What: California Waterfowl Expo & Hunter Skills Challenge
Where: Waterloo Gun & Bocci Club – Stockton
When: Saturday, September 18th, 2010

Planned Daytime Activities
1. Waterfowl Hunter Skills Challenge – Tests of your shooting and hunting skills, for all ages and abilities.
2. Trap, skeet and sporting clays shooting
3. Vendor booths
4. Product trials from Beretta and Leupold
5. Swap meet – sell your extra hunting equipment, we are looking to have an FFL onsite to handle used gun sales.
6. Raffle for great prizes.
7. CWA merchandise and duck stamp sales.

Official signups and flyer with more details should be available by early July.

More information at the california waterfowl site;

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission during a July 8 meeting rejected a proposed change to muzzleloader rules and a proposed bonus point program and adopted several proposals that could change wolf hunting in Idaho.

Commissioners adopted rules that would allow the use of electronic calls for bears, mountain lions and wolves, and traps and snares for taking wolves in areas and with bag limits and seasons to be specified by the commission. The commission will set wolf seasons and limits during the August meeting in Idaho Falls.

They also adopted depredation hunts on black bears and wolves, and a provision that would allow hunters to take wolves incidental to hunting over bear bait, and extended the mandatory check-in for wolf hunts to 72 hours to report a kill and 10 days to check the skull and hide with Fish and Game.

They rejected the proposed bonus point program after several commissioners expressed their reservation about the program and the lack of clear public support.

The commissioners adopted a chukar and gray partridge season that will run October 1, 2011, through January 31, 2012, with a daily bag limit of six birds and a possession limit of 12 of each. They also moved the sage-grouse and quail seasons opening to October 1, effective in 2011. Starting next year, the chukar, gray partridge, quail and sage-grouse season will open October 1.

The commission adopted a forest grouse season opening August 30 statewide, and changed shooting hours for all upland game at CJ Strike, Fort Boise, Montour and Payette River wildlife management areas to 10 a.m., during the pheasant season, including youth hunts.

Other changes will:

Prohibit shooting upland game birds from any watercraft.

Prohibit use of telemetry or other electronic tracking to hunt game, except for use with hunting hounds or other sporting dogs.

Allow collection and sale of up to six rattlesnakes a year; a hunting license is required and only four snakes may be in possession at any time.
They postponed action on a proposal to establish standardized rules for placement of traps and snares to their August meeting in Idaho Falls.

In other action, commissioners awarded one bighorn sheep auction tag to the national Wild Sheep Foundation, and one bighorn sheep lottery tag to the Idaho chapter of the Wild Sheep Foundation.

The commission also approved several proposals to be submitted to the 2011 Legislature, including:

Auction tags for existing and new big game species.

Restrict collection of wildlife from the wild without a permit.

Discretionary authority to create a mentored hunt program.

Access Permit and fees for designated Fish and Game lands.
Other ideas to consider for possible legislation included:

Allow the use of credit cards.

Discontinue use of social security number as license identifier.
The commission also approved providing funds to the Animal Damage Control Board as recommended by Fish and Game in accordance with state law.

The Fish and Game Commission meets again August 16 in Idaho Falls.

Well Today was a low point in terms of seeing deer. I tried a new route into my hotspot and it was disappointing. Too loud, Wind was still fickle, and sighting was one fleeting glimpse of an unidentified deer but a yearling by the look of it’s reddish coat.
Driving home I saw one doe in the middle of the road.
I had hopped that this new way in would combat the switching winds and give me a look into the buck’s “bedroom”. Alas I was in it but he was not there. The question is was he there and boogered out? Or did I blow him out for good the last time?

I don’t know the next time I will have a chance to hunt this spot. this Evening was kinda my Hail Mary Pass.

Rich was fortunate to connect on this nice Velvet Blacktail in the first week California’s A-zone archery season.

Some idaho early elk hunts open August 1, most of them antlerless “green-field” hunts.

The early “green-field” hunts in seven elk management zones – Palouse, Weiser, Lemhi, Beaverhead, Pioneer, Snake River and Owyhee-South Hills zones – are meant to help landowners reduce crop damage.

Early archery hunts also start August 1 in the Snake River elk zone, and controlled green-field hunts also open in the Dworshak and Hells Canyon zones.

The green-field hunts are open only outside the National Forest Boundary and within one mile of cultivated fields. They help reduce depredation problems and control populations causing crop damage by harvesting or discouraging animals in specific areas or portions of units.

August hunts, however, bring concerns about waste. Hunters have an ethical and legal obligation to salvage the edible portions of their kill. But meat spoilage is an important concern during typical hot August weather.

The key to preserving meat is starting the cooling process quickly. Game animals should be skinned immediately and quartered in most cases and transported quickly to cold storage facilities. Early season hunters may consider using large ice chests to keep game meat cool and clean. Removing meat from the bones also helps speed cooling.

When cutting up the elk carcass, hunters must be sure to preserve the evidence of sex. If the head or antlers are removed, evidence of sex in the form of testicles, penis, scrotum, udder or vulva must remain naturally attached to the carcass or parts thereof until it reaches the final place of storage or personal consumption, or a commercial meat processing facility. Antlers or horns removed from the head must be left naturally attached to the skull plate where size, point or brow-tine restrictions apply, and they must accompany the carcass or parts thereof.

Hunters must have a valid 2010 Idaho hunting license and tag in their possession, and they are encouraged to review the 2010 Big Game Rules for additional details.

VICTOR, Colo. – The Colorado Division of Wildlife, in cooperation with Cripple Creek Victor Gold Mining Company, will hold a youth shooting sports clinic July 31 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Youngsters interested in the sports of archery and shotgun shooting are invited to attend this one-day free event. Registration is not necessary.

Activities include a shotgun target fun shoot, a 3-D archery shoot and instruction for both. The DOW will also provide an electronic “laser-gun” hunting simulation that teaches youngsters about shot placement by generating actual hunting scenarios on a big-screen.

Boys and girls ages 7-16 are invited to attend, but must be accompanied by a parent.

Instructors from the DOW and local archery experts will help youngsters learn the finer points of shooting shotguns and bows. The DOW will furnish the equipment.

Directions: From the town of Divide, drive south on Hwy 67 13.1 miles to CR 81 (road to Victor). Turn left on CR 81 and drive 4.1 miles to CR 82. Turn right on CR 82 and drive 1.2 miles to site.

For more information, call DOW District Wildlife Manager Tonya Sharp at (719) 227-5281.

Tonight I had not planned to hunt. In fact I planned to do a speed running workout. But a call from a hunting buddy turned into an hour long strategy session with maps and notes and when I finally hung up it was 6:00 pm. With Bowhunting on my mind, I quickly changed into my hunting gear and headed out for a quick evening hunt at quarter to 7 after delivering two bags of feed to my kids and wife. I had about two hours of light left so I hustled to peek into the fold that has been the epicenter of my deer sightings. My approach was not as stealthy since the coastal breezes were gusting between 10 and 15 knots. I used the terrain to shield me from view until I reached the spot I had jumped a buck and spike four days earlier. I spied movement in the grass and ranged a big bobcat at 70 yards, totally unaware of my presence, but sauntering away from me.

I scanned the brush line for any hints of deer. Dark shapes, Antler tips, horizontal shapes. No luck.

I skulked around the brow of rhe hill and scanne dthe opening below for feeding deer. No luck. I sat down next to a lone bush and scanned the canyon for the next 10 minutes with my binoculars as the wind , once more began to get touchy. When there was a definate southwest wind it was all right but when the wind died, currents began to swirl. After ten minutes, I saw a big blocky shape emerge from a tangle of blackberries 120 yards below, and make a determined exit directly away from me.

Everything about this animal said MATURE BUCK. As I raised the glasses I could see the telltalle curvature of antlers that no longer held the velvet I’d seen in this vicinity in earlier trips. The buck made his exit in a path that gave me plenty of time to see his blocky body and long g-2′s and deep front forks. a solid 115″ buck with about a 20 inch spread. This was my White Whale.

I watched as he took the same path out of the draw I had climbed up in two earlier visits. Once during turkey season and once earlier this archery season. I now knew where his super secret lair was. A place where the air currents swirled and the mostly down wind approach was open hillside with scattered brush patches. His feeding spot was no more than 50 yards from where he was bedded, unseen until he evacuated. It was such a good spot, I’m sure he will use it again. Heck he used it in April and was using it in July.

Now to find a way to drop in on him with out him sensing/hearing/smelling my presence…

I watched the canyon until dark and once more saw the two spike bucks I had seen on all of my previous hunts. The Spike with one stubby antler stood in the open for an hour testing the wind before he began to feed. I shifted my position slightly across the canyon from him and he pegged my movement right away. That was probably what tipped off the old blocky buck. But unlike the wise old man he stood stock still and bored holes in me 110 yards away. Finally at 8:30pm I retreated back the way I came, bumping into the same doe and fawn I’d beeen seeing at 70 yards.

Criter count for the day:
1 bobcat
1 doe
1 fawn
2 spike bucks
1 shooter buck (the same one as before)

Trail running gaiters fit tight to the boot and lower legs. The result, fewer shoe issues while out hunting.

In our part of the world, annual grasses are very prolific due to the seed burrs and foxtails that hitchhike along on your shoes, pants and socks.

To combat this I’ve incorporated a new piece of gear, the trail running gaiter. It has 3 benefits in addition to keeping debris out of my boots:

• Keeps your pant cuffs contained so they don’t catch of brush and limbs
• Resistant to rain and dew on grass.
• Covers up boot laces so branches don’t pull them undone at the most inopportune time.

The ones pictured above are REI trail running gaiters but there are gaiters available from hunting retailers that carry Sitka Gear and Kenetrek products as well.  Try some on your next hunt.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Western Colorado’s Grand Mesa is home to one of Colorado’s newest moose populations and locals are taking the time to celebrate and learn more about moose on Saturday, July 31. Grand Mesa Moose Day events will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the US Forest Service Visitor Center atop Grand Mesa on Highway 65.

Activities will include moose viewing information, presentations about moose biology and moose history, presentations on how biologists transplant and track moose, and a puppet show. Family and kid-friendly events and giveaways are planned throughout the day. All activities are free.

“Moose sightings are always fun for people and they’re becoming more common on the Grand Mesa as the population grows,” said Trina Romero, Colorado Division of Wildlife Watchable Wildlife Coordinator. “This event will teach people safe ways to see the moose and some great facts about moose in Colorado.”

Grand Mesa Moose Day sponsors include the Colorado Division of Wildlife, US Forest Service, The Moose 100.7 and the Grand Mesa Scenic & Historic Byway.

The Grand Mesa is the world’s largest flattop mountain and is located east of Grand Junction. Visitors can access the Grand Mesa from Highway 65, which links Interstate 70 in De Beque Canyon with Highway 50 near Delta. The visitor center is located on top of Grand Mesa.

Moose have historically been found on the Grand Mesa in small numbers but a re-introduction effort started in 2005 by the Colorado Division of Wildlife has transplanted dozens of moose to the area. Today, biologists with the agency estimate that the now self-sustaining population numbers approximately 150 moose. The moose population is expected to grow to around 450 animals. The moose transplant and educational efforts about the moose have been funded by Colorado sportsmen through hunting license fees and by the Colorado Chapter of Safari Club International through member funding and through the organization’s annual raffle of a moose hunting license.

For more information about Division of Wildlife go to: http://wildlife.state.co.us.

Applications for the 2010 Special Sage-Grouse Hunt at Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) are now available on the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) website at ndow.org/hunt/apps/.

The Sheldon hunt will be open for two weekends Sept. 18-19 and Sept. 25-26. This is a permitted hunt, with 75 permits awarded by random draw available for each hunt by reservation only. The hunt is open to both residents and nonresidents. The daily limit is two and the possession limit is four for sage grouse.

Permit applications are available in PDF via the NDOW website (www.ndow.org). Applications must be received by mail or in person by 5 p.m. on August 6 at the NDOW headquarters office (1100 Valley Road, Reno, NV 89512).

“The Sheldon Sage-Grouse Hunt is a popular hunt with only 75 reservations available for an early and late season. Last year the Department received 389 applications for the 150 available reservations,” said NDOW game biologist Shawn Espinosa.

Both residents and nonresidents must have an upland game stamp and either a hunting license or short term permit to hunt while hunting upland game in Nevada.

The Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge is in northwest Nevada on the Oregon border.

Although the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced in March that it would place greater sage-grouse on the list of “candidate species” across its range in the 11 western states and two provinces, Espinosa reports that sage-grouse populations in the Sheldon NWR do support a hunt season.

“Sage-grouse lek count data collected from the Sheldon NWR sage-grouse population has shown an increasing trend from 1999-2009,” he reports. “We are very concerned with sage-grouse populations in general and if we determined that sage-grouse hunting was having a detrimental or additive impact on that particular sage-grouse population, we would recommend closing the season as we have for many other hunt units in the state.”

NDOW also reminds hunters to remove one wing from each sage-grouse taken as part of a long-term study of the state’s sage-grouse populations.

“We are interested in collecting data from wings collected during the two 2-day seasons,” said Espinosa. “This information provides us with recruitment and nest success data. In addition, we also were able to collect a substantial amount of blood samples last year that were submitted to the USGS Wildlife Health Center. These samples were used to analyze the effects of west Nile virus in 2009. From 2005-2009 the Nevada Department of Wildlife has collected and average of 122 wings annually.”

The Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) protects, restores and manages fish and wildlife, and promotes fishing, hunting, and boating safety. NDOW’s wildlife and habitat conservation efforts are primarily funded by sportsmen’s license and conservation fees and a federal surcharge on hunting and fishing gear. Support wildlife and habitat conservation in Nevada by purchasing a hunting, fishing, or combination license. For more information, visit www.ndow.org.