Michigan Hunters Harvest Fewer Deer, Report Higher Satisfaction in 2010

 
Michigan deer hunters harvested 6 percent fewer whitetails in 2010 than in 2009, but they said they found the season more enjoyable than the previous year, according to the Department of Natural Resources annual mail survey.
 
An estimated 656,500 hunters spent 9.6 million days afield, taking nearly 418,000 deer. Overall, 44 percent of hunters harvested at least one deer.
 
The survey was sent to more than 50,000 deer-license buyers.
 
The survey showed a 4 percent decrease from 2009 in the number of individuals buying deer licenses in 2010 and a 4 percent decrease in the number of licenses sold.
 
Hunters killed 1 percent fewer antlered bucks and 10 percent fewer antlerless deer than in 2009. However, hunters reported increased satisfaction with the season in terms of number of deer seen, deer harvested and overall hunting experience.
 
The complete survey is posted online at www.michigan.gov/dnrhunting.

Goose-Be-Gone – an Original Solution

Jim Orsello is the hero of his Woodbury neighborhood for solving a miserable problem – goose poop.

His apartment complex was thrown into a fecal furor this spring when an infestation of geese carpeted lawns and sidewalks with the birds’ stinky nuggets.

Orsello’s solution – deception – was as old as nature itself. He installed a floating alligator head…more here

Measuring Michigan Game Trophies is an Exact Science

By Glen Wunderlich

When I began deer hunting, I had never heard of any type of record books for hunters.  And, when I took a big buck in 1986 in Michigan’s Iron County in the Upper Peninsula, I performed the field dressing duties, as I had in the past.  To get the meat cooled quickly, I had learned that it was good to open the animal well into the neck.  It had always been about the meat.  I never learned about any techniques to preserve a trophy until I had spoiled the cape of what was to be my first mount. 

I was able to trade the entire hide of the 190-pound field dressed buck for a cape from another deer.  (The hide from my deer was used on a full-body mount of an 18-point buck displayed in a sporting goods store in St. Claire Shores, where my unwitting incision was cleverly hid from view.)   Since then, the substitute cape and rack have hung on a wall. Read more

HSUS Feeds Fears in Urban America

The opinion article concerning bears by Jennifer Hobgood of the Humane Society of the United States misleads the public.

The Humane Society of the United States, or HSUS, is an animal rights organization that preys on urban folks who wish to support wildlife and animals but are clueless to the organization’s true goals and its “animals have the same rights as people” policy. The HSUS is not associated with nor supports any local animal shelter or organizations that provide services helping animals as their leaders believe no person should benefit from animal use or “ownership.” Their goal is to raise money to perpetuate animal rights by opposing through the legal and political systems sustainable, conservation based hunting, farming, ranching and pet ownership.

The Florida black bear is the same species found in stable and increasing numbers across the country. Never was it in danger of extinction. Unfortunately, through politics and financial might, the HSUS more here…

American Rivers CEO Is Nominated for Interior Assistant Secretary Post

Published: June 9, 2011

President Obama has nominated the leader of a conservation group to be the Interior Department’s next assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, a position that oversees national parks and the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Rebecca Wodder, who since 1995 has served as CEO of American Rivers, a national river conservation group, was picked to replace Tom Strickland, who left Interior for the private sector in early January.

Wodder’s selection is seen as a nod to environmental groups and could draw opposition from some…more here

Michigan lifts deer-baiting ban for fall hunting season

Panel votes 4-3 to restore controversial practice to lure prey

Jim Lynch/ The Detroit News

Nearly three years after banning deer-baiting by hunters in the Lower Peninsula, Michigan officials reinstated the controversial practice Thursday night.

Baiting has been illegal since 2008, when chronic wasting disease popped up in a Kent County deer breeding operation. The disease, which causes drastic weight loss in elk and deer, can be fatal and is easily transmitted between animals when they group in small areas.

To prevent that, Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources put a stop to hunters using piles of feed such as apples, beets or carrots to lure deer to a spot to shoot. The ban was an unpopular move among many in the hunting community, as well as others who made their livelihoods in the bait business.  More here…

Hunt, Fish, SAVE!

 Michigan 2011 license holders enjoy big discounts on MIS tickets
 
Hunters and anglers – show your 2011 Michigan hunting or fishing license at Michigan International Speedway and get 50 percent off Friday and Saturday tickets for June 17th and 18th, and $10 off Turn 1 Sunday tickets for June 19th. Just go to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) booth, show your license, and get a voucher for the MIS box office.
 
Michigan is home to some of the finest hunting and fishing around, with more than 11,000 inland lakes, 36,000 miles of rivers and streams, more freshwater shoreline than any other state and 8 million acres of public hunting land. Pick up your license and find out why we rank third in the nation in licensed hunters and why Field and Stream recently named us the No. 1 fly-fishing destination in the nation.
 
When you buy a Michigan hunting or fishing license, you’re doing so much more. Every license purchased aids the push to keep Michigan’s hunting and fishing heritage alive by contributing to fish and wildlife management and research, enforcement of fishing and hunting laws, and acquisition of land to be used for hunting and fishing. Now that’s a race worth winning!
 
To plan your next hunting or fishing adventure, visit www.michigan.gov/dnr.

Wind Turbines Killing Lots of Eagles

By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles TimesJune 6, 2011

Reporting from Oakland — Scores of protected golden eagles have been dying each year after colliding with the blades of about 5,000 wind turbines along the ridgelines of the Bay Area’s Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area, raising troubling questions about the state’s push for alternative power sources.

The death count, averaging 67 a year for three decades, worries field biologists because the turbines, which have been providing thousands of homes with emissions-free electricity since the 1980s, lie within a region of rolling grasslands and riparian canyons containing one of the highest densities of nesting golden eagles in the United States.  More here…

Food Plots for Wildlife

By Glen Wunderlich

On a recent trip through Ohio, farmland flooding covered the low-lying landscape.  The fate of the farmer was out of his hands, as excessive rains destroyed early planting efforts.  Those “lucky” enough not to have planted were no longer able, because of the standing water.  Farmers don’t have to travel to Las Vegas to gamble; it’s the nature of their livelihood.  For those of us who plant wildlife food plots, the odds are not any better, but at least our incomes are not dependent on results. 

While the baiting and feeding issue in the Lower Peninsula remains in limbo, food plots are a sure-fire means to increase your hunting chances in the fall, if you have access to private land.  Many hunters that I know lease land yet are still planting to attract and hold game.  Bait can certainly draw deer into an area, as long as a hunter continues to haul it to a given site.  But, one who works the land not only gains an advantage for hunting purposes, he has the ability to provide nourishment to wildlife throughout the year after planting is complete.  With the proper balance of perennial and annual plots, deer, turkeys, rabbits, pheasants, and other game animals may just call your habitat home. Read more

Environmental Persistence of Chronic Wasting Disease Exacerbates Deer Population Declines

Released: 5/25/2011 4:53:19 PM

Long-term impacts of the chronic wasting disease (CWD) epidemic in North American deer, elk and moose will depend on how the disease persists in the environment, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study.

The study examines how the persistence of CWD in the environment affects future deer populations using computer simulations.

Like other “prion” diseases, CWD is caused by unusual, infectious proteins called prions; it is a fatal neurological disease of deer, elk and moose. One of the best-known of these prion diseases is “mad cow” disease, a cattle disease that has infected humans. However, there is no evidence that CWD has infected humans.  Read more

1 161 162 163 164 165 227