks off the table.

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Speaker 2: Deer populations are healthy, which means hunters have the luxury

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Speaker 2: of seeing more than one buck per season. Outdoor media

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Speaker 2: is probably contributing to this trend, as hunters look to

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Speaker 2: go after the same kinds of big bucks we celebrate

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Speaker 2: on TV and Instagram. This also might explain the lower

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Speaker 2: hunter success rates I mentioned at the top of this segment.

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Speaker 2: If you're holding out for a big buck, you're less

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Speaker 2: likely to be successful than if you're willing to shoot

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Speaker 2: any legal deer. A more discerning population of hunters will

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Speaker 2: inevitably lower the rates of success, which could be what's

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Speaker 2: happening here. If you're still out in the white tail woods,

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Speaker 2: good luck for everyone else. I hope you got to

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Speaker 2: take home some venison this year. Whether it was sporting

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Speaker 2: a set of antlers or not. As someone who posts

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Speaker 2: things on Instagram and contributes to basically all forms of media.

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Speaker 2: I personally filled three out of the five dote I

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Speaker 2: purchased this year and filled two buck tags, won a

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Speaker 2: young buck one an old buck. I also passed up

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Speaker 2: the opportunity to harvest a young buck while I was

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Speaker 2: in Oklahoma, opting to fill a dough tag that week instead.

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Speaker 2: Now that my bona fetus are on the table, bona

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Speaker 2: fides if you will. If you don't know what that

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Speaker 2: means in this instance, it means my credentials that I

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Speaker 2: am prefacing this next thing I'm about to say with.

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Speaker 2: If you want to become a good deer killer, you

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Speaker 2: need to fill tags. If you can't use the meat,

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Speaker 2: chances are there are people you know who can, or

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Speaker 2: even a state program that will help feed those in need.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes these programs will cost you a few dollars, but

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Speaker 2: that's money well spent because you can be a really

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Speaker 2: good hunter and not be that great at pulling the

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Speaker 2: trigger at the right time because you don't practice the

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Speaker 2: act of killing, which may sound harsh, but it's the reality.

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Speaker 2: Second point in my case for filling tags and this

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Speaker 2: is at this point in time universally true for white

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Speaker 2: tailed deer North America. We are operating at a level

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Speaker 2: of over abundance. Take home a white tail deer so

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Speaker 2: that it doesn't end up as roadkill, or contribute to

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Speaker 2: the degradation of the landscape so that a population crash occurs,

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Speaker 2: or you should take one home so that it doesn't

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Speaker 2: contribute to the spread of communicable diseases like CWD. Politically,

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Speaker 2: you may not want to show your so called followers

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Speaker 2: or friends on TikTok or Instagram that you shot a

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Speaker 2: small buck or a dough, But when we hunters fail

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Speaker 2: to hit our harvest rates, that information can be used

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Speaker 2: against us. Those hunting is conservation t shirts. We'll start

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Speaker 2: showing holes if we let them. Moving on to the

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Speaker 2: fishing desk, and what can only be described as an

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Speaker 2: epidemic of lawlessness, two different men and two separate incidents

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Speaker 2: violated the sanctity of the bass pro shops fish tanks.

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Speaker 2: The first incident took place before Christmas at a bass

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Speaker 2: pro in you Guessed At, Florida. Video captured by a

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Speaker 2: bystandard shows a man holding a large fishing net with

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Speaker 2: a fifty pound tarpn trapped inside. He had apparently climbed

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Speaker 2: above the fish tank, where he was able to scoop

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Speaker 2: the fish out and then climb down. The video shows

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Speaker 2: him calmly walking through the store with the fish flopping

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Speaker 2: around inside the net, which he also stole. We had

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Speaker 2: planned to do an update on this story since I

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Speaker 2: assumed the thief would have been caught by now. The

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Speaker 2: video clearly shows the face of a kid maybe eighteen nineteen,

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Speaker 2: with brown hair and a slim build. But somehow neither

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Speaker 2: the internet sleuths nor the law have been able to

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Speaker 2: track him down, at least not as far as I

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Speaker 2: can tell. Best case is this silver King was returned

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Speaker 2: to a slew someplace to go out and make more

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Speaker 2: of them. If you think you know who this person is,

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Speaker 2: we'd love to hear from him, have him right in

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Speaker 2: to Askcaal at the Meat Eater dot com. Now, criminals

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Speaker 2: often inspire copycats, and that appears to be what happened.

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Speaker 2: Just a few weeks later, police arrested a man at

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Speaker 2: the Bass Pro Shop and Leads, Alabama after he was

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Speaker 2: caught swimming naked in the fish tank. The forty two

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Speaker 2: year old man allegedly crashed his car outside the store,

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Speaker 2: stripped down to his birthday suit as in naked, and

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Speaker 2: cannonballed into the tank. He tried to get out of

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Speaker 2: the tank the way he'd come in, but police were

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Speaker 2: hot on his trail. He remained in the pool for

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Speaker 2: about a minute, yelling at police and refusing to come out.

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Speaker 2: He tried to exit by climbing over the glass edge,

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Speaker 2: but he slipped and hit his head on the concrete.

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Speaker 2: Below video of the incident, which I don't recommend looking up,

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Speaker 2: shows him rolling around on the ground holding his head.

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Speaker 2: He apparently suffered a concussion, and he faces several charges

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Speaker 2: including public lewdness, disorderly conduct, and criminal mischief. Moving on

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Speaker 2: to the Colorado desk, you may have seen a news

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Speaker 2: report circling the inner web about supposedly high rates of

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Speaker 2: mount lion harvest and Colorado. According to these reports, Colorado

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Speaker 2: lion hunters killed one hundred and ninety eight lions in

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Speaker 2: the month of December, forty four percent of which we're female.

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Speaker 2: The Colorado Sun says this poses quote a risk to

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Speaker 2: cubs born to breeding age lions in that population. The

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Speaker 2: headline on that article implies that because of these statistics,

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Speaker 2: the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission voted to do away

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Speaker 2: with the April hunting season and ban the use of

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Speaker 2: electronic lures. This all might sound concerning, but it doesn't

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Speaker 2: take much digging to realize that the entire crisis is

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Speaker 2: almost entirely fabricated by animal rights groups looking to drum

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Speaker 2: up support for a proposed lion hunting band. I listened

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Speaker 2: to a presentation by the state's carnivore and fur bearer manager,

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Speaker 2: and the truth is far less foreboding. The group Animal

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Speaker 2: Wellness Action obtained the stats via a public records request.

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Speaker 2: The Mountain Lion Foundation claimed in a separate news release

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Speaker 2: that these harvest numbers are unsustainable, that hunters are killing

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Speaker 2: lions quote for no good reason, and that cubs are

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Speaker 2: being left to starve. None of these statistics are wrong,

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Speaker 2: but they deserve more context. First, it's not uncommon for

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Speaker 2: hunters to harvest nearly two two hundred lions in the

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Speaker 2: month of December. Mark Vieira, the Park's Wildlife Department's predator expert,

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Speaker 2: told the Commission that hunters harvest about five hundred lions

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Speaker 2: per year between November and March, sounding an alarm about

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Speaker 2: one hundred and ninety eight cats killed in December is

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Speaker 2: kind of like making a big deal about Chester Floyd

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Speaker 2: going walleye fishing. It ain't exactly newsworthy. That forty four

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Speaker 2: percent female harvest number is also misleading. About forty percent

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Speaker 2: of the annual lion harvest in Colorado is female, but

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Speaker 2: only about thirteen percent of the total harvest are adult females.

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Speaker 2: Adult females are more important than juveniles from a population perspective,

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Speaker 2: in the state's lion management plan caps that number at

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Speaker 2: seventeen percent. Hunters haven't exceeded the adult female harvest percentage,

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Speaker 2: and the proof is in the pudding. Lions have been

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Speaker 2: managed as a game species in Colorado for fifty five years,

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Speaker 2: and Viira called the project a success story. He told

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Speaker 2: the Parks and Wildlife Commission quote, all observations point to

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Speaker 2: a growing, healthy population of lions, and hunting doesn't threatn

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Speaker 2: the population in any way. As a side note, Bayra

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Speaker 2: also made a point to the Commission about the importance

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Speaker 2: of hound hunters in lion management. The number of lions

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Speaker 2: taken in each age class and sex in Colorado is

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Speaker 2: sustainable in part because so many hunters use hounds in

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Speaker 2: states where hound hunting is illegal, hunters harvest a much

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Speaker 2: higher percentage of females because they can't discriminate. If they

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Speaker 2: see a lion across a valley, they take a shot

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Speaker 2: without necessarily knowing whether it's big or small, male or female.

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Speaker 2: But chasing lions with dogs allows hunters to get a

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Speaker 2: close look at their quarry after it's been tried, which

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Speaker 2: is a fancy way of saying. They can see the

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Speaker 2: sex organs between their legs. If they're after a big tom,

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00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:44,080
Speaker 2: you can guess what they're looking for. They can verify

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Speaker 2: that the cat fits the criteria before taken at home.

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Speaker 2: Hound hunting is often described by the animal rights crowd

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Speaker 2: as cruel or inhumane, but the reality is that it

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Speaker 2: makes hunting a far more effective management tool for state agencies. Anyway,

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Speaker 2: this story about hunters taking too many mountain lions in

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Speaker 2: Colorado is what you might call a nothing burger, but

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Speaker 2: the commission still voted to cancel the April hunt and

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Speaker 2: ban electronic calls. If you've been following wildlife news, this

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Speaker 2: might feel, in the famous words of Yogi Berra, like

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Speaker 2: deja vu all over again. We should always be careful

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Speaker 2: whenever hunting opportunities and methods are taken away, but I

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Speaker 2: don't think we're looking at a Washington spring bear hunt

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Speaker 2: situation here. First, it's worth noting that the Parks and

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Speaker 2: Wildlife Department recommended both changes and the Commission voted for

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Speaker 2: both unanimously. They decided to cancel the April lion hunting

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Speaker 2: season because the take was so low that the department

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Speaker 2: no longer considered it an effective management tool. It was

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Speaker 2: only open in two game management units last year, which

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Speaker 2: was down from four units in twenty twenty one. The

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Speaker 2: April season had only been around for about ten years,

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Speaker 2: and the bulk of the season is still intact. The

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Speaker 2: Department is also recommending that the total harvest threshold not

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Speaker 2: be lowered from last year. However, despite the relative newness

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Speaker 2: of the April hunt, houndsmen in Colorado are to see

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Speaker 2: it go. Just An Anglovich, the president of the United

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Speaker 2: Houndsmen of Colorado, said he and his members are deeply

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Speaker 2: disheartened by the loss of the April season. He acknowledged

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Speaker 2: that the hunt did not achieve its management goals, but

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Speaker 2: said the department should have done more to work with

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Speaker 2: houndsmen to make the season successful. No one at the

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00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:20,600
Speaker 2: Commission meetings spoke out against the ban on electronic calls,

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Speaker 2: likely because devices have only been allowed for the last

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Speaker 2: few years and only in a few lion hunting units

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Speaker 2: on the West Slope, but a representative from the Humane

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Speaker 2: Society chimed in to voice her support for the ban,

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Speaker 2: as did a representative of the Mountain Lion Foundation. The

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Speaker 2: Humane Society rep applauded the Commission for the decision and

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Speaker 2: claimed that the devices help hunters kill more female allions

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Speaker 2: and leave quote orphaned kittens to starve. I think it's

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Speaker 2: also worth noting how they're already using the Colorado wolf

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Speaker 2: reintroduction to go after hound hunting. Take a listen to.

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Speaker 1: Colorades Es must stop.

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Speaker 2: Colors Lines with hounds.

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Speaker 1: Packs and chain of hounds will harm our wolves. It's

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Speaker 1: basically state station hound hunting.

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Speaker 2: I guess now that Colorado has imported wolves from another state,

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Speaker 2: they can call them our wolves. They used to beat

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Speaker 2: Oregon's wolves, and now they're Colorado's wolves. You guys keeping

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Speaker 2: up with that. I know I've been hammering away on

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Speaker 2: Colorado a bit lately, but you can bet that similar

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Speaker 2: wars are being waged in your state. I do want

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Speaker 2: to point out that hounds want absolutely nothing to do

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Speaker 2: with wolves. There's a lot of people who run hounds

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Speaker 2: in states with wolves that can testify to that hounds

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Speaker 2: do not farewell when fighting a wolf or a pack

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Speaker 2: of wolves. The political stars are aligning right now in Colorado,

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Speaker 2: and anti hunting activists see an opening, they'll push wherever

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Speaker 2: they think they can get away with it, which is

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Speaker 2: why it's so important to stay engaged. Good on those

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Speaker 2: hound hunters in Colorado for showing up to the latest

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Speaker 2: Commission meeting and speaking their mind. I was happy to

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Speaker 2: see about equal numbers of hunters and anti hunters on

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Speaker 2: the docket, and that's what we'll have to do if

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Speaker 2: we want to keep our hunting rights intact. Moving on

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Speaker 2: to the taxes desk, the new year is here, which

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Speaker 2: means it's time to start feeling anxiety about taxes. Rendering

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Speaker 2: our dues unto Caesar is never a pleasant experience, but

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Speaker 2: North Carolina has a program that might make it a

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Speaker 2: little more uplifting. Their state tax code has a provision

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Speaker 2: that allows residents to automatically donate their refund to these

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Speaker 2: state's non Game Conservation fund. These funds are used to

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Speaker 2: help restore species of concern and previous projects increased gopher

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00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:36,280
Speaker 2: fraud populations, improve surveying abilities and detection of hellbenders, and

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00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:39,800
Speaker 2: supported loggerhead turtle nesting. I know you might rather spend

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Speaker 2: your refund on outdoor gear, and I may be in

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00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:44,560
Speaker 2: like breach of contract for not telling you to spend

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Speaker 2: it on first light. But you have the rest of

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Speaker 2: your life to buy outdoor gear this year, throwing some

385
00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:51,880
Speaker 2: of that cash you didn't already have to a cause

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00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:54,800
Speaker 2: that really matters. The anti hunting crowd off and accuses

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Speaker 2: hunters of not caring about non game species. How cool

388
00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:00,560
Speaker 2: would it be if every hunter in North Carolina donated

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Speaker 2: their tax refund to habitat conservation and turtle research. Habitat

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00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:09,080
Speaker 2: is habitat chances are a duck, a quail, or a

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Speaker 2: whitetail lives in there. I know it's a long shot,

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Speaker 2: but I think this tax program is worth a shout out.

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Speaker 2: North Carolinians can participate by checking line thirty on their

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Speaker 2: state income tax form, or if you are filing with

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Speaker 2: online tax preparation software, enter the contribution amount when prompted

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Speaker 2: to North Carolina Non Game and Endangered Wildlife Fund, and

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Speaker 2: for you folks in the other forty nine stays, don't

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Speaker 2: think you're off the hook. The tar Heel State isn't

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Speaker 2: the only one that has this program, so check your

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Speaker 2: tax code. Moving on to the mail desk, listener Adam

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00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:44,640
Speaker 2: Goodrow wrote in to express concerns about a bill currently

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Speaker 2: being considered by the Vermont State Legislature. Bill S two

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00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:51,399
Speaker 2: five eight would restructure the state's Fish and Wildlife Board,

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00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,040
Speaker 2: and not in a way that will benefit hunters and anglers.

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00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:57,560
Speaker 2: Adam explained that the bill would do three things. First,

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Speaker 2: it would strip the governor of appointing authority and split

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00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:03,800
Speaker 2: up that authority among the Fish and Wildlife Commissioner and

408
00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:07,480
Speaker 2: various legislative entities. It would reduce the number of commissioners

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Speaker 2: from fourteen to twelve, and in that process change a

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Speaker 2: system that has one member representing each Vermont county. Finally,

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Speaker 2: it would strip the Board of its decision making authority

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00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:22,119
Speaker 2: and place it in an advisory role. All regulation and

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Speaker 2: rule making authority would be in the hands of the

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Speaker 2: Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife. On its face, this might

415
00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:31,439
Speaker 2: not sound like an obviously bad proposal, but that's the

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00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:34,200
Speaker 2: tricky thing about these bills that adjust Fish and Wildlife

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Speaker 2: boards and commissions. Depending on the state, These changes can

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Speaker 2: make it easier to install anti hunting representatives or remove

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Speaker 2: authority from individuals or offices that would protect hunting rights

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Speaker 2: without getting into all the details of Vermont politics. That's

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Speaker 2: the goal of this bill. Here's what Adam says, and

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Speaker 2: I think this is a great example of something you

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00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:58,040
Speaker 2: can send to your representatives. Quote. We have thriving wildlife

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Speaker 2: in the state thanks to great stewardship from our Fish

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Speaker 2: and Wildlife Board and department. The biggest threat our wildlife

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00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:07,800
Speaker 2: faces is from development, habitat loss, and changing climate. Changes

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00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:10,439
Speaker 2: to the structure of our wildlife management system are not

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Speaker 2: going to solve these problems and seems like a solution

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00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:17,240
Speaker 2: in search of a problem. Adam continues, quote, instead of

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Speaker 2: having a regionally diverse board that independently sets the rules

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00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:23,120
Speaker 2: and REGs with input from the Fish and Wildlife Department,

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Speaker 2: one person will have all of that authority. I'll let

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Speaker 2: everyone decide for themselves. But it seems like we are

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Speaker 2: throwing out a successful system that has led to abundant

435
00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:34,960
Speaker 2: wildlife populations so that one small interest group can have

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00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:38,760
Speaker 2: all things their way. Thanks for right, Nan Adam and

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00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:41,600
Speaker 2: Well said, if anyone else knows about a bad bill

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00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:45,640
Speaker 2: or policy in their state, right in to askcl that's

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00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,680
Speaker 2: ascal at the meeteater dot com. It's a big country

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00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:50,439
Speaker 2: and it's tough to keep track of what's going on

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00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,479
Speaker 2: in every state. That's why you know, we rely on

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00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:59,719
Speaker 2: each other. Thanks again and I'll talk to you next week.

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Speaker 2: He had been theft to now at fen of the

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Speaker 2: night had suppled