ESPN  

Blog calendar: Feb. 9 | Feb. 2 | Jan. 27

posted Feb. 9

Texas bowhunters getting nasty on hogs

Feral hogs have long been a problem in Texas, but folks like the Blue Collar Bowhunters are trying to do a little something about it.

They just began their second bowhunting tournament, the Texas Big Nasty Hog Contest, but their mission isn't necessarily to combat the overpopulation. With about 50 teams registered so far and hopes of more with some media play, organizer Jeremy Sickles realizes knocking back their numbers is a tall order.

"If you go out and shoot 10 of them, you might feel good, but you didn't do nothing," Sickles said. "Not even a dent in the population."

Wild hogs do $52 million in agricultural damage each year in Texas, causing landowners to spend $7 million annually for control, but that's an uphill battle with an estimated 2 million wild hogs in the state.

"Whatever they're saying and double it," Sickles said about the fast-breeding hogs. "They've done nothing but multiple."

The hogs can have two or three litters in the double digits each year, and groups of 40 to 50 are commonly seen ripping up the farmland in east Texas.

"They're bad. I'm talking 10 acres, a group of them can come through, and it's like a breaking blow has come," he said. "Usually, right now is when they'll start tearing the pastures up. "

Sickles said a Dallas TV reporter came to their locale and started her piece on their hunt by showing the destruction, and he expects some more hunters to sign up as well as some swipes from antis.

"We'll probably get a couple of those haters," he said, apparently more worried about showing a profit this year. They paid out all of the $100 entry fees last year in a number of categories, including best photo, best video, most hogs, heaviest hog and longest tusks.

"Last year, (the payout) was probably 120 percent," Sickles said. "We lost money & a lot of money. We spent about $2,000." Anyone in the state is allowed to enter, but hogs must be killed with bows and the hunts need to videotaped "to keep everybody honest." The hunt started Feb. 6 and runs until March 8, with awards handed out at the Pine Forest Community Center at a date TBD.

"If they live in Texas, hunt in Texas, they can enter in it," said Sickles, noting entries from as far as San Antonio and the Houston area.

For information on the hunt, click here.

Go get 'em. Get nasty on those hogs.

---

posted Feb. 2

Can a groundhog really predict weather, really?

Six more weeks of winter, folks.

Yes, Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog, not some guy with a cool moniker, saw his shadow this morning, which means spring ain't just around the corner.

With top hat pomp and circumstance Tuesday, a cheering crowd greeted the famous rodent as handlers, the Inner Circle, took Phil from his simulated ceremonial tree stump at Gobbler's Knob, Pa. — pop. 5,944, sal-ute! — and made him look for his shadow.

But did he really see it? I mean really?

Even if the 20-pound woodchuck — same as groundhog — was staring right at the darkened area on the ground made by his body blocking out the sun, would he know it was his shadow. Does he even know what a shadow is?

Sure, small furry critters probably run when they see the shadow of a hawk flying overhead, but that's probably just their skittish nature to any movement. My cat doesn't even know its his reflection in the mirror, so I'm to believe a groundhog, even lower on the food chain, can grasp the concept of shadows?

Sure why not.

And anyway, the Inner Circle tells us that Phil "speaks to his human caretakers ... in Groundhogese and tells them his forecast. The Inner Circle then translates Phil's words for the world to hear," reads an article on the German ritual in National Geographic.

Awesome. Wonder if there's a class for that. You gotta love their conviction.

Handlers say Phil is right all the time. Uh-oh, they shouldn't have gone there.

Weather-guy types dispute that, probably in a rage of jealously whenever their station manager tells them an overgrown rat could do their job, saying Phil's accuracy is closer to 40 percent, worse than a coin flip.

They dole out explanations that astronomically there are always six more weeks of winter on the calendar, so the groundhog is wrong whenever it doesn't see its shadow and predicts an early spring. I would hope most meterologists can see the inherent fun and the added interest Groundhog Day brings to their profession.

Let's get bureaucratic. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tops the charts by going as far as to edict that Phil has "no predictive skill" whatsoever. Wow. Like the No Fun League, groundhog lovers and recreation anglers might start referring to NOAA as the Non-Optimistic, Alienating Administration.

C'mon. Give a rodent a break. Let the people have some fun, after all, Groundhog Day is only once a year ... and it was a pretty good movie.

---

posted Jan. 27

Lucky find occurred before record catch

Now I've untied someone else's lost lure from a shrub in the water, but I've never found a rod and reel.

Of course, the closest I've ever been to having a fish pull in my combo was catfishing in a Missouri pond. I've seen videos and heard of saltwater anglers having rods pulled out of their hands and into the drink, yet none ever reported getting them back.

Texas quarterback Colt McCoy reported to us that he found a lost reel once the lake drew down.

And now comes a Paul Harvey moment on Japanese angler Manabu Kurita's recently certified 22-pound, 4-ounce largemouth bass that tied George Perry for the IGFA World Record.

Jason Schratwieser, the IGFA conservation director, said during work with the Japan Game Fish Association to certifity Kurita's fish, he learned an interesting side story. Two months before landing the record, Kurita laid down his Deps Sidewinder rod and a Shimano Antares DC7LV reel loaded with 25-pound Toray line as he organized some tackle.

Bam! A big bass ate it his live bait and yanked his rod and reel into Lake Biwa. Weeks later, Kurita saw a dead bass floating and went to look. It had line attached, so he yanked it up and miracle of miracles, attached to the other end was his lucky rod and reel.

"It was that same rod and reel he used in early July for the world record tying catch," Schratwieser said.

And now you know the rest of story.

For more, visit IGFA's hot news.

---

About the author: Mike Suchan has been editor at ESPNOutdoors.com the past three years. He's worked in journalism for 25 years, winning state and regional awards. Email him here.