Don’t Prune Oak Trees in Spring, Summer

Oak wilt, caused by a fungus, makes oak trees suddenly wilt from the top down. Symptoms are most likely to appear from June through September.</div

>Have an oak tree on your property? To keep it healthy, don’t prune it from mid-April through the summer. That’s a key time for infection with oak wilt, a serious disease that can weaken white oaks and kill red oak trees within weeks.

Oak wilt, caused by a fungus, has been reported throughout the Midwest, including Michigan, said Ryan Wheeler,  invasive species biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Red oaks are most susceptible to the disease. These trees have leaves with pointed tips and include black oak, northern red oak and northern pin oak. Trees in the white oak group have rounded leaf edges and include white oak and swamp white oak. They are less susceptible. Read more

Wildlife

Michigan Lends Indiana Brown Trout Program A Hand

A cooperative arrangement with surrounding states helped save Indiana’s annual stocking of brown trout into Lake Michigan and Trail Creek this year.
Indiana has historically received brown trout from Illinois in return for providing that state with Skamania steelhead. However, production shortages in Illinois this year required Indiana to reach out to Michigan and it has agreed to provide 40,000 brown trout as 6-inch fingerlings in April.
“This type of cooperation is a great way to ensure the mutual success of all states managing Lake Michigan,” said Brian Breidert, Lake Michigan fisheries biologist with the DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife.
Of the 40,000 brown trout, 30,000 fish will be stocked at the East Chicago marina. The remaining 10,000 will be released into Trail Creek, a Lake Michigan tributary.

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Fishing

Smith & Wesson SW22 Victory Target Model Pistol

SW22 Victory pistol features Target Sights, Target Grips

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Smith & Wesson Corp. today announced that it has added a Target Model to it’s award-winning SW22 Victory line of pistols. Chambered in .22 LR, the new SW22 Victory Target Model pistol incorporates featuresdesigned for competitive target shooting, including target sights, custom target thumb rest grip, and polished feed ramp.

Jan Mladek, General Manager of Smith & Wesson and M&P brands, said, “Since the launch of the SW22 Victory pistol in 2015, our customers have asked for a model specifically built for target shooting competitions.  With that in mind, we designed the new SW22 Victory Target Model with target grips and sights to provide our customers with an ideal target shooting pistol.”

Designed for target shooting competitions, the new SW22 Victory Target Model pistol features include:

    • 5.5” bull barrel
    • Target trigger with adjustable trigger stop
    • Black blade front sight and adjustable rear target sight
    • Textured, polymer target thumb rest grip panels for both right and left handed shooters
    • Picatinny-style rail for use with an optic

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Firearms

Remington RP45 Full-Size Striker Fired Pistol

Huntsville, AL – Remington is proud to announce its full-size polymer pistol, the RP45 and RP45 Night Sight, is now available at retail locations nationwide. The Remington RP45 – a striker-fired, polymer frame pistol features a 4.5” barrel chambered in 45 Auto.

MAXIMUM FIREPOWER.  COMPLETE CONTROL.  THIS IS SHOOTABILITY. Following the 2017 release of the RP9 Remington’s first polymer frame full size handgun, the 15+1 capacity RP45 is a great addition to the RP line.  boasting all the same features as the RP9 with the added power of the 45 Auto cartridge, and available with 3-dot tritium night sights.  Built with one of the smallest grip circumferences in its class, The RP45 delivers a reliable defensive gun at a great value to the consumer. Read more

Firearms

Firearms Industry Economic Impact Rises 169% Since 2008

NEWTOWN, Conn. — The total economic impact of the firearms and ammunition industry in the United States increased from $19.1 billion in 2008 to $51.4 billion in 2017, a 169 percent increase, while the total number of full-time equivalent jobs rose from approximately 166,000 to almost 310,000, an 87 percent increase in that period, according to a report released today by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the industry’s trade association.

On a year-over-year basis, the industry’s economic impact rose from $51.3 billion in 2016 to $51.4 in 2017, ticking higher even while the industry came off-peak production years. Total jobs increased from approximately 301,000 to almost 311,000, a 3 percent increase in the same period.

“Our industry is proud to be one of the truly bright spots in our economy as an unprecedented number of Americans have chosen to exercise their fundamental right to keep and bear arms and to safely enjoy the shooting sports,” said Stephen L. Sanetti, NSSF President and CEO. “In response to that dynamic, we have increased our direct workforce by more than 7,000 in the past year alone, adding jobs that pay an average nearly $50,000 in wages and benefits. In addition, since 2008 we increased federal tax payments by 144 percent, Pittman-Robertson excise taxes that support wildlife conservation by 104 percent and state business taxes by 121 percent.” Read more

Firearms

Explore Scientific Acquires Alpen Optics

(SPRINGDALE, AR) — In a deal that guarantees the continuation of a respected name in the outdoor optics industry, Explore Scientific recently purchased Alpen Optics, which operated in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., for 22 years.

Through the agreement, which was finalized on April 2, Explore Scientific has acquired all of the corporation’s assets including trademarks and domains. Since 1996, Alpen Optics has earned and maintained a solid reputation by providing high quality binoculars, spotting scopes, riflescopes and other accessories to outdoor enthusiasts. This action ensures the Alpen Optics brand will live on with the same commitment to product performance and service that Alpen Optics customers have come to expect.

Explore Scientific is excited to add Alpen Optics to its stable of brands — which already includes Bresser, Discovery, National Geographic and Explore One — and is working to integrate inventories and ensure most of the Alpen Optics product line will continue with minimal interruption. Read more

Optics

Bayer Reaches Deal With U.S. for Approval to Buy Monsanto

The U.S. Justice Department will allow German drugs and pesticides group Bayer AG to acquire Monsanto Co in a $62.5 billion deal, after the companies agreed to sell more assets to win antitrust approval, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Shares of Monsanto, the world’s biggest seed company, approached a four-year high on the news, before closing up 6.2 percent at $125.15.

The takeover, one of a trio of major deals in the agribusiness sector in recent years, would create a company with a share of more than a quarter of the world’s seed and pesticides market. A souring global farm economy has spurred consolidation among the major players, triggering protests from environmental and farming groups worried about their market power.

The Justice Department reached an agreement in principle with Bayer and Monsanto in recent days, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter. Under the deal, Bayer agreed to sell additional seed and treatment assets to BASF SE and agreed to make concessions related to digital agriculture, the Journal said. Read more

General

Bank of America Will Stop Lending to Makers of AR-Rifles

“It’s our intention not to finance these military-style firearms for civilian use,” Anne Finucane, a vice chairman at Bank of America, said Tuesday in a Bloomberg Television interview. The firm has had “intense conversations over the last few months” with those kinds of gun manufacturers to tell them it won’t finance their operations in the future, she said. Finucane said Bank of America also won’t underwrite securities issued by manufacturers of military-style guns used by civilians. Bank of America helped finance Vista Outdoors and Remington. No official response has been received from any firearms company, the National Shooting Sports Foundation or the NRA as of today.
Firearms, Gun Control

Ruger SR1911 Target

Ruger® SR1911®

  • Model Number: 6759
  • Caliber: 9mm Luger
  • Capacity9+1
  • Slide MaterialStainless Steel
  • Barrel Length5″
  • Grip FrameLow-Glare Stainless
  • Grip PanelsDeluxe Checkered G-10
  • Model TypeTarget
  • Slide FinishLow-Glare Stainless
  • Width1.45″
  • SightsAdjustable Target
  • Weight41.9 oz.
    • Overall Length8.67″
    • Height5.45″
    • Grooves6
    • Twist1:10″ RH
    • CA ApprovedNo
    • MA Approved & CertifiedNo
    • Suggested Retail$1019.00

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Firearms

What Fish See–And What they Don’t

This issue will continue exploring the sight of fish, and provide some practical suggestions for anglers. Underwater, where visibility is usually limited to dozens of feet under even the clearest conditions, there is little need for long-range vision.

Fish have been described as being nearsighted, and can probably focus on objects much closer to their eyes than humans can. Cast a popping bug near a school of bluegill and one of them will often approach within an inch of the lure to inspect it—something that would leave an angler cross-eyed! Even when a fish first detects an object off to the side, it will usually turn and face it in order to examine it. Why? The likeliest explanation is that this brings the object within the narrow range of a fish’s binocular vision.

Unlike humans, many fish have their eyes set far apart on the sides of the head rather than to the front. This allows a very wide arc of monocular side vision for spotting predators or prey, but provides only a narrow range of overlapping binocular vision to the front. There is a blind spot to the rear, and the range of binocular vision to the front encompasses only about 30-45 degrees. For this reason, some experienced anglers believe a fish is more likely to spot a lure if it is cast to the fish’s side instead of directly in front of it. Once a fish spots something, turning to face it undoubtedly gives the fish a better estimate of the object’s distance. Even though fish will turn to examine objects, their eyes do have limited independent movement within the sockets. Like humans, a fish’s eyes move in unison when looking around.
Fish vision

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A fish has a narrow range of binocular vision to the front, a wide range of monocular vision to both sides, and a narrow blind spot to the back. Read more

Fishing
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