Moose Droppings

The drought that is impacting really the entire south east of the United States is preventing North Carolina Wildlife from flooding the waterfowl impoundments in many parts of the state. This is shaping up to be a very tough duck season especially for hunters that depend heavily on public impoundments. NCWC has just released a report on “Permitted Waterfowl Impoundment Condition Report” (PDF) that if your planning a hunt you may want to check it out.

The drought is continuing and although we got some much needed rain last week in much of the state the deficit is so bad it will take a lot to make it up. Here in the Triangle area they say we need 20+ inches of rain to bring the water tables back to normal. Winters are usually pretty dry here but maybe this year it will be different.

Additional Stories on Drought

The Realities of a Drought

Hunting Season A Go

Fire Risk High

The opening of Muzzleloader season is Saturday so I’m running around getting my stuff together. This will be my tenth season of hunting with “The Professional Liar’s Club” a club name hung on us by a outdoor writer who did a story on us a number of years ago. I guess that name is as fitting as any other name you could pin on this group of guys. The club itself has been together for a number of years probably getting close to 20 years and although it’s small group it feels like family.

The eve before the opening of muzzleloader you’ll find that most of us are in camp in anticipation of the opening morning hunt. This year like most we’ll have a fish fry on that evening and the swapping of the stories will begin. The story part is where we got our name because there are some good ones. Like the time we had a deputy sheriff hunting as a guest and he shot at a deer and couldn’t find it. He had a good blood trail he was following and it wasn’t till other guys from the club joined him in the search that he realized that he was tracking himself. It seems he got a bit to close to the scope and got bit the blood was dripping off his nose on to the leaves. He had missed the deer completely but did have a pretty good blood trail.

Then there was the year Rick and I created massive rubs and scrapes all around the club president’s deer stand. He’d get down from his stand after the morning hunt and by the time he returned for the afternoon hunt there was often more sign for him to find. One of the rules of the club is that any stand on the lease is open to the members of the club but the owner of the stand gets first option to hunt. Rick and I kept him in that same stand all season long because he didn’t dare let us get in there and kill the massive buck that was in there.

With close to 20 years of hunting together there is no shortage of stories for these guys and although I’m still one of the newer members it’s a great place to hunt. We may not kill any Boone & Crockets but we have a great time together. I’m sure we are about to create another chapter in “The Professional Liar’s Club”.

It was only about a year ago when I brought you the press release from NCWC reminding folks to not mess with hunting dog collars. Well it’s happening again and I suspect it happens about this time every year because of hunting seasons. The Asheville Citizens Times has a story about hunters losing dogs because someone is removing the tracking collars.
Who is doing it? Someone who is mistakenly thinking it’s a shock collar designed to hurt the dog? Anti hunters? Other hunters either those opposed to hunting with dogs or those who may want to steal the dogs? At this point we don’t know but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s some sort of a combination of the above.

Kasey Strganac had two dogs with her when she went bear hunting last Saturday morning. At the end of the day, she couldn’t find either. Strganac later discovered the tracking collars for both dogs - along with the collar for a third dog - in a pile beside a trail in Shining Rock Wilderness Area. One of her dogs was found, collarless, by other hunters late Saturday night. Her 8-month-old Plott hound, Voodoo, is still missing.

It is against the law to mess with the dogs collars and you can be facing a stiff fine if caught. We certainly hope that Kasey can find Voodoo as well as the other dogs that were lost this past weekend as well.

While on routine patrol last Saturday evening in the everglades Officer Michelle Lawless stuck a gate with her ATV rolling it on top of her and pinning her. No one was aware that she was in any trouble until she failed to respond to a call to check on her location. Officers found her still pinned and unresponsive under her ATV. She was extricated and airlifted to Delray Beach Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.

“Michelle was a diligent, accomplished officer, who died doing what she did so well: protecting Florida’s natural resources. This is a painful loss to the entire agency, her family and friends,” said Major Brett Norton, commander of law enforcement for the FWC’s South Region.

Every day game wardens, park rangers, wildlife officers enter in the wilds to protect our natural resources as well as to keep us safe. On some very rare occasions they give the ultimate sacrifice while serving. Our thoughts and prayers are with Officer Michelle Lawless family at this most difficult and tragic time.

FWC

In a move to clarify the changes to baiting rules for counties that have a bear season the Wildlife Commission adopted guidelines at its latest meeting to make it legal to put minerals out for deer.

In North Carolina, placement of processed food products in areas with an established bear hunting season is against the law. General Statute 113-294 defines a processed food product as any food substance or flavoring that has been modified from its raw components by the addition of ingredients or by treatment to modify its chemical composition or form or to enhance its aroma or taste.

Deer hunters need to pay close attention to these rules even if they don’t bear hunt because many of them still apply to them. In the past deer hunters could legally put out bait products specifically designed to get after the sweet tooth of deer including sweeteners poured over stumps, products containing powdered molasses, and even good old peanut butter. In counties that have an open bear season these products are no longer legal. You can still use unprocessed food like corn, sweet potatoes, and raw peanuts.

In areas containing non-processed food products, such as corn, sweet potatoes and peanuts, it is against the law to still hunt for bear. Hunters using dogs to hunt bear may release dogs at a site containing these non-processed food products.
Placement of mineral supplements specifically for attracting or feeding deer remains legal. Bear hunters are reminded they cannot hunt or release dogs on these sites.

NCWC

I still don’t understand why it’s legal for hound hunters to use deer bait sites to release their dogs at but stand hunters can not hunt over them. Seems to me they should either be legal for everyone or illegal for everyone. Hound hunters have a very good lobby and the laws are certainly slanted in their favor. This issue is far from being done I’m sure it will be on the agenda for next year’s public meetings.

Porter Wagoner more famously known for his music is also a good friend of the National Wild Turkey Federation lending support to many of their projects including lots of the Jake (Youth) programs.

NWTF chapters across North America hold Hundreds of Porter Wagoner/JAKES Field Day events each year to introduce young people to the joy of the outdoors. Let your child experience the outdoors through supervised, hands-on activities at an event near you.

Porter Wagoner/JAKES Field Day

Mr. Wagoner who is 80 years old was admitted to the hospital earlier this month with lung cancer has now gone under the care of Hospice. Our thoughts and prayers are with him at this difficult time.

Update on the reported sighting of an African Lion roaming free in West Virginia.
Animal control personnel have set up cameras in the area where the African Lion is reported to be roaming in West Virginia. They are using both game cameras as well as Motion-sensitive video cameras owned by the state Department of Environmental Protection and used to catch litterbugs. Officials want to confirm that they are dealing with a African Lion before proceeding with a plan to trap the lion in a bear trap used to capture troublesome bears.

I was reading a story out of Washington State about landowners shutting off their land to hunters and fishermen because of the shenanigans of a few.

For years, he put up with the thousands of dollars of vandalism, the relentless garbage-dumping, the all-hours gunfire and poaching, not to mention the dangers created by irresponsible hunters who didn’t seem to care that the Williamson family’s homes might be in the line of fire.
Once, Williamson’s son David — who has a home on the property — heard shots just up the road during a
non-hunting season and went up to investigate and found himself almost in the line of fire of several apparently inebriated individuals who had decided to kill a bighorn sheep.

Yakima Herald

First off calling individuals that exhibit behaviors like this “hunters” I think is wrong but like it or not many in the non hunting community have this view of us. This behavior seems to happens everywhere and if you don’t believe me just take some rides in rural parts of this country and see how many road signs are shot up.

I’ve talked about illegal dumping in the past and although it’s not necessarily associated with hunting like the shooting of road signs is it does often impact relationships with landowners and access to land.

Drinking and guns just like drinking and driving doesn’t mix. The clubs I’m in have a rule that says as soon as you start drinking your done handling a gun for the day. We really don’t have an issue with this but it’s good to know that as a group of hunters we take this issue very seriously and we want to keep all of us safe.

We as hunters need to use our influence over others to make sure things like this don’t happen. We need to work with landowners and law enforcement to keep everyone safe and to protect private property. Poaching of game I would hope is something we would never view as acceptable behavior no matter what the rationalization is for this crime.
Lastly we need to be a mentor to the young hunters coming up in our ranks. It is not enough to just take a kid hunting or fishing once in a while but we must teach by example what it means to be a sportsman. It is an awesome responsibility but as you can see the opportunities to access prime habitat to enjoy are sport could be one thoughtless act away from being lost. We all need to be good sportsman to ensure our heritage can continue.

Photo Courtesy of NC Zoo

After multiple reports of a lion being spotted in the Greenbrier County West Virginia officials have begun to look for the creature. Lion sightings up and down the east coast are often reported on and speculated about and the over all validity of such sightings are often question.
Union County

Moore County

Moore County Update

Almost always the lion in question is the infamous mountain lion or eastern cougar however in this situation the lion in question appears to be of African decent.

Witness have described an African male lion with a mane wandering around Cold Knob.
Jim Shortridge was bow hunting in the area in a ground blind and had the lion around him for 40 minutes.

“It had a mane, so I could tell it was a male. And I’m sure it wasn’t a bear. Bears are all over Cold Knob. I see six to eight of them every time I go hunting, and I can tell the difference. Bears don’t shake me up at all. This lion made me pretty nervous,” he said.

Tiger Mountain Refuge is located in the area but they are not missing any of their cats. Speculation is that this lion, if sightings are true, either escaped from someone or was turned loose by someone. These big cats in captivity have often had their claws removed and makes hunting for them difficult if they even know how to hunt after being in captivity. We certainly don’t want anyone hurt and if this is a captive cat that has been turned loose I hope they catch who is responsible for this cruel act. We’ll continue to follow this story as it develops.

Charleston Daily Mail

Metro News of W Va

Andrew & his roommate “diehardhunter” with a 317lb feral hog

Feral hogs have been in North Carolina for a number of years but now their numbers are growing and to many they are a nuisance. On this week’s show I interview Andrew Partin a student at NC State University in the Fisheries and wildlife program and a hog hunter. Andrew and his roommate recently killed this big hog and another smaller one that were tearing up a farmer’s sweet potato crop. In addition to hearing about his hunting Andrew will tell us a little about his summer job working in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park trapping bears and wild boars. So tune in today at 1pm or check out my show archives later this weekend to download this exciting show.

North Carolina National Guard crews are being dispatched to fight wild fires in Southern California that is dire straits. Many of the fires burn out of control consuming up wild lands as well as homes and business. The Santa Ana winds have died down giving fire fighters a chance to gain some ground.

Aircraft will be staged at Port Hueneme/Channel Islands, California with approximately 50 North Carolina Air National Guard Airmen deploying to operate the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System, or MAFFS. Since 1974, MAFFS has saved land, lives and property from wild land fires in the United States and abroad. MAFFS is only activated when all other air tanker resources are committed.
The MAFFS mission equips C-130s with a fire fighting apparatus that is loaded into the aircraft’s cargo area. The MAFFS unit itself is a series of pressurized tanks that hold 3,000 gallons of flame-retardant liquid called Phos-Chek. Directed by ground crews and led to the fire site by a U.S. Forest service lead plane, MAFFS aircraft drop retardant along the leading edge of a fire to block the spread of flames.
The North Carolina contingent will operate two C-130s equipped with MAFFS modules. The third and fourth aircraft will transport other equipment, and personnel.

North Carolina National Guard

Personnel from North Carolina Division of Forestry who often respond and help out in situations like this are being held back because of the potential for disastrous fires here in our own state. The entire state is under a severe drought and although we got some much needed rain today we need much more to reverse the drought. A statewide burning ban remains in effect for NC and all citizens of NC have been urged by the Governor to conserve water. Earlier this week many of the larger municipalities in the state announced that they have about 100 day supply of water so conservation is important.

Our thoughts and Prayers tonight for the people of Southern California and those who have been sent out to fight the fires.

I did the story last night about the balanced story that National Geographic did on sportsmen and now Tom over at the Black Bear Blog has found another one. This is great and we need to keep working on getting the positive message out about the great benefits hunting and fishing provide to everyone as well as the natural world. To many people want to end our heritage and more often then not they seem to have the press in their left hip pocket.