Kansas mountain lions, trophy deer, public lands lead outdoors stories in 2016
Here’s a look at some of the top outdoors stories from 2016.
Looking for a place to roam
With little public land on which to play, Kansans love reading about new places. Three of the top four outdoors stories on Kansas.com dealt with public areas. One announced the Nature Conservancy of Kansas had purchased Little Jerusalem, 320 acres of probably the finest tall rock formations in Kansas. They hope to open it to the public in about a year. A video Eagle photographer Bo Rader did for the article drew more than 100,000 views online.
Articles on some great hiking trails near Wichita, and the four waterfalls near Sedan were popular.
Mountain lion mania
Kansans love a good mountain lion story. One was on a western Kansas hunter finding quality, color mountain lion photos on his trail camera.
The most popular was about two teenage hunting buddies running a hound for raccoons on Thanksgiving night, and treeing a mountain lion in Wabaunsee County. One of the teens recorded the mountain lion in the top of the tree. The story that ran online was the most popular outdoors story to run on Kansas.com in 2016.
Always an interest in big antlers
People love stories of big fish and deer. In 2015, The Eagle’s top online outdoors story was about a St. John youth killing a world-class buck. This year, antlers held their appeal.
In September, 12-year-old Ethan O’Brien went on his first deer hunt with friend Kent Marr and eventually shot an 18-point whitetail. The story carried plenty of humor, including a serious case of buck fever and having to leave the rifle to answer nature’s call when the trigger needed to be pulled.
The other buck was a non-typical that should score more than 200 inches on the Boone & Crockett measuring system. Adding to the interest was that the huge deer was shot by Nick Walsh, the punter for Kansas State. Walsh, some family and friends, had hunted the buck for at least three seasons.
Animal-rights group stops Kansas coyote contest
An animal-rights group succeeded in stopping a hunting event in Kansas.
In October, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, based in San Francisco, threatened legal action to stop a coyote-calling contest in WaKeeney. An attorney for the group said the hunt violated Kansas’ gambling laws since entrants paid a fee to participate. The lawsuit said the winner of the contest was determined by luck.
As well as agreeing to cancel an upcoming hunt if the suit was dropped, the hunt’s organizer had to pay the animal-rights group $2,000 to cover their legal fees.
Though the story drew only modest attention from the sporting public, similar tactics could be used to stop fishing tournaments and big buck contests.
Dying girl, 9, gives, receives special gifts around the world
What began as a bowhunter putting an “A” on an arrow to honor a 9-year-old girl dying in Goddard led archers from at least seven countries and all 50 states to do the same. When Addison Adams, a young target archer, died from the rare brain cancer, many sent their marked arrows to make a bouquet of arrows for her family. Scores also sent messages that “Arrows for Addison” had caused them to spend more time with their loved ones.
This story was originally published December 31, 2016 at 12:53 AM with the headline "Kansas mountain lions, trophy deer, public lands lead outdoors stories in 2016."