A Warning To Outdoor Users About Echinococcus, From Worms

by

Tom Remington

This is a warning to outdoor users about a potentially deadly biological event that could result from one’s curiosity to poke at and kick through scat from wolves, coyotes and foxes. Of course not everyone knowingly does this but many hunters, trappers and simply the curious, want to know what these animals have been eating. Read more

Utah Firearms Freedom Act

The Utah Firearms Freedom Act has been pre-filed with, and has passed, an interim committee of the Utah Legislature. Until it gets an official bill number on December 1st, it is known as File # 0032. Because the bill has been adopted as a committee bill of a joint House/Senate interim committee, it will come to both the House and Senate with definite legs when the full Utah Legislature convenes in January.

The Utah bill is at:
http://le.utah.gov/interim/2009/pdf/00001506.pdf Read more

Picture This!

With all the great stories, equipment, adventures and people out there I thought it would be great to get some pictures.  If you have any pictures from a hunt, your gear or best of all you geared up that would be great.  If you send in pictures I will post on our site as well as putting some of the best pictures on all our sites.

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The Peasant Wars

(Republished by permission)

Opinion by George Dovel

George Dovel is Editor and Publisher of The Outdoorsman.

In 2003, North America’s foremost wildlife scientist, Dr. Valerius Geist, made the following observations:

“The miracle of North American conservation is that it is basically a blue-collar system, grounded in the political and financial support and the active participation of large numbers of middle-class citizens who bring their basic honesty and decency to bear on important issues. This is just the opposite of the elitist system that has existed throughout Europe for centuries and is spreading like cancer around the world today, even right here at home. Read more

Can We Conclude There Are More Wolves?

What a confusing mess! I guess this is another classic example of government making shambles out of anything they touch. Idaho Department of Fish and Game in their most recent wolf report shows they have confirmed wolf kills on livestock outnumbering last year. The same report shows more wolves have been killed than last year but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in September that wolf populations were on the decline in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. So what gives?

According to IDFG, since January 1, 2008 until November 24, 2008, they have 325 confirmed kills by wolves – 100 cattle, 212 sheep and 13 dogs. For all of last year, there were 278 confirmed kills – 57 cattle, 211 sheep and 10 dogs. Can we conclude that there are more wolves? Read more

For Sportsmen, Clean Water Restoration Act Goes Too Far

Peyton Knight of the National Center for Public Policy Research is warning sportsmen that the proposed Clean Water Restoration Act sponsored by Representative James Oberstar (D-MN), “would do more to threaten the cherished pastimes of hunters, fishermen and other outdoor enthusiasts than it would to ensure the cleanliness of our nation’s water.”

I’ve written a couple times over the past few months about the CWRA (here and here) but Knight brings to the attention of American sportsmen what could await us should this act be approved. Read more

“The Mountains” On Seeing Deer

“And I don’t see how you can ever bear to shoot them.”

“Don’t you?” said I. “Well; suppose you’ve been climbing a mountain late in the afternoon when the sun is on the other side of it. It is a mountain of big boulders, loose little stones, thorny bushes. The slightest misstep would send pebbles rattling, brush rustling; but you have gone all the way without making that misstep. This is quite a feat. It means that you’ve known all about every footstep you’ve taken. That would be business enough for most people, wouldn’t it? But in addition you’ve managed to see everything on that side of the mountain – especially patches of brown. You’ve seen lots of patches of brown, and you’ve examined each one of them. Read more

Death Of Three Cougar Kittens Irresponsibly Represented

Three cougar kittens less than a year old were killed by Idaho Fish and Game officials because they believed that the kittens were malnourished and they could not be returned to the wild. They also stated there was no place to place them either, an unfortunate series of events, some of which aren’t setting well with some people, myself included.

What I’m bothered with is that without any evidence to base a claim, Idaho Fish and Game personnel are saying that the reason the kittens were malnourished is because hunters with hounds were so busy treeing the mother lion she didn’t have time to kill a deer and feed her young. Read more

Holiday Broadcast Of Open Air With Tom Remington

Because this Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, the powers that be at Skinny Moose Media and Skinny Moose Radio (that would be Steven and I) have decided to air this week’s broadcast of Open Air With Tom Remington at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, November 21, 2007. Next week’s broadcast will return at its usual time.

On Wednesday, I interview Dr. Rex Rammell of Rexburg, Idaho. Dr. Rammell is campaigning for the Republican nomination for the soon to be vacated U.S. Senate seat currently held by the embattled Larry Craig. Rammell faces one other challenger in the republican party, Lt. Gov. Jim Risch.

This is an interview you don’t want to miss even if you are not a resident of Idaho as we discuss topics that will affect every citizen in this country. We discuss not only Mr. Rammell’s campaign but property rights, the Endangered Species Act and spend a great deal of time talking about the problems connected with wolves, wolf management and the reintroduction of wolves to the Yellowstone National Park area.

Much of what is happening in Idaho with the onslaught of lawsuits against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, abuse of the Endangered Species Act and the stripping of property rights, is happening all across America. Tune in and listen to what Dr. Rex Rammell has to say about what he promises to do if elected to the U.S. Senate.

If you are not able to tune in for the original broadcasts, as always all shows are available at the Skinny Moose Radio website for your listening pleasure. You can stream the audio there on the site or download it to your hard drive to be listened to at your leisure or for podcasting.

Tom Remington

Colorado DOW Looking At Possible Bear Hunting Permit Increase

As many of you know, much of the west has had a tough year with bears – at least bears conflicting with human interests. The biggest reason for these conflicts has been the result of the effects of a dry hot period in the areas of Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and part of Montana. Some areas have seen extreme drought conditions and much above average temperatures. How does this relate to human/bear encounters?

This weather pattern has reduced natural food supplies for bears. Bears generally prefer berries and other vegetation to eat but do munch on such things as dead carcases or kill their own if needed. When the fall rolls around, bear activity spikes as the animal must consume thousands of calories a day in order to fatten up for the long winter that lies in wait. With little or no natural food, bears resort to other means for food and that all too often this fall has meant breaking into homes, rummaging through garbage or maybe even finding a nice tender family pet to chow down on.

Not to sound crude here but a bear is a large animal that has huge hunger needs prior to its hibernation and very little can and does stand in its way when its focus is on food.

The Aspen Times News today is reporting that the Colorado Division of Wildlife has been discussing the prospects of what to do about the black bear population. What they are discussing and what they will do remains to be seen but already the Humane Society of the United States is getting their two cents worth in.

One aspect of the bear management DOW is discussing is the possibility of thinning the bear numbers in the Aspen area. After a record breaking year of answering bear problems resulting in the killing of 13 problem bears, relocating 24 and moving a handful of bear cubs into a rehab center, authorities are trying to decide if they need to up the bear permits issued for this area or find other ways to thin the numbers.

The Colorado state chapter of the Humane Society doesn’t believe hunting or thinning the bear population is necessary.

“It’s upsetting news,” said Holly Tarry, state director for the Humane Society. “Black bear populations manage themselves based on the resources that are available to them. Keeping them out of human areas is a human responsibility. We’re very disappointed that thinning would be an option.”

In case you missed it in Colorado, last June the state bear coalition met just outside Aspen and discussed ways in which to better manage themselves. Unfortunately, not many bears attended and didn’t get the word that eating out of dumpsters and breaking into expensive condominiums in wealthy Aspen could get them killed.

Give me a break. The bears manage themselves and this is more humane and in the best interest of everyone and everything? She is right on one thing. Keeping bear out of human areas is a human problem. The problem is she doesn’t like the way DOW takes care of the problem. She should notify the Aspen chapter of the bear coalition and ask them to do something about this problem next year.

On a more serious note, the DOW has more to look at than just whether there are too many bears. The fact is, there may not be too many bears. It could be that because of this year’s weather problems it appears there are too many bears because they went looking for food in town.

There’s a possibility a number of these bears could starve to death this winter because they didn’t get enough fat reserves built up to survive. I guess that is part of the self-management Tarry claims is more humane than hunting.

The issue is also being discussed about better bear proofing education. One of the problems that faces a town like Aspen is that the year round population is relatively low in comparison to the transient one. Many of the bear problems came from visitors and part time residents who don’t know and understand about being bear aware. This presents a different set of problematic circumstances for officials.

Before too many of us get too worked up over the prospects that us hunters are going out to Colorado and slaughter all the bears, we should give the Colorado Division of Wildlife a chance to manage the bears and figure out what to due after the winter.

Tom Remington

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