California Game Commission Gone Crazy Over Banning Lead Ammo

Phillip at the Hog Blog, also a resident and avid hunter of California, is saying that the California Game Commission has gone too far too quickly in banning certain lead ammunitions within the areas that are to protect the California Condor. He’s also beginning to lean toward the proclamation of others that this could be a back door initiative to ban hunting.

In the long run, I definitely agree that lead needs to phase out of our ammo boxes, but banning it all at once under the false pretense of “saving the condor” is a slap in the face to all hunters. This is wrong, and stinks of an anti-hunting agenda (despite my early resistance to conspiracy theory).

Phillip is calling for action by fellow hunters.

It’s critical here for sportsmen to stand up and speak out. Make our voices heard in Sacramento! Get on the phone, write letters and emails, and don’t let up. Outdoor bloggers need to get on this too, both in CA and outside of the state.

THIS IS A CALL TO ACTION!

Great advice! I too get frustrated with a lack of involvement by fellow hunters and outdoor enthusiasts. Let’s go! Take a proactive position for a change and see how effective it is.

Tom Remington

Idaho F&G Either Has An Agenda Or They Need Some Educating

By Tom Remington

Does the Idaho Fish and Game Department live in a vacuum or does the entire force or perhaps a certain number of employees have an agenda that is geared negatively toward the domestic elk industry in that state? Read more

Continuing Misinformation About Declining Hunter Numbers

By Tom Remington

Back in June, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released preliminary data from their 2006 survey of hunting and fishing. Topping the headline was a statement that the number of hunting and fishing licenses bought in 2006 had dropped significantly. While that statement could be true it’s not accurate nor is it a reasonable conclusion to make based on the data collected, yet media outlets continue to tell the story that the number of hunters is shrinking. Read more

A New Solution To Non-Game Program Funding?

News and Comment by George Dovel

About George Dovel: Following several decades of close association with state and federal wildlife mangers as a helicopter and fixed-wing pilot, a qualified volunteer on assorted wildlife research projects and a member of several fish and game advisory committees, George Dovel offers a unique perspective on what has happened to wildlife resource management. Read more

Chicken Fishing

By Dennis Doyon

There are many strange and unexpected events that happen during a day of hunting and three of us experienced one that I think will be hard to top.

It was the middle of December; the last day of Maine’s muzzleloader hunting season. At five a.m. the temperature was hovering around ten degrees and the sun was yet to come up. Read more

Hunters Getting Some Well Deserved Recognition

Usually hunters are the punching bag for anti-hunting and animal rights groups as they assault us with their ideals of a Utopian wilderness free from any access by us vile and evil hunters. But once in awhile, we run across someone who gets it and understands what contributions hunters make toward wildlife management and conservation.

Peter Ottesen, outdoor columnist for Recordnet.com, has an article today showering hunters with the well-deserved appreciation we far too seldom get for the efforts and monies we provide for wildlife management and the conservation of species, habitat and providing protections through land acquisitions.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service surveyed a total of 41.2 million breeding ducks this past summer, with nearly every species – except northern pintail and scaup – flourishing at or above record high numbers.

Species of geese far exceed their goals as well, so much so that the daily limit has been increased just to keep them at levels the habitat can support. White-faced ibis, a non-game species, has increased to more than 2,500 breeding pairs in the Central Valley. Twenty years ago, there were no known ibis breeders in the state.

These kinds of success stories are prevalent all across the U.S. as we are witness to wildlife species in numbers never before seen. Ottesen explains why this is so.

The point is the nation’s hunters have taken on an expanded, essential role in wildlife management. Since 1934 they have spent $700 million on federal duck stamps to purchase more than 5 million acres of land within the national wildlife refuge system. Annually hunters spend $1.22 billion on hunting and fishing licenses and another $616 million on taxes on equipment, according to the USFWS. Those funds are doled out to states and represent an average of 75 percent of all wildlife agencies’ revenue.

And this isn’t being noticed only by outdoor writers and other hunters.

“Hunters really care about wildlife, and their efforts keep waterfowl and non-game species of birds in healthy, sustainable numbers,” said Dave Widell, general manager of the Grassland Water District, a quasi-governmental agency that distributes water only for wildlife, not for agricultural or domestic use.

“Grasslands is made up of approximately 120,000 acres of privately owned wetlands,” Widell said. “The remaining 60,000 acres is comprised of state wildlife areas and national wildlife refuges. Without hunters to pay the money and have an obsession to preserve habitat, we wouldn’t have the strong populations of birds, not in this day and age.”

The thing is, I believe that the majority of Americans know what hunters and their contributions have done. I also believe it would be great if those same people were reminded more often through media outlets, etc. instead of being subjected us all to the same old negative rhetoric about hunting.

Studies show that 80% of Americans approve of hunting even though they may not participate themselves. At the rate that hunters are going, with increased efforts to educate the public and having a greater understanding of the need to actively promote and conserve hunting habitat, etc., it would be nice to see that 80% grow to 90% before the end of the decade.

Let’s take an extra moment out of our busy day to thank someone we know who buys a hunting, fishing or trapping license and let’s promise to educate one more person this week.

Thank you to all!

Tom Remington

Food Drops For Bear In Lake Tahoe?

The Lake Tahoe-based BEAR League wants to drop food out in the backcountry in order to draw problem bears, that is hungry ones in search of food, away from human populated areas. With a hot dry summer, there is not enough natural food for bears, who this time of year are attempting to gorge themselves with food in order to layer the body fat in preparation for the upcoming winter. With the lack of food, it has forced bears into town in search of human food, anything they can get their hands on, and this has caused some problems.

According to the San Jose Mercury News –

“We are going to do backcountry food drops, putting natural food back into the backcountry,” Bryant (Ann Bryant, executive director of the Lake Tahoe-based BEAR League) told Truckee’s Sierra Sun newspaper. “We have hundreds and hundreds of pounds of food we plan to put in several locations that won’t bring the bears near neighborhoods.”

But this idea isn’t necessarily sitting that well with California fish and game biologist, Jason Holley.

“It’s an unnatural situation that forces bears to congregate. Who knows what long-term problems that could create,” Holley said. “If the smell of people is on the food, they could be more likely to associate people with food in the future, and they could become more susceptible to hunters.”

Holley says he doesn’t think there is really any real solution to this problem and that people just need to learn to deal with it. It may even exacerbate the problem. Holley thinks human smell will be all over the food that gets dropped and bears will just continue to make the association. One has to consider if it would, in the long run, makes things worse.

Bryant claims similar programs have been successful in other states, citing Alaska and Montana as two of them.

Tom Remington

In Tahoe Region, Bears Move In

Somehow I got to figure out how to get my good friend Richard Paradis to start his own blog as he seems to be keeping me well supplied with stories, photographs and news tips. He sent me this link yesterday from the New York Times. It’s a slide show with captions showing how the bears in and around the Tahoe region of California are breaking and entering homes in order to find food. Much of the problems are a result of people feeding the bears.

Tom Remington

Mexico Calls On U.S. To Alter Boarder Plans To Save Animals

The L.A. Times has a short snippet this morning saying that the Mexican government is asking the U.S. to change its plans of building a fence because it may effect animals. Instead they want to build bridges and such done in a way so as to “be less attractive to smugglers”.

Let’s get this right. The Mexican government wants most of their people to go to the U.S. and make American dollars and ship them back to Mexico and we should listen to their recommendations? These illegals are currently destroying the ecological systems that support all of these animals they say need protecting, yet they have no interest in addressing that problem.

And we must remember that when illegals come into this country, they consider areas that are “less attractive” to cross the border. Please!

Tom Remington

Keeping Turkey Decoys in Shape and Other Decoy Tips

By Pat Rayta

 

I have found that after a lot of use and having been put away for the winter, most collapsible turkey decoys lose their form. To bring them back into shape, I take a wire coat hanger, and pull it into the shape of a diamond. Fold the hook back into the center of the coat hanger. Insert this diamond into the decoy. This allows the foam to return back to its original shape, and the decoys can also be used this way in the field.

 

To prevent holes from being made in your decoy from the hook, a little bit of electrical tape will cover the point fine.

 

The extra bit of weight in the field also helps hold the decoys down upon your stakes better on those windy spring days like we get here in Vermont.

 

This is also a great way to dry your wet decoys: simply bend the hook down out of the cavity. The decoy can now be hung up to dry, upside down.

Pat Rayta

 

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