Outdoors – Page 185 – Syndication Server

Drama builds during ‘terrifying but epic’ whale encounter

Kristina Jennings described her feelings during Saturday’s humpback whale encounter off Maui as a mixture of “absolute fear and hilarity.”

Kristina Jennings described her feelings during Saturday’s humpback whale encounter as a mixture of “absolute fear and hilarity,” to go along with her obvious amazement.

The accompanying footage, captured by Jennings off Maui, shows humpback whales smacking the water with their flukes while swimming to within feet of Jennings and her kayaking buddies: Dave Ponce and a Chihuahua mix named Harley.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXF-ftyfOxg]

Drama builds as the whales approach: 38 seconds (“Oh, god!”), 45 seconds (towering fluke), 55 seconds (“Dave… Get me out of here!), and ultimately the steady whining of Harley, who does not appreciate the intrusion.

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Humpback whales are famously curious and sometimes approach vessels. This was different in that the encounter involved males competing for dominance and the role of female escort. They did not seem to pay any attention to the kayakers.

“It was sort of terrifying at the time, but funny and epic now,” Jennings told For The Win Outdoors.

Jennings, Ponce and Harley had separated from their group to have a look at the whales tail-slapping in the distance. They stopped at what seemed a safe distance, but the whales were soon upon them.

“We had just stopped paddling when I started the video,” Jennings said. “The rest is absolute fear and hilarity. In the middle you can hear me grab Harley as he runs for the nose of the kayak. He’s not a big fan of new animals near his Dave.

“After Harley and I stopped shaking, it was totally amazing and worth it. I was glad I didn’t stop my camera or put my finger over the lens.”

Ponce, who works in the whale-watching industry, wanted to clarify that they were not trying to intrude on the whales.

“We stopped 100 yards away from the whales at a safe, legal, and respectful distance,” he wrote in the YouTube description. “After spotting the whales, they began moving, changing their course and heading straight toward us.

“We abided by rules by not ‘engaging engines’ or paddling while the whales were close… They just kept coming closer. We hadn’t paddled for about three minutes before this encounter happened.”

Maui is seasonal home to thousands of humpback whales from about December through April.

–Video and images courtesy of Kristina Jennings

Lion tries to open car door after tourists stop on road

As tourists watched a pride of lions in a South Africa’s Kruger National Park earlier this month, one of them tried to open their car door.

As tourists stopped to watch a pride of lions earlier this month in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, one of them tried to open their car door.

The accompanying footage, captured by Nick Shillan, shows the young male lion’s brief but determined effort to unlatch the door handle with its teeth.

The clip was posted to Facebook by Latest Sightings – Kruger on Friday with a statement explaining that tourists should not put themselves in position to allow something like this to happen.

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Some of the comments pointed to the danger of photographing lions at close proximity through open windows.

Shillan, however, told For The Win Outdoors that he had a camera tripod mounted with clamps to his window and it blocked the window’s opening. The video camera was attached to the tripod with a moveable gimbal.

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Shillan, who was with his wife Angela, said they encountered a pride of 13 lions only 20 minutes after driving into the southern portion of the park.

“I was recording the male lions roaring when I noticed that a young male was sniffing my tire,” Shillan said. “So I started to record him. By luck he started to bite the door handle.

“We then spent another 15 minutes with the rest of the pride. I was never in danger. My window was open but the camera was blocking it.”

As viewers can see, a bang to the door caused the startled lion to retreat. It’s likely that the lion was simply curious about the vehicle.

–Image courtesy of Nick Shillan

Angler catches record tuna, as predicted, then gives it away

After a week of predicting he would catch a state-record bluefin tuna, Jake Hiles went out and did it, and then made a surprising gesture.

After predicting he was going to catch a state-record bluefin tuna and asking several others to join him, Jake Hiles finally found someone to accompany him fishing off the Virginia coast, and went out and caught the record, landing a 708-pounder.

Then he gave away his fish of a lifetime.

Hiles, who operates Matador Sport Fishing Charters out of Virginia Beach, took the day off from work last Saturday and went fishing with a friend, Jeff Landis, in a place known as the “tuna hole” some 80 miles offshore.

“I spent about a week contacting people, telling them that we would go catch the record and no one could go,” Hiles told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors.

Until Landis came forward.

Then Hiles made good on his prediction, catching a behemoth bluefin that beat the previous record by more than 100 pounds.

Field and Stream called it the fishing equivalent of Babe Ruth standing at the plate and pointing his bat toward the fence then smacking a home run, adding that Hiles had texted one friend, “I’m gonna go catch the new Virginia state record this weekend.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Angler catches bizarre sea creature, luckily doesn’t touch it

Hiles bested the record set by his friend Chase Robinson in April 2015. That was a 606-pounder, and Hiles was on the boat that day.

“I always thought since Chase’s passing that it would be fitting if one of Chase’s friends broke his record,” Hiles told The Virginia-Pilot, pointing out that his friend died a short time after the catch.

Hiles told For The Win Outdoors that this was biggest tuna he’s caught recreationally, adding that it was “verified by the state and is pending.”

The tuna, which took an hour to bring in, measured 9 1/2 feet with a girth nearly 6 1/2 feet, according to Field and Stream. There was plenty of precious meat. So Hiles posted an invitation to those who follow him on Facebook to come down to the Virginia Beach Fishing Center to get a hunk of tuna. And they did, lining up with coolers to fill.

“I had 708 pounds of tuna that is best eaten fresh and I can’t eat it all myself,” Hiles told Fish and Stream “It’s nice to be able to share this with the community.”

Hiles told For The Win, “I probably gave fish to 300 people or more.” He said not an ounce of the fish was wasted. He kept less than two pounds for himself.

“No amount of money, or charters, or publicity is worth to me the sentimental value of this record,” Hiles wrote on Facebook. “Chase’s record meant a lot to me. I know records get broken, but I wanted to honor Chase by breaking his record. I did that and no amount of criticism or jealousy can take that away from me…

“Setting this record was a personal goal of mine. I achieved my goal. But I have received some criticism.”

The critics apparently questioned his keeping the fish, alleged it was caught in North Carolina waters, and claimed bluefin tuna are endangered. Hiles refuted it all, saying he had a legal right to keep the fish, that bluefin aren’t endangered and that it was caught according to the rules of the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament (the state’s record keeper) in federal waters off the coast of North Carolina.

Hiles also pointed out the financial boom to the local fishing industry, with the record generating publicity for the entire area’s bluefin tuna fishery, and it clearly is doing just that.

As a memory, Hiles kept the tail and will have it mounted.

Photos courtesy of Jake Hiles and Buzz Hayes.

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Hauntingly beautiful photos show raw side of orca predation

A Southern California whale-watching operator has captured dramatic images showing a rarely seen type of killer whale preying on dolphins.

A Southern California whale-watching operator on Thursday captured dramatic images showing a rarely seen type of killer whale preying on dolphins.

Domenic Biagini, who runs Gone Whale Watching San Diego, also enjoyed an extraordinary encounter with Curvier’s beaked whales during an experience he likened to “hitting the lottery twice in one day.”

“We believe we are the first Southern California whale-watching company to ever photograph a beaked whale on an official whale-watching trip!” Biagini boasted on Facebook. “We found a pair of the deepest diving animals on the planet near San Clemente Island, and one even approached our boat!”

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After the beaked whale encounter, Biagini and his passengers encountered three Eastern Tropical Pacific killer whales, or orcas, off Santa Catalina Island.

The ETPs, as they’re often called, were feeding on common dolphins and scattering the frightened pod. Biagini told For The Win Outdoors that the manner by which they were able to catch the smaller cetaceans seemed “effortless.”

One male orca snatched a dolphin with its jaws and seemed to show off his catch to Biagini’s charter the same way a pet cat might show off a freshly caught mouse. (See top photos.)

“They brought it right over to our boat,” Biagini said.

ETP killer whales, which are known to prey on dolphins, are seen only sporadically off Southern California.

Alisa Schulman-Janiger, a Southern California-based killer whale researcher, said a male ETP that Biagini encountered was also spotted off Catalina last August.

Curveir’s beaked whale. Photo: Dominic Biagini

Curveir’s beaked whales are rarely encountered off Southern California, largely because they inhabit pelagic waters and tend to remain far offshore.

They feed primarily on squid, but also prey on deep-water fish. A 2014 tracking study off California revealed that Curvier’s beaked whales will dive nearly 10,000 feet beneath the surface in search of prey.

–Images of ETP killer whales and Curvier’s beaked whales are courtesy of Domenic Biagini/Gone Whale Watching San Diego

Angler catches bizarre sea creature, luckily doesn’t touch it

Alyssa Ramirez thought a piece of seaweed had tangled with her bait when she reeled it in, until she saw it squirming. She had caught a bizarre sea creature. Luckily she didn’t touch it.

While pier fishing with her mother, Alyssa Ramirez thought a piece of seaweed had tangled with her bait when she reeled it in, until she saw it squirming. She had caught a bizarre sea creature, one you could call hazardous to your health.

“My mom and I looked at each other like, ‘What is that?’” Ramirez told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors. “I laughed because that was definitely not a fish.”

Ramirez made the odd catch on Saturday from a pier in Port Isabel, Texas, and later, curious to know what it was, sent video to Texas Parks and Wildlife and asked officials to identify it, which they did Wednesday.

Luckily, Ramirez hadn’t touched the sea creature.

As it turns out, it was a bearded fireworm, which can inject a powerful neurotoxin from its tiny bristles on its flanks that can result in a wound that feels like it’s on fire, and the pain can last for hours.

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“Luckily I didn’t have to touch it because it let go of my bait,” Ramirez said. “By the way it moved and the red colors it had, I knew not to touch it. I placed it on the rail of the pier [where it let go and] I took video and pictures of it…It wiggled around for a few minutes and then it then fell into the water by itself.”

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From the Animal Kingdom, the word aposematism comes to mind. It’s the advertising by an animal to predators that it is not worth eating, that it could be foul tasting or, in this case, toxic, and bright colors are an indicator.

Science and the Sea’s described a bearded fireworm:

It’s generally no more than a few inches long, but one touch can be a big problem…

The bearded fireworm is found in warm, shallow waters in and around the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico. It looks a bit like a fuzzy caterpillar. Its body can be green, orange, or other bright colors, and small tufts of white bristles line its sides, creating the “fuzzy” appearance.

This one was “a good 3 inches long,” Ramirez said, and it apparently liked squid. That’s what they were using for bait.

Fortunately, the bizarre sea creature wasn’t the only thing they caught that day. They also landing a couple of (not quite as exciting) whiting fish.

Photos courtesy of Alyssa Ramirez.

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Mountain lion sure knows its way around a camera

A photographer has captured footage of a mountain lion trying to make sense out of a motion-sensor camera placed on a remote trail at night.

A Southern California photographer has captured video footage of a mountain lion expressing keen interest in one of several motion-sensor cameras placed on a trail at night.

In Mark Girardeau’s footage, captured this week in the Orange County wilderness, the female cougar initially appears bewildered by the bright flashes.

She then seems to pose, briefly, before cautiously walking around the tripod and placing her face to the back of the camera, as if to peek through the viewfinder.

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Girardeau, a renowned photographer from Huntington Beach, told For The Win Outdoors that he had left seven cameras in strategic areas on private property in Trabuco Canyon.

“At the exact time the camera was capturing the images of the cat, I was at the indoor rock-climbing gym with some friends, 20 miles away,” Girardeau said.

Cookie the mountain lion, captured remotely via DLSR camera. Photo: Mark Girardeau

The mountain lion was named Cookie by the landowner. Four of Girardeau’s cameras captured footage of her as she hunted on one of her favorite trails.

“I’ve struggled for several years to consistently get mountain lions and finally have been getting a few in a couple different areas,” Girardeau explained. “When looking for camera locations, I look for game trails which are paths made naturally by the animals, and I also look for tracks of different animals.”

His footage reveals the stealthy, curious nature of these nocturnal hunters, and Girardeau is fortunate to have had multiple cameras in order to capture this scene.

“The last time I got a DLSR shot of one, I did not have a second camera recording the reaction on video, so this is cool because otherwise I would have had no idea that it was checking out the back of the camera,” he said.

More than likely, Girardeau acknowledged, Cookie was more interested in his scent than the camera or tripod.

–Video and images are courtesy of Mark Girardeau/Orange County Outdoors

Snowboarder acts quickly to avoid avalanche

Snowboarder Alex Gavic was cautiously making his way down a couloir when he noticed a fracture in the snow 200 feet below. He acted quickly.

Alex Gavic, snowboarding the Utah backcountry with a friend, was cautiously making his way down a couloir when he noticed a fracture in the snow 200 feet below, forcing him to quickly take evasive measures.

Gavic, using a 360 GoPro Max camera mounted on a pole from his backpack (it automatically edits out the pole), captured his slick move in video:

“We knew the avalanche stability was touchy,” Gavic told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors on Tuesday. “I entered this line with caution. When I thought I was safe I started to make some turns. I saw the dope fracture 200 feet below me so I gunned it to the shelter of the rocks.

“Had I not made it there, I would’ve definitely ‘gone for the ride’ for the remaining duration of the slope, about 500 vertical feet. I was so relieved to grab on to that rock. I don’t think I would’ve gotten buried, as the avalanche debris trickled out, but it’s never something you want to do, get carried down a slope with a bunch of snow.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Spearfisherman dragged out to sea by great white shark

Gavic, snowboarding out of Salt Lake City, always carries a beacon, probe and shovel, and knows how to use them.

“That’s the key, knowing how to use them” he told For The Win Outdoors. “But this was the first time I’ve almost been carried away in the 10 years I’ve been in the backcountry.”

Photo courtesy of ViralHog.

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Angler picks wrong day to land record-size paddlefish

An Oklahoma angler’s recent catch of a giant paddlefish would have shattered the state record had it been caught on a different day.

An Oklahoma angler’s catch of a 157-pound paddlefish last Friday would have shattered the state record had it been caught on just about any other day.

Justin Hamlin landed the odd-looking behemoth while fishing on Keystone Lake with Capt. Jeremiah Mefford of Reel Good Time Guide Service.

The paddlefish tipped a boat scale at 157 pounds. But state regulations designed to protect the fishery require that all paddlefish caught on Fridays and Mondays must be released.

Justin Hamlin with 157-pound paddlefish. Photo: Reel Good Time Guide Service

Hamlin, therefore, was not able to have his catch officially weighed or certified by a state biologist, and the state record still stands at 132 pounds, 8 ounces, for a 2018 catch on the Arkansas River.

However, that does not diminish the experience for the captain or angler.

“I think my heart was close to beating out of my chest,” Mefford told For The Win Outdoors. “I’m an avid deer hunter and it was like seeing a dream buck come out right in front of you. The difference was this fish was landed and we did not have to talk about the one that got away.”

Justin Hamlin wrestles with catch before it’s released. Photo: Reel Good Time Guide Service

Mefford added: “Heartbroken not to have it official, but Justin had a great attitude about it, and appreciation for the laws.”

Paddlefish are plankton eaters so snagging is the most effective angling method. Oklahoma regulations allow anglers to keep one per day except on Mondays and Fridays, when all fish “must be released immediately.”

Anglers can only use barbless hooks, which allow for easy releases.

Keystone Lake-record paddlefish stands at 125.6 pounds. Photo: Reel Good Time Guide Service

Mefford said Hamlin snagged his 5-foot-long paddlefish with a large treble hook attached to 80-pound-test line. The fight lasted about 10 minutes.

The Keystone Lake record for paddlefish stands at 125.6 pounds, Mefford said.

American paddlefish, closely related to sturgeon, are native to the Mississippi River Basin and fossil records date back millions of years.

–Photos showing Justin Hamlin with his record-size paddlefish and the Keystone Lake record paddlefish (bottom image) are courtesy of Reel Good Time Guide Service

‘Heartbreak on Valentine’s Day’; can whale be saved?

A humpback whale breaching in the distance brought joy to a Friday morning charter, until it became evident that the whale was entangled.

A humpback whale breaching in the distance brought joy to a Friday morning charter off San Diego – until it became evident that the whale was severely entangled.

Domenic Biagini, who runs Gone Whale Watching San Diego, began a Friday night Facebook post under the title, “Heartbreak on Valentine’s Day,” and described what played out as “the most heart-wrenching day in our company’s short history.”

The distressed whale breached multiple times in an apparent effort to shake free of a gillnet that had become wrapped around much of its body, including the mouth area.

Commercial-fishing gillnets are sometimes referred to as “ghost nets” because they’re largely invisible and kill indiscriminately.

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Biagini’s encounter began in late morning. He notified SeaWorld and a disentanglement team arrived and spent several hours hoping for an opportunity to either cut the netting or attach a buoy so the whale would be easier to locate on Saturday.

The whale was too active to safely approach, however, and there was no fishing line trailing the mammal, so the team could not attach buoys.

Whale-watching companies throughout Southern California have been notified and crews will be on the lookout throughout the busy Presidents Day weekend. A NOAA-trained disentanglement team is on standby in case the whale is spotted.

Biagini, a renowned wildlife photographer whose charter business opened last September, told For The Win Outdoors that the SeaWorld effort ended in late afternoon “when the whale was still blasting north around Del Mar.”

It’s not clear where the whale became entangled, or if that occurred in U.S. waters. (Gillnets are allowed off California, but only away from the coast and under certain restrictions.)

But in an Instagram Post Biagini wrote: “I don’t have the words to describe the heartbreak, but I do want to tell you a little more about these images. This is a Humpback Whale severely entangled in drift/ghost gillnet: a barbaric method of commercial fishing that should not exist.

“These lines are set up constantly around San Diego, oftentimes in some of the most critical areas for marine mammals. It’s maddening to see, and its effects on our local wildlife are severely underreported.”

–Images are courtesy of Domenic Biagini

Your holiday ski trip does not have to be spoiled by crowds

Skiers and snowboarders will jam into their favorite resorts over the Presidents Day weekend, despite the crazy crowd factor.

Skiers and snowboarders will jam into their favorite resorts over the Presidents Day weekend and try to enjoy themselves despite heavy mountain traffic, bustling slopes, and excruciatingly long lift lines.

Overcrowding is a big deal these days, as the pastime enjoys a popularity surge, and as sales of Epic and Ikon passes spike. These multi-resort passes, available for as little as $700, are now honored in some manner by nearly every major resort in North America.

But not every resort wants to be part of this phenomenon, choosing instead to maintain a crowd-free environment.

Utah’s Powder Mountain, for example, limits daily lift-ticket sales to 1,500 per day at a cost of $95 per ticket. Guests enjoy access to a remarkable 8,464 square feet of terrain.

Said Derek Taylor, former editor of Powder Magazine: “For Powder Mountain to cap it at 1,500 daily guests, and leave money on the table like that to preserve the experience, that’s huge. They’re trying to progress, but doing it in a way where they’re not trying to blow it out.

“We don’t want Park City here. We don’t want that many people. Instead they said, no, we’re gonna keep this different. We’re going to let it be unique.”

Vermont’s Magic Mountain is another example. It began capping daily visits at 1,500 in 2016, and the small resort is not part of the multi-resort pass system.

The Epic and Ikon passes, however, are exceedingly popular because of the value they provide.

Vail Resorts, a public company that owns multiple resorts and created the Epic program, announced in December that it had sold 1.2 million passes for 2019-2020. That represented a 22% increase over the previous season.

But with value, sometimes, comes hassles.

For example, Crystal Mountain in Washington State recently halted the sale of single-day lift tickets on weekends to contend with overcrowding. The resort honors unlimited skiing for Ikon pass holders, and crowds simply became too large.

“It’s a very imperfect science, pairing demand with snow and terrain,” Rusty Gregory, chief executive of Denver-based Alterra Mountain Co., which owns Crystal, told the Chicago Tribune. “Each resort has to do what’s right for its conditions and its skiers.” (Alterra runs the Ikon program.)

The Montana and Wyoming communities of Big Sky and Jackson last winter were new to the Ikon program. Locals complained so vociferously about overcrowding that resort executives published open letters vowing to do a better job of managing crowd sizes.

It’s a precarious balancing act, to be sure. Several resorts now limit the number of days they will honor the passes.

Utah’s Deer Valley Resort, for example, allows Ikon pass holders to ski or ride only seven days per season. Telluride in Colorado, Sun Valley in Idaho, and Jackson Hole in Wyoming are among other resorts that offer limited use with multi-resort passes.

Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin actually quit honoring the Epic pass last year. Chief Operating Officer Alan Henceroth explained to Outside Magazine: “The ski area is feeling a pinch on parking and facility space.”

But seven months later the resort began accepting the Ikon pass on a limited basis.

Which brings us back to Powder Mountain, which will allow only 3,000 skiers and snowboarders on its slopes each day this weekend, if you count the 1,500 season-pass holders.

If that seems like a lot, consider that nearby Deer Valley limits its daily crowd to 7,500, and boasts far less terrain.

Said Ryan Byrne, a former competitive skier who from Los Angeles who is building a home on top of Powder Mountain:

“While [the multi-resort passes] are giving more people access, it’s also kind of ruining things for a lot of old-school skiers who just want to enjoy the mountain.

“It’s turned them into Disneyland, waiting in line for an hour to get one run. I haven’t waited in line here for more than three minutes.”

–Images are courtesy of Powder Mountain