Category: Wildlife

Goldfinch

POMA to Recognize Outdoor Filmmakers During 10th Anniversary Conference

The Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA) announced a new partnership with the Outdoor Film Festival and Tour earlier this year. During its annual business conference March 18-21 in Springfield, MO, POMA will showcase submissions in the Whitetail Short Film category.

“Outdoor filmmakers, whether specializing in TV or short form, will find the POMA annual business conference to be a great opportunity for learning more about the industry and for networking with other professional filmmakers,” said Tom Opre, POMA president and a 26-year veteran filmmaker. Read more

Fishing, Hunting, Wildlife

Late winter is time for wildlife habitat projects

Beat cabin fever and help wildlife by tackling habitat improvement projects this winter.

Late winter is the best time to pursue many wildlife habitat projects. The ground is often dry or frozen, the timing prevents conflicts with nesting wildlife in spring, and managing wooded and shrubby areas is easier to do before leaves emerge and sap flows.

Some winter habitat management suggestions follow. Read more

Wildlife

QDMA Offers Student Scholarships

The Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) will award deserving students with scholarships to attend a Deer Steward course in 2015.

Applications will be accepted from high school juniors and seniors or college students who are interested in a career in wildlife management. For each of the in-person Deer Steward Certification Courses offered this year, QDMA will present at least one student with a scholarship to attend free-of-charge.

QDMA’s individual Certification Program includes three levels of potential achievement: Deer Steward I, II, and III. Level I provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the four cornerstones of QDM: herd management, habitat management, hunter management, and herd monitoring. Level II focuses on the application of these principles through hands-on field experience. Level III must be earned through an individual’s long-term service to QDMA and/or the white-tailed deer. Courses must be taken in succession. Read more

Wildlife

USSA Files Great Lakes Wolf Appeal

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation has filed an appeal of the ruling handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell on Dec. 20 concerning management of gray wolves in the western Great Lakes area.

The Feb. 13 notice of appeal seeks to overturn the ruling that forced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to return a population of wolves found in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan to the protections afforded by the Endangered Species Act – with ramifications that affect the entire scope of managing the apex predator. The decision stemmed from a lawsuit brought by Humane Society of the United States; Born Free, USA; Help Our Wolves Live; and Friends of Animals and Their Environment. Read more

Wildlife

Arizona’s Mexican Wolf Population Tops 100

Population survey shows a 31 percent increase in the population

The Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team (IFT) has completed its annual year-end population survey for endangered Mexican wolves and documented a minimum of 109 animals in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico at the end of 2014. This is a 31 percent increase over the previous year and the fourth consecutive year with at least a 10 percent increase in the known population. There were a minimum of 83 wild wolves identified in the 2013 survey.

“In 1982, the Mexican wolf recovery team recommended a population of at least 100 animals in the wild as a hedge against extinction; until we initiated the first releases in 1998, there had been no Mexican wolves in the wild in the United States since the 1970s,” said Southwest Regional Director Benjamin Tuggle. “Although there is still much to be done, reaching this milestone is monumental!”

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“This survey demonstrates a major accomplishment in Mexican wolf recovery. In 2010, there were 50 Mexican wolves in the wild; today there are 109, a more than doubling of the population in Arizona and New Mexico. With our Mexican wolf population consisting of wild-born wolves, we expect the growth rates observed this year to continue into the future. In spite of considerable naysaying, our 10(j) program has been a success because of on-the-ground partnerships. We have every reason to believe that our efforts at reintroduction will continue to be successful,” said Arizona Game and Fish Director Larry Voyles. Read more

Wildlife

RMEF Files Appeal in Great Lakes Wolf Ruling

MISSOULA, Mont.—The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation joined a coalition of partners by filing an appeal to remove wolves in the Great Lakes region from federal protection and return them to state management.

In December of 2014, Judge Beryl A. Howell wiped out several years of successful management in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin by returning wolves to the Endangered Species List. In her ruling, Judge Howell overlooked the region’s robust population by stating wolves in the Great Lakes cannot be considered recovered until they are re-established across their widespread historic range covering much of the United States.

“Plain and simple, state agencies –not the federal government– are best qualified and equipped to manage wolves just as they manage all other wildlife,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO. “The judge did not rule that the Great Lakes wolf population is ailing. On the contrary, it’s thriving—a fact that is echoed by wildlife scientists.” Read more

Wildlife

Ivory Ban Bills Across the United States- An Update

Federal Regulation and Legislation

African Elephant Conservation and Legal Ivory Possession Act Re-Introduced in Congress – Alaskan Congressman Don Young has introduced bipartisan legislation with Congressman Collin Peterson (D-MN) to roll-back and further halt onerous constraints on lawfully possessed ivory products, including musical instruments, firearms, knives, and museum pieces that include ivory parts. The African Elephant Conservation and Legal Ivory Possession Act of 2015, HR 697, would effectively end the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s draconian and unilateral moratorium on the sale and trade of lawfully possessed ivory, while also making significant efforts to assist anti-poaching efforts in countries with elephant populations.

The bill would specifically allow: Read more

Hunting, Wildlife

Boone & Crockett Supports Bill Restoring State Management for Wolves

GW: So, here we go in an effort to wrest control from Feds. Heck yeah!

MISSOULA, MT – A new bill introduced in Congress yesteday would once and for all transfer management of recovered gray wolf populations back to state wildlife agencies in Wyoming and the Great Lakes region.

H.R. 884 is cosponsored by members of Congress from the relevant states from both parties. The original sponsors include Representatives Ribble (R-WI), Lummis (R-WY), Benishek (R-MI), Peterson (D-MN), Duffy (R-WI), Emmer (R-MN), Grothman (R-WI), Huizenga (R-MI), Kind (D-WI), Kline (R-MN), Ryan (R-WI), Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Simpson (R-ID), Walberg (R-MI), and Walz (D-MN).

Several of the sponsors are members and past leaders of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus. Rep. Tim Walz is currently a co-chair of the caucus.

Wolf management authority for years has been bouncing back and forth between state and federal agencies in these two regions as the wolf populations there have thrived and spread. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has repeatedly found the species to be recovered, sustainable and ready for science-based management by the states. Courts have repeatedly negated these findings based on lawsuits over procedural technicalities.

Congress previously acted on this same problem with bipartisan support to establish state management in Montana and Idaho in 2011. Today’s legislation renews that effort for Wyoming and the Lake States. Boone and Crockett helped develop the 2011 bill, which also appears in H.R. 884.

“It is a sign of our times that scientific decisions by the Fish and Wildlife Service can be repeatedly reversed in court by those who disapprove of the decision,” said Bob Model, co-chair of the Boone and Crockett Club’s Policy Committee. “Preferences should not trump science. It is past time for Congress to stand behind the science, reinstate the decisions, and cut off further lawsuits – and that’s what H.R. 884 does.”

In 2011, when Congress last acted to reinstate management authority to Idaho and Montana, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had not yet transferred management to other states. Since then, the additional transfers have occurred and, just as in the past, procedural litigation reversed them. It is time again to reinstate the scientific decision of the Fish and Wildlife Service and stop the legal gamesmanship.

Both Idaho and Montana have been successfully carrying out their management strategy of balancing the needs of wolves and people since 2011. Wolf populations in these states remain sizable, sustainable, and stabilized.

In reinstating state management in Wyoming, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan, H.R. 884 also makes these reissued rulings no longer subject to judicial review by district courts. The bill does not modify the Endangered Species Act, nor does it prevent the Fish and Wildlife Service from deciding to re-impose federal protection for the gray wolf in the future if it determines that is necessary.

Model added, “At the end of the day, people who live with wolves want to do what’s right for wolves and people. This new bill will allow science-based state management to work for both.”

About the Boone and Crockett Club
North America’s first hunting and conservation organization, the Boone and Crockett Club was founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1887. Its mission is to promote the conservation and management of wildlife, especially big game and its habitat, to preserve and encourage hunting and to maintain the highest ethical standards of fair chase and sportsmanship. Join us at www.boone-crockett.org.
Media Contact Steve Wagner, Blue Heron
Communications, 800-654-3766 or steve@blueheroncomm.com.

Animal Rights, Hunting, Wildlife

Ruby Creek Wolf Captured, Placed in Western Washington Sanctuary

OLYMPIA – A wolf that had become habituated to humans, and could cause problems if left in the wild, was captured on February 11 by Washington wildlife officials in northeast Washington and placed in a western Washington wolf sanctuary.

The adult female wolf, the last known member of the Ruby Creek pack, was captured near the community of Ione in Pend Oreille County where she had spent months living near people, domestic dogs and livestock.

Dave Ware, wolf policy lead for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), said the wolf’s behavior prompted concerns she would breed with a domestic dog, produce wolf-dog hybrids in the wild, and become increasingly associated with humans.

“This is a rare situation,” Ware said. “We know that placing wolves in captivity is not an option every time there is a problem. In this case, however, we believe permanent placement in a wolf sanctuary is a good match given the animal’s habituation to humans.”

Since last fall, the Pend Oreille County Commission has urged WDFW to move the wolf out of Ione, Ware said. Yet, she eluded capture and remained in the area despite the department’s efforts to trap her. Read more

Wildlife

Stealth Cam G42C

Stealth Cam, introduced in the year 2000, quickly became the leader in scouting camera innovation. Building upon the wildly popular G Series camera platform, Stealth Cam introduces the G42C White LED Flash scouting camera. This 8 Megapixel – 3 resolutions; 8mp, 4mp, and 2mp delivers color day and color night images and video thanks to the 42 White LED’s with an 80-foot range, making it great for land management professionals, hunters tracking potential trophies, or landowners keeping any eye on critters in their back yard. Read more

Hunting, Wildlife
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