00:00:02 Speaker 1: From Mediators World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is Cow's Weekend Review, presented by Steel Steel products are available only at authorized dealers. For more, go to Steel Dealers dot com. Now here's your host, Ryan cal callahan. This show is often hard on domestic cats feelines if you will, so for episode one thirty of Cow's Weekend Review, I thought, why change it up? Have I mentioned recently that they kill an estimated two billion birds a year in the US. A recent study in the journal Ecosphere set out to discover how much of a cat's diet is made up of the animals it kills. By identifying the molecular isotopes of prey animals and then looking for those same isotopes in the whiskers of cats, the scientists could see not just what the cats had been eating, but who. The researchers did this to test the argument of a lot of feral cat programs around the country, which say that if you give cats a high protein diet, then they will have less motivation to hunt. Kind of makes sense until I think of my diet and realize that when I get sick of mule deer, I switch not off of protein but to other proteins, birds or fish. If this protein replacement theory were correct, you'd see the results in the keratin of the cat whiskers. Before the feeding program, you'd see, let's say, of the whisker isotopes coming from wild birds and mice, And after the feeding program started, you'd see the isotopes coming from like fancy feast or whatever cat food is these days. Just like us, cats are what they eat. Incidentally, you may remember for our venom episode that keratin is also what makes up the segments of a rattle snakes rattle, as well as our hair and fingernails. Cat whiskers were used for the analysis because they were easy to sample without messing with the cat too much. But if we took a chunk of a rattler's tail or a sliver of your fingernail, we could see just how much of the snakes diet was made up of chipmunks, and how much of your diet was made up of white tail or squirrel or cheetos. It's that easy. Pretty cool. Anyway, back to killer cats, the Ecosphere study found that only three to four of the cat's diet was made up of prey animals. No matter what their diet was in changing the diet didn't change how many dead animals they brought home. Other studies have followed cats around and observed that their hunting behavior is almost completely uncoupled from hunger, as in, they hunt and kill for fun, not food. Or if you don't believe that cats can have fun, they hunt because their programmed to do it. Like little tiny fur covered terminators with a retractable clause Sabboth insistence modeled one oh one, I must have anetic organism living to show a middle endoskeleton. Now, I'm not fooling myself that this here show is playing over the speakers at too many feral cat rescue offices. But just in case, how about taking the budget devoted defeating and turn it over to brightly colored callers, which are the most effective solution to cap predation. While we're at it, maybe I should get the meat Eater business Development team to reach out to birds be Safe callers and make them the co flagship sponsor of this show, alongside Steel Chainsaws, or you know, stay with me here, maybe we convince Steel to add cat collars to their lineup of fine saws, pruners, and leaf blowers. You know, we're just coughing up a spitball here. Maybe Andrew Lloyd Webber, the creator of the musical Cats, could be the spokesman for the new steel cat collar line. You may have seen that he hated the film adaptation of Cats so much that he went out and adopted a dog. The ultimate cat person bought a dog. Change is possible. Hope is out there, just not through diet get an obnoxious cat collar cat people. This week we've got main white tails, Montana elk, and Michigan bird feeders. But first I'm gonna tell you about my week. And my week was spent cleaning layers of North Dakota mud off of everything, driving back from North Dakota, unloading and cleaning birds from North Dakota, and cooking a couple of very nice meals. First, the thing I know you care about the most the Snort Report Old snort Akus. Before we left North Dakota rounded up some more pheasants. We took a walk with a landowner and dentist named Ben, who did some really impressive wing shooting and doubled at the end of our first walks. Then he shot two roosters out of the sky snort sprang into action and found one rooster immediately. Then it seemed she had the second, but came out of the tall stuff empty. After serious searching beating the brush, we had to call it, which is terrible. Lots of excuses. Brush was too thick, too much bird scent, got a young dog. And the one excuse that I hate the most is you know it happens, and it's true. Wound loss does happen, but you shouldn't get comfortable with it. Only silver lining here, and it's because anywhere they're good game bird populations, there are good raptor ppulations. Ben was shooting bismuth, so at least we only killed one bird. We looped around and walked a shelter belt, which for those who don't know, is like several rows of trees and brush, usually a mix of whatever the country can sustain. And that row of trees is supposed to like make a little break so the wind doesn't scour the soil off of fields like a long term soil erosion mitigator, and it can also be like a wildlife habitator, I think, And this particular shelter belt there was little to know undergrowth, so the Snort had to be continually called back or I like to call it break checking. Let her know that this is a coordinated effort, not a dog chase bird scenario. We found a handful of birds that were willing to hold long enough to shoot at. I crippled a bird that ran into the brush just as Snort was coming out of it. Determined not to lose this one, I brought Snort to heal and put her on his track. Three times she ran in on his scent, and three times she flushed a hen, which was so painful because I wanted that bird so bad. We dropped Ben's hat on the spot and decided to keep pushing the belt with the idea that the wounded bird was going to end up. You know. At the end we didn't go too far when Ben shouted, there he is, and after a long sprint, Snort returned with the bird. At the end of the day we had one lost rooster and five in the bag, and Snort with a bunch more experience, which was you know, certainly my main objective one observation. Plenty of birds, but noticeably young birds. In fact, I flushed a rooster on the Montana side of things that hadn't grown enough rooster feathers to confidently be shot. I spoke with a friend in South Dakota yesterday where they had just had their opening day, and he reported the same thing in Montana. I've heard most folks say that there was an extra round of nesting due to a late hatch grasshoppers. In the Dakota's a late rain caused a quick but thick bloom of green grass. Lots of young roosters, probably around the eight week age, underweight with very short tails, but still lots of roosters. One last note before we move on. I finally missed with my new weather B twenty gage. It was bound to happen, right, but I got five roosters in a row. Then I missed, and shooting out of spite, not out of smarts, I hit with my second barrel. That was the crippled rooster that went on the wild run. That was a shot I never should have taken, and we got lucky to recover that bird. Snort may not say the same, but that's my take on the situation. Moving on to the main, dear desk, that's M. A I N. E. As you probably know, State and wildlife departments rely on hunters to manage game populations. If populations grow too large, agencies issue more permits. If those populations are hit with a hard winter or some type of disease, agencies issue fewer permits. But what happens when issuing more permits isn't enough to control a growing population, The main department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is about to find out. According to a great report by the Bangor Daily News, the white tailed deer population in Maine is too large and hunters haven't been able to shrink the herd. As any East Coast resident can tell you, over abundance of deer can be a major problem, not only for the health of the deer herd, but also for the general public. Over one hundred people die each year from deer related traffic accidents in the US, and there were an estimated one point five million deer related car insurance claims between two thousand nineteen and two thousand twenty. White tail have all so been linked to increased rates of limes disease because they carry the ticks that spread the illness. There are about three hundred thousand white tail and Maine and biologists would like to get that numbered down. They've tried issuing more permits, but hunters aren't taking enough does to get the population under control. Over the past handful of years, we've kind of reached a plateau or a threshold where we're just not able to achieve any significant increase in the harvest of antlerless deer despite issuing a lot of permits, said Maine State Wildlife official Nathan Webb. The state issued a record breaking one hundred and fifty three thousand permits for any type of white tail, but less than six percent of those permits were used on adult does. The state is unlikely to recruit more hunters unless they've found a secret sauce than no other Fish and Wildlife department has been able to find. So the question is how can main Fish and Wildlife encourage more hunters to take more female deer. There are several proposals that agency officials are considering. The first is to change the quote any deer permit system to one that allows hunters to bag an additional antlerless deer. Right now, main hunters with a valid big game hunting license can apply for a free permit that allows them to hunt any type of deer within a designated wildlife Management district. This first proposal would change the any dear permit to an antlerless dear permit, allowing hunters to harvest an antlerless deer in addition to another deer, whether a buck or a dough. Dear. Biologists say that this proposal would encourage hunters to bag a dough at the beginning of the season. You've probably found yourself in this situation. You hunt for a buck all season, and on the last day you decide to shoot a dough so you can at least take some venison home. Of course, on that last day, there are no deer anywhere in sight, and you end up eating tag soup with two tags, one for exclusively antlerless deer. Main hunters would be more incentivized to take a dough on the first day of the season and keep hunting for a buck later in the year. Main's Fish and Wildlife Department may also decide to charge a fee for an antlerless permit rather than offering a free any deer permit. You may be saying, what they couldn't give these things away and get people to slap them on does how are they going to sell them. That sounds counterintuitive, but how many times have you done something or used something just because you paid for it. That automatic can opener you bought is loud, messy and harder to use than a hand crank opener, but you know you paid for it at that garage sale, so you're gonna use them. The same logic applies here. If hunters are forced to pay a small fee for their permits, they're less likely to let that money go to waste. Fewer people will apply, but that will also give Maine Fish and Wildlife a better estimate of how many deer will be taken each year. Other proposals would change the lottery system to allow hunters to choose only two wildlife management districts and restrict permit swapping. As you can imagine, main deer hunters have a variety of opinions on these proposals. The main Department of England Fisheries and Wildlife is currently accepting comments on these proposed changes. They're conducting a survey on the main deer Hunters Facebook page as well. The page isn't open to the public, but the moderators kindly gave me access right now it looks like the majority of respondents support the proposal to issue antlerless dear permits, but main hunters don't like the prospect of paying for permits that used to be free. If you live in Maine and would like to weigh in, go to Facebook and search for Maine. That's an a I any deer hunters. But before we move on, I would like to give a shout out to the good folks in the Pine Tree State for the work they've done to recover their state's white tail population a decade ago. Main deer we're in trouble, especially in the northern, eastern, and western parts of the state, which is the long way of saying most of the state. The Department of Wildlife took action, developed a plan, and hunters and conservationists got on board. Today's over abundance of deer is a different kind of problem, But the risk of stating the obvious, I'd much rather have too many deer than too few. Good work main deer hunters wigh in now or don't complain later. Moving on to the bird feed desk, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer vetoed a bill last week that would have erased restrictions on feeding birds in the state. Residents are permitted to feed birds undercurrent law, but they must use feeders that are inaccessible to deer and elk. Michigan's Natural Resources Commission banned deer baiting in much of the state in two thousand and eighteen, and those prohibitions also apply to bird feeders that might be accessible to servants. This year, Representative Ken Borton introduced legislation that would have removed those restrictions and replaced them with two simple criteria. Feed must be within three hundred feet of residents, and there must be no more than two gallons of feet on the ground at a time. As long as Michigander's meet those two conditions, they won't have to worry about whether deer and elk are accessing or congregating around the bird food. The bill passed the House with the support of a handful of Democrats, and passed along party lines in the Senate, with Republicans voting for and Democrats voting against. Governor Whitmer, who has also vetoed bills lifting the deer baiting ban, vetoed this bill on the grounds that it would have contributed to the spread of chronic wasting to ease among deer and elk. The bill would quote cast aside sound disease management principles to loosen restrictions on deer and elk feeding, threatening our agricultural and hunting industries. Both the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Michigan Farm Bureau opposed the bill back in April. The bill's proponents, meanwhile, argued that well intentioned Michiganders who want to feed birds and squirrels face misdemeanor and felony charges if bird seed accidentally falls from a feeder and is eaten by a servant. Overly broad government rules punish individuals who simply place food in their yards, even to keep animals from starving, said Representative Borton. My plan would have protected citizens from unjust fines and allowed recreational bird and wildlife feeding. Why would you say something so controversially yet so brave. Important to note that recreational bird and squirrel feeding is allowed. First time violators of the baiting ban could be charged with a misdemeanor, and three violations result in a felony. I'm not aware of any well intentioned bird feeders who have been charged with any crime in Michigan. But I can see why potential charges might worry bird and squirrel lovers. Running just below the surface of this debate is a much larger debate about deer baiting and chronic wasting disease. Unless you've been living under a rock for the last decade, you know what I'm talking about. Many state wildlife agencies have banned deer baiting because when servants congregate, chronic wasting disease spreads more quickly. Hunters might not like it, but these wildlife biologists are following the science on this one. Dozens of studies have shown that c w D spreads faster as animals congregate together around baits sites and food plots. The question, of course, is whether this particular c w D mitigation strategy can justify banning practices that have been used by hunters in the East and Midwest for generations. Hunting on small plots of land in thickly wooded areas is more difficult if you can't attract dear to your property with a delicious pile of calories. Hunters are understandably upset about baiting bands if they think it will make dear more difficult to harvest. If you want my opinion, I think we should look to the long term health of the deer herd. If baiting quickens the spread of seed w D and makes controlling the disease more difficult, hunters should be willing to change their strategies to meet the challenge. Hunting is, after all, conservation, right, It's on t shirts, It's got to be true. Michigan hunters seem to be doing just that. While the total dear harvest dropped a little after the baiting ban was implemented, two thousand twenties deer harvest was higher than two thousand sixteen, two thousand seventeen, and two thousand eighteen. While the recent proposed and vetoed legislation may have been an honest attempt to prevent little old ladies from the slim possibility of being ticketed with a felony because of sloppy bird feeders, my hats off to Governor Whitmer and her staff for stopping the bill. Regardless, I think we can safely leave bird feeder enforcement to the law and bet that any tickets are written to those little old ladies who have sloppy bird feeders and choose to kill really big bucks off of them. Moving on to the law enforcement desk, wardens, as usual, have their hands very full with hunting seasons in full swing. Oregon general buck season open at the beginning of October, and Oregon Fish and Wildlife have deployed wildlife enforcement decoys to nab poachers. Because this is audio, I'm pausing to say that the term quote Wildlife Enforcement decoy or WEDS is capitalized like you know its official government nomenclature. Anyway, the decoys are what you would expect, big bucks with huge antlers standing broadside to the roadway. Oregon has so far busted four would be poachers shooting at the decoys from the road after legal hunting hours, and in at least one case, with the aid of artificial light. I know many of us have had the terrible experience of taking a shot at an animal and having that animal remained completely motionless, but this puts a different spin on that. I suppose it's good strategy by Fish and Wildlife to broadcast the use of these decoys far and wide to dissuade Oregonians from giving into temptation and taking a poke at that deer of a lifetime just off the road, I believe. In Montana, one of the well used webs was referred to as dirty Harry. Don't worry. Whatever state you live in has something similar. Rangers from Colorado Parks and Wildlife recently improved the life of one particular elk who had been carrying a car tire around its neck for two years. We've talked a bunch about hunters passing on colored deer and elk because they seem kind of sullied by the hand of man, but an old tire for a necklace brings that feeling to a whole new level. The elk, with its tiresome burden, had been spotted by residents and captured on trail camp since two thousand nineteen, and CPW officers had been hot on its treads ever since. But finally Wildlife Officer Dawson Swanson was able to close the deal and hit the bull with the tranquilizer dirt on October seven. The officers had a short window before the station wore off, and after discovering a steel band and the tire that they couldn't cut through, they decided to saw the bulls antlers off and pull the tire over its head. The tire was full of at least ten pounds of accumulated dirt, pine needles, and other crowd no aunts will likely mean a lonely two thousand, twenty one mating season for this bowl, But on the bright side, he is already looking much less tired. According to the CPW press release, this kind of thing isn't as unusual as you might imagine. Their list of the crap that deer, elk, moose, bears, and other wildlife get tangled up with includes swing sets, hammocks, clothing lines, furniture, tomato cages, chicken feeders, laundry basket, soccer goals, mountain lions, bobcats, volleyball nets, holiday lighting decorations, and I'm sure a bunch of other things. So if in the next couple of weeks you see an elk with a human skull impaled on one of its antlers, relax, he was probably just grazing near Halloween display, probably moving on to the Montana desk. In a problem that would seem inconceivable to hunters just a generation ago. Montana has too many elk, or at least too many elk walking into inconvenient places. For some of us. Elk aren't dumb, and under hunting pressure, they moved from public land on to private land where Joe public hunter cannot follow. And wherever they are they eat. Bowl elk grow those beautiful antlers from scratch every year, and the material to make them has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is often the private land of farmers and ranchers who are already hard pressed to make a profit. This is known in many places as the elk tax. So how to expand elk hunting on private land to control elk numbers? Following a statute passed by the state legislature last session, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission recently approved hunting access agreements for three large private ranches in the state, including one owned by Texas fracking magnates Dan and Ferris Wilkes. The special agreement gives these out of state landowners eight bowl elk tags free of charge, and they can invite eight other hunters who already have and either sex tag to hunt on their property. If those eight hunters want to pay the landowner for that privilege, they may do so. That's a pretty sweet deal, especially after Ferris Wilkes didn't draw a bowl elk tag when he applied through the general out of state lottery last season. In return for this special setup, the ranch will allow sixteen randomly selected hunters to go after cow elk on the property for five days. To someone learning about this situation for the first time, this might seem like a pretty good idea, although an earlier program in two thousand nineteen Montana resident hunters were granted much wider access to the Wilkes's property and killed over three hundred cow elk. Free market hunting groups make the case that this provision and ones like it give landowners the incentive to manage their property for wildlife, while also allowing a certain amount of public access in return. This most recent arrangement is much much more favorable to big landowners than similar deals in the recent past. The Wilkes brothers own a little over three fifty eight thousand acres in the state. A similar example of this type of management would be, of course, New Mexico, which we've discussed many times, where up to half of all available elk tags go to landowners who can then turn around and sell those tags to the highest bidder. The result in New Mexico is so few tags remaining for the average hunter that draws have become increasingly difficult. New Mexico is one of the lowest income states in the nation. Hunting isn't just a pastime for a lot of people, It's a lifeline to food. Montana already has excellent incentives in place to make it worth a landowners while to allow the public to hunt their land. The block Management program gives landowners hunting licensing benefits, liability protection, livestock US reimbursements, and up to twenty five dollars in compensation for allowing access. This general compensation is very different from granting transferable landowner tags. Namely, it doesn't provide a sense of ownership to public wildlife. Block management attempts to balance the hassle of people coming onto your land by providing compensation and providing as near a democratic system as possible to you know, essentially, everyone has an equal chance of being able to hunt, but each transferable landowner tag can fetch twenty thousand dollars or more depending on the unit, with the option to sell a bunch of these tags to wealthy hunters. Why would anyone decide to let regular people who they don't know come hunt for a once a year payment of twenty five thousand dollars. Let's go back to the Wilkes example. If they were to get prime rates for their bowl tags, that's a hundred and sixty thousand dollars for the year, plus whatever they can get for trespass fees. All of that in exchange for letting sixteen public hunters have the opportunity to hunt cow elk for five days unless those sixteen cow hunters can somehow manage to coordinate an effective elk drive to push the herd off the property completely well, in my opinion, to quote the Duke and true grit, that baby sister is no deal. That's all I've got for you this week. Thanks for listening. Remember it's hunting season. If you need a clean, quiet, ripping little chainsaw for underneath the truck seat just in case you're get in a pinch, go to www dot Steel Dealers dot com and find the closest, knowledgeable, awesome steel dealer near you. They'll get you set up with what you need to get you out of a pinch or to just make the house look good and most importantly, don't forget to write in to a s K C a L. That's ask cow at the meat eater dot com and let me know what's going on in your neck of the woods. I appreciate it. That's all I've got for you. Thanks again, and I'll talk to you next week.

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