Category: Wildlife

Goldfinch

Coyote Hunting Halted in Five North Carolina Counties

RALEIGH, NC- The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is notifying the public that a U.S. District Judge has issued a court order prohibiting hunting of coyotes in Dare, Hyde, Beaufort, Tyrrell and Washington counties, day or night, except under extremely limited circumstances. This notification is due to a lawsuit in which the Wildlife Resources Commission is alleged to have violated the federal Endangered Species Act by allowing coyote hunting in those counties where a non-essential experimental reintroduction of the red wolf is occurring. Read more

Animal Rights, Hunting, Wildlife

Spring season brings the next generation of wildlife

fawn in tall grassIt’s spring, and baby animals are out and about as wildlife is giving birth and hatching the next generation. Baby red foxes are being spotted, and the first litters of cottontails will soon appear. Great-horned owls have already hatched and are growing up in stick nests high above the ground. Mourning doves have made nests and some have already laid eggs. Soon there will be nestlings and baby critters all over the place – the natural cycle for population replenishment is at work.

The Department of Natural Resources encourages people to get outside and enjoy the wildlife sightings and experiences. Seeing wild animals raising their young is a magical moment, but it is important to remember to remain at a distance. Sometimes, unfortunately, the story has a different ending when people take baby animals out of the wild.
 
“Please resist the urge to try to help seemingly abandoned fawns or other baby animals this spring,” said DNR wildlife biologist Steve Griffith. “Some people truly are trying to be helpful, while others think wild animals would make good pets. In most cases, neither of those situations ends well for the wildlife.

fawn video thumbnail“We appreciate the good intentions of those who want to help, but the animals are better off left alone than removed from the wild,” said Griffith.  “The species that are most problematic are white-tailed deer and raccoons.

“Deer seem so vulnerable and helpless but really they stay still because that is a mechanism to let them be undetected. Raccoons seem cute and cuddly but they grow up to be mischievous and aggressive. It’s best to just leave them alone.” Read more

Wildlife

Want More Wildlife? Think Like A Farmer – by Austin Delano

One of the biggest problems with warm season food plots is weed competition. Some are grasses and some broadleaf weeds, but they are all an eyesore and steal moisture and nutrients from your wildlife plots. Here are two of the most common food plot weeds in the south. It seems to be giving a lot of food plotters problems this year in their fields across the country. Most anyone who has spent time farming or food plotting is familiar with Johnson Grass. If you don’t have any to deal with on your property, count yourself blessed. It is a notorious invasive weed that is very drought resistant, fast spreading, and can be tough to eliminate. Read more

Hunting, Wildlife

Record Grizzly Ignites Questions About Trophy Categories

MISSOULA, Mont.–News traveled fast when conservationists learned the largest grizzly bear ever taken by a hunter had been entered into Boone and Crockett records. Nearly as quickly, however, came questions about why grizzlies are distinguished from Alaska brown bears. After all, aren’t these technically the same species?
The Boone and Crockett Club announced the new record grizzly on May 5.
Soon after, an Anchorage, Alaska, newspaper headline chided, “Giant Grizzly is One for Some Record Books, But Not Alaska’s.” The article pointed out that Ursus arctos does in fact grow to 10 feet tall along the coast, much larger than the newly heralded 9-footer killed far inland near Fairbanks. Why all the fuss about this “alleged record-setting” specimen from upstate? Read more

Hunting, Wildlife

Wildlife watchers love the view at Maple River State Game Area

common yellowthroatMay is American Wetlands Month, a month to appreciate and enjoy the wonders of wetlands. The Department of Natural Resources encourages residents to experience this amazing native ecosystem by visiting one of Michigan’s finest wetlands – the Maple River State Game Area.  

 

Nestled along both sides of U.S. 127 in southern Gratiot County, Maple River State Game Area includes farm fields, woodlands, grasslands and cattail marshes. It is a popular birding and wildlife viewing destination in the spring and summer.

 

The diversity of habitats at Maple River offers wildlife enthusiasts a wide variety of viewing opportunities. Visitors can go to flooded cornfields for dabbling ducks like Northern shovelers, Northern pintails and green-winged teal or check out the larger ponds and marshes for diving ducks like ring-necked ducks, hooded mergansers and ruddy ducks. Herons and egrets are common marsh visitors, as well as bald eagles, ospreys, grebes, coots, muskrats and moorhens. Prothonotary warblers may be found nesting in wooded swamps. Read more

Wildlife

Bipartisan Vote Supports Sportsmen’s Call for Transparency in Environmental Litigation

GW:  I’ll be pleasantly surprised if the “most open” federal administration via Harry Reid, allows a vote on this bill in the Senate.

MISSOULA, Mont.–The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bipartisan bill to publish details on lawsuits lost or settled by federal agencies that must pay the private legal fees of the other side.

 
The Open Book on Equal Access to Justice Act, H.R. 2919 – which passed the House on May 6 by voice vote with support of both Democrats and Republicans – would create an online public database of court cases against the U.S. government. Agencies do not keep usable data on cases brought against them according to investigations by the Government Accounting Office. H.R. 2919 would provide a common base of information available to all citizens.

Read more

Hunting, Wildlife

DNR and Ruffed Grouse Society partner to plant food for

 The Department of Natural Resources and the Ruffed Grouse Society recently spent a day afield improving wildlife habitat by planting apple trees.

 

volunteers planting apple trees“I love work days like this,” said DNR wildlife biologist Bruce Barlow. “Great relationships start and continue when you are working outdoors in the dirt side by side with your partners.”

 

Barlow, stationed at the Gladwin DNR office and manager of the Lame Duck Foot Access Area, has worked hard to keep the area primed for the user. This area in Gladwin County features thousands of acres of public land that many hunters, trappers and wildlife viewers use every year. Read more

Wildlife

Safari Club International Files Motion For Preliminary Injunction Against Elephant Importation Bans

Washington, DC – Yesterday, April 30, 2014, Safari Club International’s (SCI) litigation team took the second step in its challenge to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) bans on the importation of sport-hunted elephants from Zimbabwe and Tanzania.  SCI filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, asking the court to immediately lift the importation bans.  SCI’s motion explained that emergency relief is necessary to prevent harm to those who have elephant hunts planned for 2014 and to the elephants whose conservation has been placed at risk by the FWS’s actions.   Read more

Hunting, Poachers, Wildlife
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