U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has announced the distribution of more than $740 million to 56 state and territorial fish and wildlife agencies to fund fish and wildlife conservation efforts, boat access, shooting ranges, and hunter education.

The Funds are generated by federal excise taxes on purchases of firearms, ammunition, archery, and angling equipment and boat motor fuels.

It's great to see some of that money going back into conservation.

I read a feel good story that made my stomach turn today. The title of the article was: An Unusual Menu Item Is on Its Way to New York Soup Kitchens

The story was written by the "Editorial Board" of the New York Times and the first thing that strikes me as funny is the writer wasn't brave enough to sign their name. Anyway, the article was about how the Governer of New York was shutting down a state run pheasant breading operation and donating all the birds to a soup kitchen. The author went on to say that birds from this operation cost tax payers $100 each and they clipped the wings before releasing the birds into the field (No sources sited)

"In the past, the Reynolds Game Farm near Ithica raised pheasants that were released for bird hunters who could go out to the woods in season and shoot one of nature’s most elegant of winged creatures. (In most cases, these pheasants had their wings clipped, so in reality it was about as sporting as shooting squirrels in Central Park)."

You can read the complete article here:
http://theboard.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/an-unusual-menu-item-is-on-its-way-to-new-york-soup-kitchens

I posted a comment but since I don't agree with them it will proabally never get published so I felt like I should rebut the article. Here are my comments on the issue:

If I had to guess I would say you have never been hunting in your life. Many of the states in the US raise and release pheasants for hunters. Were did you get your facts related to the wings of the birds being clipped? I have worked with 100’s of different bird breading operations across the country and none of them clip the birds wings. Hunters want birds that fly. The second point that you completely missed is that most of the money used to support these operations comes from hunters paying a special fee through their license purchase in the form of a pheasant stamp or habitat management fee. The fees collected help not only pay to support the game farms that raise the birds but also help pay to maintain undeveloped wild life areas and habitat restoration for hunters and non-hunters alike to enjoy. Not to mention all the people at the breeding operation that will be loosing their jobs and the revenue generated from hunters purchasing sporting goods, gas, lodging etc for their pheasant hunting trips. If you plan to write a article like this I suggest you check your facts and consider both sides of the coin.

Jon Ballard
http://www.gamebirdhunts.com

What do you think? Should states be cutting their budgets on pheasant breading operations with the economy the way it is currently?

There is a lot of bad news coming at us all the time these days but I just have to say I have a lot to be thankful for. A great wife and kids, health, great friends and the the blessing to hunt and fish.

Today (Thanksgiving 2008) my 4 year old son decided to join me in the woods for a little deer season. He did great. We didn't last long but he sat still and even thought he heard a deer. We didn't see anything today but the time spent was memorable for me and I hope it to be the first of many father son trips.

Some times all the bad news gets me down but that's not really what matters. Spend some time in the woods with some friends and family and remember what is really important.

Wisconsin Pheasant Hunting Season Opens Saturday.

Is anyone going? This year pheasant season opener is on the same day as a 2 day deer gun hunt. This T-zone hunt is for does only and is, in my opinion, yet another blunder by the Wisconsin DNR's in their attempt to control the deer population. But that is a good topic for another post. To get back on track here, the T-Zone hunt and pheasant opener are on the same day so if you get out were extra orange and get some orange on your dogs. The public grounds will have hunters on them hunting deer with rifles so be careful!

Here is a link to the 2008 Pheasant Stocking Information for Wisconsin Public Hunting Grounds

The whitetail deer's antlers are truly amazing. Did you know that a whitetails antlers are one of the the fastest growing tissues known to man and have been recorded to grow up to ½ inch per day? In some far eastern cultures deer antlers are even used for medicinal purposes. Want to be a hit at your next cocktail party? Learn more amazing facts about deer antlers

Ok, it will probably only impress a few people but it is still pretty interesting stuff. Maybe instead of a cocktail party you could use your new found wisdom at poker night.

The New Gamebirdhunts.com Hats Are Here. Pheasant Hunt In Style This Year!

Don't hit the field this season with out a new pheasant hunting hat from Game Bird Hunts. This adjustable hat is great quality and features a split cut out featuring Real Tree Hardwoods Camo on the bill. The Gamebirdhunts.com logo is embroidered onto the front. This hat would make a great gift for the pheasant hunter on your list. Be on the look out for hat give away's as well in the near future. $15/ Hat

Could 2007 soon be referred to as the good old days of pheasant hunting? It could unless we as hunters get involved in the new farm bill-

Why you ask???- The answer is the massive habitat losses year and into next year from the acres of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) that are soon-to-expire and the high price of corn and beans.

So what can we do????- Contact your congress man or senator and tell them that you want a new strong farm bill that favors conservation. The Farm Bill will be introduced in the U.S. Senate soon, so get your butt going.

Did you know??? - CRP and other federal farmland conservation programs accounting for over 50 million acres nationwide. You have probably even chased some birds on this land over the past 10 years.

I borrowed some of this info from my buddies over at Pheasants Forever. To read their complete report please visit their site: www.pheasantsforever.com

I'm a hunter first and a Republican party member second. I guess when it comes down to it if I had to choose between hunting rights and political party hunting rights would trump almost every time. So now that I've lost 50% of my readers (I'm down from 4 of you to 2) I just have to share these pictures of VP Candidate and Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin:



You can see more pictures at Foremost Hunting

Regardless of your political lean you have to be excited about a women that hunts, runs a state and is running for VP of the country.

We recently published a article on how hunters were using some of our hunting directories to search for local alternatives for their hunting trips this year. Typical searches on these sites are most often for hunters planning a over the road trip 100's of miles from their home. This year however a much higher precentage of searches done on www.gamebirdhunts.com and www.foremosthunting.com are from local hunters searching their local area for hunting opportunities. That article seems to be reinforced by the following article released today by the National Shooting Sports Foundation:

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- For many hunters, that 300-mile drive to deer camp may be put on hold this year. Unwilling -- or unable -- to spend more on gasoline than licenses and lodging, many hunters are checking out their options closer to home.

Recent surveys have shown that this is a national trend among American hunters. According to research conducted by Southwick Associates' HunterSurvey.com, "40 percent of hunters indicated that rising gas prices will cause them to reduce their outdoor activities or reduce their travel distance."

Realizing that gaining access to both public and private land can be one of a hunter's most daunting challenges, some state fish and game departments have developed innovative programs to address the problem.

Pennsylvania, for example, provides the public with detailed maps that show areas accessible by local hunters. These include state game, forest and park lands, and national forest property, totaling over 3.5 million acres. Through a "landowner cooperator" program, an additional two million acres of private property have also been opened up to the state's hunters.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) recently unveiled a state-of-the-art mapping program using Google Maps. It's a user-friendly service especially valuable for those new to hunting or new to the state. "Every hunter knows scouting is key to success, and these Google Maps make it easy to start scouting at home," said Matthew Keenan, ODFW's Access and Habitat Program Coordinator. The map features state wildlife areas, national wildlife refuges and private lands open to hunting through the state's Access and Habitat and Upland Cooperative Access programs. Each area even has a descriptive bubble that provides information about the principal species hunted, size of the area, access periods and special regulations.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG), working with sportsmen and landowners, provides sportsmen access to private land and through private land to public lands with a program called "Access Yes!"

"The 'Access Yes!' program is an exciting opportunity to get sportsmen and landowners together to improve habitat, increase hunting access and benefit private landowners. An additional benefit is that landowners and sportsmen get to know and respect each other," commented Jim Unsworth, deputy director for IDFG.

In 2008 IDFG has made 444,735 private acres accessible to sportsmen and access to an additional 381,310 acres of public ground by working with private landowners. "We are doing our part to keep our hunters hunting at home in Idaho," said Unsworth.

These programs, and similar ones in other states, have received significant funding from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, through its Hunting Heritage Partnership Program.

Here is our article on how gas prices are effecting hunters:

Hunting For Local Hunting Locations- Gas Prices Squeeze Hunters
Will high gas prices be the end of hunting? Probably not but hunters may be hunting closer to home this year.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) – Aug 04, 2008 – With gas prices up at all time record highs hunters are finding it much more expensive to get to those remote hunting locations. "We are bracing for a tuff season" says Tennessee hunting guide Brett Gill. Hunters aren't willing to travel as far and much of their disposable income is being consumed by their trucks and cars." According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation 18.5 million hunters contribute more than $30 billion annually to the U.S. economy and support more than 986,000 jobs. Hunters not only spend money on guns and shells they also drive larger vehicles and travel long distances staying at hotels and dining out.

If there is a silver lining to the high gas prices it may be for many of the local hunting clubs. Many hunters are starting to look towards more local hunting opportunities in stead of a long road trips to far away locations. According to http://www.gamebirdhunts.com a hunting directory that allows hunters to search for pheasant hunting clubs in their area, they are seeing a large increase in the number of short radius searches. In other words hunters are not looking at far away trips like they use to. "The most popular search seems to be within a 100 mile radius of home" says www.gamebirdhunts.com webmaster Matt Brown. Another hunting site http://www.foremosthunting.com confirms this. "Many of our searches appear to be local hunters looking for hunting locations in their home state" These types of searches seem to be up 30% over last year.

Will high gas prices be the end of hunting? Probably not but hunters may be hunting closer to home this year.

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Foremost Hunting is a directory of hunting locations organized by US state. In addition to our extensive list of hunting guides and outfitters we also offer a hunting community that allows hunters to connect, share photos, videos and stories for free

Here is a quote from the Washington Times:

Southwick Associates Inc., the pollsters of outdoors activities, confirm what so many of us fear: The high price of gasoline could seriously impact even short travels among anglers and hunters - and in some cases curtail them altogether.

The bright side to all this may be that for those willing to drive a ways there may be some deals on hunting packages. Stay tuned!