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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. Scientists

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Speaker 1: in the United Kingdom believe oral contraceptives can be used

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Speaker 1: to keep the invasive gray squirrel population in check. Gray

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Speaker 1: squirrels were shipped from the US to the UK in

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Speaker 1: the eighteen seventies and they've been wreaking havoc on the

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Speaker 1: native red squirrel population ever since. Gray squirrels out compete

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Speaker 1: red squirrels for food and shelter, and they carry a

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Speaker 1: disease called squirrel box. Grays are immune to squirrel pox,

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Speaker 1: but reds are not. These two factors have led to

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Speaker 1: a drop in the red squirrel population from three and

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Speaker 1: a half million at its peak to just one hundred

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Speaker 1: and forty thousand today. To reduce the gray squirrel population,

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Speaker 1: the Animal and Plant Health Agency has developed an oral

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Speaker 1: contraceptive along with a specialized feeding hopper. The hoppers weighted

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Speaker 1: door is designed to give gray squirrels access to the

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Speaker 1: contraceptive but keep other woodland creatures out. I know what

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Speaker 1: you're saying, and no, this story clearly has nothing to

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Speaker 1: do with Roe v. Wade. Okay. This is a government

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Speaker 1: funded program that has a facility where squirrels can enter

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Speaker 1: if they wish to and get free birth control. Okay,

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Speaker 1: it's got nothing to do with Roe v. Wade, all right.

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Speaker 1: And for all you small game hunters out there rolling

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Speaker 1: your eyes and rumbling your tummies, yes, there are other

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Speaker 1: methods out there, but this government program isn't about choice, okay.

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Speaker 1: And as we've learned with feral hogs here in the US,

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Speaker 1: hunting often isn't enough to eradicate an invasive species. The

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Speaker 1: animals reproduce far too quickly, and lethal removal isn't always

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Speaker 1: palatable in urban areas. We're gonna keep you up to

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Speaker 1: date on this one. If the heavy door to free

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Speaker 1: contraception is Plan A, it does make you wonder if

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Speaker 1: there's a Plan B. This week, we've got legislation feeding

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Speaker 1: the animals, and Bigfoot made me do it. But first

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you about my week. And my week

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Speaker 1: was super awesome. I joined Chester and Seth for the

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Speaker 1: last leg of the Montana Walleye Tour, set up the

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Speaker 1: Black Series camper and knocked out breakfast sand which is

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Speaker 1: every morning for the crew. You'll be able to see

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Speaker 1: the whole list of highs and lows of the walleye

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Speaker 1: angling tournament life soon enough on the meat Eater YouTube channel.

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Speaker 1: I dusted off the thirteen fishing walleye routes myself managed

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Speaker 1: to get a few small ones and some really nice perch,

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Speaker 1: which I fill aed and, like a good grandson does,

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Speaker 1: gave promptly over to my grandmother, who at nineties some

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Speaker 1: years old, is still a Scandinavian Midwesterner and thinks the

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Speaker 1: walleye is about as fine as fresh water fish eating gets.

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Speaker 1: Then I hitched up the fancy independently suspensioned wagon and

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Speaker 1: covered some seventeen hundred miles of eastern Montana with my

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Speaker 1: friend Seth Read from Steel, USA, visiting ranchers and farmers

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Speaker 1: enrolled in Montana's block management program. I'm not gonna lie.

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Speaker 1: If I could do this as a full time job,

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Speaker 1: I would have her Chinooksortmann Killer Burger and win at Glendive,

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Speaker 1: Weebow Baker Plevnum miles city. Great conversations, beautiful scenery. It

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Speaker 1: was a phenomenal road trip. Went a little too fast,

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Speaker 1: but I'll tell you Montana was putting on a show.

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Speaker 1: Lots of unexpected summer rain had things green at the

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Speaker 1: same time, I could have fed a small town on

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Speaker 1: the grasshopper protein on the front bumper alone. But I'll

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Speaker 1: get into that and a whole lot more in the

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Speaker 1: near future with a dedicated block management private land public

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Speaker 1: access episode where you will get to hear from some

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Speaker 1: of these landowners yourself again, one of the most enjoyed,

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Speaker 1: doable things I've done. Can't wait for you to hear it.

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Speaker 1: Should have the episode out just before the Montana antelope

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Speaker 1: archery opener here in the state, which would be prior

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Speaker 1: to August. Moving on to a controversy filled legislative desk.

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Speaker 1: You may remember all the way back in episode when

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Speaker 1: I told you about the Grassland Act. Today I have

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Speaker 1: more details. The North American Grasslands Conservation Act is designed

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Speaker 1: to protect grassland ecosystems that have seen a fifty three

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Speaker 1: million acre decline over the last ten years. Over seventy

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Speaker 1: percent of grasslands have disappeared thanks to agriculture development and

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Speaker 1: invasive plants. Pheasant populations have dropped by seventy bob white

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Speaker 1: quail have declined by three percent and the overall grassland

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Speaker 1: bird population is down over Yes, this is happening on

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Speaker 1: our watch right now. The Grasslands Act would authorize three

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Speaker 1: fifty million per year to fund a grant program AM.

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Speaker 1: These grants would be issued to farmers and ranchers, along

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Speaker 1: with state, local, and travel governments, to implement strategies to

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Speaker 1: protect and restore grassland ecosystems. These projects can include voluntary

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Speaker 1: conservation easements, restoration and management such as prescribed burns, and

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Speaker 1: invasive species control. Much like the Wetlands Act incentivized wetland

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Speaker 1: managers to implement sustainable conservation strategies, the Grasslands Act would

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Speaker 1: give farmers and ranchers incentives to plant native grasses and

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Speaker 1: improve habitat. Since we covered this proposal back in October,

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Speaker 1: the bill sponsors have added two additional components. The bill

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Speaker 1: will created Grasslands Conservation Council to recommend and approve projects,

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Speaker 1: as well as Grasslands Inventory to map progress. Both of

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Speaker 1: these features will make sure the approval process is transparent

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Speaker 1: and streamlined, and it's easy to see how the money

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Speaker 1: is benefiting the grassland ecosystems. The bill has been sponsored

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Speaker 1: by the National Deer Alliance Pheasants Forever, the Theodore Roosevelt

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Speaker 1: Servation Partnership, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, among many other organizations.

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Speaker 1: Three fifty million dollars is a big ask, especially these days,

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Speaker 1: and the bill is still a long way from passing.

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Speaker 1: My sources tell me that several Republicans are thinking about

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Speaker 1: supporting the bill, but they're concerned about the price tag,

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Speaker 1: especially in the economy. Others would have liked to see

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Speaker 1: a smaller bill to develop a grasslands conservation strategy and

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Speaker 1: then build that into a grant program rather than jump

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Speaker 1: right into a big appropriations bill. It's important to remember

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Speaker 1: that this is what's called an authorization's bill. It authorizes spending,

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Speaker 1: but it doesn't require spending. So while it's a big

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Speaker 1: step in the right direction, there's still time to work

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Speaker 1: out funding. If you want my opinion, I think hunters

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Speaker 1: should support the Grasslands Act. If you're a pheasant, elk

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Speaker 1: or prong horn hunter, farmer, or a rancher, this is

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Speaker 1: one of the most important bills of your lifetime. Hunters

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Speaker 1: love the hat Babaat, but we can't do it alone.

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Speaker 1: We need the farmers and the ranchers. And the only

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Speaker 1: way the farmers and the ranchers are going to keep

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Speaker 1: those farms and ranches intact and prevent them from getting

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Speaker 1: covered up and god awful condos is to get more

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Speaker 1: revenue streams, which the Grasslands Conservation Act will provide. It

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Speaker 1: protects a crucial ecosystem that's vital to the health of

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Speaker 1: the animals we love to hunt, and it does it

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Speaker 1: on a voluntary incentives based basis that doesn't require retiring

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Speaker 1: your pastures. You can still graze and hey, just don't

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Speaker 1: plow the grass under for short lived, short rooted soil

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Speaker 1: deteriorating and moisture sucking plants. So get on the phone

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Speaker 1: with your US representative. We need more congress critters to

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Speaker 1: sponsor this legislation to get it across the finish line.

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Speaker 1: Give him a call and tell them you support the

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Speaker 1: North American Grasslands Conservation Act. We're going to look back

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Speaker 1: on this one and be happy we made it happen.

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Speaker 1: Moving on, Anglers in Alabama and Mississippi are up in

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Speaker 1: arms over a new federal rule that would significantly reduce

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Speaker 1: the red snapper catch limit in those two states. According

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Speaker 1: to the new rule, the red snapper catch limit and

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Speaker 1: Mississippi would drop from one hundred and fifty four thousand

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Speaker 1: pounds per year to just over fifty nine thousand pounds.

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Speaker 1: In Alabama, the limit would drop from one point one

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Speaker 1: million pounds to five hundred and fifty eight thousand pounds.

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Speaker 1: In other Gulf Coast states, the annual red snapper limits

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Speaker 1: would stay about the same. Roger Wicker, a U S

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Speaker 1: Senator from Mississippi, says that the new rule would likely

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Speaker 1: cut the red snapper season down to less than three weeks.

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Speaker 1: He argues that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAH,

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Speaker 1: is basing their new rule on faulty data collection methods.

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Speaker 1: He believes NOAH is overestimating how many red snapper boats

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Speaker 1: around the water each year. NOAH regulators, on the other hand,

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Speaker 1: say the new rule is necessary because each state measures

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Speaker 1: their annual red snapper take differently. They argue that Mississippi

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Speaker 1: and Alabama tend to generate much lower landing estimates than

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Speaker 1: the federal survey, and the new rule calibrates those limits accordingly.

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Speaker 1: If you'd like to learn more and weigh in, check

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Speaker 1: out the link in the episode description. The comment period

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Speaker 1: ends July, so you only have a few more days.

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Speaker 1: There's another controversy brewing in Michigan over who has the

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Speaker 1: authority to set hunting seasons and bag limits. As in

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Speaker 1: most states, Michigan has both the Natural Resources Commission and

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Speaker 1: a Department of Natural Resources. The Commission is a bipartisan

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Speaker 1: group composed of individuals appointed by the governor. They work

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Speaker 1: in consultation with the scientists at the Department of Natural

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Speaker 1: Resources to determine fish and game regulations. They're usually less

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Speaker 1: susceptible to political pressure and have a mandate to make

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Speaker 1: decisions based on sound science. The controversy stems from a

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Speaker 1: memo released by Michigan Department and Natural Resources Director Dan Aikinger,

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Speaker 1: in which he claimed that the d NR, not the Commission,

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Speaker 1: has the authority to regulate hunting seasons after the first

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Speaker 1: season for a species has been established. I won't get

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Speaker 1: into the legal arguments right now, but here's what this

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Speaker 1: would mean on the ground. The Commission is more likely

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Speaker 1: to approve hunts for species like wolves and sandhill cranes,

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Speaker 1: while the Department of Natural Resources is more sensitive to

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Speaker 1: broader political pressures around both issues. The DNR might support

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Speaker 1: these hunts, but they're more worried about political backlash and

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Speaker 1: whether the hunts would trigger Endangered Species Act restrictions if

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Speaker 1: the DNR prevails, and might be harder for those controversial

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Speaker 1: seasons to get established. If you live in Michigan and

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Speaker 1: want to weigh in, send a note to the d

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Speaker 1: n R, the Commission, and the Governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Finally,

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Speaker 1: a quick update for you on Representative Andrew Clyde's Return Act.

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Speaker 1: If you recall from a previous episode, the Return Act

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Speaker 1: would dismantle the current Pittman Robertson structure by repealing the

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Speaker 1: x i AS tax on firearms and ammunition. This excise

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Speaker 1: tax has generated one billion for conservation work each year

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Speaker 1: the past few years. Representative Clyde's bill would try to

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Speaker 1: replace that money with other sources of funding, but cap

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Speaker 1: that funding at eight hundred million dollars. The bill originally

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Speaker 1: had fifty three co sponsors. It bumped up to like

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Speaker 1: fifty eight, but then in the last few days, four

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Speaker 1: of those original co sponsors have withdrawn their support. Two

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Speaker 1: of those sponsors are part of Representative Clyde's Republican delegation

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Speaker 1: from Georgia. Katie Chalep, the communications director at back Country

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Speaker 1: Hunters and Anglers, told me that it's unusual for even

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Speaker 1: a single member to back out from a bill, so

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Speaker 1: it's safe to assume that the Return Act is not

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Speaker 1: finding a lot of support. I will tell you that

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Speaker 1: we updated the article of the Return Act at the

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Speaker 1: meat eater dot com to reflect some changes I screwed

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Speaker 1: up on the fishing related references in the original article.

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Speaker 1: Clyde's bill has nothing to do with fishing related items.

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Speaker 1: Oddly enough, off Representative Clyde's office has reached out in

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Speaker 1: a very friendly way to help me rewrite what I

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Speaker 1: got wrong, and my own state Representative, Matt Rosendale has

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Speaker 1: yet to respond in any way with why he is

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Speaker 1: co sponsoring this bill. Better customer service in Georgia then

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Speaker 1: here in my home state, I guess. Moving on to

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Speaker 1: the don't feed the wild animals desk, suburban living can

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Speaker 1: be tough neighbors, mother lawns at ungodly hours, dogs bark

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Speaker 1: all night, and worst of all, kindly old folks feed

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Speaker 1: the wildlife. Thanks to listeners Ben Wyant, Chance Platt, and

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Speaker 1: Jake Hoover for bringing these stories to our attention. First up,

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Speaker 1: a New York man has angered his neighbors after his

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Speaker 1: bird feeding habit attracted coyotes, foxes, and rodents to the

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Speaker 1: peaceful neighborhood. In so does Point, New York. Seventy one

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Speaker 1: year old Don Antle regularly feeds the neighborhood bird, squirrels,

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Speaker 1: and ducks with twenty three sheet pans of peanuts and

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Speaker 1: bird food. The retiree lays out the pans on his

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Speaker 1: front yard and watches as the neighborhood wildlife descends on

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Speaker 1: the smorgas board. Side note, smorgas board is a Swedish

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Speaker 1: word meaning bread and butter table. That's a table with

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Speaker 1: bread and butter on it, not a table made from

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Speaker 1: bread and butter. Though I can see the appeal whatever

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Speaker 1: you call it. Antle's neighbors are none too happy. They

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Speaker 1: say the food spills into the street, the animals blocked traffic,

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Speaker 1: and rodents have invaded their homes. In a note posted

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Speaker 1: online by a local media outlet, one of Antle's neighbors

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Speaker 1: begs him to stop feeding the wildlife because the animals

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Speaker 1: are bringing peanuts into the yards of people with peanut allergies.

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Speaker 1: They're quoted by saying, we know the intentions are good

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Speaker 1: for the animals, but it is becoming dangerous. I'm sure

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Speaker 1: the intention of Mr. Antle was not to biologically weaponized squirrels,

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Speaker 1: but you know, our actions have consequences, sometimes totally unintended.

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Speaker 1: Antle has been feeding wildlife in his neighbor Brewhood since

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Speaker 1: two thousand eleven, but his operation has grown so large

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Speaker 1: that he's attracted attention from law enforcement. A two thousand

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Speaker 1: nineteen ordinance stated that residents can only have two bird

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Speaker 1: feeders and the feeders must be five feet off the ground.

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Speaker 1: Antle has been ticketed several times for violating this ordinance,

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Speaker 1: but he pays the fine and continues to set out food.

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Speaker 1: According to the most recent report, Antle hasn't stopped feeding

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Speaker 1: the animals. On the same page, but a different state,

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Speaker 1: a Houston couple has also earned the ire of their

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Speaker 1: neighbors for feeding the local ducks. But this h o

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Speaker 1: A isn't messing around. George and Kathleen Row were sued

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Speaker 1: earlier this month by the Lakeland Community Homeowners Association for

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Speaker 1: a whopping two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which would

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Speaker 1: be enough to put those ducks on a plane and

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Speaker 1: have migrated around the planet a few times. The suit

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Speaker 1: claims the Rose engage in quote unclean, unhealthy, or untidy

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Speaker 1: activities and that the ducks poop in the neighborhood and

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Speaker 1: tear up garden. Kathleen Roe has been feeding ducks in

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Speaker 1: the neighborhood for ten years, and she's refused to stop

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Speaker 1: even after being told such activity is prohibited. The h

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Speaker 1: O is asking the court to make the couple pay

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Speaker 1: to clean up the neighborhood in order them to stop

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Speaker 1: feeding the ducks. Of course, there are two sides to

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Speaker 1: every story. Kathleen told local media that her neighbors didn't

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Speaker 1: have a problem with her hobby until a new neighbor

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Speaker 1: moved in and launched a campaign against her. H O.

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Speaker 1: A politics side note to the listener that sent the

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Speaker 1: picture of the shirt that says defund the h O

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Speaker 1: a thank you. Kathleen goes on to say, there are

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Speaker 1: just a lot of hateful people that just do not

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Speaker 1: like ducks and me, I just love them. Kathleen and

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Speaker 1: her husband have decided to sell their home and move

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Speaker 1: away while they fight the lawsuit. Kathleen worries the ducks

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Speaker 1: won't have anyone to feed them, but she has a solution.

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Speaker 1: If there's any way I can grab a couple of

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Speaker 1: them and take them with me, I will now Kathleen

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Speaker 1: needs to know it is illegal, even in the eight

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Speaker 1: to Texas, where you can have a tiger to capture

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Speaker 1: any game animal or bird from the wild without a

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Speaker 1: proper permit. I'm not sure that Kathleen knows that, so

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Speaker 1: I hope she listens to the podcast Last One for You.

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Speaker 1: A man who has dubbed himself the Deer Whisperer is

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Speaker 1: feeding white tailed deer outside his suburban home and Largo Vista, Texas.

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Speaker 1: His YouTube channel currently has three six thousand subscribers, and

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Speaker 1: as far as I can tell, all his videos show

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Speaker 1: him feeding deer without a shirt on. I don't know

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Speaker 1: why he doesn't wear a shirt. Maybe the deer ate it.

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Speaker 1: Maybe he thinks the deer attracted to a sunburned, tattooed

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Speaker 1: upper body. It's a mystery. I haven't seen any reports

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Speaker 1: about his neighbor's reactions, but if he listened to Cal's

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Speaker 1: we Can review, he'd know that he's not doing those

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Speaker 1: deer and he favors wild Animals that become acclimated to

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Speaker 1: people are much more likely to become aggressive, have conflicts

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Speaker 1: with humans, and be put down. I understand that it

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Speaker 1: makes for good social media content, but None of the

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Speaker 1: folks we've talked about today are helping the animals they

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Speaker 1: care so much about. Squirrels, ducks, and deer can find

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Speaker 1: food on their own. If you think an animal is

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Speaker 1: in trouble, call your fishing game agency. They have professionals

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Speaker 1: who can assess the situation and know whether or not

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Speaker 1: to intervene. Moving on to the biodiversity desk, a new

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Speaker 1: report from an international conservation organization claims that one in

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Speaker 1: five people on planet Earth rely on wild species for

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Speaker 1: food and income, and that over ten thousand wild species

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Speaker 1: are harvested for food. I eat wild game almost exclusively.

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Speaker 1: I know I'm in the minority here in the US,

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Speaker 1: but worldwide, billions of people still rely on wild plants

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Speaker 1: and animals for their daily calories. These folks live mostly

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Speaker 1: in rural areas of developing countries, and seventy of the

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Speaker 1: world's poor are directly dependent on wild species. The paper

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Speaker 1: was put together by eighty five experts and published by

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Speaker 1: the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

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Speaker 1: or i PBS. They say that while one thousand three

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Speaker 1: wild mammal species are threatened by hunting, the sustainability of

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Speaker 1: hunting varies widely from region to region. In areas with

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Speaker 1: sustainable hunting practices, the game animals have high population growth

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Speaker 1: rates and ecological adaptability, and hunting is well managed. I

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Speaker 1: think white tailed deer in the US if you need

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Speaker 1: a comparison. The most targeted species for subsistence hunters are

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Speaker 1: large bodied mammals. These mammals account for fifty five to

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Speaker 1: seventy of the world's terrestrial wild meat biomass, while small

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Speaker 1: game comprises the remaining twenty Squirrel hunters know that it's

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Speaker 1: tough to compete with, say, elk hunters when comparing calories

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Speaker 1: spent to calories earned five hunted squirrels all day with

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Speaker 1: only a few pounds of meat to show for it.

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Speaker 1: If calories are my main goal, elk or deer are

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Speaker 1: a much more logical choice, and that logic applies in

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Speaker 1: other countries as well. This is a big paper with

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Speaker 1: lots of interesting details, but it should remind us that

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Speaker 1: even in a world where we can grow lab grown meat,

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Speaker 1: wild places and wild animals still matter. Two billions of

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Speaker 1: people moving on to the wolf desk. The Washington State

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Speaker 1: Fish and Wildlife Commission recently voted five four to strike

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Speaker 1: down a proposal that would have made it more difficult

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Speaker 1: for landowners to kill wolves in the state. Commissioner James

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Speaker 1: Anderson said, I think a strict rule at this time

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Speaker 1: would be counterproductive. I think it would be an economic hardship.

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Speaker 1: The rule proposed that before wolves would be killed for

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Speaker 1: attacking livestock, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife would

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Speaker 1: need to confirm that livestock owners had implemented appropriate non

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Speaker 1: lethal deterrence. The proposal would have also created chronic conflict

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Speaker 1: zones with area specific criteria for the use of non

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Speaker 1: lethal and lethal measures. The Commission took up the proposal

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Speaker 1: after wash Ington Governor j Insley directed Washington Wildlife officials

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Speaker 1: to kill fewer wolves. We must find new methods to

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Speaker 1: better support coexistence between Washington's livestock industry and gray wolves

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Speaker 1: in our state. The status quo of annual lethal removal

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Speaker 1: is simply unacceptable, said the governor. The Commission apparently disagreed,

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Speaker 1: probably because the term coexistence is mostly relegated to Disney

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Speaker 1: movies at this point. As you know, coexistence in the

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Speaker 1: wild means sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes with

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Speaker 1: the berries you The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

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Speaker 1: will continue to manage wolves under the Wolf Livestock Protocols,

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Speaker 1: which have been developed in the fourteen years since wolves

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Speaker 1: naturally returned to the state. The current protocols still expect

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Speaker 1: landowners to implement to terrence measures, but they don't impose

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Speaker 1: a hard and fast rule that applies to every situation.

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Speaker 1: That vote has already been taken, but over in Michigan,

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Speaker 1: residents have an opportunity to influence how wolves will be

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Speaker 1: managed in their state. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources

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Speaker 1: is updating its Wolf Management Plan this year, and they're

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Speaker 1: asking for public feedback in an online questionnaire. The plan

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Speaker 1: was first developed in two thousand and eight but hasn't

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Speaker 1: been updated since two thousand fifteen. The current draft of

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Speaker 1: the plan lays out four goals to maintain a viable

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Speaker 1: wolf population, facilitate wolf related benefits, minimize wolf related conflicts,

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Speaker 1: and conducts science based and socially responsible management. I encourage

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Speaker 1: you to read the one hundred and thirty one page

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Speaker 1: document for yourself, but I want to zoom in on

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Speaker 1: that first goal, to maintain a viable population. The plan

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Speaker 1: currently defines viable as at least two hundred wolves in

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Speaker 1: the state. However, that's not a population goal quote. This

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Speaker 1: plan does not identify a target population size, nor does

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Speaker 1: it establish an upper limit for the number of wolves

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Speaker 1: in the state. The document continue, and I think this

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Speaker 1: part is really important. As a result, public preferences regarding

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Speaker 1: levels of positive and negative wolf human interactions will be

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Speaker 1: an important consideration within the adaptive management framework when managing

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Speaker 1: wolf abundance. In other words, the d n R will

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Speaker 1: work to maintain a two wolf minimum, but they'll be

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Speaker 1: looking to public opinion to determine any official or unofficial

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Speaker 1: max population levels, which brings us back to this online survey.

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Speaker 1: If you live in Michigan and want to weigh in,

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Speaker 1: check out the link in this episode description or just

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Speaker 1: google Michigan Wolf Survey. Don't wait until the plan has

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Speaker 1: been finalized and then cry and moan that they didn't listen.

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Speaker 1: Fill out the survey, contact the d n R and

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Speaker 1: make sure they know what you think. The survey will

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Speaker 1: be available until August four. Moving on to the Bigfoot

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Speaker 1: Desk and Oklahoma man has been charged with first degree

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Speaker 1: murder for killing his noodling buddy, who says he was

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Speaker 1: about to feed him to Bigfoot. If you'd like to

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Speaker 1: take a second to digest that sentence. Go ahead. Fifty

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Speaker 1: three year old Larry Sanders allegedly admitted to police that

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Speaker 1: he killed his friend, Jimmy Knighton while the two were

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Speaker 1: noodling for catfish earlier this month. Noodling, for those unfamiliar,

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Speaker 1: is a fishing technique that involves sticking your hand in

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Speaker 1: catfish holes so the fish will bite your hand. Then

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Speaker 1: you grab them by the lip and pull them out.

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Speaker 1: If you've never done this, it's amazing, a fantastic experience,

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Speaker 1: and you know, catfish are real tasty. Sanders told investigators

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Speaker 1: that they were noodling along the South Canadian River when

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Speaker 1: Nighton tried to run away. Night And told Sanders that

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Speaker 1: Bigfoot was coming to eat him, which Sanders didn't appreciate.

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Speaker 1: Sanders punched Night and night And fought back with a stick,

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Speaker 1: and the two wrestled around the mud for a while. Eventually,

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Speaker 1: Sanders got the upper hand and choked knight into death

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Speaker 1: on the bank of the river. Yes, to answer the

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Speaker 1: obvious question, illegal drugs were involved. Investigators said that Sanders

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Speaker 1: appeared to be quote under the influence of something. Sanders

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Speaker 1: daughter told police he seemed frantic when She saw him

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Speaker 1: later that day and he repeated the big foot story

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Speaker 1: to her as well. Is something about Oklahoma and Bigfoot

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Speaker 1: is ringing a bell. There's a reason Oklahoma State Rep.

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Speaker 1: Justin Humphrey tried unsuccessfully last year to institute a big

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Speaker 1: foot hunting season. He said the season was about tracking,

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Speaker 1: not killing bigfoot. But you gotta wonder if maybe Nighton

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Speaker 1: was onto something. Maybe Bigfoot is angry and he started

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Speaker 1: an Oklahoma and hunting season on his own. That's all

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Speaker 1: I've got for you. Thank you so much for listening.

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Speaker 1: As per usual, let me know what's going on in

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Speaker 1: your neck of the woods by writing in to a

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Speaker 1: s k c a L. That's ask how at the

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Speaker 1: Meat Eater dot com. Thanks again and I'll talk to

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Speaker 1: next week.