HSUS has its foot in the door with another state game and fish agency. Last year, HSUS contributed funds to feed the dogs used by California Fish and Game, plus an HSUS state official was named to a the board of directors of "Cal-Tip," an anti-poaching effort. Now HSUS is sponsoring rewards for information leading to arrests of poachers, for the Hawaii DLNR.

Why state game and fish agencies think it's ok to take money from the most rabid anti-hunting organization in the world is beyond me. The agencies could not exist without hunters and HSUS wants to put an end to all hunting. Here's the press release, complete with the joint logos of HSUS and Hawaii DLNR.

Picture a 40-mph wind blowing across the open steppe of Nebraska. How many pheasants could you and four buddies bring down—with one box of shells among you, and the clock running?

That was the challenge put to eight five-man teams in the One-Box Pheasant Hunt, held November 3rd – 6th in Broken Bow, Nebraska.

Since 1961, the One-Box hunt has been a unique model of small town initiative and community cooperation. And the result is tremendous economic benefit. Not only does the hunt help promote central Nebraska as a top bird hunting area, the event has generated enough funding to build a $400,000 gun club, run a thriving youth shooting program, and award $250,000 in college scholarships—usually to students in wildlife management or a related field.

In the process, the local farmers have improved massive amounts of pheasant habitat and brought back ringneck numbers from populations that were dwindling badly 20 years ago.

Commenting on the event, outgoing chairman Thomas McCaslin said, “It’s a charity hunt. Everything we generate goes right back into the community. Whether it be in our scholarships, our youth shooting program, our habitat program or the birds we raise.”

The event is as much social as it is valuable. A busy schedule of sporting clays, trap and skeet shooting, luncheons, dinners and auctions are on the program, along with interviews with the media that always show up.

Part of the revenue is raised by charging fees for the teams that want to participate. “Basically we take applications from November to November,” McCaslin said. “We had more applications than we had spots to fill. Normally the format is seven teams, but we did eight for last year’s 50th anniversary and managed it again this year.”

But most of the revenue comes from auctions at the event, which this year included, among many other treasures:

• Specially engraved Browning shotguns
• Whitetail hunt in Saskatchewan
• Hog hunt in Oklahoma
• Spot on a 2012 One-Box team member
• One-year use of a John Deere gator utility vehicle.

(No figures are available yet on the total funds raised for this year.)

Asked what makes the One-Box hunt so successful, McCaslin said, “I would say what makes it work is the community support. For example, we have a 12-person hunt board. And to be on this board you have to be asked. So you’re among your peers. You don’t get on if you aren’t going to contribute 100 percent.”

There are many different roles community members play. Local farmers do the habitat work, plant the pheasant cover and release the birds (raised in a Surrogator unit for a few weeks, then turned loose to grow up wild.) Every team has a local guide and dogs. Families play host to the teams, putting them up in their homes, where by all accounts the hospitality is first class.

NRA Board member Dave Butz was there this year (many famous athletes and celebrities show up for the hunt), and he told KNOP News, “I wish the rest of America could come here and see how well we’re treated and how much fun we’re having.”

McCaslin confirmed that Butz’s comment was not isolated. “I can’t tell you how many emails I got after the hunt, thanking us for the hospitality. All the teams here are hosted by families in town, and they enjoy it. We’ve had the same set of hosts for several years, and they wouldn’t come back and do it if they didn’t enjoy it.”

NRA’s team did not win the event this year—that honor went to the “Georgia Boys--” but the NRA squad of Dave Butz, Board member Clel Baudler, Division Directors Bill Poole and Mike Krei, plus country music star Buddy Jewell couldn’t have been happier with the experience. Poole commented, “The total dedication of the One Box Committee, the landowners, guides, dog handlers and the entire Broken Bow community work to make the One Box Hunt a truly amazing event—and somehow it gets better every year. Thanks, Broken Bow, for all you do for youth, conservation and preserving the traditions of our great country.”

Find out more about the One Box hunt.

Shooters have been sending rounds down range since October, but the new Cedar Creek Shooting Range was officially dedicated in a ceremony on Monday.

Speaking at the event, Georgia Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Mark Williams said, “The shooting sports are safe, high-quality activities for families to enjoy.  The Wildlife Resources Division’s program helps cultivate a life-long love of shooting and fosters a sense of conservation for generations to come.” 

In Georgia, shooting sports generate more than $478 million dollars in economic impact and more than 1,700 jobs, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Additional speakers at today’s event included USDA Forest Service’s District Ranger Ben Battle, National Rifle Association’s Southern Regional Director Al Hammond, and National Wild Turkey Federation’s Georgia Chapter State President Greg Brown. Darren Kendall, regional representative for Sen. Saxby Chambliss, read a congratulatory letter from the senator. Dennis Pitts, field representative for Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, also was in attendance.

The range, located at the Cedar Creek Wildlife Management Area in the Oconee National Forest near Eatonton, is one of 17 shooting ranges currently available on public land in Georgia.  The range consists of a 10-position, 100-yard rifle/pistol range.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division worked with the U.S. Forest Service to plan its construction.

Support also was provided by the NRA, the National Wild Turkey Federation, Quail Unlimited and Putnam County.

The NRA grant totaled $25,000 and was awarded through the NRA Public Range Fund Grant Program. The fund was started in 2009 to address the lack of public shooting ranges nationwide. Through this matching grant program, NRA is working with city and county governments and state and federal agencies to build and improve public shooting ranges across the country.

Since 2009, the program has awarded grants totaling $443,230 to build new public ranges from Georgia to Alaska. 

“We are proud of this partnership effort, which provides a quality and affordable facility that reflects the exceptional resources of the Oconee National Forest and the interests of those who recreate here,” said Battle.

The Cedar Creek Shooting Range is located near the intersection of Hwy 212 and Bradley Road and is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday year-round (except for Christmas and Thanksgiving Day).

To learn more about the range, visit www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/conf/recarea/?recid=75367.

For information on other public shooting ranges in Georgia, visit www.georgiawildlife.com/hunting/archery-shooting-ranges.

To apply for a grant from the NRA Public Range Fund, visit www.nrahq.org/shootingrange/public_range_grants.asp. An applicant must be a city or county government or state or federal agency that plans to build or improve, or is currently building or improving, a public shooting facility.

A quick scan around Lower Morse Wildlife Area in Wright County yields more pheasants than hunters, which is saying something given Iowa’s current pheasant population, which, according to the annual roadside surveys conducted in August, is at an all-time low.

Three weeks into the 2011 pheasant season and hunters are scarcer than roosters. It seems the news of Iowa’s pheasant demise has kept hunters at home.
 
“There is not much competition on public land, which could be a good thing for hunters who still plan to hunt,” said Todd Bogenschutz, upland wildlife biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “A lot of hunters went out opening day and didn’t see much and now they are done for the year.”

Bogenschutz has been out a number of times with mixed results. Some trips he finds no birds and others a bird or two and on good days, he has shot a three-bird limit twice.

He said areas with excellent winter cover—cattails or switch grass—give hunters a chance to see some birds, and currently, the best cover is primarily on public land.

“People who are seeing birds are hunting the excellent, well-managed habitat,” Bogenschutz said. “Hunters looking for birds and are flexible should identify public land with good winter cover in north central, central or northwest Iowa. Those regions have the better pheasant numbers and the winter cover—switch grass, cattails—that holds birds. They should expect the birds to be scattered after being hunted for a few weeks, which is typical.

“But hunters need to set realistic goals of a bird per hunter or so,” Bogenschutz said. “There are not a lot of guys shooting limits, but we do have those, too. The key is good habitat and good dogs. Flush a bird or two and put one in the bag.”

Two factors have primarily contributed to Iowa’s low pheasant counts of late—weather and habitat. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) show that between 1990 and 2005 Iowa lost 2,496 square miles of potential pheasant habitat. This was primarily Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres that were converted back to row crop production.

In addition to the importance of suitable habitat, Iowa pheasant numbers tend to increase with mild winters and warm, dry springs and decline with snowy winters and cool, wet springs. Weather conditions the past few years have wreaked havoc on pheasant reproduction.

“The last five years have been really frustrating for Iowa hunters and for the department,” said Bogenschutz. “Plain and simple, we have lost hens and nests consecutively each of the last five years because of unprecedented weather patterns for Iowa.”

In 50 years of monitoring, Iowa’s pheasant population has never increased following winters with greater than 31 inches of snowfall. Snowfall totals for Iowa over the last five winters are 30” (2006-07), 42” (2007-08), 32” (2008-09), 47” (2009-10), and 38” (2010-11), respectively. Iowa’s pheasant population is at an all-time low because of this recent string of consecutively bad winters, paired with four consecutive springs featuring below-normal temperatures and above-average rainfall. The state received almost 9-inches of rain this spring.

“We do have some good places to hunt pheasants around the state,” Bogenschutz said. “What we really need is less snow and warm, dry springs. I can’t emphasize enough the need for habitat. Pheasants have a better chance of surviving the snowfall and spring rain if they have good habitat near food sources. We can’t control the weather, but if we can keep secure habitats on the landscape, we can provide the birds a place to escape.”

If you planning to head out for a pheasant hunt over the Thanksgiving holiday, public lands might just provide the best opportunity—and habitat—to bag a rooster.

Iowa’s pheasant hunting season runs through Jan. 10, 2012.

If there’s one thing law-abiding hunters abhor it’s poachers, game-law violators, and other unethical louts.

Those officers tasked with policing our great outdoors perform a very difficult job, and they do so admirably.

But at what point does their responsibility to enforce wildlife laws interfere with a hunter’s civil rights?

At least two states—Idaho and New Mexico—are once again conducting mandatory roadside checkpoints this fall aimed specifically at hunters. The reasoning behind these stops is to collect biological data and apprehend wildlife violators.

Both are crucial tasks for state game agencies, but is simply wearing an orange hat or a camouflage jacket reason enough to stop every hunter that passes?

In Idaho’s case, all hunters and anglers are required to stop at any roadside check stations they encounter, whether they have game animals or fish in the vehicle or not. They must stop if going to their hunting or fishing spot or returning home afterwards.

They must stop even if they were unsuccessful.

Some check stations are biological, some are enforcement, and some are both. At biological check stations, biologists collect information on an animal’s weight, length, species, sex, number of antler points, etc. Enforcement check stations, on the other hand, look for compliance with fishing and hunting rules, including proper licenses and tags, validation of tags, evidence of sex, waste of game, size and bag limits.

New Mexico Game and Fish is operating roadblocks this fall similar to the ones being used in Idaho.

Stopping every hunter on the road certainly makes a game warden’s job easier, but imagine trying to get an hour or two of bowhunting in after work in the evening, only to get hung up for 10 or 15 minutes at a hunter checkpoint on the way there.

Or how about if you’re a new hunter and your truck is searched before and after every hunt? How long are you going to keep hunting if you are constantly hassled?

Moreover, law-abiding hunters are the ones who bear the inconvenience of stopping at these checkpoints; you can bet poachers and other law-breakers do everything possible to avoid them.

Game wardens have an important job to do, but treating innocent people like suspects, just because they possess a hunting license, isn’t the way to go about it.

What do you think? Does your state operate roadside checkpoints where hunters are stopped? Do you feel they infringe upon your rights?

Mid-November usually marks the official denning period for grizzly bears, but until then, they will remain very active in their search for food—creating challenging conditions for hunters.

On Oct. 3, 2011, two hunters in two separate areas of Wyoming  encountered grizzly bears; both suffered minor injuries as a result. In each case, the hunters surprised a bear which then became aggressive.

According to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, a Casper hunter in the Dubois area chose to “drop and cover” when the bear charged. He was bitten on the buttocks and ankle and the bear left the area.

In a second encounter on the same day, an Oregon hunter near Meeteetse surprised a bear and it charged the hunter, knocking him down and biting him on the hand as it ran past. Both incidents were investigated by Game and Fish personnel who determined that both bears were acting naturally. No attempt to capture either bear will be made.

“In most instances, getting too close to a grizzly bear and suddenly surprising it is considered threatening by most adult grizzlies,” said Dennie Hammer, Cody information specialist for Wyoming Game and Fish. “When threatened, grizzlies generally exhibit one of three behaviors; grizzlies either run away, bluff charge, or charge with the intent of removing the threat.”

Given their behavior, knowing what to do in an encounter is very important according to Hammer. “Should you encounter a bear while hunting it is important to know bear behavior and to be able to ‘read’ the bear’s body language—if there is time to do so,” Hammer said.

“A bear that hears or smells something that it cannot identify may stand on its hind legs to get a better look and/or smell. This is typically not an aggressive behavior. A bear that runs toward you with its head up, ears erect, and stiff legged is probably bluff charging. One that has its head down and ears laid back feels threatened enough to charge,” Hammer added.

Hammer stated that in instances where there is not enough time to read the bears behavior or to use a deterrent such as bear spray or a firearm, the only viable option is to “drop and cover.”

“Many people were taught as youngsters to curl into a ball and play dead. This might still work for those limber enough to stay in this position, but we think the drop and cover technique—lying flat on the ground with your fingers interlocked over your neck—is better. And, wear a daypack to protect your back—always,” Hammer said.

“However frightful this might seem, lying quietly and still is not threatening to the bear and most bears quickly determine that the threat is gone and they leave the area,” Hammer said.

To improve the odds of minimizing hunter-bear conflicts, Hammer suggests the following:

-- Carry a bear deterrent and know how to use it. Many aggressive bears have been deterred through the use of bear spray and all hunters should carry it where it can be reached and know how and when to use it.

--  Hunters should hunt with a partner and keep relatively close together.

-- When using calls, pay close attention to your surroundings, not just the area within which the hunted species is located.

-- Continuously watch for bear sign which includes tracks, scats, and diggings and for the bears themselves.

-- Retrieve game animals as quickly as possible and watch for approaching bears when field dressing and quartering.

-- If game must be left on the ground overnight, separate the carcass from the entrails when field dressing and place the carcass in an area that can be viewed from a distance.

-- When retrieving game, make lots of noise; use binoculars to search the area for bears and to determine if the game has been disturbed by bears prior to walking in on the carcass.

-- Bears often daybed near food sources.

-- If a bear has claimed your carcass, leave the scene and report the incident to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Have you ever had a close encounter with a bear while hunting? If so tell us about it below. 

As we recently reported, gun laws in the United Kingdom are among the most restrictive in the world -- a fact that left law-abiding UK citizens defenseless and afraid to walk the streets in the wake of the rioting, arson, assault and mayhem that occurred in and around London earlier this month.

One might think that these events would stimulate some reasonable discourse about the need for responsible firearms ownership, and in fact London has a great chance to do so as the city prepares to host the 2012 Olympics. But instead of viewing Olympic shooters and shooting events as a demonstration of something positive, quite the opposite was happening.

London schoolchildren are eligible to receive 125,000 free tickets to Olympic events -- but they were initially disallowed from using the tickets for shooting events. An unidentified source told the London Evening Standard, "We decided it would not be appropriate. It's the only sport children will not be able to go to as part of the Ticketshare scheme."

And Danny Bryan, founder of Communities Against Gun and Knife Crime, said, "It is good kids should enjoy the Games but there's no way we should glorify guns."

Reaction from the British shooting community came quickly. David Penn, secretary of the British Shooting Sports Council, said: "There is no link between Olympic-level shooting and crime. It's like saying that a thief would use a Formula One car as a getaway car." Christopher Graffius, of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, said: "The Olympics represent the international peak of safe and responsible shooting. Children can see far worse on their TV screens and interact with far worse on their computers."

 One assumes that kids will, for example, be eligible for a free ticket to Olympic boxing. And wrestling. And judo. All sports that have been known to draw real, live blood and break bones. And let's not forget fencing, javelin throwing, and all the other sports that simulate combat of one kind or another. But letting a youngster watch an event that requires the ultimate in discipline, concentration, self-control and sportsmanship; that is what Britishers can't abide.

The final hypocrisy was this. The London Games website posts the following on the page devoted to shooting events:

"Get Involved

In the UK, more than 350,000 people currently practice the sport, with equal numbers of boys and girls entering competitions. Find details of all the shooting clubs and facilities in your local area by visiting British Shooting, the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association and the National Small-bore Rifle Association. You can also find lots of information on the sport on the website of the International Shooting Sport Federation."

The posting to "Get Involved" omits that fact that because of a ban on handguns, British Olympic pistol shooters are forced to train abroad.

So which is it, London? Are you ashamed of competitive shooting or proud of it? You can't have it both ways.

Thankfully, the outcry from the British Olympic Association, shooting organizations and athletes forced the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to reconsider and reverse their initial position. Schoolchildren will now be able to use the free tickets for shooting events.

Why it took such a battle remains a mystery.