The Hog Blog

Well, as most of us pretty much guessed, the Center for Biological Diversity isn’t done with the lead ban issue yet.  Despite the EPA’s rejection of their petition to ban lead bullets (a ban on lead fishing tackle is under consideration), the CBD is moving forward. 

This time, they’re challenging the EPA’s argument that they don’t have the authority to pass regulations that restrict ammunition.  According to their September 9 press release, the EPA is ducking their dutyby refusing to consider a ban on ammunition components.  What’s more, according to the release, the denial is politically motivated and had nothing to do with the law or scope of EPA responsibilities. 

“The Environmental Protection Agency’s denial was based on false assumptions and an inexplicable misreading of so-called exemptions in the Act,” said Adam Keats, senior counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity. “Given the EPA’s clear authority and duty under the Toxic Substances Control Act to regulate toxic lead in ammunition to end unnecessary lead poisoning of wildlife and reduce human health risk, it appears that their decision to dodge the issue was politically motivated.”

…

“We are going to get to the bottom of the politics behind the EPA decision – we are not going to let the agency simply walk away from the preventable poisoning of birds and other wildlife,” said Jeff Miller, conservation advocate with the Center. “We remain committed to making sure toxic lead is removed from the environment, and we’re continuing our campaign to see that through.”

This is far from over.

I don’t claim to be an expert at marketing.  I mean, I’ve been around long enough to recognize certain Madison Avenue tricks and techniques (and seen enough to become pretty cynical about them).  I get the gist of it.  Convince the customer that whatever you’re selling is exactly what they need, and that your’s is the best on the market. 

Sometimes, it’s all about re-branding.  Take the same old thing, wrap some glitz around it, spice up the name, and push it right back out there into the ring. 

It works for household cleansers.  They do it with cereal.  Even the soda companies do it.  

But deer pee?

By the time a whitetail buck reaches trophy potential he’s heard all the calls and smelled all the attractant scents that most deer hunters can throw at him.
 
Hunter’s Specialties® has added a line of SPECIAL RESERVE™ Deer Urines to its line of scents to fool even the wariest bucks.
 
SPECIAL RESERVE is not a blend of urines from a number of different deer. They are collected from a single individual deer, bottled fresh and vapor lock sealed within 24 hours to preserve freshness.
 
SPECIAL RESERVE Deer Urine is available in doe, doe estrus and buck versions for discriminating hunters who only want the very best available. It is highly effective when used with Hunter’s Specialties ScentWicks®, Retract-A-Drag®, or Scent Drags to lure bucks in for a shot.
 
SPECIAL RESERVE Deer Urines come in a 1.5 Oz. bottle and sell for a suggested retail price of   $17.95.
 
For more information about other Hunter’s Specialties products, log onto the Hunter’s Specialties website at www.hunterspec.com, write to 6000 Huntington Court NE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402,  or  call  a  Consumer Service Specialist at 319-395-0321. 

I don’t mean to pick on Hunter Specialties, because they do market some cool products.  But really… “Special Reserve”?

Wow!  Sorry for the lack of updates lately.  Seems like I’m on the run and on the road a lot lately.  Just back from Coon Camp Springs where we celebrated Labor Day with a work and play weekend.  Big fun there as always, and we got some work done, including erecting a wind turbine to supplement the solar charging system. 

Anyway, not a lot else to report at this moment, as I’m off to work a couple of days, and then heading back to NC for some deer hunting! 

So yeah, I’m on the road again…

Well, I’m afraid you’ll get short shrift today if you were looking for a report on yesterday’s dove hunt at the Native Hunt property.  I took no still photos, and first thing in the morning I left my new iKam Xtreme video glasses in the ranch truck.  I didn’t see them again until I was packing to come home last night. 

Speaking of packing to come home, I didn’t roll in until around midnight, after being up running around the ranch since 0400 (and I won’t even tell you what time I got to bed the night before).  Tired is to what I am now, as breezy is to Hurricane Earl. 

It was a great time, though.  It’s always good to see the regulars again, and really neat to meet our celebrity hunters for the event, Tim Abell and Steve Kanaly. 

The shooting started out pretty slow in the morning, but the evening hunt really got hot.  I stopped at eight birds (mostly Eurasian collared doves) because that’s all I wanted to eat right now, but as we recounted the day around dinner, it looks like plenty of folks filled out their limits, and those who didn’t had lots of opportunities.  Doves are deceptively tricky targets.  The air was filled with unrequited gunfire. 

Oh, and Holly, I don’t believe anyone collected any dove “bling”. 

In lieu of a lengthy write-up with pictures and video, I decided to enhance this post with a link to Dave Petzal’s most recent Gun Nuts blog.  In the post, Petzal remarks on the fact that at longer ranges, the “rules” of ballistics can get a little squishy.  Just because a ballistics chart says the bullet will do one thing, it will sometimes do something completely different.  The big take-away here is that, if you want to shoot at long ranges the only way to prepare is to practice at long ranges.  You cannot count on a chart in a book or on a computer.

It’s that time again!  September first will dawn tomorrow, and with it comes what, for many hunters, is the kick-off of the hunting season… the Dove Opener! 

I remember years ago, living in NC, and waiting eagerly for the annual opening day hunt.  Before I knew what a feral hog was, my hunting season generally wrapped up around the end of February, and that was it until Labor Day.  The dove opener was the like Christmas to me.   

The big opener was also a huge social occasion.  In NC, the dove opener always started after noon, which made for a great opportunity to get friends and family together at a “decent hour”. At the best dove openers I can remember, we’d gather on the edge of a recently cut corn or millet field to the aroma of hardwood coals and slow-cooking pork.  Guns and hunters of every vintage would mingle excitedly, eating, telling tales, and making memories before spreading out across the field to burn ammo on the grey rockets. 

Here in CA, we start at sunrise, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have fun!  Once again, I’ll be down at the Native Hunt properties with T. Michael Riddle and a handful of friends and guests.  We’ll greet the morning with gunfire, and then retire back to the comfortable lodge for a great lunch and a big party. 

I’ll be offline until I get home, but I’ll be carrying the camera and the video, so I hope to capture some of the fun to share with all of you when I get back.  I’ve got a new toy to try out, from Hunter Specialties.  At the SHOT Show in January, they introduced the I-Kam Xtreme video glasses.  I thought they were kind of neat, in a purely gadgety kind of way, and asked if they’d send me some to try out.  I thought they’d forgotten about me until about two weeks ago when an unmarked box showed up on my front porch.  I think I’ve got them figured out, so we’ll see how they work on tomorrow’s hunt.

So to all of you who’ll be out there tomorrow, slinging shot at the feathered furies, have fun and be safe!  Don’t forget to follow the rules, stick to the limits, and shoot where they’re going, not where they were.

I didn’t get out this weekend, but it’s not for want of being there.  Sometimes it’s just not meant to be… but as they say at Burning Man, you don’t have to be there.  “The Man will burn without you!” 

So in lieu of my own hunting, I thought I’d do an update on one of my friend’s hunts.

Some of you may remember my last Mythical Blacktail Buck tale and my friend Saul’s report of success.  I finally got around to getting a photo of his animal and, as I expected, it turned out to be a trophy jackalope.  It’s a nice specimen, Saul, and you deserve to be proud of it… especially since you were hunting in Sonoma County.  With all that wine around, most folks down there can’t hit the broadside of the wine cellar.

(OK, seriously, an A-zone buck is always a good thing.  Judging by the last one I killed and ate at the Hedgepeth Ranch, this one should be great on the table.)

Earlier this afternoon, the EPA announced that they had no legal authority to ban lead bullets, despite the arguments of the Center for Biological Diversity and other petitioners (see the press release here).  The rejection was not particularly extensive or involved, but centered on the fact that ammunition is excluded from the tenets of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). 

However, lead fishing sinkers are not excluded, and are still on the table for a potential ban.  Not sure how that’s going to play out, but the animal welfare folks have been after it for a while. 

Anyway, below is the letter from the EPA in response to the petition. 

So, will the CBD be following this up with a lawsuit?  Anyone taking bets?

With all the news about the lead ammo ban this week, plus the breakdown of my personal computer, I almost missed the opportunity to mention something that I think needs to be said publicly… a great big “thank you” and a “job well done” to the Forest Service. 

In 2001, the Trough Fire burned through about 25,000 acres of the Mendocino National Forest near Stonyford.  One of the areas it hit hard was the area I call Kokopelli Valley… a place I’d been hunting regularly since I first came to CA in 1996.  It’s a relatively unique spot due to the variety of high-quality food and year-round water sources.  Prior to the fire, it was also relatively secluded and hidden from the roads. 

After the fire, the place looked like a moonscape. 

I was there for the B zone rifle opener just a few days after the fire had passed through.  Stump holes were still smoking, and very little was left of the cover or food sources.   

The Forest Service and other agencies got to work quickly, trying to re-stabilize the hills to stop erosion, and help the native plants get re-established before the invasives took over.  The process has been ongoing ever since, and it’s been relatively effective.

For the B-zone archery opener this past weekend, I went back to Kokopelli Valley… as much for old-times’ sake as to actually get in some hunting.  With the exception of a weekend hunt there with Holly last year, I really haven’t spent a lot of time there in the last couple of seasons, and I missed the place.  I also wanted to get some time on the ground there, to see if some of the food sources had come back. 

The place is looking great, and the deer are healthy and plentiful.  The bears have come back as well.  But what really struck me was the evidence of the amount of work that’s been done, not just on the restoration, but little extras like the hiking trail that cuts down to a previously hidden waterfall.  I did see some of this last year, but failed then to mention what a great job the Forest Service and crews have done. 

(I’ve got some video from this past weekend that shows how great the place is looking right now, but that’ll have to wait until I get my laptop repaired.)

So kudos to the hard workers, both professional and volunteers, who put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Man, it just keeps coming!

First the NRA-ILA challenge the Center for Biological Diversity’s petition to ban lead in ammo and fishing tackle, and now the NRA and the California Rifle and Pistol Association (CRPA) have served notice to the CA Fish and Game Commission that they intend to sue over the lead ammo ban in the “Condor Zone”.  Crazy, right? 

OK, so truthfully, politics, bureaucracy, and legalese largely make me tired.  Most of the time it’s more about angling for advantage and seldom about the actual topic on the table.  But this time it seems to be pretty direct and to the point… although I’ve got to say it takes a tack I’m not sure I would have expected. 

Here’s the press release with a link to the letter.  I definitely recommend giving the letter a thorough read.

On August 23, 2010 the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the California Rifle and Pistol Association (CRPA) Foundation, through their joint California “Legal Action Project,” sent a petition letter to the California Fish and Game Commission challenging certain hunting regulations. These regulations were adopted by the Commission to regulate the mere possession of firearms and/or lead ammunition when engaged in certain activities and/or when present in certain areas, such as designated wildlife areas.

Click here to view a copy of the letter.

The letter requests that the Commission repeal these regulations because they conflict with both laws granting the authority to carry firearms for self-defense, and with constitutional Second Amendment protections. The letter further explains that the Commission lacks the authority to adopt such regulations in the first place.

To fight for the self-defense civil rights of all Californians, the NRA and CRPA Foundation have joined forces to create the Legal Action Project (LAP). Through LAP, NRA/CRPAF attorneys fight against ill-conceived gun control laws and ordinances, educate state and local officials about available programs that are effective in reducing accidents and violence without infringing on the rights of law-abiding gun owners, and produce valid science about game and wildlife resource management.

To contribute to the NRA / CRPAF Legal Action Project (LAP) and support this and similar efforts and Second Amendment litigation in California, visit www.crpafoundation.org.

I don’t know what kind of traction this thing might get, but remember… this whole thing started with a lawsuit against the State.  It would stand to reason that a similar threat could turn the tide.

The EPA is considering the CBD Petition to ban lead ammo and fishing tackle, and is now accepting public comment.  Consider this your first, best, and potentially last opportunity to enter your opinion and feedback.  Go to the Regulations.Gov site to read the petition and enter your comments.

UPDATE:

The EPA is considering the CBD Petition to ban lead ammo and fishing tackle, and is now accepting public comment.  Consider this your first, best, and potentially last opportunity to enter your opinion and feedback.  Go to the Regulations.Gov site to read the petition and enter your comments.

OMG!

OK, seriously now…  I’ve been a little behind on some issues, especially since my personal laptop died on Sunday.  Fortunately, I’ve got a new source of hunting and outdoors news to keep track of the little things I’ve missed.  The new Camo Underground site is a repository of news articles, columns, and blogs about all things outdoors.  One of the things I’d have missed without this new site is the following:

On August 20, the NRA-ILA (National Rifle Association – Institute for Legislative Action) submitted a position document to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) in response to the CBD (Center for Biological Diversity) petition to ban pb (lead) in ammunition and fishing tackle.  I posted on the CBD petition a little while back, and it seems to have drawn little attention since then.  I guess the NRA and Co. have been getting their ducks in a row.

The letter is largely legalese, but in essence it challenges the CBD’s argument that the EPA should ban lead bullets and shot from ammunition.  The CBD uses the auspices of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to suggest that the EPA must ban these components.  The NRA-ILA letter, on the other hand, points out that Congress excluded ammunition from the reach of the EPA, and that since bullets and shot are integral components of ammunition, the EPA would be overstepping its authority in banning them.  They appear to say, as I read it, that without the lead bullets or shot, ammunition wouldn’t be ammunition. 

I’m not so sure it’s a completely sound argument when I look at it from a layman’s perspective (I think there’s a hole in it… do you see it too?). 

 The whole thing takes place on a level of the legal playing field that I don’t think I’m qualified to play on, but I’d suggest that anyone interested read the letter before commenting.  If nothing else, I think it delineates the way the arguments are going to face off.  

You can read the whole thing here.