Sportsmen's Monthly 2016 February | Page 4

NEWS AROUND THE COUNTRY Hollywood Hunk Vows to Eat Only Wild Game Chris Pratt, leading man in last summer’s Jurassic World, made a New Year’s resolution to only eat meat that he or his friends kill. The actor is an outspoken proponent of hunting, a rarity in Hollywood. “I mean I’ll also eat veggies and fruit and other stuff too,” he wrote on Instagram. “But for one year I want to eat only the meats that were caught or killed by me or my friends. Total free range organic wild game! The game plan. Join me.” His wife, actress Anna Faris, while supportive of his quest, doesn’t think it’ll happen. n n y L n a i r B By s f ent o munication id s e r Vice P ing & Com t Marke Gov. Christie Continues Support for Bear Hunt State Holds Python Hunting Contest Gov. Chris Christie stood behind scientific management of black bears while on the Presidential campaign trail in New Hampshire in January. When Gov. Christie was asked about the black bear hunt he reinstated in 2010, he stood by his decision. “New Jersey has been overrun by black bears. We’ve gotten more and more reports of bears coming into suburban neighborhoods,” he said. “I’m not going to change my policy.” Inundated with non-native pythons, Florida hopes to reduce their numbers throughout the Everglades and to conduct research. To do so, they held a month-long python hunt that ended in mid-February. Prizes included $1,000 for the longest snake, and $1,500 for whoever kills the most. The last hunt, in 2013, killed 68 snakes, including one measuring 14 feet. In late January, the 2016 tally topped 60 pythons. Coyote Contest ‘Suffers’ Backlash An annual coyote contest in Wisconsin came under attack from animal-right activists who protested the competition. Friends of the Wisconsin Wolf claim they oppose the cash-prize competition (a practice made illegal in California in 2014) because a gray wolf might accidently be shot. The Sportsmen’s Alliance is leading the appeal to remove the wolf from the protections of the Endangered Species Act throughout Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota, as populations have far surpassed recovery goals. According to state officials, the l \