Free Republic

Just before Tyler Kales was led from a Mount Vernon, Wash., courtroom to begin serving his sentence earlier this month, he apologized to the family of his victim. “All I want to say is how sorry I am,” the reed-thin 15-year-old said in a quavering voice to relatives of Pamela Almli, 54, who died instantly when Kales mistook her for a bear and shot her in the head Aug. 2, 2008, while hunting in the fog in western Washington's Skagit County. Kales, convicted by a judge of second-degree manslaughter in June, received 30 days in juvenile detention at his July...

> “The hybrid-type dog had grabbed their three-day old baby out of an upstairs crib, and had made it outside with the child,” Deputy Anthony Purcell said. “It looked like a collie-wolf mix. He (male baby) was taken out of the house; we’re still trying to determine how. It’s our understanding that the animal made it into the back yard before the parents realized that it had the child.” > Jett said the owner had proof of rabies vaccination on the dog. >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin wildlife officials have begun their annual summer deer observations. Each summer for three months Department of Natural Resources workers and federal agriculture and forest staff create a record of deer they see. The observations play into deer population estimates and herd health monitoring. The DNR also plans to send questionnaires to about 5,000 rural landowners, asking for their observations of deer, coyotes, skunks, bobcats, turkeys and other animals.

Federal officials may open a large area of forest and swamp on both sides of Alligator Alley for hunting and off-road vehicles. According to the Associated Press, the National Park Service has proposed establishing over 85,000 acres of wilderness cut by corridors to allow hunters to access remote areas on swamp buggies and ATV's. An environmental review that was attached to the new proposal said the new plan would have a moderately adverse impact on the endangered Florida panther population in the area. The Florida panther typically avoids areas with people.

Attention Hunters! If you plan to spend your recreational hunting dollars in North Carolina realize you do so at peril of your life! Wildlife Enforcement Officers have gone as feral as their brothers in other parts of the “Thin JBT Line” . Without fear of prosecution they now have license to shoot 76 year old landowners hunting their own property.

BILLINGS, Mont. — Montana and Idaho are moving to host the first open gray wolf hunts in the lower 48 states after the animal's removal from the endangered list across much of the Northern Rockies.

Some 4,000 Marines, sailors and soldiers and 650 Afghan soldiers launched nearly simultaneous air and ground assaults all along the river. One Marine was killed and several others were wounded in early fighting, officials said. The forces, under the command of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, are entering areas where few – if any – coalition forces have been in the past. Helmand province is a stronghold of the Taliban, and the coalition mission is to secure the area and make it safe for Afghans to live without the threats of militant groups. “The operation in Nawa is going to...

Hi Everyone, My name is Brad Strittmatter and we have a new TV show on Fox Sports called Hunts for Heroes' Veteran Outdoors. The sole purpose of Veteran Outdoors Television is to honor our service members that have been wounded in combat by giving them a platform to tell their story in their own words. We also give them a little something back by surprising them with their dream adventure as our way of saying “Thank You!” for all they’ve done for us. Taking our wounded heroes on these trips has changed our lives. We are just a small group...

Texans Kill Crafty Critters With Crossbows; Fishing Limits Are the Order of the Day CROCKETT, Texas -- The sadly misunderstood alligator gar, reviled for its frighteningly huge and prehistoric appearance and rows of razor-sharp teeth, has been hunted for centuries. Fishermen despise the gar because they believe the fish devour prized bass and crappie. Swimmers and boaters fear the gar's alligator-shaped jaws could take a chunk out of them in the water. But in recent times, alligator gar have experienced a kind of trash-to-trophy renaissance as sportsmen discovered the thrill of hunting the beasts, which can weigh up to 300...

Depending on where in Wisconsin someone plans to hunt deer later this year, the season structure could be the exactly the same or quite different. Gone - except in the chronic wasting disease management zone - is the earn-a-buck season, which was first applied in 1996. To many hunters, particularly archers, that's a big change. Within the CWD zone, however, it will be business as usual, including a gun season holiday hunt from Dec. 24 through Jan. 3. The special season first appeared last winter. Whether landowners can return to hunt during a special three-month season after the holiday hunt...

A lifetime hunting ban. That's the sentence handed down in Couer D'Alene Friday to a man guilty of poaching. Timothy Herbert was also ordered to pay more than 12 grand in fines, and was tagged with 4 years probation. Fish and Game says Herbert hunted deer and turkey illegally....there have been fewer than 50 lifetime hunting bans imposed in Idaho's history.

Tax breaks urged on separate weekendsBATON ROUGE -- The Legislature has passed two bills calling for separate three-day state sales tax holidays on the purchase of guns, ammunition and a wide range of hunting supplies. House Bill 128 by Rep. Cameron Henry, R-Jefferson, creates the Annual Louisiana Second Amendment Weekend Holiday, which will be in addition to the two-day state sales tax holiday in August that covers guns, school supplies and many other retail products costing up to $2,500 per item. Henry's holiday would run on the Friday through Sunday after Thanksgiving and would not put a limit on the...

Federal wildlife managers have decided to allow an endangered Mexican gray wolf that has been linked to four livestock killings to remain in the wild in southwestern New Mexico. Despite a policy that allows the agency to remove a wolf from the wild after three livestock kills in one year, Tuggle said in a memo to the coordinator of the Mexican gray wolf recovery program ... Tuggle requested in his memo that the recovery program's interagency field team continue to monitor the San Mateo pack and try to prevent any further livestock kills by the pack.

It has now been over two months since North Carolina Wildlife Enforcement Officer Mark Minton shot and killed 76 year old Cyde Coffey while Coffey was hunting turkeys on his own land. In spite of dozens of news reports the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation has yet to release any information about the case and the county District Attorney has yet to issue any statement about imminent prosecution. Family members allege Officer Minton was not in proper uniform and the use of deadly force over an alleged wildlife violation was excessive.

MONTICELLO — Queens hunter Edward Taibi pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter on Friday in the shooting death of 16-month-old Charly Ann Skala. snip After he made the plea, Taibi turned to Charly Ann’s grandparents, aunts and uncles who were seated in the courtroom, opened his arms and said, “I am sorry.” snip “This was a travesty and a tragedy that has changed the lives of two people and two families forever,” Taibi said, while standing outside the courtroom following his plea. “I hope one day it brings some kind of closure to the family, some peace and closure in their...

“The spread of small arms creates a serious global problem and requires an equally urgent response because the lives and futures of children are at stake. These weapons have extinguished more young lives than they have protected.” – Carol Bellamy, Executive Director, UNICEF The vast majority of Americans, regardless of their opinions on the increasing scope of international law, agree with the proposition that children should not be used as soldiers. Accordingly, much of the UN literature that addresses children and guns deals with this military-related issue. However, a second theme is quickly found in virtually all UN pronouncements about...

With black bear populations rising, run-ins have become almost commonplace... Canadian bear researcher Hank Hristienko, who conducted the survey in January, found that 18 Eastern states were seeing more encounters with bears. In a 2006 attack, a 210-pound male bear killed a 6-year-old girl and mauled her 2-year-old brother as well as her mother who tried to fend off the animal. The attack occurred during a family outing in Tennessee's Cherokee National Forest. near Prestonsburg, Ky., last year, a bear held tourists at bay inside a cabin until rangers arrived to chase it away. The U.S. bear population more than...

When Washington State – which had not recorded a hunting fatality that involved a non-hunter in more than 25 years – saw two non-hunters killed during a single season last fall, more than eyebrows were raised. Also raised last year were voices—sometimes shrill—and blood pressures, but curiously, one of these tragic deaths elicited a lot more emotional reaction than the other. The first victim, Pamela Almli of Oso in Skagit County, was a hiker, and she was fatally shot while standing on a trail on the wide open slope of Sauk Mountain on the opening day of last year’s black...

Bear in tree shakes up Wausau http://www.thecountrytoday.com/story-news.asp?id=BK77E3T3K9V WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) - A large black bear became an instant celebrity when it showed up in a tree near a Wausau grade school. The bear was first seen in the tree near Grant Elementary School early Tuesday morning, and police monitored the animal all day. Recess was held indoors, and when students were dismissed at 3 p.m., they left by way of doors on sides of the building away from the bear. In the evening, a crowd watched the bear from the school parking lot. It had descended the tree a little...

The Wyoming Attorney General said Friday will file a lawsuit next Tuesday to challenge the recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's ruling that rejected the state's wolf management plan. "The Endangered Species Act requires listing and delisting decisions to be based on science," Bruce Salzburg told the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation at a symposium about the law in Casper. But the Fish and Wildlife Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Interior, decided in early March to leave the gray wolf in Wyoming on the endangered species list for political and public relations reasons... The Fish and Wildlife Service,...

I hear the phrase "The Second Amendment isn't about hunting" repeated in various comments, articles, websites and blogs. It is being repeated so often that is has become an accepted fact. I'm more tired of hearing this than I was the old Wendy's commercial, "Where's the beef?" (okay I am dating myself). Some days I've heard it so many times that I wonder why I bother to be involved in Second Amendment issues. It seems I spend more time promoting/defending gun ownership than I do hunting. I was a hunter well before I was into guns or a defender of...

Ranchers in the Lemhi Valley of Idaho have suffered increased losses from wolf depredation, as wolf numbers expand. Allen Bodenhamer, who raises cattle near Baker, ID lost three calves this past spring. At first he thought the kills were made by coyotes, then realized he was dealing with wolves. “When coyotes kill a calf they get hold of the back of the neck and basically strangle it. They usually don’t start eating on it while it is still alive. A wolf grabs it by the top of the back or just in front of the hips and is eating on...

Call me topsy turvey, but if people want to learn about the use of firearms or weapons under stress they need to get out and hunt once in a while....... All the paper target tactical trainers in the world can not prepare you for a real gunfight as well as a wild boar hunt with gun, knife or bow. Either do it right the first time or take a trip to the hospital.

Canada’s Governor General began her Arctic tour by gutting a freshly slaughtered seal, pulling out its heart and eating it raw, according to media reports. Michaelle Jean, the Queen’s representative to the country, did it as a gesture of solidarity with the country’s beleaguered seal hunters, the reports said, adding that Jean expressed dismay that people would call the traditional hunting practices inhumane. After eating the heart during a stop in Nunavut’s Rankin Inlet, Jean wiped her blood-soaked fingers with a tissue.

Toronto, Ontario (AHN) - A 10-year study made by the Canadian Red Cross on drownings and other water-related injuries across the nation showed that fishing topped the list of causes of water-related deaths in Canada from 1991 to 2000. Of the 5,900 water-related fatalities, there were 889 people who drowned, accounting for 15 percent. It was followed by swimming with 751 cases, playing or walking near water 669, road travel 538, powerboating 427, bathing 394 and canoeing 205. The study pointed that fishing is a popular Canadian past time, although it was a major source of food and livelihood for...

Anyway, news from North Carolina today suggests echos of Jim Crowe and the KKK will continue unabated. The Senate Panel’s Chairman obviously heard no COGENT opposition. Tantalizing Excerpt: North Carolina’s 140-year-old ban on hunting with guns on Sundays appears safe for another year or two.

If you look in the dictionary under thin ice, you’ll see a picture of the Colorado Wildlife Commission. That is what you’d see, anyway, if the accompanying listing was “Citizen Petitions to Ban Hunting.” The Wildlife Commission listened Thursday to two such petitions from Front Range groups. Aside from some not-so-veiled threats of future lawsuits from a fancy-pants, big-city lawyer... Both petitions came from homeowners groups, one on Sugar Loaf Mountain west of Boulder and the other from Castle Pines Village south of Denver. Representatives from both groups expressed similar distress: Hunting activity is threatening their safety. Both wanted similar...

Sexy, Savvy & Real: Sarah Palin appears on TLC ... I know we have seen Sarah Palin's bear skin before, but I love this image of her, taken from a meeting with some celebrity bikers last week in her office. Note the way she casually leans on the dead beast (slain by her father). It encapsulates the love-or-loathe factor about the Alaska governor. Big city liberals will take one look at that bear head and grimace while Conservative hunter types will think 'way to go girl'. It seems many in the Republican Party's leadership are in the grimacing crowd, as...

This is the best idea yet. Be sure and read the whole thing. I was checking cruise lines because I heard the rates are very cheap right now. I found a Somali cruise package that departs from Sawakin (in the Sudan) and docks at Bagamoya (in Tanzania ). The cost is a bit high @ $800 per person double occupancy but I didn’t find that offensive. What I found encouraging and enlightened is that the cruise is encouraging people to bring their ‘High powered weapons’ along on the cruise. If you don’t have your own weapons you can rent them...

CALGARY- Just call her angel of the morning. Spotting two prowling coyotes stalk a puppy cowering under a pickup truck on her northwest bus route on Tuesday, Calgary Transit driver Dawn Hagel did the only thing she could. The 43-year-old stopped the bus, opened its door, and let the frightened pup scamper on board, saving it from a gruesome fate. “I see this particular pick-up truck at the bottom of the hill about three times a week, and I knew I couldn’t leave the dog because when I returned the truck would no longer be there,” Hagel said. “This puppy’s...

Rush Limbaugh's new pet project -- fighting animal cruelty for the Humane Society of the United States -- is riling sportsmen from coast to coast, prompting fears that the talkster typically supportive of gun rights is aiding a group they say has a secret agenda to end all hunting in America.

A reality show coming to cable network CMT will have recent National Bowhunters Hall of Fame inductee Ted Nugent hunting the most dangerous game — man. "Runnin' Wild ... From Ted Nugent" will debut in August. According to CMT's Web site, episodes will feature Nugent teaching a set of survival skills to three competitors. Those competitors then will put those skills to use in the wilderness while Nugent and his 18-year-old son, Rocco, "hunt them down." Unlike some of Nugent's previous forrays into reality television, the show will not be taped on his Leoni Township property. According to his publicist,...

Rush Limbaugh's new pet project -- fighting animal cruelty for the Humane Society of the United States -- is riling sportsmen from coast to coast, prompting fears that the talkster typically supportive of gun rights is aiding a group they say has a secret agenda to end all hunting in America. Twenty-eight groups representing millions of hunters and sportsmen are demanding that the conservative radio commentator end his collaboration with the HSUS and stop "helping them to mainstream their image in the minds of reasonable people." "Despite a few programs designed to attract support from the general public, HSUS is...

After over a decade of fiddle-fooling around the US Fish & Wildlife Service has finalized rules for harvest of Tundra Geese.There is no record of how many acres of fragile Arctic Tundra have been destroyed while the bureaucrats pontificated. “The overabundance of light geese is harming their fragile arctic breeding habitat,” said H. Dale Hall, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “The damage to the habitat is, in turn, harming the health of the light geese and other bird species that depend on the tundra habitat. Returning the light goose population to sustainable levels is necessary to protect...

My Lasik vision correction that I had just over a year ago has increased both my hunting success and confidence. Before my eye surgery, my vision was beyond terrible. It was to the point where my glasses were heavy on my face and causing indentations on the bridge of my nose and above both ears! I'm sure there are enough of you out there who know this can present a special challenge when hunting. Let's recap, shall we? It's typically cold when you hunt. You like to stay warm in the cold. Staying warmer longer increases your time on stand,...

Ranching - If confirmed, the attacks east of Baker City will be the first in years LA GRANDE -- A gray wolf may have killed 19 lambs on an eastern Oregon ranch south of the Eagle Cap Wilderness in separate attacks April 9 and 12, Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department officials said Tuesday. Seventeen lambs died and two were injured in the first attack on the ranch, which belongs to Curt Jacobs and is in the Keating Valley east of Baker City, said Michelle Dennehy, Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman. Two died in the second attack. If confirmed, the attacks will...

Photo courtesy of Mountain Lion Foundation > Wildlife officials for decades have advised hikers, hunters, cyclists and others to fight back if they encounter a threatening mountain lion. Make yourself look bigger, they advise, and arm yourself with anything handy: fishing rod, fence post, pocket knife or walking stick. Now UC Davis researchers, after analyzing more than a century of cougar attacks, say it might be better in some cases to run instead. > In short, most victims never see the attack, so they have no choice about what to do. >

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   URGENT ALERT ** Florida: Humane Society Pushes Bill that Harms Hunters **   Monday, April 13, 2009   DATE:   April 13, 2009TO:        USF & NRA Members and FriendsFROM:  Marion P. Hammer              USF Executive Director               NRA Past President NRA and Unified Sportsmen of Florida OPPOSE SB-2002 by Constantine. Under the pretense of shutting down “puppy mills,” once again, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is pushing Senate Bill 2002, a bill that threatens to shut down many legitimate breeders of hunting, sporting, and working dogs, as well as small...

A recently released U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report shows that waterfowl hunters are a welcome benefit to the country's economy, generating more than $2.3 billion in one year. The report is an addendum to the 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation and focuses specifically on waterfowl hunting in the United States. Hunters spent $900 million on various goods and services, including transportation, guns, decoys and hunting dogs. Their spending supported more than 27,000 jobs and generated more than $8.5 million in employment income.

AN EASTER EGG hunt ended in disaster when a teenage girl tripped an illegal hunting trap baited with birds' eggs. Carina Faerber, 13, mistook the bait for chocolate eggs, setting off the hair trigger of a vicious razor-sharp gin-trap that left her hand hanging by a thread. Her wrist was broken and almost severed altogether when she tried to pick up the eggs - used to lure weasels in woods near her house in Weisskirchen, Austria. Her screams alerted local walkers who dialled emergency services, as reported by the Austrian Times. Police say the eggs were left as bait by...

You are probably already familiar with the "Defenders of Wildlife" and their hateful propaganda campaign against Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Alaskan wildlife policies and subsistence hunting. Now Alaskans, which are to a substantial part dependant on hunting, strike back with the Defenders of Wild Food. DefendersofWildFood.org is a national effort dedicated to educating people regarding the importance of wildlife to the culture and diet of Alaskans.Watch their video ad and make sure to check their website.Click on pic for video:http://defendersofwildfood.org/

U.S. President Barack Obama sees the Canadian seal hunt as "inhumane" and vowed to express his "outrage" during his days as a senator, it was revealed today. Obama, who has not spoken publicly about the seal hunt since becoming President, vowed in a 2006 letter to animal-rights activists to work with colleagues "to ensure that we take all the necessary steps to express our outrage" with the Canadian government. "I share your concerns about the Canadian seal hunt," Obama wrote to a member of People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, in the letter, dated April 13, 2006....

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Pro-Hunting Measure on Governor’s Desk in New Jersey!   Monday, March 30, 2009   Please Contact the Governor Today!Legislation that would significantly expand hunting opportunities for New Jersey’s sportsmen is currently awaiting consideration by Governor Jon Corzine (D). A1669 would authorize bow hunting on Sundays during the respective deer season dates set by the State Fish and Game Code, on State wildlife management areas and private property.  Last October, the Senate version (S802) passed the full Senate.  Please contact Governor Corzine TODAY and respectfully urge him to sign A1669/S802.  The Governor...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Anti-Hunting Bill Defeated in Maryland!   Wednesday, March 25, 2009    Thank You for Your Support!NRA-ILA is pleased to report that House Bill 1309 was pulled by the Maryland House Environmental Matters Committee.  HB1309, sponsored by Delegates Barbara Frush (D-21) and James Hubbard (D-23A), would have arbitrarily expanded the hunting “safety zone” from 150 yards to 300 yards from any occupied building.  Thank you to all of the NRA members who answered the call to action against this bill.  Without you, this victory would not have been possible. Please continue checking...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Proposed Bill Attacks Hunting in Maryland!   Wednesday, March 18, 2009   Please Contact the Members of the House Environmental Matters Committee Immediately! On Wednesday, March 18 at 1:00 pm, the Maryland House Environmental Matters Committee held a hearing on House Bill 1309, and will vote on the bill in the near future.  HB 1309 would arbitrarily expand the hunting “safety zone” from 150 yards to 300 yards from any occupied building. HB 1309 is sponsored by Delegate Barbara Frush (D-21) and Delegate James Hubbard (D-23A), two anti-hunting legislators whose goal...

In an incident fitting of Friday the 13th lore, a deer jumped through a closed window, swam in three pools and left Mayflower Motel unscathed this weekend. "The front desk called me, and there was only an hour left to Friday the 13th," Manager George Zapuchlak said. "The phone rings at 10 (minutes) to 12 and I said, 'You've got to be kidding me.'" According to security guard Thomas Murphy, he was on his way to lock the pool area for the night when he startled a group of deer. Three of the four deer ran across Wisconsin Dells Parkway,...

WASHINGTON, DC, March 16, 2009 (ENS) - The National Park Service is stepping up efforts to eliminate poisonous lead from national parks by persuading hunters and fishermen to use shot and sinkers made of less toxic metals. "Our goal is to eliminate the use of lead ammunition and lead fishing tackle in parks by the end of 2010," Acting National Park Service Director Dan Wenk said today. "We want to take a leadership role in removing lead from the environment." The new lead reduction efforts include changes in the activities of National Park Service staff, such as culling operations or...

Hi, I need help with finding the title and author of a book on hunting that I saw on FR several months ago. The book was about a guy remembering conversations about hunting with his grandfather and his grandfather makes a point about how inhumane treatment of animals is wrong because it leads to the person later practicing inhumane acts against people. Another part has the grandfather talking about the boy's first rifle not being fancy or adorned or antyhing but suitable for the job at hand. The only thing I remember about the author was that his last name...

Eight people have been charged with indiscriminately gunning down dozens of caribou on the Arctic tundra near Point Hope last summer, sorting through the carcasses and salvaging meat from only the most pristine animals, according to documents filed in Kotzebue Monday. Court records describe an opportunistic hunt, with groups of young adults out collecting bird eggs or hunting over the Fourth of July weekend opening fire with .17- and .243-caliber rifles when crossing paths with animals from the massive Western Arctic Caribou Herd. More than 100 animals were apparently killed. But Alaska Wildlife Troopers traversing the 40-mile Suicide Trail about...

For months, anyone who's proffered the position that the Obama Administration was anti-gun has been dismissed as being a variety of things, from sore loser to rampant paranoid. Nonetheless, since assuming office, members of the Obama administration have steadily- and stealthily- moved against firearms and ammunition. Their only public blunder was Attorney General Holder's saying the "assault weapons ban" needed to be reinstated. Quickly, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi - no friend of gun owners - went on record as opposing Holder's suggestion. She went as far as to parrot the words of pro-gun groups, saying the government should enforce...