1
00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:13,239
Speaker 1: From Media Doors World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This

2
00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:16,680
Speaker 1: is Kel's We Can Review with Ryan kel Kell in

3
00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:20,640
Speaker 1: now Here's Kel. New York State is home to its

4
00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:24,639
Speaker 1: first free ranging bison heard since the seventeen hundreds. The

5
00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:28,520
Speaker 1: herd is comprised of forty five calves, seven cows, and

6
00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:34,000
Speaker 1: three bowls, for a total of seventy five animals. The

7
00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:36,960
Speaker 1: thing is they aren't supposed to be free ranging. They

8
00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,879
Speaker 1: broke a gate and released themselves from a farm and

9
00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:43,720
Speaker 1: Sharon Springs, New York, released themselves on their own recognisance,

10
00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:47,160
Speaker 1: so to speak. Perhaps they they no longer felt their

11
00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:51,120
Speaker 1: former institution had anything left to offer them anyway. The

12
00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:54,480
Speaker 1: farm is located about forty five miles from Albany, New York.

13
00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:57,680
Speaker 1: The owner of the bison is working in conjunction with

14
00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:01,040
Speaker 1: the Department of Environmental Conservation and the state police to

15
00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:04,440
Speaker 1: get the herd back. Suddenly free of their lifelong confinement,

16
00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:07,080
Speaker 1: the herd is starting to break up into smaller groups,

17
00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:11,000
Speaker 1: making them more difficult to locate. Bison were originally killed

18
00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,160
Speaker 1: off from the eastern part of the country as they

19
00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:15,759
Speaker 1: were a good source of food and hides, and they

20
00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:19,720
Speaker 1: competed with domestic livestock for feed. Seems little has changed

21
00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:23,640
Speaker 1: in three hundred years. The locals of Otsego County, New York,

22
00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:26,600
Speaker 1: are concerned about the destruction of hay crops in the area,

23
00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,319
Speaker 1: as well as the intimidating nature of a two thousand

24
00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:32,600
Speaker 1: pound bison bull. It appears that New York's roaming bison

25
00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:35,400
Speaker 1: are soon to be extirpated once again. But if for

26
00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:37,679
Speaker 1: some reason, these bison were to make a couple of

27
00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:40,119
Speaker 1: lucky moves, they might find their way to some pretty

28
00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:43,720
Speaker 1: good sized pieces of state ground preserves and wildlife management

29
00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:46,960
Speaker 1: areas nearby. At the time of this podcast, the bison

30
00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:49,320
Speaker 1: have been on the lamb for over a week. Though

31
00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:52,480
Speaker 1: their fields have sustained some damage, the folks of Otsego

32
00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:56,000
Speaker 1: County have had the unique experience of watching bison walk

33
00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:58,480
Speaker 1: wherever they please for the first time in about three

34
00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:02,040
Speaker 1: hundred years. A good reminder that Buffalo, New York wasn't

35
00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:05,160
Speaker 1: named for the chicken wings. This week, we're gonna talk

36
00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:10,239
Speaker 1: about catfish, radioactive wildlife, sturgeon, and the BLM. At first,

37
00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:13,079
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you about my week. I went back

38
00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:15,760
Speaker 1: to the beautiful state of Tennessee to join folks from

39
00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:19,560
Speaker 1: the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Foundation and talk Asian carp and

40
00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:23,560
Speaker 1: invasive species. Holy cats, did I have an incredible time,

41
00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:26,280
Speaker 1: so much so that I just can't talk about at all.

42
00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,160
Speaker 1: So first off, I'm gonna do some housekeeping. Then I'm

43
00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:32,040
Speaker 1: going to talk about just one of the many Tennessee

44
00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:35,640
Speaker 1: fishing adventures I went on so onto the housekeeping portion

45
00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:40,680
Speaker 1: in the last episode of Cal's Weekend Review, episode thirteen,

46
00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:44,040
Speaker 1: that dealt with free buffalo rads, giant worms, and a

47
00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:47,680
Speaker 1: manner of other things. I wrongfully and heinously named the

48
00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:50,840
Speaker 1: lead singer of the death metal band Cannibal Corps as

49
00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:55,360
Speaker 1: Alex Webster. Alex Webster is, in fact the bassist for

50
00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:59,920
Speaker 1: Cannibal Corpse. The lead vocalist is, of course, George Court

51
00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,600
Speaker 1: Scrinder Fisher. Apologies to all of you out there in

52
00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:09,000
Speaker 1: death metal lamp. My next screw up. I got my

53
00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:11,600
Speaker 1: units of measure mixed up on my Grizzer Bear facts.

54
00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:14,240
Speaker 1: Although Grizzlies have been clocked it up to forty one

55
00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:17,120
Speaker 1: miles per hour, they have not, as I stated last week,

56
00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:20,520
Speaker 1: been sprinting at sixty miles per hour. I, to be

57
00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,360
Speaker 1: completely honest, do not care about this mix up as

58
00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:26,480
Speaker 1: I don't think it matters in regards to tourist proximity

59
00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:29,720
Speaker 1: to wildlife, but I love talking about grizzlies and this

60
00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:33,560
Speaker 1: is another opportunity to do so. The fastest human on

61
00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:36,880
Speaker 1: Earth can travel at about twenty seven miles per hour

62
00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:41,440
Speaker 1: on an optimal surface. Jamaica's Hussain Bolt has the current

63
00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:44,840
Speaker 1: world record for the hundred meter sprint at an astounding

64
00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,200
Speaker 1: nine point five eight seconds US saying would have been

65
00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:52,040
Speaker 1: traveling about thirty nine point six ft per second. Grizzly

66
00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:54,960
Speaker 1: bears have been recorded running forty one miles per hour,

67
00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:58,440
Speaker 1: so even if we shave a bit off and agree

68
00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:01,520
Speaker 1: to a pace of fifty feet second or thirty four

69
00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:04,920
Speaker 1: miles an hour, the grizzly would cover one meters in

70
00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:08,680
Speaker 1: six point five six seconds. The human is going to

71
00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:14,600
Speaker 1: lose the hundred meter deaf dash every time, so you know,

72
00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:19,040
Speaker 1: keep your damn distance from animals in the park. Okay,

73
00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,600
Speaker 1: back to Tennessee for one quick story about catfish noodling

74
00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,480
Speaker 1: or hogging or boxing, whatever you call it. The technique

75
00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:30,800
Speaker 1: is the same hand fishing for catfish, the angler's hand

76
00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:34,360
Speaker 1: in this case mine is used as the rod reel

77
00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:39,159
Speaker 1: and bait. In the spring, catfish seek out holes and

78
00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:43,120
Speaker 1: submerged logs, stumps, mud banks, or, in this case, man

79
00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:47,400
Speaker 1: made submerged boxes to spawn. These nest sites typically have

80
00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:50,200
Speaker 1: a single point of entry, and the catfish protects its

81
00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:53,640
Speaker 1: nest from intruders by facing the whole. The angler attempts

82
00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:56,839
Speaker 1: to block the entrance while inserting a hand into the nest,

83
00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:00,279
Speaker 1: provoking the catfish to defend its site by by eating

84
00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:03,640
Speaker 1: the intruding member. When the catfish bites, the angler is

85
00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:06,200
Speaker 1: supposed to grab the lower lip of the cat This

86
00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:09,680
Speaker 1: was explained to me like grabbing a suitcase handle. Then

87
00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:13,080
Speaker 1: get the blocking hand through the hole onto the lip

88
00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:15,360
Speaker 1: of the cat or the back of the jaw or

89
00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:19,160
Speaker 1: gil plate. Two hands on the cat is the golden rule. Apparently,

90
00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,359
Speaker 1: if they do not make catfish noodlers that are capable

91
00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:26,160
Speaker 1: of one hand catch us. The bite is, in my estimation,

92
00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:31,200
Speaker 1: shockingly violent and powerful, but the real rodeo begins when

93
00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:33,960
Speaker 1: the tail comes free of the hole or box. In

94
00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,039
Speaker 1: this case, a solo angler will lock their legs around

95
00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:40,280
Speaker 1: the fish's tail in order to immobilize it. Imagine a

96
00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:45,760
Speaker 1: full body bear hug only underwater and with a fish.

97
00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:49,080
Speaker 1: I had a spotter and a coach, Damian Loveless, who

98
00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:52,080
Speaker 1: clamped onto the tail and we kicked for the surface.

99
00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,240
Speaker 1: This is a seriously strange sport. I've been face to

100
00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:58,520
Speaker 1: face with grizzly bears, screaming bull elk and all manner

101
00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:02,200
Speaker 1: of other things, but this was just different. You insert

102
00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:05,320
Speaker 1: your hand into a confined, muddy space and wait for

103
00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:09,479
Speaker 1: an unseen fish to bite it violently. That said, I

104
00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:13,039
Speaker 1: found it oddly transformative. If this sounds like something you

105
00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,719
Speaker 1: want to experience, give Dennis Redden and Damian Loveless of shout.

106
00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:20,080
Speaker 1: They're good guys to hang with and they know their stuff.

107
00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:24,360
Speaker 1: Most catfish grabbing is catch and release. These are big,

108
00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:28,120
Speaker 1: successfully reproducing fish, and they are great to admire and

109
00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:31,800
Speaker 1: let go to swim off and make more big asked catfish.

110
00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:34,760
Speaker 1: When the cat grabbed my arm in this instance, I

111
00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:37,839
Speaker 1: freaked out and felt one of my fingers snap part

112
00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,560
Speaker 1: of a gill. At that point, my head kind of

113
00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:43,120
Speaker 1: cleared from the adrenaline, and I decided I would not

114
00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:46,200
Speaker 1: be letting go of this piste off fish no matter what.

115
00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:48,240
Speaker 1: If it was gonna die, I was going to be

116
00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:52,120
Speaker 1: the one eating it, not some snapping turtle and then

117
00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:55,039
Speaker 1: grabbed the cat firmly by the gills, shot my left

118
00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:57,200
Speaker 1: hand in and secured the head by the gill plate.

119
00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:00,520
Speaker 1: Damien seized the cat by the tail, and now I

120
00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:03,480
Speaker 1: have the better part of a twenty eight pound catfish

121
00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:06,919
Speaker 1: in the freezer and a nasty looking road rash type

122
00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:11,960
Speaker 1: situation on my forearm best described as friction burn delivered

123
00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:16,000
Speaker 1: by eighty grit sandpaper. Moving on, but sticking with the

124
00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:20,280
Speaker 1: topic of gills, some recent viral videos on Facebook and

125
00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:23,560
Speaker 1: YouTube have inspired anglers to start keeping a bottle of

126
00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:26,520
Speaker 1: mountain dew on them at all times. And no, it's

127
00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,840
Speaker 1: not for the caffeine and sugar high. Instead, fishermen are

128
00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:33,000
Speaker 1: supposed to use this magical elixir as a healing agent

129
00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:36,320
Speaker 1: to save fish with bleeding gills. Those promoting this theory

130
00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:39,480
Speaker 1: claim that dumping soda on a fish's wound will stop

131
00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:44,120
Speaker 1: the hemorrhaging by a cauterization. These anglers have their hearts

132
00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:46,840
Speaker 1: in the right place, but not their heads. If it

133
00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:50,080
Speaker 1: were true that soda cauterizes gills, then that would stop

134
00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:54,400
Speaker 1: their gas exchange, which is crucial for fish to you know, breathe.

135
00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:59,000
Speaker 1: What these anglers are accomplishing is overhandling fish and introducing

136
00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:02,760
Speaker 1: a foreign substant to their delicate gills. As one aquatic

137
00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:06,119
Speaker 1: ecologist told Meat Eater in an interview, my initial take

138
00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:09,000
Speaker 1: is that the civic nature of soda is bad for

139
00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:12,320
Speaker 1: sensitive gilt tissues. The best thing one could do is

140
00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:15,320
Speaker 1: get the fish back in water that's the appropriate temp.

141
00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:18,320
Speaker 1: This soda on fish gills debate will soon come to

142
00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:21,800
Speaker 1: an end, though. Carlton University in Canada is halfway through

143
00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:25,240
Speaker 1: a study testing this theory. Their research is scheduled to

144
00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:28,840
Speaker 1: wrap up sometime this summer, but the lead biologist has

145
00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:31,720
Speaker 1: said that he's not ready to make any predictions quite

146
00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:35,080
Speaker 1: yet until there's a definitive answer. We'd prefer that you

147
00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:38,240
Speaker 1: swiftly dispatch immortally wounded fish and put it in a

148
00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:41,440
Speaker 1: cooler next to your soda, rather than giving it a

149
00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:45,000
Speaker 1: mountain dew baptism and sending it off into a watery grave.

150
00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,240
Speaker 1: For more on this subject, check out Spencer new Hors

151
00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:52,400
Speaker 1: article at the meat eater dot com titled stop Pouring

152
00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:55,960
Speaker 1: soda on Fish gills. For more on mountain dew, Here's

153
00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:58,760
Speaker 1: a fun fact for you. One of the original slogans

154
00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:05,800
Speaker 1: for the soda introduced in nineteen forty was thick. If

155
00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:08,280
Speaker 1: we do end up finding that soda pop helps fish,

156
00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:12,000
Speaker 1: they just might bring that one back. If you're into

157
00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:14,480
Speaker 1: pop culture, what the kids are watching on the tube,

158
00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:17,439
Speaker 1: you're probably like my buddies and have already binge watched

159
00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:21,600
Speaker 1: the HBO series Chernobyl. Well, these next quick hitters are

160
00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:24,880
Speaker 1: just for you. And as bonus, if you're into doing

161
00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:27,680
Speaker 1: things in the out of doors, these next quick hitters

162
00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:31,760
Speaker 1: are for you too. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred back

163
00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:35,320
Speaker 1: in April of nine six and is considered to be

164
00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:39,719
Speaker 1: the worst nuclear disaster in history. A meltdown of reactors

165
00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:44,000
Speaker 1: four and three resulted in heavy amounts of radioactive contamination

166
00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:48,520
Speaker 1: across parts of Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and many other countries

167
00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:51,280
Speaker 1: depending on where the wind blew. Pripy It was one

168
00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:54,600
Speaker 1: of the worker towns that was immediately evacuated, with little

169
00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:58,160
Speaker 1: human activity in the thousand plus mile Chernobyl exclusion zone.

170
00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:01,920
Speaker 1: For three decades, wild animals have taken refuge there. One

171
00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:11,480
Speaker 1: survey in the area documented horses, wolves, badgers, swans, moose, elk, turtles, deer, foxes, beavers, boares, bison,

172
00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:17,200
Speaker 1: mink hairs, otters, links, eagles, rodents, storks, bats and owls.

173
00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:21,880
Speaker 1: You there's a grab bag of oddities among the radioactive

174
00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:26,560
Speaker 1: cripiate critters, including cows with toxic milk, owls with soft beaks,

175
00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:30,480
Speaker 1: mink with sterile sperm, eagles with visible tumors, badgers with

176
00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:34,520
Speaker 1: smaller brains, rabbits with cataracts, pigs with five legs, and

177
00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:38,800
Speaker 1: catfish with two jaws. No word on if any teenage

178
00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:42,880
Speaker 1: turtles with ninja skills that love pizza or spiders passing

179
00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:45,920
Speaker 1: on incredible abilities to puny high school kids have ever

180
00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:51,400
Speaker 1: been discovered. Mutations and nuclear fallout be damned. Many wild

181
00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:55,880
Speaker 1: animals are obviously booming in the exclusion zone. Specifically, those

182
00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:58,720
Speaker 1: at the top of the food chain are thriving wolves

183
00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:01,360
Speaker 1: and bears, now outnumbered the amount of humans working around

184
00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:04,760
Speaker 1: chernobyl and fox and raccoon dog populations are on their

185
00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:08,280
Speaker 1: eyes quick sidebar Here a raccoon dog is neither a

186
00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:11,880
Speaker 1: dog nor a raccoon. The raccoon dog is found throughout

187
00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,720
Speaker 1: Asia and is closely related to the fox. Another couple

188
00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:18,720
Speaker 1: of fun facts. The raccoon dog is the only canid

189
00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:23,080
Speaker 1: that hibernates, and in Japanese folklore, the raccoon dog is

190
00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:28,000
Speaker 1: called tanuki. The tanuki is often depicted with a giant scrotum,

191
00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:31,920
Speaker 1: which represents good luck with money for some reason unknown

192
00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:35,280
Speaker 1: to me. Now that you know that, we can get

193
00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:39,280
Speaker 1: back to radioactive animals, scientists have found that an ultra

194
00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:42,920
Speaker 1: rare Eurasian Links has taken shelter in the Chernobyl site.

195
00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:45,920
Speaker 1: The fifty to sixty pound Links was nearly driven to

196
00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:48,960
Speaker 1: extinction by over hunting, but now there are hundreds of

197
00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:52,480
Speaker 1: them taking advantage of the lack of humans. Speaking of cats,

198
00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:55,040
Speaker 1: if your animal loving soft heart is crying out for

199
00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:58,840
Speaker 1: the animals of Chernobyl, there's a nonprofit that recently announced

200
00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:03,280
Speaker 1: you can now adopt a radioactive cat or dog virtually adopt.

201
00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:06,640
Speaker 1: That is, by virtually adopting a dog or cat, you're

202
00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:10,760
Speaker 1: paying for food, vaccinations, in spay and neuter campaigns. For

203
00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:14,240
Speaker 1: just a hundred you'll be considered a hero adopter and

204
00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:18,040
Speaker 1: awarded with an adoption certificate of four by six framed

205
00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:21,760
Speaker 1: image of your stray and eight dogs of Chernobyl postcards.

206
00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:25,280
Speaker 1: As all of you know, I'm a proponent of fixing

207
00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:29,160
Speaker 1: feral cats. So this adoption program for sad eyed pets

208
00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:38,600
Speaker 1: is old cal and probably Sarah McLaughlin approved. Just kidding,

209
00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:41,120
Speaker 1: of course, if you want to help stray critters, I

210
00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:44,520
Speaker 1: believe in doing so locally. Moving over to the big

211
00:12:44,559 --> 00:12:47,719
Speaker 1: fish desk, those of you who follow the Meat Eater

212
00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:50,960
Speaker 1: social media accounts may be familiar with Jeffrey. My name

213
00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:54,120
Speaker 1: is jeff You can call me Jeffrey, the obnoxious fishing

214
00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:57,600
Speaker 1: character we invented to promote some of our website articles.

215
00:12:57,679 --> 00:13:00,560
Speaker 1: Hey camera lady, my mustache is up here. Folks seem

216
00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:04,719
Speaker 1: to think that Jeffrey was my disappointing little brother, maybe unwanted,

217
00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:08,200
Speaker 1: illegitimate love child. He's not. His real name is Carl.

218
00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:11,040
Speaker 1: He works in our production department. He plays the base

219
00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:14,840
Speaker 1: and is an actual real life fan of the death

220
00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:18,720
Speaker 1: metal band Cannibal Corpse. I'm not joking, and he's a

221
00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:23,480
Speaker 1: very nice guy. Oh that one's firm, real floppy. Anyway,

222
00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:26,080
Speaker 1: if you watch those videos, you'll know that Jeffrey is

223
00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:29,360
Speaker 1: all about catching dinosaurs, and a group of kids in

224
00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:32,200
Speaker 1: a Dina, Minnesota, I believe they call it a Dina,

225
00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:36,840
Speaker 1: a suburb of Minneapolis, actually did catch a kind of dinosaur. Recently.

226
00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:39,920
Speaker 1: The pack of free arranging children were having a little

227
00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:44,960
Speaker 1: unsupervised summertime fun practice we strongly support here at Meat Eater.

228
00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:48,000
Speaker 1: The kids were playing on a Mini Haha creek when

229
00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:51,360
Speaker 1: one of them spotted an enormous fish finning in the

230
00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:55,400
Speaker 1: skinny water. One adventurous youth fashioned a slipknot snare with

231
00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:58,000
Speaker 1: a length of rope he must have fished out of

232
00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,160
Speaker 1: his dad's garage. Then the procope shous little buggers slipped

233
00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:03,720
Speaker 1: the rope over the fish and found himself attached to

234
00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:07,520
Speaker 1: a six foot long lake sturgeon, roughly seven times the

235
00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:10,720
Speaker 1: kid's age. The kids did what curious children are wont

236
00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:13,559
Speaker 1: to do and dragged the poor beast up on shore

237
00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:16,680
Speaker 1: to examine it, but soon remembered that the fish can't

238
00:14:16,679 --> 00:14:18,880
Speaker 1: breathe out of water. They didn't want to kill such

239
00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:21,720
Speaker 1: a cool critter and released it back into the creek.

240
00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,840
Speaker 1: A little bit banged up, but otherwise all right. You

241
00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:28,600
Speaker 1: can watch all this for yourself on YouTube. The question, though,

242
00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:32,720
Speaker 1: is how did an approximately seventy year old lake sturgeon

243
00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:36,200
Speaker 1: wind up in a small suburban creek with no known

244
00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:40,360
Speaker 1: sturgeon population. Lake sturgeon are native to the Mississippi River,

245
00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:44,280
Speaker 1: into which Mini Haha creek does eventually flow, but a

246
00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:48,000
Speaker 1: waterfall blocks fish from swimming up the creek. The only

247
00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:52,160
Speaker 1: other explanation is that it came downstream from Lake Minnetonka.

248
00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:55,920
Speaker 1: Though the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has never found

249
00:14:56,040 --> 00:14:59,440
Speaker 1: any evidence of a live sturgeon in that lake, rumors

250
00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:03,200
Speaker 1: of their exist distance are widespread. For now, local DNR

251
00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:06,040
Speaker 1: officers around the hunt for the sturgeon with hopes of

252
00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:09,960
Speaker 1: capturing it and relocating it to the Mississippi where maybe

253
00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:12,400
Speaker 1: it can reunite with others of its kind and helped

254
00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:16,960
Speaker 1: perpetuate the species. I for one, loves so many elements

255
00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:20,760
Speaker 1: about this story, but particularly the part where suburban kids

256
00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:24,160
Speaker 1: got to interact with an enormous wild fish that's rare

257
00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:28,400
Speaker 1: these days. Sturgeon are incredibly cool prehistoric creatures going back

258
00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:31,680
Speaker 1: two hundred million years. Instead of scales, they have rows

259
00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:34,720
Speaker 1: of bony plates called scoots, similar to the skin of

260
00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:38,480
Speaker 1: a crocodile or bird feet. North America has nine different

261
00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:42,160
Speaker 1: species of sturgeon, though most of them are now vulnerable, threatened,

262
00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:45,960
Speaker 1: or endangered. In the eighteen hundred, sturgeon could be found

263
00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:48,600
Speaker 1: up and down the East coast from Labrador to Florida.

264
00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:51,720
Speaker 1: Across the Gulf Coast from Tampa to Louisiana, on the

265
00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:55,400
Speaker 1: West coast from California to British Columbia, throughout the Great Lakes,

266
00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:58,760
Speaker 1: and in the Missouri River system clear up to Montana

267
00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:02,320
Speaker 1: and Idaho. Adult sturgeon spend most of their time feeding

268
00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:05,800
Speaker 1: either in very large lakes or marine estuaries, and then

269
00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:09,800
Speaker 1: migrate up rivers to spawn. Your average sturgeon can grow

270
00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:13,080
Speaker 1: to somewhere between seven and twelve feet in length and

271
00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:17,960
Speaker 1: weigh in at several hundred pounds, but particularly large varieties

272
00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:21,760
Speaker 1: like the fabled beluga sturgeon, can grow upwards of eighteen

273
00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:26,480
Speaker 1: feet long and push the scales at over four thousand pounds.

274
00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:29,680
Speaker 1: Sturgeon routinely live more than a hundred years. Long. Lived

275
00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:33,200
Speaker 1: species like these are particularly vulnerable because they don't reach

276
00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:36,240
Speaker 1: sexual maturity for quite some time, up to twenty years

277
00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:39,960
Speaker 1: of age, a detriment for making new sturgeon fast. Sometimes

278
00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:42,680
Speaker 1: I kind of wish that reproductive age limit were true

279
00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:45,960
Speaker 1: for people too, but anyway, a lot can happen to

280
00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:48,360
Speaker 1: a big gas fish in twenty years before they even

281
00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:51,320
Speaker 1: get a chance to perpetuate their genetics. In the early

282
00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:55,480
Speaker 1: twentieth century, this thing, called caviar became a popular delicacy,

283
00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:59,720
Speaker 1: caviar being a fancy word for fish eggs, usually sturgeon eggs.

284
00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:03,000
Speaker 1: During that time, the US became the primary exporter of

285
00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:06,880
Speaker 1: caviar to Europe, and enterprising folks all over the country

286
00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:10,880
Speaker 1: made a good living commercially harvesting every species of sturgeon.

287
00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:14,760
Speaker 1: That is, of course, until there weren't enough left to

288
00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:19,280
Speaker 1: viably harvest, at which point the caviary industry here went bust.

289
00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:22,359
Speaker 1: Sturgeon eggs are still a big deal, though, and the

290
00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:26,000
Speaker 1: most highly prized eggs from the Caspian Sea sell for

291
00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:29,920
Speaker 1: more than ten thousand dollars a pound. These days, all

292
00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:33,320
Speaker 1: our American sturgeon are protected, except for white sturgeon in

293
00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:35,760
Speaker 1: certain places on the West coast or the fish are

294
00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:38,800
Speaker 1: still in pretty good shape. The appearance of one adult

295
00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:42,520
Speaker 1: lake sturgeon and one Midwestern creek is hardly valid evidence

296
00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:46,000
Speaker 1: of a species wide rebound, but these fish have experienced

297
00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:48,840
Speaker 1: something of a comeback in the past couple of decades,

298
00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,560
Speaker 1: and heartwarming stories like this one that happened to go

299
00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:55,040
Speaker 1: viral can do a great deal to boost people's awareness.

300
00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:58,080
Speaker 1: It's safe to say that this particular fish made for

301
00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:02,400
Speaker 1: a unique summer break and created big sturgeon fans out

302
00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:07,280
Speaker 1: of some kids from a Dina, Minnesota. I'm gonna leave

303
00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:09,720
Speaker 1: you with one more quick one before we wrap up.

304
00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:13,119
Speaker 1: Just something or someone rather to keep tabs on. A

305
00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:16,720
Speaker 1: man named William Perry Pendley has been made the acting

306
00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:20,639
Speaker 1: head of the Bureau of Land Management, or the BLM.

307
00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:24,000
Speaker 1: This new BLM head is making folks very nervous, some

308
00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:28,560
Speaker 1: folks very excited. I suppose the BLM oversees an incredible

309
00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:32,840
Speaker 1: two forty five million surface acres of public land in

310
00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:36,240
Speaker 1: the US. On these lands you will find everything from

311
00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:40,639
Speaker 1: incredible recreational opportunities like hunting, skiing, and whatever else you

312
00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:43,000
Speaker 1: can think of to have a good time. You will

313
00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:47,720
Speaker 1: also find folks grazing livestock, generating power, and digging for gold.

314
00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:51,280
Speaker 1: Sometimes in some areas, a mix of all these activities

315
00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:54,360
Speaker 1: are taking place at the same time. Chances are if

316
00:18:54,359 --> 00:18:57,320
Speaker 1: you are the get outside and do stuff type of person,

317
00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:01,919
Speaker 1: you appreciate vast and beautiful some times desolate landscapes, or

318
00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:05,960
Speaker 1: you eat domestic meats or consumed goods. In general, you

319
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:10,120
Speaker 1: are connected to BLM ground. The reason this fellow William

320
00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:14,240
Speaker 1: Perry Pendley is making folks nervous. Is He's been very

321
00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:18,119
Speaker 1: outspoken about America's public lands as and he thinks they

322
00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:22,640
Speaker 1: should be privately held by individuals like no longer public.

323
00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:25,639
Speaker 1: Lots of questions have been raised as to how a

324
00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:28,320
Speaker 1: person with these types of ideas could be at the

325
00:19:28,359 --> 00:19:31,560
Speaker 1: helm of roughly ten percent of the ground in America,

326
00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:34,480
Speaker 1: the ground that feeds us, keeps us happy and healthy,

327
00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:37,199
Speaker 1: and gives us power for our towns and cities. I

328
00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:39,479
Speaker 1: certainly did not have an answer to that, but I

329
00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:42,280
Speaker 1: do know that this situation is something we as co

330
00:19:42,359 --> 00:19:45,159
Speaker 1: owners of these public grounds, need to keep an eye on.

331
00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:48,400
Speaker 1: So go out enjoy your public lands and waters this week.

332
00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:52,760
Speaker 1: Breathe deep that clean air, take stock of our collective holdings.

333
00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:58,119
Speaker 1: And if you know suspect things start happening on BLM ground,

334
00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:01,080
Speaker 1: just call your duly elected officials and let them know

335
00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:04,280
Speaker 1: how much that BLM ground means to you and how

336
00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,240
Speaker 1: badly you do not want it messed up or in

337
00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:11,000
Speaker 1: the worst case scenario, sold to some dude or corporation

338
00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:13,960
Speaker 1: or other country. Maybe that's gonna put a big old

339
00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:17,080
Speaker 1: no trespassing sign on it. Well that's all I've got

340
00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:19,720
Speaker 1: for this week. Thanks for listening to Cal's weekend review.

341
00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,040
Speaker 1: Please let me know where I've screwed up and what

342
00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:24,919
Speaker 1: I should be paying attention to by writing into a

343
00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:28,680
Speaker 1: s k C A L at the meat Eater dot

344
00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:33,600
Speaker 1: com that's asked Cal at the meat Eater dot com

345
00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:36,800
Speaker 1: please subscribe leave me a review by hitting that furthest

346
00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:39,960
Speaker 1: right hand star. Thanks again, and I'll talk to you

347
00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:47,760
Speaker 1: next week.