Economic Contributions of Recreational Fishing by U.S. States and Congressional Districts Released

The following industry insight is courtesy of the American Sportfishing Association (ASA).

Alexandria, VA –  – The American Sportfishing Association(ASA) released the 2023 Economic Contributions of Recreational Fishing: U.S. Congressional Districts report, an update of previous data collected by ASA in partnership with Southwick Associates. The data reflects angler participation and economic impacts across all 50 states and the country’s 435 congressional districts.

America’s 52.4 million anglers contribute $148 billion in economic output and support 945,500 jobs across the entire country, while also contributing $1.8 billion towards conservation. While jobs supported include the manufacturing and sales of fishing equipment and gear, recreational fishing also supports jobs in additional industries, such as hotel lodging, restaurants, charter boat trips and more. Read more

Fishing

Florida: Bat Exclusions Should Occur Before April Bat Maternity Season Starts

Have bats in your home? Exclusions should occur before April bat maternity season starts

While Florida’s 13 native and beneficial bat species typically roost in trees, caves or other natural spaces, they can also be attracted to human-made structures. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) recommends property owners check homes and other buildings for roosting bats before maternity season starts.

April 15 marks the start of bat maternity season and is the last day to legally exclude bats from your home or building. Bat maternity season, the time when bats give birth and raise their young, runs through Aug. 14. During that time, it is illegal to block bats from their roosts. If bats are excluded during maternity season, flightless young can be trapped inside the structure and die, which isn’t good for you or the bats. Now is the time to check your home for any entry points, ensure that no bats are present, and make any necessary repairs. If bats are found, you should take steps to exclude them with a properly installed exclusion device before bat maternity season begins. It is only legal to exclude bats from Aug. 15 through April 15. Read more

Wildlife

NSSF Encouraged by Credit Card ‘Pause’ in Special Firearm Retail Codes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, is encouraged by the announcement from Visa and MasterCard that they will “pause” plans to implement a special Merchant Category Code (MCC) specific to purchases at firearm retailers with their credit cards. That announcement was later echoed by American Express and Discover, which previously announced plans to implement the special codes.

This is a positive development that the major credit card companies have recognized the hazards of implementing this special MCC for purchases at a firearm retailer. However, this is an announcement of a pause, not an abandonment of these special codes.

NSSF is committed to ensuring that these specific MCCs not be used at all as they have the potential for exploitation of customer privacy and denial of services by politically-motivated activists. These codes were the product of Amalgamated Bank and Andrew Ross Sorkin to specifically track the lawful purchases of firearms and ammunition by law-abiding Americans.

In reality, it is just the first step, by the admission of these two parties, to isolating and eventually denying the exercise of a Constitutional right by those who oppose lawful firearm ownership. NSSF will continue to work with state legislators and Congress to put an end to this blatantly discriminatory practice of using private enterprise to construct a back-door firearm registry.

Gun Control

Rock River Arms Announces New Operator DMR Series Rifles

Colona, IL – Rock River Arms, the industry’s most respected name in Modern Sporting Rifles and pistols, introduces its new Operator DMR (Designated Marksman Rifle) series for 2023. This new series includes four models chambered for .308/7.62×51 and two models chambered in .223/5.56 NATO. Both chamber variants offer configurations suited for personal defense use and LE duty applications.

.308/7.62×51 Variants

The .308/7.62×51 models are distinguished by barrel length. Two models — the Operator DMR OP1005BT

and the Operator DMR Enhanced OP1007BT — feature 20-inch chrome-lined barrels and share several common components, such as a low-profile gas block, mid-length gas system, RRA two-stage Ultra Match trigger, 17-inch lightweight free-float M-LOK rail handguard, BCM SOPMOD buttstock, Magpul Pro Series MBUS flip-up sights, LAR-BT3 billet upper and lower receivers, QD mount, five-slot rail assemblies, and a Hogue beavertail grip.

Those seeking expanded function should consider the Operator DMR Enhanced OP1007BT. The highlight of this model is the SilencerCo Chimera 300 suppressor. Additional upgrades include an additional RRA 3-slot rail assembly and an ARCA Swiss Rail Adapter. Read more

Firearms

Redding Reloading Equipment Adds New Die Set for 360 Buckhammer

Redding Reloading Equipment introduces a 3-Die Set for the recently announced 360 Buckhammer. A straight-wall cartridge based on the legendary 30-30 Winchester; the 360 Buckhammer will be at home in the deer woods across many regions of the United States. These die sets provide the needed capability to produce high quality loadings for hunting and shooting range requirements. Through its entire range, the Redding Reloading die and die set families exemplify quality and precision and have been designed, produced and tested at our facility in Upstate, New York.

Redding continues to add cartridges to it standard product lines as consumer demand and industry support grows. It is also important to note that Redding continues to produce truly “Custom” die sets as well. The Engineering Group at Redding requires only a chamber reamer drawing or 5 fired cases from the firearm in question to quote the production of dies for virtually any caliber and firearm. Prices are quoted on an individual basis depending upon the complexity of the chambering and any need for tooling. Those seeking dies for a truly unique or obsolete cartridge should contact the Redding Custom Die Center in the company’s Engineering Department. E-Mail: engineering1@redding-reloading.com>

Ammunition

Hawke Optics Frontier 34 Long Range Riflescope

First Focal Plane Optical System and 34mm Main Tube Make for the Best Optic for Long-Range Shooting

Hawke® Optics, a world leader in quality sporting optics that perform outstanding in the field while maintaining optimum value for the consumer, knows that accuracy at any range requires an optic built with precision, clarity, and light transmission. The premium First Focal Plane Frontier riflescope line with 34mm main tubes is exactly what you need, and it is available to customers and dealers everywhere. The Frontier 34 FFP scopes were designed for extreme long-range shooters, or shooters looking for precision accuracy and a scope with maximum adjustment.

The Frontier 34 FFP riflescopes are available in either 3-18×50 or 5-30×56 with both configurations available with two FFP illuminated reticle options – Mil Pro Ext and MOA Pro Ext. These riflescopes give you up to 46 MRAD or 158 MOA, depending on your specific model, of elevation adjustment. They are truly unparalleled in high-end shooting optics. You have 11 levels of red illumination that light up the entire reticle, with off stops in between each level for quick access back to your preferred brightness.

As part of Hawke’s System H7 series, the Frontier 34 FFP are unmatched for clarity due to an outstanding 21 layers of advanced coatings on all glass surfaces, producing extremely high light transmission and the clearest field of view. The scope is built on a 34mm mono-tube chassis that is machined from high-grade aluminum for extreme durability and houses a side focus adjustment turret allowing you zero in on your target from close to extreme ranges. Hawke’s patented Zero, Lock ‘n Stop turrets are resettable, lockable and feature a built-in return to zero feature, providing you the flexibility to adjust to conditions in the field. The Frontier 34 FFP are the ultimate optic and contains features reserved for our most advanced riflescopes. Read more

Optics

RCBS Adds Die Sets for Popular New Rifle Calibers

Dies Now Available for 7mm PRC, .360 Buckhammer™ and .338 Weatherby® RPM

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. –– RCBS®, the leading manufacturer of ammunition reloading equipment for rifles and pistols, has added three new cartridges to its collection of full-length die sets: 7mm PRC, .360 Buckhammer™ and .338 Weatherby® RPM.

Announced late last year, the 7mm PRC is the hottest new rifle cartridge to hit the market for long range shooters and hunters, joining the ranks of other popular cartridges in the PRC family like the 6.5 PRC and .300 PRC. As more riflemen switch to the new 7mm cartridge, demand for handloading equipment is also increasing.

The .360 Buckhammer is a new straight-walled cartridge for lever-guns that’s aimed at the big woods whitetail hunter, while the .338 Weatherby RPM combines fire-breathing magnum performance with modern, heavy-for-caliber bullets.

All three of these two-die sets come with a full-length sizer die with an expander-decapping unit and a seater die with bullet seater plug. Each die comes with standard 7/8″-14 thread and the sets come in a green die set box. Read more

Ammunition

SAF Files Final Summary Judgement Brief in Vanderstok 80% Gun Case

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation and Defense Distributed have filed their final summary judgment brief with the federal court in Texas in the case of VanDerStok v. Garland, which challenges the authority of the Justice Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to regulate items that are not firearms, as if they were firearms.

The brief was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division.

SAF and Defense Distributed have taken a unique approach, alleging the agencies violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) by both (1) failing to consider the history that Bruen deems constitutionally mandatory and (2) using balancing analytics that Bruen deems constitutionally improper.

“The ATF is trying to wriggle out of this,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “but we’re not going to let them. Clearly the agencies violated the APA, and in the process used means-end scrutiny to make their decision, which the Supreme Court threw out in the 2022 Bruen ruling.” Read more

Gun Control

Shiawassee Conservation Association to host hunter safety field day

OWOSSO — The Shiawassee Conservation Association is holding a hunter safety field day course Saturday, April 22, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Students are required to complete and pass an online hunter safety course anytime prior to the event and to bring their online certificate for entry into the field day. In addition, students must register for the event. Information and instructions for both the online course and field day registration can be obtained at hunter-ed.com/michigan/hunter

There is a $10 facility charge for the SCA collected upon check-in the day of the event. The SCA is located at 4247 N. M-52 in Owosso. If further details are needed please call either (989) 725-7588 or (989) 627-6410.

Hunting

New: Birding Hotspots

Birding Hotspots can help you find birding locations near and far, as well as where you can find individual species (Horned Grebe photo by Paul Konrad).

Wondering about where to go birding next? Or where to go birding on your next work trip or family vacation? There is a new website for you: Birding Hotspots is an open source website that collects information about birding opportunities and locations from local birders that include descriptions and maps of eBird hotspots from eBird and other websites and collaborators. Birding Hotspots provides birders with information about birding locations state by state, and you can refer to specific species you may be interested in searching for too.

Created and managed by Ken Ostermiller, a volunteer hotspot reviewer for eBird, this is an especially interesting new website for birders to refer to and you can also provide information to share with others. Ken is joined by Adam Jackson, a software developer who, along with many state editors and a wealth of birders who regularly contribute their sightings to eBird is building the new birding community resource. Check out the new website for yourself at Birding Hotspots

Wildlife
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