Moose Droppings

Although not surprising on some levels it is also somewhat unbelievable that anyone would steal someone else’s dog. The animal rights wackos need to have the book thrown at them for this stunt. You may not agree with the use of dogs for hunting but nothing gives you the right to obstruct, harass, or interfere with the lawful activity. Here in NC it is now illegal to remove a hunting dogs’ tracking collar as we reported in an earlier post.

NORFOLK - Two employees from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have been charged with abducting a hunting dog in Southampton County.
About 10 a.m. Wednesday, a witness reported seeing two women in a vehicle with PETA markings take the dog from the side of Meherrin Road, said Detective Cpl. Richard Morris of the Southampton County Sheriff’s Office.
A witness alerted the county animal control officer - who happened to own the dog. The officer stopped the vehicle soon after and, finding his dog inside, turned the case over to a colleague, Morris said.
The dog’s radio tracking collar had been removed and was found near where the women reportedly picked up the animal, Morris added.
The two women were released and not charged at the time, Morris said. Arrest w arrants were issued later.
Morris identified the two as Carrie Beth Edwards, 26, of Hampton Boulevard, Norfolk, and Andrea Florence Benoit, 25, of Henwick Court, Chesapeake.
Each has been charged with grand larceny and petit larceny for taking the dog and radio collar, respectively.
The two women are expected to surrender at the sheriff’s office today, Morris said.
PETA issued a statement Thursday saying the two had done nothing wrong.
“They found a dog alongside a busy highway and picked her up for her own safety,” the statement read. “That’s what we tell everyone to do when they encounter strays - stop and assist.”
The statement said the women were calling in the dog’s tag numbers to the PETA office to help find the owner when they were approached by the officer who owned the dog, which they immediately turned over.
There is no leash law in Southampton County, Morris said, so dogs are allowed to run free. PETA said its workers did not know this, adding that this law “needs to be changed for the animals’ own safety.”

Pilot Online

I’m sure the tracking collar just fell off before the Wackos picked the dog up. They should charge them with theft and hunter harassment as a minimal.

I don’t understand how a group like PETA that has ties to domestic terrorist groups is allowed to still exist.

I’ve got a spot I hunt that is basically my meat spot. I’ve been hunting it for a dozen years or so. I’ve never seen any spectacular deer but I usually see deer. Well this season has been rough I haven’t seen a deer yet. I was sitting in my blind the other day and counted 10 squirrels running around me.

Well today I got out of work and grabbed my shotgun and a handful of shells and headed out to thin out some tree rats. The land owner hates them because they tear up his pecan trees and his fruit trees and he wants me to kill a mess of them. Growing up in the city where they were considered vermin I have a difficult time thinking of them as a meal. I know a gentleman who struggles to put food on the table and I’ve often help him out. I was talking to him not to long ago and he told me how when he was a boy his mother use to cook squirrels and other small game for their family. I asked him if he would like some squirrels sometime and he said he would love some. Having someone to give some squirrels to I felt better about going out to kill a few so that was my quest for the afternoon.

I didn’t have much time so I just swung by the house and grabbed the gun and a few #6 shells. It was about an hour before sundown so I didn’t bother changing into camo I just threw on a orange hat and slipped in to my spot at my blind. There was nothing moving I noticed a couple of new rubs since I was there before. I decided to take advantage of the coming rain tomorrow to wash away my scent before Saturday’s hunt and check the deer sign out. I came across a fresh scrape within 35 yards of my blind. I decided I would get out of there and go to the other end of the property and kill me some squirrels.

The other end of the property I was slipping down a logging road coming up on a sharp curve when I heard something coming through the woods. I knew it was a deer so I just froze there in the logging trail and watched. I saw it come out of the woods and turn down the road headed towards me. Because of the trees and brush I couldn’t tell exactly what it was but I knew it had some size to it.

I don’t even recall doing this but I suddenly realized that I had raised my shotgun up into a shooting position out of habit. I kind of chuckled to myself otherwise I would of cried because I knew that with #6 birdshot that there wasn’t much I could do. A slight sicking feeling came over me when I recalled that I had momentarily picked up my 357 revolver and debated wearing it. That’s ok this will be funny to see how close this doe gets to me before she sees me.
The deer is trotting down the side of the logging road and although I have not gotten a good look at it yet I have not seen any of the white flash off the antlers that I know I could see by now. The deer comes to a screeching halt about 10 paces away from me. There is a good size tree and some brush between us because it hasn’t quite hit the corner of the road. I can see just behind the shoulder and most of the way back to see this is a pretty good body size deer. I’m certain this has to be a buck and I’m beginning to feel ill. His head comes part of the way around the tree and I can see he has chocolate colored antlers and he is a nice 8 pt. There is nothing I can do but watch and dream. He takes another step forward and he begins the head bopping and foot stomping because he knows something ain’t right. I feel the ever slightest of breeze on my neck and he snorts and bounds back the way he came.
I walked out of the woods with no squirrels this evening but I had an encounter I will not soon forget.

Now Saturday should I plan to hunt squirrels or deer? Maybe I’ll go prepared to hunt both.

Saw this clip posted over on Kings Outdoor World

Some great footage

NC Hunter was airlifted out of the woods after spending the night in the woods. Dewitt Howlett fell out of his tree breaking his hip around 11am on Tuesday. His family reported him missing at 6:45 am on Wednesday and it was 2pm before he arrived at the hospital.

The family of Dewitt Howlett, 69, of 1207 Harris St. reported him missing at 6:45 Wednesday morning, according to Eden City Manager Brad Corcoran. Howlett went hunting on his 98-acre property off of Cascade Avenue near the Virginia border on Tuesday but never returned home.
About 10 sheriff’s deputies, seven Eden police officers and several friends went to the property and began searching but turned up no trace of Howlett. A second search launched before 9 a.m. found Howlett against the tree he fell from. Corcoran said Howlett was about three-fourths of a mile from the road.
Howlett left home for the hunting trip about 7 a.m. He told rescuers he fell from the deer stand Tuesday about 11 a.m.
Corcoran said it appeared to rescuers that Howlett broke his hip. Because he was dressed for winter weather, Howlett did not appear to have suffered any exposure related injuries. Corcoran said Howlett even told rescuers he got hot at points during the night.
Howlett was airlifted out of the woods because emergency medical responders ruled the terrain was too difficult to carry him out. He was being evaluated in the emergency room of Wake Forest Baptist University Medical Center just before 2 p.m. Wednesday.

We hope and pray he has a speedy recovery. We can speculate from the story that despite some bad choices ( failure to wear safety belt from the time he left the ground till he returned to the ground) he made some great choices that may have saved his life.

One - people knew where to look for him and once they discovered he was missing they alerted the authorities.
Two- He was appropriately dressed for the recent cold snap and despite the temperatures last evening getting down near freezing he was rather comfortable.

Make sure you let someone know where you’ll be and what time you should be back.

Eden Daily News

The military has plans to put a practice carrier landing field in the middle of prime waterfowl habitat. Much of this is land is already National Wildlife Refuges and the wintering grounds to many species of waterfowl. By settling this particular lawsuit it will prevent some of the low level flights over Lake Mattamuskeet but it does not change the military’s long term plan to set up the OLF.

Canfield said the settlement doesn’t mean his group will stop fighting the Navy’s proposed practice jet landing field in Washington and Beaufort counties.

The military wanted to allow flights inside a 900 square mile area that included wildlife refuges at Lake Mattamuskeet in Hyde County and on Core Banks, a barrier island off Carteret County.

Under the compromise, the military won’t pursue establishing a new flight operations area over Lake Mattamuskeet and environmental groups will drop their opposition to changing flying practices over Core Banks.

Canfield said allowing jets to fly lower over Core Banks and at higher speeds than now approved may disturb some shore birds, but said the compromise will spare Lake Mattamuskeet “a huge impact.”

Durham Herald Sun

Besides the waterfowl these flights would impact in an earlier post we noted the impact on the reintroduction of the Red Wolf.

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Black Bear Blog posted the story about the elk and the speculations around where it was taken and does it qualify for the record book. Kings Outdoor World Blog has an update on this story. It seems Lou McMurray from California is the individual who took this bull. His website says the following;

• Shot with a 300 Winchester Magnum at approximately 80 yards.
• Taken from the Laurentian Wildlife Estate in the Quebec Province of Canada on Sep 6, 2006.
• The estate has been approved by Safari Club International as a qualified hunt and eligible for a world record. SCI is the accredited organization that qualifies world records.
• The elk has been measured by two non-certified guides at around 560 by the Boone and Crockett Club standards. The current world record is 503. It is a non-typical estate antler. For the estate to qualify, it has to be a minimum size. In this case the area was 370 acres. Also, it must be forested with trees and not an open field. The Laurentian Estate is heavily forested. The elk was not easy to find and had not been seen for two weeks by any of the guides previous to our hunt.
• It takes a 60-day drying out period before a certified master measurer can make an official measurement. We plan to submit to SCI for world record.

Is this the last we will here on this story? Probably not. But we’ll try to keep following the story.

Botulism is suspected in the deaths of dozens of waterfowl on Lake Ontario.

The corpses of dozens of birds are washing up on the shores of Lake Ontario, potentially the victims of the same bacteria that killed hundreds of birds over the summer near the Thousand Islands upstate.
The water birds, such as loons, gulls and grebes, were first discovered Saturday between Wayne County’s Sodus Bay and Deer Creek Marsh in Oswego County. The deaths are thought to be due to type E botulism, said state Department of Environmental Conservation spokeswoman Maureen Wren, but the DEC’s Wildlife Pathology Unit is inspecting and testing the birds.
The toxin produced by the botulism bacterium is harmful if eaten by humans. And the state is advising people not to harvest birds or fish that appear sick “or are acting abnormally.” Cooking will not necessarily destroy the botulism toxin, according to the DEC.

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle