Children are our future

© By Othmar Vohringer


As hunter numbers shrink it has become more important than ever to invest in our future by passing our hunting heritage and outdoor traditions on to a new generation.

It is no longer sufficient to pass our way of life on to our own children alone. We have to engage the friends of our children and those of our friends and relatives too. Only if we all make an effort in recruiting more young hunters can we ensure that our future is in good hands and that the fruits of our labor can be harvested by future generations.

There are specialized organizations who’s sole mission is to introduce young people to hunting, even those that have no hunting background. One such admirable organization is Hunters Helping Kids Inc. This organization, which is dedicated to the future of hunting through educating young people, has local chapters in New York, Virginia, Michigan and two chapters in North Carolina.

Hunters Helping Kids Inc. annually organizes hunting and fishing opportunities and educational workshops for all children from all walks of life. Each event can accommodate as many as 45 children at no cost to them and their families. Organizing several hunting and fishing events each year, involves a lot of commitment, hard work and dedication carried out by the volunteer members of Hunters Helping Kids.Inc.

The money needed for the events comes from donations and fund raising banquets. How much money can be raised annually influences how many children can take part in a once in a lifetime opportunity - and also how many have to be turned down.

On June 21st. this year the Hunters Helping Kids Inc. New York Chapter will hold a fund raising banquet at:

Sandy Pond Sportsman Clubhouse, Co Rt. 15
Sandy Pond NY

There will be a great meal: Prime Rib/BBQ Pork and all the trimmings (Presale only meal tickets $20.00 ea.)

The evening will be filled with:
A Live Auction
Raffles
Door Prizes
Games
Cocktail hour 5-6 pm with Dinner at 6pm

Tickets are available by calling 315-387-3497

Half of the proceeds from the banquet stay in the NY chapter area to be used for local kids events such as hunts, fishing trips, a pheasant hunt, goose hunt, etc.
The remaining half will be used for National events such as deer hunts, duck hunts etc.
Your support will help them fulfill their mission and to continue offering events for young people free of charge.

The main prize is the ‘gun of the year’, a Marlin MXLR Lever Action Rifle Stainless with Laminated Stock, 30-30,
Bidders can purchase one or more of the 120 squares on a raffle board at $ 10.00 per square. The drawing for the lucky winner of the Marlin MXLR will be held on June 21st at the banquet.

This is a very good cause and I urge you all, if you’re from New York please try to attend this event. Your money and support will enable the Hunters Helping Kids Inc. NY Chapter to continue their important mission of introducing more children to the great outdoors.

For more information about the NY Chapter banquet or how you personally can get involved as a volunteer member or sponsor visit the NNY Chapter Website.

If you’re not from New York and would like to become a part of Hunters Helping Kids Inc. visit the National Hunters Helping Kids Inc. website for more information on chapters in your area and volunteer memberships or sponsorships.

I am both proud and humbled that Richard Worden, National Board of Directors Sponsorships Chairman and the Northern NY Chapter President has chosen my blog to be one of his official publication venues to promote the honorable cause of Hunters Helping Kids Inc.

Get involved now and you will never regret it. Just look at these smiling children’s faces from the recent spring turkey hunting event and then come back here and tell me that these volunteers do not deserve your highest respect for their efforts to ensure a brighter future for hunting. Best of all, if you get personally involved, one or more of these smiles are directed at you.

Tags: Hunters Helping Kids, The Future Of Hunting, Fund Raising Banquet, Marlin MXLR Lever Action Rifle

2008 Spring Turkey Hunting Contest

© By Othmar Vohringer

On the Wild Turkey Fever blog we hold a contest of the best 2008 spring turkey hunt. Readers can send me a picture and a short story of a turkey hunt from this years spring turkey hunting season.

At the end of the contest I will, or rather my computer, will choose one entry as winner. The winner will receive a Heirloom Double Barrel call from my own stock.

Anybody wanting to enter the fun contest has to do so until May 31st.

To view the first entries visit Wild Turkey Fever.

To submit your contribution and learn more about the contest rules click on the image below.
Hurry up Contes ends May 31st.

Tags: 2008 Turkey Hunting Contest, Turkey Hunting, Wild Turkey Fever

Washington lists polar bear as threatened

© By Othmar Vohringer

Yesterday’s announcement by U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne declaring the polar bear as a threatened species came as a bit of a surprise. Only a month ago the government announced that it had no inclination to make a decision on the polar bear. This must be the quickest turn about in political history.

Kempthorne said that the melting ice cap makes this step necessary. It is predicted that by the year 2050 the habitat of the polar bear will be lost due to melting of the ice and this in turn could cause the extinction of the polar bear.

I wonder what made the U.S. government take this drastic step simply based on guesswork of what might be happening by the year 2050. Was it a cosmetic decision? I am inclined to think so especially considering that Dirk Kempthorne announced in the same breath that the listing of the polar bear on the endangered species list would not affect further oil exploration in the Artic and Alaska. Neither will America enforce any other laws and regulations to lower greenhouse gases, the very cause that melts the ice in the Arctic. Kempthorne said that considering such regulations and laws “would be a wholly inappropriate.”

One has to ask what is the point of listing the polar bear if the destruction of its habitat is still permitted by drilling oil in the Artic and polluting the air with the very gases that melt the ice? Is it possible that the American government has bowed to animal rights and environmentalist and their junk science? It’s absolutely possible and wouldn’t be the first time either.

Canada has opposed the listing of the polar bear and made it known that there are no such plans in the near future. Canada is home to two thirds of the world’s polar bear population estimated to be in the neighborhood of 30,000. According to Canadian scientists the polar bear population is still steadily growing and should to be controlled through hunting. The U.S. government’s move to list the polar bear will be hardest felt by the people of Nunavut. The Arctic Inuit people complain the U.S. listing will deter hunters who spend millions of dollars a year for the right to shoot the animals. Paul Okalik, premier of the Nunavut territory where most polar bears live, said populations were at a record level.

Under the listing policy the American hunters are not permitted to take polar bear fur or any other parts back to the United States. The listing of the polar bear as a threatened species is far from settled. Legal battles surrounding the polar bear listing soon will begin. There is hope that during these legal battles common sense will prevail over political cosmetics and feel good decisions.

Tags: Polar Bear, Politics, Endangered Species Act, U.S. Government

The Rise Of The Huntress

© By Othmar Vohringer

There are fewer hunters in America and Canada now than at any time in the past forty years. Depending on who’s talking, you’re likely to hear different reasons for that decline.

The animal rights people will tell you that it is due to their efforts in “educating” the public that animals are not here to be killed. They argue that this has created a new enlightened and compassionate society that abstains from killing animals for food and leather and other animal derived products. Yeah, right!

Some hunting organizations blame the modern world and the influence it has on our children. Children, these organizations say, would rather spend their time in front of computers and playing video games than being outdoors. It is also said that urbanization and the loss of hunting land is to blame for declining hunter numbers. Others blame the aging generation of baby boomers that are now retiring from hunting. These are some of the reasons that are partially responsible for the loss of hunter numbers. That, and perhaps the huge expenses involved in hunting these days.

Whatever the reasons are for the decline, hunting is far from doomed. Hunting organizations and the government have made considerable efforts to recruit young and new hunters with a variety of programs that should make hunting attractive. Most of these recruitment efforts are aimed at the young generation and show encouraging results.

While all this is going on a new type of hunter has quietly and almost unnoticeably joined our fold. Over the last ten years female hunters have almost tripled in numbers. Hunting, once exclusively a male dominated activity, is now heavily infiltrated with women. In fact, women are the fastest growing number of new hunters; between 1991 and 2006 alone the number of female hunters has risen from 153,000 to 299,000 according to a statistic by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

It is quite common these days to see hunting teams made up of husband and wife or boyfriend and girlfriend. Don’t think for a minute that the huntresses are merely content with tagging along in the shadow of their significant others.
Oh no!

This new crop of hunters is not afraid to take matters into her own hands and set her own landmarks within the hunting community. Take Brenda Valentine for example. Brenda is considered a pioneer among the ladies and has become an icon in the hunting industry. She is an accomplished and award winning outdoor writer whose articles are published by all the major hunting magazines. Brenda, affectionately referred to as “First Lady of Hunting”, is a pro-staff member of Mossy Oak and Bass-Pro Shop to name only two of a long list of companies that profit from her knowledge and immaculate reputation as one of the worlds most respected hunters. Brenda is a featured guest on many hunting videos, radio and TV-shows. As if this is not enough, she keeps a busy schedule as one of the most sought after seminar speakers in the country. She is also a mother and a grandmother.

The Women Hunters Organization™ , founded by Sue Burch, has grown from its humble beginnings to become one of the country’s largest women hunter’s only organizations and a resource for the female hunters. The Women Hunters website reads like a who’s who of huntresses that are very active in the hunting community and industry. It’s a long list that keeps growing every year.

This has created a new market in the hunting industry as more women have joined our ranks. A need for suitable equipment and apparel became necessary. Quite rightly the ladies were not satisfied wearing their male counterparts apparel. They wanted and needed their own garments that are tailored for women, not bulky men. The women did not wait for the mainstream hunting industry to catch onto the new wave. They simply started up their own hunting garment industry.

Today huntress owned companies catering to the needs of female hunters such as the Foxy Huntress, The Outdoor Women and She Safari to name a few, are household names in the hunting world providing tailor clothing for the huntress with a touch of fashion sense and style added to it.

The huntresses also make their presence felt in the outdoor blogger sphere, where they enrich our culture with wisdom, opinions, humor and a women’s view point of hunting.

Here are a few examples.

Holly A. Heyser, was not born into a hunting family like many of us were. She started hunting only a few short years ago and now has become, through her writing, an avid advocate of the hunting community. She is a reporter and professor of journalism who writes the NorCal Cazadora blog. The passion and love for the outdoors become alive in each and every article she writes.

Marian is no stranger to the blogging hunting community. A mother and grandmother, she is proud to see two generations joining her in the pursuit of hunter happiness. Her blog is dedicated to her hunting stories and those of her family and friends that bring alive the hunting tradition as a family event among good friends.

Then there’s the Wild Woods Women - the name says all. Indeed, Dana personifies the outdoor woman - you name it: hunting, fishing, biking, hiking, ATV-ing, camping, and the list goes on. She pursues it all with conviction and passion and her blog is a reflection of her love for all outdoor activities.

CD Gardens is a huntress who writes the Timber Life blog. She shares with her reader’s stories from everyday life as a mother and grandmother mixed with a healthy dose of outdoor adventures and observations.

Kristine, although not a huntress yet, is a representative of Gun Safety Innovations. Kristine loves writing and provides information from the view of a person that is fully involved in the hunting industry. On her blog Hunt Smart, Think Safety she writes about many subjects pertaining to hunting with absolute authority and that has made her a respected and accepted member of the hunting community.

Jody is the ”Hunter’s Wife” and writes on her blog stories and experiences from everyday indoor and outdoor life living with a hunter. Her blog is written with humor and charm. Jody accompanies her husband on fishing adventures and perhaps soon will join him in a hunting camp too. With Jody you just never know what she is coming up with next; that makes her blog so interesting to read.

Coming from a family where both my father and mother hunted, I am very pleased with that new trend. The rise of the huntress has made our hunting heritage a true family affair that can involve the children and both parents, which has helped hunting to become a family activity. I also firmly believe that women are much better in educating children about hunting than most men, or as Sue Burch of Women Hunters Organization™ said it so well: “Women hold the key to the future of hunting.”

Tags: Huntress, Women Hunters, Hunting Tradition, Hunting Heritage, Family Activity, Outdoors

Animal Rights Group Fools Donors

© By Othmar Vohringer

The following press release has been forwarded to me by the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance.

The following article proves what I have been saying about animal rights organizations for many years. Animal rights organizations pretend that they are caring for animals to cash in on unsuspecting and gullible people donating money to these hoax charities.

When regional retailer, Meijer, received pressure from sportsmen to sever ties with the animal rights extremists in the Humane Society of the Unites States (HSUS), some questioned why the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA) acted to oppose the partnership.

“Most people simply don’t know that the HSUS is actually an animal rights organization that is opposed to any use of animals for the benefit of humans,” said USSA president and CEO Bud Pidgeon. “The public deserves to know the hidden agenda behind this is to deceive them.”

On April 24, 2008, HSUS, the world’s largest animal rights organization, announced a partnership with Meijer, a regional discount retail chain to raise $5,000 for the organization’s fund to address the purported problem of abandoned pets as a result of the national home foreclosure crisis.

The USSA, a national organization founded to protect the rights of sportsmen, responded with an alert asking hunters to contact the retailer to protest the partnership. Meijer quickly responded by canceling the arrangement. Since that time, some animal welfare activists have questioned why USSA would oppose a partnership alleged to benefit pets.

The Washington DC-based HSUS, raised $100 million dollars according to its 2006 IRS filing. Despite a name that seems tailor made to animal shelters, HSUS is in fact an animal rights organization. Its main function is to change laws that permit Americans to gain any benefit from animals. It advocates for restrictions on livestock farmers, bans on life-saving medical research performed on animals and opposes zoos, circuses and rodeos. Of course HSUS also opposes hunting. The HSUS does not operate or represent the local dog and cat shelters that exist across the United States.

“With a name like the Humane Society of the United States, it’s easy to see why some people believe that there is a connection between it and local animal shelters, which struggle every year to make ends meet,” explained Pidgeon. “HSUS spends the bulk of its money on making contributions to politicians, lobbying, lawyers and expensive 30-second advertisements to promote voter issues aimed at banning various uses of animals.”

The Humane Society uses campaigns, such as the Meijer campaign, as a public relations tool to help it raise its $100 million dollar war chest for its animal rights crusade. Evidence of this is contained within its leadership. Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the organization, is the former executive director of the Fund for Animals, which was the nation’s leading anti-hunting group. Upon accepting the executive job at HSUS, Pacelle announced a merger with the Fund for Animals and quickly hired its most ardent hunting opponents as his top management staff.

The HSUS then swallowed several anti-livestock organizations, hiring their leadership as well. Its takeover of the Doris Day Animal League has given it access to Hollywood dollars, previously the home turf of the radical People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Unlike PETA, however, Pacelle and HSUS are not interested in making a large public relations spectacle using naked models or making outrageous statements comparing the Holocaust to the slaughter of chickens. Instead, HSUS has launched a series of campaigns that put it in a positive light with animal lovers in general.

Such was the case in 2005, when HSUS created a fund to aid animals stranded as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Later, the Louisiana Attorney General’s office launched an investigation of HSUS when allegations surfaced that the money never made it to the pets in need.

In 2007 it launched a campaign to address the issue of so-called “puppy mills,” abusive large-scale commercial dog breeding operations. Using sentimental images of suffering puppies, the organization is backing legislation in Pennsylvania that would devastate small hobby breeders, dog show kennels and sporting dog enthusiasts. The legislation is so radical that it has been opposed by the American Kennel Club, United Kennel Club and even dog rescue shelters in the state.

“Taking advantage of the American people’s love for their pets, HSUS is able to deceive donors and the public into believing that the organization is in the mainstream of American values,” said Pidgeon. “It is this mainstream image that allows HSUS to raise its 100 million dollar budget to take our hunting and fishing rights away. At the same time, by deceiving animal lovers, HSUS robs financially strapped dog and cat shelters of critical funds needed to actually look after abandoned and abused pets.”

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance recommends that people who want to help real animal shelters give to their local shelter organizations.

“Some animal rights groups masquerade as pet shelters, so donating to a local organization gives the contributor the opportunity to determine how their funds will actually be spent,” said Pidgeon.

This and other evidence of the fraudulent shenanigans of the HSUS and PETA I wonder when the government and the IRS will finally step in and at least revoke the tax exempt status these crooks enjoy, so they too have to pay taxes like any other for-profit-company.

Tags: Meijer, Animal Rights Fraud, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance