Claremore, OK catfish grabbler Kaleb Summers and his team captured the big fish  title at this year's Okie Noodling Championship with a 70.46-pound  flathead--making it the largest whiskerfish entered in the annual event's  13-year history. Tulsa World outdoors writer Kelly
Bostian has the story.

Officials with Montana Parks and Wildlife confirmed the Sunday evening capture of a sow grizzly bear they say has been responsible for killing an unprecented 70 sheep in the past two weeks, including 58 on one ranch. Grizzly bear  management specialist Mike Madel said the bear displayed a predatory instinct in  killing the sheep. "She's gotten this protein reward from domestic sheep so  she's looking for sheep," he said. MTN News and Great Falls Tribune.

A California man who has filed a frivolous lawsuit in the past is suing the state Department of Fish and Game for an alleged deer attack, claiming the agency "owns that animal, manages it and is responsible for the diversified use of it." Describing himself as an "independent dignity ambassador" and "orator/scholar/artist," Bolinas resident Tadeusz Wyrzykowski's last lawsuit was dismissed due to "nonsensical, irrelevant non sequiturs" and "legally meaningless and pointless facts." Marin Independent-Journal.

An Ontario hunting guide is facing a hefty fine and the loss of his hunting  and guiding privileges after admitting he used dogs and motorboats to herd deer toward his clients. 


From this story in the Duluth News Tribune:

Authorities with the Bureau of Land Management say that four of the 19
human-caused fires in Southwest Idaho this year have been traced to incendiary
targets, which are banned from use on public lands during fire seasons. Three of
the blazes were in the Treasure Valley this week: Two wildfires near Kuna on
Sunday burned about 800 acres, and a fire on Monday burned 370 acres south of
Marsing. Idaho Statesman.

This is a big fish tale and, unfortunately for a Chiefland woman, it's no
lie. Brianne H. Megargel, 31, was knocked  out of her boat Saturday on the Suwannee River by a jumping sturgeon. On Tuesday, she was laid up in Shands
at the University of Florida with two broken arms, a broken collarbone, several
broken ribs, a lacerated liver, facial trauma and four missing  teeth.
read more....    http://www.gainesville.com/article/20120605/ARTICLES/120609806?p=2&tc=pg

A B.C. man was lounging in a hot tub near Whistler Village Sunday when he was smacked from behind by a black bear, the latest in a string of bear attacks and  sightings across Canada in the past month.
The 55-year-old from Coquitlam, B.C., was relaxing behind a home in a
townhouse complex near a wooded area, said Staff Sergeant Steve LeClair with the Whistler detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. “The guy was sitting …  with his back to the forest, then all of a sudden he felt a heavy blow to the  back of his head. And he turned around and saw himself face to face with a bear,” said the Mountie.

It’s official. The monster catfish Rodney Akey successfully battled on May 22 has shattered the 69-year-old Michigan state record set back in 1943. Akey caught the 45.7-inch, 49.8 pound cat on the St. Joseph River in Berrien County shortly after 8:00 p.m. The Niles native told MLive.com, “I’ve been fishing catfish on the St. Joseph River for the last 20 years, but it never  crossed my mind that I would catch a state record. And beating a nearly 70-year record – that’s a feat in itself!”  
Akey was fishing from the shore utilizing an alewife for bait.  The previous record was set by Elmer Rayner on Aug. 6, 1943. His fish weighed  47.5 pounds and measured 44 inches in length.