May 21, 2013
Residents of Weston, MA have no trouble understanding that their homes were built in an area that supports a sizeable population of whitetails. Understanding that the deer population has just one predator willing to control it, however, is proving to be wicked haahd.Just a year ago, the Weston Conservation Commission passed a law allowing bowhunting for whitetails on Town-owned land. Weston, which is located just outside of Boston and touts its “quiet, country-like setting” on its website, has an issue not unlike those facing thousands of other communities where homes are landscaped with deer food and built so that there are small pockets of undeveloped land between homes, thus creating ideal deer habitat. The area has way too many deer.
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Guide to America's Public Land
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Find the top public-land destinations in your state, including:
- Wildlife Refuges
- State WMAs
- National Forests
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May 16, 2013
by 
An hour before a November dawn, I’m at a dirt pull-off in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Around me are more than 280,000 acres of public forest. These are big woods, and getting bigger. By legislative decree, the oak, maples, and ash here can never be cut. They’ve been growing for a century now. Some hunters whose legs have become too old to climb these steep forested hills tell me there were once a lot of deer here. There were grouse and rabbits, too. And hunters came from a hundred miles away to chase them. These days, both the game and the hunters are mostly gone.
As I shoulder my rifle, a pickup stops. A man, his face dimly lit by dashboard lights, says, “Have you seen a deer yet?” “No.” “Why do we keep coming back?”
“Hope,” I say.
[ Read Full Post ]May 15, 2013
by An attempt to bring 12 million acres of watershed conservation areas managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the same firearm rules as other federal lands failed in the Senate on May 8.
Senators voted 56-43 for the proposal by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), four ballots shy of the 60 votes needed for passage.
The measure, backed by the National Rifle Association, would have let people use guns for any legal purpose -- including open and concealed carry -- on 12 million acres of ACE-managed lands that abound with lakes, rivers, campsites and hiking trails. The ACE estimates that 370 million people visit lands it manages -- more than any other federal agency because 80 percent of its tracts are within 50 miles of urban areas.
[ Read Full Post ]May 14, 2013
by 
In just the last four years, Cory Peterson’s outfitting business has doubled in size to nearly 60,000 acres of deer- and turkey-rich ground in Nebraska’s Sand Hills. But Peterson, who also farms corn and raises beef cattle in the area, didn’t pursue many of his leases. Instead, neighbors came to him, offering to lease their land for annual payments that range between $1 and $3 per acre.
The main reason Peterson’s Hidden Valley Outfitting has grown? His neighbors find it increasingly difficult to allow free public hunting.
“Most traditional farmers understand the idea that hunting is something that should be free,” says Peterson. “But these guys have had gates left open by hunters, cattle shot by hunters, and water tanks shot by hunters. After a while, they just run out of patience.”
[ Read Full Post ]May 1, 2013
by In late November, the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, which oversees the Chippewa tribes' treaty rights in Wisconsin, voted to authorize night hunting for deer by tribal members.
To participate in the after-dark hunt, tribal members would be required to pass a marksmanship test. According to an Associated Press report, 74 members met those requirements but, thus far, none have applied for a night-hunting permit.
But they might. And that has hunters and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials concerned.
[ Read Full Post ]April 28, 2013
by April 26, 2013
by 
That’s Joel Rotz from the Farm Bureau, and next to him is the guy from the Pennsylvania Equine Council,” whispered Monica Kline as we sat in a dimly lit, wood-paneled hearing room in the Pennsylvania State Capitol building in Harrisburg on a drizzly morning late last October.
We were awaiting the start of a public hearing before the state House of Representatives Game and Fisheries Committee, and Kline, a lobbyist for the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, was identifying for me the gathered opposition to House Bill 1760, which would overturn Pennsylvania’s Sunday hunting ban. “That’s the guy from the Keystone Trails Association, and those women over there are from the Humane Society.”
Among those testifying in support of overturning the ban that day last fall were representatives from the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, and the Quality Deer Management Association, as well as Pennsylvania Game Commission executive director Carl Roe.
[ Read Full Post ]April 25, 2013
by Hawaii rankes 21st in the nation in terms of public land with some 4.1 million acres of accessible lands. Of course, Hawaii also boasts some of the world's finest offshore fishing and ocean access is plentiful.
[ Read Full Post ]April 24, 2013
by With roughly 1.7 million acres of public lands (less than 5 percent of the state's surface area), Georgia doesn't have an abundance of accessible land. Fishing opportunities, however, are abundant with plenty of lakes, rivers, and streams.
[ Read Full Post ]April 24, 2013
by The Sunshine state may not be at the top of the list when it comes to public hunting opportunities, but 26 percent of the state is publicly-owned. And, of course, there's no shortage of excellent fishing areas with good access options as well.
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Hunters and anglers across the nation consistently list one challenge as their primary obstacle to spending more time in the field: Access.
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