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Spencer Neuharth

Spencer Neuharth is the hunting editor of MeatEater, producer of Wired to Hunt, and founder of Rut Fresh. His writing has been featured in over a dozen magazines, including Field & Stream, Petersen's Hunting, and Men's Journal. His work is a reflection of his roots as a whitetail hunter and training as a biologist.

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Wildlife Management

Ask a Warden: What’s the Most Common Injury You See?

Spencer Neuharth

Nov 18, 2019

In our new series, Ask a Warden, we’ll be interviewing officers from across the country to learn about their role in protecting our game, fish, and other resources. In this edition, we asked officers from Minnesota, West Virginia, and Arizona what injury they deal with most is.
I’ve buried hooks in my hands and slipped coming out of treestands, but nothing has warranted a 911 call yet. Odds are if something did happen, a warden would be the...

Wildlife Management

Ask a Warden: What Day Do You Write the Most Tickets?

Spencer Neuharth

Nov 13, 2019

In our new series, Ask a Warden, we’ll be interviewing officers from across the country to learn about their role in protecting our game, fish, and other resources. In this edition, we asked officers from Kentucky, Wisconsin, Alaska, and Oklahoma about what day of the year they write the most citations.
The South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks recently posted on Facebook that a check station for pheasant and duck hunters resulted in a 5...

Wildlife Management

Ask a Warden: What’s the Craziest Thing You’ve Done to Catch a Poacher?

Spencer Neuharth

Oct 28, 2019

In our new series, Ask a Warden, we’ll be interviewing officers from across the country to learn about their role in protecting our game, fish, and other resources. In this edition, we asked officers from California, Ohio, Montana, and Alabama about the lengths they’ve gone to catch poachers.
Conservation officers deal with a lot of unique characters in a lot of unique environments. As one warden put it during an interview for this series, “There...

Wildlife Management

Ask a Warden: How Has Social Media Changed Your Job?

Spencer Neuharth

Oct 21, 2019

In our new series, Ask a Warden, we’ll be interviewing officers from across the country to learn about their role in protecting our game, fish, and other resources. In this edition, we asked officers from Alaska, Kentucky, and Wisconsin about the how Facebook and Instagram factor into modern wildlife management.
As a writer, social media has totally changed my job. For instance, you probably came to this article through MeatEater’s page on...

Wildlife Management

Ask a Warden: What’s the Most Common Ticket You Write?

Spencer Neuharth

Oct 16, 2019

In our new series, Ask a Warden, we’ll be interviewing officers from across the country to learn about their role in protecting our game, fish, and other resources. In this edition, we asked officers from California, Ohio, Montana, and Alabama what citation they issue most often.
I’ve been checked by wardens dozens of times in my life and can proudly say I’ve never received a citation. Contrary to what some sportsmen like to believe, officers...

Wildlife Management

You Won’t Believe This Mountain Lion’s Diet

Spencer Neuharth

Sep 9, 2019

The Santa Ana Pueblo covers 73,000 acres along the Rio Grande River in New Mexico. It’s an area bereft of humans, but rich with game.
Recently, the Pueblo of Santa Ana Department of Natural Resources collected data on a collared mountain lion. They named the cougar Brokenleg because it had a noticeable bulbous calcification on its right rear leg, the result of an old break. Their primary goal with tracking the big male cat was to better...

Wildlife Management

Bar Room Banter: Parachuting Beavers

Spencer Neuharth

Jul 24, 2019

There’s a difference between book smart and bar smart. You may not be book smart, but this series can make you seem educated and interesting from a barstool. So, belly up, pour yourself a glass of something good and take mental notes as we look at the most creative way an animal has ever been restocked.
Beavers, World War II parachutes, and one of the most remote places in North America: Now that’s how you grab your buddies’ attention at a bar...

Public Lands & Waters

Rat Poison Is Killing Cougars in California

Spencer Neuharth

May 13, 2019

In Southern California, where mountain lions are listed as a “specially protected species,” the large cats face all sorts of threats. Urban sprawl and unnatural wildfires have destroyed habitat in recent decades, but now humans are also compromising the predator’s food.
The most recent example comes out of the Santa Monica Mountains, which sit about 30 miles up the coast from Beverly Hills. A National Park Service biologist discovered cougar P-4...

Habitat

Record-Breaking 17-Foot Python Captured in Florida

Spencer Neuharth

Apr 9, 2019

An enormous Burmese python was captured last week at Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida. The snake measured 17 feet long, weighed 140 pounds and contained 73 developing eggs. It’s the heaviest python ever documented in The Sunshine State, outweighing the previous record by about 40 pounds.
The majority of pythons captured in the area range from 6 to 10 feet long. In their native range of Southeast Asia, specimens have measured as big as 2...

Wildlife Management

USFWS Recommends Delisting Gray Wolves

Spencer Neuharth

Mar 7, 2019

Federal officials on Wednesday proposed to remove gray wolves from the endangered species list. The decision was revealed by David Bernhardt, the acting secretary of the Department of the Interior, at the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Denver.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service noted that there has been a significant increase in wolf numbers across much of the country, citing a population jump from 1,000 to 5,000 in...