Proposal would eliminate big game feeding in N.D. – Minot Daily News
January 26, 2009
BISMARCK (AP) – Hunters who attract big game by putting out piles of feed are the target of a legislative proposal to eliminate baiting, but the law also could affect animal lovers who just like having deer around.
Greg Link, an assistant wildlife chief for the state Game and Fish Department, said his agency has not monitored feeding by animal lovers as closely as baiting.
”That’s kind of on the fringe of our responsibility,” Link said. ”We don’t have a good handle on the number of people who do it and for what species. Obviously, there are people out there throwing out feed.”
The bill’s primary sponsor, Sen. Curtis Olafson, R-Edinburg, said the state must do something about such threats as chronic wasting disease and bovine tuberculosis. Those diseases can be spread by baiting or feeding deer, he said. Click Link Below for Full Story!
Brasher: Elk hunt on target to be good thing, someday : Outdoors : Memphis Commercial Appeal
January 26, 2009
By Bryan Brasher Contact, Memphis Commercial Appeal
Sunday, January 25, 2009
For many West Tennesseans, the idea of our state holding an elk hunting season is kind of sore subject.
Here’s how they see it:
TENNESSEE ELK SEASON
It was announced during last week’s meeting of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission that Tennessee will hold its first elk hunting season in October.
Residents and non-residents will be allowed to apply for five permits, but only one will be awarded to a non-resident.
Elk hunting will take place five or six hours from here in eastern Tennessee. The hunting project will cost thousands of dollars that could be spent to help other struggling species like the bobwhite quail. And even if Tennessee does hold an elk season, they’ll only give out a handful of permits, meaning everyone’s chances of being drawn will be next to nothing.
Since the TWRC announced its plan to hold the state’s first elk season this October, I’ve gone over those three points a lot — and I’ve reached a conclusion:
None of it matters.
So what if the October elk hunting season will be held in eastern Tennessee? That’s about as close as any other elk hunt West Tennesseans will find.
If you don’t believe it, leave out for Wyoming right now, and call me when you get there to tell me how long the drive took.
Then I’ll tell you about Tennessee’s funding efforts for the elk restoration project.
The elk project costs approximately $300,000 a year, but at least half of that is paid by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. The rest is paid by TWRA, the University of Tennessee and other various groups. Click link below for full story!
via Brasher: Elk hunt on target to be good thing, someday : Outdoors : Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Outdoors: Fall turkey harvest numbers slump | Green Bay Press-Gazette
January 26, 2009
By Jim Lee • Gannett Wisconsin Media
MADISON — Wisconsin hunters harvested 10,464 turkeys during the autumn hunting period in 2008, the second-lowest fall tally in the past 10 years and a falloff of nearly 2,000 birds from 2007, according to the Department of Natural Resources
Hunter success rates fell to 13.5 percent overall, a drop from 14.9 percent in 2007 and well below the 20 percent success rates common in the 1990s.
The results reflect harsh conditions during the winter of 2007-2008 that impacted turkey survival in some areas and a lingering, cool, wet spring that led to a decline in turkey brood production, said Sharon Fandel, DNR assistant upland wildlife ecologist.
“It’s hard to pin an absolute on the decline,” she said.
Observation reports from department field personnel indicated a 12 percent decrease in the number of turkey broods spotted in the summer of 2008 and an 8 percent decline in the number of poults in each brood when compared to 2007. Click Link Below for full story!
via Outdoors: Fall turkey harvest numbers slump | greenbaypressgazette.com | Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Pat Durkin column: Pheasants Forever taps youthful energy | Green Bay Press-Gazette
January 26, 2009
By Pat Durkin
Wisconsin’s modest pheasant population might appear to make Madison an unusual host for the National Pheasant Fest, but Pheasants Forever believes the state’s passion for ringnecks and conservation will send hunters flocking to the capital Feb. 6-8 for the annual event
That’s because Wisconsin’s wildlife passion can be measured. The state consistently ranks near the top in conservation memberships in Ducks Unlimited, the National Wild Turkey Federation and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
That’s also true for its pheasant lovers. Of Wisconsin’s 70,000 pheasant hunters, more than 7,300 belong to Pheasants Forever. Those familiar with hunting organizations know a membership rate exceeding 10 percent is phenomenal. For example, one of Wisconsin’s most influential groups, the Wisconsin Bowhunters Association, has about 8,000 members among the state’s nearly 250,000 licensed bowhunters, a 3 percent rate.
Wisconsin also ranks No. 6 in Pheasants Forever’s national membership, which totals 125,000. The state has 30 chapters in Pheasants Forever, and their members account for nearly 6 percent of PF’s total membership. Click Link Below for Full Story!
Eastman decries big-money hunts – The Denver Post
January 25, 2009
By Charlie Meyers
The Denver Post
Posted: 01/25/2009 12:30:00 AM MST
The Eastman ethic of fair chase has come down through six generations of westerners, the last three famed outdoor filmmakers.
So when Guy Eastman, latest in that famous line, speaks of a serious lag in those standards in many Rocky Mountain states, perhaps it’s time for the rest of us to pay attention.
Eastman, 38, operates with brother Ike the Eastman group of outdoor enterprises, including Eastmans’ Hunting Journal and Eastmans’ Bowhunting Journal magazines and the show “Eastmans’ Hunting TV” appearing year-round on the Outdoor Channel.
He’s currently appearing at the International Sportsmen’s Exposition that concludes today at the Colorado Convention Center. His booth features 12 spectacular mule deer mounts, including the second-largest atypical rack ever taken in Colorado.
His grandfather, the late Gordon Eastman, often visited Denver, starting in the late 1950s with barnstorming auditorium shows that set the stage for the current bloom of outdoor films.
In an extensive interview last week covering everything from officially sanctioned big-money hunts to the abuse of landowner tags, the Cody, Wyo., resident took a hard look at the prospects for public hunting. He didn’t particularly like what he saw:
On big-money driven hunts: “We’ve taken a stand against things like the governor tags where animals are pursued almost year-round in some states,” Eastman said of wildlife agency-sponsored tags that sometimes sell for as much as $100,000.
That practice recently came into focus with a Utah hunt that produced a world-record elk. The story that evolved was of a giant bull hounded by teams of paid spotters until the hunter arrived, even rumors of other hunters being harassed when approaching the area.
As Lou Phillipe of Fort Collins observed in a recent e-mail: “Is this ‘hunting?’ Debatable. But it is what much of western ‘hunting’ has become these days when big money and trophies are involved.”
While acknowledging the Boone and Crockett Club had no choice but to accept as a record an animal taken on public land, Eastman decried an arrangement that allows targeted animals to be hounded over long periods, even in midwinter in deep snow.
“The notion is to raise money for good causes and it was OK when it started. But over time it’s been twisted by the big money. The sportsmanship has gone out of it.” Clink link below for full story!
via Eastman decries big-money hunts – The Denver Post.
Bandera Texas Newspaper- What do deer think? Nugent knows
January 23, 2009
Contributed
Editor’s note: this story about Ted Nugent, NRA supporter and hunting enthusiast, came to me via email. It’s probably apocryphal, but was too good to pass up.)
Ted Nugent, rock star and avid bow hunter from Michigan, was being interviewed by a French journalist and animal rights activist. The discussion came around to deer hunting.
The journalist asked, “What do you think is the last thought in the head of a deer before you shoot him? Is it, ‘Are you my friend?’ or is it ‘Are you the one who killed my brother’?”
Nugent replied, “Deer aren’t capable of that kind of thinking. All they care about is, ‘What am I going to eat next? Who am I going to screw next? And, can I run fast enough to get away? They are very much like the French.”
The interview ended.
Tennessee Elk Hunt is Official – Chattanoogan.com
January 23, 2009
Elk Hunt Applications to be accepted beginning April 1
by Richard Simms
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission approved to allow Tennessee’s first elk hunt among its business today at the January meeting held at Reelfoot Lake State Park.
Upon recommendations made by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the elk hunt will be held October 19-23 at the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area. There will be five Elk Hunting Zones (EHZ) designated at the WMA. A total of five permits will be allocated.
Four of the participants will be selected through a drawing conducted by the TWRA. The drawing is open to both residents and non-residents. However, no more than one permit may go to a non-resident hunter. The fifth participant will be the winner of a permit that is donated to a NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) with fund-raising proceeds designated for the TWRA Elk Program.
Applications for the special hunt will be accepted April 1-May 31. The five winners will be announced at the June meeting of the TWRC in Nashville.
The TWRC also made a rule amendment presented by the TWRA that would establish a first come, first serve process for allocating Special Season County Permits for deer and fall turkey hunts. Over the last several years, these quota hunts have had substantial leftover permits after the drawings. Changing the process to a first-come, first-serve will provide sportsmen greater flexibility in planning their fall hunts
via 1/22/2009 – Tennessee Elk Hunt is Official – Outdoors – Chattanoogan.com.
Wanted: hunting mentors | The Courier-Journal
January 18, 2009
By Gary Garth • Special to The Courier-Journal • January 18, 2009
License sales indicate that the number of young hunters in Kentucky is declining.
Theories as to why include the state’s shift to a mostly urban population and kids’ obsession with cell phones, text messaging and endless hours of computer face time.
As far as Jeff Stewart is concerned, all of those ideas are window dressing for the real reason kids aren’t hunting:
Adults aren’t taking them.
“Every one us — that is, adults who hunt — every one of us have friends who don’t hunt but have boys or girls who get excited when they hear about deer hunting or any kind of hunting,” said Stewart, 43. “If we don’t take kids hunting, then one day there isn’t going to be any more (sport) hunting.”
Stewart lives in Murray and does most of his hunting on his Hickman County family farm, where he and some buddies have a camp. His home is generously decorated with deer mounts, several taken by his 15-year-old daughter, Haley, who has been hunting with him since she was 9. Click link below for full story!
Haley Stewart of Murray and Nolan Brady of Needham, Mass., both 15, got their deer in Hickman County
via Wanted: hunting mentors | courier-journal | The Courier-Journal.
Gov. Paterson makes it official: the Reynolds Game Farm will not be closed – Outdoors Blog on syracuse.com
January 18, 2009
The following press release came out of Albany at 3:06 p.m.
Governor David A. Paterson today announced that he has directed the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to halt the closure of the Reynolds Game Farm in Tompkins County as state officials and hunting groups explore options to fully support the costs of the program with increased license fees.
“The State has long recognized the economic impact hunters and their industry provide for New York State,” said Governor Paterson. “I am pleased that sportsmen and women have joined us to help find creative ways to weather the state’s fiscal crisis while preserving programs important to them.”
According to DEC, approximately 60,000 sportsmen and women hunt pheasants in New York State each year. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation has estimated that small game hunters spent approximately $600 per person per year on excursions and equipment-related expenses in 2006, contributing potentially millions of dollars to the State economy.
Since the closure of the farm was proposed, hunting groups have advanced several proposals to establish increased license fees or other hunting related fees to support program costs. In consideration of this effort, the Governor has requested that DEC develop a fee structure that will generate new revenues to the Conservation Fund that would fully offset the operational and capital costs of the facility. If sufficient resources can be identified, operation of the Game Farm would continue in State Fiscal Year 2009-10. Governor Paterson asked DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis to explore a sustainable, hunting related funding stream to cover the expenses of the farm without the use of State dollars. Other long term options to sustain the State’s pheasant stocking program could also be explored.
The farm, located outside of Ithaca, propagates pheasants for the hunting season. Operating costs are more than $750,000 per year – $400,000 of that in personnel. State law permits pheasant hunting through a $16 small game license. The Reynolds Game Farm is largely paid for through the Conservation Fund, although the Fund’s annual deficits have required the use of State dollars to keep the farm operating.
Money from hunting and fishing licenses is dedicated to the Conservation Fund, which helps support a number of programs including fish hatcheries, sporting license databases, wildlife health monitoring studies and stream and lake surveys.
All pheasants distributed through the pheasant stocking program are released, either by DEC or other cooperators, on land open to the public for pheasant hunting. On an annual basis, the pheasant stocking program typically produces:
- 25,000 adult pheasants that are raised on site and distributed by DEC.
- 60,000 day-old pheasant chicks that are distributed to and released by 160 4-H clubs, numerous sportsmen’s clubs and five New York State prisons each year.
- 15,000 young pheasants distributed to individual landowners.
- 1,600 adult pheasants for special hunts including people with disabilities and youths (ages 12 to 15)
Consumerism alive at outdoor show | The Burlington Free Press
January 18, 2009
By Matt Crawford, Free Press Columnist • January 18, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. — The stories of economic meltdown continue to pile up. Virtually every sector of the American economy is rife with doom and gloom news of layoffs, consolidations, buyouts and closures is reported every day.
Out of this mess, however, comes a greater appreciation of the customer — people who have money to spend during this financial crisis are being wooed by smarter, leaner, more appreciative companies.
No longer can companies roll out junk and expect the American consumer to buy it.
The idea of putting the customer first was being discussed ad naseum last week at the Orange County Convention Center where the annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show was being held.
Despite the reports that much of America is teetering on financial collapse, attendance at the SHOT Show was good. Companies large and small were there. The sponsored cocktail parties were held. Sellers were selling, buyers were buying and new hunting products are coming on to the market as we speak.
And everybody — from dealer reps to small shop owners to the biggest manufacturers in the space were discussing the best way to attract, keep and please consumers. Essentially, if you have money to spend on hunting and fishing gear, this will be the year to spend it. Retailers and manufacturers can no longer afford to put a shoddy product on the market and turn their back on customer service. If you have money, the companies planning to ride through this economic downturn are taking extra steps to make sure your needs are met and you’ll be a loyal customer for years to come. Click Link Below for Full Story!
via Consumerism alive at outdoor show | burlingtonfreepress.com | The Burlington Free Press.
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