hunting pressure

Ban on prairie dog shoots rejected

Prairie dog killing can continue

Quotes of the day: 

“We’ve got better things to do, better things to talk about than god-d***** prairie dogs,” said outfitter Tom Mikesell. He brought one of two petitions that day before the commission to retain prairie dog hunting.

“Cruelty to animals doesn’t apply to extermination of pests,” West said. Furthermore, wildlife and hunting rules “doesn’t say I have to eat the mice I catch in my garage.”

Great news for sportsmen in Colorado. The Colorado State Wildlife Commission rejected, totally outright, the attempt to get the shooting of prairie dogs banned.

The NON-COLORADO based organization, WildEarth Guardians with it’s elitist lawyers and big-green money simply is using this to get “foot in the door” regulation which would set a precedent to slowly curb hunting rights in the state of Colorado.

So now that they went to the state commission, which is the most knowledgeable to make an educated decision on this matter, and got rejected… they will now seethe and whine and take it to the courts and then on to the ballot box. Great! Now in the end who is going to get their rights curbed? Likely the average everyday sportsman, his kids learning to hunt, and just about every other traditional sportsman in the state. Not to mention cattle ranchers, horse owners and people who don’t want to get the plague.

Stay tuned for pictures of dead prarie dogs on your TV as this sick, politically motiviated elitist organization attempts to convince the public that prarie dogs are essentially human and under imminent threat of extinction.

Thank you DOW Wildlife Commission for standing up to these out of state elitists who want to meddle in our state’s wildlife management.

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Just came across this today while checking out the DOW website. Looks like the “Forest Guardians” are going before the Colorado State Wildlife commission to attempt to get “shooting of live animals as targets” banned. Any of you out there who go prairie dog hunting should take note of this. You may want to go to the DOW meeting to voice your opinions.

Please read here for full information

Here is their press release

If you support the DOW’s position that prairie dogs shoot are a viable management option email them at wildlife.comm@state.co.us 

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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First off, sorry we were down earlier this AM, the database crashed and we had to restore an old backup. Ugh! on to the story.

Injured veterans take comfort in hunting, fishing

Great story about a program where our injured veterans are invited to go on outdoors trips with other sportsmen. Organizations like this are great as this one and many others like it give otherwise mobility impaired individuals the opportunities to go out and do the things we all appreciate and take for granted.

(No Ratings Yet)

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Stack-On 14 Gun Steel Security Cabinet

Recently my current safe for some of my guns is running out of room. I really cannot afford a huge safe right now so I shopped around some local sporting goods stores and came across the Stack-on line of gun cabinets. The one in particular that I settled on is model GC-914-5 pictured below: (review continues below)

I found this particular cabinet at a local Dicks Sporting Goods and it was on sale for roughly $130, normally priced around $170 I believe. They have other models too which you can see on Stack-on’s website. I realize that this is not a bullet proof be-all end all safe. But it could deter a potential thief and certainly keep your guns safe from curious kids or others who should not be near your weapons. The cabinet is one piece of molded steel with one shelf. It is intended to hold 8 guns across the back and 3 to either side. In reality though, if you have any scopes on your guns or have any oddly shaped guns, such as an AR-15, they are going to take up more space. I think Stack-On really means 14 shotguns. Regardless, I was able to get everything I needed to into the cabinet, including 3 scoped rifles. Once out of the cardboard box, you have a little assembling to do, mainly you have to install the barrel rests and the top shelf. All in all it takes about 1 hour. It also includes heavy duty screws if you want to bolt it into your floor and optionally to the wall behind it as well which would help to further deter theft.

POSITIVES:

a) Looks like good manufacturing. No dents, clean finish etc.

b) GREAT PRICE. This was just what I needed and was quite affordable.

c) Comes with screw lugs to bolt to floor and wall.

d) includes top shelf which is handy for storing some handguns or ammo etc. (plastic, could sag)

e) You can purchase the add-on cabinet that bolts directly to the top of this model (and others) for extra storage. (Hey Stack-on.. why does the add-on nearly cost as much as the big cabinet??)

f) The locking mechanism provides 3 interfaces that attach to the interior of the cabinet when locked at the top, bottom and side of the door to provide for better security.

g) For scoped rifles they include 6 barrel adapters which allow the rifle to sit back away from the walls a few more inches to provide clearance. These do work well.

h) When empty, a single person can pick it up and move it around. Preferably a tall guy who is strong.

AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT:

a) The grey “padding” that appears in the picture that surrounds the inside of the cabinet was NOT included in my cabinet! It only came with padding for the floor. I did call Stack-on and they are sending me some free of charge. I do not know if mine was a mistake or none of the cabinets come with side padding. They SHOULD because this cabinet needs it!!!

b) The top shelf is to LOW!!! I have a 26 inch barreled varmint rifle and it BARELY clears the bottom of that shelf. Stack-on could easily modify the design to just move it up a few inches.

c) Noisy. Granted it did not come with any padding, but it is a bit noisy. Guns clank against the metal. Stack-on should include interior foam AND some dampeners around the door frame. These would be quite cheap for Stack-on to include. Having these PRE-INSTALLED at the factory would be good too

d) When full, it is tight. 14 guns is pushing it, unless you have all shotguns or something. In reality, if you have a mix of weapons, I would say 10-14 guns is what you will get in here.

e) Add some rubberized coating to the top shelf, this would aid in items not slipping off the shelf.

f) Manufacturer the shelf in steel, then no sagging over time, which I do anticipate with the plastic.

g) Add some felt padding over the barrel rests.

h) Stack-on needs to add some shorter barrel rests, or at least an optional lower position, for guns with shorter barrels that cannot reach up to the default rest level.
OVERALL

If you are looking for an affordable, reasonably secure storage facility for your guns, realizing that this is not a true hardened safe. BUY IT! I think the positives outweigh the negatives, and with a short trip to the hardware store you can pick up some foam and dampeners to make some cheap modifications to get it up to spec.

Hopefully someone from Stack-on will read the review and send the improvement suggestions along to the design team.

Again I would recommend this security cabinet to anyone in the market for such a thing.

(No Ratings Yet)

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Still think I’m cute? One year on, cuddly Knut has turned into a 22st killing machine

So the cute captive Polar Bear baby in Germany is now all grown up. Not so cute anymore!

Side note: how absurd is it that the so-called “animal rights activists” stated that this cub, when it’s mother rejected him would be better off dead than in a zoo. Sick.

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The better to hunt elk, my dear

So whats the answer to reducing the human habituated Elk herd in Rocky Mountain National Park in CO?

RMNP Officials:

Hired “sharpshooters”. Those un-named mercenaries always hear about but never see or have ZERO idea who they heck they are. They apparently exist on some “list” somewhere and are ready at the call of any wildlife agency to come in the dark of night to take down animals in a politically correct fashion at the expense of resident sportsmen who’s license fees go to controlling wildlife populations in the state. Who the heck ARE these people? I know alot of hunters and sportsmen in the state and none of them are or know anyone who is one of these so-called professional “sharpshooters”. What a disgrace. Its like this secret society that no-one knows about.

WildEarth Guardians of New Mexico:

As usual, a wolf advocacy group who does not even come from Colorado, decides it wants to inject itself into Colorado wildlife management policy. Like other groups, they seethe and whine and are now going to sue RMNP over the decision to use “sharpshooters” rather than simply re-introducing wolves into the park to cull the Elk population and get them moving. RMNP does NOT have a fence around it. Simply re-introducing wolves into RMNP would have long lasting and wide ranging implications for the state of CO as a whole. Sure, in a few years the wolves would move the herd around, and cull the numbers, but then the wolf population would spread throughout CO and the DOW simply is not ready for a wolf introduction.

The best solution:

Why not simply allow Colorado residents to apply for special licenses in a drawing to go and manage this herd? Why is this such a big deal? RMNP does not OWN these Elk. No more than a private landowner in CO who has Elk on his property. The DOW should be making these decisions, not the RMNP, or at minimum it should be a joint effort. How about this:  limit the hunt to handicapped hunters. This would be a great opportunity for our fellow handicapped hunters in the state, or nationally for that matter, to have a great hunt and fill their freezer with some Elk. RMNP has lots of wide ranging draws and open areas that would be easier for disabled hunters to access and harvest and animal.

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It was a cool autumn day, just two days after Thanksgiving 2007, when my buddy and I decided to explore the Comanche National Grasslands in southeast Colorado in search of coyotes. We’d opted for a slight alteration on the typical Thanksgiving holiday. Instead of him heading back to Michigan and myself to Maryland to spend time with our families, we decided to check out the oft forgotten (except by fowl hunters) southeast part of Colorado. Just like the Russian front to a Napoleonic France, so too does the Southeastern part of CO differ from the highly touristed four corners area. Cacti and Windmills are the omnipresent rulers of this domain—the only things acutely suited for such a harsh existence. And although it pales in comparison to the majestic Rockies on an altitudinal scale, just lay them on their side and they’d be swallowed by the vast nothingness; save the occasional herd of cattle.

An expansive area continuously battered by wind, aggressively slashed with arroyos and polka dotted with cacti; there’s not much to be said for this part of the state, except for beauty in utter simplicity. The feeble signs of human existence are manifested in the occasional decaying homestead, abandoned for at least 75 years, or a windmill used to pump water to a cattle trough. Ranchers work the land but really the land works them. It is unforgiving here. But as any outdoorsman knows unforgiving is sexy and draws us in like a buxom, sassy lady fending off an onslaught of come-ons and pickup lines at the local watering hole. My friend and I wanted to meet the lady.

To get a sense of the place, we ventured to a spot that left us 20 miles from the nearest town and 50 from the closest gas station—not a good place for a breakdown. To get a sense of “town,” think one street, two shops—a store that sold junk and a local eatery. I call it an “eatery” because I cannot refer to it as a diner or restaurant and definitely not a fast food joint. All I know is that eating supposedly occurs there, never in my lifetime, but sometime for someone. Only by peering through the grease filmed windows could I perceive that food was prepared within.

Parking the trucks about 1000 yards from the nearest arroyo, we geared up and set off. We also set off the dogs. Clad in full camo and strolling away with guns slung over shoulders, the pooches were upset not being in tow. The day before we hunted rabbit in an SWA near Lamar and the dogs had a solid day of running. They wanted another. My buddy looked at me as we walked away to bays, barks and howls penetrating the thin cap on my truck, clearly frustrated and worried that my furiously barking pooch would spook the ‘yotes, “You gonna (shock) collar him?”

“Naw, he’ll quiet down once we’re outa sight,” I replied as we continued our stroll over the tufts of grass, palmetto and cacti speckling the soft earth; soon my dog fell silent. Realizing this wasn’t some exercise or practical joke, my pooch decided he’d best take a nap for the next couple hours.

We came upon the first arroyo and it was much larger than those I’d become accustomed to living in the northwestern part of the state. Some were more like mini canyons (there are full fledged canyons within the Comanche; we simply didn’t have time to explore on this trip. We didn’t allot enough time for the fullness of this particular lady). Traversing the side-slope, so to not skyline ourselves, we found ourselves upon a weak soil structure and as any hunter knows, weak soil apparently loves rocks. A geologist I am not, but it’s almost always that the side hill traverse must be done on precarious footing. It’s like we set out to twist or break an ankle, not bag an animal. Anyway we cut the hillside for another couple hundred yards until we found a spot where three streams came to a confluence—two running parallel from the northeast met, joining another from the northwest and there was a ridge running perpendicular to the spot—it was perfect.

Setting the FoxPro atop the far ridge, resultant from the parallel streams natural erosion, we posted on each side of the perpendicular ridge. I had more shooting lanes than I’d like to cover hunting coyotes since they generally appear from nowhere; aptly named ghosts of the prairie. Backed up to a lone Pinon Pine, I couldn’t ask for better cover. I was actually more worried about missing dogs when the call first sounded out, than I was of not seeing anything. It turned out my excitement was for naught. About 10 minutes into the set, the muffled crack of my buddy’s heavy-barreled Remington 700, chambered in .22-250, rang out striking a flat note in the rabbit distress call that had become my symphony of distraction. I waited. The call stopped. 5 minutes later my buddy came over the ridge sweaty, hind legs in hand. The dog possessed a beautiful pelt worth saving had it not been brutalized by the cartridge. A gaping hole ruined this cunning animal’s furry overcoat. My friend vowed it was the last time he’d use the Federal P22250F on coyotes. Yeah, it dropped the dog dead in its tracks, but it also blew out about a six inch (diameter) exist wound.

My buddy said that two dogs came over the ridge toward him and even though they both cut back in a crescent to approach downwind, neither was particularly frightened by what they approached. Clad in a full ASAT suit and surrounded by a ring of ‘yote urine, he was able to use a mouth call and shoulder his gun without the animals taking off. We cannot say for sure if the animals had simply not experienced hunting pressure or that that ASAT/scent combo utterly confused them, but either way they came in to about 70 yards and one didn’t make it to den.

We hiked back up to the flats of the prairie and left the coyote to skin out later, now we had more hunting to do. Cutting East across two more arroyos we found the windmill of which the very tips of its veins were visible from the trucks, probably 1.5 miles away now. Another wonderful setup, this time we sat together. We shaded ourselves under rather large cactus, which my buddy also accidentally impaled himself on twice. Funny now, but not when you’re in the middle of nowhere and you watch your friend kneel down, puts a hand down for support and rear back loosing a muffled howl while waving his hand violently back and forth with a four inch spine protruding from his palm. The excitement of the hunt, I think, made him forget to look down the next time he put his hand down and he did it again!

As we got comfortable in set two I realized that we were in an absurdly expansive location where all four of our eyes, even enhanced by high power glass, would have to be firing on all cylinders to see any movement. Backed up against the cactus - jutting out of a mild down slope - we were facing a main runoff of the prairie, as well as a well used cattle trail. We faced three spines cut from the land and the flatness of the prairie atop them. In total we were probably covering 1,500 horizontal yards.

The call burst into song, a jackrabbit in distress, and I began to scour the landscape for any sign of movement. Focusing on roughly thirty yard segments of terrain at a time, I glassed the horizon in a tortoise paced counter-clockwise arc. Nothing for 10 minutes. I put my binoculars down to rest my eyes and take in the scenery without the aid of magnification. Although the ambient temperature was running about 37 degrees, the day was unusually calm and extremely bright. The sun tried to fool us into thinking it was spring and not November 26. Once the sun started to hide itself beyond the Rockies, we were quickly reminded just what time of year it was. A little drunk on the beauty surrounding me and the perfection of the day, my mind drifted to what it would’ve been like living out here 100 years ago. I quickly surmised that not too much would be different besides the technological advances on my person and the four wheel drive variety that carried me here. I was quickly ripped from my thoughts by movement off my one O’clock. Raising my binoculars to the far ridge I saw a dog slowly walking along the spine. I told my buddy that I had a dog atop the far ridge and as I began to relay coordinates he interjected, “I see him. He’s about 20 yards left of that lone Pinon, right?”

“Lone Pinon?” I thought aloud. “No, he’s about 5 yards to the right of that thick cacti cluster. The group of cacti is alone, there’s no tree there.” Just then, I swept left farther up the ridge and found ‘his dog.’ “I see your dog,” I said. “Now from him, sweep right down the ridge about 120 yards and you’ll see mine.”

“Bingo,” he responded excitedly. Grabbing his range finder he indicated, “477 and 606. Let’s see if they come in closer.” And for the next twenty minutes we did just that. The call squealed and we watched them through the glass. They’d move about 10 yards down the spine, stop and then turn around and walk back to their initial spot. Once my dog lay flat on the ground staring in the direction of the call, looking as if he was going to jump up and charge in any second. That didn’t happen. After 30 minutes the dogs grew weary, turned and slowly walked over the ridge. I had wanted to take a shot. A very long shot yes, but with no wind and a Harris bipod solidly supporting my Savage 110 I knew the 22.250 was fully capable. However, since the dogs held fast along the ridgeline, we didn’t think it wise to start throwing bullets over a quarter mile away not knowing what was behind our targets.

With the afternoon light beginning to fade and still needing time to skin out the other dog and get back to the trucks, I volunteered, “Let’s take the fight to them.” So I ran and grabbed the call, we gathered our gear and began to quickly cover the ground between us and the far ridge. Through a dry creek and up the slope we slowed to a crouching stalk as we neared the ridge. Slowly peering over it we saw nothing, but another ridge. We quickly glassed the eroded area between us and the next ridge, to no avail. We again slowly climbed the next ridge, nearly on our knees. This ridge took us to the top of the plateau and facing a heard of cattle about 150 yards away.

The cattle saw us and slowly started to move in our direction. I took another 10 steps forward peering through my scope trying to see any sign of the dogs. The cattle began to charge.

I froze, took a couple steps back and looked at my buddy. “What do we do?” The cattle were bearing down on us now and we both came to the same conclusion without saying a word…RUN! We turned and ran as fast as we could toward the edge of the ridge, leaping over it and down the pocked-marked, severely eroding terrain. We stopped about 200 yards away to reassess our pursuers. The site was eerily frightening. Lined up across the top of the ridge were roughly 100 head of cattle just staring at us. Realizing that they were no longer chasing us, we began to walk and catch our breath. And then we laughed uncontrollably.

(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Political correctness and hunting traditions

West Va. legislator wants to add hunting to middle school curriculum

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Wild hogs worry state game official

Like many other states, PA is experiencing the rise of a feral hog population. They currently estimate there are roughly 1000 pigs running loose in the state. The issue now is around this idiotic PA State Supreme Court ruling that stated that wild hogs are “protected mammals” thereby forcing the game commission in PA to regulate them under a hunting season rather than just letting the hogs fall under the USDA classification without state regulation, whereby they are feral invasive species and anyone can shoot them with or without a hunting license. So basically now wild hogs are going to be caught up in the red-tape of regulations in PA.

Who does PA have to thank for this? Well the good old folks over at the Pennsylvania Legislative Animal Network who, in typical fashion of such organization, seethed and whined and SUED the state to force their emotionally based argument on to the people of PA and to the detriment of native wildlife in PA.

“Until the Game Commission establishes a hunting season for wild hogs, they cannot legally be killed in the wild. “

My suggestion to PA? Sure establish a hunting season. Make it year-round with zero bag-limits and a $1 license fee. I think trying to piggyback the season to fall in line with other big-game seasons to simply rely on hunters getting off-shots on the pigs when out in the field for deer would be a mistake.

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Signs against bow hunting planned for public parks in Clinton Twp.

As you can read in this article, since Clinton Twp. can’t get bow hunting on PRIVATE land banned, they are really going to stick it to the DNR and those evil bow hunters by authorizing employees to place “No Bow Hunting” signs in the 11 public parks scattered throughout the township. Wow, that will really show those “criminals” (i.e. bow hunters) who’s who!

” The move will give more teeth to an existing law that criminalizes the sport in those parks, Clerk Denny Tomlinson said Monday.”

The township wanted to fight the DNR, but unfortunatly they couldn’t because “after much research” there is little grounds for an appeal since there have been ZERO complaints about bow hunting on private property in the township. NOTE: to Clinton Twp. private land owners who hunt, I predict you are going to see a sharp rise in “complaints” now.

Regardless, as usual we see that the true reasons behind wanting to ban bow hunting on private land:

One of them, Otto Cullmann, 83, said bow hunting shouldn’t be allowed because it poses a danger to the public and it’s unnecessary for animals to die that way.

“In this day and age, it’s very cruel,” he said Monday.

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