A self-proclaimed wolf advocate used a public records request to legally acquire the names of Idaho's 122 successful 2009-2010 wolf hunters and has posted them on a Web site. Boise activist Rick Hobson also placed a classified ad in the state's largest newspaper directing people to his online list. Hobson told the Idaho Statesman it wasn't his intent to harass the hunters. Yeah, right.
A Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries conservation officer on Wednesday charged Martinsville Police Chief Mike Rogers with practicing taxidermy without a license—a class 4 misdemeanor costing the chief $121 in fines. His offense? Preparing his own European-style skull mount of his whitetail buck. No kidding! Reported in the Martinsville Bulletin.
Amid allegations surfacing this week that certain outfitters exhibiting at sporting shows and expos across the U.S. are offering "child sex tourism" as part of their international hunting and fishing excursions, Dallas Safari Club has countered with an aggressive "zero tolerance" statement on the matter. "I cannot overstate our condemnation of this appalling exploitation of minors," said DSC executive director Ben Carter.
For several years, reports of an alligator in a lake adjacent to Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Plant have circulated in Coffey County, Kansas. This week, those sightings were confirmed when an angler hooked a dead reptile measuring 5 foot, 3 inches near a warm water discharge. The Emporia Gazette and Michael Pearce's Kansas Outdoors blog.
A constitutional amendment protecting Tennesseans' right to hunt and fish within state laws and property rights passed in the state Senate Thursday by a unanimous 31-0 margin. Pending House approval, the amendment will go before voters this November. The Chattanoogan.
Timothy Bare, 53, of Valentine, Neb., had his hunting and fishing licenses revoked for one year and was assessed $5,875 in damages, $600 in fines and $46 in court costs in a Cherry County court this week after he was found in possession of 249 trout in September. The legal possession limit is 8. The Omaha World-Herald.
One day after receiving a patent protecting its Humminbird Side-Imaging sonar technology, Johnson Outdoors filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Navico Inc., based on its sale of the Lowrance LSS-1 StructureScan Imaging System. The complaint was filed this week in the U.S. District Court in Alabama, headquarters of Humminbird products. Racine Journal-Times.
Citing an example in which a deer died after becoming impaled on a spiked metal fence, the Los Altos Hills City Council has passed an ordinance prohibiting spikes and sharp points on new fence construction in the city. “The idea is to prevent harm to animals, or any living beings,” said planning director Debbie Pedro. The Los Altos Town Crier.
The environmental group Sierra Club has named its first new executive director in 18 years, perhaps signaling a more aggressive approach to issues and lobbying efforts. Michael Brune, 38, is the former ED of the Rainforest Action Network. He replaces Carl Pope, who has headed the organization since 1992. Via AP.
For the 19th consecutive year, the American Kennel Club has named the Labrador retriever the country's most popular purebred. Overtaking the number two spot this year was the German shepherd, followed by the Yorkshire terrier, golden retriever and beagle. AKC press release.
During its regular meeting yesterday, the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners gave preliminary approval to close the bobwhite quail season statewide beginning with the 2010-11 seasons due to diminishing populations. Under the proposal, quail could be hunted on regulated hunting grounds, and hunters would be allowed to release pen-raised quail for hunting on public and private lands by permit.
The results of a 4-year study in California's Sequoia National Park indicate that shooting black bears with rubber slugs from a 12-gauge shotgun is the most-effective deterrent--and superior to pepper spray or other methods. Details of the study—which involved 1,050 incidents—appear in the current issue of The Journal of Wildlife Management. The Anchorage Daily News.
A Woodland, Wash. man was sentenced Monday to probation, fined $2,500 and stripped of his hunting licenses for three years for illegally shooting a trophy-class Roosevelt elk inside Olympic National Park in 2007. A DNA test positively linked Robert Hurst's elk to the kill site inside the park boundary. The Columbian.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has revealed that the number one fund-raising item at its 2009 auctions and banquets was not an elk-hunting rifle in a popular caliber, but instead a .45 ACP 1911 pistol. The RMEF announced in a press release that 325 Kimber 1911s auctioned and raffled last year generated more that $600,000 for the premier conservation organization.
The late fishing writer and photographer Tim Tucker, who died in a 2007 car accident, will be one of five 2010 inductees into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame. The induction banquet will take place Feb. 16 in Birmingham, Ala., before the 28th Bassmaster Classic. The Palm Beach Post.
