News Hound archive: Through May 8, 2006
Blog: With a nose for outdoor news like no other
By J.R. Absherposted May 8, 2006:
Celebrity slab
John Horstman, 69, of rural Fulton, Mo., landed the big slab while fishing with minnows April 21 at a private lake near his home.
The 19-inch crappie officially weighed 5.02 pounds on a Missouri Department of Conservation scale in Jefferson City. The state record for a black crappie is 4.5 pounds. The all-tackle record IGFA also is 4.5 pounds and is held by two fish and anglers.
Horstman's fish has been kept alive and is under quarantine. It is planned to be part of a permanent display in an aquarium at Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World in Springfield, Mo. FORUM | MAILBAG
The story behind the sturgeon
There's no doubt that the e-mail inboxes belonging to a good number of our News Hound blog readers are regularly stuffed with photos of big fish and other critters, along with stories of questionable authenticity.
Thanks to the fine investigative work of Brad Dokken, the longtime outdoor writer for the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, the true story behind a photo of a mammoth sturgeon making the rounds on the Internet can now be shared. (Check back soon for a photo of the beast.)
Dokken wrote that the e-mail he received read:
"This sturgeon weighed out at over 1,000 pounds and measured out at 11 feet, one inch. It was 56 inches around the girth and took over 6 hours for the four guys taking turns reeling. It was caught at the mouth of the Rainy River."
However, Dokken observes that lake sturgeon found in Lake of the Woods and Rainy River these days may grow as only large as 200 pounds. A subsequent phone call to a DNR biologist led to the identification of the pictured fish as a white sturgeon.
Following some more targeted searching, Dokken tracked down the photo's source to the Web site for Len's Sport Fishing Adventures, located in British Columbia.
The tenacious outdoor writer contacted the owner, Len Ames, who told him that the sturgeon was caught last fall on the Fraser River near Chilliwack, British Columbia. Four men battled the fish for about six hours before they pulled it to shore for a photo op.
Catch and release is mandatory for white sturgeon, but Ames confirmed that the big fish measured 11 feet and probably weighed about 1,000 pounds. FORUM | MAILBAG
posted May 5, 2006:
Catfish case has a Certain ring to it
A Kentucky angler's catch led to something akin to a missing-person's investigation this week, after a whiskerfish coughed up a mystery woman's 1984 high-school class ring.
When he removed the fish later that day, he found a shiny ring from a Columbus, Ohio, area high school — located about 150 miles from the pond — with the inscribed name Lisa Marie Certain.
After Augusta Police Chief Greg Cummings was notified of Nickerson's peculiar catch, he visited the Franklin Heights High School 1984 alumni Web site, where Lisa Marie Certain was listed as "missing in action."
The chief's first thought was that a crime might have been committed involving the woman.
A news story aired by television stations in Cincinnati and Columbus subsequently led to the ring owner, now Lisa Peterson, who resides in Idaho Falls, Idaho. When contacted by Cummings, Peterson said the ring was stolen from her mother's central Ohio home 15 years ago.
So, thanks to a Bluegrass State catfish, a conscientious fisherman, a diligent policeman and a television reporter, a piece of long-missing jewelry has found its way back to its appreciative owner. FORUM | MAILBAG
Sign of the buck stops here, in Minnesota
Curtis Hammond, a University of Minnesota researcher who studies driving habits and trends, recently completed a report for the state Department of Transportation detailing the ineffectiveness of those yellow deer-crossing signs in preventing deer vs. vehicle accidents.
All existing signs will remain only until they wear out, According to department official Bob Weinholzer, even though the state ranks sixth in the nation for car crashed involving deer.
Hammond's study placed subjects in a driving simulator and
concluded the familiar signage is simply not effective.
"It might as well say Stuckey's, five miles, next exit five miles," Hammond explained. "It's just another sign."
Thanks to Sportsman's Blog for the link and story. FORUM | MAILBAG
posted May 4, 2006:
Bruin in the bakery
Ah, springtime in Alberta. The wildflowers are blooming, the rivers and streams are roaring with melted snow and black bears are munching on strawberry pies inside the glass bakery case at the Peace River IGA store.
An automatic door provided easy entry for the young bruin, and it strolled up and down the aisles for a few minutes before finding the baked goods.
"He jumped up into the bakery case, he tested a few things out and he really liked the strawberry mousse," the store's night manager, Trevor Allen, told the Edmonton Journal.
Allen said the bear nipped at one of the few customers in the store when a man tried to take a picture of the intruder.
"When (the bear) was sitting in the bakery case, this guy came up with a camera-phone and he was sticking it right in his face," Allen said. "The bear reacted to that; he didn't like that much."
Lyle Fullerton, spokesman for the Alberta Fish and Wildlife Department, said the injured shutterbug was fortunate his wounds only were superficial.
"The individuals that were involved there were extremely lucky that the bear was in a good mood, probably because of all the pies he ate," Fullerton said. FORUM | MAILBAG
"It wasn't the snake's fault"
My longtime friend and West Virginia outdoors icon John McCoy phoned to alert me to his article appearing in today's Charleston Gazette about the Mountain State turkey hunter who considers himself fortunate to be alive following his close encounter with a five-foot timber rattler last week.
Paul Harvey of Jodie, W.Va., was "hunting turkeys, mushrooms and moss" on the morning of April 27 when he admits his inattentiveness led to the snakebite.
"I wasn't watching what I was doing," said the 55-year-old semi-retired coal miner. "I reached across a log to grab a piece of moss, but I had my head turned the wrong way and couldn't see where I was reaching."
Harvey told McCoy that he knew immediately he was in trouble. He was alone in an extremely remote area of Nicholas County, with the nearest telephone a 45-minute drive away.
He survived an incredible experience on the way to find medical help, fighting nausea and numb extremities while slipping in and out of consciousness.
"Today, a full week after the snake struck, Harvey still feels the bite's aftereffects," McCoy writes.
"His right hand remains swollen and sore, his right arm bruised nearly to the armpit from internal hemorrhaging. His blood platelet count remains abnormal." FORUM | MAILBAG
Roadkill by the numbers
- 4 million: Miles of roads in the United States
- 226 million: Number of vehicles registered in the United States
- 23 trillion: Vehicle miles traveled in the United States in 2002
- 6.3 million: Number of automobile accidents annually in the United States
- 253,000: Number of animal vs. vehicle accidents annually
- 50: Estimated percentage of vehicle vs. large animal collisions that go unreported
- 90: Percentage of animal vs. vehicle collisions that involve deer
- $2,000: Average minimum cost for repairing a vehicle after a collision with a deer
- 200: Number of human deaths annually resulting from vehicle vs. wildlife collisions
- 1,559: Number of animals killed on Yellowstone National Park roads from 1989 to 2003, including 556 elk, 192 bison, 135 coyotes, 112 moose, 24 antelope and 3 bobcats
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration
posted May 3, 2006:
Hunter bags polargriz?
An American hunter may find himself in a legal predicament after shooting what he and his Canadian guide thought was a mature polar bear two weeks ago.
Authorities have subsequently confiscated the hide and will perform DNA tests to determine just what Martell shot in the last week of April near Sachs Harbor, some 700 miles north of Yellowknife, in Canada's Northwest Territories.
The bear bagged by the Idaho hunter that is baffling biologists has the thick, white fur of a polar bear, but also has long claws, a humped back and the dished face of a grizzly. Its eyes are ringed with black, and its hide has small patches of brown on its nose, back and one foot.
"The probability of interbreeding of a polar and grizzly bear in the wild is pretty small, but it's not zero," Stirling said. "Partly because polar bears mate on the sea ice and grizzly bears mate on the land."
I dunno. That "sea ice and land" distinction sounds pretty black and white to me.
In the meantime, the 65-year-old Martell is out nearly $50K for his hunt, and may be facing a fine for shooting a bear that he didn't have a permit for. FORUM | MAILBAG
Idaho wolf initiative falls short
It appears that the effort to qualify a voter initiative calling for the removal of Idaho's estimated 500 backcountry wolves, "by any means necessary," has failed to collect enough signatures to be placed on the November ballot.
According to an article in the Twin Falls Times-News, a spokesman for the coalition said approximately 38,000 signatures were gathered, though as many as 12,000 could be disqualified.
The measure was generally considered as divisive among many Idaho sportsmen and drew little united support from groups such as Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, the Idaho Farm Bureau, the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association and the Idaho Cattle Association — even though most of their members are opposed to the re-establishment of a wolf population in the state.
Critics said that if such a measure were approved by a majority of voters, the state would find itself in an unnecessary litigious quagmire with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and it would only prolong the official delisting of the wolf in Idaho. FORUM | MAILBAG
For that happy hunting ground
Looking for the last piece of camouflage gear you'll ever need?
Arkansas Casket Sales of Heber Springs, Ark., offers its customers burial boxes that come in a wide variety of hunting-camo exteriors that complement images of waterfowl, whitetail deer or wild turkeys on the inside.
The 18-gauge steel caskets go for $2,995, according to company owners Hugh and Ruth Ann Graves. (Yes, that's the correct name. You think I make this stuff up?)
Graves' caskets feature the dearly departed's choice of 11 different camo patterns around the edges, with options of metallic dark-chestnut brown, metallic hunter green, metallic silver and high-gloss black on the top and bottom.
The company literature states the caskets "are built one at a time and are made in the USA. These caskets are made for and built by hunters, outdoorsmen and sportsmen."
Hugh Graves says his camo caskets are appropriate for today's trend toward more personalized funerals.
"Things are changing from the old, morbid way of gruesome funerals," he says. "(Now) it's a time to celebrate.
"When it happens to your family, it hurts. But we do something for the family that actually helps them." FORUM | MAILBAG
posted May 2, 2006:
Too young to hunt? No way!
Attention Wisconsin legislators who don't believe that parents should be free to determine if children as young as 8 are competent enough hunt with an adult. Allow me to introduce Missouri preschooler Madison Peisert.
Brent Frazee, longtime outdoor scribe for the Kansas City Star, wrote this week about Madison's big day, and described how her dad helped her prepare for a safe hunt.
"I set up the blind in our barn, and I would put the decoy out at different angles, and Madison would practice snapping the gun up and dry firing," Vince Peisert told Frazee. "She also practiced shooting a BB gun at a paper target of a turkey's head.
The Missouri youth season, in which youngsters are required to hunt under the supervision of an adult, is the perfect opportunity for parents to introduce their kids to the thrill of turkey hunting. It takes place the week before the general season, so the participants have a great opportunity to score on a bird.
Vince Peisert, who has hunted big game across North America, is definitely a fan of the Missouri hunt.
"This, by far, is the best hunt I've ever been on. To see the look of excitement on Madison's face — that's something I'll never forget."
In October, an 8-year-old girl tagged the season's first bear in Maryland.
It all begs the question, how young is too young to hunt? The News Hound wants to know your thoughts on the matter. Respond here: FORUM | MAILBAG
Meanwhile, take part in our poll on the Hunting Page (in the lower, right column): Should there be a minimum age requirement for hunting?
Project Healing Waters
An inspirational piece by writer Noelle Straub appearing in today's Casper Star-Tribune tells the story of 1st Lt. Eivind Forseth, a soldier wounded in Iraq who has won his battle with depression through a return to the joys of fly-tying and flyfishing, thanks to a program called Project Healing Waters.
A 32-year-old Army Ranger with the 82nd Airborne Division, Forseth was deployed to Iraq about a month when a car bomb exploded next to his vehicle last January.
Forseth sustained severe injuries to his right arm and eye and was subsequently treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
He has had 19 surgeries on his arm and faces many more. As a result of the injuries, his right hand is paralyzed and his elbow has limited motion.
Forseth, who grew up flyfishing with his dad in Montana, credits Project Healing Waters with exerting a tremendously positive influence on his life.
"I've already told people that Project Healing Waters has really saved my life, because it came at a time I was in really bad shape and at a time I was really angry at my situation," he said.
"It brought me back to the person I used to be, from being really angry."
According to the Star-Tribune story, retired Navy Capt. Ed Nicholson helped start Project Healing Waters after he underwent surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2004.
Nicholson believed he could help injured veterans, both physically and mentally, by encouraging them to learn to flyfish.
The local chapters of Trout Unlimited and the Federation of Fly Fishers serve as the main sponsors of the program.
A tip of the hat to the MidCurrent blog for the link to this story.
posted May 1, 2006:
Colorado ranch hand Harold Cerda had just finished his business in a remote high-country outhouse last week when a black bear slammed him to the ground, then chased him to his car, where he discovered that his lunch had just been gobbled by the nosey bruin.
"All four windows were down and they go up real slow," he told the Colorado Department of Wildlife. "I got them closed just in time."
Although state authorities are officially calling the incident an attack, Cerda said he believes that both man and bear were equally startled.
"I think what happened was I surprised him, so he hit me," Cerda told the Associated Press. "I'm used to hard falls because I used to ride bulls a lot. It's pretty much the hardest I've been hit."
Cerda was treated and released at a Pueblo, Colo., hospital for bruises and possible nerve damage.
We're guessing that the next time he exits a privy, the cowboy will look both ways first.
Jaguars and spell-check
Following at least four confirmed sightings of the elusive animal in the past two years, wildlife researchers from federal, state and private agencies agreed this weekend to attempt to capture and collar an endangered jaguar along the southernmost reaches of New Mexico and Arizona.
Meanwhile, an Associated Press report about the decision carried by dozens of online newspapers this morning offered a humorous example of why today's journalists should not always rely on computer spell-checking.
The wire story noted that the researchers' agreement "still needs to be approved by game agencies in Arizona and New Mexico, meaning it could take until the end of the year before one is collard" (as in collard greens).
The capture is expected to be led by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hunters using lion hounds. Once a jaguar is treed, a biologist would be summoned to tranquilize it and attach a monitoring device.
In March, a southern New Mexico mountain-lion hunter using hounds in a remote area of Hidalgo County reported seeing a jaguar to game and fish authorities. Prior to the report, it had been about a decade since one of the spotted predators had been confirmed in New Mexico.
In 2004, trail cameras utilized by researchers from Humbolt State University captured the images of two different jaguars in southern Arizona. FORUM | MAILBAG
Kansas anglers told to leave brews at home
Kansas is getting serious about problems related to alcohol at its state-operated lakes and has instituted a total prohibition at 16 fishing facilities.
The booze ban is an attempt to limit alcohol-related boating accidents, as well as partying and litter, according to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks says.
Presently nothing stronger than 3.2 beer (no more than 3.2 percent alcohol by mass) is allowed at any state-run park or waterway. Of the 57 state-operated fishing lakes, 16 now have complete alcohol bans. At least four of those bans were enacted this year.
In Kansas, lake managers have the authority to impose alcohol prohibitions.
According to the Kansas City Star, Chris Lecuyer, a lake manager who has imposed a ban at Shawnee State Fishing Lake and Douglas State Fishing Lake, said 50 percent of the trash at the two lakes last year was from alcohol. He also noted there was noticeably less litter at Leavenworth State Fishing Lake, which has had an alcohol ban since 1996. FORUM | MAILBAG
posted April 28, 2006:
Florida flyfishing: Wade at your own risk
"Something locked onto me by the right hip and wouldn't let go," the 66-year-old later told The Okeechobee News.
"I started punching him as hard as I could. He finally released me, and I took off toward our flats boat."
That "something" turned out to be a 10-foot alligator that hit Crutchfield by surprise as he stood in about 41 inches of water.
Crutchfield said that when he told his fishing partner about the attack, his buddy didn't believe the tale.
"He still wouldn't believe me until I dropped my shorts and you could see the imprint of its teeth around my hip. My leg is so bruised that it looks like I've been hit by a car going 80 miles an hour," the angler said. FORUM | MAILBAG
Arizona's urban critter-feeders targeted
Legislation actively supported by the Arizona Game and Fish Department that will ban wildlife feeding in two rapidly growing urban counties is expected to be signed by the governor in the next few days.
Wildlife vs. human encounters in and around the booming Arizona metropolitan areas are nothing new. But the situation drew lawmakers' attention after a series of mountain lion sightings in 2003 near homes adjacent to Tucson's Sabino Canyon Recreation Area.
Agency hunters culled several problem cougars in the area that year, and biologists blamed the appearance of the predators on the availability of food for smaller animals that mountain lions regularly target for dinner.
Having lived in and around Tucson for a number of years, I had plenty of firsthand encounters with wild critters, including rattlesnakes, gila monsters, coyotes, bobcat and javelinas.
It was common for folks to toss out food scraps or leave dog food to attract wildlife — especially javelinas — for viewing purposes.
But as soon as the family pooch received the business end of a javelina tusk, or Fluffy the cat was carried off by a coyote, seeing wild animals in the backyard didn't seem quite as cool anymore. FORUM | MAILBAG
posted April 27, 2006:
Fishin' superstition
My good friend and Carolina fishing author Mike Marsh had an article published recently in the Raleigh News and Observer about local fishing superstitions.
Most anglers are familiar with some of the more commonly held superstitions, like not taking a camera on the boat (because you'll never catch a decent fish worth photographing if you do), the lucky lure and the standard lucky fishing hat. But the banana superstition Marsh wrote about was a new one on me.
According to Marsh, anyone heading to the coast for a charter trip or an outing with a beach-town buddy is well-advised to avoid eating a banana within a day or two of heading out; and actually bringing a banana aboard is one of the ultimate fishing sins.
Marsh writes that no one seems to know for certain where the idea that a bringing a banana on a fishing boat brings bad luck. But there are theories.
One is that the fastest sailing ships would carry bananas from the tropics to U.S. ports along the East Coast to land the fruit before it could spoil. The banana boats were so fast that fishermen never caught anything while trolling from them.
Another theory is that a species of spider with a lethal bite would hide in bunches of bananas.
How about our News Hound readers? Have you heard about the banana superstition and its roots? If so, post your comments on our message board.
posted April 26, 2006:
Yesterday, a turkey; today, an icon
The mood has been decidedly low in Culdesac, Idaho, since last week. It was in this mountain hamlet where a wild turkey known as Rufus had been a longtime favorite among visitors and regulars of the Jacques Spur Junction Café.
He was always there, begging for leftovers and attention and never showing any fear of humans.
Bottom line, Rufus was really a dufus.
You see, Rufus gobbled his final gobble on the opening day of Idaho's turkey season, when an anonymous hunter bagged the gregarious tom and sent him to that big roosting tree in the sky.
According to the Lewiston Tribune, the cafe has received notes of condolence and calls from as far away as the Netherlands and Canada. One person sent money for a memorial.
Some headlines: "Spunky turkey becomes hunter's dinner"; "From wild turkey to dead duck"; and "Christmas comes early for turkey."
Rufus' back-story had appeared in newspapers and on Web sites across the country.
Activists found guilty: 'I'd take a bullet for a bear!'
Despite appearing before a judge who apparently was sympathetic to their cause,
six animal rights activists were convicted yesterday of obstruction for jumping a police barricade during an anti-hunting demonstration on Dec. 10 — the final day of the 2005 New Jersey black bear hunt.
Municipal Court Judge C. William Bowkley Jr. fined each defendant $350, plus court costs, then immediately stayed the fines after the defendants said they planned to appeal the guilty verdicts to the New Jersey Superior Court.
According to the Bergen Record, Bowkley told the activists he sympathized with them and understood they had acted out of a sense of "moral outrage."
However, the judge refused to rule that the six had acted within their First Amendment rights when they ignored a police barricade and attempted to confront bear hunters.
"Was free speech quashed? It was not," Judge Bowkley said.
The six were among 100 demonstrators who gathered at a bear check station located at Wawayanda State Park. According to reports, protesters chanted and held signs reading, "I'd take a bullet for a bear!" FORUM | MAILBAG
Wounded Warriors go fishing
Thanks to the generosity of some fishing guides and public support, U.S. soldiers with permanent physical disabilities suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan are being given the opportunity to take part in an array of outdoor activities, including boating and fishing.
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center recently named Disabled Sports USA — in cooperation with The Wounded Warrior Project — its lead agency to provide sporting and recreation opportunities to recovering soldiers.
Most Wounded Warrior events — programs of the United Spinal Association — are conducted in the Maryland/Virginia area. They take place while the soldiers and Marines are undergoing rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, though there are a growing number of trips being offered in other parts of the country.
Last year, Helena, Mont.-based Lewis and Clark Expeditions Guide Service hosted four disabled soldiers and one medical assistant on a five-day, 60-mile, float-fishing trip on Montana's Smith River.
Trapper Badovinac, an author and flyfishing guide, said the trip with some of America's finest changed his life.
"I've taught hundreds of people to flyfish, but these young men were so very appreciative and so very great to be with, that I cannot find words to adequately express just how honored I felt to spend those five days with them," Badovinac said. FORUM | MAILBAG
posted April 25, 2006:
Sturgeon to surgeon
Nowhere in the tune's lyrics, however, is there any mention of leaping sturgeon that can put a person in the hospital.
Dawn E. Poirier, 31, of Kenneth City, Fla., was
knocked off her feet Saturday by a 3-foot Gulf sturgeon that jumped into her fiancé's boat, striking her squarely in the face.
The impact of the sturgeon's bony exterior fractured the woman's spine and inflicted several facial injuries that required plastic surgery, her father told the Gainesville Sun.
Karen Parker, spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, said such incidents are not uncommon at certain times of the year on the Suwannee, and boaters are warned to use safe boating speeds.
It was estimated that Poirier's boat was traveling at 30 to 35 mph when she was struck.
At least four reports of injuries as a result of leaping sturgeon have been reported in north-central Florida in recent years.
On Memorial Day weekend in 2002, a Gainesville woman suffered a collapsed lung and five broken ribs when a sturgeon jumped from the Suwannee River into the family boat. FORUM | MAILBAG
Mule vs. cougar: the real story
Often forwarded with the subject heading of "One Bad Mule," the photographs are usually accompanied by a written description that places the incident in Arizona (or Montana or California … ), though I've seen a variety of story versions.
The photos are indeed authentic, though most of the various accounts circulating on the Internet are less than accurate.
A report of the incident as it occurred the day the photographs were taken appeared in the May 2005 issue of Western Mule Magazine. Written by Steven Richards, the location was identified as the Gila National Forest area of southwestern New Mexico.
The mule, named Berry, apparently is owned by avid cougar hunter Jody Anglin, who says it has become common for Berry to act aggressively around the carcasses of lions that Anglin has killed.
Anglin has ridden the 11-year-old mule with his pack of lion-hunting Walker hounds since 1998.
According to Richards' account, the first time Anglin took the mule on a hunt when a lion was taken, Berry casually approached the carcass and nuzzled it. With each subsequent cat, Anglin said the mule became increasingly aggressive when seeing a dead lion.
"Now he brays real loud and can't wait to get the cat," the 28-year-old hunter said. FORUM | MAILBAG
posted April 24, 2006:
When the hunter becomes the game
The incident occurred just outside Olympic National Park, according to the Washington State Patrol's office in Bremerton. The two were hunting under a special permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the landowner.
The unnamed hunter suffered a compound arm fracture, a broken hand and several puncture wounds. He underwent arm surgery Sunday. FORUM | MAILBAG
Lawn ornament bucks trend
It's spring, that time of year when the plaster figurines and pink flamingoes come out of hibernation and return to their rightful place in flower gardens and front yards throughout Middle America.
But in Oakland County, Michigan, one homeowner's idea of a lawn ornament bucks the trend, so to speak.
About a month ago, Thomas Thompson placed a mounted deer head on a post at the end of his driveway, and now some of his neighbors have asked township officials to demand its removal.
"It's gross," local resident Connie Newberg told the Flint Journal. "The first time I saw it, I thought 'how disgusting.' I'm not against hunting, but it's inappropriate to have that right there."
Obviously, the folks who believe a deer head in a yard is disgusting and scary have not had the privilege of viewing my porch gnomes. FORUM | MAILBAG
Hunter ed, extra credit
Students attending a hunter-education class last week in the community room of the Livingston, Mont., library received a firearms-safety lesson they probably will never forget, after the instructor accidentally discharged a shotgun into the ceiling.
Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks instructor John Lundberg was demonstrating how someone could accidentally load the wrong ammunition into a firearm in front of about 50 students Wednesday when the accident occurred.
He loaded a 20-gauge shotgun with a live 28-gauge shell, and the gun was accidentally discharged.
Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokeswoman Melissa Frost said live ammo is barred from department-led, hunter-ed courses; Lundberg therefore could face disciplinary action.
Frost said the accidental blast is "something that will stay with those students for a long time. I know I will never forget it."
About the author: J.R. Absher shares his perspective while blogging about hunting, fishing, shooting sports, sportsmen's issues and the occasional offbeat outdoor tale. In more than 30 years of writing and a lifetime of enjoying the outdoors, he has worked as a newspaper reporter, photographer, mule wrangler, wilderness packer, magazine editor, political consultant, hunting-equipment copywriter, public-relations director and sportsman's advocate.
