MISSOULA, Mont.—The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation today spoke in favor of keeping grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park under state management while addressing a Montana federal court. Plaintiffs want to place the population back under federal protection.

“We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state wildlife agencies in maintaining that the grizzly population in the Greater Yellowstone Area met all delisting criteria as determined by scientists and should remain subject to state management,” said Kyle Weaver, RMEF president and CEO. “State agencies manage elk, mountain lions, deer and other wildlife as per the North American Conservation Wildlife Model, and the same should hold for grizzly bears.” Read more

Attorneys from Safari Club International and National Rifle Association of America today participated in a hearing held in Montana federal court to decide the fate of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s delisting of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) grizzly bear population.

During the hearing the judge informed all parties that he would not rule from the bench but would make his decision on the delisting as expeditiously as possible.

All Defendants, represented by attorneys for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the states of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana and several non-governmental organizations including SCI and NRA, made strong arguments in defense of the delisting and the use of hunting as a grizzly bear management tool.

As of the date of the publication of this article, the grizzly bear hunts set to begin in Wyoming and Idaho on Sept. 1, 2018, are still scheduled to go forward. Read more

Grand Prairie, TX – Most digital scouting cameras utilize mechanical filters that allow them to “see” the infrared illumination produced by their infrared flash systems and record nighttime images of deer and other game. The clever system works, but has its drawbacks. First, the mechanical filter deploys – turning either on or off – anytime when light levels reach a predetermined value. Consequently, images taken

during these “transition periods” can often appear too light or too dark. Secondly, mechanical filters typically make noise when deployed, which can alert or even startle nearby game. Read more

Newington, N.H. – SIG SAUER Electro-Optics is pleased to announce that the award-winning Ballistic Data Xchange (BDX™) Rangefinder and Riflescope System is now available in retail stores for hunting season. BDX is a rangefinder and riflescope system that uses your ballistics, environmental conditions, and Bluetooth to illuminate the exact holdover dot. The BDX System is simple, fast, and intuitive – just Connect The Dot™.

To use the BDX Rangefinder and Riflescope system, simply download the “SIG BDX” app, pair the KILO BDX Rangefinder and SIERRA3BDX Riflescope, set up your ballistic profile, and you are ready to hunt. Once you are in the field, range your target, put the ballistic holdover dot on the target, pull the trigger, impact.

The BDX family of rangefinders includes: KILO1400BDX, KILO1800BDX, KILO2200BDX, KILO2400BDX, and KILO3000BDX rangefinding binocular. These rangefinders include many of the unrivaled features that the KILO name was built on: Lightwave DSP™ digital rangefinder engine, Hyperscan™ with 4 times per second scan rate, RangeLock™, and the Lumatic™ auto-adjusting display.

The SIERRA3BDX riflescopes are available in 3.5-10x42mm, 4.5-14x44mm, 4.5-14x50mm, and 6.5-20x52mm, and have the look, feel, weight, and size of traditional riflescopes. The riflescopes feature HD glass for superior resolution and optical clarity, 30mm main tubes, side-focus parallax adjustments, and the LevelPlex™ digital anti-cant system. The BDX-R1 Digital Ballistic Reticle is the evolution of holdover, with a second focal plane reticle that scales your ballistic holdover dot with magnification like a first focal plane reticle, providing a ballistic solution out to 800 yards with 1 MOA of accuracy.

Rounding out these superior features is SIG SAUER’s kinetic energy transfer indicator: KinETHIC™. KinETHIC provides hunters assistance in assuring an ethical hunt by indicating when energy on target drops below a threshold that can be set by the hunter using the BDX App. Read more

Dallas, TX – Regardless of how much practice one puts in at the range or the type of firearm, bow or crossbow one carries into the field, no variable plays a greater role in hunting success than knowing the distance to the target. Just a few yards of misjudged distance can result in a miss or worse – a wounded animal. For this reason, a quality laser rangefinder is one of the most important tools a hunter can carry into the field.

Delivering accuracy to +/- one yard, the Halo XL600 provides fast ranging out to 600 yards – plenty of distance for most hunting situations. Versatile 6x magnification provides bright, clear viewing and fast target acquisition, while an easy-to-read internal LCD displays the reticle, battery status, mode setting, numerical display and unit of measure, which is selectable by yards or meters. Read more

Ameristep’s new Deadwood Stump Blind makes great hunts happen… anywhere… anytime.

Plano, IL – Elite hunters know how important location is to hunting success. On any given day, the right location isn’t always the most convenient. Thankfully, ground blinds excel at delivering hunters flexible and portable concealment that makes it possible to set up and hunt from almost anywhere the circumstance requires.

Ameristep is constantly innovating new and better forms of ground-based concealment solutions for hunters. Their latest creation – the Deadwood™ Stump – is the most realistic and practical portable tree stump blind on the market. Read more

More than 200 entries vied for the honor of being the DNR’s winning design in the 2018 Deer Management Cooperator Patch contest. See all of the submissions in this short video.

In the end, Matt MacDonald of Toronto, Ontario, submitted a design that captured DNR staff’s attention. Thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s contest.

Cooperator patches are used as an incentive for successful hunters to bring their deer to DNR check stations. A deer head (antlers must still be attached on bucks) or an entire carcass must be presented to receive a patch. Patches are not available by mail. Hunters are urged to call ahead whenever possible to confirm hours and days of operation. Read more

The first hunt period of the 2018 elk season starts Aug. 28, and 100 Michigan hunters will have 12 days to fill 30 any-elk and 70 antlerless-only licenses issued in the northern third of the Lower Peninsula.

“In general, elk hunters have a remarkable success rate during this first hunt period,” said Brian Mastenbrook, DNR wildlife field operations manager working out of the Gaylord office. “With only 100 hunters, we can really work closely with hunters and landowners to find elk.”

The first hunt – also known as Michigan’s early elk hunt – allows hunters to harvest an elk in any location in the elk management unitexcept within the core elk range; this approach helps to target animals that have moved outside the core elk range. Regulated hunting is a management tool used to influence how many elk are present and where they are located. The goal is to keep the majority of elk within the core elk range.

Michigan’s elk population has been hunted annually since 1984 and at this time has an estimated population of more than 1,200 animals – above the state’s current population goal of 500-900 elk. That goal was set by the Elk Management Advisory Team and outlined in the 2012 Elk Management Plan. Read more