May 26 Hunting and Fishing News
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
White-tailed Deer in New Jersey
Harvest Summaries
New Jersey's deer herd is a major component of the landscape throughout all but the most urbanized areas of the state. Deer affect our forests, farms, gardens, backyards and roadways. From a population reduced to a handful of deer in the early 1900s they rebounded during the 20th century to a thriving herd today.
A healthy deer herd, managed at levels that are compatible with current land use practices and the human population, has great value to the people of the state. Deer are photographed, watched and hunted by many New Jerseyans and visitors from elsewhere. Deer hunters spend more than 100 million dollars each year as they enjoy approximately 1.5 million recreation-days hunting deer. Money spent in the course of deer hunting benefits a wide variety of New Jersey businesses.
And for hunters looking for a place to hunt, New Jersey offers more than 750,000 acreas of public land (state, federal, county and municipal) available to the deer hunter. Visit the Public Deer Hunting Land page for a breakdown of state Wildlife Management Areas, state parks and state forests by Deer Management Zone. The page also has links for maps and information on hunting land.
May 24, 2010
States Get Authority to Allow Farmers to Kill Resident Geese
Many waterfowl hunters enjoy special early goose seasons for burgeoning flocks of resident Canada geese deemed nuisances. But even that's not enough to keep their populations in check.
From this AP story:
For a farmer, few things are more frustrating than Canada geese descending like a biblical plague of locusts upon a freshly planted field to feast on soybean or corn shoots. Grower Dave Black, who farms more than 1,200 acres of corn, wheat and soybeans along the James River southeast of Richmond, has seen "a cloud of geese" glide onto his fields by the hundreds to pick them clean. "As soon as the corn starts emerging, up to knee high," Black said of the feathered pests that flock on his fields. "They're just back and forth." For years, growers such as Black had to ask the federal government for permission to kill resident Canada geese if attempts to shoo them off didn't work. By the time they received it ˜ weeks or even months later ˜ the geese had already gobbled up crops and flown away. Now, farmers in some states no longer need the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's permission to use lethal means to protect their fields from geese. The change in federal rules made in 2007 affects resident geese, not the migratory variety that fly south from Canada in September, and applies to 41 states, mostly in the Atlantic, Central and Mississippi flyways. Those states now can decide whether farmers can use lethal methods to control resident Canada geese, eliminating one layer of bureaucracy.
Predictably, the Humane Society of the United States thinks it's a bad idea...
read via www.fieldandstream.com
Mexican President Calls For Reinstatement Of Failed Gun Ban
Friday, May 21, 2010
On Thursday, Felipe Calderon, the president of Mexico, where prohibitive gun laws prevent good people from having firearms for protection against criminals and governments of dubious legitimacy (historically the norm in Mexico), encouraged Congress to reinstate the federal "assault weapon" ban. With a warning seemingly designed to appeal to those who believe that speaking out against the Obama Administration's policies are one step short of sedition or worse, Calderon said, "[I]f you do not regulate the sale of these weapons in the right way, nothing guarantees that criminals here in the United States with access to the same power of weapons will not decide to challenge American authorities and civilians."
Calderon also misinformed Congress, claiming that violence in Mexico rose significantly after the U.S. ban expired in 2004. In fact, Mexico's murder rate has been stable since 2003 and remains well below rates recorded previously. However, he did not explain why violent crime has declined significantly in the U.S. since the ban expired, or how a ban on flash suppressors and bayonet mounts relates to drug thugs in Mexico or anywhere else.
Notwithstanding the Washington Post's judgment that Calderon "made a powerful case," we suspect his speech fell on mostly deaf ears in Congress and in Arizona, which he inappropriately criticized for having an illegal immigration enforcement law that is similar to Mexico's. But it had some effect, however. New York Democrat Rep. Carolyn McCarthy issued a statement incorrectly claiming that she has repeatedly introduced legislation to "reinstate" the ban. She has repeatedly introduced legislation, of course, but not to reinstate the ban. Rather, her bills have proposed to apply the "assault weapon" label to far more firearms than were covered by the expired ban, including the M1 Garand service rifle, the ubiquitous Ruger 10/22, and any semi-automatic shotgun or rifle a future attorney general might claim is not "sporting."