Blog

Hunting Life Blog

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Anna Lee Harris, a native of Eufaula, Ala., received the National Wild Turkey Federation's 2008 National Scholarship and $13,700 for college during an awards banquet at her high school May 15.

EUFAULA, Ala. — Hunting and conservation became one of Anna Lee Harris' passions at an early age. This passion has led Harris, a Eufaula, Ala., native, to outdoor adventures and time spent with her family, and now has helped her earn top honors and $13,700 for college.

Harris received the National Wild Turkey Federation's 2008 National Scholarship during an awards banquet at her high school May 15. Harris competed with 42 other state winners to earn the $10,000 scholarship. Before that, she received a $1,200 Alabama Barbour County local scholarship and a $2,500 NWTF Alabama state scholarship.

Ranked first in the 2008 Eufaula High School graduating class, Harris is a leader among her peers, having served as president of the Student Government Association, and holding positions in many school and community organizations including Key Club and Future Farmers of America.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 06:05 AM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Lincoln, Neb. – May 16, 2008 – On Monday, May 19th, the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) will open enrollment for Nebraska’s new State Acres For wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) program. Part of the continuous enrollment portion of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Nebraska's two approved SAFE projects allocate nearly 23,000 acres targeted to enhance and expand habitat for pheasant, quail and greater prairie chickens.

Announced this January at Pheasants Forever’s National Pheasant Fest, SAFE represents an important change to CRP that encourages state-specific wildlife focused projects. Nebraska's SAFE projects – the Nebraska Upland Birds SAFE and the Nebraska Tallgrass SAFE - offer producers more competitive rental rates than general CRP and additional incentive payments.

Pheasants Forever (PF) has six Farm Bill Wildlife Biologists ready to assist landowners with the new SAFE projects and other conservation programs. Through a unique partnership with the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission and Natural Resources Conservation Service, Farm Bill Wildlife Biologists are located in local USDA service centers in Nebraska. "These Farm Bill Wildlife Biologists are great resources that can help landowners meet their personal habitat goals," said Pete Berthelsen, Senior Field Coordinator for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. "They are available to offer landowner 'one-stop-shopping' for all their conservation program needs."

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 06:03 AM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Saturday, May 17, 2008

RAPID CITY - A group of conservation organizations have joined together to provide funding to continue the mountain lion studies that the Ogalala Parks & Recreation Authority has been conducting on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for the last three years. The South Dakota Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Sierra Club's National Wildlife & Endangered Species Committee, the Rapid City Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America, the Black Hills Mountain Lion Foundation, Prairie Hills Audubon Society, and Tom Huhnerkoch, DVM, have joined together to provide $5,900 in funding for the OSPRA study during the 2008 season. The Oglala Sioux Tribe has designated the study of the mountain lions on the Reservation as an environmental priority. Trudy Ecoffey, OSPRA?s senior wildlife biologist, said, "The Tribe recognizes that the mountain lion is an indigenous species to this area and lions should continue to play an integral role in the ecosystem." Ecoffey gratefully acknowledged the contribution, explaining that this funding will help in keeping the study crews in the field. "Our study is largely focused in northwestern corner of the Reservation, in the area located between and in the drainages of the White and Cheyenne Rivers. It's a huge area and increasing fuel costs make it harder for our study crews to cover all of the territory we need to work in."

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 06:01 AM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Saturday, May 17, 2008

As part of a regular, internal grant-making program to Sierra Club Chapters and Groups, Sierra Club's Environmental Partnerships Committee has awarded funding to a number of local projects that support hunting, fishing and conservation. This spring Sierra Club's Environmental Partnerships Committee, in cooperation with Sierra Club Chapters and Groups, is committing over $31,000 to projects that support and enhance America's outdoor heritage.

In West Virginia Sierra Club will be contributing $4,200 towards a partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to build a disabled access fishing pier on the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Once completed, the pier will increase the ability of disabled Americans to enjoy fishing on their public lands along the Blackwater River. Additional partners in this effort include Friends of the 500th. This project is supported in full by a grant from Sierra Club?s Environmental Partnerships Committee.

In Montana and Idaho Sierra Club will be contributing $9,699 towards the purchase of inert cans of bear pepper spray for use by the Hunter Safety Education Program of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and Idaho Game &
Fish. Instructing new hunters in the proper use of bear pepper spray will enable them to hunt more confidently in grizzly bear country by knowing the best way to avoid the rare but occasional grizzly bear attack. This project is supported by a $5000 grant from Sierra Club's Environmental Partnerships Committee with the remainder of support coming from Sierra Club's Montana Chapter.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 06:00 AM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Friday, May 16, 2008

Protecting polar bears could hurt Inuit guides
U.S. hunters expected to stop travelling north
By BOB WEBER The Canadian Press
Fri. May 16 - 4:32 AM

A polar bear mother and her two cubs walk along the shore of Hudson Bay near Churchill, Man. On Wednesday, the U.S. government declared polar bears a threatened species because of global warming, spelling trouble for Inuit who depend on polar bear hunting. (JONATHAN HAYWARD / CP)

Inuit who lead American clients on polar bear hunts say they’ve already lost money as a result of Wednesday’s decision in the United States to add the Arctic predators to a list of threatened species.

And although the Inuit hunters say they’ll try to bring in customers from other countries, American outfitters who organize such trips don’t hold out much hope.

"There’s more Americans who want to shoot polar bears than any other nationality," Gregg Severinson, director of Cabela’s Outdoor Adventures, a major U.S. outfitter and gear supplier, said Thursday.

Still, Nathaniel Kalluk, who has been a polar bear guide based in Resolute, Nunavut, for 10 years, is hoping to replace his American clients with hunters from other countries.

"We’ll probably go overseas or something like that," he said.

"We’ve got one client from Austria already coming up in a couple days. Him and his wife are coming up to see what it’s like and we’ll take it from there."

On Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it is declaring the polar bear a threatened species. The decision is based on the reasoning that the bears’ primary habitat — arctic sea ice — is shrinking as a result of climate change.

The listing means American hunters will no longer be able to bring bear hides into the United States.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 12:05 AM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Friday, May 16, 2008

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN – Ducks Unlimited and its partners recently received a $1,000,000 North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grant to protect, restore and enhance 3,848 acres of wetland and associated habitats in Barron, Burnett, Chippewa, Dunn, Eau Claire, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, and St. Croix counties located in northwestWisconsin. The grant will build on four previous phases of successful wetland conservation efforts under the Wisconsin Northwest Pothole Habitat Initiative (WNPHI). The WNPHI is a multi-year landscape scale effort to help meet the habitat objectives for the Northwest Focus Area outlined by the Upper Mississippi River & Great Lakes Region Joint Venture. Funding for the current phase will continue efforts to conserve wetlands and associated upland communities on public and private lands throughout the nine-county project area.

A strong coalition of conservation partners have come together to pool resources in order to accomplish the conservation objectives set forth in this grant. Ducks Unlimited and its partners, Mark Johnson, Pheasants Forever, Polk County Land and Water Resources, Standing Cedars Community Land Conservancy, Star Prairie Fish & Game Association, U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service, West Wisconsin Land Trust, and Wisconsin DNR offered $6.3 million to match the grant request.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 11:18 AM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Friday, May 16, 2008

Washington, DC - Thanks to sportsmen-legislators, hunters in rural America can look forward to their local farmers continuing to set aside acres of habitat for wildlife. Increased funding measures for America's vital conservation programs for the next five years are contained in the oft-extended Farm Bill Reauthorization overwhelmingly passed by the House and Senate, now awaiting the President's signature. The release of a Conference Report last week signaled that an agreement was reached by conferees who worked out the differences between the House and Senate versions. The House and Senate both voted overwhelmingly to approve the measure and will send the bill to the President to sign into law. The question is, will he?

Of the Farm Bill Conference Committee, twenty of the twenty-six conferees that hammered out the final compromise are members of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus (CSC). CSC members who held their ground for the conservation title in the Farm Bill included the House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) and Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte (R-VA); the Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss (R-GA).

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 11:12 AM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Friday, May 16, 2008

Washington, DC - To the casual observer, they were a group of fun-loving regular guys out for a day on the range. In reality, these were prominent members of the U.S. Congress wearing shooting vests and carrying shotguns - and, yes, they knew how to use them. As members of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus, they were competing for bragging rights in the annual Congressional Shoot-Out on Tuesday, May 13th.

Eyes on the Prize (and not just the trophy)...The Shoot-Out, organized by the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, is much-anticipated each spring as it matches the Democrats against the Republicans on the trap, skeet and sporting clays range to determine who are straightest shooters on Capitol Hill. Congressmen are teamed with representatives of conservation organizations and the shooting sports industry to dust as many targets as they can. It's a great day of camaraderie among colleagues and taking a few verbal jabs at each other is all in the spirit of fun. However, the biggest prize isn't having their names engraved on the trophy. During their 'day jobs' these policymakers make sure that pro-sportsmen's legislation is guided through the minefield of the political landscape to bring home the victories for hunters and anglers.

"To see both Republicans and Democrats enjoying a day of recreational shooting together, with a little friendly competition, should give sportsmen a sense of relief that there are Congressmen in Washington who have their best interests in mind," said Jeff Crane, President of the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation. "When it comes to hunting and fishing issues, members of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus check their political differences at the gate and work together for the sportsmen of America."

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 11:09 AM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Friday, May 16, 2008

Washington, DC: The leaders of the nation's top hunting and wildlife conservation organizations celebrated the visionary leadership of President Theodore Roosevelt at the Department of the Interior Thursday while laying the groundwork for a plan to carry conservation efforts forward in the 21st Century. Together with the Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Secretaries of the Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture, the groups reflected on Roosevelt's 1908 Conference of Governors that marked a turning point in natural resource conservation in this nation. More importantly, the centennial celebration set the stage for a fall conference on wildlife policy that will establish a plan to enhance wildlife conservation and perpetuate the tradition of hunting in this nation.

"Today's centennial celebration honors the vision of our forefathers in protecting this country's precious natural resources, and highlights the work that we need to continue in order to ensure we have healthy wildlife populations and continued opportunities for hunting," stated Sporting Conservation Council Chairman and Boone and Crockett Club Chairman, Bob Model. "Hunters have long led the charge on protecting wildlife and their habitat, and it is with this perspective that we are once again laying the foundation for the future of wildlife conservation and our hunting traditions." The Sporting Conservation Council is a federal advisory committee created to advise the Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture on conservation issues of interest to the hunting community.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 11:04 AM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Washington, D.C. - Safari Club International President Dennis Anderson today condemned the decision of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to list all populations of the polar bear as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).   “Because of the uncertainty surrounding the extent of climate change and its impact on the polar bear, the listing was not warranted under ESA standards,” said Anderson.

Currently, polar bear population numbers are at or near all-time highs. Most populations in Canada are either stable or increasing. The FWS is relying on speculative computer modeling and limited professional judgment to conclude nonetheless that the polar bear will be threatened with extinction 45 years in the future.    

The listing means that imports into the United States of polar bear trophies legally hunted in Canada will no longer be allowed as of the effective date of the listing, which will be the date that the rule is published in the Federal Register. Before the listing, the law permitted imports from six populations of polar bears in Canada. The FWS previously had determined that the sport hunting programs for each of these six populations is “based on scientifically sound quotas ensuring the maintenance of the affected population stock at a sustainable level.”  The new listing rule recognizes the conservation benefits of sport hunting and importation, but claims the Marine Mammal Protection Act bars imports once a species is listed under the ESA.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 10:33 AM 1 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Total Blog: 552