Ohio wildlife officer, top Columbus officials charged in phony hunting license sale | cleveland.com
April 13, 2010
By D’Arcy Egan, The Plain Dealer
April 05, 2010, 11:25AM Southern Ohio wildlife officer Allan Wright and five top officials of the Ohio Division of Wildlife were indicted by a Grand Jury in Brown County Common Pleas Court on Monday morning. All were charged with felonies over the illegal sale of a resident Ohio hunting license to a South Carolina wildlife officer, a savings of $106.The Ohio Office of the Inspector General said a confidential informant kicked off its four-month investigation of the license sale made in 2006, and failure by the Ohio wildlife agency to investigate the deception as a crime. DOW administrative officials charged with fifth-degree felonies are: Chief David Graham; Assistant Chief Randy Miller; law enforcement administrator James Lehman; District 5 Manager Todd Haines; and human resources administrator Michele Ward-Tackett.The wildlife officer in Brown County, southeast of Cincinnati, Wright told investigators he let Eric Vaughn use his home address so Vaughn could purchase a resident Ohio license for $19, less then one-fifth the cost of a $125 non-resident license. Vaughn killed three Ohio deer in 2006. All of the deer were checked by Wright, rather than taken to a regular check station.”Regular people get prosecuted for this,” said Brown County Prosector Jessica Little. “This is not the crime of the century, but it is important the law be enforced equally. In this case, the cover up seems to be worse than the crime.”Wright told investigators that providing Ohio resident hunting licenses to wildlife officers from other states was a common practice, and his supervisors approved of it or were aware of it. The OIG report said Ohio wildlife administrators never considered Wright’s actions to be criminal, and issued Wright a verbal reprimand. The more appropriate classification of “dishonesty” by willfully falsifying an official document was not considered, the report said The policies of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Gov. Ted Strickland were also violated by wildlife officials for not reporting the incident to the ODNR, as required.Wright’s home address was also used in 2001 by John D. Coffin of Michigan, who is not a wildlife officer, to purchase a resident Ohio hunting license. Vaughn did purchase a non-resident Ohio hunting license in 2007, using his South Carolina address.Investigators searched the Ohio hunting license database and could find no other instances of the home addresses of wildlife officers appearing on any licenses other than for immediate family.
Excitable gobblers mean exciting turkey hunting season | The Courier-Journal
April 13, 2010
By Gary Garth • Special to The Courier-Journal
Kentucky’s spring turkey season will open Saturday, and the state’s 90,000 or so gobbler hunters probably can look forward to one of their best seasons ever.
Steven Dobey practically guarantees it.
“Well, no, there’s no guarantee,” said Dobey, the turkey specialist for the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “But I think this could be the most exciting season we’ve had.”
Exciting?
“Yes. It should be a really exciting time to hunt.”
Turkeys are flourishing across the state. Dobey estimates the flock at about 220,000, including an extra-large crop of 2-year-old gobblers. That’s the reason for the excitement.
Two-year-old gobblers are the testosterone-fueled teenagers of the turkey woods — physically mature but blundering through a serious case of lovesickness. The want of female companionship can make these normally secretive and shy birds somewhat careless. Consequently, they fill the most tags.
“Their hormones are telling them what they need to do,” Dobey said, “but experience hasn’t caught up with them yet.”
This year’s anticipated good times can be traced to the summer of 2008. Summertime is when Dobey and a few colleagues spend about eight weeks counting recently hatched turkey poults. Dobey then comes up with a fairly accurate estimate of the average number of turkey chicks per hen that were produced that year.
In 2008 it was an astounding 3.7 chicks per hen, the most in the 26-year history of the summer surveys.
“It was just a great hatch,” Dobey said, “so there are a lot of 2-year-old birds this year, and 2-year-old birds are exciting to hunt.”
The record hatch of 2008 manifested itself somewhat last spring, when hunters tagged a record 29,007 turkeys, 24percent of them 1-year-old gobblers (called jakes). The previous season only 14percent of the birds tagged were jakes. A juvenile bird is legal if it has a visible beard, as nearly all jakes do.
Dobey wasn’t surprised at the spike in juvenile kills last year, saying, “If they’re on the ground, people tend to take them.”
Kentucky’s turkey hunting success rate hovers around 33percent. Dobey says hunters are becoming more selective, but even those determined to wait for an older bird will enjoy being in the woods with young gobblers on the prowl.
“There should be a lot of calling and a lot of bird movement,” he said.
Those 2-year-old gobblers can boost hunting opportunities during the often-lax midday hours and especially later in the season, which runs through May9.
“There’s going to be a lot of hens that are with gobblers, but there’s going to be a lot of (young) gobblers, especially, that don’t make the cut,” Dobey said. “They’ll be out looking for hens.”
Midday success is likely to go up as the season moves into May. By then many hens will have been bred, and after an early-morning feed they will have returned to their nests. That will leave plenty of young gobblers who haven’t found a receptive hen searching for one.
“They’re out looking for hens, and sometimes they’ll come in without making a sound,” Dobey said. “They’ll just appear. It’s exciting.”
Kentucky’s statewide youth turkey hunt (ages 15 and under) was last weekend. Hunters checked more than 1,800 birds.
via Excitable gobblers mean exciting turkey hunting season | courier-journal.com | The Courier-Journal.
Cost Of A Connecticut Fishing License Takes Bite Out Of Season – Hartford Courant
April 13, 2010
“I told him the license was now $40,” she said. “He said, “$40′s”
Across streams and rivers, lakes and ponds, the impact of the state's budget problems is being felt keenly by the state’s anglers as they prepare for opening day of trout season next Saturday.
Last August, the state legislature doubled the fees for licenses required for fishing, hunting and trapping. The increases have angered fishermen, are harming bait and tackle stores, will probably increase poaching and are being felt most harshly by the young, the poor and others who can least afford them, say business owners and fishing advocates.
“Clearly, at $40 apiece there will be a lot of father and son non-fishermen,” said Robert Crook, director of the 40,000-member Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen.
Town clerks and tackle shop owners say they have customers who, when told of the increased licensing fees, simply turn around and walk out the door.
Many say they cannot justify paying an extra $20 or more to fish one or two times year, sometimes adding that they will simply fish without a license and risk getting caught.
“We have a 50 percent walkout rate,” said Gary Brummett, owner of Connecticut Outfitters on the Silas Deane Highway in Wethersfield. “They’re just going to fish anyway. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Because there are fewer than 48 Department of Environmental Protection conservation officers statewide to enforce laws against poaching, the economic incentive for fishing without a license, — the fine is $77 — has increased, along with keeping undersize trout or catching more fish than daily creel limits.
“That’s unfortunate. You’re turning legitimate citizens into something they’re not,” Crook said.
One irony, not lost on Brummett and others, is that it now will cost residents more to fish legally in Connecticut than it will to buy a nonresident license to fish in inland waters in Massachusetts or Rhode Island.
via Cost Of A Connecticut Fishing License Takes Bite Out Of Season – Hartford Courant.
Why Shooting,Hunting and Fishing Shows Are Suddenly Relevant | Multichannel News
April 13, 2010
By Mark Robichaux — Multichannel News
By the latest count of the federal government, fewer people have been fishing and hunting in the U.S. over the past decade for a variety of factors, including an aging demographic and habitat loss.
So why are there more hunting, shooting and fishing shows on TV than ever? Not just more shows, but more channels, online content and personalities?
The particular reasons for the increased attention are as diverse as the demographic of the audience: fears that President Obama will push for stricter gun-control laws, a down economy and, perhaps, “kill shots.” And while the fin-and- fur genre on TV is decidedly small, it shows how even in the maturing business of cable TV, some niches are still growing — and are still worth pursuing.
The long-term trends are unsettling because hunters and anglers are by far the biggest contributors to wildlife conservation. Taxes on guns, ammo, and state hunting and fishing licenses generate several hundred million dollars that go toward local wildlife agencies every year. It could be particularly troubling for cable networks — a disappearing audience is not exactly a growth market.
Five percent of the U.S. population 16 years old and older — 12.5 million people — hunted in 2006, according to the U.S. Wildlife and Fisheries Service. From 1991 to 2006, the number of all hunters (16-plus) declined by 11%, while spending on hunting supplies increased 24%. From 1991 to 2006, the number of all anglers (16-plus) declined 16% to 30 million, and expenditures increased 18%.
But the networks and groups that cater to the rod and gun enthusiasts say there’s reason to believe that the federal government’s statistics may be dated now, and there are signs that more people are shooting, hunting and fishing. “The genre remains healthy — there’s still eager demand for this content,” said Willy Burkhardt, president of seven-year-old Sportsman Channel, which reaches more than 25 million subscribers, a fraction of what fully distributed networks reach. “It just hasn’t been served all that well. Quality of service has gone up.”
And the audience has the potential to be big game. “The size and intensity of the outdoor genre, including hunting and fishing, represent a huge cross section of the male population. They’re passionately engaged and committed — in that lies a significant opportunity for growth,” said Outdoor Channel CEO Roger Werner, former CEO of Speed Channel and Outdoor Life Network, which was rebranded as Versus in 2006.
“You take all the golfers and all the tennis players, combined, and they still don’t total as many as the people who fish in North America,” said Mark Rubenstein, CEO of the four-year- old World Fishing Network, which now reaches nearly 4 million subscribers. “This is a pure play.”
Lately, equipment shows for outdoor enthusiasts are setting attendance records, and the latest data from states suggests an uptick in shooting, hunting and fishing. Some forecasts say the outlook is slow, but better than it’s been in years past. The outdoor channels hope to prey on this trend, luring more viewers with updated production techniques, celebrity hosts with attitude, online how-to clips and public-affairs campaigns, such as Sportsman Channel’s “Hunt. Fish. Feed.” tour to contribute harvested quarry to local food banks.
The field is now the province of a few hearty players, mostly stationed on digital tiers, all of whom say demand is strong among distributors. Outdoor Channel, Nielsen-rated and publicly- traded, gained 5 million new subscribers, or nearly 16%, last year to reach 34.5 million homes. Sportsman Channel is owned by Leo Hindery’s Intermedia Outdoors, which also owns a portfolio of 15 magazines, including Guns and Ammo. Smaller players include World Fishing Network, The Pursuit Channel (another hunting/f ishing network) and In Country. Comcast-owned Versus offers some outdoor content, while ESPN airs such shows mostly on weekends.
Some of the newest shows revolve around the growing sport of shooting. Purchases of guns and ammunition around the U.S. rose beginning in 2008, according to permit data and trade groups — a response to the fear that President Obama or the new Congress would at some point pass a law restricting gun rights. Reflecting that trend, a new National Shooting Sports Foundation poll conducted by Harris Interactive found that more Americans are target shooting now than six months ago. The main reason: “home and personal defense.”
Whether it’s post-9/11 security fears, or the need to fire off a few rounds at the range, Outdoor Channel offers nearly a dozen shows on shooting, including The Best Defense and American Guardian TV. And Sportsman has its own lineup, including Handguns and Tactical Impact, which offers tips on situations ranging “from clearing a house to mounting a night assault on a fortified enemy.”
The down economy may actually be helping boost hunting and fishing numbers. The NSSF released a 12-state census in March that shows hunting license sales rose by 3.5% in 2009 and noted, “It is possible that people have more time to hunt and that hunters take the opportunity to fill their freezers.”
Fishing numbers are equally strong. In 2009 fishing-l icense sales grew by 4.7% in the 12 states that participate in the American Sportfishing Association’s licensesales index. Both sports require little in the way of entry costs, but both have potential for expensive gear and travel options — a point not lost on network ad-sales teams.
Even if the next federal wildlife census shows flat growth in hunters and anglers, networks are encouraged by the fact that spending forecasts call for steady but slow growth; the one exception is in boat sales.
Part of the lure of the newer shows, network executives said, is that they’ve evolved so much from the product ion techniques of just five or so years ago.
For example, rock ‘n’ roll soundtracks are popular between hunt scenes. Additionally, the so called “kill shots” — in which the quarry’s death is recorded, were verboten up until a few years ago. Now they’re commonplace. While non-hunters may flinch, the shows are trying to capture the adrenaline- fueled moment when an animal is harvested.
“They should not be shy about showing energy and excitement,” said Bill Brassard, a spokesman for the NSSF. “There needs to be a respect for wildlife and good shows have that balance.”
Burkhardt of Sportsman, whose audience is roughly 25% women, said, “The genre has slowly spread its wings in terms of the styles. There’s much more emphasis on host and story telling and the ‘how to’ element. And it’s increasingly travel-focused.”
And personalities sell. One of Sportsman’s biggest stars, for example, is Kim Bain-Moore, the beautiful blonde star of the fishing show Breaking the Surface, and the fi rst woman ever to compete in the 39-year history of the Bassmaster Classic. On the other end is the network’s Arrow Addiction featuring irreverent host Chris Brackett.
Outdoor’s Werner said his network’s sales force is bringing in new advertisers such as Miller Beer, Golden Corral Restaurants and Ford Motor, based on its concentration of male viewers.
“If you’re selling beer or blue jeans” to middle America, Werner said, “we’re one of the best buys.”
Is Bass Fishing the Next Big High School Sport? | Field & Stream
April 13, 2010
From the story in Illinois’s Springfield State Journal-Register:
The Illinois High School Association has hooked more schools to participate in its one-of-a-kind state championship bass-fishing tournament this year. Eleven central Illinois schools will compete in the sectional tournament April 23 at Lake Sangchris. Top finishers will go on to compete in the state finals at Carlyle Lake May 7-8. So far, 225 schools are entered, up from 199 in 2009.
“I’m pleased we have 26 more additions,” says Dave Gannaway, Illinois High School Association assistant executive director. “Schools are financially strapped, and they are trying to figure out how to keep the sports and activities they have. “It’s not a good time to add activities or sports, so I’m pretty amazed we have this increase.”
As more and more schools offer angling as a sport, do you think it will ever attain the same level of acceptance as more traditional high school sports? For all you ex-high school jocks out there, would you be happy to see your sons (or daughters) give up football or baseball for a baitcaster?
via Is Bass Fishing the Next Big High School Sport? | Field & Stream.
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