Outdoor commentary and legislative issues.
Goldfinch
The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) encourages hunters to start dreaming of spring by purchasing their spring turkey hunt applications today.
The DNR reminds hunters that spring turkey hunting applications are on sale now through Feb 1. The application fee is $4. Applications and licenses may be purchased at any authorized license agent or online at www.michigan.gov/huntdrawings. Read more
In Michigan, the Upper Peninsula’s kill fell an estimated 15 to 20 percent, while the Lower Peninsula’s kill fell about 10 percent. The annual Mackinac Bridge Authority’s survey of deer on hunters’ vehicles showed a 34 percent decline, with 4,207 deer counted in November, down from 6,420 in 2012. Further, the bridge survey was 26 percent below 2011’s count, 5,731.
DALLAS (Jan. 11, 2014)-A Dallas Safari Club (DSC) auction has raised $350,000 for rhino conservation efforts in Namibia.
All proceeds-100 percent-will go into a special fund used by the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism for anti-poaching patrols, habitat protection, research and other measures crucial for protecting populations of endangered black rhinos.
The auctioned item is a hunting permit for a black rhino in Namibia’s Mangetti National Park. Read more
By Glen Wunderlich
Now that Michigan’s first wolf hunt is over, one thing is clear: hunters did not wipe out our wolf population. In fact, only about half of the kill quota was met, or more precisely, 23 of the maximum quota of 43. That won’t stop the anti-hunting-anything contingent from furthering its emotionally founded cause to prevent another wolf hunt. It also won’t stop wolf hunting advocates from squaring off all over again in the political arena this year.
Predictably, the protections afforded the gray wolf over the decades would end eventually based on the remarkable growth of the wolf population, which is far beyond recovery goals established under the Endangered Species Act.
The wolf hunt was the state’s first to feature online and call-in reporting of killed wolves and allowed hunters to get text alerts or to check a given hunt’s status via a state website. The system also ensured that no over-killing would take place. From a management standpoint, the system worked as planned.
But, groups like Keep Michigan Wolves Protected (KMWP), an arm of the world’s largest anti-hunting organization, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), is still kicking and screaming. Read more
This from the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance…
As sportsmen and women are gearing up for the year ahead, the fight for the future of hunting appears headed for the ballot box next fall as ballot issues are popping up from coast to coast. While the November election might seem far off, hunters and trappers across the country are hard at work preparing for the upcoming battles.
In July, we reported on the ongoing fight over Michigan’s wolf management program. Now, sportsmen are staring down the barrel of two ballot initiatives that seek to bar the state from designating wolves as a game species. Sportsmen, not willing to sit idly by, have begun to fight back – and are circulating petitions for a citizen-initiated law to counter the anti’s efforts. If successful, the law would ensure the ability of the state’s Natural Resources Commission to designate game species. Read more
Due to heavy accumulated snowfall, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources will allow supplemental feeding of deer in the southern Upper Peninsula by permitted groups and individuals beginning Wednesday, Jan. 15.
Supplemental feeding is only allowed in the southern U.P. during years when accumulated early winter snowfall reaches a depth that is predictive of winter stress, while permitted feeding is allowed annually from January 15 to May 15 in the northern counties found within the Lake Superior snowbelt. Read more
Michigan anglers didn’t have a lot choice about how they practiced their sport in early 2014. With arctic weather leaving most of the state’s lakes – as well as many of its rivers – frozen, it’s been fish through the ice or stay home and think about fishing.
Fortunately, getting started ice fishing is relatively simple. Anglers need just three basic pieces of equipment – something to make a hole with, something to clear the slush from the hole, and something to fish with – and they’re in business.
The first two are simple. Either an auger (a corkscrew-like cutting device) or a spud (an over-sized chisel) will get you through the ice. And a simple slush scoop – something that looks like a ladle with holes in the cup – will get that job done. Read more
The Department of Natural Resources invites everyone to take advantage of the upcoming annual Winter Free Fishing Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 15-16. On those two days, residents and non-residents can fish without a license, though all other fishing regulations still apply.
Michigan has celebrated the Winter Free Fishing Weekend every year since 1994 as a way to promote awareness of and better connection to the state’s vast aquatic resources and fishing opportunities. With more than 3,000 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, tens of thousands of miles of rivers and streams, and 11,000 inland lakes – Michigan and fishing are a perfect match. Read more
GW: Only 232 pages of government plans to control the invasive Asian carp in this study…
The GLMRIS (Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Stydy) Report presents the results of a multi-year study regarding the range of options and technologies available to prevent aquatic nuisance species (ANS) movement between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins through aquatic connections. Through a structured study process, USACE identified thirteen ANS of Concern established in one basin that posed a high or medium risk of adverse impacts by transfer and establishment in the opposite basin. USACE analyzed and evaluated available controls to address these ANS, and formulated alternatives specifically for the Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS) with the goal of preventing ANS transfer between the two basins. Read more
Hopefully this cold weather will actually have an impact on Emerald Ash Borers, but who knows. Trouble is they’ve already done their damage in Michigan. Here are some details about the cold and the unwanted bugs.