Outdoor commentary and legislative issues.
Goldfinch
CONCORD, N.H. – Fish and Game Department personnel are alerting residents of Hopkinton, N.H., to the likely presence of a rabid coyote, following an attack on a local teenager yesterday (February 22, 2012). Read more
Washington, D.C. – On Tuesday, February 22, 2012, NBC’s “Rock Center with Brian Williams” aired a detailed segment on rhino poaching in South Africa. Because the price of rhino horn has increased dramatically over the past few decades, statistics show poachers killed nearly 450 rhinos last year. In 2012 alone, poachers have killed one rhino every 18 hours. Read more
Coyote hunting is best right now. Tips and techniques here…
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…