Pete Thomas Outdoors

Is it legal to use GPS tracking devices on dogs while hunting?

In support of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and its effort to keep hunters and anglers informed, Pete Thomas Outdoors, on Thursday or Friday, posts marine biologist Carrie Wilson's weekly California Outdoors Q&A column:

Question: My dog is often hard to follow when we’re hiking through heavy cover. Is it legal to use GPS tracking devices on dogs while hunting? (Mark M.)

Answer: GPS collars may be used on dogs only when bird hunting but are prohibited when hunting mammals. Electronic dog retrieval collars employing the use of global positioning system equipment (devices that utilize satellite transmissions) are prohibited on dogs used for the pursuit/take of mammals (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 265(d)(2)).


Q: I have begun to see fishing lures for sale on eBay that are LED-lighted. Are these legal in California? I fish the Sacramento and Feather rivers. (Donna B.)

A: Yes. There are no prohibitions against using LED-lighted lures in either fresh or salt water.

Q: I am an avid bow hunter and spend most of the archery season stalking deer and bear in the deep canyons, and walking from ridgeline to ridgeline carrying nothing but my bow and my two knives.

However, I have not been able to continue my tradition of solo crosscountry hunting trips recently due to the high numbers of marijuana gardens being found and raided in my hunting zone. I am not sure of the ethnicity of the marijuana farmers, but I have family in south Texas and they have told me stories of the Mexican drug cartels kidnapping people and forcing them to go into the wilderness and farm these big marijuana gardens. These people have strict orders to shoot anyone that may cause a threat to the crop.

After hearing this, I stay a whole lot closer to main roads and out of canyons but am still fearful of being confronted by these guys with guns when I just have my bow and the bear deterrent I carry in bear country. My question is why can’t I, being an American citizen, have a firearm in my possession while bow hunting? Doesn’t the Second Amendment give me the right to bear arms? This was just a question that crossed my mind today as I was deer hunting and I hope you can answer it for me. (Vincent W.)

Shark-repelling wetsuits look cool, but are they really safer?

At last, a line of wetsuits has been developed that will protect surfers and swimmers against the threat of shark attack. Or can there ever be such a product?

Two Australian businessmen believe their line of Shark Attack Mitigation Systems, notably wetsuits developed with the help of a university research project, will protect those who wear them.

If this is true it's great news, coming in the aftermath of a two-year period during which five people were killed by sharks in Australia.

 

But only time will tell if these wetsuits and other SAMS products (surfboard and kayak stickers, etc), in fact, will serve as a level of protection... or provide a false sense of security.

One of the wetsuits is the blue and white Elude suit (pictured at top), which is designed to make surfers and swimmers practically invisible to sharks.

The other is the black and white Diverter (pictured, immediately below), which is supposed to give surfers and swimmers the appearance of poisonous critters sharks generally avoid.

New research suggests that sharks are color blind, a line of thinking that went into the design of the wetsuits and other products.

Shaun Collin, a researcher with the University of Western Australia, told the BBC: "Many animals are repelled by a striped pattern which indicates the potential prey is unsafe to eat."

One series of tests, deploying decoy dummies dressed in the striped wetsuits and traditional black wetsuits, involved tiger sharks.

The large predators avoided the former, while attacking the latter. That shows promise, but great white sharks are not tiger sharks. They're ambush predators, which strike from below, violently.

On a sunny day, a surfer wearing an Elude suit or Diverter suit might still look like a dark silhouette. More testing will be done in the next several months, off South Australia and South Africa. Craig Anderson, one of the entrepreneurs, said demand is already growing.

"Everyone's looking fore a solution, everyone's nervous about going in the water a round the world now," he said.

The Australian firm isn't alone in wanting to develop products to keep people safe from shark attacks. Surfboard leashes that emit electronic pulses are also on the market, and a small company recently producede a rash guard that has the pattern of a poisonous lionfish (see photo). Boatstogo.com states on its website:

"The unique color pattern of our Rash Guard mimics the features of highly venomous lion fish, therefore minimizing your chances of being mistaken for a sea lion or any other type of favorite food on the menu of local sharks."

The company does not guarantee that these will guard against attack, which is smart. Especially considering that lionfish, as pointed out by shark ecologist Bradley M. Wetherebee to National Geographic, do not typically encounter lionfish, so they're not conditioned to leave them alone.

Besides, Wetherebee added, "People spear lionfish and feed them to sharks some places where they are trying to reduce the number of lionfish since they are invasive species." The developers of the Elude suit and Diverter, likewise, are not ready to make any guarantees.

Stated Southern California shark expert Christopher Lowe: "One of my favorite stories is when [famous diver] Valerie Taylor tested out the sea snake colored wetsuit, thinking that sharks would avoid sea snakes because they are so poisonous.

"Well, apparently [developers] hadn't read the tiger shark literature... turns out the No. 1 prey item found in tiger shark stomachs from Australia were sea snakes! So, imagine what that tiger shark would be thinking as it rounded the reef and bumped into the giant, fat sea snake!  Yum, yum!"

--Images are screen grabs from SAMS video

--Find this post and lots more on GrindTv Outdoor

--Find Pete Thomas on Facebook and Twitter

No joke: Colorado town moves to legalize drone hunting

A small Colorado town is expressing its disdain for surveillance drones in the most peculiar manner: It wants to sell drone-hunting licenses and offer a bounty for hunters who shoot down an unmanned aerial vehicle.

The town is Deer Trail, population 648, best known for hosting the world's first rodeo.

Longtime resident Phillip Steele wants to change that. "We don't want drones in town," he told ABC 7 News. "They fly in town, they get shot down."

 

The ordinance, to be voted on next month, states:

"The Town of Deer Trail shall issue a reward of $100 to any shooter who presents a valid hunting license and the following identifiable parts of an unmanned aerial vehicle whose markings and configuration are consistent with those used on any similar craft known to be owned or operated by the United States federal government."

Before anyone starts to worry about this type of mentality, it might be shrewd from a business standpoint.

Steel acknowledged that the ordinance is mostly symbolic,that he had never seen a drone, and that a weapon restriction within the ordinance--allowing only shotguns 12 gauge or smaller--would make it virtually impossible to bring down a large government drone.

However, in a rural region in which many are skeptical of the federal government and its increasing use of unmanned aircraft, buying a drone hunting license for $25 would be a way to express their feelings and support the community.

"Basically, I do not believe in the idea of a surveillance society, and I believe we are heading that way," Steele said.

Applicants, the ordinance states, would have to be at least 21 and able to "read and understand English." The length of the season is unclear.

Resident David Boyd, who has a vote on the town board, said: "Even if a tiny percentage of people get online [for a] drone license, that's cool. That's a lot of money to a small town like us. "[We] could be known for it as well, which probably might be a mixed blessing, but what the heck?"

There's also talk of turning drone hunting into a festival of sorts. Drone Days, or something along those lines.

Said town clerk Kim Oldfield: "We’re the home of the world’s first rodeo, so we could home of the world’s first drone hunt."

No word, yet, on what the federal government has to say about this.

--Photos are screen grabs from ABC News 7 video

Angler dives overboard, saves entangled northern right whale

A fisherman might have saved the life of a critically endangered northern right whale on Sunday by diving overboard and using a knife to disentangle the mammal (see video).

Capt. Pat Foster and mate Adrian Colaprete were aboard the vessel Wave Runner when they encountered the whale about 50 miles off Virginia Beach, Va.

The mammal was encumbered by a rope or trap line that was dragging heavy fishing gear. The rope looks to have been inside the whale's mouth. In the video footage it can be seen protruding from both sides of the whale at the mouth corners, with the rest of the fishing gear far below and not visible. (The rescue occurrs during the first 1:15.)

 

Northern right whales feed largely by skimming with their mouths open, which could explain how it became entangled in this manner.

Normally, in this type of situation, citizens should telephone NOAA Fisheries or a group trained in the rescue of large mammals.

But Foster and Colaprete decided to act quickly after identifying the struggling mammal as a northern right whale, the rarest of large whales and among the rarest of all marine mammal species.

(The whales were once hunted to the brink of extinction; there are currently about 450 in the North Atlantic.)

The entangled whale was swimming slowly so Foster was able to pilot the boat ahead of the mammal, so Colaprete could jump in with his knife.

He had planned, initially, merely to assess the situation.

"I jumped in and started swimming towards it and I couldn't see it because I was pretty far in front of it, and then all of a sudden it came out of the gloom, and it was almost like a submarine coming at me," he said.

He chose to cut the rope when the whale slowed even more as it swam alongside the diver.

"As soon as the whale kind of passed me and I was parallel to its face and to its eye, it kind of stopped… It kind of gave me a little window to get down there."

As viewers can see at about the 1:05 mark, the sliced rope slides free of the whale, which then reveals its tail fluke to signal a dive.

It then disappears and Colaprete is overjoyed.

"Got it!" he exclaims from the water, to Foster on the boat. "Hey I cut the line; it slid right through its tail. It's gone!"

--Video is courtesy of TheWildLyfe (images are screen grabs).

--See this post and more from Pete Thomas at GrindTv.com

Baja angler dies after falling overboard while fighting a marlin

An angler fishing near Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, died Friday after falling overboard while fighting a striped marlin.

Fred Talmage of Pacific Palisades presumably suffered a heart attack while a lone crewman struggled to help the overweight fisherman back into the 22-foot panga.

The incident occurred nine miles offshore and just beyond Gordo Banks, a popular fishing spot about 40 miles north of Cabo San Lucas on Baja California's tip, in the Sea of Cortez.

Talmage, who was in his mid-60s, was fishing out of Gordo Banks Pangas and had reeled in a dorado (mahi-mahi) before hooking the marlin.

The sea was calm and Talmage was sitting in a stationary boat while fighting the billfish.

Eric Brictson, who runs the charter business, said that Talmage began to slip over the rail while adjusting his seating position.

"The skipper grabbed onto the elastic waistband of his shorts, but could not keep him from slipping the rest of the way into the water," Brictson stated, via email. "When Fred went into the water he did swallow some saltwater, but otherwise appeared okay, passing the rod back to the skipper, who simply slipped it into the nearest pole holder.

"Then the skipper passed the throw ring and strapped a life vest onto Fred as he held firmly on to the panga railing. Fred is very large man, approximately 280 pounds. He had mentioned health problems, diabetes, being overweight, and he did not have much upper body strength."

The panga skipper could not lift Talmage back onto the boat so he phoned for help on his VHF radio.

However, Talmage "suddenly became very week and slumped into unconsciousness."

Others arrived within 20 minutes of the call but efforts to revive the angler--both on the boat and back at Puerto Los Cabos Marina--were unsuccessful.

Brictson described this as a "freak situation" and added that it was the first fatality aboard one of his boats out of 20,000 charters.

Best of both worlds off Dana Point: blue whales, mahi-mahi

Blue whales have shown for the past several days off Orange County, much to the delight of local landings--and to the envy of captains venturing out from the Los Angeles area.

But on Friday off Dana Point, an unprecedented daily double was logged.

While marine mammal enthusiasts were marveling at the sight of the planet's largest creature (blue whales can reach 100 feet and weigh 150 tons), fishermen aboard a Dana Wharf Sportfishing charter boat were catching a handful dorado, which are more familiar to some as mahi-mahi.

This is extraordinary because blue whales feed predominantly on tiny, shrimp-like krill, which thrive in cold, nutrient-rich water.

Mahi-mahi, on the other hand, are a tropical and sub-tropical species, and show off Southern California only every few years, when surface temperatures are abnormally warm.

This happens more typically during a warm-water El Nino event. (There is no El Nino phenomenon this year.)

Surface temperatures outside of Dana Point have are in the low 70s. The catchs of three dorado were made 8-10 miles offshore, aboard the Helena, near floating kelp paddies.

They're the first dorado catches of the year for Dana Wharf Sportfishing, but private boaters have been catching them for the past few days.

So the dynamics must be such that deep-water temperatures are much colder, allowing for enough krill to bloom to entice the handful of blue whales that have been loitering off Orange County for the past week.

That might also explain why so many of the blue whales are showing their tail flukes, which signal deep dives.

Donna Kalez, general manager of Dana Wharf Whale Watch and Sportfishing, said highly-prized yellowtail also are being caught sporadically beneath offshore kelp paddies.

But on Friday the big news was the catch of three 8- to 12-pound dorado, and Kalez was quick to praise Helena's captain, Calvin Cooper.

"That boat does a little of everything and Calvin is out there looking for fish every day, so it's awesome that he's the one that caught the dorado."

Awesome, because when news spreads that mahi-mahi are in local waters, business will be brisk.

And to be sure, with mahi-mahi and blue whales in the vicinity, it's the best of both worlds.

--Pete Thomas

--Photos: Top image shows Helena anglers posing Friday with three dorado and one yellowtail. Second image, captured Thursday, shows a blue whale fluking. Credit: Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Frank Brennan/Dana Wharf Whale Watch 

Thresher sharks' tail-slapping hunting method revealed in rare footage

It has for years been suspected that thresher sharks use their long, scythe-like tails to slap and stun small fish before feeding.

But the pelagic sharks are elusive and extremely difficult to study. However, this week a study published by PLOS ONE revealed rare and vivid footage of pelagic thresher sharks hunting sardines in the Philippines. (Fast-forward to the 50-second mark to get right to the predation events.)

 

The study footage is said to be the first showing the hunting methods of pelagic thresher sharks.

The footage was captured in 2010, but held until publication of the paper "Thresher Sharks Use Tail-Slaps as a Hunting Strategy."

The collaborative study involved Simon P. Oliver, John R. Turner, Klemens Gann, Medel Silvosa, and Tim D'Urban Jackson.

The footage was captured off Pescadore Island, which is rich in marine life and a known hunting ground for thresher sharks, which boast tail fins that are often as long as their bodies, and small mouths designed for eating small fish such as sardines and anchovies.

The maximum reported length of a thresher shark is nearly 25 feet, but that includes the tail fin. Though elusive in terms of scientific study, the sharks are targeted by recreational and commercial fishermen, and are widely caught by longline gear.

The video shows threshers participating in each of the various stages of hunting: preparation, winding up, striking, recovering their position, and collecting fish or fish scraps. Scientists used 61 observations, captured via handheld video cameras, between June and October in 2010, in their study. A snippet from the paper's abstract:

"Tail-slaps occurred with such force that they may have caused dissolved gas to diffuse out of the water column forming bubbles.  

"Thresher sharks were able to consume more than one sardine at a time, suggesting that tail-slapping is an effective foraging strategy for hunting schooling prey.  

"Pelagic thresher sharks appear to pursue sardines opportunistically by day and night, which may make them vulnerable to fisheries."

Even if scientists, fishermen, and divers have strongly suspected that these unique predators hunt with their tails—this event, most likely, has never been witnessed. Now there's empirical video proof. And that, shark fans will agree, is pretty cool.

--Note: This post from Pete Thomas also appears on GrindTv Outdoor

--Photos are screen grabs from the video

What can be done to control nuisance crows?

In support of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and its effort to keep hunters and anglers informed, Pete Thomas Outdoors, on Thursday or Friday, posts marine biologist Carrie Wilson's weekly California Outdoors Q&A column:

Question: I live in Redondo Beach and was told by the city to ask you what could be done about an infestation of the nuisance birds that are an absolute plague in our neighborhood. I have small children that are woken up by these vile creatures starting at 3 a.m. to around 8 a.m.! Please get back to me and let me know what I can and cannot do. (Armando R.)

Answer: There is a provision in the Fish and Game regulations that allows for landowners to destroy (shoot) crows that are damaging farm fields or other crops. However, it seems this is not what you are dealing with, not to mention the fact that firearms cannot be discharged within city limits. If I interpret your question correctly, your principle complaint is the noise level.

There are actually a number of cities that have similar problems with crows and the cities have coordinated with either the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture or the U.S. Dept. of Fish and Wildlife to implement abatement measures. Here is a good article written by the Washington Department of Wildlife regarding nuisance crows http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/crows.html. As you will see as you read it, it’s a tough issue because most of the abatement measures work only for short periods of time. If you believe the crows are in such a concentration that they create a public health hazard (droppings), then your city or county health department should be notified.

Bottom line, if the roosting crow population continues to grow, the city may need to get involved by contacting the USDA, Wildlife Services Division.


Q: Yesterday I caught and released a Pacific angel shark. At first I did not know what it was. It looked like a guitar fish but was different. After looking through the regulations, I didn’t see anything about the Pacific angel shark. Is there a bag limit and/or size limit on them? Or are they a protected species? I also caught and released a broadnose sevengill shark. The regulations list a limit of one but no size limit. Does this mean any size can be taken? (Alan V.)

Shark Week begins early in Manhattan Beach, with sightings of baby great whites in the surf

Shark Week arrived early in Manhattan Beach, where sightings of very small great whites in or near the surf zone generated no small measure of hysteria.

Sightings have been made daily since Monday, and on Tuesday evening the popular surf spot at the north end of town, El Porto, was closed until Wednesday morning.

That was because, at about 6:30, a Los Angeles Sheriff's Department helicopter crew spotted two sharks measuring about six feet long swimming very close to a surfer.

Helicopters buzzed overhead again on Wednesday. Lifeguards patrolled in boats and on jetskis. Beachgoers were jittery, but not prevented from entering the ocean, and the media were in a frenzy.

Perhaps that's being over-dramatic but on Wednesday a shark command center of sorts was set up in large part to deal with media inquiries.

Thankfully, on Thursday, the situation had calmed, although a lifeguard spotted another shark thrashing in the surf.

About these sharks. If, in fact, they're white sharks, there's nothing unusual about their presence.

Southern California coastal waters are a nursery ground for the small ones.

None of the sightings this week involved a shark longer than six feet, and that might have been an exaggeration. That means these sharks are babies, apex-predators in the making, but still content with feeding on small rays, smaller sharks and fish.

On Wednesday the Marine Conservation Science Institute, run by white shark expert Michael Domeier, posted this statement on its Facebook page:

"Manhattan Beach California was put on alert following a shark sighting yesterday. Although the species was not confirmed, the shark was later reported to be 4 feet long.

"A 4-foot white shark would be considered a young of the year, which is a shark in its first year. It is not unusual to see juvenile and young of the year sharks in this region as Southern California beaches are a known nursery area for juvenile white sharks."

What might explain the high visibility of sharks this year off Manhattan Beach, however, is an abundance of small rays close to the beach. The water is very warm this summer, and waves have been small. At low tide the calm water near the shore is the warmest, and that's where brown rays often gather. There also have been leopard shark sightings close to shore, and juvenile white sharks eat leopard sharks.

Worth noting is that last summer several larger great whites--but still fish-eating juveniles--were spotted from the city pier.

Eric Martin, co-director of the Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab and Aquarium at the end of the pier, said he and the aquarium staff did not boast of the sightings, to prevent hysteria.

"Last year we had 21 sightings of sharks from 5-8 feet," Martin said. "These little 4- and 5-footers out here now are just trying to find food, because there have been very few sardines and anchovies, or other fish. So they're probably going after the rays."
 
Media reports have quoted lifeguards as saying the sharks appear to be docile, and sensationalism appears to have been kept to a minimum.

But ABC News found a surfer named Dan Montrose, who said, in reference to white sharks being a protected species off California: "Who's going to protect our kids? There's got to be some kind of a fine line. I mean, I think our children and us should be protected more than a shark."

Perhaps Montrose ought to consider keeping his children on the beach, then, because the ocean belongs to the sharks, which are just trying to survive and do not mean any harm.

--Pete Thomas

Photo shows a juvenile great white shark after being hooked by a fisherman on Manhattan Beach Pier last summer. Credit: Eric Martin

Adam Sandler attacked by cheetah and, of course, it's funny

A cheetah attacking a person is not supposed to be funny, but when that person is Adam Sandler and he's telling the story on "The Late Show With David Letterman," it's quite humorous.

Viewers can fast-foward to the 1:35 mark if all they want to see is the brief attack, which did not result in injury. But the setup with Sandler and Letterman, in a Wednesday episode, is worth watching.

 

The actor-comedian was in South Africa for a shoot for the upcoming film, "Blended," when he went on safari with his family.

Sandler was allowed, under the watch of an animal expert, to help feed water to the cheetah.

But apparently, nobody told him the proper way to execute this task. The cheetah circled and pounced, almost knocking Sandler into the water.

He shared why this happened to Letterman: "They said you’re not supposed to bend down low [by] the water and that’s why he got [mad?]… It was fast.

Sandler continued: "I swear to God when he jumped on me all I was gonna do was let him eat me, there was not one part of me that was gonna fight back. I was like, ‘All right, this is how I’m dying. That's great.' "

Funny stuff!