The state’s first licensed hunting season for the Burmese python has ended, with a body count of 37.

A state-sanctioned pilot hunting program aimed at determining location and formulating an eradication plan ended Saturday with 37 of the invasive reptiles being killed.

“This was more about finding where they are and seeing if we can contain their expansion,” Scott Hardin, exotic species coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, told the Miami Herald.

The constrictors can measure 18 feet long and weigh 160 pounds, and wildlife officials say they could number in the tens of thousands in the South Florida region — mostly in the Everglades.

Snake owners who released pythons when they became too large to manage are believed largely responsible for this troubling phenomenon. The snakes, which are reproducing in the wild, have become a threat to native wildlife.

The wildlife commission is collecting data from the snakes killed so far and will expand the hunting program next year. Meanwhile, licensed hunters after other species can continue to kill pythons in designated areas, including parts of the Everglades around Big Cypress National Preserve.

“If you’re in there hunting, and you see a python, you can kill it,”‘ Hardin said.

Hunters have used nets and snares and guns to subdue the reptiles, but all legal hunting methods are allowed, including bang sticks, harpoons and spear guns.

In a letter encouraging the harvesting of pythons, posted on the commission website, Chairman Rodney Barreto wrote, “You can even have some fancy cowboy boots made from python, but I don’t recommend eating the meat because testing revealed high levels of mercury in the meat — levels well above that considered safe to eat.”

Are you looking for a place to talk hunting? A place full of friendly hunters. Than MHT is your place. Come see us soon.
Say Hi to “Rev. Jeff” for me. As moderator Jeff is the last line of defense for the forum. An avid blogger he can be found over at his site as well, The Sacred Hunt

Remington Question Answered – Sort of

The Outdoor and Shooting Wires have received- and verified the accuracy of an internal Remington memorandum that effectively answers most of a question that has been making the rounds of the industry: Is Remington getting into the handgun market?

Short answer, yes.

An “Organizational Announcement” from Chief Marketing Officer Marc Hill to all of Remington’s employees confirmed the existence of a Remington handgun team by naming Tom Taylor to the position of Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product-Handguns.

That’s a definitive answer to the question, and should serve notice to the industry that Remington has no plans to lay off what has been a torrid growth pace over the past year.

To industry folks, Taylor’s also a face both recognized and well-liked.

The affable former Vice-President of Marketing for Smith & Wesson, Taylor has most recently been the Executive Director of the Remington Outdoor Foundation, establishing, as Hill wrote, “the pillars and strategies for its long-term success.” Hill also praised Taylor for his “vast amount of handgun experience” calling him the “ideal person to develop and lead our strategy for this important category.”

Taylor has also continued to be extremely involved and committed to advancing the Honored American Veterans Afield (H.A.V.A.) organization, helping injured servicemen, veterans and their families get back outside. (Note: The organization hosted its largest event to date, the second annual National Family Day last week in San Antonio, Texas).

Prior to Smith & Wesson, Taylor was an executive with Coca-Cola in both sales and marketing.

According to the memorandum, Taylor will transition into his new position over the next sixty days, joining Remington full time on January 4, 2010.

And the Remington handgun strategy?

While attending the Remington 2010 product introductions, I asked the same question of Marc Hill. At that time, he declined comment, but it has been no secret in the industry that Remington has been “shopping” for a handgun company. Several names have been mentioned, but it appears the first product will be “organic” coming from inside Remington, rather than via acquisition.

A 1911 is in first-production testing, and may be ready for introduction at SHOT Show in January. That is a qualified date because the company seems more concerned in making a solid product before introducing it to the consumer public, eschewing other companies’ practice of launching products and making adjustments on the fly.

Remington has been out of the handgun business for decades, but does have a handgun history to call from, should it remain “organic” and reintroduce new versions of older handguns.

From 1963 until 1998, the XP-100 was a solid member of the Remington product family. In fact, it is widely credited as having been the gun that started the sport of varmint shooting, and served as the initial platform for the .221 Fireball cartridge.

The Remington Model 51. Could this small pocket pistol be part of Remington’s re-entry into handguns?
From 1918 until the early 1930s, Remington also produced a pocket pistol designed by John Pedersen.
Available in .32ACP and .380 ACP calibers, the small, reliable Model 51 might be a candidate for a revival – especially if it were lightened by the use of polymers and/or new metal technologies not available during its original production gun. Only about 65,000 of the Model 51s were produced, but they remain a gun with a small, but strong following. Less than an inch thick, with a 3-1/4 inch barrel inside a frame 6-5/8 inches long, the hesitation locked, detachable, single-stack semi-auto might be significantly “amped up” with new technologies and ammunition.

One fan of the Model 51: General George Patton. As an interesting historical footnote, the U.S. Navy recommended adopting the Model 51 – if it were made in .45 caliber.

In that variant, it was known as the Model 53, and was regarded as being smaller, lighter, more accurate, and more controllable than the M1911.

And revolvers? Yep, the Remington & Son percussions in .36 (Navy) and .44 (Army) calibers were used in the American Civil War from 1862 forward. It was primarily carried by Union solders, and actually preferred over the standard issue Colt Army Model 1860 by those who could afford it. It’s primary advantages were said to be its durability and the ability to quickly swap-out cylinders, significantly speeding up reloads.

Today, Uberti and Pietta New Army replicas are nearly identical to Remington-Beals design, and are favorites among cowboy action shooters who like the period-accurate “cartridge conversion” – as did the real cowboys of that period.

At this point, what Remington will introduce-or acquire- will remain a topic of conversation with both consumers and industry members wondering if they might find their products in the gunsights of a company that has shown no reluctance to either introduce products – or acquire other companies.

And as any marketer will tell you, “buzz” is important.

Whatever happens, we’ll keep you posted.

–Jim Shepherd

I’ld Like to thank The Shooting Wire for this information……..thanks.

I found this in the YahooNews file……..what is happening to us?

Grinch! North Pole irked at end to Santa replies

By RACHEL D’ORO, Associated Press Writer Rachel D’oro, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 41 mins ago
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Starry-eyed children writing letters to the jolly man at the North Pole this holiday season likely won’t get a response from Santa Claus or his helpers.

The U.S. Postal Service is dropping a popular national program begun in 1954 in the small Alaska town of North Pole, where volunteers open and respond to thousands of letters addressed to Santa each year. Replies come with North Pole postmarks.

Last year, a postal worker in Maryland recognized an Operation Santa volunteer there as a registered sex offender. The postal worker interceded before the individual could answer a child’s letter, but the Postal Service viewed the episode as a big enough scare to tighten rules in such programs nationwide.

People in North Pole are incensed by the change, likening the Postal Service to the Grinch trying to steal Christmas. The letter program is a revered holiday tradition in North Pole, where light posts are curved and striped like candy canes and streets have names such as Kris Kringle Drive and Santa Claus Lane. Volunteers in the letter program even sign the response letters as Santa’s elves and helpers.

North Pole Mayor Doug Isaacson agreed caution is necessary to protect children. But he’s outraged North Pole’s program should be affected by a sex offender’s actions on the East Coast — and he thinks it’s wrong that locals just learned of the change.

“It’s Grinchlike that the Postal Service never informed all the little elves before the fact,” he said. “They’ve been working on this for how long?”

The Postal Service began restricting its policies in such programs in 2006, including requiring volunteers to show identification.

But the Maryland incident involving the sex offender prompted more changes, even forcing the agency to briefly suspend the Operation Santa program last year in New York and Chicago before reinstating it with the same restrictions implemented nationwide this year.

The agency now prohibits volunteers from having access to children’s family names and addresses, said spokeswoman Sue Brennan. The Postal Service instead redacts the last name and addresses on each letter and replaces the addresses with codes that match computerized addresses known only to the post office — and leaves it up to local managers if they want to go through the time-consuming effort to shield the information. Brennan said no one is barred from continuing their programs, but they have to comply with the rules.

Anchorage-based agency spokeswoman Pamela Moody said dealing with the tighter restrictions is not feasible in Alaska.

“It’s always been a good program, but we’re in different times and concerned for the privacy of the information,” she said.

Moody stressed that kids can still send letters to Santa Claus. The Postal Service still runs the giant Operation Santa Program in which children can have their letters to Santa answered, and the restrictions do not affect privately run letter efforts.

What will change are the generically addressed letters to “Santa Claus, North Pole” that for years have been forwarded to the Alaska town, although Brennan said only a fraction of the letters with no specific address wind up in the Alaska town anyway. That program will stop, unless changes are made before Christmas.

Losing the Santa-letter cache is a blow to the community of 2,100 people, who pride themselves on their Christmas ties. Huge tourist attractions here include an everything-Christmas store, Santa Claus House, and the post office, where visitors can get a hand-stamped postmark on their postcards and packages.

Another issue raising the hackles on some locals is another recent change. Anchorage — 260 miles to the south — is processing the thousands of out-of-state requests for North Pole postal cancellation marks on Christmas cards and packages; Fairbanks, just 15 miles away, had long done so.

Moody said with as many as 800,000 items processed last year, Fairbanks is not equipped to handle the overload. Anchorage is the only city in Alaska with the high-speed equipment necessary to do the job without delay. Moody disagreed with the mayor’s belief that the process creates a false postmark. Brennan said the move is a matter of resources and finances for the agency, which lost billions of dollars in the last fiscal year and has closed facilities and consolidated districts nationwide.

Santa Claus House, built like a Swiss chalet and chock full of all items Christmas, sells more than 100,000 letters from Santa and one of the lures is the postmark.

Operations manager Paul Brown believes his business will be affected under changes to the volunteer Santa letter program because tens of thousands of letters are addressed to Santa Claus House, North Pole, Alaska.

Those letters will still be forwarded to volunteers but it’s unclear yet if anything will be done with them. Those intercepted by the postal service will probably eventually be shredded.

Brown worries about misinterpretations of the changes, such as people believing it’s no longer possible to get individual pieces of mail graced with the North Pole postmark.

NOW THIS IS GOING TOO FAR USPS!!!!!!!! BOYCOTT THE USPS……..USE EMAIL AND FEDEX !!!!!

Over the last couple weeks I have seen a drastic increase in traffic here. So apparently you like what I am doing and I take it you wish me to continue. After all this is “wanderings” and I am definitely Northwoods. The combination has left room for alot of variety in my posts. I hope to incite,invite, and inform …… God bless.

Oh yes…..please feel free to leave your comments…..I love to hear from You!!!

I found this today over on YahooNews!!!!!
Thought you would want to know………

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 16 mins ago

WASHINGTON – More than 15 million taxpayers could unexpectedly owe taxes when they file their federal returns next spring because the government was too generous with their new Making Work Pay tax credit.

Taxpayers are at risk if they have more than one job, are married and both spouses work, or receive Social Security benefits while also earning taxable wages, according to a report Monday by the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration.

The tax credit, which is supposed to pay individuals up to $400 and couples up to $800, was President Barack Obama’s signature tax break in the massive stimulus package enacted in February.

Most workers started receiving the credit through small increases in their paychecks in April. The tax credit was made available through new withholding tables issued by the Internal Revenue Service.

The withholding tables, however do not take into account taxpayers with multiple jobs or married couples in which both people work. They also don’t take into account Social Security recipients with jobs that provided taxable income.

The Social Security Administration sent out $250 payments to more than 50 million retirees in the spring as part of the economic stimulus package. The payments were meant to provide a boost for people who didn’t’ qualify for the tax credit.

However, they went to many retirees who also received the credit. Those retirees will have the $250 payment deducted from their tax credit — but not until they file their tax returns next year, long after the money may have been spent.

“While implementing a credit through reduced withholding is an effective way to provide economic stimulus evenly throughout the year, it is difficult to account for everyone’s circumstances,” said J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration. “More than 10 percent of all taxpayers who file individual tax returns for 2009 could owe additional taxes.”

The tax credit is also available for 2010. Russell said the problems will continue in 2010 if they are not resolved.

The credit pays workers 6.2 percent of their earned income, up to a maximum of $400 for individuals and $800 for married couples who file jointly. Individuals making more than $95,000 and couples making more than $190,000 are ineligible.

“Making Work Pay was designed to deliver much needed boosts to the paychecks of 95 percent of all working Americans,” said Nayyera Haq, a Treasury Department spokeswoman. “Since enactment, more than 110 million families have benefited from as much as $60 in additional take home pay each month to put toward their family budgets, serving as a steady boost to spending and consumption.”

For many, the new tax tables will simply mean smaller-than-expected tax refunds next year. The average tax refund this year was about $2,800.

The IRS, in a response to the audit, advised taxpayers to check their withholding throughout the year to make sure they don’t get hit with an unexpected tax bill.

“The withholding system must approximate the tax liability of tens of millions of Americans, and therefore, cannot be tailored precisely to fit every individual situation,” Richard Byrd Jr., commissioner of the IRS’ wage and investments division, wrote in the agency’s response to the report.

(Saw this story over at Bangor Daily News site and knew that you would want to see this!!)

By Kevin Miller
BDN Staff

U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock has rejected a case filed by two animal welfare groups claiming that Maine’s recreational trapping policies could cause irreparable harm to the state’s population of Canada lynx. The ruling essentially upholds the current trapping laws in Maine.

AUGUSTA, Maine — A federal judge has rejected a case filed by two animal welfare groups claiming that Maine’s recreational trapping policies could cause irreparable harm to the state’s population of Canada lynx.

U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock essentially upheld the current trapping laws on the books in Maine after a lengthy court battle focusing on whether the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife was doing enough to protect the lynx.

Two organizations, the Wildlife Alliance of Maine and the Animal Welfare Institute, filed a lawsuit in August 2008 alleging that DIF&W was violating the Endangered Species Act by authorizing trapping practices that resulted in lynx being captured and sometimes killed.

The lawsuit, if successful, likely would have canceled the fur-trapping season for most larger animals throughout northern Maine. As a federally protected threatened species, lynx are prohibited from being caught, harassed, injured or killed.

But in a 28-page ruling released Tuesday evening, Woodcock wrote that the Animal Welfare Institute “has simply not proven its case” that Maine’s trapping regulations pose a threat to the welfare of the overall lynx population in the state.

“Moreover, even if the court found that some lynx suffer debilitating injuries from being captured in leghold traps, it cannot take the next step and conclude that those injuries represent a threat to the species as a whole,” Woodcock wrote.

Woodcock did, however, agree that DIF&W remains liable under the Endangered Species Act for trapped lynx. The state has applied for an “incidental take permit” from federal officials that would protect DIF&W for accidental trappings.

State officials and trappers said they were pleased with the ruling.

“Just because you accidentally trap and release a handful of lynx every year, that doesn’t justify shutting down the whole trapping season,” said Skip Trask, a trapper and lobbyist for the Maine Trappers Association.

Daryl DeJoy with the Wildlife Alliance of Maine said he and the other plaintiffs were reviewing the ruling and assessing their appeal options. But DeJoy pointed out that three lynx already have been caught in traps so far this year.

“Of course, those are just the reported takes,” DeJoy said.

DIF&W officials estimate that there are perhaps 1,000 or more lynx in Maine, which is home to the only self-sustaining population of medium-sized cats in the eastern U.S. But the plaintiffs question those figures.

The lawsuit was the latest attempt by animal rights groups angered over recurrent incidences of lynx being caught and even killed by Maine trappers. An earlier lawsuit forced the state to change its regulations, but more than a dozen lynx have subsequently been caught in traps.

Although nearly all of the trappings appeared to be accidental, the groups argued that DIF&W was at fault for allowing trapping techniques that put lynx at risk of injury or death.

Sportsmen contend that the organizations were merely using the lynx as a way to ban all trapping.

Since 1999, at least 47 lynx have been caught in traps in Maine, including three since trapping began in October. The vast majority of the cats, including two of the three this fall, were released alive.

However, state and federal agencies are investigating the case of a lynx that was caught in a trap near Rangeley and subsequently shot and killed by a bird hunter.

Expert witnesses appearing on the plaintiffs’ behalf pointed to studies suggesting the padded traps used throughout Maine could cause leg injuries that increased the likelihood of lynx starving or becoming easier prey for predators.

But in his ruling, Woodcock wrote he found the plaintiff’s “generic evidence and speculative inferences much less convincing than IF&W’s specific records.” Woodcock also put much more stock in the testimony offered by Kenneth Elowe, director resource management for DIF&W, than in the plaintiffs’ witnesses.

“I was very pleased with the process the judge used,” Elowe said Thursday. “He allowed extensive testimony … I think he did a good job of really sorting out the complexities of the case.”

Although they lost the larger case, the Wildlife Alliance of Maine and the Animal Welfare Institute claimed partial victories in the lawsuit. Woodcock reiterated his earlier finding that DIF&W remains legally liable for trapped lynx, although he did not agree the incidences rose to the level of shutting down Maine’s trapping season.

Camilla Fox, wildlife consultant for the Animal Welfare Institute, also pointed out that Woodcock ordered DIF&W to make additional changes to its regulations involving body-gripper or killer-type traps after two lynx were killed in such traps late last year.

Fox said that the department has not taken any steps on its own to protect lynx since the species was listed on the Endangered Species List in 2000.

“Every regulatory change implemented by IF&W to protect lynx has been a direct result of litigation,” Fox said.

Awesome post on the Black Bear Blog

Click the BBB link above…..awesome job reporting ……….Tom Remington does it again!!!!!

Awesome trophy killed on November 9th 2009.

To read more go here: Moose Droppings

Awesome story…….go read it on another of our Skinnymoose Blogs.

What the heck could this guy be thinking? Governor S. has flipped again and now the IHOP…you hop and we all hop flip flop King has sold the law abiding gun owners of California down the river. Now the small business men in California are losers yet again in this climate of legislate versus educate. The truly messed up part of all of this is the law doesn’t come into full effect and until after the stupid idiot leaves office. (Hello??) Read the following Press Release to fully inderstand the law.

To: ALL MEDIA
For immediate release

October 15, 2009
For more information contact:

Ted Novin
Office: 203-426-1320
Cell: 202-253-1860

Firearms Industry Remains Critical of
Governor Following Press
Conference on Ammunition Bill

NEWTOWN, Conn – Facing his lowest approval ratings (27 percent) in his six years as governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) today attempted to mitigate fall-out from his decision to sign into law legislation (AB 962) he vetoed just five years earlier establishing ammunition registration in the Golden State. The governor claimed his flip-flopping on the issue was based on public safety, a far cry from his veto statement in 2004 when he called such burdensome regulations “simply unworkable” and of “no public benefit.”

The California Association of Firearms Retailers (CAFR) and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) – the trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry – have remained highly critical of the governor’s acquiescence to the gun-control lobby, using his own statistics against him.

NSSF has estimated that AB 962 would cost California at least $2.92 million annually in lost sales taxes and $629,000 in increased operating costs for state agencies. Lost retail sales in California were estimated at $35.7 million. These estimates followed the recent release of a study by the Governor’s Office of Small Business Advocate that show over-regulation of small businesses in California costing the state an estimated $492 billion, almost five times the state’s general fund budget and almost a third of the state’s gross product. The Small Business Advocate study also found that California’s regulatory burdens costs an average of $134,122 per California business, $13,801 per household and $4,685 per resident each year. Small businesses are 98 percent of the state’s enterprises and provide 52 percent of the jobs.

“Despite the excuses given this morning by the governor, nothing will change the fact that this legislation will drive many small, independent retailers already struggling in a poor economy out of business or force them to flee California’s burdensome and hostile regulatory environment for greener economic pastures elsewhere– taking with them their jobs and tax revenue,” said CAFR President Marc Halcon.

Criticism over ammunition registration has been mounting as details of the legislation have come to light. “As small business owners are beginning to understand the full ramifications of this legislation, including the stringent storage requirements for ammunition, our phones have been ringing off the hook,” said NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lawrence G. Keane.

The retail-storage requirements associated with AB 962 will go into effect this January (2010), giving small businesses only two months to come into compliance, while the rest of the bill, including the capturing and storage of personal consumer data, goes into effect in 2011, well after the governor is out of office and able to escape criticism from law-abiding consumers.

Commenting on how an ammunition registry will ultimately affect law-abiding citizens, Halcon noted, “Those retailers who can afford to stay in California will be forced to substantially raise prices on law-abiding consumers who, under AB 962, will now be fingerprinted like common criminals simply for exercising their Second Amendment rights.”

Halcon concluded, “Like the layers of gun control California already has on the books, ammunition registration will do nothing to curb crime. It is silly, at best, to think criminals will stand in line to be fingerprinted to buy ammunition from licensed retailers. Governor Schwarzenegger has just created an underground black market for ammunition.”

About NSSF

The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the firearms industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of more than 4,000 manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers. For more information, log on to www.nssf.org.

copyright 2009 National Shooting Sports Foundation, Inc. All Rights Reserved
11 Mile Hill Road • Newtown, CT 06470 • 203.426.1320