Share your opinions on future Michigan bear management

Michigan is home to an estimated 12,000 adult black bears. To guide bear management throughout the state, the DNR, with assistance from tribes and many others interested in maintaining a healthy black bear population, developed the state’s first bear management plan in 2009.

Now, the DNR is working to revise that plan and is encouraging the public to help. A questionnaire (available at https://www.research.net/r/BearPlan) has been developed to capture opinions, which will be accepted until July 31, 2018.

“The plan we have been operating under for almost 10 years has been a great tool,” said DNR bear specialist Kevin Swanson. “We want to make sure that the plan is still meeting the state’s and others’ needs, or determine if changes are needed to ensure a thriving bear population for future generations.” Read more

ZEISS Freedom Days Promotion

Thornwood, NY –

The ZEISS Freedom Days Promotion offers special pricing on the popular Terra ED 10×42 binoculars.  Purchase either of the Terra ED 10×42 black or gray models and immediately save $100.00.  No forms to complete.  No online rebates.  Just smart, quick savings.

The Terra ED 10×42 binoculars retail at $449.99.  They feature legendary SCHOTT ED multi-coated lenses, with a hydrophobic protective coating. A fiberglass reinforced, lightweight, waterproof housing makes them ideal for on-the-go carry.  The Terra ED binoculars are available through participating ZEISS Authorized Dealers. Read more

Ruger Introduces Four New Products

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE: RGR) proudly introduces four new products to kick off the summer: the SR1911® Officer-Style in .45 Auto; Security-9® with Viridian® E-Series™ Red Laser; 10/22® Target Lite with Red and Black Laminate Stock; and Ruger 77/17® in .17 WSM with Green Mountain Laminate Stock.

The new SR1911 Officer-Style pistol chambered in .45 Auto features a shorter, 3.60″ barrel and shortened grip frame that makes for an ideal concealment pistol. Compared to the SR1911 Lightweight Officer-Style, the steel frame on this new model retains additional weight for better balance, lower recoil and greater durability.

The reliable and affordable Security-9 is now available paired with a factory-installed Viridian E-Series red (635-650 nm) laser. The adjustable laser module weighs just over ½ ounce with the installed long-lasting battery and comes securely mounted to the pistol. The laser also features ambidextrous push-button activation. This low-cost option is ideal for increasing accuracy in low light conditions.

The new 10/22 Target Lite is a top of the line offering from Ruger. Featuring the BX-Trigger™ with a light, crisp 2.5-3 pound trigger pull weight and a cold hammer-forged barrel tensioned in an aluminum alloy barrel sleeve, this new configuration is paired with a red and black laminate thumbhole stock, and should appeal to shooters looking for performance, reliability and style.

Following on the heels of the successful reintroduction of the 77-Series bolt-action rifles, Ruger now offers the Ruger 77/17 chambered in .17 WSM with an 18.50″ stainless steel barrel and Green Mountain laminate stock. Flat-shooting and superbly accurate, this rifle also features an improved trigger pull over previous 77/17 WSM models.

 

 

For more information on these new product offerings, or to learn more about the extensive line of award-winning Ruger firearms, visit Ruger.com or Facebook.com/Ruger. To find accessories for these and other Ruger firearms, visit ShopRuger.com or your local independent retailer of Ruger firearms.

Pachmayr Introduces The Pac-Mag Gun Magnet

Pachmayr®, a leader in handgun grips, recoil reduction, gunsmithing tools introduces the versatile Pac-Mag™ Gun Storage Magnet! Looking for a low profile gun storage solution? The Pac-Mag has you covered. The new Pac-Mag gun with its three magnets and non- marring rubber over-mold holds up to 30lbs and can safely support any firearm. Store a rifle, shotgun, or handgun under a desk, in a nightstand, vehicle, or mount the Pac-Mag on a safe door for extra storage. Mounting screws, drywall anchors, and double-sided adhesive tape are included. The Pac-Mag is available at your favorite Pachmayr dealer and from major online retailers!

Features:

  • Secure almost any gun-pistol, rifle, or shotgun- practically anywhere
  • Holds up to 30Lbs, tested and proven.
  • Over molded non-marring rubber protects the firearm’s finish.
  • Includes mounting screws, drywall anchors, and double-sided adhesive tape

Description:

  • Pac-Mag Gun Storage Magnet (Part# 03190) MSRP: $19.98

National Leaders From USFWS Unveil New Federal Duck Stamp

Monday, July 2, 2018

Bob Ziehmer, Bass Pro Shops Senior Director of Conservation; Rayen Kang, Junior Duck Stamp artist; Robert Hautman, Federal Duck Stamp artist; Greg Sheehan, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

BALTIMORE, Md.  — Mallards in flight adorn the 2018-2019 Federal Duck Stamp that goes on sale today. The 85th Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp made its debut at a special event hosted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World in Hanover, near Baltimore, Maryland.

The 2018-2019 Federal Duck Stamp features a pair of mallards landing in a marsh painted by Robert “Bob” Hautman. This is Hautman’s third Federal Duck Stamp; he also created the 1997-1998 stamp, featuring a solitary Canada goose, and the 2000-2001 stamp, featuring a northern pintail. He was named Ducks Unlimited Flyway Artist of the Year in 2018.

The Junior Duck Stamp features the emperor goose painted by Rayen Kang, a recent graduate of Northview High School in Johns Creek, Georgia.  Kang enjoys drawing in her free time and she has taken art lessons from the age of 10, learning how to accurately portray still life, people, and nature from her observations. Her emperor goose painting was her third submission to the Junior Duck Stamp Contest.

The Federal Duck Stamp plays a critically important role in wildlife conservation. Since 1934 sales from the iconic stamp have raised more than $1 billion to acquire and protect more than six million acres of wetlands habitat on hundreds of national wildlife refuges spread across all 50 states and U.S. territories. First petitioned by sportsmen and women who banded together to protect wildlife habitat, the stamps continue to be fueled by waterfowl hunters required to buy a Federal Duck Stamp each year. In addition to hunters being required to buy the stamps, the stamps are very popular among collectors and many birders, wildlife photographers and other outdoor enthusiasts buy them to support wildlife and habitat conservation. Read more

Fighting the Biting

By Glen Wunderlich

As home gardeners know, producing successful vegetable gardens doesn’t come without a fight.  If it’s not wildlife such as deer, raccoons, rabbits or the like, it’s insects that’ll take a bite from your plants long before any human has an opportunity to do so.  However, before getting into what may have become a revelation to repel bugs, instead of various treatments after their presence and disappointing effects on plants, let’s look at how voracious insects find food in the first place.

A mosquito expert from Baylor University sheds light on just how their meals of blood are located. Jason Pitts, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology in Baylor University’s College of Arts and Sciences, studies “host seeking”—how mosquitoes find their next blood meal. He said odor is a major factor why mosquitoes bite some people more often.

“Many insects find their way around the world through their sense of smell, even more than vision,” Pitts said. “Mosquitoes and other insects really are adept at finding places to lay their eggs or finding flowers on which to feed or finding people on which to blood feed just by the sense of smell.”

“Females are able to track upwind. They literally track,” Pitts said. “Once they get that stream of odor, they fly in and out of the stream of odor to orient themselves to try get to the host.”

It is not just odor. Heat—at very close range—also is very attractive for female mosquitoes.

“Mosquitoes are exquisitely sensitive to differences in temperature on surfaces. When it comes to heat or carbon dioxide, both can be beacons for mosquitoes as well,” Pitts said.

“Once a mosquito lands on the skin, they taste the skin to decide whether this is a good host or not,” Pitts said. “They can actually taste DEET, which is long-range repellant. They can smell it and avoid it. When they taste it, they will also fly away. Therefore, we know that taste is also important in some ways. Taste is the final choice before blood feeding.”

Mr. Pitts goes on to mention that reducing breeding area sources can help, but heck, Shiawassee County has more than its share of low ground – even swampland – and if all those smart folks in Washington D.C. can’t drain the swamp, just how are we going to do it?

Use DEET and cover exposed skin.  DEET is some nasty stuff and in concentrated formulas can melt plastic!  Yuk!  And, wearing long-sleeved shirts in this heat is about as tortuous as bites themselves.  Or, we can just stay indoors during the peak biting times of dawn and dusk.

Relative to the home garden, I may have stumbled onto the answer to repel animals and insects that sample my homegrown vegetables.  Without fencing of any type, there are plants animals do not prefer such as onions, garlic, pumpkins, and melons.  The secret with melons may be landscaping fabric that seems to spook wild game.   Although I can’t be sure definitively, I do know they don’t mess with our watermelons and cantaloupe surrounded by the black plastic.

Now, let’s consider insects and their uncanny sense of smell.  I’ve often wondered how Colorado potato beetles find potato plants – plants that are otherwise left alone by other critters.  In the past, we’ve been inundated with them and I’ve learned to spot the egg masses on the underside of leaves.  But, with about 40 potato plants thriving this season, not one egg mass has been seen.

Garden Potatoes

In fact, a mere total of 4 adult beetles have been picked off.  The difference this year in technique attributable to minimizing these destructive pests may just be the fertilizer:  Milorganite – an non-burning organic fertilizer that stinks.  The plants are bigger and healthier than ever and virtually no bugs.

We’ll keep you posted later in the season but a stinky garden may be the best repellant yet.

The HSUS Wildlife Land Trust: 25 Years of Waste and Pointlessness?

On Monday, the Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust, an affiliate of the D-rated Humane Society of the United States, celebrated its 25th anniversary. The Trust’s goal is to take donated land and “[prohibit] commercial and recreational hunting and trapping, a promise that no other national land conservation organization makes.” In fact, there is good reason to suspect this $12 million organization has a bankrupt track record on conservation.

The HSUS Wildlife Land Trust boasts about 20,000 acres of protected land—which is next to nothing to accumulate over two and half decades. In reality, this is very little when compared to other organizations or many of the wildlife refuges in the United States. One of many examples is the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada, one of the most important sites for birds in North America, which contains nearly 80,000 acres of land.

And just how are the funds being used? A quick look at the Wildlife Land Trust’s 2016 Form 990 (its most recent available) shows that of all its expenses, it is not conservation projects that eat up the lion’s share of the budget.

Rather, it is “education,” direct mail, and payroll which come in at a whopping $1,137,267—or 70 percent of the funds spent. It seems the priorities of the Wildlife Land Trust lie more with their headquarters in Washington rather than with meaningful conservation efforts.

As to the WLT’s prohibition on hunting, this comes from an ideological position and not a practical one for conservation. One of the most significant sources of conservation funding in the United States comes from something contrary to the agenda of the Wildlife Land Trust–hunting. As NPR reports, “Money generated from license fees and excise taxes on guns, ammunition and angling equipment provide about 60 percent of the funding for state wildlife agencies, which manage most of the wildlife in the U.S.”

Hunting and trapping have an intertwined and symbiotic relationship with conservation efforts in the United States, and this has been the case for a long time. This sort of relationship helps maintain a thriving ecosystem and can bring about chaotic conditions for man and beast when left unattended. Delaware has seen a decline in hunters and the state is now having to confront an out of control deer population, which is proving more and more disastrous for farmers, as the deer damage crops and spread diseases to livestock, thus having a real impact on the local economy.

Why then, should anybody give their money to a wildlife conservation organization that not only has aims contrary to conservation but also has very little impact?

Guided bike tours take cyclists through U.P. countryside into Michigan history

Registration is now open for the Michigan Iron Industry Museum’s popular Iron Ore Heritage Trail bike tours. Offered July 13, 20, and 27, the tours take cyclists on an approximately five-hour, 16-mile journey to explore historic sites and discover stories of the Marquette Iron Range.

Tours begin and end in Negaunee at the Michigan Iron Industry Museum, site of the Carp River Forge, where iron mined on the Marquette Range was first forged in the 1840s. Led by museum historian Troy Henderson, the tour pedals to the Jackson Mine, and then continues into Ishpeming, making several stops along the way, including Old Towne Negaunee and the site of the Pioneer Furnace.

 

Details and registration information are available on the Michigan Iron Industry Museum webpage at michigan.gov/ironindustrymuseum.

ZEISS Freedom Days Promotion

Thornwood, NY –

The ZEISS Freedom Days Promotion offers special pricing on the popular Terra ED 10×42 binoculars.  Purchase either of the Terra ED 10×42 black or gray models and immediately save $100.00.  No forms to complete.  No mail-in rebates.  Just smart, quick savings.

The Terra ED 10×42 binoculars retail at $449.99.  They feature legendary SCHOTT ED glass with multi-coated lenses and hydrophobic protective coatings. A fiberglass reinforced, lightweight, waterproof housing makes them ideal for on-the-go carry.  The Terra ED binoculars are available through participating ZEISS Authorized Dealers. Read more

1 981 982 983 984 985 1,911