August 7, 2014

Safari Club International (SCI) filed a lawsuit in federal court on August 6, 2014, challenging a California law that bans the importation, transportation, and possession of mountain lions hunted outside of California.  The California law, enacted in 1990 through a voter initiative, has discouraged hunters in California from hunting mountain lions in others states and countries.  SCI’s members in California and surrounding states strongly encouraged SCI to challenge this misguided ban.

“For too long California has interfered with the hunting of mountain lions in other states by residents of California,” said SCI President Craig Kauffman.  “Back in 1990, ill-informed California voters decided it was a good idea to take the management of this predator species out of the hands of the wildlife professionals.  Not only did they ban mountain lion hunting within the state, but they went further and tried to impose on other states their misguided views on mountain lion hunting.  The result was a harmful and illegal ban on the importation of mountain lions hunted outside of California.” Read more

GW:  They’ve sent me some great gear over the years- for members only, no less.  The tote bags are good for carrying hunting gear, as long as you remember to turn them inside out.  And, those cute gardening gloves – good for one oil change and lube.

Here’s the latest from www.humanewatch.org…

Given that the Humane Society of the United States spends about half of its budget on overhead—including tens of millions of dollars of fundraising costs that it misleadingly calls “program spending”—there’s no shortage of doodads and tchotchkes that wind up in people’s mailboxes. We’ve seen HSUS calendars, HSUS tote bags, and HSUS t-shirts. But now someone has sent us a pair of HSUS socks that he received in the mail.

Really? Socks?

Maybe HSUS should consider the symbolism of sending people something that is associated with bad stenches. After all, HSUS is an organization that only gives 1% of the money it raises to pet shelters, that recently stuffed $26 million into Caribbean accounts instead of giving that money to help needy animals, and that pays $400,000 a year to a CEO who has said “I don’t love animals or think they are cute.” Read more

The Humane Society of the United States – the biggest anti-hunting organization in the country – is up to its old tricks again, sending its lobbyists to Lansing and threatening frivilous lawsuits against the citizen-backed initiative to protect hunting rights by making fish and wildlife decisions with sound science.

You worked hard to get this initiative before the legislature, collecting almost 300,000 signatures from registered Michigan voters. Just last week, the Board of State Canvassers approved the petitions. Now it’s up to the Legislature to listen to voters like you and pass the Scientific Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act.

But they’re getting pressure and robo-calls from the Humane Society of the United States urging your representatives to ignore you, the 300,000 voters who signed the petition, and the 750,000 hunters and 1.2 million anglers in Michigan.

Your state representative needs to hear from you TODAY that you support the Scientific Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act and they need to vote for it this August!

Don’t let the Humane Society of the United States take away your hunting rights; Find your representative’s phone number by clicking here and call today!

(Columbus, Ohio) – Sportsmen, conservation organizations and outdoor personalities met at the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA) headquarters yesterday to develop strategies to counter the recent increase in cyber-attacks on hunters.

The group makes up the Hunter Advancement Task Force with most members sharing a common theme of having been targeted by animal rights activists through social media.

“This is a great opportunity to start developing ways to hold those responsible for the recent wave of cyber-attacks against sportsmen accountable,” said Nick Pinizzotto, USSA president and CEO. “The task force is not only working to stop direct attacks on hunters but also discussing how best to educate the public on the vital role sportsmen play in the conservation of all wildlife.”

Attendees included outdoor television personalities Melissa Bachman and Jana Waller, Colorado hunter Charisa Argys along with her father Mark Jimerson,  Doug Saunders of the National Wild Turkey Federation, Bill Dunn of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, John Jackson of Conservation Force, Dennis Foster of the Masters of Foxhounds Association, Tony Schoonan of the Boone and Crockett Club and Mark Holyoak of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Other attendees included USSA President and CEO, Nick Pinizzotto, Evan Heusinkveld, USSA vice president of government affairs, Bill Horn, USSA director of federal affairs, Michelle Scheuermann of Bullet Proof Communications and author Michael Sabbeth.

Bachman, a television producer and host, found her life and career threatened after posting a photo of an African lion she harvested to her Facebook page last year. Almost immediately, Bachman came under attack from anti-hunters around the world. Bachman also found herself the target of death threats that “hit way too close for comfort” when anti-hunters showed up at her office.

“Regardless of your beliefs about hunting, Americans can all agree that threatening someone’s life is simply unacceptable.” said Bachman. Read more

A link to my interview on NRA News Cam & Co Tuesday, July 22 is here:

Call Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and tell her to reject the HSUS petition that threatens hunting on public lands! Call 202-208-3181 and email our pre-written letter to voice your objection.

The future of hunting is under attack! Hornady® Manufacturing urges firearms owners, hunters and sportsmen to call Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and demand she reject a petition filed by the HSUS that seeks to ban hunting with traditional ammunition on public lands.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), anti-hunting groups, and five individual sportsmen have teamed up to file a petition with the Interior Department demanding rules that ban hunting with traditional ammunition on public lands – more than 160 million acres of federal lands managed by the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That’s one-fifth of the total land area in the United States. Read more

If you’ve turned on the TV, radio, looked at a newspaper, or used the internet in these past few weeks, you have heard of Kendall Jones.

Kendall Jones is a 19 year old cheerleader studying at Texas Tech who has stirred up some recent controversy. She is a seasoned hunter that has been lucky enough to travel to Africa to hunt the big five; work alongside organizations to provide meat to local communities and help treat wounded animals. Recently, she has been targeted on social media sites and attacked by news agencies for having pictures of her hunts published on Facebook. There has been much misinformation spreading around about what she has hunted and the specific role hunting plays in conservation. Bill McGrath, SCI’s Legislative Counsel was fortunate enough to sit down with Kendall to discuss the media backlash and correctly set the narrative. Read more

This from www.humanewatch.org

In March, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt announced that his office was opening an inquiry into the fundraising of the Humane Society of the United States, issuing a “consumer alert” to the public about national animal charities. Things have been fairly quiet in the news since then—until yesterday.

Speaking to the radio show “All Around Oklahoma Ag,” Pruitt offered an update of his office’s investigation of HSUS. Pruitt stated that his office has recently issued subpoenas to HSUS in light of the $25 million settlement that major HSUS contractor and direct-mail firm Quadriga Art agreed to with the New York Attorney General earlier this month.

Pruitt also revealed that his office has met with HSUS leadership, and it didn’t seem to go well. Pruitt says that HSUS’s reaction has been “in some respects, not good…there’s been denial.”

HSUS can deny that its fundraising is deceptive all it wants to, but we have its CEO Wayne Pacelle admitting last year, on audio, that “I think there is some confusion among the general public and I think there’s occasional confusion with, with donors.” You can’t play the denying game when you’ve already admitted that there’s a problem with your donors. Even for an organization with dozens of staff lawyers, it’s hard to talk your way around that one. Read more