ThinkingAfield.org

QDMA Offers Student Scholarships

The Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) will award deserving students with scholarships to attend a Deer Steward course in 2015.

Applications will be accepted from high school juniors and seniors or college students who are interested in a career in wildlife management. For each of the in-person Deer Steward Certification Courses offered this year, QDMA will present at least one student with a scholarship to attend free-of-charge.

QDMA’s individual Certification Program includes three levels of potential achievement: Deer Steward I, II, and III. Level I provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the four cornerstones of QDM: herd management, habitat management, hunter management, and herd monitoring. Level II focuses on the application of these principles through hands-on field experience. Level III must be earned through an individual’s long-term service to QDMA and/or the white-tailed deer. Courses must be taken in succession. Read more

Talking Whitetails With Troy Landry, Plus: Skinning A Coyote

Troy Landry, star of “Swamp People,” loves to hunt big alligators and big whitetails! Watch this video as the GrowingDeer.tv team visits with Troy to develop a plan to improve the deer hunting and habitat for his Kansas hunting property. Plus, learn how to skin a coyote in the step by step guide by an expert taxidermist. It is available for viewing online today at www.GrowingDeer.tv.

Be one of the first to know when the GrowingDeer.tv team releases a new video. They send out an e-mail every Monday about the new show along with a useful hunting tip. Your email address will be treated respectfully. It will not be shared or abused. Click HERE to subscribe today! Read more

Faxon Firearms Adds the 7.62×39 Kit to the ARAK-21 Platform

Cincinnati, OH – Faxon Firearms, manufacturer of the innovative ARAK platform, is proud to announce the addition of the 7.62×39 Russian caliber to its offerings for the ARAK-21.

This addition will allow the user the added advantage of a larger caliber round and less expensive ammunition for more range time. This system makes the ARAK-21 platform one of the most versatile platforms on the market, allowing the user to have the potential to have three rifles in one (5.56, 300blk and now 7.62×39). The 7.62×39 caliber will be available for order in standard ARAK-21 upper receivers, complete XRS rifles, and as a stand-alone kit for existing ARAK-21s. Kits will be available in 12.5″ and 16″ medium profile barrels. Read more

PETA Slew 2,324 Cats and Dogs Last Year

PETA MemorialsBetween 1998 and 2013, the radical animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), killed nearly 32,000 dogs and cats at its Norfolk, Virginia headquarters. Sadly, the recent release of PETA’s 2014 kill numbers show that this disturbing trend hasn’t changed. In fact, it’s actually gotten worse. According to information provided to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, PETA killed 30% more dogs and cats in 2014 than it did in 2013. More than 88% of the 2,631 dogs and cats taken in by PETA in 2014 were killed by the group—2,324 in total.

These numbers are certainly shocking—but not as shocking as new allegations made by a former PETA employee this week.

Former PETA field worker Heather Harper Troje wrote a blog post offering a scandalous in-depth look of what goes on behind the closed doors of PETA’s headquarters. In her post, Troje recounts numerous examples of Ingrid Newkirk, PETA’s president, ordering her to kill adoptable animals and to falsify records in order to enable the organization to cover their tracks and euthanize ever more animals. As Troje explains, “if you say the animal is ten pounds heavier than he is, you’ve given yourself room to euthanize another ten-pound animal off the books.”

Troje highlights the story of Black Boy, a German Shepard mix she took from a yard one snowy evening and brought back to PETA headquarters. Upon Black Boy’s arrival at the group’s headquarters, he was immediately euthanized. The recent case of PETA employees allegedly stealing and killing a family’s Chihuahua indicates that Black Boy’s fate was perhaps not an aberration but rather the rule.

According to Troje, “more and more I was euthanizing all the animals I brought in, and I could never bring in enough animals, or work enough hours, to please Ingrid.” If PETA’s most recent kill numbers are any indication, PETA’s kill-‘em-all attitude hasn’t changed one bit.

PETA Penchant for Killing

WATCH: Because PETA Killed Me

PETA_killed_meHumane Society of the United States isn’t the only deceptively named animal rights group. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (which has the same radical animal liberation goals as HSUS) killed more than 2,324 cats and dogs in 2014 alone – an average of more than 6 per day – and an increase of 30 percent from 2013. This represents 88 percent of all pets PETA took into its shelter throughout the year.

To draw attention to PETA’s appalling record of euthanization and the alarming fact that 33,514 animals have died at the hands of PETA since 1998, Center for Consumer Freedom released a parody of the controversial Nationwide Insurance advertisement that aired during the Super Bowl.

This delusional animal rights group is talking out of both sides of its mouth – on one side preaching animal rights, while on the other signing a death warrant for 88 percent of cats and dogs in its care. PETA should be called a slaughterhouse, not an animal shelter.

PETA’s kill numbers come from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), which requires such annual disclosures to be made. Most animals don’t even get a chance: A 2010 inspection conducted by a VDACS veterinarian of animal custody records discovered that 84% of the animals PETA took in were killed within 24 hours.

Despite its $47 million budget, PETA fails to find homes for the van loads of animals it kills. PETA President Ingrid Newkirk previously indicated to The Virginian-Pilot that the animal rights group could stop killing pets. Of course, it would mean cutting down on press stunts and celebrity photo shoots: “We could become a no-kill shelter immediately. It means we wouldn’t do as much work.”

 

For more information, visit www.PETAKillsAnimals.com.

USSA Files Great Lakes Wolf Appeal

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation has filed an appeal of the ruling handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell on Dec. 20 concerning management of gray wolves in the western Great Lakes area.

The Feb. 13 notice of appeal seeks to overturn the ruling that forced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to return a population of wolves found in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan to the protections afforded by the Endangered Species Act – with ramifications that affect the entire scope of managing the apex predator. The decision stemmed from a lawsuit brought by Humane Society of the United States; Born Free, USA; Help Our Wolves Live; and Friends of Animals and Their Environment. Read more

Arizona’s Mexican Wolf Population Tops 100

Population survey shows a 31 percent increase in the population

The Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team (IFT) has completed its annual year-end population survey for endangered Mexican wolves and documented a minimum of 109 animals in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico at the end of 2014. This is a 31 percent increase over the previous year and the fourth consecutive year with at least a 10 percent increase in the known population. There were a minimum of 83 wild wolves identified in the 2013 survey.

“In 1982, the Mexican wolf recovery team recommended a population of at least 100 animals in the wild as a hedge against extinction; until we initiated the first releases in 1998, there had been no Mexican wolves in the wild in the United States since the 1970s,” said Southwest Regional Director Benjamin Tuggle. “Although there is still much to be done, reaching this milestone is monumental!”

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“This survey demonstrates a major accomplishment in Mexican wolf recovery. In 2010, there were 50 Mexican wolves in the wild; today there are 109, a more than doubling of the population in Arizona and New Mexico. With our Mexican wolf population consisting of wild-born wolves, we expect the growth rates observed this year to continue into the future. In spite of considerable naysaying, our 10(j) program has been a success because of on-the-ground partnerships. We have every reason to believe that our efforts at reintroduction will continue to be successful,” said Arizona Game and Fish Director Larry Voyles. Read more

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