Current Outdoor News from Game & Fish Magazine

The year remains young, and cold and snow have kept many hunters and anglers cooped up as they anticipate turkey hunting and great fishing this spring.

The lull between the end of January’s waterfowl seasons and the welcome thaw and blooming of spring is not without outdoor news, however. Some of these stories are tragic, some are resourceful and inspiring, and some bring familiar names back into the outdoors headlines.

With that, here’s the latest edition of the Game & Fish News Digest:

Seven Waterfowlers Mourned After DC Plane Crash

There are 67 sad stories after last week's mid-air collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines flight 5342 as it was seconds away from landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Among those sad tales of lives cut short was the story of a group of seven waterfowlers who had just had a fantastic hunt with the Fowl Plains outfitting service in Great Bend, Kansas. Three other members of the Maryland group were spared because they were driving back home for easier transport of their hunting dogs and shotguns.

“We’ve always said our clients are more than friends,” said the Fowl Plains social media post. “They’re family. Last night we lost 7 family members in the horrific plane crash. 7 family members we’ve had the privilege to hunt with the last few years. 

“We’ve spent this past week, sharing the blind, laughing, talking about our families, and sharing memories. We are completely heartbroken. Please pray for the families, friends and for our 3 other hunters in the group who were driving home. 

“Heartbroken is an understatement.”

According to USA Today, the men who perished on the flight were from the Maryland areas and included Michael "Mikey Stovall of Port Tobacco, Maryland, Charles "Charlie" McDaniel, Jonathan D. Boyd, Alexander "Alex" Huffman, Jesse Pitcher, Steve Johnson, and Tommy Clagett.

Duck Hunters Burn Decoys to Stay Alive on North Texas Lake

Randolph McGee, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game warden and one of the stars on the TV show "Lone Star Law," teamed up with several other wardens and other area law enforcement officers to help save a pair of Louisiana duck hunters last month, as they found themselves half-submerged and facing a life-or-death situation on a North Texas Lake.

The story about the two unidentified duck hunters is told by the Texas Game Wardens Facebook page with a Jan. 19 post that read: "Last week, after hunting at Bois D'Arc Lake for several days, two experienced duck hunters from Louisiana found themselves in a dire situation. Their mud boat struck a tree around noon and sank, leaving them clinging to trees in 15 feet of cold water."

Thankfully, the hunter's wives grew concerned that they hadn't heard from their husbands and called authorities in North Texas.

"With darkness falling and temperatures already low, wardens called in Texas Department of Public Safety Aviation, the Fannin County Sheriff's Office and North Texas Municipal Water District staff to help with the search,” said the Facebook post.

"Fortunately, the hunters remained calm and resourceful, using wood from the tree they clung to, duck decoys and most of their gear to create a fire in their K2 cooler for warmth."

Burning decoys in a super cooler? In true MacGyver form, it worked. 

"DPS Aviation was able to spot the flames in the darkness and direct crews to their location," the game warden post continued. "The hunters, who had braved the elements for 13 hours, were immediately rushed to a local hospital for treatment for severe hypothermia.

"We are thankful the men lived to hunt another day and thankful for the help of our partner agencies that made it possible. Emergency response is always a team effort. Texas Game Wardens will continue to utilize available resources to respond to calls for service, including engaging with our partners at every turn. Accordingly, we will remain available when our partners need our help, doing our best to ensure the safety of our communities."

For the record, Bois d'Arc Lake is a brand new 16,641-acre recreational and water supply reservoir near Bonham, Texas, in Fannin County. The lake—which has thousands of acres of flooded timber just a few miles south of the Red River—is one we covered in recent years as it was being built and hailed by some as one of the next lunker bass lakes in the Lone Star State. Only opening to recreational fishing and boating last year, the lake is already off to a fast start with a lake record largemouth bass north of 9 pounds and having already established itself as a premier fishing destination for bass, crappie, catfish and bluegills.

Louisiana Plans to Hunt Gators Longer This Year

Over the last few weeks, there have been countless stories about Louisiana in the news, thanks to a blizzard and nearly a foot of snowfall in the state along with this past weekend's Super Bowl LIX. Odds are, you probably heard a thing or two about alligators during some of those pre-game stories, considering the Bayou State is home to plenty of swamp lizards. And in fact, according to State Representative Chad Brown (D-Plaquemine Parish) back in 2023, the state is lousy with gators.

"We're being overrun by alligators," said Brown in a 2023 hearing. "Two Sundays ago (in 2023) my neighbor called and told me to be careful because there's an alligator under your wife's car."

According to Yahoo News, that realization has led the Louisiana Wildlife Commission recently approving a notice of intent to expand the current 60-day alligator seasons in both the West and East Zones. If approved, the extension would cause the West Zone season to run from the first Wednesday in September until Dec. 31, while the East Zone season would run from the last Wednesday in August until Dec. 31.

How many gators are there in the Louisiana swamps and bayous? A lot, since the report in Yahoo News notes that there are some three times more alligators than are estimated in the state of Florida. That has allowed Louisiana to wrestle the "biggest population of alligators" title away from Florida with the Louisiana population exploding from 100,000 some 50 years ago to more than 3 million now. And as we reported a few years back, that same trend has really been happening in many other places across the South.

So much so that during Super Bowl LIX coverage last week, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry told ESPN personality and College Football Game Day star Pat McAfee that if he'd come back to the Bayou State later this year, he'd take him alligator hunting.

Now that's something we might be in favor of for next year's Game Day set, seeing McAfee dress up in full Crocodile Dundee gear, serve up some fried gator to Nick Saban during the show, and maybe even have his $100,000 kick come with the ball teed up on some alligator hide!

Sooner State Readies for 2025 Call of the Wild Gala

The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Foundation have announced that tickets are now on sale for a unique fundraising effort at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

With this year’s event slated for Feb. 28 from 6 to 9:30 p.m., the annual OWCF Call of the Wild gala will celebrate the work of the ODWC agency, as well as raise funds through an auction that will give attendees the chance to help support crucial conservation efforts in the Sooner State, including the ability to help Oklahoma maximize federal funding projects at 3:1 and even 9:1 ratios. All told, gala organizers hope to meet the 2025 fundraising goal of $1.5 million.

Among the items being auctioned off this year includes one either sex Special Elk Permit; one either sex Special Pronghorn Antelope permit; a custom rifle and suppressor from Scheels; a week of lodging for four at the Grand Cayman's Seven Mile Beach Resort, a guided Canadian fishing trip, a guided Saskatchewan bear hunt, an Argentina fly fishing trip, a guided paddlefish adventure with ODWC Director Wade Free, and more.

Also taking place at the gala will be the induction of Midway USA owners Larry and Brenda Potterfield as this year's Hall of Fame honorees. The Portterfields and the MidwayUSA Foundation they founded years ago have been instrumental in helping contribute to youth shooting sport in Oklahoma and across the U.S.

“I am looking forward to meeting you at this year’s event and hearing more about your own passion for Oklahoma and our great outdoors,” said OWCF Executive Director Sean McCabe. “Your sponsorship or attendance at this year’s gala will not only provide critical matching funds that allow the Wildlife Department to leverage federal monies for wildlife and fisheries conservation projects throughout Oklahoma, but will also help establish long-term and sustainable support through endowments that will continue to fuel the passion of Oklahoma outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen for generations. Your tax-deductible gift will enable us to support the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation in a bigger way and bring projects to Oklahoma more quickly.”

To become a sponsor or to buy tickets for the 2025 Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Foundation Call of the Wild Gala, visit the website.   

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