HARRISBURG – As bluebirds are building nests throughout the Commonwealth, the Pennsylvania Game Commission has launched this year’s live video feed from a bluebird nestbox on the grounds of its Harrisburg Headquarters. To view the live feed, visit the agency’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us) and click on the “Bluebird Live-Feed” icon under the opening photo in the center of the homepage.

“This annual video feed has been one of the most popular additions to our website, which clearly demonstrates that the best way to get Pennsylvanians – in fact most Americans – excited about wildlife is to show them what makes wildlife so irreplaceable and priceless,” said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director. “This live webcast helps educate the public about the importance of wildlife and how to make backyards friendlier to wildlife, and also provides a way for folks to simply get closer to bluebirds.

“The nestbox camera provides the public a closer look Read more

Cynthia Willis calls up and down the firing range to be sure everyone knows she is shooting, squares up in a two-handed stance with her Walther P-22 automatic pistol and fires off a clip in rapid succession.

Willis is not only packing a concealed handgun permit in her wallet, she also has a medical marijuana card. That combination has led the local sheriff to try to take her gun permit away.  The rest of the story is here.

Blaming America for Mexico’s problems has been something of a national pastime for Mexican politicians for many years. True to tradition, Mexican president Felipe Calderon has been blaming Mexico’s astronomically high murder rate on Americans who buy drugs and who sell guns, rather than on the Mexican drug cartels who commit a vastly disproportionate share of those murders, and the historic corruption in Mexico, from which the wicked cartels have spawned. 

However, an article published by the Mexico City newspaper La Jornada suggests that el Presidente might better serve the good people of his country by looking to his southern border, instead of al norte. 

As explained in English by the Latin American Herald Tribune, “The most fearsome weapons wielded by Mexico’s drug cartels enter the country from Central America, not the United States, Read more

By Glen Wunderlich

It doesn’t seem like long ago that I hunted wild turkeys for the first time on state land near Atlanta, Michigan.  I don’t recall the exact year, but it was approximately 30 years or so, when I made my first trek up north for the wily gobbler.  Back then, the percentage of successful hunters was close to a meager 5 percent.  My how times have changed.

My shotgun of choice was a Spanish-made, side-by-side, double-barrel in 12 gauge configuration.  I liked the looks of the gun, but as it turned out, I couldn’t hit a partridge perched in a tree with it.  Really!  I wish I could have broken that thing over my knee like a broomstick.

I also used a 3-inch shell full of #4 shot, but I didn’t know that the head and neck was the kill zone and not the body.  Needless to say, I didn’t bag a bird in those days.  Since then, I’ve learned a few things about tactics and patterning and loads and I’ll share some of them with you. Read more

BELLEVUE, Wash. —  Wayne Gaughran has an entire case full of noise suppressors at his Eastside Gun Store. For years, he has been allowed to sell the devices that sell for several hundred dollars. The catch: Owners can’t use them in our state.

“It puts me in a tough spot,” said Gaughran.

On Tuesday the state senate unanimously approved Bill 1016, which the House already passed 88-4.

The bill’s sponsor, Representative Bryan Blake, a Democrat from Aberdeen, says a constituent came up with the idea but it was also supported by state sheriffs and police chiefs.  More…

GW:  Now here’s a reasonable gun law that makes sense to me.  And, like Obama, I’m all for reasonable gun laws.  We just define the word reasonable in different ways.

Gov. Rick Snyder told reporters today that he’s meeting with key Republican lawmakers to try to break the impasse on his proposed budget, but he also had time to meet privately with another well known Michigan native — hunter, rock star, author and 2nd amendment advocate Ted Nugent.  More…

 By Glen Wunderlich

Young Bucks Eyeing Decoy

While turkey huting last spring, these two young bucks were quite curious about my assistant.   One of the most pleasing aspects of spring turkey hunting, is the vast array of wildlife that are celebrating life.

Mated Pair of Sandhill Cranes

Hen Turkey in Mustard

Winchester has a unique solution to the ongoing trend of nonlead ammo. But our gunsmithing editor wanted to know how the new fodder would affect rifle bores, so he fired close to 2,000 rounds to find out.

GW:  The trend to non-lead ammo has drawbacks in accuracy, as detailed in this test.  I would expect manufacturers to develop better ammunition as time goes on, but so far, the results are not good for an accuracy fanatic like myself.

Interestingly, the anti-hunting crowd is behind such “reform” never addressing the issue of accuracy with sub-par ammunition.  If the clean stuff is not as accurate, wounding will be more prevalent, and no sportsman likes to maim animals.  But, that will be the result.

It is becoming a full-time job keeping up with the misinformation distributed by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

On March 24, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed NRA-backed legislation allowing the state to hold mourning dove hunting for the first time in nearly a century.

The day before, when the Iowa Legislature sent the bill to the governor, HSUS issued the following statement:

“We are disappointed that the Iowa Senate and House of Representatives have voted to allow the target shooting of mourning doves for the first time since 1918,” said Carol Griglione, Iowa state director for The Humane Society of the United States. “This bill repeals nearly a century of dove protection policy in our state, yet lawmakers rushed it through the process with hardly a word of debate or a serious vetting of the issues. Doves are not overpopulated, there is very little meat on their bodies, and there is no management rationale for a new hunting season – they will simply be shot for target practice. We urge Governor Branstad to veto this bill and keep the century-long tradition of dove protection in Iowa.”

There is an outright lie or a meaningless argument in every sentence of this statement, not to mention omission of facts that anyone who really cares about wildlife would want to know. Read more

Alaskan Congressman Don Young refused an award this evening from The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Humane Society Legislative Fund that would have honored his work for animals in 2010.  “HSUS are hypocrites, plain and simple, and I will not join them by accepting this award,” said Rep. Young.