June 15, 2009

O’Fallon, Ill. (AP) – William “Slim” Boente and several of his buddies are considered royalty in the turkey hunting world. Boente, a 42-year-old construction worker from O’Fallon, recently completed the Royal Slam of turkey hunting: shooting all five species of wild turkey – the Eastern, Rio Grande, Merriam’s, Osceola and Gould’s – common to North […]

Kodiak, Alaska (AP) – State officials are closing or restricting several sport fisheries in the Kodiak area because of late salmon runs. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says restriction go into effect Monday. Among the areas affected are the Buskin River sockeye salmon and the Karluk River king salmon sport fisheries. The Ayakulik

Greenbelt, Md. (AP) – A St. Mary’s County seafood company owner has pleaded guilty to creating false records and transporting illegally harvested wildlife. Robert Lumpkins, who owns Golden Eye Seafood LLC, falsely recorded the amount and weight of striped bass so fishermen could use all their tags while appearing not to reach the maximum poundage

Harlan, Kentucky (AP) – Bobby Koger was deer hunting on a Kentucky hillside when a black bear gave him the fright of his life. A 300-pound (136-kilogram) animal, apparently unhappy that an intruder was on his turf, came charging and didn’t stop until Koger raised his .50 caliber muzzleloading rifle and fired from point-blank range.

Charleston, S.C. (AP) – Some South Carolina fishermen say spear fishermen from Florida are exploiting the rules when they take thousands of pounds of game fish from the state’s artificial reefs. The South Carolina fishermen say two or three boats per year come north and spend a couple of weeks diving at the state’s 52

Bismarck, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota wildlife officials say 6,805 turkey licenses will be available to hunters this fall, a drop of 17 percent from last year. But an additional 1,300 licenses may be used in specific hunting units if turkey reproduction is exceptionally good this spring. Stan Kohn, upland game management supervisor for the

Bismarck, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota has a new state record buffalo fish. The state Game and Fish Department says Joshua Bartz of Bismarck landed the 51-pound, 4-ounce buffalo in the Missouri River near Fox Island south of Bismarck on May 30. He used a bow and arrow. The 44-inch fish shattered the previous record

Spooner, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin wildlife officials say bass catch-and-release might be working too well. The Department of Natural Resources says a mail survey of bass anglers found they kept only 550,000, or 6 percent, of the 10 million bass they caught in 2006. In contrast, state anglers kept about 2.2 million of 7 million