New York Allows Crossbows For Hunting

© By Othmar Vohringer

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation signed on August 27, 2014 an act into law that permits crossbows to be used by hunters. However, unlike many other U.S. states where crossbows have been made legal archery hunting equipment New York still does not recognize them as such.

In order to hunt with a crossbow hunters need to successfully challenge a crossbow qualification & safety training test. Hunters wishing to use a crossbow also must in some cases be in possession of  a valid muzzleloader licence. The department states; "The new law essentially treats crossbows as a muzzleloader." There are also certain regions or "zones" where crossbows are not permitted. While there are areas and times when crossbows are permitted outside of the muzzlelader season, in most instances they are only permitted during the regular muzzleloader hunting season.

With all the restrictions in place I still find it encouraging to see that yet another state has given hunters the opportunity to use crossbows for hunting big and small game species. It's a start in the right direction.

To read the new regulations and information about crossbow hunting in New York visit the website of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation/Crossbow Hunting.   

PeTA Announces New Plan To Harass Anglers And Hunters

© By Othmar Vohringer

The animal rights lunatic fringe group PeTA announced that they will launch submersible drones called "Aquatic Angel" equipped with cameras to stalk anglers. The "Aquatic Angel" is the newest tool of this animal rights group, following on the heels of the "Air Angel" drones released in 2013 to harass hunters while in the field.  I guess the drones are submersible for one reason only, to scare fish away from anglers.

The release is slated for tomorrow, September 27, which is the National Hunting and Fishing Day in the USA and Canada. Both countries have laws on the book that expressly protects anglers and hunters in the legal pursuit of game and fish from the interference through animal rights and anti hunting people. In other words, what PeTA does with the release of the spy drones is illegal and just another from of harassing hunter and anglers, and interfering with the legal taking of fish and game. I have heard of several reports where hunters have shot down spy drones, apparently they make for good target practice.

Read more about it on the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance Website.
And here is what the PeTA lunatics have to say.

Outdoor News Roundup

© By Othmar Vohringer

It has been a while since we did a “News Roundup” here at Outdoors With Othmar Vohringer. In other words, it about time for one. Staying informed is very important for hunters and anglers, especially about news of new pending legislation.

Without further ado here is the latest news in the outdoor world.

It is with great regret that a missing hunter in Calgary hunter has been found dead. According to the authorities who examined the dead hunter it is very likely that he had been attacked and killed by a grizzly bear. It seems that each year we of more hunters, anglers and hikers are attacked by bears. This means only one thing, despite the claims of animal rights, bear populations grow an nowhere more so than in Canada. For the full story go to the Calgary Herald. In New Jersey a hiker was attacked and killed by a black bear.

Talking about bears. In NW Wyoming the wildlife service has increased the limit on taking grizzly bears for the next three years in a323-square-mile public land grazing complex east of Jackson. In that area hunters can now take three female grizzly bears.

Alligator hunting is on my “must do list” for several years now and so it is no surprise that I read up on alligator hunting news. In the Mississippi Sportsman News I read that the record on trophy gators has been broken twice inside two weeks. The first reptile, a 756-pound 16 ft. beast, was caught by Robert Mahaffey of Brandon. His record was short lived when Brian Montgomery caught a monster gator weighing in at 792-pounds. Both alligators where taken on public waters near Vicksburg.

When I lived in Illinois the state was known as the nation’s deer hot spot number one, hunters from far and wide would travel to Illinois in anticipation of taking a trophy buck. Large deer populations and good genetics made it possible to hunt on public land with good expectations to get a nice buck. However, over the years things changed for the worse. Some blame the decline of the deer population on bad wildlife management and others on the outbreak of CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease)

This lead to the founding of the Illinois Whitetail Alliance, an organization committed to bring the Illinois deer herd back to its former glory. To do so the Illinois Whitetail Alliance borrowed a conservation tactic that helped the duck population to regain their large numbers, it’s called “Voluntary Restraint”. Read here more how the program works.

Local Anglers And Hunters Meet With NDP Leader Adrian Dix

(Previously published in the Merritt Herald - Othmar Vohringer, The Outdoorsman)
 
© By Othmar Vohringer

On Sunday, December 2, 2012, NDP leader Adrian Dix and Fraser-Nicola LMA Harry Lali hosted an election information event at the Tropico Spice restaurant in Merritt. Among the 100 plus people attending was a delegation of the Nicola Valley Fish & Game Club (NVF&GC). Harry Lali, who had attended a NVF&GC general meeting in early fall to discuss with us land access and confirming his political support, suggested that meeting Adrian Dix would be helpful to our cause. Rick McCowan, the land access committee chair of the NVF&GC had a chance to meet person to person with Mr. Dix before the event, providing him with the current information and a newly published information leaflet about land access problems here in the valley and across the province.

At the event Adrian Dix spent quite a bit of time at our table talking about the issues we presented to him and he seemed to be as concerned about land access as we are. A good sign!

Since I am not directly involved with the land access committee I must say that I am very impressed with what this small group of dedicated people in our club has achieved so far and all the hard work they put in to creating broad public awareness of the crown land access problem in our province.

While the BC Wildlife Federation, the province’s largest hunter and angler organization, is twiddling its thumbs on the issue our club has gathered immense momentum, attracting national media attention and support from many other organizations throughout our nation. The NVF&GC has without a doubt become the driving force of the land access campaign.

While our fathers and grandfathers could enjoy hunting and fishing without any concerns for the future, times have drastically changed since then. Today we have to become politically active in order to secure our heritage for future generations. Our outdoor sport heritage faces many challenges of which our forefathers wouldn’t dream of in their worst nightmares. Loosing access to public land is only one of these problems. Other problems are instigated from the myriad of popular self-proclaimed “animal welfare” organizations using vilification and misinformation targeted against hunters, and their recruitment of largely ignorant city/suburban peoples to their cause; particularly impressionable youth.

We need to challenge these problems as a united force in public, on the political stage and even in the courts or we stand to lose it all. I am proud to be a member of a small local organization that doesn’t just complain but is on the forefront of fighting for our future generations so they too can enjoy hunting, fishing and accessing lands, lakes and streams for generations to come. If you’re a concerned outdoor sportsperson and want to do your bit to preserve our heritage, rights and freedoms then you should be thinking about joining the Nicola valley Fish & Game Club.

Orphaned Kermode Bear Makes International Headlines

© By Othmar Vohringer 

“Clover”, the orphaned and twice captured Kermode bear, finally found a permanent home at Kamloops Wildlife Park. But is all well? No. The notorious animal-rights activist group Lifeforce immediately started an international media campaign with which they lobby the release of the young bear back into the wild. Peter Hamilton, the leader of Lifeforce and the man who once suggested instituting a hunting season on hunters, wrote in a letter to B.C. Premier Christy Clark and NDP leader Adrian Dix, "Give this bear freedom. We don't need another exploited circus bear pacing back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. We don't need people profiting off the plight of this bear."

The truth of the matter is that the bear, which had gotten used to people, would return to humans every time as he has done in the past. In addition bears are notoriously territorial and no matter how far away they are taken they always will return to their original territory and very often need to be shot by Conservation Officers. In addition, given that “Clover” is only 18 months old his survival chances in another male bear’s territory would be slim at best. With all that in mind the best place for this bear is a facility like the Wildlife Park in Kamloops. Of course animal rights activists are not known to care about facts. Theirs is a purely emotional agenda based on wishful thinking and aimed largely at metropolitan populations that are totally removed from the natural world. People who have been spoon-fed a Walt Disney view of nature.

In The U.S. Election Race Obama and Romney Seek Sportsman’s Vote

© By Othmar Vohringer

The contenders in the American presidential election have discovered the potential of the outdoor sportsman vote. Both contenders for the Whitehouse are seeking the vote of the American hunters, yet neither President Barack Obama nor Gov. Mitt Romney fully comprehends the true nature of hunters. In fact neither of them is a hunter. But they do understand the importance American sportsmen carry as a voting bloc.

And that’s the reason why each campaign reaches out to sportsmen to some degree, as can be seen by the lobby websites Sportsmen for Obama and Sportsmen for Romney.

The Sportsmen for Obama Website states:

“Under the President’s leadership, conservation programs are protecting the nation’s natural resources, while providing significant economic and environmental benefits to rural communities and building valuable habitat for wildlife,” states the information contained on the Sportsmen for Obama website. “The Obama administration is working with more than 500,000 farmers and ranchers to implement conservation practices on nearly 30 million acres of land. The President is also investing in projects in all 50 states to conserve wildlife and habitat and to create outdoor recreation jobs.”

On the Sportsmen for Romney Website the candidate had this to say:

“We are blessed with great natural beauty as well. It is the sportsmen and women of America who keep safe that natural wealth for this generation and many more to come. Hunters, fishermen, sports-shooters, and outdoors enthusiasts not only create millions of jobs and pump billions of dollars into our economy, they stand on the forefront of defending our Second Amendment rights and protecting the natural wonder of our nation. If I am fortunate enough to become president, they will have a friend in the White House.”

Here at Othmar Vohringer Outdoors Blog, we’re not suggesting to vote for a particular candidate. All I suggest is that, like in any working democracy, people should make use of their right to elect their representatives and go the polls on November 6. I also would encourage you all to look carefully what each candidate has to offer in the overall package and not just vote based of how the individual candidate thinks about hunters and hunting. While hunting may is of vital importance to us outdoor sports people it is of very little importance in the overall scheme of this, such as the economy, employment, education, healthcare and above all peace.

New Hampshire: New Way to “Make a Hunter”

© By Othmar Vohringer

New Hampshire has a new opportunity this year for participating in the hunting experience. The Apprentice Hunting License allows people to hunt, under the guidance of an experienced hunter age 18 or older, without first having to take a Hunter Education course. In instituting the program, New Hampshire followed the lead of thirty states that have established apprentice hunting programs over the past five years.

For New Hampshire it is the first year of having this the new license and so far it looks promising as a tool to recruit more hunters. During the spring turkey hunting season, 93 new hunters bought Apprentice Hunting Licenses. Of these, more than half were women, and many were in the 16-25 age group. Some 23% of these hunters (21 in all) were successful – better than the overall success rate for spring turkey hunters the previous year. No safety incidents were reported.

Public Safety Minister Shoots At Illegal Back-Door Gun Registry

© By Othmar Vohringer

Since the long-gun registry has been abolished it has come to the attention of the Public Safety Minister Vic Toews that the chief firearm officers (CFO) across Canada have taken it upon themselves to get gun shop owners to collect personal information from buyers of hunting rifles to establish what is termed a “backdoor gun registry”. In a stern letter to the RCMP the minister has told the CFOs to stop their back-door registries and personal information collection.

Toews wrote in the letter to the RCMP: “If it comes to your attention that CFO’s are interpreting the Firearms Act as a basis for unauthorized data collection, please advise me immediately. I am prepared to consider all legislative and regulatory measures necessary to effect the will of Canadians.” The minister further says that any CFO who persists with attempting to collect such data is breaking the law. “The CFO’s are not to engage in the collection of information of that nature.” Toews said. “That runs contrary to C-19.”

BCWF Outdoor Passport Program Only Looks Like Good Idea

© By Othmar Vohringer

A friend phoned me up a few days ago to tell me about a new program offered by the BC Wildlife Federation. The program is called “Outdoor Passport” and its intended to provide hunters easy access to private land provided the landowner participates in the program. Naturally, I wanted to learn more about it and asked my friend how it works. “Well, Othmar, it’s easy,” he said. “You take a course, and when you successfully graduate the exams, you get the Outdoor Passport.”

“How much does it cost?” I asked.

“Thirty dollars,” replied my friend.

That sounds like a good idea, I thought, and I checked the BCWF website for more information. After reading through all the information however, it didn’t sound like a good idea anymore. The BCWF Outdoor Passport program is basically a course that will cost you $30, and after the completion of the exam, you’re given an outdoor passport card. While everyone can take the course, only BCWF members are privileged to receive the card. The idea is that, as a hunter, you can take this card and show it to a participating landowner and you may get lucky and be able to hunt on his property. I say “may get lucky” because the landowner is not bound to any agreement and quite rightly so. Just because somebody takes a two-hour course does not guarantee that the cardholder is a respectful person.

After reading all the information about this program, I came to the conclusion that it is nothing more then a money-generating scheme, and I don’t like that for several reasons.

The initial course costs $30, and if for some reason the exam can’t be taken within a month’s time, you have to take the course again and pay the full amount again. The card is only valued for one year and then it needs to be renewed to the tune of $15.

This program does not entitle the cardholder to anything: you still have to knock on the landowner’s doors to ask for permission and risk being turned down. In short, you spend $30 for virtually nothing in return.

The bigger problem I see is that the BCWF eventually might get the bright idea to lobby the government to make this a mandatory course for every hunter, especially if there are not enough hunters enrolling in the program and, therefore, the hoped-for cash doesn’t roll in. I saw this happen in America years ago where organizations offered similar private land access programs on a volunteer basis, and after a few years it became mandatory for every hunter. After thinking it over, I have decided to stick to my way of gaining hunting access to private land, which I achieve by knocking on doors and politely asking the landowner(s) for permission to hunt. Once I gain access, I obey the landowner’s rules and behave in a responsible manner as his guest. This has worked very well for me in the past without having to show an “Outdoor Passport” as proof of some dubious course that doesn’t prove anything about my character.

In Support Of grizzly Bear Hunting in British Columbia

© By Othmar Vohringer

Every year like clockwork anti hunting and animal rights groups get together to launch a “ban grizzly bear hunting” lobbying assault on the public and the political parties. These operations are based on little more then myth. Not only is British Columbia home to a healthy and thriving grizzly bear population, in some cases grizzly bears have populated near towns and cities where they pose a thread to people, pets and livestock.

Grizzly bear hunting in BC is subject to strict regulations and only possible through a limited entry hunting (LEH) system. This means that only very few grizzly bears can be hunted each year. This system has proven to be of great benefit for the bears as current population growth are evident across the province.

When anti hunting groups claim to protect wildlife and nature, in this case protecting grizzlies from hunters, it is worth mentioning that most of the money they collect from people is used to pay for the salaries of their leaders and very little if anything of that money is spent on the cause/s they proclaim. To verify where your donations actually go check this link. You will be surprised what happens to the money you thought is used for wildlife conservation.

To help bears please sign the petition in support of bear hunting. Hunting is a vital important ingredient of sound wildlife management based on science. It is this wildlife management system that has made British Columbia one of the wildlife richest regions in North America and the World.

If you’re a resident of British Columbia you may also contact your local NDP MLA and tell him/her how you feel about the NDP’s continued anti hunting stance. We’ve a provincial election coming up in 2013, and with all likelihood the NDP will be voted into power. Should that happen hunting for some species would be banned imminently. Among them are grizzly bears, black bears, mule deer and can you believe it even coyotes are on a long list of animals that according to the NDP need “urgent protection”.

Finally – Harper Government Announces Law To Abolish Long-Gun Registry

© By Othmar Vohringer

It was like a ton of bricks had been lifted off my shoulders when I heard it in the radio; “The Harper government announced this morning (October 25th) Bill C-19, a law to abolish the long-gun registry.” It finally happens. The two billion dollar feel-good policy introduced in 1991 that did absolutely nothing to keep guns out of criminals’ hands, that didn’t save a single life but turned every law-abiding Canadian firearm owner into a potential crime suspect will be gone before Christmas. I am very pleased to hear that the government in addition to getting rid of this useless piece of legislation will also destroy all the information on individual gun owners too.

A Conservative government official said, “Rather than leave the door open for a new registry we will not assist provinces to set up a back-door registry.” Candice Hoeppner, whose private member's bill to eliminate the registry came close to passing in the last Parliament, was among the MPs attending the announcement event. "Today is a defining moment for our government. The requirement for owners of rifles, shotguns and other long guns to register their firearms has unfairly targeted law-abiding citizens instead of criminals and burdened them with red tape." she said as she laid out the case for scrapping the registry.

Good News From Ottawa For Hunters And Anglers

© By Othmar Vohringer

When I think of Parliament Hill I think of politicians mindlessly bickering and pointing fingers at each other like kindergarteners. Imagine my surprise when I learned that an all-party team made up of such opposites as former Liberal cabinet minister Wayne Easter, Conservative House Leader Peter Van Loan and Diane Ablonczy, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and some NDPers happily sat together in a collegial atmosphere and for once were in agreement on a single subject.

Perhaps it is not so surprising that this group of people get along so well. They are all members of the Canadian Parliamentary Outdoors Caucus. I guess the common love of fishing, hunting and the great Canadian outdoors can overcome political divide and agendas. The point of this five-year-old Outdoors Caucasus is to bring like-minded MPs together to the benefit of Canada’s hunters, anglers, trappers and sport shooters. The Canadian Outdoor Caucus with an estimated 81 MPs and Senators is the largest all-party group in North America of this type. The goal of this group is to protect hunting, fishing, trapping and the shooting sport as a unique Canadian heritage.

Canadian Government Disagrees With UN Global Gun Control Measures

© By Othmar Vohringer

According to a story in Ottawa Citizen the Harper government has “thrown a wrench into negotiations toward a United Nations arms trade treaty”. The “wrench” is that Canada opposes the inclusion of hunting, sports rifles and related ammunition from the inclusion of the UN’s proposal of a strict international gun control law, camouflaged as the Arms Trade Treaty. According to that law hunting and sporting rifles would be summarily classified as “assault rifles”. Furthermore the UN Arms Trade Treaty would like to see strict control and registration network of conventional arms. A little published fact of the treaty also would be that it would become unlawful for people to use firearms to defend themselves against violent criminals.

Bloomberg Calls For Kitchen Knife Control Law

© By Othmar Vohringer

I am sure we all have at times joked “what about a knife control law?” when we heard or read  gun control advocates reasoning for the need of such laws. Well it's no joke anymore. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg demanded a knife control law.

In a statement following the murderous rampage of Maksim Gelman, a 23-year-old Ukrainian immigrant, killing four victims with an with a 8-inch kitchen knife the New York Major released the following comment:

Coalition Formed Against Sunday Hunting Ban

© By Othmar Vohringer

It’s hard to believe that in this day and age some U.S. States and Canadian Provinces still have Sunday hunting ban laws on the books from a time when laws where influenced by religion. Interestingly most “Sunday ban laws (Blue Laws)” have been lifted. Stores are open on Sundays, so are cinemas, people can mow their lawns on Sunday or do house improvement work and engage in any sport art they wish, even fishing. But Sunday hunting bans are still in place.

This might soon change though if a newly formed coalition has their way. On of the biggest announcements to come out from the annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show (Shot Show), was the formation of the “Sunday Hunting Coalition”. This new alliance was formed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation and includes:

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance
National Rifle Association
Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation
Archery Trade Association
Boone and Crockett Club
Cabela’s
Delta Waterfowl
Mule Deer Foundation
National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses
Pheasants Forever
Quail Forever
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
Safari Club International
Wildlife Management Institute

The Coalitions single goal is the lobbying to repeal laws prohibiting hunting on Sundays in the eleven remaining states that still have the archaic blue law in place.
Those states include: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

Here in Canada Sunday hunting bans are still in place for certain game species or certain areas of Alberta and New Brunswick. Personally I always found that with exception of every other activity hunting is still banned on Sundays is unfair. In these day and age when hunter numbers decline it is important that hunters get more time to hunt and not just one full day out of a week.

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Gordon Campbell’s Legacy With Hunter

Originally published in the Merritt News

© By Othmar Vohringer

Gordon Campbell has resigned as Premier of BC and that is as good a time as any to look at the legacy he and his government left behind for hunters.

Throughout his tenure Campbell made several lip services in support of hunters. In 2005 the Campbell government published “A Strategy For Residential Hunter Recruitment And Retention In British Columbia”. In that study the government looked at strategies on how to stem the decline of hunters in this province and what could be done to get more people interested in hunting. I remember how enthusiastic the hunting community reacted when that report came out. Finally, we all thought, the government is going to recognize us as a force to be considered and give us the attention we deserved.

It is now five years since that report came out and nothing has happened. The report is probably gathering dust in some government filing cabinet. They say that money is in short supply. Interestingly enough, money seemed to be no problem when our Premier, and his minions in government, spent over $10 billion on the Winter Olympics. For that they took all the monies they could lay their hands on, including our hunting and fishing licence fees and then went on to cut the budgets for the Ministry of Environment and the Conservation Officer Service so severely that they barely managed to get by. Readers of the Merritt News may remember that I wrote in June of 2009 how hunters had to collect money so the Conservation Officers could fill up their service vehicles with gas. Yes it was that bad.

The government under Campbell’s leadership did not stop at making empty promises and financially starving the Wildlife Services and Ministry of Conservation to the point of rendering them basically inactive. Campbell’s leadership also took sizeable opportunities away from resident hunters to appease anti hunting sentiments and cater to special interest groups. I may add at this point that these special interest groups do not provide any funding for conservation issues to the government nor invest their personal time and money into the resource, and neither was this action based on conservation science. During the unlawful Klappan Road closure by special interest groups that went on for months, blocking resident hunters from legitimate access to hunting areas, did not elicit any action from the Campbell government. With that indifference they have set the tone for future illegal closures by these groups to limit access for resident hunters.

His latest strike before leaving office was a reshuffling of the cabinet and merging the Ministry of Environment with that of forestry and mining. It’s not hard to figure out who gets more priority in that ministry. Barry Penner, Minister for Environment, who under the given conditions did a remarkable job, has been replaced with Murray Coell, a new guy nobody knows. With a legacy like that it should not come as a surprise that the majority of hunters are not sad to see Gordon Campbell go.

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Tags: British Columbia, Gordon Cambpell, BC Liberals, Hunting

N. J. Governor Urged to Solve Bear Crisis

Three state legislators have called on New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine to do something about the state’s growing bear problem In a December 1 press release, Senator Steven Oroho (R- Franklin Burrough) and Assemblypersons Alison Littell McHose (R- Franklin) and Gary Chiusano (R- Frankford Township) called on Corzine to “adopt scientifically-valid policies in light of a dramatic upswing in bear-related complaints and damage incidents.”

The release was issued as new numbers compiled by the state Division of Fish and Wildlife illustrated a massive increase in bear-related complaints. Calls to the state regarding bears increased 96.7 percent in 2008.

The legislators pointed to the increasing number of damage and nuisance complaints over the past year.

Those complaints increased from 896 in 2007 to 1,845 in 2008. Additionally, according to the release, complaints involving risk to public safety or property rose 155 percent.

The press release criticized the Governor’s bear management policy as being “based on little more than a reflexive opposition to hunting, disregard of science and a dose of wishful thinking.” Furthermore, it states that while the Governor “has rejected our attempts to implement a reasonable and science-based policy to deal with the escalating bear crisis, it is time for the Governor to announce what he intends to do to protect the safety of the people of north-western New Jersey…”

New Jersey’s bear management policy has been a recurring issue. The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation USSAF) sued the state in 2006 to permit the hunting of bears.

Tags: New Yersey, Bear Hunting, Politics, Bear Managaement, Conservation Policy

Toronto Street Gangs and the War on Guns

© By Othmar Vohringer

Toronto is Canada’s capitol of street gangs and drug wars that claimed yesterday their latest innocent victim, Hou Chang Mao is the second bystander that was killed in a random shooting this week and the third homicide victim in the new year in the city.

This cowardly homicide carried out by common criminals (known to the police) is for the city’s Major David Miller (picture on the left) another moment to renew his call for a total gun ban in Toronto and Canada. Miller has become the front man for the anti-gun lobby in Canada but if it suits him, or his political career, he will take part in a photo opportunity with gang rappers that carry a pro-gun message. The Toronto Mayor has a lot of support in his gun ban war from the liberal anti-gun lobby and the leaders of the liberal party and the NDP. Jack Layton, leader of the NDP (New Democratic Party of Canada) is a front runner for the anti-gun lobby, he turns up in Toronto as soon as gang violence claims another innocent victim to promote his total gun ban agenda standing on the crime scene surounded by stunned bystanders.

What Layton, Miller and other assorted anti-gun advocates never mention is the fact that Canada has a very effective firearm control law and firearm registry in place and that handguns are banned since the early 1930’s. In Canada handguns can only be owned by people that underwent an extensive criminal background check ( to be repeated and re-valued every four years) and successfully completed a firearm safety course. Canadian firearm owners also subject to random house vists (chck ups) by the police and have to provide personal relationship and financial information upon request by the authoritis. What the anti-gun lobby also forgets to mention, and for good reason, is the fact that a handgun ban would only affect the two and something million legal gun owners in Canada and not the street gangs and criminals.

Statistics Canada reveals that only 2% of the guns used in violent crimes are registered firearms. This means that 98% of gun crimes are committed with illegal handguns obtained on the black market. Conveniently the anti-gun lobby and the supporting politicians such as Mayor Miller and Jack Layton, among others, also never tell the scared, confused and grieving people of Toronto that in countries, such as England, Australia and Germany where they have a total gun ban violent gun crime has sharply risen. In fact the only people that have guns in these countries are the criminals. The same is true in New York, Chicago and other American cities were a total gun ban exists.

What makes me really angry is that the liberal anti gun fanatics oppose and successfully prevent the Harper minority government from singing Bill C-10 into effect. Bill C-10 provides stiffer and longer sentences for gun related crimes and would provide no bail for firearm related crimes (statistics have shown that over 90% of criminals disappear ones they are freed on bail). The liberal morons that are so gung-ho on banning guns are complaining that Bill C-10 is reaching to far and that the sentences are to high. Layton even had the nerve to state in public that Bill C-10 is too harsh on criminals and violets human rights. How harsh would be a total gun ban on the millions of law abiding Canadian firearm owners? What about our human rights not to be discriminated against and publicly condemned as part of a criminal problem? Sadly, it's nothing new that liberals are more concerend with the welfare and rights of criminals rather than with the safety and freedoms of law abiding Canadians.

To me it makes a lot more sense to come down hard on street gangs and other assorted criminals, than to punish law abiding citizens. I have said it before and I will say it again. There is something inherently wrong with a justice system when crime victims leave a courthouse crying and feel victimized all over again by the courts while the criminals leave courts laughing as free man. For as long as our morally corrupt judges, lawyers and liberal-bleeding-hearts-politicians continue with their soft approach in dealing with hardened career criminals and assign them more rights than the crime victims it only will get worse on the streets of Toronto and other large cities.

The solution to the gang and drug violence on the streets of our cities is simple. Get the scum of the streets and punish them severely. Send criminals a clear message that each action has an equal counter action and that they will be held fully accountable without any but and if. Give the police the means to hold this lowlifes behind bars for as long as it takes without the hope of bail. Replace soft judges with hard core judges that are not afraid to slam the law books hard on the head of criminals. Pay more attention to the crime victims and their sense of justice and less to the criminals.

Perhaps it is time to start writing letters to these liberals and let them know how we feel about the insults leveld at us and being made into scapegoats for a problem that is not of our doing and has nothing to do with legal firearm ownership.

Tags: Gun Violence, Street Gangs, Drive-by-shooting, Gun Ban, Bill C-10

When Politic Goes Bonkers over Honkers

© By Othmar Vohringer

I just got a hold of a news story that I have to share with you. It’s so ridiculous that at first I didn’t know or I shall cry or laugh my head off about it. But then I just left it by shaking my head in utter disbelieve about how downright stupid government bureaucrats can be. Sometimes I wonder if these people could pour water out of a boot with the instructions written on the heel.

Here I leave you with the article.

U.S. hunters forced to dump birds at border
By Chris Niskanen
Article Source: TwinCities.com

More than 4,000 wild game birds were snatched from American hunters as they headed home last weekend from Saskatchewan, Canada. Critics say it was an overreaction by U.S. officials to an outbreak of avian flu on a chicken farm in the province.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture misinterpreted its rules banning Saskatchewan poultry, forcing U.S. customs agents to confiscate coolers filled with game birds at border crossings during the peak of hunting season.
Mike Borchert, 70, of Le Sueur, Minn., and four friends were returning from a week of hunting in Saskatchewan on Friday afternoon when agents confiscated their 215 waterfowl at a North Dakota crossing.
"We asked the U.S. custom agents where they were taking them, and they said, 'To the landfill,' '' Borchert said. "We were dumbstruck."
On Thursday, the USDA's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service banned all imports of poultry and "unprocessed avian products" from Saskatchewan after an outbreak of avian influenza H7N3 on a commercial chicken farm near Regina.
U.S. customs agents were told the ban included hunter-killed birds, and for at least three days, hunters were forced to give up birds at border crossings in Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota.
Hunters also had their birds confiscated at Canada airports; some reportedly opted to dump them in garbage cans before reaching border crossings.
Late Saturday night, USDA officials rescinded the order on hunter-killed birds after reviewing their protocols, but not before the damage was done.
Customs agents in North Dakota and Minnesota confiscated about 4,100 birds from hunters in 88 vehicles, with each vehicle containing three or four hunters, said Mike Milne, a customs spokesman in Seattle. All those birds are being taken to landfills.
"We've had to order extra (garbage) trucks,'' he said.
Most birds were confiscated at the Portal and Pembina crossings in North Dakota, but birds were also confiscated at Warroad, Minn., and crossings in Montana, Milne said.
A wildlife ecology professor who was hunting in Saskatchewan at the time called the USDA ban ridiculous and a waste of valuable wild game.
"Biologically, it makes no sense whatsoever,'' said Michael Chamberlain, a professor at Louisiana State University. "They were saying you can't transport a hunter-killed bird across the border, when millions of birds are migrating across the border already?"

I couldn’t agree more with the quote of Michael Chamberlain. It sums the situation perfectly up.

Read rest of article here

Tags: Canada, Saskatchewan, Waterfowl, Canada-USA Border Crossing,Avian Influenza, Duck Hunting

Hunters Applaud President Bush for his Support

Here is a bit of good news for American hunters. President Bush released an order in support of hunting and hunters. This action of the American president follows on the heels of a similar proposal brought about by the BC Wildlife Agency of which I reported extensively here and here.

President understands sportsmen are essential to wildlife conservation.

An Executive Order issued by the President of the United States will spell more hunting opportunities and enhanced conservation efforts, according to the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, the nation’s premier sportsmen’s rights advocacy organization.

Today, President George W. Bush released the order, entitled “Facilitation of Hunting and Wildlife Conservation.” It directs all relevant federal agencies to facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting opportunities, wildlife management and habitat.

“The Executive Order is a great milestone for sportsmen and wildlife conservation,” said Bud Pidgeon, president and CEO of the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance. “It clearly demonstrates that the President understands the unbreakable bond between successful wildlife conservation and hunting - that sportsmen are the key to abundant wildlife and habitat.”

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance proposed that the White House issue an Executive Order on hunting early in President Bush’s first term, and again in 2007. The order, number 13,443, directs federal agencies that manage public land, outdoor recreation and wildlife management to:

Address declining trends and implement actions that expand and enhance hunting opportunities,
Consider the economic and recreational value of hunting
Manage wildlife and habitat in a manner that expands and enhances hunting opportunities.
Work collaboratively with states to manage wildlife in a manner that respects private property rights and state authority over wildlife.
Establish goals with the states to foster healthy game populations.

“The order gives federal agencies a clear-cut directive that they work to increase hunting opportunities with state wildlife agencies,” said Pidgeon. “It will result in more resources directed at preserving the future of hunting and greater access to public land. The President is to be commended.”

Tags: George W. Bush, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, Wildlife Conservation, Hunting Opportunities