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A Washington state hunter is recovering after surviving an attack by an angry black bear that chased him up a tree, chomped down on his leg and clawed him with one of its big paws. Retiree Jerry House knows how lucky he is to have fended off the bear. He said he got the bear off him only after he kicked the animal in the nose as he hung onto a tree branch.

A Mason City mother was shocked and furious as her son and his stepbrother faced criminal charges for allegedly stripping the bark from a tree. The boys, ages 13 and 14, were charged with felony second-degree criminal mischief in connection with removing bark from four to five feet of the trunk of a mature tree, on the grounds of an elementary school, August 5, 2014. The mother of one of the boys said her son pulled a piece of bark that was falling off the tree, and that other boys did the same thing. A neighbor, who saw what the...

The search for a rare white snake slithering through Thousand Oaks continued Wednesday, two days after the venomous and potentially lethal reptile bit a dog. Animal control officers spent the morning and late afternoon hunting for the monocled albino cobra, which was last seen in a yard in the 1300 block of Rancho Lane in the southern Ventura County suburb. “It’s a little unnerving,” said Thousand Oaks resident Arianne Deeder, 39, who lives in the neighborhood. “I’m keeping an eye out.” Deeder has chickens in a back yard coup and fish in a pond, along with a dog and a...

More rhinos were killed by poachers last year in Africa than ever before. In 2014 the dubious record looks set to be broken again. The black market price for rhino horn is now considerably higher than cocaine. Poachers from Mozambique's poorest villages sneak into South Africa, heavily armed under the cover of darkness. They are here to hunt rhinos. The money they make from just one rhino horn is enough to feed their families for months. It’s a payoff worth risking their lives for. Between 1990 and 2007 poachers killed on average 14 rhinos a year in South Africa. Last...

Louisiana hunters have scratched and clawed across the flaming sands of the offseason desert, but they're feeling the cool breeze of the oasis, and it ain't no mirage. Dove season opens Saturday, and for thousands of outdoors enthusiasts, it's the official start of fall. Hunters who couldn't care less about wing-shooting the rest of the season gather over planted and disced fields for the opening-day festivities that are as much a social gathering as a hunt. Historically, the season has always opened at noon, giving hunters time to get to the fields, set up the grills and tell lies about...

Scientists discovered two new species of sea-dwelling, mushroom-shaped organisms, according to a study published September 3, 2014 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Jean Just from University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues. Scientists classify organisms based on shared characteristics using a taxonomic rank, including kingdom, phylum, and species. In 1986, the authors of this study collected organisms at 400 and 1000 meters deep on the south-east Australian continental slope and only just recently isolated two types of mushroom-shaped organisms that they couldn't classify into an existing phylum. The new organisms are multicellular and mostly non-symmetrical, with a dense layer...

Professional surfers face up to one of the world's most menacing waves in Sydney, AustraliaSurfers braved "the most dangerous wave in the world" as they took part on Red Bull's Cape Fear competition on Sunday. Sydney, Australia's Botany Bay played host to the inaugural event, which saw 16 elite surfers go head-to-head riding giant waves.

Twenty-eight years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, its effects are still being felt as far away as Germany – in the form of radioactive wild boars. Wild boars still roam the forests of Germany, where they are hunted for their meat, which is sold as a delicacy. But in recent tests by the state government of Saxony, more than one in three boars were found to give off such high levels of radiation that they are unfit for human consumption. [snip]

In a TED 2014 talk earlier this year in Vancouver, microbial ecologist Rob Knight explained that the bacteria, or microbes, on skin produce different chemicals, some of which smell more attractive to mosquitoes. [....] But there's an equalizer for those that naturally draw swarms of mosquitoes. The same pests are attracted to beer drinkers.

~~ Come on in and shoot the breeze! ~~ Welcome to Tom Gresham's Gun Talk® Radio Network, the only nationally syndicated radio talk show about firearms, shooting and gun rights. Tune in on Sundays, 08:00-11:00pm EST, and give us a call at 1-866-825-5486.

The U.S. Forest Service on Friday published a nearly 700-word article on how to safely roast marshmallows, all in preparation for Saturday, which is National Roasted Marshmallow Day. As one might expect, the article is riddled with safety tips that might make you think twice about even carrying matches into the forest at all, let alone actually igniting a marshmallow and putting your family’s life at risk. “First, let’s talk safety,” the article says. “Never start a campfire when there are fire restrictions in place. The restrictions are put in place for your safety and for the safety of others.”...

Ending a half-century of geological speculation, scientists have finally seen the process that causes rocks to move atop Racetrack Playa, a desert lake bed in the mountains above Death Valley, California. Researchers watched a pond freeze atop the playa, then break apart into sheets of ice that — blown by wind — shoved rocks across the lake bed. Until now, no one has been able to explain why hundreds of rocks scoot unseen across the playa surface, creating trails behind them like children dragging sticks through the mud. “It’s a delight to be involved in sorting out this kind of...

As they do whenever they visit Florida, Greg Groff and his young daughter stopped by the manatee pool at Miami Seaquarium, where the speed bump-shaped marine mammals placidly swim in circles. They noted the pink scars and disfigured tail on one manatee, damage from a boat propeller that left it unable to survive in the wild. Florida’s manatees need even more stringent protections than their listing on the federal endangered species list, Groff said, adding that boaters should go elsewhere if they don't like speed limits in waters where manatees swim. […] The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing...

What do you do with a huge hot dog that is washed up on a Cook Inlet beach in Alaska? Light it on fire! That's what trekkers Graham Kraft, Andy Fischer, Eben Sargent, and Luc Mehl attempted. The giant foam hot dog in a bun that Luc Mehl and friends stumbled across this spring on the edge of Alaska nowhere left him haunted.

Gun Talk Media ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: Published on Aug 22, 2014... Ryan Gresham and Tom Gresham were challenged to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (http://www.alsa.org/fight-als/ice-buc...) by reps from Ruger and Brownells. Ryan and Tom answered the challenge - by donating to the cause (http://bit.ly/1ttaq9z) AND by taking on the ice buckets. Gun Talk challenges Lipsey's, Nosler, Crimson Trace, Jim Shepherd of The Shooting Wires, and Hickok 45! Join Gun Talk in donating to find a cure for ALS - You can also donate at http://www.als.net/ and http://www.teamgleason.org/. #NoWhiteFlags

An Indian woman armed only with farm tools is stable in hospital after killing a leopard that attacked her. Kamla Devi, 56, sustained multiple bites, cuts and fractures during the half-hour battle. She had been fetching water in northern Uttarakhand state when the leopard pounced on her from nearby bushes - she fought back with a sickle and spade. "I thought I was dead but I did not lose patience and courage," she told reporters after her lucky escape.

It's a geological enigma that's had scientists speculating for half a century. But the mystery behind Death Valley's 'Wandering Stones' has finally been uncovered. It was previously unknown what caused the rocks to move across Racetrack Playa, a desert lake bed in the mountains above California's Death Valley, leaving their distinctive trails behind them. But researchers have witnessed a thin layer of water freezing over the lake, before breaking into sheets the thickness of a window pane and nudging the rocks as they were blown by the breeze. “It’s a delight to be involved in sorting out this kind of...

A multimillionaire CEO has been caught on newly-released surveillance video repeatedly kicking a puppy. Des Hague was seen in an elevator in a Vancouver apartment building repeatedly booting the doberman pup in the stomach as it flinches against the wall.  He is the head of Centerplate, a $6 billion-dollar company which provides snacks at sports and entertainment arenas across the U.S., with more than 30,000 employees and clients including the Superdome in New Orleans, the Javits Center in New York City and college sports arenas like Notre Dame.  Centerplate released a statement on Tuesday which read: 'In no way do...

Survivor: San Juan del Sur — Blood vs. Water is the 29th season of Survivor. It begins Wednesday, September 24, 2014 on CBS at 8/7c with a special 90 minute episode. References: Official Survivor site at CBSWikipedia article Each team will consist of nine players. Unlike the first Blood vs. Water, it will feature all new players. Unlike the first Blood vs. Water, there will be no Redemption Island. Redemption Island had been previously announced for this series, but was cancelled and replaced with a new twist before shooting was to begin. It will be held in San Juan del...

ANTS: Good News Vs Bad News How many of you are familiar with Fire Ants? How many of you wished they would go away? THE GOOD NEWS: Fire Ants are leaving.THE BAD NEWS:“Rasberry Crazy Ants” (in honor of the Texas exterminator that discovered them), a.k.a. "Tawny crazy ants" , and scientifically know as Nylanderia fulva as driving them out. "I want my Fire Ants back!" is being said by many across Mississippi. Because these Rasberry crazy ants are much harder to control, and they get into everything. They get into the insulation in your home, into your electronics, into your...