00:00:09 Speaker 1: From Mediators World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is Cal's we Can Review with Ryan cal Callahan. 00:00:17 Speaker 2: Now Here's Cal. Baltimore residents have been pulling strange stuff out of the Patapsco River after the cargo ship disaster. A few weeks ago. While this story would normally be outside our wheelhouse, I noticed a video on social media showing what looked like a pile of deer hides floating in the water. The videos creator said these hides had been on the container ship, though our crack team of investigators here at Cal's weekend Review has yet to been able to verify these claims. I can tell you that the container ship Chris and Dally was carrying about forty seven hundred shipping containers when it destroyed Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge. It was headed from charm City, which, believe it or not, is Baltimore's nickname to Sri Lanka, and investigators found damage to at least thirteen containers on the ship. It's unclear whether this damage resulted in deer hides being ejected into the water or exactly where these hides came from, but I'll bet you a buckskin that we can find out this week, tiny fish legislation, and so much more. But first I'm going to tell you about my week. In my week, eh boy, we got a lot going on. By the time you hear this, our Brush for Bucks event with the fellas from Hush Mule Deer Foundation and Idaho Fish and Game will all be wrapped up. Habitat is what makes the world go around, and the destruction of America's grasslands, of which the sage rush ecosystem is a part, is kicking our butts. We have let the lesser prairie chicken get listed on our watch. The greater sage grouse could be next, and all they need is native habitat, big chunks and native habitat habitat which also happens to grow big, old, gnarly mule deer bucks. So thanks to everyone for showing up. We'll do it again next year. I hope you come out and join us. It is fulfilling work. Next on the spring hit list, Meat Eaters Auction House Oddities found at the meeater dot Com is coming to a close. If you're listening to this on Monday, it's going to close on Tuesday. Or raising cash for corner crossing legal defense. And again, when we win this one and probably the next one at the Supreme Court, will have solidified the fact that taking a step from one piece of public land onto the next piece of public land is obviously legal. Eight million acres are currently behind a footsteps worth of corner crossing. So buy something. Please team up with a buddy. It's going to a good cause. Uh what else here? BHA rendezvous is coming up? Hot? This one is in Minneapolis. I'm a hot dish. I was just talking with a friend who asked, well, why would I go? Here's your answer. You get a hang out with a super diverse, awesome group of people from around North America sometimes further. Those folks all share common interests, they're young, they're energized, and for the most part, real do it yourselfers. You get a swap stories, tips, tricks, and you may just come away with a new hunting partner, fishing partner, a place to go. On top of that, you get to see under the hood of back country hunters and anglers what it is we do, what we're working on and why, and how you can effectively advocate for wild places, wild critters, access and make sure that stuff is around for decades and decades to come. On top of that, there's great food, breweries and so much more. Buy tickets now. We're also gonna do a round of Meat Eater Trivia hosted by Randall Williams Friday Night at Rendezvous after the famous Hal Herrings podcast, so get there for that too. Mark Kennan will be there. We're gonna get in deep on a lot of the topics that we cover here on the show. It's gonna be great, so check that out. After that, it's onto DC for the TRCP Capital Conservation Awards Dinner, where this year Room Map and I are hosting. And Rue runs a super awesome nonprofit called Outdoor Afro. Outdoor Afro celebrates and inspires Black connections and leadership and nature. It's a national nonprofit that reconnects Black people to lands, water, wildlife through outdoor education, recreation and conservation. They do a bunch of stuff, host year round activities fishing, hiking, biking, kayaking, gardening, skiing, and a ton more. Rue's a super super smart lady, and on top of that, she's a real class act, classy dresser. So I'm a little nervous to have to stand up there next tour because my wardrobe is a little country bumpkin, but honored to be up there standing next tour and hosting TRCP where they get a ton of awesome stuff done up there at the federal level. Then after that brutal plane ride home, I'm finally gonna hunt turkeys and I'm really really looking forward to it. Get a weekend of hunting turkeys in and then put my butt on the old Meat Eater Tour bus. As you know, we have a Meat Eater Live tour happening in this spring, and you know we're setting our sites on exotic locales such as Mesa, Arizona, April twenty third, San Diego, California, April twenty fourth, Anaheim, California, April twenty five, Sacramento April twenty seven, Salt Lake City April twenty nine, which is, you know, sorry, California friends, that's the Salt Lake Shows where I'm joining up on the tour. Then on to Boise at the Egyptian Missoula Spokane. That's Missoula, Montana, Spokane, Washington, Portland, Oregon, Tacoma, Washington at the Pantagios and then then on home for some real serious turkey hunting. Can be all cooped up, so watch out Montana turkeys. And I just want to let you know because they had this conversation with a buddy of mine in Missoula and he was like, oh my god, tickets are so expensive. I think they're expensive too, but we just added an option to where you can get on there and get a ticket to see the show without the cookbook. And you know, the cookbooks are expensive. This one's super awesome, great imagery and everything, but all those great things about it make it more expensive. So if you checked in your little sticker shocked, I get it now, you can go on there and find a ticket Sam's cookbook. On top of that, when I was doing my own digging around on prices, I got to tell you, if they seem absurdly overpriced, make sure that you're going to either the venue itself, like you know, Pantagious Theater that website for whatever theater that you're trying to go to, or find that website through the meateater dot com events pay because there's third party vendors out there that are selling tickets now and they are just curl your toes type of expensive. So if it seems crazy, like I said, by direct from the venue or you know, the other thing you can do, which you should do anyway, because it's a lot of fun and you meet good folks and you can learn about again all the good things that BHA does in your local area. Back huntry hunters and anglers are hosting pint nights prior to the live tour dates in a bunch of these areas, and you can win tickets to the show there, so that's pretty cool anyway, Moving on to the tiny fish desk. If I told you an agricultural project was being put on hold by a tiny endangered species of fish, you might assume the fish was living in a stream threatened by fertilizer runoff or dredge and fill projects, and sometimes you'd be right. But I recently learned of a controversy in southern California that turns that paradigm on its head. Farmers in the Imperial Irrigation District east of San Diego grow the majority of the nation's winter vegetables. They had agreed to start a conservation program in April to scale back the amount of water they draw from the Colorado River. Conservationists are concerned that the Colorado River might be in danger of drying up, and efforts are underway to make sure that doesn't happen. But according to the Associated Press, that water conservation project is being held up by another conservation concern, the desert pupfish. The desert puff fish is a species of bony fish about the size of a credit card. Males are bright blue during the spawning season, while females and juveniles are silver or tan. They've been listed as endangered in California since nineteen eighty and on the federal Endangered Species list since nineteen eighty six. The problem is that these fish have decided to make a home in the irrigation drains that divert runoff from farms to a nearby lake called the Salt and Sea. Farmers had agreed to turn off irrigation to feed crops like alfalfa for sixty days during the summer, but environmentalists worry that shutting off the water supply to the fields will dry up the irrigation drains and threaten the already endangered desert pupfish. This Ladies and jens. In case you're wondering is what we refer to as a catch twenty two. You want to save the water or the fish that live in water. Conservation efforts have been put on hold until at least June while the irrigation District works out with the state and federal officials a way to monitor the situation and save the fish. I assume this would involve identifying whether fish are in a certain drain and then relocating them if it looks like that drain is drying up. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, there are various refuge ponds around the salt and sea where these fish can be moved as insurance. Populations and desert pupfish do have one thing going for them. They've survived until now in part because they're tough. They can survive in a wide range of water salinity and temperatures, which allows them to live in habitats that are too harsh for introduced species to exist. Hopefully, officials in southern California can figure out a way to make sure these fish water they live in are conserved well into the future. Moving on to the pandemic desk, it seems like every time we turn around, we're hearing more about animals that aren't birds coming down with the bird flu, so much so, in fact, somebody might just call it the flu. One of the latest examples comes courtesy of UC Davis, where researchers published a study last month that found bird flu and marine mammals in South America, specifically, four sea lions and a seal. Researchers found the dead animals at a sea lion rookery in Argentina. Rookery is a place where they hang out and have babies. The samples shared the same mammal adaptation mutations that were previously detected in sea lions in Peru and Chile, and in a human case in Chile. Significantly, turns, the bird also had identical mutation of the virus, which suggests that even though bird flu has evolved to infect mammals, that same strain can still affect birds as well. On top of that, Listener nick Hart wrote in with the News that bird flu has infected dairy cows in Texas, Kansas, and New Mexico. According to a press release from the USDA, farmers in these states noticed dead wild birds on their farms at the same time that some of their older cows showed signs of decreased lactation and low appetite. They submitted samples from these cows to the USDA, and sure enough, they tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. Should you be worried you'll catch the bird flu from a gallon of milk you buy at the store right now? The answer is no, According to the USDA quote. At this stage, there is no concern about the safety of the commercial milk supply or that this circumstance poses a risk to consumer health. Dairies are required to send only milk from healthy animals into processing for human consumption. Milk from impacted animals is being diverted or destroyed so that it does not enter the food supply. In addition, pasteurization has continually proven to inactivate bacteria and viruses like influenza, and milk pasturization is required for any milk entering interstate commerce. At this point, the problem is also unlikely to impact the milk supply or milk prices. Impacted cows get sick, but they don't die, and milk loss from decreased lactation is too limited to have a major impact on supply. Still, if you are one of those folks who buys their milk raw from the dairy, it might be worth having a conversation with your milk dealer. Bird flu doesn't often infect humans, and when it does, the symptoms are usually mild. But some people have died from the disease, and right now it's unclear whether the live virus can be transmitted through milk. Moving on to the legislative desk, I want to start this week's legislative news by highlighting a huge victory that could not have been done without you in Kentucky. You may remember a few weeks ago when we released a special episode with Colonel Mike Abele of Kentucky BHA. Colonel Mike told us about a bad bill that would have moved the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources under the Department of Agriculture. In addition, it would have shifted the authority to appoint Fish and Wildlife Commissioners away from the governor and to the Agriculture Commissioner. Well, I'm pleased to report that even though that bill passed the Senate, it's all but dead in the House. Colonel Mike spoke with Speaker of the House, David Osborne, who told him in no uncertain terms that they're not going to pass it. That sentiment was echoed by the House committee appointed to the bill. To everyone who contacted their Kentucky representatives, give yourself a pat on the back. I have no doubt that pressure from hunters and anglers made this victory possible, and it goes to show what we can do when we get all hands on deck. Also, big kudos goes to the Kentucky BHA, the Congressional Sportsman's Foundation, and the Sportsman's Alliance for organizing this effort, as well as Kentucky Safari Club. Unfortunately, it wasn't all good news this week on the legislative front. Listener Matthew Gamble wrote in to tell me about a bill in Oklahoma that would allow deer breeders to release so called CWD resistant deer into the wild, the Chronic Wasting Disease Genetic Improvement Act. This bill would create a pilot program to quote enhance the genetic durability of Oklahoma deer against chronic wasting disease. This bill is based on the scientifically dubious assumption that captive deer breeders can breed deer that are resistant to CWD, which, oddly enough, is you know where CWD comes from, captive servid breeders. Deer breeders have latched onto this theory because they want to save their jobs and they want to counter the claim that they're the vectors for spreading the disease across states like Texas and Oklahoma. They claim that, rather than being part of the problem, deer breeders can actually be the solution to CWD. But as Matthew points out, these theories have not been thoroughly tested beyond a few studies found by the deer breeders themselves. It's unclear whether this kind of selective breeding would have other detrimental effects, as almost all selective breeding usually does. This Oklahoma bill HB three fours, six to two pass the House by a wide margin and is headed for the Senate. This is, i'm sorry, shocking to me because deer do not recognize state lines, So for Oklahoma to decide that they can captively breed and then release into the general public genetically selective deer is nuts to me. All the neighboring states should be weighing in on this in Oklahoma. Moving on to Minnesota, several of you wrote in about this bill that would transfer ownership of a large state forest to a Native American tribe and potentially close access to the state's largest natural freshwater lake. The Upper and Lower Red Lake cover four hundred and forty square miles in northern Minnesota. The Lower Red Lake is entirely within the boundaries of the Red Lake Reservation, but the Upper Red Lake is still accessible to non tribal residents. It's a popular walleye fishing destination, and the fishery is a big part of the local economy. The southeast portion of the lake is also surround by the eighty four thousand acre Red Lake State Forest. The bill, numbered SF five zero eight zero, would transfer ownership of this state forest to the Red Lake Band of the Chippewa Indians. It would also give the tribe a one mile border around the Upper Red Lake currently in state ownership. It's unclear exactly what kinds of access restrictions the tribe would impose, if any, but it's safe to say that Minnesota hunters and anglers are concerned. Listener Mitchell Nissler told me, quote, I grew up around this area hunting and fishing on these lands and do hope to continue to do so in the future. This bill would completely remove this economy that drives a lot of the small towns around where I grew up in northern Minnesota. This bill has been introduced in the Senate and is in front of the Environment, Climate, and Legacy Commission. Staying in Minnesota, the state legislature is still debating a bill that would eliminate shotgun only hunting zones and allow hunting with any legal rifle anywhere in the state. This bill is HF eight sixty four. If you want to look it up and get in touch with your state legislators. In Tennessee, one of the members of the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission proposed to change to the state's all inclusive sportsman's license right now. This one hundred and sixty five dollars license covers all hunting, trapping, and sport fishing activities and allows holders to apply for quota of permits at no additional fee. Commissioner Bill Cox said at a recent meeting that he would like to see that license cover fewer activities and special permits. 00:17:26 Speaker 1: If you research all the other states that have sportment licenses, then none of them cover like Tennessee does. And with our current budget problem, and I hate to harp on money, but that's kind of my job. We need everything we can get as far as income to keep from having to raise licenses prices. 00:17:44 Speaker 2: If you live in Tennessee, this one you'll want to keep on your radar. Thanks to listener Troy Jern again for sending that one. In Wisconsin, Governor Tony Evers vetoed four outdoor related bills this week, including one that would have banned dough hunting in the northern portion of the state. He said he objected to this bill because it would have limited the ability of the state Department of Natural Resources to respond to varying deer densities in different areas of the northern forests. He called it a one size fits all solution that also limits property owners from making decisions to best manage their land and disregards public input provided by a county deer advisory councils. Evers also vetoed a bill that would have established a specific wolf population goal in the state. Another bill that would have allowed hound hunting from May one to June thirtieth, and yet another one that would have only banned deer baiting in a certain area if CWD is detected in wild free roaming animals. The legislature could theoretically override these vetos, but it would have taken a two thirds supermajority vote. Right now, Republicans hold a two thirds majority in the Senate, but they're a few votes shy in the Assembly. All four bills were proposed by Republicans and passed mostly along party lines. Well end today's legislation desk in New Mexico, where a newly appointed Game Commissioner is calling for a discussion of the state's ELK private lands use system, commonly referred to as E plus. Under the E plus system, the state gives ELK permit authorizations to landowners, who often turn around and sell these permits on the open market. As we covered back in twenty twenty two, this means that a large percentage of ELK tags in New Mexico end up being too pricey for a lot of hunters. This is understandably a very popular program among landowners, and the Game Commission has for many years resisted calls to modify the system. One common critique is that while most licenses issued through e plus restrict hunting to the landowner's property, others allow hunting on public lands. Basically, you have a landowner property tag and then you have a landowner unit wide tag, and the unit wide tag is just that it's unit wide, so it can be on public property as well. Critics say this essentially privatizes what should be a public resource. This issue is back in the news because one of the newest Game Commissioners, Sabrina Pack, said she would like to take comments on e plus at an April nineteenth Commission meeting in Silver City. CHERSEYO Lopez, vice Chair of the Game Commission, has said that he agrees with Pack's suggestion, so we'll see if that moves forward. New Mexicans, this is your time to weigh in, and you should, because man, if you're a resident of New Mexico, you're getting host plain and simple. These tags going out on the open market are technically available to everybody, but there is a big piece of the elk pie meant for residents that are going to non residents with deeper pocketbooks, So speak up. Moving on to the accident desk, a young father and his four year old son died last week in a tragic fishing accident along the Tennessee River. A thirty one year old Ryan Tucker and his son Michael could frequently be found casting a line in the river in Perry County, but when their family didn't hear from them all day last Tuesday, they became worried. Not long after, an employee at a nearby gravel company spotted Michael's body in the river. Authorities launched a search for Ryan, and they found his body floating in the water a short time later. Well never know exactly what happened, but authorities say this isn't the first time people have drowned in the area when they're fishing. There are signs there that say no trespassing and employees only, but the Perry County Sheriff told local media that people frequently ignore those signs. The banks are surrounded by stacks of gravel, and if one of those stacks starts to slide into the river, anglers can get swept in with it. The current can also be unpredictable, so getting out of the water can be extremely difficult. Authorities found Ryan's truck parked nearby, along with evidence that the pair were fishing. The family told local media they believe Michael somehow fell into the river and Ryan drowned trying to save them. There's a go fundme that will put up on the ask Cat page that folks can wade in and help as spring and summer fishing gets underway. This is also a good reminder to stay safe out there. There are no great estimates for how many recreational anglers die every year in the US. A recent report that about one hundred thousand people I annually die fishing worldwide, but those stats also include commercial fishermen doing especially dangerous jobs like diving for lobster. The Coast Guard reporter in twenty twenty two that there were six hundred and thirty six recreational boating fatalities that year, but that includes all boating fatalities, not just anglers. Still, by comparison to hunting, which only sees about one hundred fatal accidents per year, it's safe to say that fishing isn't without risk. Still pretty safe in the grand scheme of things, but anytime you're dealing with boats large bodies of water, there's every reason in the world to be cautious. Know how to swim where a life vest, don't enter areas with warning signs, be conscious of tides and floods. All of these simple precautions can ensure that once you catch your limit, you're able to go home and enjoy those fish with your family. Now Here in Montana, what gets people every year is our runoff. Right, the snow out that becomes the water in the spring is extremely cold and it can stay cold for a long time. So when we get those first ninety degree days and it's gorgeous and sunny and people want to be out recreating, they underestimate the temperature of that water, how fast it's moving, and the volume. Right, Like the last time their skinny butts were in the water, it was August and it was hot. The water was low and slow. Now it's hot and the water's cold and fast. So if you ever get a hanker in to do it, a absolutely phenomenal thing that you could go do is go get a swift Water Rescue Technician certification. It's a phenomenal class where you actually get to go swim in that high, rageing water and feel the real force of runoff time and its eye opening. So as per usual. The resources are out there, you just got to go find them. Moving on to the mail bag, I was looking in the ask cal inbox this week when I noticed email from Zillo. Zillo is one of those real estate listing websites, and the message seemed odd because we're not looking to move the international World headquarters of Cows. We can review anytime soon. When I clicked on the email, I saw it was actually from a listener named Mike. He'd used Zilo's platform to send me a property listing on the Wabasas Lake in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. The listing included an image showing a likely spot to build a house, along with an arrow pointing out quote to your private lake. The so called private lake in question was very much connected to a larger Wabasas Lake with an obvious channel. In fact, Mike explained that he gets in there with the John boat every spring. Sorry to blow up that fact for you there, Mike. Now, whether it's due to ignorance of the agent or the seller, or annoying attempt to increase the property's value, this kind of thing is super super common in real estate listings. I advised Mike to get in touch with whoever manages the lake, most likely the state Department of Natural Resources asked them to confirm the this portion of the lake is public water. Then contact the seller's agent directly and get them to amend the listing. The last thing you want to do is have a conflict with the new owner the next time you're out there slaying walleye. It's best to nip this in the bud. And I think Mike is on the right track here. I've seen a lot of listings like this. If you've ever seen questionable listings like the ones we just talked about, send them on over to ask Health the meeteater dot com. That's all I got for you this week. Thank you so much for listening, and remember to write in ask c Al that's Askcal, a themeeteater dot com, and let us know what's going on in your neck of the woods. You know, we really enjoy it. Thanks again, and I'll talk to you next week.