Bass Legend Takes a Break, Sheep Conservation, P&Y Record-Book Rule Change—News Digest

With the kids back in school, pigskins flying around football fields, and dove hunters buying up boxes of bird shot, fall is just around the corner.

And with the approach of Sept. 1 and the beginning of meteorological fall—the astronomical version via the autumn equinox will have to wait until Sept. 22—here’s a few outdoors news items to consider as the best time of the year approaches:

Rick Clunn Completes Elite Series Career

At the 2024 season finale  last week on the St. Lawrence River, the year's final Bassmaster Elite Series derby delivered plenty of headlines including budding sensation Cory Johnston winning the last blue trophy of the year, his younger brother and fellow Canadian Chris Johnston winning the Angler of the Year title, 19-year old teenager and bass fishing sensation Trey McKinney capturing the Rookie of the Year title, and even a tournament disqualification.

Lost in those headlines, perhaps, was the news that legendary pro Rick Clunn was hanging up his rods-and-reels. Sort of, that is, because the veteran pro who won his final two Elite Series titles at age 69 and age 72—both serving as benchmarks for the oldest competitor to ever win a tour-level tournament—insisted that last week’s derby wasn’t his bass-fishing swan song.

"After 50 years with B.A.S.S., Rick Clunn decided to step away from full-time Elite Series competition at the end of the 2024 season," noted the Bassmaster Elite Series You Tube channel with a video of Clunn's last Elite Series weigh-in and announcement . "He will continue to fish select events throughout his home region."

Clunn emphasized to B.A.S.S. tournament emcee Dave Mercer that he wasn’t retiring, just stepping away from week-to-week tour level competition on the Elite Series. But don’t be surprised to see him launching his boat for B.A.S.S. Open competition next spring.

If Kevin VanDam is the modern version of the sport's GOAT (Greatest of All-Time), then there's little doubt that he wrestled that title away from Clunn. According to B.A.S.S., Clunn’s track record of winning and longevity saw him qualify for 32 Bassmaster Classics—including a record 28 in a row—and capture four Classic wins (1976, 77, 84, 90). In addition, Clunn had a total of 16 career B.A.S.S. victories that included the Bassmaster Elite Series stops at Florida's St. John's River in 2016 and again in 2019.

A former guide on Lake Conroe near Houston, Clunn moved from Texas to Missouri years ago and loves to fish the Ozark region lakes near the home that he shares with his wife Melissa.

A father to Sage, River, Brooke, and Courtney, Clunn’s resume includes his record four Classic wins, a record he shares with VanDam, along with sharing the record of winning the Classic in back-to-back years as KVD and Jordan Lee have also done. Now 78, Clunn was also the 1988 B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year in addition to winning the U.S. Open bass title in 1983 and 1986 and the Redman All-American tourney in 1985.

All told, Clunn competed in an Iron Man-like run that saw him fish competitively for 50 years and compete in 505 tournaments on the various B.A.S.S. circuits. Clunn also captured three FLW Tour wins, won some $700,000 in FLW Tour money, won more than $3.25 million on the various B.A.S.S. circuits, won the ESPN Greatest Angler Debate in 2005, and achieved hall of fame entry into the International Game Fish Association in 2017, the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame in 2001, the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.

Clunn, known as the father of seasonal pattern fishing and one of the sport’s most deep thinking pros, is also recognized for a statement he made after winning the 2016 Elite Series win. 

“Never accept that all of your best moments are behind you,” he said after capturing the blue trophy on the St. John’s River. And for a half-century, Clunn taught countless bass anglers, fishing fans, and media on just how to live that sentiment out.

Take your bow Rick Clunn, congratulations on a job well done.

KUIU Helps with California Wild Sheep Conservation

It might not seem like much for someone back east where water is plentiful, but in the far western desert, water equals life to the critters that live and thrive there.

That includes the arid Chuckwalla Mountains in California where camo maker KUIU has joined forces with California Wild Sheep to successfully complete its first water guzzler project in the Golden State. 

Aimed at providing a reliable water source for southern California’s desert bighorn sheep, along with the broader ecosystem in the area, the entire initiative—from land acquisition to procurement of water guzzler materials—was funded entirely by KUIU's Conservation Direct (KCD), a first-of-its-kind conservation initiative that is entirely funded by the camo company and its customers with each dollar being invested towards a tangible conservation project that everyone can see.

“Hunting and hands-on conservation are inseparable," said Brendan Burns, KUIU's director of conservation. "We have focused our conservation goals as a company on tangible projects that have a direct impact on creating future hunting opportunities.” 

Conservation projects like the California sheep water guzzler are done one-at-a-time by KUIU to ensure transparency from start to finish. In addition to this scientific approach to wild game and habitat management, KCD also seeks to create hunting opportunities right now and into the future.

Among the other KCD projects already completed are several sheep transplant efforts already showing promise in four western states. In North Dakota, the transplanting of 30 sheep has turned into an active herd of 56 sheep; in Utah, 25 transplanted sheep have turned into an active herd of 48, while in Arizona, a transplanting of 82 sheep has turned into an active herd of 100 in one spot while a separate transplanting effort has turned 28 sheep into an active herd of 76. 

And in Nevada, the installation of water catching equipment has provided some 11,500 gallons of critical H2O that sheep and other wild animals need

If you'd like to see more on the KCD initiative that goes beyond mere advertising and PR spin and into real on the ground results, see the short film that tells the story about this unique conservation effort in the American West.

Texas Adds Trans Pecos Aoudad Hunt to Conservation Fundraising

In light of the note above about sheep conservation efforts, you might want to keep a new sheep hunting opportunity in mind if you're a wannabe ram hunter like me.

A wannabe sheep hunter, that is, who hopes to one day walk in the footsteps of the late great gun writer Jack O'Connor, who literally wrote the iconic reference book on sheep hunting—Sheep and Sheep Hunting—as he climbed mountain peaks in search of rams worthy of settling the crosshairs of his legendary .270 rifle upon.

While chasing sheep is a challenging prospect—sheep tags are rare and extremely difficult to draw, while outfitted hunts in Alaska, Canada, and Mexico are prohibitively expensive—there’s a new opportunity to chase these critters thanks to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and its Big Time Texas Hunts program.

As a new hunt in the state’s popular hunting tag/conservation fundraising effort, the Trans-Pecos Aoudad Adventure will afford the winner of this Big Time Texas Hunt the chance to experience a free-range aoudad sheep hunt in the challenging desert and high altitude terrain of the state's Chihuahuan Desert region.

Located in the renowned Trans-Pecos region that is home to quaint southwestern Texas communities, sprawling desert high plains, towering mountains, plenty of cactus, and critters like the desert bighorn sheep, mule deer, Carmen Mountain whitetails, scaled quail, and more, this is a unique hunting experience to chase aoudads with TPWD and its partner, Wildlife Systems, Inc., which has been hunting aoudads in the region since 1987.

Also known as barbary sheep, the aoudad was originally found in North Africa and was transplanted into Texas in the 1950s. Today, free-ranging herds can now be found in both the Lone Star State and in nearby New Mexico. 

Big and blocky with live weights of up to 275 pounds, a mature aoudad ram with trophy horns curving out to 27 inches or more actually lives in the same kind of steep terrain that the region’s desert bighorn sheep herds also do. Often referred to as the poor-man’s sheep hunt, chasing aoudads gives many hunters the chance to experience the thrill of sheep hunting in an experience that might otherwise be unattainable or too expensive.

To get your chance at an aoudad sheep hunting adventure and to help TPWD fund additional wildlife conservation efforts, purchase chances at $9 each via online entry through the Oct. 15, 2024 deadline.

Pope & Young Club Rule Change Helps Hunters See the Light

In a major record book policy shift, the Pope & Young Club recently approved a major by-law rule's change that will now see North America's leading bowhunting organization allow for big game animals taken with bow-attached sights equipped with an illuminating light to be eligible for record book entry.

Previously, P&Y notes that any trophy big game animal taken by bow “…whereby an electronic (battery operated) sight light that was attached to the bow was not eligible for record book entry.” Do note, however, that while a light that illuminates the bow sight is allowable, this new rules change does maintain the prohibition against "...the use of any forward projecting light intended to illuminate a target in any way." 

Also note that P&Y says that the new rule change is retroactive allowing any North American big game animal that the Club recognizes to be eligible for record book entry, regardless of whether or not the big game critter had been previously measured.

“When it comes to technology, Pope and Young has always been the ethical voice for bowhunting," said P&Y executive director Justin Spring in a news release. "However, it's also very important that we show and educate bowhunters about these technologies and how they are not all inherently bad in every case.

“Hunting should be conducted under Fair Chase conditions and we should continue educating bowhunters with discussions involving technological advancements and their proper use.”

---