Slugs & Plugs

Bruin a quick study on ladder

Wildlife authorities in the Colorado high country have been swamped with reports about problem black bears all summer long. In the Aspen region alone, authorities have fielded more than 265 bear nuisance calls since July 1.

Last week an Aspen woman was attacked and slightly injured by a black bear that entered her home. The offending bruin was subsequently shot and killed by Colorado Division of Wildlife officers.

With the surge in bear activity in resort towns this year, it was not really anything unusual for employees of the Snowmass Parks and Recreation Department to see a bear when they arrived at work Tuesday morning. That is, unless you consider that the medium-sized blackie was hopelessly stuck at the bottom of the town’s new below-ground skateboard park bowl.

The distraught bruin evidently slid down the contoured and sloping cement walls of the skating facility overnight, and was unable to maneuver his way to freedom, despite his repeated efforts.

With assistance from officers with the Snowmass Village Police Department, a long utility ladder was placed along one of the walls and after some trial and error, the bear scurried up the ladder like he was practicing for a circus appearance.

In the meantime, a Snowmass Police officer with a digital camera was able to capture the entire wild wildlife moment for posterity.  

Anyhow, if you were considering using a ladder stand for hunting in bear country this season, you may want to think again after seeing this bad boy in action.

S&P random quote

“A fly rod is good for whatever ails a man. Any curable infirmity to which the flesh is heir is sure to respond to its persuasive therapy. And it is especially recommended for ulcers, nervous breakdowns and overdoses of wedlock."

 - Havilah Babcock; Jaybirds Go to Hell on Friday, 1964

‘Total luck shot’ takes down charging grizzly

Soldotna, Alaska fishing guide Greg Brush was walking his dogs not far from his home on the morning of Aug. 2 when he turned at the sound of a snapping twig. There, less than 20 yards away, was a charging 900-pound brown bear, “ears back, head low and motorin’ full speed.”

In a single motion, Brush drew and fired his Ruger .454 Casull revolver. One shot proved fatal.

“Came with zero warning,” Brush later told the Anchorage Daily News. “No woof, no popping of the teeth, no standing up, nothing like what you think.”

Brush told the newspaper he carries a pistol on his walks because bears have chased his dogs in the past.

“It doesn’t get any closer. He slid by me on his chin when I shot him,” Brush said. “I was backpedaling as fast as I could. I wasn’t even aiming. I tripped over my own feet as I pulled the trigger.”

Brush estimated the bear weighed 900-plus pounds, and was 15 to 20 years old. It had grass packed in its molars and little fat on its bones. He said he figured the bruin was hungry and saw an opportunity.

“I never ever thought it would happen to me. It’s always some other (guy), right? It totally wiped me out…(I was) dry heaving and hyperventilating, with some abdominal cramping.”

The fishing guide considers himself fortunate.

“Total luck shot,” he said.

Flying carp smackdown

You may have heard or read about the invasive species of Asian carp that has spread northward, up the Mississippi River and into its tributaries in recent years. Not only does the fish grow quickly and grow large, but it has the unusual propensity for leaping high into the air when rousted by the sound of a passing outboard motor.

Boaters who frequent waters occupied by the exotic species have learned to take special precautions, like wearing protective gear or arming themselves with garbage can lids to use as shields to deflect the airborne bottom-feeders.

Not surprisingly, many hunters, (who are experts at producing lemonade when they are dealt lemons), have succeeded in making the best of the situation. These days, especially along parts of the Illinois River near Peoria, on any summer day you are likely to see numerous boaters armed with bows and arrows, cruising the waters in search of flying carp.

Such was the case earlier this summer, when Jodi Barnes was bowfishing for Illinois River carp with her fiancée, Chris Brackett, whose company, Brackett Outdoors, produces DVDs featuring high-intensity carp-slaying action.

“We were going really slow because that seems to get them to jump really high,” Brackett told my good friend Jeff Lampe, the outdoors editor for the Peoria Journal-Star. “Jodi had shot at one and was leaning forward to reel in her arrow when another fish came out of nowhere to her right and then hit her in the jaw.”

The smackdown was caught with incredible precision by photographer Bill Konway, a passenger in the boat. The resulting impact broke Barnes’ jaw.

Ms. Barnes is currently recovering from her carp-bashing, and her diet will reportedly consist of smoothies and mashed potatoes for the next four weeks.

In the meantime, Beckett is scheduled to take film crews for the National Geographic Channel’s series, “Hooked” in search of slimy, flying target this coming weekend.

Until we hear otherwise, we assume the engagement is still on.

S&P random quote

“When I get up at five in the morning to go fishing, I wake my wife up and ask, ‘What’ll it be dear, sex or fishing?’ And she says, “Don’t forget your waders.’”

-Paul Quinnett, Darwin’s Bass, 1996

Today’s hunters face a ‘growing’ problem

As hunters prepare to head to the backcountry for early season big game scouting, authorities in an increasing number of popular hunting locales are warning sportsmen about the likelihood for confrontations with armed and ruthless marijuana growers on public lands.

It’s a disturbing sign of our times, but more and more hunters in virtually every region of rural American may potentially stumble upon clandestine drug-making and marijuana-growing operations these days.

With the California Zone A deer season opening August 15, hunters there are being warned to be especially vigilant when in remote areas of the Mendocino National Forest, a region notorious for illegal pot-growing plantations. It is also an area where armed confrontations have occurred between growers and unsuspecting deer hunters in the past.

Just last week, deputies with the Glenn County Sheriff’s Department and U.S. Forest Service personnel removed 15,521 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $62 million from the Elk Creek area of the Mendocino NF.

No one was apprehended, but authorities also dismantled two separate camps and an extensive irrigation system.

BBQ Buck

Beware of falling fish

In the late summer months, it’s not unusual when motoring along the banks of Lake Erie in northern Ohio to have some pretty substantial flying objects go splat! on your windshield: like junebugs, dragonflies and the occasional hard-hitting bumblebee.

An 8-pound fish, though? Well, that’s somewhat unusual. Messy, too, we presume.

Leighann Niles and her 5-year-old daughter were traveling on the main road through scenic East Harbor State Park on Monday when they were treated to the sight of a bald eagle flying overhead, a freshly caught fish grasped in its talons.

“I look in the air and see the most beautiful eagle I’d ever seen in my life,” Niles said.

It was about that time that the eagle evidently developed some difficulty with its landing gear, so to speak.

“The next thing I knew, the fish wiggled—it dropped like a brick and completely shattered my windshield,” reported Ms. Niles.

The combined impact of a 40-foot fish freefall and a 2004 Toyota Matrix traveling at 40 miles per hour resulted in one totally ruined windshield.

Neither Niles nor her daughter was injured, but they both have a whopper of a fish story to tell.

Paradigm shift in attitudes toward guns?

According to a new poll released last week, the chasm-wide disparity that once existed between many Republican and Democratic voters on the issue of gun ownership and use has narrowed to almost negligible levels.

Data contained in the public opinion survey appears to confirm a paradigm shift in the average American’s perception of personal firearms ownership and concealed-carry laws, one that crosses party lines, age and cultural differences.

The survey, conducted by the polling firm Zogby International and commissioned by The O’Leary Report performed July 21-24 asked a total of 3693 voters the following question:

“Currently, 39 states have laws that allow residents to carry firearms to protect themselves, only if they pass a background check and pay a fee to cover administrative costs. Most of those states also require applicants to have firearms safety training. Do you support or oppose this law?”

The results may surprise you.

An overwhelming 83-percent of those polled said they supported concealed-carry laws, while an incredible 80 percent of those identified as voting for President Barack Obama were also in favor of current state CCW laws.

Further, concealed carry was supported by a majority of Independent voters (86 percent), Republicans (85 percent), Democrats (80 percent), young voters age 18-29 (83 percent) and Hispanic voters (80 percent).

Asked “Do you agree or disagree that you have an individual right to own and use firearms for lawful purposes?” almost 85 percent of the 3778 individuals polled said they agreed.

Those agreeing with the premise of individual firearm ownership included an overwhelming majority of Republican voters (96 percent), Democratic voters (73 percent) and Independents (88 percent).

Vets, re-enactors dispute Gettysburg shooting ordinance

Veteran’s groups and Civil War re-enactors are at odds with Gettysburg, Pennsylvania’s new ordinance requiring organizations that discharge unloaded firearms at events and ceremonies within the borough limits to pay an annual $20 fee, obtain a permit and show proof of insurance before firing blank loads. 

About 30 veterans wore their uniforms to protest the new ordinance at this week’s meeting of the Gettysburg Borough Council, according to a report in the York Daily Record.

“We believe this ordinance to be unfair, if not illegal,” said VFW Post 15 Commander Bob Finch.

And for the veterans who packed the council chambers on Monday, August 10, it was as much about principle as it was about fairness. That’s because it impacts the local VFW members who participate at military funerals in Gettysburg.

“…Levying any fee against this venerated ceremony speaks the wrong message and a waiver to this ordinance portrays the proper respect to those fallen service members,” Finch read from a prepared statement.

The council approved the ordinance in June in response to an incident in which a Civil War re-enactor was injured when another participant accidentally fired an unloaded black-powder rifle at point-blank range. Historic re-enactments are commonplace Gettysburg, the site of arguably the most important--but certainly the most famous--battle of the Civil War.

Finch said about 70 military funerals were performed in Adams County last year and more than 25 have taken place in the first seven months of 2009. He said the veteran’s council has already paid the new $20 fee, but only out of respect for the law.

“We believe this ordinance to be unfair, if not illegal, to our service organizations and inadvertently a measure of disrespect to our fallen brothers and sisters who have honorably served,” Finch said.