Outdoor commentary and legislative issues.
Goldfinch
Some Bitterroot Valley, Montana livestock producers are gathering signatures on a petition to allow the county to institute a bounty they believe would create a wide-open season on wolves and mountain lions in Ravalli County.
The bounty would pay $100 for a wolf or mountain lion and $20 for a wolf pup or mountain lion kitten. Coyotes will bring $5 for an adult and $2.50 for a pup. More here…
BOGART, Ga. – The Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) is urging hunters in seven states to oppose the expansion of the deer-breeding industry, which QDMA perceives as a growing threat to wild deer and the deer-hunting heritage. Legislation designed to loosen or dismantle regulatory barriers to white-tailed deer breeding and farming is being considered in Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. Read more
Washington — American Bird Conservancy (ABC), the nation’s leading bird conservation organization, has sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) voicing strong concerns about the first-ever application for a special permit that would allow Golden Eagles to be incidentally killed.
Golden Eagle by Glen Wunderlich
The proposed “incidental take permit,” submitted under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, would allow Oregon’s West Butte Wind Project to kill, harm, or disturb up to three Golden Eagles over five years, as long as certain conservation measures were implemented.
ABC’s letter charges that the data upon which an FWS decision would be based are markedly deficient, and that the federal government is not meeting standards prescribed in its own regulations published less than three years ago. ABC also cites emails, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, between senior Department of Interior staff casting doubt on the whether the project could ever be safe for birds, including Golden Eagles. Read more
Sandhill Crane amid rape blossoms
Above a sandhill crane watches intently as I photograph the scene. The birds have returned, so can spring be far behind? And, yes, robins came back with them.
Daniel Richards, president of the California Fish and Game Commission, legally shot a mountain lion in Northern Idaho. But, when his photo was posted in an outdoor publication, the animal rights whackos wanted his neck. Why? Because lion hunting in California is illegal.
So the whackos want his job because he supports hunting as a viable means to control wildlife populations and puts his money where his mouth is. Because he spent a huge sum of money, which is used to support a legal hunting operation and Idaho wildlife management. Because he’s a hunter!
“It’s not illegal. But Read more
A wastewater site has become a temporary home for a photogenic snowy owl in Western Michigan. Story, photos, and video here…
A pen-raised antelope traveled more than 200 miles in three months before finding his own herd. Now he’s mixed with a herd from Mexico.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/02/18/20120218released-antelope-goes-quest-finds-herd.html#ixzz1mjFz2lTA
It will be Cabela’s second retail store in Michigan, joining the Dundee location on the east side of the state. Construction is expected to start this summer in Grandville, with completion in spring 2013. More here…
The Michigan Deer and Turkey Spectacular is in Lansing this weekend at 333 Michigan Ave., Friday through Sunday. Event details and discount coupons here…
Steve Hindi, president of SHARK (SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness), said his group was preparing to launch its Mikrokopter drone to video what he called a live pigeon shoot on Sunday when law enforcement officers and an attorney claiming to represent the privately-owned plantation near Ehrhardt tried to stop the aircraft from flying.
“Seconds after it hit the air, numerous shots rang out,” Hindi said in the release. “As an act of revenge for us shutting down the pigeon slaughter, they had shot down our copter.”