Category: Wildlife

Goldfinch

Why Michigan’s Wolf Hunt Was Successful

CfPWM

Citizens for Professional Wildlife Management P.O. Box 11082 Lansing, MI 48901

LANSING–The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) released new statistics from last season’s public wolf hunt – Michigan’s first – which showed that the majority of wolves taken by hunters were likely from problem packs – and, no helicopters were used in the hunt!
17 of the 23 wolves taken by hunters were taken in pack territories in the Upper Peninsula with high incidents of wolf depredation on livestock or pets. Most were taken within five miles of a depredation incident, according to DNR biologist Adam Bump. DNR biologists know the approximate territories of wolf packs, which aggressively defend their territories from other wolves. Read more

Firearms, Hunting, Wildlife

Nebraska Senator Threatens to Shut Down Legislature Over Mountain Lion Hunt

GW:  Another liberal who doesn’t get it…

Just two weeks into Nebraska’s inaugural Mountain Lion hunting season, a bill has been introduced to stop the hunt.

The bill, LB 671 sponsored by Senator Ernie Chambers (D-Omaha), would ban mountain lion hunting, threatening not only livestock but public safety also.  Senator Chambers has also announced his intentions to oppose every proposal of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission until the mountain lion season is abolished.

In 1995, Nebraska added mountain lions to the state’s game list in order to protect the steadily growing population.   Over the past 20 years, the population levels have risen enough to sustain a limited harvest using a controlled quota system.  In 2013, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission established its first ever mountain lion season which commenced this month. Read more

Animal Rights, Hunting, Wildlife

Youth rabbit hunt a new tradition for DNR, conservation groups

What started out as an experiment has turned into a tradition. The youth rabbit hunt at the Belding Sportsmen’s Club, near the Flat River State Game Area – now in its third year – attracted 45 youngsters last Saturday for a morning of stomping brush piles, following beagles and tromping through the snow.

 

young hunter shooting with mentor“We’re getting great participation from everyone,” said club president John Burns, “club members, parents and youngsters.”

 

The idea for the youth hunt sprung from John Niewoonder, the Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist at Flat River, who had been on a campaign to improve the small game habitat by building brush piles for “rabbitat” at the area. Read more

Hunting, Wildlife

Safari Club International and Hunters Helping the African Lion

GW:  Another example of how hunting helps…

Tucson, AZ – From the outside looking in, a non-hunter might find it hard to comprehend. What needs to be understood is that hunters have a deep care and passion for the animals they pursue to ensure that a healthy population of that resource remains.

Hunters commit a large amount of resources and time to help promote species of game to sustainable levels to be able to pursue them for hunting.

The impact of hunters on the African lion has become a hot button issue, to say the least, over the past few years. What should be a discussion based on science has turned into an emotionally charged topic. Read more

Animal Rights, Hunting, Wildlife

HSUS “Ambassador” Caught with Illegal Ivory

This from www.HumaneWatch.org

We reported earlier this week about the controversy around an auction for a hunt of a single, non-breeding black rhino that raised $350,000 for anti-poaching efforts. It’s interesting that the biggest complainer about this auction, the Humane Society of the United States, isn’t apparently spending much, if anything, toward rhino conservation itself, according to its tax returns.  If HSUS had its way, this $350,000 wouldn’t make its way to anti-poaching programs, simply because HSUS is ideologically against hunting.

And now, the latest setback in the fight against illegal poaching comes from HSUS’s own “global ambassador,” the music artist calling herself Ke$ha. Read more

Animal Rights, Hunting, Wildlife

Catfish state record broken for second time in less than two years


Dale Blakley of Niles, Mich., caught a state-record, 52-pound flathead catfish out of Barron Lake in Cass County on Jan. 12.The Department of Natural Resources confirmed the catch of a new state record flathead catfish on Monday, Jan. 13.

The catfish was caught by Dale Blakley of Niles, Mich., on Sunday, Jan. 12, on Barron Lake in Cass County at 3 p.m. The fish weighed 52.0 pounds and measured 46.02 inches. Blakley was ice fishing for crappies when he landed the record fish.

The record was verified by Brian Gunderman, a DNR fisheries biologist, at the Plainwell office.

The previous state record flathead catfish was caught by Rodney Akey of Niles on the St. Joseph River in Berrien County on May 22, 2012. That fish weighed 49.8 pounds and measured 45.7 inches. Prior to that, the record hadn’t been broken since 1943. Read more

Wildlife

Outdoor Life Awards DNR for Habitat Partnership with Michigan United Conservation Clubs

Michigan On-the-Ground program engages volunteers to improve habitat

LAS VEGAS, NV— The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) earned Outdoor Life magazine’s first ever Open Country award, which recognizes individuals, organizations and agencies for protecting and improving public hunting access. The DNR won the agency award for its public-private partnership with Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC) in the Michigan On-the-Ground program, a statewide series of volunteer fish and wildlife habitat improvement projects. The award was presented at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday.  Read more

Hunting, Wildlife

Northern shrike

by Doug Reeves, assistant chief, DNR Wildlife Division 

I was outside, headed back to the house, when I heard a bird song that seemed to be a jumble of various noises. It was not a clear, predictable song, and much of it was what I would call a racket – sounding like a disturbed or distressed bird – but it was one that I had heard several times before. I knew it was a northern shrike. This makes the fourth year in a row that we have had at least one shrike visit our 40 acres. Previously, they were rare visitors that stopped in for a short time and then disappeared just as quickly. Lately they have been staying for prolonged periods. That may be because the mix of fields and brush suits them very well now.

 

northern shrikeNorthern shrikes have a subtle beauty, being varying shades of gray, white and black. The blocky head, black eye stripe and hooked beak are important identification marks. They tend to be quite visible much of the time, setting on electric lines, the tops of trees and other conspicuous places. My experience has been that they arrive around the first of December and are gone by mid-February. They seem to prefer old fields and brushy areas here. Michigan is in the midst of the wintering region for this bird. Northern shrikes nest in the far northern subarctic forests and tundra. They only go as far south as they have to in winter, which means they don’t go much below mid-Ohio, Indiana and Illinois in this region. [Northern shrike photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service] Read more

Wildlife

Training the next generation of conservation officers

On Sunday, Jan. 12, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) opened its first new conservation officer (CO) recruit school since 2007. A total of 31 CO candidates – boasting an array of backgrounds and life experiences – are attending the school.

The Department of Natural Resources welcomed 31 recruits to its first conservation officer recruit school since 2007.Candidates range from a college senior to recruits who are in their early 40s and include nine law enforcement employees from other agencies, including the state police, sheriff’s departments, and small-town and urban police forces. Others have degrees in criminal justice. Six are military veterans; two have been conservation officers in other states – Kansas and Wisconsin; and two are employees with the DNR Parks and Recreation Division.

Still others are from entirely different disciplines, among them a food-processing employee of the Department of Corrections and a pizza restaurant manager – though both have extensive hunting, fishing and outdoor experience. Read more

Hunting, Wildlife
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