Category: Hunting

Wyoming Receives $7.2 Million for Conservation Work

MISSOULA, Mont. — The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and its partners awarded $7,256,274 of grant funding in Wyoming to enhance wildlife habitat, scientific research and hunting opportunities. RMEF directly granted $340,471 and leveraged an additional $6,915,803 in partner funding.

“This is a monumental amount of funding that will help Wyoming’s elk as well as a myriad of other species,” said Kyle Weaver, RMEF president and CEO. “We are grateful for our partners in standing beside us to carry out this vital conservation work. And we especially recognize and thank our RMEF volunteers who freely give of their time and talents to raise funds to put back on the ground in Wyoming. We could not do what we do without them.”

There are 22 RMEF chapters and nearly 9,000 members in Wyoming.

In all, 33 projects benefit 46,465 acres of habitat across Albany, Big Horn, Campbell, Carbon, Converse, Johnson, Laramie, Lincoln, Fremont, Hot Springs, Natrona, Park, Sheridan, Sublette, Sweetwater, Teton, Uinta and Washakie Counties. One of the projects is of statewide benefit. Read more

Hunting, Wildlife

Senate Passes Great American Outdoors Act

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate has passed the historic Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422), which represents the single greatest commitment to increasing public access and advancing conservation in a lifetime, on a strong bipartisan vote of 73-25.

The Great American Outdoors Act will provide $9.5 billion over 5 years to address the crumbling infrastructure on America’s public lands and waters. While the National Park Service will receive $6.5 billion in funding, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) led a successful effort to secure the inclusion of $3 billion to repair and maintain public land infrastructure overseen by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and U.S. Forest Service (USFS), which provides critically important recreational opportunities for America’s sportsmen and women.

“The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation applauds Senate passage of the Great American Outdoors Act. Today’s vote demonstrates the bipartisan support for advancing conservation and increasing access for hunters and anglers,” said CSF President Jeff Crane. “When signed into law, this bill will provide much needed support for public lands and waters and boost the already formidable outdoor economy. CSF extends our sincere thanks to the Senate Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) members that voted to support these priorities.” Read more

Fishing, Hunting

Michigan: Watch Thursday’s NRC Meeting Live Online

The Michigan Natural Resources Commission’s next regular meeting is Thursday, June 11. Due to COVID-19 public health and safety guidelines, the meeting will be hosted in an online format.

You can watch the meeting live online using this link. Those who want to provide public comment for the meeting should call 517-284-5808 or email NRC@Michigan.gov.

The meeting starts at 9 a.m. with the Committee of the Whole, and the agenda includes updates on:

    • Mandatory elk hunt orientation changes.
    • The 2019 deer harvest survey report.
    • Deer hunting regulations.
    • Several land transactions.

Read more

Fishing, Hunting

Senate Takes Significant Step toward Final Passage of Great American Outdoors Act

Yesterday, the Senate took a monumental step toward passing the historic Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422), which represents the single greatest commitment to increasing public access and advancing conservation in a lifetime, by voting to proceed to final consideration of the bill on an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 80-17.

S. 3422 will provide $9.5 billion over 5 years to address the crumbling infrastructure on America’s public lands and waters. While the National Park Service will receive $6.5 billion in funding, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) worked to secure the inclusion of $3 billion in funding to be set aside to repair and maintain public land infrastructure overseen by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife (USFWS), and U.S. Forest Service (USFS), which are critically important to providing recreational opportunities to sportsmen and women. Read more

Fishing, Hunting

Alpha HD Scouting Camera from Black Gate Hunting Products

Higher standards and lower prices. That’s the name of the game for Black Gate Hunting Products. When that mantra is applied to the trail camera industry it results in the Alpha HD, an innovative new trail camera that is packed full of impressive features and won’t break the bank.

The Alpha HD features an extreme high definition 32 MP camera and a 5 MP CMOS sensor. With a multitude of optional photo quality settings, including 5 MP, 8 MP, 12 MP, 16 MP, 20 MP, and 24 MP, you’re sure to find a setting that captures the right level of detail and maximizes your storage capacity. Capable of three shooting modes – Photo, Video, or Photo+Video – the cameras can shoot 4k quality video and also include multiple shooting options to tailor the set up for each specific user application.

Forget about having images of the back half of your quickly moving game. An ultra-wide detection zone means you’ll pick up every nearby motion and the near instant trigger speeds of 0.2-0.6 seconds ensures they’ll stay in frame of your photo. The fully automatic IR filter is coupled with 940NM No Glow technology and 45 IR LEDs to make this camera capable of capturing crystal-clear low light images. It also boasts an impressive sensing range and night-time lighting distance of 65 feet. All of this is driven by dual PIR sensors covering a full 120’ of angle. Read more

Hunting

Muddy’s New Manifest Cellular Trail Camera

Irving, TX – Muddy Outdoors, known for providing the highest quality treestands, box blinds ground blinds, treestand safety equipment, and accessories, announces the release of the brand new Muddy Manifest Cellular Trail Camera!

Developed for use with Verizon and AT&T and verified through the networks, the new Muddy Manifest camera is ultra-compact in size and lightweight. Housed in a high-impact polymer chassis with realistic bark texturing, the new cellular trail camera is easy to transport to remote locations and offers a minimized visual signature to help avoid theft and game disturbance. Read more

Hunting

New Wildgame Innovations Insite Cell™ and Insite Air™ Game Scouting Cameras

Grand Prairie, TX – For over two decades, Wildgame Innovations has led the way in trail camera technology, and this new dynamic duo offers a couple of options for retrieving images and video while minimizing human disturbance in sensitive areas.

The all-new Insite Cell™ trail camera lets you take your favorite hunting spot with you wherever you go by pairing with your cell phone to send an automatic photo updates anytime, anywhere. Hunters can remotely check prime location from the comfort of their home. This tricked-out trail camera integrates with the all-new HuntSmart™ app to automatically analyze trail cam captures and help you plan your next hunt. The Insite Cell also features all of our premium upgrades, including Adaptive Illumination, invisible Lightsout™ illumination and an industry-leading 32-megapixel image clarity. It works nationwide on any network.

With the new Insite Air™ you can download from a distance without disrupting your hunting area. The Insite Air™ uses Bluetooth technology to connect to the WGI app, sending all photos and videos to your device with the simple press of a button. Just get within 150 yards of your camera, and you’ll receive a notification to download. The Insite Air delivers a 100-yard illumination range, half-second trigger speed, 24-megapixel images and HD 720p videos. No cell service required! Read more

Hunting

The Times They Are a Changing (For Deer Hunters)

By Glen Wunderlich

Charter Member Professional Outdoor Media Association

Change is the law of life.  And, those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future…John F. Kennedy

At a May 14th meeting, the Natural Resources Commission (NRC) put a bevy of proposals on the table for consideration by the Department of Natural Resources (Department).  Most of them are aimed at streamlining and clarifying practices and language across the state relative to deer hunting; others are attempts at making hunting safer.  All issues have been evaluated on social, biological, and economic impacts – both pro and con – and can be reviewed in their entirety online at www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/DeerRegulations_689593_7.pdf.  What follows are some of the highlights.

*  The Department recommends a statewide season purchase limit of up to 10 private land antlerless deer licenses.  There may be a perception that a purchase limit of 10 private land antlerless deer licenses will result in an overharvest of deer. However, data show that approximately 60 percent of hunters don’t purchase an antlerless license and approximately 30 percent purchase one.

*  The Department recommends removing Antler Point Restrictions (APRs) for all youth hunters (16 years of age and younger) and apprentice hunters.  The Department does not expect a biological impact.  Even if success rates increase, the Department does not anticipate the level of harvest to have a negative biological effect by impacting the age structure of male deer on the landscape.

*  The Department recommends that ground blinds placed on public or private lands must display hunter orange of at least 144 square inches so that it is visible from all directions while deer hunting during any deer season in which a hunter is already required to wear hunter orange.  This proposal has been on the table before and was shot down, even though a number of Midwestern states have similar rules for hunting blinds.  Currently, Michigan hunters have the option to use hunter orange on their blinds if they wish, but it is not mandatory.

*  The Department recommends removing the single-site bait regulation and allowing hunters with disabilities to use any legal type of bait during the Liberty and Independence Hunts provided that all other baiting regulations are followed.

*  The Department recommends opening opportunities to more hunters in the muzzleloader season in zone 3 (including the full counties of Oceana, Newaygo, Mecosta, Isabella, Midland, and Bay counties) by allowing all firearms, that are legal during the firearms season for that respective zone, to be legal during the muzzleloader season.  Though it was only one year of data, from the 19 counties that had this option in 2018, a total of 10,081 deer were taken, representing an increase from 2017 where 8,146 deer were taken during the muzzleloader season.

With the diminishing amount of hunting licenses being sold, there are far fewer deer being taken compared to the past and that’s a concern because of issues with vehicle/deer collisions and other factors.  Obviously, many of the proposed changes are focused on herd balance and minimizing disease issues by taking more female deer.  Heck, maybe someday the cost of antlerless tags will be reduced to get the job done.

Hunting, Wildlife

Great American Outdoors Act Pushed Toward Passage

Last week, Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) Member and Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate Mitch McConnell (KY) committed to the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422), an unprecedented piece of legislation.

S. 3422 will provide $9.5 billion over 5 years to address the deferred maintenance backlog on federal public lands and waters with roughly $3 billion set aside to restore the infrastructure on lands and waters that are most important to sportsmen and women. In total, our federal public land management agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, face nearly $20 billion in deferred maintenance backlog, which will in part be addressed by S. 3422.

Furthermore, the Great American Outdoors Act will provide permanent and dedicated funding to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) at $900 million annually, building on the success of S. 47, the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, which permanently authorized LWCF, but did not provide any funding. S. 3422 will also ensure that $15 million of LWCF funding is set aside for the purpose of increasing access for hunting, fishing, recreational shooting, and other forms of outdoor recreation on public lands and waters. Read more

Fishing, Hunting

Michigan: provide input on proposed 2020 deer hunting regulations by June 5

A new package of deer hunting regulations designed to simplify rules and remove barriers to participation recently was introduced to the Michigan Natural Resources Commission. The regulations, proposed for the 2020 deer hunting season, are scheduled for an NRC vote in June.

We encourage hunters to review the proposed regulations and share their feedback through an anonymous survey or by email to NRC@Michigan.gov. All comments must be received by June 5 and will be shared with NRC members.

The regulations, if approved, will provide additional opportunities and cost savings for hunters and offer flexibility in how hunters pursue deer. The DNR uses existing and projected data to gauge the impact of proposed regulations. The data shows that the projected changes will not have a significant negative effect on the deer herd or the quality of deer hunting.

“These recommendations are aimed at making it easier for hunters of all ages and experience levels to enjoy a Michigan outdoor tradition, while at the same time facing the present and future challenges of managing the state’s deer population,” said Chad Stewart, the DNR’s deer, elk and moose program leader. “We hope that hunters across the state will take the opportunity to review the regulations and share their opinions, because their feedback is critical in shaping the future of deer hunting.”

Read the full NRC proposal memo or the justifications behind the 2020 proposed regulation changes at Michigan.gov/Deer.

Hunting
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