Alabama company buys majority stake in BASS

The Bass Angler Sportsman Society (BASS) announced Wednesday that Anderson Media is the organization’s new majority owner.

Since 2012, Jerry McKinnis, Don Logan and Jim Copeland — the latter two of Birmingham, Ala. — were the majority owners. Anderson Media was a major investor, and this week it acquired the majority position.

The announcement surprised us because we were unaware that BASS was on the market. McKinnis said it wasn’t, and there have been no serious discussions to sell it. The change is mainly a reorganization.

“We almost wanted to make no announcement because the only changes are within [the company], McKinnis said. “It was just switching stock. I don’t have as much stock now, but I’m still involved.”

McKinnis said Anderson Media director Chase Anderson is an avid outdoorsman and a longtime friend of Logan’s. It appears he was influential in the background.

“He and his family have been involved with us for five years, but at a much lower level,” McKinnis said. “They just love what we’ve done and wanted to be a bigger part of it.”

BASS was struggling when McKinnis, Logan and Copeland acquired it. Since then, it has flourished, McKinnis said, and it is now as valuable as it should be.

“Very few people know this, but we did a hell of a job with BASS,” McKinnis said. “BASS was not a healthy situation when we started. It didn’t get the tender, loving care by that company [ESPN] that it needed. It’s a great company, but they weren’t able to reach down to the roots and take care of a lot of things that needed to be taken care of.”

McKinnis said he and the former owners will remain involved in various degrees. Bruce Akin will remain as chief executive officer, and BASS’s media arm, headed by Mike McKinnis, will remain in Little Rock.

“Not one single person changes,” McKinnis said. “Tripp Weldon is still running our tournaments. No one new came in. We felt like we could have done it without making an announcement, and nobody would have known, but we wanted to be honest with everybody. We want everybody to know it’s still solid.”

McKinnis, 80, lives full time on his mountaintop property at Rea Valley overlooking the White River. He said stepping aside will enable him to focus his energy.

“I still have the opportunity to be creative,” McKinnis said. “As long as we’re involved, I’ve still got some ideas to run by. Our endeavor with live broadcast has just exploded, and we’re going to make that even better.”

POISONED PIGS

Arkansas’ Feral Hog Eradication Task Force strongly suggests that Arkansans read the product manufacturer’s label for Kaput Feral Hog Bait before submitting comments.

Information about Kaput Feral Hog Bait and about the Feral Hog Eradication Task Force is available at aad.arkansas.gov/feral-hog-eradication-task-force.

I read the documents, and I conclude that poisoning feral hogs is a bad idea.

Warfarin is the bait’s active ingredient. It is the only toxicant approved by the Environmental Protection Agency for controlling feral hogs. The product is not currently registered for use in any other state in the country.

Poisoning free-ranging animals is imprudent because landowners cannot control the dispersion of poisoned carcasses. Also, a landowner that baits hogs with Kaput-laced feed cannot know how many hogs actually consume the bait and therefore cannot know how many hogs actually die from consuming the bait. Therefore, it is not possible to recover and properly dispose of all poisoned hog carcasses.

Coyotes, opossums and domestic dogs that consume a poisoned hog carcass have a high likelihood of being fatally poisoned, as well.

Hawks, vultures and even bald eagles eat carrion. They are federally protected, which could expose someone who distributes warfarin-laced bait to significant legal liability.

Even greater liability might occur if somebody gets sick — or worse — from killing and eating a hog on his property that was poisoned from bait on a neighbor’s property.

The manufacturer’s “Limit of Liability” statement essentially says, “That’s your problem, not ours.”

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said it does not endorse the use of Kaput for killing feral hogs. I’d say that’s wise.