Hunting – Page 4 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Where We Agree But Disagree

Sarah Brady and Joan Peterson think the folks that live on West Crooked Lake are entitled to peace and quiet from duck hunters, who supposedly are newly enabled to blast away at ducks during season, thanks to the state giving teeth to preemption. I haven’t looked into Florida law yet to see whether this is the case, but in most cases, in many states including Pennsylvania, local communities have been preempted from interfering with lawful hunting for some time.

I have to say, I’m sympathetic to the residents. I’d be really peeved if I was awoken from sleep by the sound of shotgun blasts, and quick look over the lake shows it to be a pretty heavily residential area. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. But for all I know hunting has gone on here for a long time, and these folks have just found a new vehicle by which to complain about it. You never really can expect to be told the full truth by the media with these local issues. Nonetheless, I’m sympathetic to the residents.

But you know what would fix this problem? Legalizing suppressors. I suspect Sarah Brady and Japete aren’t going to go for that one. That would take care of the noise problem, and the lake is certainly big enough to safely hunt on provided all the standard precautions are taken. Bird shot doesn’t stay lethal for all that great a distance, despite the woman in the article worried about “someone’s child accidentally catch[ing] a stray bullet.” You don’t hunt ducks with bullets lady, you hunt them with shot.

Extinct Species are Better than Hunting

This video is a must watch from CBS on the economics of saving endangered species through hunting. Though a couple of the questions are a bit over the top (how do you kill something you love?), it’s overwhelmingly fair. And yes, the animal rights activist argues that she’d rather see a species struggle to survive than be raised in the United States and potentially hunted once the numbers are high enough.

The rule the mention that will basically slash the numbers of near-extinct animals to almost nil can be found here and has a bit of history to it. Consider this from the background information from the Fish & Wildlife Service:

With the exception of reintroduced animals, no sightings of the scimitar-horned oryx have been reported since the late 1980s. …

Based on a 2010 census of its members, the Exotic Wildlife Association (EWA) estimates there are 11,032 scimitar-horned oryx, 5,112 addax, and 894 dama gazelle on EWA member ranches.

Just on member ranches, there are more than 11,000 animals of a species that hasn’t been see on its original home turf in North Africa in 30 years. Yet, it’s not acceptable that these animals are raised and thrive in a new land according to an activist who purportedly wants the species to live.

I asked someone who knows animal issues and the federal government if this falls squarely on the Obama Administration. I was told yes and no. As it was explained to me, while the Fish & Wildlife Service was forced into the position by the courts, the Administration could have fixed the flaws in the original rule that allowed the hunts to take place. They didn’t, so now the hunts are ending.

As I’ve grown so fond of saying in recent years, elections have consequences. For these 11,000 scimitar-horned oryx, it’s pretty much a death sentence with possible extinction of the species. For hunters, it’s access to unique hunting opportunities where the profits will go back into recovering the species for future generations. For gun owners in general, well, it’s just another door closing on one the traditions for some in our community.

New Jersey Has a Coyote Problem

In addition to a bear hunt, it looks like New Jersey is planning to cull the coyote population. Apparently one of them tried to make off with a baby. A lot of people seem to have a hard time understanding, without the ability to manufacture and use weapons, human beings are not apex predators, we’re prey. When other predators lose their fear of people, bad things are going to happen. The advice from the state is if you see a coyote, make sure it moves along. In most other areas, even in New York, as the article notes, it’s lawful to shoot them. It doesn’t take very long before the predators learn to steer clear of humans.

Hunters Improving the Economy

You have to love seeing this story in the Wall Street Journal.

Roughly 7,000 hunters turned out [for NJ’s bear hunt] this year, killing 469 bears. Last year, when the state also had a six-day hunt, 592 were shot.

The furry haul has unleashed a bull market for mounted bears, turning New Jersey’s taxidermists into unlikely job creators.

Mr. Clark brought on two extra seasonal workers to help process the trophies and is looking to hire a full-time taxidermist immediately. One of the workers, when not skinning mammals, makes a living as a cookie deliveryman. Bill and Ken’s Taxidermy in Morganville, N.J., also hired more help.

Apparently, the most important question a taxidermist will ask is whether the mouth should be left open or closed. I wouldn’t even know how to decide; there are just way too many cute mounts for black bears. I knew a guy who had three different bear mounts that all looked so different. And then there’s the choice of a rug.

Ultimately, the hunt is important for maintaining healthy population numbers. However, any help to the economy is surely appreciated, too.

Cheerleading More Dangerous Than Hunting with Guns

I always loved it when a fellow instructor used to pull out the stats on range safety versus cheerleading. For many of the people in the room, the thought that they were sending their little girls off to a far more dangerous activity than if they took them to the gun range or took them out hunting with guns usually took a minute to settle in.

Today, NSSF released some data comparing various activities – including cheerleading – to hunting with guns. Now keep in mind that the numbers for hunting are many times not related to gun incidents. Tree stand falls are some of the most problematic injuries hunters face. So, if you want to give your kids a great activity to keep them outdoors and safe, teach them to hunt. Cheerleading, football, basketball, and even riding a bike are far more likely to result in injuries than hunting.

New Jersey Bear Hunt

Looks like the animal rights groups are at it again, trying to put a stop to this year’s black bear hunt. They’ve succeeded in the past in getting the hunt stopped through the courts, so it might just be a matter of rolling the dice, and seeing what judge they end up in front of. Unfortunately, when black bears exhaust the food supplies in their natural habitat, and aren’t used to fearing people, people start to look like food. But won’t someone think of the poor bears?

Sunday Hunting Controversy Hitting Philly Papers

Sounds like they are surprised such a thing exists at all, but they note:

Evans’ committee meets Dec. 14 with an agenda “to be announced.” He and Murphy tell me of compromise efforts to allow hunting some Sundays on some lands, maybe state game lands.

But Rotz says: “No. We don’t have any compromise position.” And Evans admits: “A lot of our members are very afraid of the Farm Bureau.”

The Farm Bureau pretty obviously doesn’t support hunting. Why isn’t allowing it on public land a reasonable compromise? The Farm Bureau only represents a small fraction of farms in this state, from what I understand. This shouldn’t even really be an issue.

Let Them Eat Venison!

Hunters have done more to provide healthy meals for the nation’s poor than Michelle Obama’s crusade for Whole Foods arugula on every table. According to NSSF, hunters donated nearly 2.8 million pounds of game (mostly venison) to hunger programs in 2010. That provided more than 11 million meals for those less fortunate.

Ever since the early days of the recession, local news outlets have covered stories of food banks in desperate need of donations. Hunters have stepped up to help meet that need. The White House garden? That didn’t make 11 million healthy meals. I also bet that the carbon footprint of the average hunter taking to the woods is far smaller than that of the First Lady flying in her tax-funded plane with her entourage to Hawaii and traveling all around Oahu to find an organic arugula farm.

As an interesting side note, NSSF estimates that if they could account for all direct donations – those hunters make directly to friends & family in need without going through a food program – these numbers are easily doubled.

HSUS Training Game Wardens

In California. Apparently the extreme animal rights group Humane Society of the United States is a certified law enforcement training agency in California, being certified by the Butte College Academy. Sportsmen need to be on the watch out for this in other states. HSUS would love to get their fangs into state game agencies, and in a whacked-out state like California, the odds are better than in most others. I’d keep an eye out for this in New Jersey too.

Winning on Lead Bullets

This is good news:

A group called the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in 2009 asking the courts to prohibit the use of lead bullets on Bureau of Land Management property in Arizona. It contended that California condors were being poisoned by scavenging game killed by hunters using lead ammunition.

A federal judge has thrown the lawsuit out, however.

Threats to lead based ammunition is one of the biggest problems we’re facing today. Had this suit been allowed to proceed, it would have been really bad news.