1 00:00:02,840 --> 00:00:06,840 Speaker 1: From Mediators World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is 2 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:10,880 Speaker 1: Cal's we Can review, presented by Steel Steel products are 3 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: available only at authorized dealers. For more, go to Steel 4 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: Dealers dot com. Now here's your host, Ryan cal Callahan. 5 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:26,120 Speaker 1: Russian scientists from the Soil Cryology Laboratory at the Pushchino 6 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:30,240 Speaker 1: Center for Biological Research recently pulled an animal out of 7 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 1: the Siberian perma frost that was still alive after twenty 8 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: four thousand years. For those of you not in the know, 9 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: soil cryology is the study of very cold dirt, and 10 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,840 Speaker 1: perma frost is any patch of ground that stays completely 11 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 1: frozen for more than two years straight. So Siberia is 12 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: a good place to study sub zero soil and the 13 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: things that come out of it when it starts to thaw. Now, 14 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: before you get excited about a blind wooly mammoth staggering 15 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: around like on solo after being thought out of carbonite, 16 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: what came out of the permafrost was a much much 17 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: smaller animal. The deloid rhodifer. Rhodifers are microscopic filter feeders 18 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 1: that you can find in almost every body of water 19 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 1: on Earth from the Pacific Ocean down to your backyard 20 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: bird bath. This particular species is the deloid rhodifer. You're 21 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:26,600 Speaker 1: only hearing me say Deloyd, but that name is spelled 22 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: B D E L l o I D from the 23 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: ancient Greek word for leech, which is what these guys 24 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:37,920 Speaker 1: are shaped like, or I should say what these gals 25 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 1: are shaped like. There are actually no males of the species. 26 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:47,559 Speaker 1: Deloid rhodifers reproduced through parthenogenesis, which means that each individual 27 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: female gives birth to a female offspring without being fertilized 28 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: by another rhodifer. A sexual reproduction like this has its 29 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: evolutionary advantages you don't have to go to the trouble 30 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: of finding a mate, but it leads to a lack 31 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 1: of genetic diversity that makes it very difficult for an 32 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: animal to adapt to new threats. So species that evolve 33 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: into parthenogenesis often go extinct before very long. But deloid 34 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 1: rhodofers have been around for at least forty million years 35 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:21,640 Speaker 1: and have at least four hundred and fifty distinct subspecies, 36 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 1: which means they have been able to adapt to almost 37 00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:28,400 Speaker 1: every kind of environment you can think of. Scientists think 38 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:32,400 Speaker 1: this is partially because deloid Rhodofers have developed something called 39 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 1: horizontal gene transfer, which is the ability to incorporate the 40 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:40,400 Speaker 1: genetic material of the other life forms you consume. Let 41 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: me pause here to emphasize how freaking cool this is. 42 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,920 Speaker 1: Scientists have analyzed the DNA of rhodofers and determined that 43 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:51,840 Speaker 1: at least ten percent of their genes come from the bacteria, algae, 44 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:55,680 Speaker 1: and plants that they eat. This genetic diversity allows them 45 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:58,760 Speaker 1: to adapt when something in their environment changes that could 46 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 1: have potentially wiped them out. Brings new meaning to you 47 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: are what you eat? Right? This would be like you 48 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 1: and me eating salmon and our kids developing gills, then 49 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 1: the neighborhood floods and those kids being able to breathe 50 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: underwater live, while those that don't have gills, well, you know, 51 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 1: you get it. The genetic wizardry is also how individual 52 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: road offers, like our friend from the Siberian permafrost can 53 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:27,520 Speaker 1: survive so well after almost twenty five millennia. If you 54 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 1: dry a road for out completely, or freeze her solid 55 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:35,200 Speaker 1: or shoot ionizing radiation at her, her cells will suffer 56 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 1: a certain amount of damage, and for most animals that 57 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: would be the end. But in a process the scientists 58 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 1: don't fully understand. Rhoda furs are able to repair their damage, 59 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: even down to the level of individual strands of DNA 60 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: that have been broken apart by radioactivity. So when the 61 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: Russian road af was warmed up in the lab and 62 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: given some calories and fresh water, she perked right back 63 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: up and even gave birth to several more road First 64 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:03,400 Speaker 1: I found this story amazing, which is why I wanted 65 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: to share it with you and possibly exposing as a 66 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,280 Speaker 1: source of inspiration for all of those Marvel, comic book 67 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: and sci fi writers out there. This week we've got 68 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: tarpan wild horses and trail cameras. But first I'm gonna 69 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:22,920 Speaker 1: tell you about my week. And this week I am 70 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:26,040 Speaker 1: back to looking like an absolute jackass on the front 71 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:28,919 Speaker 1: of a flats boat looking for tarpan. I say I 72 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:32,039 Speaker 1: look like jackass because it dawned on me that to 73 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: get good at tarpan fishing, it requires a lot of 74 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 1: time on the water, and I essentially just show up 75 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: and hope the stars aligned and I'll catch one more 76 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:44,800 Speaker 1: out of luck than skill. Tarpan I have talked about 77 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:48,599 Speaker 1: many times. They are an incredibly cool fish, a species 78 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:53,600 Speaker 1: much celebrated and oddly much maligned tarpan inhabit both coasts 79 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:56,200 Speaker 1: of the Atlantic. They even swim through the Panama Canal 80 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: and enjoy a small portion of the Pacific. Tarpan or 81 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: a living fossil, having swum almost unchanged for some eighteen 82 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: million years. They are obligate air breathers, meaning they have 83 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 1: to occasionally sip air from the surface. They have a 84 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:14,520 Speaker 1: highly vascular swim bladder which can absorb oxygen from the 85 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:18,120 Speaker 1: air it holds. This is in fact the primary survival 86 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:21,920 Speaker 1: strategy of the baby tarpan that end up in very warm, 87 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:26,839 Speaker 1: stagnant coastal waters. They can survive there amongst the swamp 88 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,839 Speaker 1: and mangrove in waters depleted of oxygen, where many of 89 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:34,720 Speaker 1: their potential predators cannot. Right now, folks pay a lot 90 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: of attention to this fish for its incredibly fun recreational 91 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: fighting ability. They call it the Silver King. They form 92 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:46,600 Speaker 1: lives and businesses around chasing them, understanding them, and catching 93 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:50,320 Speaker 1: and releasing them. Tarpan we're in US waters and are 94 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:53,159 Speaker 1: still in certain other areas of the world. Thought of 95 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:57,440 Speaker 1: as a fish that occupied too much biomass. They're big 96 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 1: and they're tough, to eat, and they eat a lot 97 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:03,520 Speaker 1: of other fish that people like to eat, So wouldn't 98 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:06,839 Speaker 1: it be good to clear that biomass out and replace 99 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:09,799 Speaker 1: it with something easier for folks to eat, and easier 100 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:12,279 Speaker 1: for folks to land, and easier for folks to put 101 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:16,839 Speaker 1: in a net. So through gill netting, even dynamite and poison. 102 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: In some areas, these fish were rounded up and used 103 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:23,839 Speaker 1: as fertilizer, their scales used for jewelry or nail files 104 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: or guitar picks even, and there was an attempt to 105 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:29,159 Speaker 1: get them out of the way so other fish could 106 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:33,560 Speaker 1: be brought in. The tarpan is currently listed internationally is 107 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:36,880 Speaker 1: threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. 108 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:39,919 Speaker 1: One of the things that has landed tarpan in a 109 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:43,799 Speaker 1: safe place is the fact that the recreational tarpan fishery 110 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: here in the US is worth roughly six billion dollars. 111 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: Dubbed again the silver King, they are charismatic, They're incredibly strong, 112 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 1: full of energy, high endurance. They're big jumpers, They're very photogenic. 113 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: These fish are sought after and they put on a 114 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 1: show for fly anglers. They'll eat smallish flies, and they 115 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:10,679 Speaker 1: happen to look up towards the surface, making fly presentations 116 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:14,920 Speaker 1: pretty darned effective. These are bucket list type creatures for 117 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:17,720 Speaker 1: folks with a hankering to travel with their fly poles 118 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 1: and fish rods. Never mind the fact that the incredibly 119 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:24,680 Speaker 1: hard to catch, elusive and picky fish you just chased 120 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:28,680 Speaker 1: all day is the exact same fish that has congregated 121 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 1: at certain marinas and dock lights to eat just about 122 00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:35,240 Speaker 1: any food scraps or virtually any old bait tossed off 123 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 1: the sides of the commercial fishing boats within easy reach 124 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:43,120 Speaker 1: of any interested child. The largest recorded tarpan was over 125 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:46,280 Speaker 1: eight ft long and three fifty five pounds. The world 126 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: record all tackle tarpin is a two eighty six pound 127 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: nine ounce fish caught on eighty pound line out of 128 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:56,560 Speaker 1: Guinea Bissau, and the fly line world record is a 129 00:07:56,560 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 1: two two pound eight ounce tarpan cot on twenty pound mine. 130 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 1: They get big. In fact, a potential new all tackle 131 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 1: world record out of Columbia of three twelve pounds just 132 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:12,280 Speaker 1: hit the social media feed this week. This particular trip 133 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:15,040 Speaker 1: I am on the weather has been crap, but I 134 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:17,720 Speaker 1: broke off a really big turpan on a bad hook. 135 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:20,560 Speaker 1: The first day, my friend Brian landed a fish in 136 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 1: the seventy pound range. He hooked, fought, and landed, and 137 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 1: released that fish in under ten minutes. The next day, 138 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:31,400 Speaker 1: more frustrating conditions, but we eventually got our gap in 139 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:33,760 Speaker 1: the weather and we were able to find fish. I 140 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 1: hooked up first and broke one off. He wore through 141 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:39,680 Speaker 1: the heavy bite tippet, which was a bummer in a way, 142 00:08:39,920 --> 00:08:41,680 Speaker 1: but also in a way it was a good thing. 143 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 1: I was a little sloppy, didn't exactly have myself dialed. 144 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 1: I couldn't quite get into play all the advice I'd 145 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:52,520 Speaker 1: been given. That fish broke off somewhere around the eighteen 146 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:55,559 Speaker 1: or nineteen minute mark. It should have been boat side 147 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:59,319 Speaker 1: before then. After that, Brian jumped up and hooked a 148 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:02,320 Speaker 1: fish and order. He got a couple of great jumps 149 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:05,040 Speaker 1: out of it, right next to the boat, sunshining, water 150 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: all exploding around it. It was beautiful, but a loop 151 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:10,840 Speaker 1: of his flying line caught on the handle of the 152 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 1: reel and the leader snapped all over. And maybe twenty 153 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:18,959 Speaker 1: seconds after that we retired. Found more fish. This time 154 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:20,960 Speaker 1: the sun was out and we could see the tarp 155 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: in coming from a long way away. I finally made 156 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:26,640 Speaker 1: a nice cast. I had plenty of time. I put 157 00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:29,960 Speaker 1: the fly in front, but not too far, and slowly 158 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:33,000 Speaker 1: moved at ahead of his nose. There's a big eat, 159 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:35,320 Speaker 1: a turn, and a jerk of the line. With my 160 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:38,439 Speaker 1: slack hand, I buried the hook in the fish's mouth. 161 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 1: He made a couple of big, long runs. I applied 162 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:44,480 Speaker 1: heavy drag. We chased him with the boat, and in 163 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:48,679 Speaker 1: very short order sub ten minutes, we had another tarpan 164 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,080 Speaker 1: next to the boat. This felt great, not just because 165 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 1: I landed the fish, but more so because I am 166 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: a rookie and it is really fun to put the 167 00:09:56,840 --> 00:10:00,400 Speaker 1: skills being thrown at you by experienced anglers to work. 168 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:03,679 Speaker 1: Learning is fun, you know. Even though this type of 169 00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:07,320 Speaker 1: sport fishing is catching release versus catching kill, there is 170 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:10,479 Speaker 1: always a chance that the act of fighting and exhausting 171 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:12,439 Speaker 1: a fish in order to get it to the boat 172 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:15,480 Speaker 1: will be enough to kill it. And dead is dead, 173 00:10:15,559 --> 00:10:18,199 Speaker 1: even if you don't see it happen. Catching and release 174 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:21,040 Speaker 1: mortality is a thing, and anglers need to do what 175 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:23,640 Speaker 1: they can to mitigate it. If you are in low 176 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,800 Speaker 1: oxygen water and the fight goes too long, if you 177 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:29,360 Speaker 1: feel like you're messing it up. You can always choose 178 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:32,400 Speaker 1: to just snap the line and proceed on with your day. 179 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:35,640 Speaker 1: Sometimes that means being rigged up for this, having a 180 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:38,840 Speaker 1: stretch of lighter mono in between the thick bite mono 181 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:42,160 Speaker 1: that connects the fly to the leader. In trout waters, 182 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:45,959 Speaker 1: unless you're strictly fishing to keep fish, don't fish for 183 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:49,040 Speaker 1: trout and water tamps over sixty seven degrees, which are 184 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:53,640 Speaker 1: typically low oxygen waters, a stressful environment for those fish. 185 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 1: That sixty seven degree mark is a temperature range we're 186 00:10:57,080 --> 00:10:59,719 Speaker 1: already getting into in some waters back in my home 187 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:03,280 Speaker 1: state Montana, it is always a good idea to not 188 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:06,520 Speaker 1: bring a fish in the boat or over the boat 189 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: if you intend to release it. If they land on 190 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:12,640 Speaker 1: or in the boat, they can quickly beat themselves up 191 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:16,240 Speaker 1: beyond reasonable recovery before you can get them under control 192 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:18,840 Speaker 1: enough to get them back in the water. Handle a 193 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 1: fish with your hands as little as possible. That fish 194 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:26,160 Speaker 1: slime is there to protect them. A recent study titled 195 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:29,280 Speaker 1: Migrations and Movements of Atlantic type and revealed by two 196 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 1: decades of satellite tagging, was published in the January issue 197 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:36,839 Speaker 1: of the journal Fish and Fisheries. This study is based 198 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:40,160 Speaker 1: on an eighteen year data set following three hundred adult 199 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:44,920 Speaker 1: typan outfitted with GPS tags. According to this study, atlantic 200 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:48,680 Speaker 1: typan are now threatened throughout their range by recreational fishing, 201 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:54,680 Speaker 1: release mortality, directed commercial harvests, intensive harvesting of key prey species, 202 00:11:54,960 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 1: and habitat degradation, which is extremely interesting that catching release 203 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:05,800 Speaker 1: mortality made the list of threats amongst commercial harvest, habitat loss, 204 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:08,560 Speaker 1: and loss of the food species that tarp and eat. 205 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:11,840 Speaker 1: I have some thoughts as to why, and they revolve 206 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 1: around the fact that the three tagged fish came out 207 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:19,560 Speaker 1: of almost strictly recreational fisheries. The fish I landed fast, 208 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:22,760 Speaker 1: I did choose to handle. I got out of the boat. 209 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:25,439 Speaker 1: My guide and friend, Jiro Brewer, had the tarpan by 210 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:29,000 Speaker 1: the lip. I grabbed his tail. We quickly lifted him 211 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:32,240 Speaker 1: mostly from the water for a photo while thigh deep, 212 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:34,959 Speaker 1: and then released him. It was all in all, maybe 213 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:38,199 Speaker 1: a three second maneuver. You never know what will happen 214 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:40,640 Speaker 1: when you release a fish. They go off into the 215 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:44,199 Speaker 1: ocean or river or lake, and who knows what happens. 216 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:47,640 Speaker 1: You just have to use your best judgment. In this case, 217 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 1: I am very confident that this fish had lots of 218 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:54,199 Speaker 1: fight left and was as fine as the previous fish 219 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:57,160 Speaker 1: we released from the boat. But what was the point? 220 00:12:57,679 --> 00:13:02,200 Speaker 1: A picture a lasting memory, yes, of course, But the 221 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 1: side benefit was I really got to feel how heavy, 222 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:11,000 Speaker 1: thick and powerful this fish was. I got to realize 223 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:14,560 Speaker 1: the potential of how powerful this fish could be in 224 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:18,680 Speaker 1: the future by grabbing its tail, mostly getting my hand 225 00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: around it and feeling it's hefed. I appreciate the tarp 226 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:26,360 Speaker 1: and more a lot more, if I'm being honest. Do 227 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:28,320 Speaker 1: I need to get in the water with it one 228 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: every time? Provided there is another time? No, I'd rather 229 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:35,960 Speaker 1: get back in action and try to get another tarpan 230 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:39,959 Speaker 1: to eat. But if there isn't another time in my future, 231 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 1: I'll be glad I held that fish, for it has 232 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:51,320 Speaker 1: increased my understanding of the fish. Moving on to the 233 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:57,760 Speaker 1: wild horses desk, You remember that stone song? What horse? Anyway? 234 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:01,800 Speaker 1: The nonprofit group Friends of Animals recently filed suit against 235 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:04,839 Speaker 1: the Bureau of Land Management over the BLMS feral horse 236 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:09,520 Speaker 1: adoption program. The federal government currently houses almost fifty thousand 237 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:13,480 Speaker 1: feral horses on the taxpayer's dime. In a quote humane 238 00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: attempt to manage this population, the BLM developed a program 239 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 1: offering one thousand dollars to anyone willing to take one 240 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:24,280 Speaker 1: of these horses home. You won't be surprised to hear 241 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:26,800 Speaker 1: that animal rights groups have a bone or two to 242 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:30,880 Speaker 1: pick with the program. Side note, My uncle Mike Walton 243 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:33,800 Speaker 1: went over to Miles City, Montana, home the cowboys and 244 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:37,040 Speaker 1: home of the annual bucking horse sale, and where he 245 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: cashed in on this thousand bucks by buying a feral 246 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 1: mayor who was pregnant or bred, and those two have 247 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 1: lived on his dime well beyond the thousand dollar payment 248 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:52,640 Speaker 1: he received for over twenty years. If you own horses, 249 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:55,880 Speaker 1: you know what I'm talking about. They're expensive to those 250 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:59,640 Speaker 1: two wild horses beyond Ken Bernard, I say, if you're listening, 251 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:04,120 Speaker 1: you won the horsey lottery. Anyway, you're hearing me say 252 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:06,920 Speaker 1: feral horse instead of wild horse, because none of the 253 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:11,120 Speaker 1: animals in question are actually native to the US. The 254 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:14,120 Speaker 1: horse did in fact originate in North America, and the 255 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 1: species spread west across the Bearing Land Bridge and into Eurasia, 256 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:21,680 Speaker 1: but the original North American population when extinct at the 257 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:24,360 Speaker 1: end of the place to scene about eleven thousand years ago. 258 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:29,800 Speaker 1: Horses didn't reappear in North America until Europeans introduced them here, 259 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:33,000 Speaker 1: which is a cool around the globe migration, but it 260 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:36,000 Speaker 1: still makes modern day and non domesticated horses in the 261 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 1: US quote feral, and you could say invasive, because non 262 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:44,840 Speaker 1: domesticated horses are absolutely punishing the habitat in which they 263 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:50,040 Speaker 1: roam and reproduce. Since the nineteen seventies, populations have steadily grown, 264 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:53,560 Speaker 1: and in many places their numbers are way way over 265 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: the carrying capacity of the land. For example, one especially 266 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:01,840 Speaker 1: famous herd in the Onaki mount of Utah. You can 267 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,240 Speaker 1: beat me up on that right into a s k 268 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:07,200 Speaker 1: c al that's asked how at the meat Eater dot com? 269 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:11,720 Speaker 1: Or on a Kai Mountains? Yeah, anyway, that mountain range 270 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:16,720 Speaker 1: has an appropriate management level of at most animals, but 271 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 1: the Ona Kai herd is now at least double that size. Statewide, Nevada, 272 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:26,120 Speaker 1: the appropriate management level is twelve eight hundred animals, but 273 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:29,120 Speaker 1: the current population is estimated to be more than thirty 274 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:33,840 Speaker 1: four thousand. You can predict what happens next. Native vegetation 275 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 1: gets eaten to the ground and has no chance to regrow. 276 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:39,640 Speaker 1: Native animals have less and less to eat, and even 277 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:43,160 Speaker 1: the horse population itself begins to starve. With all the 278 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:47,840 Speaker 1: edible vegetation gone, non native inedible plants like cheat grass 279 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:52,560 Speaker 1: have no competition and spread like crazy. Once cheat grass 280 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:56,280 Speaker 1: gets established, it leads to more frequent brush fires, which 281 00:16:56,400 --> 00:17:00,920 Speaker 1: further damages native shrubs and allows even more cheese grassed spread. 282 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:04,400 Speaker 1: We could talk about the soil effects for days. All 283 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 1: this means that the BLM goes to great lengths to 284 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:09,760 Speaker 1: control feral horse numbers, and they don't have a lot 285 00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:13,480 Speaker 1: of great tools at their disposal. For instance, you cannot 286 00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 1: hunt feral horses. Historically speaking, it's weird that you can't 287 00:17:17,840 --> 00:17:21,640 Speaker 1: hunt horses. Remember that place to see population in North America? 288 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:24,480 Speaker 1: I mentioned those place to see horses were a staple 289 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:28,040 Speaker 1: of the human diet. In prehistoric Europe. Horses and reindeer 290 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:31,080 Speaker 1: were the main prey animals of Homo sapiens for thousands 291 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:34,199 Speaker 1: of years. I'm gonna stop here. I know I'm not 292 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: going to convince the American public to allow horse hunting. 293 00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: I'm taking my life in my hands even talking about it. 294 00:17:40,119 --> 00:17:43,439 Speaker 1: The term crazy horse people exist for a reason. But 295 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:47,280 Speaker 1: we do need to do something and the BLM adoption program. 296 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:49,879 Speaker 1: Take a horse and get a thousand dollars seemed like 297 00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:53,520 Speaker 1: a decent idea, but the Friends of Animals lawsuit argues 298 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:56,720 Speaker 1: that the BLM isn't doing enough to prevent adopters from 299 00:17:56,720 --> 00:18:00,640 Speaker 1: eventually selling the horses to slaughter houses in Canada. In Mexico, 300 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:03,879 Speaker 1: the BLM does have guidelines in place to try to 301 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:06,560 Speaker 1: make sure no one's gathering all the horses up and 302 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:10,200 Speaker 1: shipping them to the dog food factory. No individual can 303 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 1: adopt more than four animals a year, and you only 304 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 1: get the thousand dollars after having the horses in your 305 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:20,040 Speaker 1: possession for one and twenty days. But past that, the 306 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:23,320 Speaker 1: BLM can only do so much tracking and enforcement, and 307 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:26,520 Speaker 1: the lawsuit says they should do more. There are several 308 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:30,520 Speaker 1: happy endings with the adoption system. One feral mustang has 309 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:33,880 Speaker 1: become a dressage champion, which is a life very much 310 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:37,040 Speaker 1: not wild. But it seems that too many folks of 311 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:40,560 Speaker 1: life of being a champion drassage horse is better than being, 312 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:45,040 Speaker 1: let's say, a champion sausage horse. But what else can 313 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:47,800 Speaker 1: we do? We can't hunt them, we can't turn them 314 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:51,200 Speaker 1: into kibble, and the option of sterilization is an expensive 315 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:54,399 Speaker 1: one and does nothing to address the issue of overgrazing 316 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:57,719 Speaker 1: and land degradation. To give you an idea of what 317 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:01,280 Speaker 1: sterilization looks like, a new met scope based company called 318 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:06,600 Speaker 1: Wildlife Protection Management developed a feeder that delivers contraceptives to horses. 319 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:09,919 Speaker 1: To get to alfalfa in a bin, the horses have 320 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:12,600 Speaker 1: to fit their heads into a shoot. Sensors on the 321 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:15,919 Speaker 1: shoote determine which horses at the feeder and if that 322 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:19,359 Speaker 1: horse needs another dose of birth control. A small dart 323 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:22,760 Speaker 1: shoots out of a refrigerated box onto one side. The 324 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:26,000 Speaker 1: horses seem startled, but not hurt. The units are powered 325 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:30,240 Speaker 1: by solar panels, and they're getting cheaper as facial recognition 326 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:33,840 Speaker 1: is replacing our f I D tags to tell which 327 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:37,719 Speaker 1: horses which. Early trials seem to show that the units 328 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:41,400 Speaker 1: could be effective. Just keep in mind that the BLM 329 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:44,159 Speaker 1: doesn't have enough money to effectively round the horses up 330 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:46,000 Speaker 1: to give them away. So how are you going to 331 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:51,360 Speaker 1: pay for satellite tags, solar power, facial recognition, refrigerated contraceptive 332 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:56,679 Speaker 1: dart shooting alfalfa binds anyway, Horse advocates say we should 333 00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:59,920 Speaker 1: let them expand their range and limit the domestic live 334 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:04,480 Speaker 1: stock that grazes the same land, which is an interesting perspective. 335 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:08,480 Speaker 1: As livestock are regulated, and let's be honest, so are 336 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:13,560 Speaker 1: the other grazing animals elk, deer and pronghorn, three animals 337 00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:15,960 Speaker 1: that you could argue having much greater claim on the 338 00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:22,760 Speaker 1: land than the feral horses. Moving on, the Arizona Fishing 339 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:26,399 Speaker 1: Game Commission recently voted unanimously to ban the use of 340 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:30,119 Speaker 1: trail cameras across the state for quote the purpose of 341 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:33,920 Speaker 1: taking or aiding in the take of wildlife, meaning anywhere 342 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:37,119 Speaker 1: in the state public lander, private property all year round, 343 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:41,600 Speaker 1: even for preseason scouting, you can't use trail cams to hunt. 344 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:45,879 Speaker 1: The decision here comes down almost entirely to water, or 345 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:49,720 Speaker 1: rather the scarcity of it. Arizona is in the middle 346 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:52,720 Speaker 1: of a historic twenty year drought, which means that as 347 00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 1: smaller water sources have dried up, wild game and many 348 00:20:56,359 --> 00:20:58,919 Speaker 1: other animals have come to depend more and more on 349 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:01,919 Speaker 1: big water catch months, almost all of which are on 350 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:05,919 Speaker 1: public land and on everyone's map, and so more and 351 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:09,480 Speaker 1: more cameras have gone up around these water sources. When 352 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:12,919 Speaker 1: people come to check their cameras, they disrupt the potentially 353 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:17,040 Speaker 1: stressed wildlife and occasionally bump into each other in unfriendly ways. 354 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:21,120 Speaker 1: The drought also plays into fair chase, Game and Fish 355 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:24,480 Speaker 1: Commission chair Kurt Davis made the argument that in a 356 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:27,399 Speaker 1: state with plenty of places for animals to drink, the 357 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:31,920 Speaker 1: ethics of trail camera use are completely different. Davis said, quote, 358 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:35,520 Speaker 1: if I live in Minnesota or Alabama, I wouldn't even 359 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:39,239 Speaker 1: be having this discussion. But in an arid state with 360 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:43,320 Speaker 1: highly limited water sources, do cameras really allow an elk 361 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:47,479 Speaker 1: or a deer a fair chance of escaping detection? I 362 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:49,840 Speaker 1: was interested to see that the band applies on both 363 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:53,679 Speaker 1: public and private land. On one hand, the ruling doesn't 364 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:57,280 Speaker 1: unfairly hold the public land hunter to a different standard 365 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:00,240 Speaker 1: than the landowner or the hunter who has acts as 366 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:02,879 Speaker 1: to private land. But it's hard to see how the 367 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:06,119 Speaker 1: enforcement of this rule is going to work on private land. 368 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,920 Speaker 1: No one can ban the use of cameras to say, 369 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:12,679 Speaker 1: track the cattle on your property, or to keep an 370 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:16,200 Speaker 1: eye out for trespassers, or see if that cactus ran 371 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:19,720 Speaker 1: has laid eggs in her nest. And if while you're 372 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:21,720 Speaker 1: looking at those images, you happen to see if you 373 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:24,960 Speaker 1: buck scraping their antlers on a nearby tree trunk. Well, 374 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:29,439 Speaker 1: I mean, come on. Enforcement might be hard on public 375 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:32,400 Speaker 1: land to cameras can be well hidden, they don't give 376 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,400 Speaker 1: away the owner's identity, and they're pretty cheap to replace 377 00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 1: if they get taken down. Public opinion came out strongly 378 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:43,240 Speaker 1: against the band of trail cameras. In the two comment periods. 379 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:46,560 Speaker 1: The nays had the wide majority of emails, letters, and testimony. 380 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:50,679 Speaker 1: Many commentators said that they hadn't experienced any shootouts with 381 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,440 Speaker 1: other trail cam users and that their feelings hadn't been 382 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:57,440 Speaker 1: permanently hurt by online feuds, But the commission still did. 383 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:01,440 Speaker 1: What commissions do. They make decisions based on all available 384 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:05,480 Speaker 1: evidence and take into consideration the public opinion. Despite the 385 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:09,040 Speaker 1: unpopular outcome, this is a much better path, and if 386 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:11,879 Speaker 1: the state legislature had passed along on the matter, or 387 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:15,480 Speaker 1: if a measure had been decided by ballot initiative, this 388 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:18,760 Speaker 1: one can be changed in comparison to the ladder easily. 389 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:22,399 Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to see how the trail cam ruling 390 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:25,920 Speaker 1: ages and whether people will eventually come around. It makes 391 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:28,240 Speaker 1: me think of the controversy when a lot of cities 392 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:32,040 Speaker 1: and towns started banning smoking in restaurants and bars. Both 393 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:35,199 Speaker 1: bar owners and patrons came out against the smoking bands, 394 00:23:35,359 --> 00:23:38,560 Speaker 1: worrying that it was going to kill nightlife. But instead 395 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:41,639 Speaker 1: those bands lead to more people going out, staff who 396 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:43,840 Speaker 1: were happier at work because they didn't have to breathe 397 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:48,560 Speaker 1: second hand smoke, and uh decline in cancer rates. In retrospect, 398 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:52,119 Speaker 1: the smoking bands became extremely popular. Well see if that 399 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 1: happens here. I will say trail cams can be a 400 00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:00,280 Speaker 1: simply fantastic way to get new hunters out into the woods. 401 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,600 Speaker 1: Hunting can have a hard time competing with sports and 402 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:07,600 Speaker 1: video games and other high stimulation pastimes. A lot of 403 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:11,399 Speaker 1: days you go out and see exactly zero animals while hiking. 404 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,840 Speaker 1: Having photos of those animals along with the times they 405 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 1: were there can be an awfully strong draw. Of course, 406 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:22,119 Speaker 1: the not knowing can be a strong draw to it 407 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: certainly is for me. That's all I've got for you 408 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:29,600 Speaker 1: this week. Thank you so much for listening. Remember hunting 409 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:34,320 Speaker 1: seasons coming up. You may want a fancy, new, powerful, quiet, 410 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:38,000 Speaker 1: battery powered steel chainsaw. If you're in the market, go 411 00:24:38,119 --> 00:24:43,720 Speaker 1: to www. Dot Steel Dealers dot com and find a local, knowledgeable, 412 00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:48,119 Speaker 1: awesome steel dealer near you, look for that iconic orange sign, 413 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:51,680 Speaker 1: and most importantly, don't forget to let me know what's 414 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:53,480 Speaker 1: going on in your neck of the woods by writing 415 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,800 Speaker 1: in to a s k C a L that's asked 416 00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:00,400 Speaker 1: Cal at the Meat Eater dot com. Thanks again, I'll 417 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:07,560 Speaker 1: talk to you next week.