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February 7, 2010 by
Like many other states currently dealing with sharp declines in historic bobwhite quail populations, Pennsylvania is looking at ways to help the species rebound to its former levels. And last week, the state Board of Game Commissioners took a rather drastic step toward that end, giving preliminary approval to a closure of the bobwhite quail season statewide beginning with the 2010-11 seasons.
Under the proposal, quail could be hunted only on regulated hunting grounds, and hunters would be allowed to release pen-raised quail for hunting on public and private lands by permit.
“We have significant evidence that bobwhite quail populations have declined dramatically in the state since 1966,” said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director. “We also are concerned that the continued release of pen-reared bobwhite quail may have negative impacts on remaining isolated quail populations. The first step toward recovery of the Northern Bobwhite is to close the season statewide.”
Roe noted that Game Commission staff is currently working to complete a state bobwhite quail plan that carefully reviews the status and trend of Pennsylvania’s quail population, restoration potential, and management practices.
“Given the diminished status of wild quail populations, and our ongoing work to complete and implement a bobwhite quail management plan, we believe the timing is appropriate to close the quail season,” Roe said.
[ Read Full Post ] February 2, 2010 by
Sometimes here at the Outdoor Life Newshound, the blog just writes itself. And this week we have received an especially wonderful gift from a highly unlikely source—one of the country’s most radical environmental organizations, the Center for Biological Diversity.
Based in Tucson, Ariz., the Center for Biological Diversity has made a name for itself primarily as an environmental litigious entity. Over the years it has successfully blocked everything from public land timber sales to expansion of water projects in the West through creative use of lawsuits and the court system. Probably the single largest target of this sue-happy group is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which can hardly even utter the phrase “endangered species delisting,” without hearing from a bevy of briefcase-toting CBD lawyers.
On the hunting and shooting front, the CBD is a leader in the current effort to ban the use of lead ammunition by hunters in a growing number of Western states, based on its claims that lead fragments from bullets left behind in gutpiles threatened the California condor and other raptor species.
Ordinarily, we wouldn’t give this group the time of day, but this week it launched a new project that we just can’t ignore.
According to its own press material, the CBD is poised to launch the Endangered Species Condom Project later this month.
And no, we’re not making this up.
The promotion’s aim is to distribute free condoms wrapped in six different endangered-species-themed packages, with the goal of raising awareness about the alleged dire negative effects we humans have on the planet.
By the way, the condoms are made for use by humans—not by endangered species (just wanted to clarify that).
“The project will raise awareness about overpopulation’s serious impacts on our planet and spark, we hope, new conversations about the need to bring Homo sapiens back into balance with the rest of life on Earth,” CBD Executive Director Kieran Suckling wrote in a Jan. 27 email to supporters.
Needless to say, we think you’ll agree it’s a great idea to distribute items used for birth control to as many of these extreme activists and their supporters as possible. Fact is, while reducing the propagation rate among radical environmental elements, we should encourage our hunters, anglers and shooters to go forth and multiply!
So, we say to the Center for Biological Diversity—bravo! Pure genius!!
[ Read Full Post ] January 29, 2010 by
Here at the Newshound, we’re continually supportive of the tireless efforts put forth by those men and women who enforce state and federal game and fish regulations. And, for the most part, we promote respect and strict adherence to state game and hunting-related laws.
But an incident occurring in Virginia this week has us scratching our head in confusion and bewilderment, to say the least.
On Wednesday, a conservation officer with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries officially charged Martinsville Police Chief Mike Rogers with practicing taxidermy without a permit—a class 4 misdemeanor.
According to the charges, Chief Rogers was guilty of performing taxidermy on his recently taken whitetail buck without first obtaining an annual state license, which costs $40. The chief’s “taxidermy” consisted of removing the fur and flesh from the skull of his deer—resulting in what is commonly referred to as a European mount.
Chief Rogers did not contest the citation and has already paid a $121 fine to the Henry County General District Court.
The Martinsville Bulletin newspaper reported that citing VDGIF officer Matthew Silicki stressed the offense was neither criminal nor purposeful.
“There was not any type of (criminal) negligence,” Silicki said. “It was genuinely an honest mistake.”
In the meantime, Chief Rogers was both confused and surprised by the citation—as are we here at The Newshound.
He said he does not consider himself to be a taxidermist but he would have gladly paid the required $40 fee if he had known it was necessary for a self-done skull mount.
“In nearly every dictionary I have looked at, taxidermy is defined as the art or operation of preparing, stuffing and mounting the skins of dead birds and animals for exhibition in a lifelike state,” said Rogers.
A European mount looks “anything but lifelike,” he said.
So, what do you think?
[ Read Full Post ] January 17, 2010 by
From News 10 in Sacramento :
WILLOWS, CA - A 17-year-old Willows student will have the National Rifle Association behind him when he appeals his expulsion from school for having a shotgun in his pick-up truck.
Like many youngsters his age, Gary Tudesko likes to hunt. "I hunt ducks, geese, all types of waterfowl," said Tudesko.
But last October, his recreational pursuits landed him in trouble at Willows High School.
"I went hunting before school, me and my friend, and I didn't want to be late so I parked off campus at my school," Tudesko said.
Tudesko was in class when he was called to the principal's office. He soon learned why.
"They brought in a private sniffing dog and it alerted on my truck and they found the guns," Tudesko said. The weapons belonged to Tudesko and his friend.
Claiming he was a danger to himself and other students, Tudesko was suspended and eventually handed a year-long expulsion.
His mother, Susan Parisio, said, "What happened to him wasn't right," Tudesko's mother Susan Parisio said.
Parisio said it's an important distinction that her son's truck was parked on a public street. "I asked the police and the district attorney's office if he did anything wrong and they said no," Parisio said.
However, school officials disagreed. They told Parisio state law gives them "the right to search any of the student's vehicles no matter where they're parked or what they're doing during school hours," she said.
The NRA came to Tudesko's aid, saying school officials are misinterpreting the law. An NRA lawyer plans to be by Tudesko's side when he appeals his expulsion Tuesday at the Glenn County Office of Education at 10 a.m.
Tudesko said he's eager to return to Willows High and graduate on time with his class.
"I'm thinking about going into to some type of law enforcement," Tudesko said.
[ Read Full Post ]January 14, 2010 by
Their first mistake was filching the stacking treestand steps belonging to a Michigan State Police detective. The second was committing the act in view of the detective’s hidden trail camera.
And last week, two 20-year-old Midland County men owned-up to the Nov. 17 theft occurring in rural Homer Township.
The confession took place just hours after an article about the incident appeared in the Midland Daily News on Jan. 1. A photo of the two suspects caught on Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Andrew Longuski’s camouflage trail camera accompanied the news story.
“I had multiple calls coming in, saying ‘I know who that is,’” Bay City Post Trooper James Willing told the Daily News. It wasn’t long before one of the men pictured in the photo called and identified himself and his companion to Willing.
According to the State Police trooper said the caller said he thought the treestand was on Chippewa Nature Center property, and that the owner had no right to have it there.
“Unfortunately for them,” Willing said, “he did.”
Charges were pending against the photographed duo.
[ Read Full Post ] January 12, 2010 by
An unusual number of consecutive days with record cold temperatures in typically balmy south Florida has prompted the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to encourage hunters to take advantage of the conditions to cull Burmese pythons and other unwanted invasive species on state wildlife manage areas (WMAs).
The reptiles are more likely to be in open areas to find warmth in the sun, making them vulnerable to hunters, said an agency spokesperson.
All properly licensed and permitted Florida hunters have the authority to harvest pythons and other reptiles of concern, including the Indian python, reticulated python, northern and southern African rock python, amethystine or scrub python, green anaconda and Nile monitor lizard. Small-game hunting seasons continue through March 7 on Everglades, Francis S. Taylor, Holey Land and Rotenberger WMAs and until Feb. 1 at Big Cypress National Preserve.
“During the warm-weather months, Burmese pythons stay hidden out of the sun, but with the temperatures dipping below normal in these areas, they have to find a way to stay warm,” said Jenny Tinnell, FWC biologist with the exotic species section. “They may be out in the open more than before to find the warmth of the sun, and we hope hunters, in the normal course of hunting in these areas, will take advantage of the opportunity to help stop the spread of this non-native species.”
In all four WMAs, only a Florida hunting license and management area permit are required to hunt reptiles of concern from now through the end of the small-game seasons.
To see more Florida pythons click HERE.
[ Read Full Post ]January 9, 2010 by
If you’ve been reading The Newshound in recent months, you’ve seen several references to the increasing number of women who own firearms in the U.S., both for hunting and for personal protection.
Just last week we told you about the growing popularity of firearms for women as Christmas gifts in 2009.
One woman who was fortunate to have a caring husband who gave her a handgun for protection this Christmas already learned the value of her gift when she thwarted a would-be armed robbery at her drive-in coffee kiosk located in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
Sunshine Espresso owner Michelle Cornelsen was working inside her shop last week when a 17-year-old male strolled up to the service window, pulled a gun and demanded money.
“I just said ‘You aren’t going to shoot me are you?’ And he said, ‘No, I don’t really want to. I just need you to put the money in the bag,’” Cornelsen later told Spokane (WA) TV station KREM.
When another customer approached the same window and temporarily distracted the armed teen, Cornelsen grabbed the 9mm Kel-Tec handgun she received just days earlier from beneath the counter.
“A customer came around on this side and he covered the gun with his hand,” she recalled. “I grabbed mine and put it in (the robber’s) face.”
That was enough to send the would-be perpetrator quickly hoofing down the street, where he was soon apprehended by one of Coeur d’Alene’s finest after Cornelsen called 911.
“I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh. I don’t want to hurt this guy (but) I’m a business owner and I’ve got to protect what I have,” said the pistol-packing barista.
Make mine a café mocha with a full metal jacket, please.
[ Read Full Post ]January 6, 2010 by
To many city folks, the thought of a dead deer being transported in the aisle of a public school bus might seem unusual, even to the point of being distasteful.
But it didn’t bother the members of the Rushford-Peterson High School basketball team, whose bus hit and killed a magnificent 10-point buck while returning from a game in a holiday tournament one night last week.
In fact, for the boys and their coaches who call rural southeastern Minnesota their home, it seemed downright natural—and absolutely the right thing to do.
“We’re all deer hunters, and to see a deer of that quality, well, it’s a bad way to go,” coach Tom Vix told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper. “It’s sad that some hunter didn’t have that privilege. And that poor deer made it through bow season, two shotgun seasons, a muzzle-loader season and only had two days left. So that’s kind of tough.”
Spoken like a true deer hunter.
After the bus smacked the huge whitetail on that cold and icy December 28th night, the driver stopped and the coaches got out to evaluate the damage and check on the deer. There was minimal damage to the bus, and the deer lay stone dead, just yards away from the point of impact.
And what a deer it was.
The 180-class, 280-pound whitetail had a 22-inch spread and was the biggest buck most of the coaches or the boys had ever seen. And for that entire busload of Minnesota deer hunters, it seemed like a waste to just leave it by the roadside.
So Coach Vix phoned the DNR to obtain permission to keep the animal, and after doing so, it was loaded into the bus via the emergency back door.
Junior basketball player Justin Boyum posed between the bus seats with the big bruiser, while cell phone cameras snapped wildly.
Later, as word spread of the basketball team’s “trophy,” an area taxidermist volunteered to mount the head to be displayed in the school’s natural resources classroom.
“Sometimes things happen and you have to react to them,” Vix told the newspaper. “If this deer can be in the classroom and educate kids and be a memory that’s positive, that’s good.”
[ Read Full Post ] December 23, 2009 by
Having a difficult time deciding what to get those special women in your life for Christmas?
Well, those who track Americans’ purchasing and lifestyle trends say all the data points to firearms as one of the most popular choices for females this holiday season. In fact, some forecasters say the last 12 months of record-busting firearms sales will easily spill over into the Christmas season, especially for females who are both giving and receiving.
Asked what they‘d like to receive for Christmas gifts this year, women respondents to a Consumer Reports Money and Shopping Blog survey they’d be “thrilled to receive boots, purses, pajamas and guns.”
As further proof the gun sales boon is not wavering, data released this week by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reported 1,223,252 checks were conducted in November 2009, ranking the month in the top 10 for most NICS checks in the history of the system.
And consider this: In the 11 years since the FBI began conducting background checks on all potential gun buyers, November and December have been gun retailers’ busiest sales months, without exception.
Want more proof? The number of women participating in hunting and the shooting sports is increasing at an historic clip. Between 2003 and 2008, women who hunted with firearms increased an impressive 3.5 percent to 2.9 million, according to a new report released just last week by the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA).
During the same period, women who participated in bowhunting rose 1.5 percent to 600,000. In the past year alone, the number of licensed female hunters in Louisiana increased a whopping 12 percent, reaching record numbers for the fairer gender in The Bayou State.
Further, the number of woman taking firearms self-defense instruction and applying for concealed-carry permits has shot off the charts for most of 2009. Female enrollment in the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s “First Shots” Program has set new records all year.
Just as the name implies, the program introduces people to handgun shooting for their first time—along with expert coaching and safety instruction. In the classes, women also learn about safe handling and storage of firearms, state and local permitting processes, how to purchase a handgun, what model and caliber is right for them, how to determine proper fit, holsters, apparel and that some handguns even come in colors designed to be more appealing to women.
Not only does such training impact a woman’s outlook on personal protection, but it also influences her buying habits—a fact increasingly addressed by today's major handgun manufacturers and firearms marketers.
The St. Petersburg Times reported last week that firearms retailers across Florida say they’ve witnessed more women shopping for guns and training this holiday season than ever before.
“The mama instinct is big-time,” said Mark Rutan, a salesman at Pinellas Park Bill Jackson’s Shop for Adventure in Pinellas Park. “Mamas want to protect their babies, and they will.”
[ Read Full Post ] December 21, 2009 by
It’s the busiest time of year for those men and women who are charged with protecting our natural resources and enforcing state game and hunting regulations.
More and more state conservation agencies are using innovative methods to apprehend those ne’er-do-wells who take game animals out of season or ignore game laws meant to protect and manage our valuable wildlife resources.
One anti-poaching tool becoming increasingly popular with game agencies across the country is the mechanical and motorized deer decoy. Made to look and move like the real thing, the decoys are often placed in “no-shoot” situations—like in a field at night or on private property located across an public road where shooting and hunting are prohibited. Wildlife law enforcement officers stake out such locations, waiting for game law scofflaws to come along and do something stupid.
Unfortunately, more often than not, they usually do.
During the recent firearms deer-hunting season, Sgt. Ron Kimmerly with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources was operating such a surveillance effort with a robotic deer placed on private land in Taymouth Township when a man in a pickup pulled up, took notice of the deer, stopped and aimed a rifle out the truck window.
Without hesitation, the man began shooting at the faux whitetail buck.
“After each time this guy shot, I made the deer look at him, and after he shot, I had it look away,” Kimmerly told the Saginaw News. He said the man was accurate, but after three shots struck the decoy deer in the chest and it still didn’t drop or run, a would-be poacher realized something was afoul and began to drive away.
When assisting officers pursued and stopped the alleged lawbreaker, they found that in addition to violating trespassing and weapons transportation regulations, he was not wearing hunter orange clothing on half his body and visible on both sides as required under state law.
In fact, he wasn’t even wearing clothes.
Sgt. Kimmerly said the man—who claimed he was on his way to a friend’s house when he stopped and shot at the decoy—was clad in flannel pajamas and house slippers.
And none were colored blaze orange—marking yet another hunting violation.
[ Read Full Post ]
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