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We previously wrote about the deer sterilization program run by the Village of Cayuga Heights, NY, which borders the Cornell University campus and has large deer and faculty populations. After years of bitter debate, Cayuga Heights decided that the deer population would be controlled through sterilization at enormous expense: NY Town spends $2,984 per deer in sterilization programBecause Reproductive Health Care Is A Cervine Right The Cayuga Heights deer control was mostly a failure because, you know, deer move around, so sterilizing deer in Cayuga Heights didn’t prevent new deer from coming into the area. And so on. As far...

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There were no wild turkeys in Wisconsin when I was growing up.   They had been wiped out by the 1920s.   The common wisdom was that they could not handle the winters in Northern Wisconsin, but they might be re-introduced into the Southern half of the State. The "common wisdom" was wrong.   I took the above picture this morning, on the way to my parents former property, which now belongs to my Brother.   He had stalked a trophy tom turkey there just 3 days before.   Even though turkeys have become plentiful in Wisconsin, you are still required to apply for...

EAST STROUDSBURG Pa. (Reuters) - The manhunt for the suspect in the ambush that killed a Pennsylvania trooper and wounded another won't stop the opening of deer-hunting season in the Pocono Mountains, one of most prized spots in the Northeast for game, authorities said on Monday. Beginning Saturday, bow hunters can enter the deep woods of the region even if the search for the suspect, Eric Frein, is still under way, more than three weeks after the September 12 shooting. Since then, hundreds of officers, supported by armored vehicles and helicopters, have combed the forests of northeastern Pennsylvania looking for...

The Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace and the Boat Company sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this year seeking a timely decision on their petition to list the Alexander Archipelago wolf under the Endangered Species Act. ... The petitioners want greater protection for wolves and their habitat on the Tongass National Forest. They argue that populations are declining and are vulnerable to hunting and trapping pressure along with loss of habitat from logging on the 17-million acre national forest. In particular, they cite past and future logging on Prince of Wales Island

Bears in Northern Wisconsin The gun culture permeated the part of Wisconsin where I grew up.   In that area and time, we did not think of it as a separate culture.   The gun culture and the culture were one and the same.   Guns and hunting were simply integral parts of everyday life.    If a boy was not a hunter, he aspired to be one.  There was considerable game, ruffed grouse, woodcock, rabbits, squirrel, ducks,  geese, deer, mink, muskrats, raccoon, fox and ...bear.   There were not very many bear.   In my first 18 years, with nearly a decade spent wandering...

Lorna Weafer, the 36-year-old Suncor instrument technician who was mauled and killed by a black bear ... Weafer was on her way back to work from a washroom when she was attacked by a large, male black bear while working at a Suncor oilsands site north of Fort McMurray, Alta., around 2 p.m. on Wednesday. She was declared dead on the scene. ... Mike Ewald, an investigator with Alberta Fish and Wildlife, said Weafer’s co-workers tried to scare the bear off using fire extinguishers, a water cannon and air horn — “all general things that should scare it off,” Ewald...

Hunting in the United States is an extremely safe sport, much safer than swimming, football, baseball, or soccer.   Accidents are rare.   Accidents involving five year olds are rarer still.   When they happen, they make national news. In Humble, Texas, a five year old accidentally shot himself while he accompanied his 11 year old brother who was hunting dove. I started hunting independently, about the same age, often accompanied by younger brothers.  I can relate, and feel an intense sympathy for the young man, his brother, and the family.    From abc13.com: Neighbors filled in the gaps, telling us the boys...

I recently posted about taking Joe hunting, and how he is now capable of hunting on his own.   Joe is on the right, Jason is on the left.  Last year, Jason expressed an interest in hunting, but we were not able to make it happen.   This year, I was able to take Jason on his first hunt. I arrived to pick up the young hunters.   A mistake had been made in setting the alarm clock, so no one was up, and I was knocking on the door at 5:15 a.m.   They got up shortly, and we were able to...

Last year, I wrote about mentoring a new hunter.   It is harder to bring new hunters into the gun culture now than when I was a child.   When I started hunting at age 11, with an air rifle on the farm in northern Wisconsin, I grabbed a gun, stepped out the door, and was hunting.   My father had carefully told me what pests I could hunt.  In  a year, I was using a real rifle,  a .22.  My father taught me to shoot, but most of my early hunting was alone or in the company of one or...

More rhinos were killed by poachers last year in Africa than ever before. In 2014 the dubious record looks set to be broken again. The black market price for rhino horn is now considerably higher than cocaine. Poachers from Mozambique's poorest villages sneak into South Africa, heavily armed under the cover of darkness. They are here to hunt rhinos. The money they make from just one rhino horn is enough to feed their families for months. It’s a payoff worth risking their lives for. Between 1990 and 2007 poachers killed on average 14 rhinos a year in South Africa. Last...

Louisiana hunters have scratched and clawed across the flaming sands of the offseason desert, but they're feeling the cool breeze of the oasis, and it ain't no mirage. Dove season opens Saturday, and for thousands of outdoors enthusiasts, it's the official start of fall. Hunters who couldn't care less about wing-shooting the rest of the season gather over planted and disced fields for the opening-day festivities that are as much a social gathering as a hunt. Historically, the season has always opened at noon, giving hunters time to get to the fields, set up the grills and tell lies about...

Twenty-eight years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, its effects are still being felt as far away as Germany – in the form of radioactive wild boars. Wild boars still roam the forests of Germany, where they are hunted for their meat, which is sold as a delicacy. But in recent tests by the state government of Saxony, more than one in three boars were found to give off such high levels of radiation that they are unfit for human consumption. [snip]

With the public hearing in Soldotna last night, the public comment period on the proposal to close the Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 Brown Bear hunting season on the Kenai Peninsula comes to an end. In a release yesterday, the Governor’s office said, “Federal land managers have again proposed limiting Alaskans’ access to a state resource, the proposed closure is not justified by either resource protection concerns or federal policy. I strongly urge the Service to reconsider this action and allow state-authorized hunting to continue on the refuge.” ... The decision to temporarily close the Brown Bear season on the...

A new grant program in Michigan takes extra money from hunting and fishing fees and distributes it to private landowners. The state Department of Natural Resources recently announced 12 wildlife habitat grant winners for the "Deer PLAN" (Private Land Assistance Network). This grant is available to private landowners in six counties in northern Michigan ostensibly to improve deer habitat. One hunter wasn't thrilled about the program. Tom Wills is an outdoorsman from Quinnesec in the Upper Peninsula. "I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that Michigan DNR is giving my license fees to a dozen private land...

How do you fault a guy for wanting to help feed the flurry of new house guests Democrats like Obama have dropped off in our homes? If you’re a bleeding-heart, anti-hunting liberal, you may have a conflict of interest, but fans were crystal clear about where they stood when rocker Ted Nugent made this offer on Twitter Wednesday: Ted Nugent ✔ @TedNugent sending tons of pure nutritious venison to the kids at the border 8:55 AM - 16 Jul 2014 306 Retweets 329 favorites Richbirdhunter @Richbirdhunter @TedNugent That's good send them home with a full belly 8:58 AM - 16...

This past week, Facebook removed a page dedicated to the death of a Texas Tech cheerleader named Kendall Jones. The page was titled,“Kill Kendall Jones”. Charming, eh? Why did 300-400 people want to kill Kendall? Are y’all ready? Are you sitting down? It was because Miss Jones legally hunts animals that aren’t endangered, that’s why. Yep, hunting is verboten to this small pocket of crazies, and for that reason, according to them, Kendall should be killed. Anyone else see anything weird in that warped line of reasoning? From what I’ve been able to deduce in studying the anti-hunters and their...

Axelle Despiegelaere, the Belgian teenager who landed a modeling gig with L’Oreal after pictures of her at the World Cup went viral, filmed one video and was apparently released by L'Oreal.. after a controversial Facebook post of her apparently big-game hunting came to light. Despiegelaere shot to international notoriety when photos of her in Red Devil gear on June 22 as she cheered on her team went viral. She announced the deal with L'Oreal this week. But just as quickly, things turned the other direction when she posted a photo of herself with a hunting rifle next to a dead...

I just picked up a new Ruger 77/44 bolt action and wondered if anyone here has any experience with them, or favorite loads/reloads for them? It is a SS 44 Mag bolt action carbine with an 18 1/2 inch barrel and Synthetic stock. Michigan just passed a law that will allow pistol cartridge rifles to be used for deer hunting in the 'shotgun zone', so I plan to use it for hunting deer. I'm thinking 240 grain semi-jacketed softpoints should do the job out to 125 yds or so.

<p>The Sportsman Channel said Monday that Palin's series, "Amazing America," is being renewed for a second season that will start early next year.</p> <p>On the series, the former Republican vice-presidential candidate and Alaska ex-governor profiles outdoor enthusiasts and craftsmen. The show aired Thursday nights and finished its first season May 29....</p>