Hunting – Page 8 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Family Traditions & Heirlooms

Even though my family wasn’t anti-gun, there aren’t any traditions of shooting or hunting, and I won’t get any guns passed down to me that are part of some multi-generational tradition. But that’s okay. My first gun was a gift from a special friend and still means a lot to me.

In welcoming a new contributor to Bitchin’ in the Kitchen, this bit in her first post really stuck out for me:

When Samuel was age 14, he saved up enough to buy a $500 rifle with his own money. This was no small feat. He saved for many months â€“ birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, worked at his grandfatherâ€™s farm, as well as around our house, to earn the money to pay for his gun. Itâ€™s an item of great sentimental value, and one he will keep until he decides to pass it on to his grandchildren. With that gun will go many stories of deer taken and deer missed, hunts shared with his father, cousins, uncles, and grandfathers, lessons learned, such as, working hard for something that lasted his lifetime.

Samuel is Virginia Gal’s son, and oh my goodness, there are some adorable pics that she included with the post. Check it out, and maybe I can get Granny – my mom & Virginia Gal’s friend – to talk her into sharing some good game recipes.

More Dead Coyotes in Urban Areas

This time in Pittsburgh, and definitely not Ed Rendell as the triggerman. But what makes this interesting is the City’s insistence on local hunting laws. Hunting laws are preempted by state law, so if it’s legal for you to hunt Coyotes, and you follow the state hunting laws, you’re clear to shoot. I suspect as long as this guy has a valid hunting license, and all the game regulations were followed, he’s not going to suffer anyÂ repercussions because he violated a local ordinance banning hunting.

Goldwater Institute Didn’t Research

Great Satan Inc does an excellent take down of Goldwater Institute’s complaint about tax dollars being spent on public ranges. Â They go into great detail as to how the Pittman-Robertson tax works, and how the funds are allocated. It’s pretty clear, as Kevin’s post suggests, that the conservative think thank didn’t think too much about this one.

Arizona has done a great job of managing its Pittman-Robertson funds compared to other states, and they have done it for the benefit of both shooters and hunters, which is to be commended. This is an issue Michael Bane has been talking about lately, and I think Michael’s idea has merit. But there’s a significant problem in other states that haven’t managed their PR funds well, and haven’t managed their fish and wildlife funds well. Pittman-Robertson money isn’t free to the states. It’s a matching program, and there are going to be some states that just don’t have the money to put up to get the matching federal funds. But this certainly isn’t all states, and there coud even be possibilities for restructuring how PR funds are allocated to the states that didn’t exist in 1937 when Congress originally passed it.

The First Amendment Wins!

I have a slightly more detailed post up over at PAGunRights about today’s important win at the Supreme Court. It was a First Amendment fight that could have spelled the end for all outdoor magazines and any commercial sharing of hunting images across state lines.

There is so much to say about this case, and it calls for far more attention than I can give it right now. This a law that even Bill Clinton knew was unconstitutional when he signed it back in 1999. He added an order for the Justice Department to limit how it was enforced, but in their first ever prosecution, they strayed from that order. And because of that very stupid move, they set up a case that showed the law was overly broad and chilled free speech.

The odd bit here is that no one in the hunting community really noticed this law when it passed. Technically, publishing Pennsylvania bear hunting photos in an outdoor magazine that could be sold in New Jersey was a federal felony for a decade. But because no one was prosecuted, no one paid attention. The case that was brought against a person didn’t have to do with hunting, but dog fighting. Using video from an event that was legal in the location it was filmed, the defendant created a so-called “documentary” about dog fighting and sold it. It was not a recording of criminal activity, but perfectly lawful (in its location) activity. The feds declared that the mere depiction was a crime, which is why the outdoor media community would have been decimated if this law stood. Field & Stream would be contraband in DC because the District allows no hunting. Better hope that online forum with ads where you posted that picture of the deer killed with a crossbow doesn’t get read by someone where use of crossbows are illegal. It was that bad.

New Jersey Finally Wises Up

They are instituting a bear hunt in New Jersey for the first time in five years. This is badly needed. There are many groups, including HSUS, the Sierra Club, and the North Jersey based BEAR group. They are already filing a lawsuit to try to stop the hunt. This is going to be a doozy for the folks who decide to do the bear hunt. Animal rights activists are a lot battier than even the battiest anti-gun activists. Expect the PSH to be particularly flowing and smelly on this issue.Â So fierce we might have to suggest one of these to animal rights activists, along with this handy chart.

HSUS claims that people hunt bears for trophies and nothing more. This is false. Otherwise how do you explain bear recipes here, here, here, and here. This is just the tip of the iceberg. And the great part about bear is you get a nice rug when you’re done with all the bearÂ recipes. How often do you get a free rug when you stock up on meat at the local Sam’s Club?

Too Few Kids With Guns

Not something I think the Brady Campaign wants to see in a major media outlet — an article that laments not enough kids like to hunt and shoot because of video games, and because they never get exposed to shooting sports.Â Of course, as bloggers have pointed out before, video game exposure can be as much an opportunity as a curse.

HSUS Facing Federal Lawsuits

Looks like the Center for Consumer Freedom Ringling Bros. Circus is suing HSUS under RICO. I can’t speak much to the merits, but RICO suits are often a refuge for kookery, so color me skeptical about the prospects of this.

Careful Out There

This very easily could have turned from a run of the mill accident to something a lot worse. You’ll cringe when you see the picture. I think, in the realm of accidents you can have on a hunting trip, I’d almost rather shoot myself :)

Shooting More Geese

Apparently we’re not shooting enough here in Pennsylvania. But they refer to snow geese. Why can’t we shoot more Canadian Geese?

Local Paper on Barker’s Donation

The Bucks County Courier Times covers the 1 million dollars donation by Barker too, and includes this:

Barker said he believes “the good citizens in Pennsylvania would be embarrassed if they knew in detail just how horrific these pigeon shoots are,” Barker said. “These are not hunters. They’re assassins.”

Assassins kill people. Birds are not people. Whether pigeon shooting is right or wrong, it’s not the moral equivalent to murdering humans, sorry.

For years, Barker said, “I’ve heard the same thing from everyone that is tormenting animals. There are thousands of people who are helping with every disease and the children of Haiti, but there are very few who are giving any money to help animals,” Barker said. “That’s what I do.

“I wonder how much the members of the gun club have given for the children of Haiti,” Barker added.

How many children in Haiti would that cool million have helped Bob? Don’t play that moral card with us, asshole. You’re donating a million to save fucking pigeons. There’s nothing particularly noble about that. If you have a million dollars burning a hole in your pocket, why not donate it to children in Haiti? If it’s because the pigeons are important to you, you have no moral room to disparage others who also feel passionately about the pigeons… err… as targets.

Even if protesters somehow managed to shut down the pigeon shoots, that wouldn’t save the birds, Corr said. “The pigeons in question have been trapped as pests and are in line for extermination,” according to Corr. “The pest control companies usually accomplish this by asphyxiation, more precisely by sealing the trap with plastic and then introducing carbon dioxide gas.”

One could perhaps argue that’s more humane than shooting them, but the point that pigeons are vermin is a valid one. They will be killed one way or the other. What makes Leo Holt particularly more reprehensible than the pest control workers who kill the pigeons by gassing them to death or poisoning them?

Keep in mind that I have no issue with groups putting social pressure on PGC to cease their pigeon shoots, and wouldn’t even have a problem with Bob Barker lending his celebrity to the cause. But that million will go to lobbying — lobbying for a ban that’s going to ban many forms of dog training, among other things as well, including putting pigeon shooters in prison. Social pressure is fine, but I do not advocate the government coming in and forcing one group’s moral preferences on another. Isn’t that what folks get uppity about the religious right for?