Category: Outdoors

Hunters celebrate success until lawmen emerge

Hunters thought they had an easy score when coming upon a sage grouse standing alongside the gravel road they were on. They thought wrong.

Hunters in Michigan thought they had an easy score when they came upon a sage grouse standing alongside the gravel road on which they were traveling in the Upper Peninsula.

They thought wrong.

After shooting the sage grouse while inside the truck, the passenger got out of the vehicle hooting and hollering in celebration until he saw three conservation officers from the Department of Natural Resources walking toward him, as reported by MLive.com.

Turns out, the hunter shot a grouse decoy put out by the DNR officers as they patrolled Forsyth Township in Marquette County.

The two hunters were cited for possessing a loaded firearm inside a motor vehicle, not wearing hunter orange clothing and having open intoxicants.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Fisherman faces prison, fine for cruel act on rare fish  

A loaded firearm in a motor vehicle in Michigan is a misdemeanor offense carrying a fine of $50 to $500, court costs and state fees, and possibly a maximum of 90 days in jail and the loss of hunting privileges, according to Hilf & Hilf law offices. Failing to wear hunter orange is also a misdemeanor and carries the same penalties.

Found with open intoxicants in a motor vehicle in Michigan is a misdemeanor penalized by up to 90 days in jail and a fine up to $100, community service and having to undergo substance abuse screening, according to The Kronzek Firm.

The officers witnessed the unidentified hunters drive past the decoy location, stop and back up. The report stated that the two occupants were seen fumbling around before a shotgun barrel could be seen in the passenger side mirror. Then the gun was fired.

That prompted the hunters to celebrate before officers Josh Boudreaux, John Kamps and Ariel Young emerged from their hiding spot.

The shotgun was confiscated and the hunters were given their citations.

Photo of live sage grouse from Wikipedia Commons. Generic photo of hunter by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images.

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Boating family in awe as whale ‘pops up’ in Avalon Harbor

A young gray whale generated lots of excitement Saturday afternoon when it surfaced inside the harbor at Avalon on Santa Catalina Island.

A young gray whale generated lots of excitement Saturday afternoon when it surfaced inside the harbor at Avalon on Santa Catalina Island.

“Whale in the harbor… right under the boat!” exclaims Jon Quarnstrom, in the first video clip accompanying this post. “A whale… right here!”

Quarnstrom, 38, a lifelong Catalina resident, told For The Win Outdoors that he and his young sons, Gavin and Kanon, and their dog Bali were crossing the harbor in their skiff when the whale “popped up looking right at my kids.”

RELATED: Whale swims beneath surfers, but do they even notice?

Bali, his tail tucked firmly between his legs, is not sure what to make of the surfacing whale.

“We see them all the time around the island during seasonal passes, but I’ve only seen this once before in the harbor,” said Quarnstrom, who works in a local steakhouse. “I was definitely shocked.”

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In the second video clip, shared Monday to the Catalina Island Facebook page, viewers can hear Quarnstrom’s commentary before his skiff enters the picture.

He’s not a safe distance, having apparently become caught up in the moment, but the mammal eventually departed the harbor to continue its journey.

The whale is one of a handful of juvenile gray whales to have been spotted recently off Southern California. These early sightings are in advance of a southbound migration, from feeding areas off Alaska to breeding areas off Mexico, that peaks locally in January.

Gray whales often migrate past the so-called backside of Catalina, keeping the land to their left on the southbound journey, said whale researcher Alisa-Schulman-Janiger.

Gray whale sightings inside Avalon Harbor, on the front side facing the mainland, are extremely rare.

Record-breaking largemouth bass caught in Idaho

An Idaho angler has been granted a state record for a giant largemouth bass he caught while fishing in a recent tournament at Cave Lake.

An Idaho angler has been granted a state record for a giant largemouth bass he caught while fishing in a recent tournament at Cave Lake along the Coeur d’Alene River.

JJ Schillinger of Post Falls landed the 9.7-pound, 25-inch bass during the Panhandle Bass Anglers Fall Open on Oct. 19. After the fish was weighed and measured, it was set free.

This week the Idaho Department of Fish and Game announced that Schillinger’s catch is the new record in the catch-and-release category.

These records are based on length, since most anglers do not have quick access to certified scales. A simple measurement and photo documentation allows for reasonably swift releases.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Can you spot the hidden object in this shark photo?

Tournament bass anglers typically keep their fish alive in aerated wells on their boats, and release them after the weigh-in at the end of each day of competition.

The Panhandle Bass Anglers Fall Open ran Oct. 19-20 and Schillinger won with a total combined weight of 60.93 pounds, buoyed by the 9.7-pound bass.

Leaderboard of the Panhandle Bass Anglers Fall Open

On Wednesday he acknowledged the catch-and-release record on Facebook, writing, “It’s official!! Not the weight record but a good start! Thanks to Idaho Panhandle Bass Anglers for putting on a great event as always, and my partner Trevor Schalk for netting this beautiful giant!”

The previous Idaho catch-and-release record was a bass that measured 23.75 inches. It was caught by Dale Stratton at Sawyers Pond in May 2017.

–Image showing JJ Schillinger with his record bass is courtesy of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game

Whale swims beneath surfers, but do they even notice?

The video opportunity of a lifetime presented itself in the form of a whale spout, then another, as Payton Landaas watched from his patio.

The video opportunity of a lifetime presented itself Monday in the form of a whale spout, then another, as Payton Landaas watched from the patio of his parents’ home overlooking a famous Southern California surf spot.

“I knew how rare this moment could be so I ran to get my drone,” Landaas, 18, told For The Win Outdoors.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRP5B-bn25s]

Moments later he was capturing aerial footage of a 25-foot gray whale swimming toward and beneath unsuspecting surfers as they waited for waves at Doheny State Beach in Orange County.

RELATED: Can you spot the hidden object in this shark photo?

As viewers can see, the whale surfaces once inside the lineup, then approaches 20-plus surfers as they sit lazily on their boards. One young surfer turns around and spots the whale, then paddles away as the leviathan passes beneath him.

Some of the surfers did not seem to notice the whale. Photo: Payton Landaas

“The whale was inside the lineup, which wouldn’t have happened any other time of day due to the tide,” Landaas said, explaining that the morning high tide allowed the large mammal to swim close to shore.

Many of the surfers did not seem to see the whale, but Landaas’ footage affords a unique perspective revealing the graceful movements of such a large cetacean.

Landaas, a resident of Capistrano Beach and a senior at San Juan Hills High School, had just launched Stealth Photos and lists himself as owner and chief drone pilot.

The whale, likely a juvenile looking for food on the sandy bottom, is somewhat of a stray.

The southbound gray whale migration, from feeding grounds off Alaska to breeding areas off Mexico, does not peak off Southern California until January.

–Video and photos are courtesy of Payton Landaas/Stealth Photos

Young boy out-fishes fishing guide dad with 42-pound catfish

Kris Flores said he always thought his son would out-fish him one day, he just didn’t expect it to be so soon. Not bad for a 9-year-old.

A 9-year-old boy reeled in a 42-pound blue catfish on Elephant Butte Reservoir in New Mexico on Sunday, beating his father’s record by 6 pounds, which is impressive considering he’s a fishing guide.

The catch was not far off the state record of 54 1/4 pounds for a blue catfish, but it proved to be a record for the family and Muddy River Catfishing.

“I always knew my son would out-fish me some day, I just didn’t expect it to be so soon,” Kris Flores told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors, referring to son Alex.

Scouting the lake to find active catfish for upcoming guided trips, Flores had been fishing all day with his family and was about to call it quits just after sundown when the big blue catfish bit.

“Alex was quick to get to [the rod] and started reeling,” Flores told For The Win Outdoors. “At first, he didn’t think the fish was very big, but it didn’t take long for the big blue catfish to realize he was hooked. That’s when the fight started—the rod bending and reel screaming.”

The video showed that very moment.

“Alex fought that fish until it came up from the depths,” Flores told For The Win Outdoors. “I fumbled around trying to get it into the net.”

It was challenging because the rod was in a rod holder, so the end of the tip was more than 2 feet beyond the reach of the net.

“But finally it swam in,” he said.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Kayak fisherman nearly toppled by 200-pound alligator gar

Alex told KRQE that as soon as he started reeling it in “it didn’t feel that heavy, but then as soon as it got heavier, as soon as the rod bent, I should say, I knew it was a big fish.”

Everyone on the boat was excited as photos were taken with the fish.

“The fish was definitely too heavy for him to hold so I had him sit down and then I placed the fish on his lap for the photo,” Kris said.

After a couple of photos, the fish was released.

Alex nicknamed the fish Wailord (a whale) after the largest of all identified Pokemon characters. It was apropos as Alex’s fish was the biggest among the 25 caught that day.

“I’m pretty proud of my son handling that fish all on his own,” Kris said.

Photos courtesy of Kris Flores.

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Can you spot the hidden object in this shark photo?

William Buchheit captured an extraordinary great white shark image recently at Mexico’s Guadalupe Island.

William Buchheit captured an extraordinary great white shark image recently at Mexico’s Guadalupe Island. But he did not know how extraordinary until he got home and took a closer look.

“Thank God I didn’t delete it, for it wasn’t until a full week later when I opened the image on my computer that I discovered the magical moment I’d captured,” Buchheit, 43, told For The Win Outdoors.

The image, captured from aboard the San Diego-based Islander, shows a white shark breaching near the island. But the small object within the image makes it more unusual, and provides a fun test for those with a keen eye for detail.

Viewers should be able to spot the object without too much trouble, especially if they chose first to look at the larger image posted below.

(NOTE: The object is revealed and explained below.)

Buchheit, an avid shark diver from Spartanburg, S.C., was part of a cage-diving expedition at Guadalupe, a seasonal home to dozens of great white sharks.

The crew had been attracting sharks near divers in submerged cages with tuna as “hang baits” tied to the ends of ropes.

Buchheit, who was kneeling at the vessel’s stern, had been hoping merely to capture a shot of a shark’s dorsal fin in the morning light.

“Even though the sunlight was gorgeous, I didn’t consider this particular shot anything special when I first saw it, for I failed to see the tooth on the LCD screen,” he said.

After returning home, Buchheit spotted an airborne tooth near the shark’s head. The shark must have lost the tooth when it chomped on the tuna. (White sharks routinely lose teeth during attacks on prey. They have several rows, however, and lost teeth are quickly replaced.)

“To my knowledge there have only been two photos that ever captured a great white’s tooth in the air,” Buchheit said. “They were both shot from a much greater distance in South Africa.”

Feeding sharks is illegal at Guadalupe. Hang baits are used merely to keep sharks near cages, and bait handlers can usually pull them away from approaching sharks.

“This shark, however, was clever and developed an approach in which she launched toward the tuna like a missile from below,” Buchheit said. “The bait handlers couldn’t see her coming and she was successful in stealing the bait.”

Buchheit, who was on his third voyage to Guadalupe, said he was positioned 40-50 feet from where the shark surfaced. He was shooting with a Canon 1DX at 70 millimeters, in a manual setting at 1-1,200 of a second, F 6.3 and ISO 250.

–Images are courtesy of William Buchheit

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Kayak fisherman nearly toppled by 200-pound alligator gar

A kayak fisherman came close to being tipped over by the 200-pound alligator gar he battled for 40 minutes in a south Texas river.

A kayak fisherman in south Texas came close to being tipped over by the 200-pound alligator gar he battled for 40 minutes before paddling one-handed to shore and landing the prehistoric fish.

The 7-foot alligator gar was the biggest Chris Hernandez had ever caught and it was almost too much to handle.

Hernandez told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors he was fishing a river on the outskirts of his hometown of Benito when he landed the alligator gar last week.

At one point, it became a bit scary when the fish slammed his kayak with its tail.

“It was just a quick flip from the tail that hit my yak causing my yak to shake back and forth,” Hernandez told For The Win Outdoors. “If my yak would’ve tilted a couple more inches, it would’ve took in water.

“At one point my rod was halfway in the water while the gar was taking line. My upper body was [so] tired that I thought I was going to lose my rod to this dinosaur of a gar.”

Hernandez told MySanAntonio the fish “was dragging me all over the river.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Shark helps fisherman land huge tuna

Since there was no way he was going to pull the fish onto his kayak, Hernandez used one hand to paddle to shore as he held on to his fishing rod. A friend helped him through branches on the bank so he could to land the gar.

“This was an awesome experience and an awesome joy ride on the yak,” Hernandez wrote on his Facebook page. “Man, the heart was really pumping.”

Alligator gar are often referred to as “living fossils” because scientists can trace them back 100 million years in the fossil record, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They can grow up to 10 feet and 350 pounds.

Hernandez is probably lucky not to have hooked one that big.

Photos courtesy of Chris Hernandez.

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