Wildlife Counting. How Important Is It?

In management of wildlife, shouldn’t it be considered imperative to have accurate and reliable population counts? After all, many a lawsuit that involves millions of dollars and just as many people have been decided on data that includes herd counts, especially Endangered Species Act lawsuits.

“I’ve been in the woods for over a month now and I can tell you there are at least 100 does for every buck!” This is a comment I received one day when attempting to communicate with fellow hunters about buck to doe ratios and the management plans Maine has in monitoring and manipulating the whitetail deer populations. Read more

Can We Trust How Wolves Are Being Managed In Montana Or Other States?

If we back up through a regression of what is controlling wolf management, if nothing else we have to scratch our heads. The fate of the gray wolf in the Northern Rocky Mountains as well as the Western Great Lakes region lies in the hands of two judges. One judge in Montana (Donald Molloy) says Wyoming’s wolf management plan isn’t good enough to sustain a wolf population. The same judge says we must continue to protect the wolf because he thinks until sub populations of wolves interbreed there is little hope the wolf will survive.

The judge in Washington, D.C. (Paul Friedman) who ruled to place the wolf in the Great Lakes region back under federal protection says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can’t create Distinct Population Segments because there is no definition of what that is. Read more

New White-tailed Deer Density Map Available from QDMA

BOGART, GA. – One of QDMA’s most popular educational posters has been updated – the White-tailed Deer Density poster, first produced in 1999, has been redrawn using new data from the most recent estimates. The 28×40-inch poster features a map with estimated deer densities across the entire range of white-tailed deer in the United States, with information down to the county level. The map was produced in cooperation with every state wildlife agency. Read more

Defenders Of Wildlife et al Attempting To Stall Wolf Delisting Process

Defenders of Wildlife, along with at least 14 other wolf preservation, animal rights and environmental groups, have submitted a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requesting that the comment period set forth in the latest attempt by USFWS to delist the gray wolf, be extended to 90 days from 30. (Click here for a complete copy of the letter.)

In the letter, Defenders, et al, are requesting an extension of 60 days because they say the USFWS has not made it clear how they propose to address the two recent court rulings that returned the gray wolf to federal protection in the Northern Rockies and Western Great Lakes. They also claim new scientific evidence “further calls into question the underlying biological basis for the northern Rockies proposal”. They fail to specifically point out what that new evidence is. Read more

The Turning Point

Republished by permission from the author.

Editorial Opinion by George Dovel

Ever since I resurrected The Outdoorsman in 2004, my goal has been to provide legislators, resource managers and outdoorsmen with documented facts they can use to help restore sound management of the billion-dollar renewable wildlife resource that existed in Idaho and other western states. Current trends and my conversations with long-time readers have dictated the subject matter of articles that have often been lengthy and difficult to read. Read more

“Disappointed!”

With permission, below I am publishing an email I received from a reader here at Black Bear Blog.

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In light of today’s yes vote on the ‘Rescue’ package. I was compelled to E-Mail our state Rep. the Honorable Jim Gerlach.

Sir, I am most disappointed in your YES vote on the Bail Out!

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis warned, ‘The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.’

The freedom of individuals from compulsion or coercion never was, and is not now, the normal state of human affairs. The normal state for the ordinary person is tyranny, arbitrary control and abuse mainly by their own government. Read more

The Endangered Species Act Is Now Endangering Our Species

As the courts continue to decide what the Endangered Species Act is for, we have reached a point where it appears now that our wildlife that needs protecting is in eminent danger. Yesterday, Federal Judge Paul L. Friedman, ordered that the gray wolf in the Western Great Lakes region be placed back under protection and management of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That decision and the subsequent ruling of the court I now see as jeopardizing the health and sustainability of our other wildlife and plant species all within specific ecosystems. Read more

Sen. Barrasso Says Wyoming “Double-Crossed” By USFWS

Wyoming’s U.S. Senator John Barrasso yesterday says that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to withdraw its proposal to remove protection of the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act was a “significant breach of trust”.

We shouldn’t stop at Wyoming. Let’s add Idaho and Montana to the list as well, as I’m sure several states could also be included as being shafted by the USFWS. Promises were made from the beginning, promises some said the federal government would never adhere to, had no intentions of fulfilling and couldn’t achieve if it wanted to. Yet, the USFWS got its way and dumped the unwanted wolves on the back doorsteps of thousands of citizens in the Rocky Mountain West areas. Read more

Wild Hogs And “Song Dogs”

By Scott Ellis

As the summer heat sets in and turkey season is a distant memory, thoughts of the upcoming seasons are definitely weighing on my mind. What is a hunter to do to pass the time? Well I’ve got just the solution to get you in the woods with your favorite rifle.

Wild hogs are legal game on any private land year round and can offer some exciting off season hunting. If you were raised in Florida, pigs have probably been a normal part of the scenery during the general hunting seasons. Some of us hunt them with dogs, some of us hunt them with guns and some of us don’t hunt them at all but, they can offer a challenge and the ability to polish your predatory skills as a well. Read more

Three Out Of Five New Jersey Bears Prefer Blackberries Over Blueberries

That’s a statistic I just fabricated. Why? To get your attention and with that I hope I can get you to read the rest of my article and others at this website. After all, I can’t sell advertising if I don’t have readers. This is my agenda but I have to believe that in the long run truth rules the day.

I have a reader (thanks Jim!) who keeps me up to date with all the latest press coming out of New Jersey about black bears. New Jersey has a bear problem and there are basically two forces at work to address the problem. On one side, you have the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, a branch of the Department of Environmental Protection, trying to manage bears to please everyone, an impossible task. The Division of Fish and Wildlife wants to have a bear hunt as a tool to control population but they don’t have the support of the DEP Commissioner Liza Jackson or Gov. Jon Corzine. Read more

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