Missouri: Department of Conservation Says Noodling Can Hurt Catfish Populations

Conservation Agent Eric Abbott nabbed four men handfishing and possessing this fish in the Tarkio River in Atchison County in August 2012. Abbott released the large flathead, topping 40 pounds, back into the river.

MDC Staff

Q: What is noodling?

A: Noodling is a common term for hand-fishing.

This is the method of reaching underwater into natural cavities formed in riverbanks or by tree roots, logs, or rocks and capturing a catfish by hand. When the catfish bites onto the hand, the noodler pulls the fish off the nest and out of the water. This method is primarily used to catch flathead catfish and blue catfish in Missouri when these fish are spawning or nesting in small rivers or streams.

Q: How popular is noodling or hand-fishing?

A: The common estimate is about 2,000 people in Missouri hand-fish. That number could top almost 13,000 if the practice was legalized.

A Missouri Department of Conservation survey of Missouri anglers shows that about 4.6 percent of those surveyed would be “very likely” to participate in hand-fishing if it was legalized. Based on fishing permit sales, that number could amount to almost 13,000 noodlers statewide.

Q: If other states allow hand-fishing, why does the Conservation Commission of Missouri oppose it? Read more

Fishing

Henry Repeating Arms’ “Prayers For Preslie” – “Guns For Great Causes”

RICE LAKE, WI – Under Henry Repeating Arms’ charitable “Guns For Great Causes” banner, company President and owner Anthony Imperato is donating a series of 65 custom “Prayers For Preslie” edition rifles to raise funds for the family of a 3-year-old Michigan girl battling leukemia. The rifles are available for purchase directly through Henry’s website except for the first and last in the series, which are up for auction on Gunbroker.com. All of the proceeds collected from the “Prayers For Preslie” rifles will be presented to the Mantsch family of Iron River, Michigan.

In April of this year, amidst a worldwide pandemic, Preslie Mantsch was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The news was delivered over the phone to her father, Thomas Mantsch, who was waiting in the Milwaukee Children’s Hospital parking lot, unable to be in the same room as his daughter and Preslie’s mother due to COVID-19 restrictions. Thomas is a frontline healthcare worker and first responder in his town’s ambulance and fire department. Preslie is currently undergoing treatment in Milwaukee, four and a half hours away from home, four to five days a week, and she still has two years of treatment left.

Thomas says of his daughter, “Preslie is a magical, kind-hearted, wonderful, smart, and caring little girl. She has a fighting spirit, and I am praying that she beats this.” He continues, “It is nerve-wracking to be working so close to the coronavirus frontlines with a daughter that is immunocompromised because of her chemo. We’re taking every precaution to keep her safe, but it’s hard.”

The “Prayers For Preslie” Edition Golden Boy Silver rifle, chambered in .22 S/L/LR, features a nickel-plated receiver cover, buttplate, and barrel band with a deeply blued steel octagon barrel. The genuine American walnut buttstock is engraved with an orange leukemia awareness ribbon in the middle of stylized butterfly wings, symbolizing hope and Preslie’s endurance. Above the butterfly are the words, “Prayers For Preslie,” in matching bright orange. Baron Engraving of Trumbull, Connecticut, donated the engraving work and hand-painted details. Each rifle in the series is marked with a unique serial number ranging from “PRESLIE01” to “PRESLIE65.

Henry President and owner, Anthony Imperato, says, “It is heart-wrenching to think of what children like Preslie and their families have to go through when they get a diagnosis as serious as leukemia.” Imperato continues, “We get so personally invested into each of our Guns For Great Causes benefits as soon as we see the first photo of the kid’s smile, and we hope this goes a long way to helping the Mantsch family in these most challenging of times.”

To learn more about the “Prayers For Preslie” Edition or to make a purchase, visit www.henryusa.com/prayersforpreslie. The auction for serial number “PRESLIE01” is available on Gunbroker.com, item #880628196. The last rifle in the series, “PRESLIE65,” is also listed on Gunbroker.com, item #880628718. Both auctions end on October 20, 2020.

 

The “Prayers For Preslie” .22 S/L/LR lever action rifle features an engraved and hand-painted genuine American walnut buttstock with a bright orange leukemia awareness ribbon in a butterfly motif.

Firearms

Federal Ammunition Fusion 10mm Auto Hunting Loads

GW: The best structural integrity of any common bullet. The molecular fusion of the jacket to the bullet really works. The jacket will not separate like other brands touting their own bonding or interlocking process. 

ANOKA, Minnesota – – Federal ammunition introduces a new load to its popular handgun hunting ammunition lineup. The new Fusion 10mm Auto load uses a 200-grain bullet and 1200 fps muzzle velocity take full advantage of the 10mm Auto cartridge, with more energy and better terminal performance on impact. Shipments of this product have begun to arrive at dealers.

“Our Fusion 10mm Auto load delivers the toughness, accuracy, reliability and terminal performance that handgun hunters are looking for,” said Federal Centerfire Handgun Product Manager Chris Laack. “Built with the same molecularly-bonded hunting bullet used in Fusion rifle ammo, it produces ideal upsets and deep penetration when striking game. We know this new load is everything any hunter could hope for in a 10mm Auto hunting cartridge.”

Features & Benefits

  • New 10mm Auto load
  • 1,200 fps muzzle velocity
  • Copper jacket is electro-chemically to the core
  • Perfectly uniform jacket
  • Skived, pre-programmed nose provides consistent expansion
  • Maximum weight retention for deep penetration

Part No. / Description / MSRP

F10FS1 / 10mm Auto Fusion, 200-grain, 1200 fps, 20-count / $32.99 Read more

Ammunition

Primary Arms Online Halloween Pistol Giveaway

HOUSTON, TEXAS – Primary Arms Online has announced its Ghostly Halloween Giveaway, which centers around a custom Grey Ghost Precision Combat Pistol Compact. This exclusive pistol comes complete with accessories and gear from Holosun, SureFire, Magpul, Walker’s, Hexmag, Vertx, and Pro-Shot.

The focus of this giveaway is on the custom-made Grey Ghost Precision Combat Pistol Compact. This high-performance striker-fired pistol includes all the features demanded of a custom pistol, including a contoured and textured frame with extended magazine and slide controls. The slide’s tight tolerance and match-grade threaded barrel ensure superior accuracy on target. This pistol also features an optics cut, which hosts the yet-unreleased co-branded Holosun HS507C-X2-ACSS with ACSS® Vulcan™ Reticle. This revolutionary reticle system allows the user to quickly acquire and engage targets through the use of a large outer circle, which naturally draws the user’s eye to the center aiming point, eliminating the ‘search’ for the reticle when it falls outside the window.

In addition, Primary Arms includes a SureFire X300U-A weapon light, 5 17rd Hexmag Magazines, Walker’s Electronic Hearing Protection, Magpul Explorer eye protection, and a Pro-Shot cleaning kit. For the first time, Primary Arms is also including some purpose-driven tactical apparel from Vertx with their Assessor 2.0 Polo and Defiance Jeans.

This giveaway will run through the end of October, and a winner will be announced on Primary Arms Online social media in early November. The value of the giveaway package totals over $2,500, but entry is completely free. To enter, visit the Giveaway Landing Page or Primary Arms Blog and complete the required form. Read more

Firearms

Garmin Introduces Alpha 200i: Next-Generation Tracking and Training for Sporting Dog Enthusiasts

First sporting dog system to incorporate inReach satellite technology

OLATHE, Kan./October 6, 2020 – Garmin® International, Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), today announced Alpha 200i, the newest generation tracking and training system for hunters and their canine companions. Building on the legacy of its predecessor, the Alpha® 100, the new 200i features enhanced mapping capabilities; a larger, 3.5” sunlight-readable touchscreen display; six-button, easy operation of the dog tracking-focused user experience; and inReach® satellite technology1, allowing for two-way messaging and interactive SOS alerts so users can focus on their dogs and the hunt. Read more

Hunting

HAWKE® Optics Releases New Red Dot And Reflex Sights

Hawke® Optics, the worldwide leader in high-quality, high-value sporting optics, has pulled out all the stops with new Endurance Red Dot Sights and two new Reflex Dot Sights. These new products bring the pin-point accuracy of a 3MOA red dot to your ARs, hunting firearms, and handguns.

Red dot and reflex sights allow for lightning fast target acquisition and preciseness. This makes them popular with hunters and shooters for all types of firearms, including rifles, ARs, shotguns, revolvers, and pistols. Hawke developed the new Endurance Red Dot sights to meet the demands of shooters looking for an accurate red dot for hunting, target shooting, and competition. The Endurance sights have a 3 MOA red dot with eight-stage digital brightness controls, so you can match lighting and shooting conditions. The sights come in a 25mm and 30mm body size and both have 25 layer multi-coated optics for ultimate clarity and are parallax-free from 10 yards. Endurance Red Dots are supplied with 2 Weaver-style bases: a low mount ideal for shotguns and pistols, and a quick-detach high mount for co-witnessing AR iron sights. Read more

Optics

NSSF: Biden Would Ban and Criminalize the Modern Sporting Rifle

NEWTOWN, Conn. – NSSF®, the trade association for the firearm industry, is focusing on former Vice President Joe Biden’s radical antigun campaign promise to ban, register and confiscate the most popular selling centerfire rifles – the modern sporting rifle – sold in America today. Biden borrowed a page from the failed campaign of Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke to craft an agenda that would hobble Constitutionally-protected rights for law-abiding Americans.

“Joe Biden’s gun grab isn’t original, but is it is shockingly honest that they admit the end game. His campaign promise to confiscate guns rips the mask off the lie told by gun control for decades,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “Yes, they are coming for your guns. The Biden-Harris campaign literally spelled out how they would do this and would violate their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, but instead destroy it.”

The Biden-Harris gun control agenda proposes to ban the sale and manufacture of modern sporting rifles, or what the campaign terms “assault rifles” or “weapons of war.” In fact, these firearms are just semiautomatic firearms that uses 100-year-old technology and have been sold commercially since the early 1960s. Semiautomatic firearms expend one round for each squeeze of the trigger, unlike the military’s automatic firearms that continue to fire automatically while the trigger is depressed. The Biden campaign is purposefully conflating the similar appearances of AR-15s and the military’s M-16 and M-4 rifles to confuse the American public.

Biden proposes that all 18 million-plus modern sporting rifles in circulation would be registered in the same onerous manner as automatic firearms and regulated under the 1934 Gun Control Act. That would require current owners to register these rifles with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), pay a $200 tax, submit fingerprints, photos, and complete duplicitous background checks for firearms they already passed a background check to purchase. They would also be subjected to random and unannounced ATF inspection of their firearm and would be registered in a federal watchlist of firearm owners. Further, permits regulated under the 1934 NFA are already backlogged by more than nine months.

The Biden campaign has a plan for those who would choose not to comply. Those individuals would be given two options: be forced to sell the property to the U.S. government using their own tax dollars to do so or face forcible confiscation by law enforcement authorities. Conservative estimates would require $9-18 billion of taxpayer funds to subsidize this gun confiscation scheme.

The Biden-Harris gun control plan would also ban the manufacture and sale of so-called “high capacity” magazines. His campaign website grossly compares hunting to the horrific murder of children, claiming the federal government protects ducks more than kids. This disgusting comparison is as wrong as it is appalling. Murder is illegal, plain and simple. The value of human life is undeniably greater than that of animals. That’s why the industry opposes these limits because in a moment of crisis when defending one’s own life, arbitrary magazine capacity limits put law-abiding Americans at a disadvantage to criminals who, by definition, disobey laws. Read more

Gun Control

Barnett’s TS380 Awarded Great Buy by Outdoor Life’s Editor

Grand Prairie, TX – Outdoor Life’s hunting editor spent weeks shooting, evaluating and ranking the top flagship crossbows of 2020. The results are in, and Barnett’s TS380 was awarded Outdoor Life Editor’s Great Buy Award!

“For the money, the Barnett TS380 is as good as you can get in the 2020 lineup, and was a shoo-in for this year’s Great Buy. It was easy to cock with a traditional rope, plus it was safe and the fit and finish were remarkable for the price,” Will Brantley, Outdoor Life’s Hunting Editor, noted in his review. “It has plenty of speed and power. It sports a crisp, 3-pound 6-ounce TriggerTech trigger and an adjustable stock. I averaged 2.45-inch 50-yard groups with it, and I can’t think of many hunting scenarios where that won’t do the trick.” Read more

Archery

Sierra Bullets Acquires Barnes Bullets

MONA, Utah — Sierra Bullets, L.L.C., the Bulletsmiths®, a dedicated manufacturer of one of the highest?quality, most accurate bullets in the world, has acquired certain assets relating to the Barnes Bullets brand of specialty hunting bullets.

Founded in 1932 and headquartered in the Rocky Mountains just outside of Mona, Utah since 1967, Barnes is an industry leader in manufacturing environmentally sound, lead?free bullets. Known for its superior quality, terminal performance and accuracy, Barnes enjoys an almost cult like following among western big game hunters, shooters, and handloaders.

“We are super excited and honored for the opportunity to be working with the Barnes Brand. Our strategy is to be the leader in specialty premium bullets and ammunition, and Barnes adds an additional uniquely positioned “Super Fan” brand to the Sierra portfolio,” said Keith Enlow, President of Sierra Bullets. “We want to let the industry and Barnes’ consumers know we are devoted to ensuring the quality of Barnes products, and understand the importance of continuity. We are committed to Barnes’ wonderful employees and the people of Mona, Utah where the brand is based and will continue to operate.” Read more

Ammunition

Proposed Hunting Changes for Michigan

By Glen Wunderlich

Charter Member Professional Outdoor Media Association

As the largest statewide conservation organization in the country, Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC) has recently passed a bevy of resolutions at its annual convention and will, therefore, pursue adoption by the Michigan legislature and/or Michigan’s Natural Resources Commission.  Here are some select issues now officially endorsed by MUCC that we may see become reality in the near future.

*  The Michigan Trappers and Predator Callers Association submitted a proposal to preserve hunting contests including rabbit roundups,  squirrel hunts, youth hunting events, hunting retriever trials and predator contests.  These contests help to promote youth hunting and time afield with family and generally aid in hunter retention.  I’ve often wondered why an individual may take an unlimited amount of coyotes, for example, during the course of any day, week, month or year and be in full compliance with the law.  Yet, when teamed with any group in contest form, it becomes intolerable to a certain segment of the population.  The answer lies in their anti-hunting platforms that oppose all hunting.

*  Also passed was a resolution to encourage the use of non-lead alternatives for fishing sinkers and bullets.  As more and more alternatives become available in hunting ammunition and fishing sinkers and jigs, copper and tungsten have become widely accepted and for good reason:  They can be more effective than lead without the possible effects of lead poisoning of wildlife and habitat.  In fact, without any governmental edicts, I’ve used copper alternatives in ammunition for many years in factory ammunition and handloads because I believe them to be superior to lead.

*  Next is a proposal to rescind a resolution passed 44 years ago that required all guns to be encased and for the case to be inaccessible when being transported in a motor vehicle and stored in the trunk of said vehicle.  The problem with the current law is that most vehicles sold today – pickups and SUVs – have no trunk.  Rationale for passage of this resolution should be self-evident.

*  In a parallel issue, it is currently unlawful  for a person to lean a firearm on a tailgate (loaded or unloaded) or to use a truck’s hood as a benchrest while target shooting.  Such activity is not necessarily dangerous, as long as a person follows common-sense gun rules and should not be a crime.

*  Next in line is a proposal to ban balloon releases.  The Alliance for the Great Lakes’ annual “Adopt-a-Beach” shoreline cleanup program has found between 4,400 and 7,200 balloons or pieces of balloon debris on Great Lakes beaches each of the 11 last three years, and a scientific study published in March out of the University of Tasmania that found balloons are the highest-risk plastic debris item for seabirds.  These balloon releases amount to no more than public littering, and although they may give some folks a warm, fuzzy feeling, they also kill our wildlife.  And, while we’re at it, we should have enough wisdom to quit sending lit paper bags floating into the air for similar reasons including fire prevention.

These are a few of the current issues under consideration that sportsmen and women should get behind, because real conservation of our resources is at the hands of those that hunt and fish and are funded through our licensing fees and excise taxes on related equipment.

Hunting
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