HERE’S TO MUDDY PAW PRINTS!  Some welcome rain settled the dust down on Tuesday, and a few more follow up showers can be expected today, but it won’t be a wash-out, so get out there if you can – especially early!  If you can “bear” it we’ve got links to a fun story and facts on grizzlies, black bears, and of course…horrible (horriblis?) puns.

(Featured Image: A grizzly bear surveys its surroundings. Simonson Photo)

DAILY CONDITIONS:

WEATHER (Bismarck Conditions):
Lingering showers spin around the backside of yesterday’s fast-moving low pressure system, with pop-up rains likely to be scattered throughout the state today.
Today: Wed 6/14 – Scattered rain, breezy. Hi 75, Lo 55, Winds W @ 21 mph.
Tomorrow: Thu 6/15 – Clear, continued westerlies. Hi 80, Lo 55, Winds @ @20 mph.

SOLUNAR (Bismarck Times):
Sunrise: 5:48AM Sunset: 9:39PM
Moonrise: 12:30AM  Moonset: 10:37AM
Overhead: 5:31AM Underfoot: 5:55PM
Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous (77% Full)

EDGE HOUR: 5:00 – 6:00 AM – Get up early to catch the best fishing of the day.  Winds will already be up, but not as strong as they’ll be later in the day.  Sunrise with moon overhead should be the ticket to a good first hour of angling, and you won’t be late to work in the process!

DAY RATING:

THREE THINGS

IF SHE WAS HOME…IT COULD HAVE BEEN GRIZZLY!  According to the Washington Post, a Colorado woman called police upon coming home and finding that much of her house appeared to have been tossed by intruders.  When inspecting the footage on her in-home camera, authorities found a situation that was “bearly” believable, and identified a suspect of a different sort – a hungry black bear.

SPEAKING OF GRIZZLY.  North Dakota was on the leading edge of where the first western explorers and settlers encountered grizzly bears in the late 1800s, and was where Lewis and Clark came across the first ones in their journey.  It is estimated that due to unregulated killing of the species as a result of its competition with those settlers for food and space (livestock especially), it is estimated that the species was extirpated from North and South Dakota in 1889 and 1890, respectively.  In the lower 48 states, only small, fragmented populations remain in the Rocky Mountains of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

RECORD BEARS.  The Boone & Crockett records for bears taken via hunting is measured by skull size.  The record grizzly bear had a skull scoring 27 6/16 inches, and was taken in 2014 by Larry Fitzgerald (no, not the football player) near Fairbanks, AK.  The record black bear taken by a hunter was bagged in 2011 by Robert Christian in Monroe County, PA with a skull scoring 23 7/16 inches.  (These are not the largest found, as larger specimens have been discovered dead and entered with B&C by their discoverers.)

Stay Sharp!