How Much Will I Miss Senator Kennedy?

No Sir Probably not that much. LOL
Some gallows humor on my part. Got to admit he was a strong liberal that support causes that I certainly opposed and feel would destroy our great country. Misguided till the end…. now part of the history of this great country. RIP Teddy

Fair Chase and Senator Feinstein

So are we to believe that the Senator is going to take up hunting with her concern over fair chase when it comes to Alaska wolves? Somehow I doubt it but I did get a kick out of a recent editorial on the subject in Juneau Empire

Feinstein did so, at least in part, because she believes the state’s effort violates “the hunting principle of fair chase.”
No, it does not, because, as she said, Alaska’s wolf control program is not sport.
“Fair chase” is a loose, ever-shifting set of guidelines employed by individual hunters who, for a variety of personal reasons, often make their hunts more difficult for themselves and thus potentially less lethal to their prey. More power to them, but such standards are illogical when attempting to manage wildlife populations.
What homeowner would set a mouse trap but leave it unbaited just to give the mice a chance? What farmer would put cats in the barn but remove their claws so the rats have a fair shake?
When attempting to control an animal population, neither individuals nor the government can apply standards of fair chase, because those standards are designed solely to make success more difficult. In a control effort, the intent is to kill the animal. The most efficient, quickest method should be used. The state of Alaska follows that mandate when it kills wolves using gunners in aircraft.

The editorial is right on the money the killing of the wolves by the state of Alaska is not for sport but an effort to control specie that is getting out of balance. This is a smoke and mirrors attempt by the Senator to inject an idea to cloud the issue that just doesn’t belong in the discussion to begin with. If the Senator wants to look at some guiding principles how about this one;

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The Federal government has become too powerful and we need it to go back to the principles established by our founding fathers and restore the rights of the states and the people.

The Dark Side of Being Green

A golden eagle was killed when it collided with a wind turbine in Washington State. Seems like the PC thing to do right now is to convert to wind and solar to get off fossil fuels. While I have no problem with getting off fossil fuels I think the only realistic option right now is nuclear but most greeners are opposed to that. Many countries have safely used nuclear power for years with little impact.

A golden eagle died last month when it collided with a wind turbine blade at a 47-turbine wind farm in Klickitat County.

While this was the first known eagle death at this project historically projects like this kill raptors every year.

Though the golden eagle death is the first reported in Washington, raptor deaths have been common at wind projects elsewhere. Between 570 and 835 raptors are killed annually in wind turbines at California’s Altamont Pass Wind Power Resource Area, the world’s largest.

Columbian.com

While I’m not foolish enough to believe that any project whether green or not would be incident free it seems to be a double standard for many greeners. President Obama this week pushed ridiculous fuel economy standards on the struggling car industry this week and a standard that will put most of us driving small less safe vehicles.

I guess the bottom line is while I consider myself a conservationist but I’m not sold on the whole green thing.

Sunday Hunting, Crossbows and A Number of Other Changes May Get Sidetracked Today

No doubt there was a number of controversial proposals made this year and debated at the public hearings for changes to the hunting regulations but after all the dust settled it seemed a number of them had passed. Legalizing the use of crossbows and the adding of an additional week to the muzzleloader season is what drew the ire of the North Carolina Bowhunters Association and even being organized they could not overcome the support for these proposals by the rank and file hunters across the state. The Wildlife Commissioners adopted these changes based on the public hearings and the public comments so it seemed like too many who had fought for these changes over the years that next year they would happen.
However what has normally been a mere formality in the past today will become a major roadblock and delay the implementation of these rules and possible a number of others. Once the Wildlife Commission approves the rules they are sent to a Rules Review Committee that reviews them and makes sure they fall within the scope of the agency and do not violate the State Constitution if they pass they can be enacted if they don’t they are rejected and sent back to the Commissioners. There is also another scenario that can take place that up until this point has never happened with Wildlife Commission Rules and that is if the committee receives Ten or more letters of opposition to a particular rule or rules then that rule is not enacted and sent to the state legislators for a review. That review will not take place until the next open session of the legislators which is not scheduled until June. There would not enough time to allow the enacting of these rules by the July 1st deadline for the printing of the regulation digest for the 09-10 season.
In addition to the letter writing campaign organized by the North Carolina Bowhunters Association it is believed that a religious group is using the same tactic to block the change to allow hunting on Sunday’s with archery equipment. While I doubt this tactic will prevent these rules from eventually taking place it could delay them for a year and may open a new era of wildlife management where it could take an additional year to pass any changes. I’m sure any group opposed to hunting, trapping or fishing can get ten letters of opposition to any proposed rule changes in the future. Today in Raleigh when the Rules Committee meets we may witness the opening of Pandora’s Box.

National Park Lead Ban Makes No Sense

Mike Zlotnicki’s column in the N&O about this ban points out how ridiculous the ban will be.

Sounds noble, but is it necessary? Should places such as Cape Hatteras National Seashore be managed in the same fashion as, say, Yellowstone National Park, which has a ban on lead fishing tackle and doesn’t allow hunting?

I wonder how many birds die from eating a lead weight used for surf fishing?

Bob Eakes, owner of Red Drum Tackle Shop in Buxton, who also sits on the board of the American Sportfishing Association.

“It took us by surprise,” he said. “This thing floored a lot of people. Ingested lead by birds and ducks is bad, but what bird can ingest an 8-ounce pyramid sinker? This park service is out of control. They’re not using good science.”

I’D agree it seems like the National Parks Service is out of control on this issue but should we be surprised with the bunch of lefties we got running this country? A lead ban on fishing tackle maybe the least of our problems.

The Rest of the Story Ends

Paul Harvey died at the age of 90 today. He probably is one of the most recognizable voices ever on the radio. While he had strong supportive views on the 2nd amendment his surprising support for radical animal right groups is what alienated him from many. No matter what you thought about Paul Harvey he was one of the greatest media personalities of all times. Our thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones he left behind.

Study Finds Northward Movement of Birds Proves Global Warming

The Audubon Society has compiled 40 years of data to conclude that global warming is real and having a negative effect on many species of birds. By using the annual Christmas Bird count the data shows that many species have moved further north for the winter.

Birds are among the most adaptable of wildlife – as long as they can find suitable habitat, they are able to travel substantial distances north, inland, or to higher latitudes. That is one of the things that make them sensitive environmental indicators – alerting us to ecological disruption, often before it directly affects us. Audubon’s new analysis reveals that many species that winter in the U.S. are moving significantly north – strong evidence that global warming is already altering their – and our – environment. However, Audubon’s analysis also showed that some birds, including the majority of grassland species, are not following the trend — even as temperatures climb. For these species disappearing habitat is taking an enormous toll and leaving them with nowhere to go – even as climate change is altering what habitat remains.

While a few species within this study have had significant expansion (wild turkey moved north 400 miles) the vast majority had much less expanding only 40 miles north in 40 years.

Our recently-released Birds and Climate report clearly shows that climate change is affecting birds – and our world – now. For the past 40 years, as our climate has warmed, birds have shifted their winter ranges further and further north. This ecological disruption is yet another wakeup call that we must act quickly to solve the climate crisis. The birds’ northward movement is another signal that climate change is here and action is needed now.
We need global warming legislation that will help birds and wildlife survive what is coming by protecting their habitats and will reduce global warming pollution 80 percent by 2050 to avoid the worst impacts of a rapidly changing climate.

I’ll admit that I don’t buy the global warming theory and find it to be more a movement to force social change and to attack traditional American values. United States is behind a number of countries when it comes to the production of energy using nuclear power. The same kooks that protest Capitalism and oil protest any attempts to switch to nuclear power. Solar and Wind power is still a ways off while nuclear could be brought on line pretty quickly if political changes were put in place.
I find it hard to believe that a study like this could even be taken seriously when you look at some basic facts. In the overall timeline of the world what is the percentage of time represented by the 40 years of this study? A small sliver compared to the age of the earth so how can one seriously say that global warming is taken place.
I suspect changes in habitat maybe even some unrelated to an increase in the average temperature. The expansion of humans, especially development of urban areas has increased for many species the availability of food and shelter making winters more bearable.

Many species have seen an expansion in overall population of the specie. Doesn’t it make sense that some of this movement north would be the population growing into that area and not necessarily a decline in the specie?
While I find the study interesting I’m not sure it has convinced me that global warming is a real threat to our planet. Many of the traditional global warming advocates have switched their terminology recently to Global Climate Changes but Audubon seems to have missed a few places on their site. It is important to change that phrase when parts of the country have received some significant winter weather the past few years and some are predicting a potential ice age.

Nations Top Firearms Salesman Announced

Nations Top Firearms Salesman Announced on the eve before the opening of this years SHOT Show in Orlando Florida. The Outdoor Wire a leading daily news and information source for the shooting and outdoor sports industry has named Obama as the “Gun Salesman of the year”.

In recognition of the unprece­dented demand for firearms by nervous consumers, The Outdoor Wire has named President-elect Barack Obama its “Gun Salesman of the Year”. For me, it was a simple fact of recognizing that without President-elect Obama’s frightening consumers into action, the firearms industry might be suffering the same sort of business slumps that have befallen the automotive and housing industries.

It’s credit where credit is due. Mr. Obama has consistently voted against individual rights to firearms, appointed a re-tread Clinton administration full of gun banners, and made it plain to anti-gun groups that despite what he might say to the contrary, he’s on their side That history, along with the unquestioned support of anti-gun organizations has spooked consumers into a buying frenzy for firearms that could be outlawed in another Assault Weapons Ban.

Manufacturers are months behind on orders for semi-automatic pistols, AR-style rifles, and anything with so-called ‘high-capacity magazines, buyers we’ve surveyed across the country seem to have a single explanation for their rush to purchase firearms – Obama.

The buying panic is not limited to people you might be described as aficionados or even ‘gun nuts’. Recently, I was in a gun store when a gentleman came and said he’d never wanted to own a gun before, but wanted to get one while he still could.”

Since the November Presidential election, firearms sales have been at unprecedented levels. For December 2008 the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) recorded a twenty-four percent increase in background checks for 2008 (1,523,426) over December 2007 (1,230,525).

This follows a forty-two percent (42%) increase in November 2008, the highest number of NICS checks in the system’s history. Those FBI background checks are required under federal law for all individuals purchasing firearms from federally licensed firearms retailers. In other words, gun sales have never been better.

Sales are so good that on Tuesday, January 6, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) issued a notice to all federal firearms licensees that “an unprecedented increase in demand for ATF Form 4473 had run supplies low enough that dealers were temporarily given permission to photocopy the form until supplies caught up with demand. Completion of a form 4473 is required whenever a federal firearms licensee sells a fire­arm.

As a journalist with more than two decades of national newsgathering experience, I’ve never seen anything approaching what he calls the “Obama effect”. In fact, gun and ammunition sales are at such frantic levels that they have surpassed the panic-buying of Y2K or anything during the Clinton years when the first Assault Weapons Ban was passed. This time, he says, concerned consumers are buying guns and ammunition in anticipation of Obama Administration actions to prohibit certain types of firearms.

In 1999, the fear was that computers would shut down, crippling the world. Those fears were unfounded. I don’t think the fears of an Obama administration banning guns are unfounded. His record speaks for itself. He’s never failed to support an anti-gun measure, despite saying he supports the Second Amendment.

Moves to prohibit firearms sales would drastically impact a billion-dollar industry that is not only healthy, but pours more than one hundred fifty million dollars annually into conservation programs through an eleven percent tax collected on guns and ammo.

The Pittman-Robertson Act provides the vast majority of funding for wildlife agencies at the federal, state and local levels and that money comes directly from the tax levied against gun owners. Damaging the firearms industry won’t just put workers in the gun business out of work, it will severely impact wildlife and conservation efforts nationally. That damage could take decades to repair – if it can be undone.”

Choosing President-elect Obama as the Gun Salesman of the Year is a lot like a good-news, bad-news joke.His election has driven gun sales into the stratosphere, but his opposition to guns and gun ownership may be the biggest threat the industry has ever faced. If he puts scoring political points with anti-gun groups ahead of economic realities, he will be deliberately putting thousands of people out of work. I don’t see that as an economic stimulus plan with much of a future.”

“Today, the facts are indisputable. Barack Obama has spurred gun sales in a time when the entire economy seems to be tanking. If that doesn’t make him the gun salesman of the year – if not the decade – I don’t know what would.

- Jim Shepherd

There is little doubt that Mr. Obama has been great for gun sales I hope everyone is ready for the attack on our 2nd amendment rights that will be coming under this new regime. Now is the time to join organizations like the NRA that will stand up for our rights.

Hunter’s Reversing Evolution?

Hunter’s Reversing Evolution? Well that seems to be the the premise that Newsweek is pushing. Philip over at The Hog Blog was the one that alerted me to this article and Philip has done a great job of debunking this junk science as usual so check it out.

Obama the Thief?

Seems his campaign stole the Shot Show Email list from the National Shooting Sports Foundation using it to send out a press release about the National Hunting and Fishing Day. Talk about sleaze tactics, this is sure one if it is true. NSSF has sent notification to the Obama campaign;

NSSF’s letter also demands that the Obama campaign destroy all copies of the list, identify how they obtained the list and pay monetary damages to NSSF for its misappropriation and unauthorized use of the association’s intellectual property. NSSF demanded an immediate response from the Obama campaign and has threatened to file a lawsuit against the campaign if its demands are not met.

We’ll keep an eye on this one as it develops.

Time For Change? Resurrect a Dinosaur

I rarely post much on the political scene but I see it as humorous that Obama has picked Joe Biden as a running mate. So much for a new direction or change Biden has been around longer then McCain. After all the build up about the announcement and sending it out as a text I see why the Biden pick was released at 1am. Very anti climatic
I’ll admit that I’m not overly excited about McCain but for us gun rights people the naming of Biden is a sweep for anti gunners on the democratic ticket.

Story by Dan McLaughlin AKA Moose

PETA Attempts to Use A Heinous Murder To Push Their Wacko Agenda

Last week a heinous murder was committed on a Greyhound Bus in Canada where one passenger killed another passenger.

Just a week after the gruesome decapitation death of a passenger on a Greyhound bus in rural Manitoba sent shock waves around the world, an animal-rights lobby is drawing comparisons between the victim’s death and the handling of meat animals in North American slaughterhouses.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals submitted an ad for publication in the Portage Daily Graphic this week that compared the murder of Tim McLean, 22, to the “needless killing” of chickens, cows and pigs in “factory farms.”
“Like human victims, animals in slaughterhouses experience terror when they are attacked by a knife-wielding assailant,” says PETA’s Lindsay Rajt in a news release. “We are challenging everyone who is rightly horrified by this crime to look into their hearts and consider leaving violence off their dinner plates.”

National Post
This ad is way over the top and I understand why the paper wouldn’t run it. I also think that the crazy ridiculous ad should be shown so the mainstream can see how whacked this organization really is.

Of course this stance by PETA is hypocritical when they as an organization euthanize animals. PETA workers were caught here in North Carolina a few years ago dumping dead dogs and cats in dumpsters.

Now don’t get me wrong I understand that an overpopulation of dogs and cats must be controlled and euthanizing them in many cases is the only option. However if you’re an organization that equates the life of a cat, dog, chicken or cow as an equal with humans it seems inconceivable that you could kill them Never mind demonizing those who utilize animals for food as established by the Creator.

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