Thursday, May 31, 2007

Microsoft Funds the Anti-Hunting Movement

This important alert just came in by email. Please read and respond to it.

(Columbus) – Microsoft has rejected a U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance request to abandon its partnership with the nation’s leading anti-hunting organization.

Microsoft, the software giant, will make a $100,000 donation to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and is partnering with the group on a pilot program called the i’m Initiative. Through the new program, whenever a Windows Live Messenger user has a conversation using i’m, Microsoft will give a portion of the program’s advertising revenue to one of ten organizations selected by the user. The HSUS is one of the choices, and there is no limit to the amount of money that can be donated.

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, the nation’s leading sportsmen’s advocacy organization, has urged Microsoft to end its support of HSUS, but the company refused. According to Microsoft representative Tara Kriese, Microsoft believes the i’m Initiative is “a great way to enable people to help causes that are important to them.”

“Microsoft is going to pour hundreds of thousands of dollars, probably more, into an organization that recently issued a manifesto that targets hunting for extinction,” said USSA President Bud Pidgeon. “If there was ever a time for sportsmen to take grassroots action, this is it.”

Sportsmen should contact Microsoft and demand that its financial support of HSUS be terminated. Contact Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft, 1 Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052. Phone: (425) 882-8080. Fax: (425) 936-7329.

The Humane Society of the United States opposes all animal use, including trapping, hunting and fishing. It was a key player in the campaigns to outlaw dove hunting in Michigan, trapping in California, and black bear hunting in Colorado. The organization has created a hit list of hunting traditions that it hopes to dismantle, including bear hunting and hunting with hounds.

“The HSUS already has a multi-million dollar budget that it invests in legislative and ballot campaigns to ban trapping and hunting,” said Pidgeon. “The partnership that it has formed with Microsoft, the maker of the Xbox, will allow the organization to make money hand over fist, and continue to fund efforts to ban outdoor sports.”

Sportsmen can make a difference in an issue like this. Companies such as Iams, General Mills, Accor Hotels, Pet Safe, Sears, and Ace Hardware ended relationships with HSUS after thousands of sportsmen levied strong protest.

In 2002, Jeep raised the ire of sportsmen when it aired a blatantly, anti-hunting commercial called the “Deer Hunter.” After a flood of sportsmen’s contacts, Jeep pulled the commercial in three days.

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Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Another Monster Hog Bites the Dust

The newswires around the world are hot with the story of a 11 year old boy in Alabama having shot a 1,051 pound monster hog.

I am sure Phillip Loughlin over at The Hog Blog would be all over this story if he would not be a busy chasing wild hog at the Tejon Ranch this week. Can’t wait for him to come back tomorrow and tell us all about it.

From the CNN to the rather anti hunting Fox News and on to Canada’s CTV News and then over to Australia’s News.com, every news station and blogger around the world reports about the “Boy bags a monster hog. So it’s only fitting that I join the fold.

While the story of “Hogzilla” is made into a horror movie as we speak that monster pig is about to be put to shame by an 11 year old boy. Jamison Stone from Alabama hunted with his father in in Delta on the 2,500-acre Lost Creek Plantation. He shot the hog with a Smith & Wesson .500 Revolver, quite the cannon for a little kid don’t you think. Once the hog was down trees had to be cut down and a backhoe brought in to bring Jamison's prize out of the woods.

It was hauled on a truck to the Clay County Farmers Exchange in Lineville, where Jeff Kinder said they used his scale, which was recently calibrated, to weigh the hog.

Kinder, who didn't witness the weigh-in, said he was baffled to hear the reported weight of 1,051 pounds because his scale — an old, manual style with sliding weights — only measures to the nearest 10.
"I didn't quite understand that," he said.

Mike Stone said the scale balanced one notch past the 1,050-pound mark, and he thought it meant a weight of 1,051 pounds.

"It probably weighed 1,060 pounds. We were just afraid to change it once the story was out," he said.

The hog's head is now being mounted on an extra-large foam form by Cunningham of Jerry's Taxidermy in Oxford. Cunningham said the animal measured 54 inches around the head, 74 inches around the shoulders and 11 inches from the eyes to the end of its snout.

Mike Stone is having sausage made from the rest of the animal. "We'll probably get 500 to 700 pounds," he said.

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I’ll be back

Just to let you all know I have not abandoned this blog and my faithful readers. I caught a nasty intestinal virus infection that had me hospitalized over the weekend. I am a little better now but still have to gain strength. For three days I could not keep any food in my body for longer than two minutes. My diet consisted solely of water .Now I am craving stakes again and hope that in a day or two I am back to my old self.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Tennessee Passes Bill to Protect State Hunting Land

A Tennessee bill to ensure sportsmen’s access to state hunting lands has been signed into law.

Tennessee HB 145 requires the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) to open commensurate land within 12 months of the closure of any existing state hunting or fishing land. A ‘no net loss’ directive requires the opening of compensatory huntable land in the same area of the state if an area is closed to the sport.

The bill, which also specifies that lands managed by the TWRA be open to access and use for hunting and fishing, subject to existing rights, was signed by Gov. Phil Bredesen on May 7.

House Bill 145 passed the House of Representatives on April 18, 97 to 0, and the Senate on April 23, 30 to 0.

The bills are based on model legislation developed and promoted by the USSA. Several states, including Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi and West Virginia have recently passed ‘no net loss’ laws that protect state hunting land for future generations.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Hot of the Press

Leave it to J.R. Absher of the Newshound to find the best stories. The Jig was up, is about a fisher that would not give in to the demands of crook brandishing a knife in front of man busy fishing.

I am not going to tell what happened next, you’ll have to go to the Newshound and read it for yourself. Let me just say this: Never upset a fisherman busy trying to catch fish! This is one of the best stories I read in a long time.

On a completely different subject. In the New York Times I read that America’s largest and oldest firearm maker, Remington Arms has been sold to Cerberus Capital Management, for $118 million.

What is going on in America? First Winchester Arms quits manufacturing firearms in America and now Remington is sold off to a company that has nothing in common with firearms or hunting.

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Eight random facts about me

This is a meme, don’t ask me to explain it, I haven’t got a clue what it is. Marian sent me an email saying that I am tagged and I should go to her blog and see what it is all about.

Looks like I have to post the meme rules, then tell you eight radom facts about me – Do I really want people to know the facts about me, letting out my deep hidden secrets?

The rules of this meme are:
Players start with 8 random facts about themselves. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts. Players should tag eight other people and notify them that they have been tagged.

Now on to the 8 random facts. Let me see! Hmmm, Ah okay, here we go.

1.I have a deep dislike for anything politically correct, it reeks of communism, I don’t care really that people get offended, it’s part of life deal with it. Finding nicer words to say things is not the solution to any problem, provided there is a problem in the first place.

2. It drives me nuts when I hear hunters squabble about little petty differences, such as bowhunters v. crossbow hunters, QDM advocates v. meat hunters. Yet all the while we forget the real problems our sport faces coming from animal rights and anti hunters. If we would spend as much energy, time and effort to fight the animal rights and anti hunters as we do fighting among ourselves, the antis would be a thing of the past.

3. Even if I don’t show it as much as I probably should and don’t talk much about it, but the fact is that after 10 years marriage I am still madly in love with my wife, she is not only my wife but best friend too and the only person I really trust..

4. I really would like to make the time this fall and go hunting with everybody that invited me.

5. At heart I am a redneck, I mean this in a positive way, I like country music and country folks. They are in general much smarter than city folks.

6. I am a smoker and I do not feel the need to apologize for it or to hang my head in shame. People smoked fifty years ago and very rarely had people cancer. Today we have heavily polluted air and water, our food (meat, vegetables and fruit) is raised/grown with the aid of potentially deadly chemicals, hormones and other nasty stuff, but nobody talks much about that and the negative influence (cancer) it has on our health. Do I think smoking is good? No, but not every health problem can be blamed on smoking and the smokers.

7. When I started blogging about hunting there where only very few blogs on that subject. Today there are many more and I love to exchange experiences and wisdom with other hunters. It is for the same reason that I give seminars. If I am not hunting I like to hang out with hunters.

8. I am proud to be a member of a heritage (hunting) that is as old as humankind. At the same time I feel sorry for the anti hunters that have abandoned human nature and the ancestral roots, in exchange of wishful thinking and living in a make-believe world. This might be the reason why they are so angry and hostile toward others that don't share the same opinions.

There you have it, my deep dark secrets are now out in the open for the entire world to read. Now that’s over with whom shall I tag with this meme?

Oh I know!

1.Frank Baron
2.Hunting Wild Game / A way of Life
3.Hunt Smart Think Safety
4.Southern Adventures
5.Outdoor Odyssey
6.South Jersey Outdoors
7. The Shed Antler
8. FlyFish Fanatic

Monday, May 21, 2007

New Outdoor Blog

Outdoors with Othmar Vohringer welcomes a new member to our blogroll. South Jersey Outdoors is one of the newer blogs on the web. Dough Skinner, the writer of South Jersey Outdoors, is a freelance writer and covers many outdoor related subjects on his blog.

Well, it might be best if I let Dough Skinner explain what his blog is all about.

This blog is an extension of my outdoors column in the Courier Post. I hope to use this blog as a way to offer more links, pictures, product reviews, and other useful tips that I can't fit into my regular column.

Although I spend most of my time fishing, I am also an avid bowhunter, camper, and hiker, so I will be exploring these topics as well. There are hundreds of great websites geared toward the outdoor enthusiasts, but not many that deal with our area.

If you look in the right panel near the bottom you will find links to over 35 blogs, covering from hunting to fishing and outdoors news every aspect of our outdoor heritage. There’re links to blogs that cover a particular species such as turkey, deer, hogs and elks, to name a few. Other blogs cover fly-fishing, bass, trout, salmon and more. Still other blogs are dedicated to bring you the latest hunting and fishing news from every corner of the world or nifty products that make hunting safer and more enjoyable. Go ahead and visit them all, you will be amazed on what they have to offer on information.

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Saturday, May 19, 2007

Blog Buzz #3

We have a long weekend here in British Columbia, and every year without fail, it is a cold rainy weekend. Weather like this does not animate me in the least bit to even leave the house. So I thought that would be a perfect time to cruise the Internet visiting the blogs on my blogroll to gather up some new material for my Blog Buzz Edition # 3.

Here is what I came up with for this edition, information and stories of fellow bloggers and outdoors enthusiast that I think are worth a special mention here.

Hunt Smart Think Safety

Safety Friday

Last week I mentioned that I was planning to add a new feature to this blog. This week marks the beginning of Safety Fridays. Since my company is dedicated to helping hunters be safer when they hunt, it seemed only natural that we do one post a week that is dedicated entirely to hunting, fishing or outdoors safety tips and hints…Read more>

Southern Adventures

Baiting deer and the mixed feeling among hunter.

Here in North Carolina hunting deer over bait is legal and practiced amongst many. However, visit any local blog or forum and you’ll soon realize that the feelings that come with discussing hunting over bait is very diverse even in a state where it is legal. You are bound to read a hundred different reasons why some approve as well as a hundred or so from the ones against it. Seems Mississippi is in the same boat…Read more>

Jeff’s Outdoor Notebook

To Mother

Last year, I wrote a tribute to my original outdoor mentor, my Dad, for Father's Day.
So it's only fitting I give my mother equal time for Mother's Day, even though she didn't have as much to do with my development as a sportsmen.

Actually my mother figures into one of my earliest outdoor memories, one of my earliest memories period, in fact. I clearly recall one time when I was no older than two, we were on a family vacation on a lake in Maine…Read more>

Black Bear Blog

Would you like some cheese with that whine?

We all love to bitch and complain. It isn’t often that we run into someone who rarely, if ever, speaks unkind words. But let’s face it, we all have a certain amount of complaining to do and that includes second guessing. Why do we complain? Mostly because we are dissatisfied. And why are we dissatisfied? Various reasons I would assume.
Let’s examine the whining, complaining, moaning, groaning and even lawsuits in Pennsylvania over whitetail deer management. Are there too many deer? Are there not enough deer? Are the deer stripping the forests of vegetation? Does the Pennsylvania Game Commission know what they’re doing? Should they all be fired? Do the politicians have a clue? How much of a role, if any, should politics play in managing whitetail deer or any other wild creature for that matter? …Read more>

The Fledgling Fly Fisher

Fly Fish Fanatics Five Fabulous Flies

I figured that it was about time to start listing some of my favorite/deadly flies to use for Trout in the lakes of western North America. These are flies that I will not leave home without when going to any of the lakes in western Canada and the western parts of the USA.
Flies are a man made representation of the food that these fish eat. The types of food varies from region to region and from lake to lake depending on many factors. Trout will target different insects depending on what type of insect is hatching at the lake at the time you are fishing.
These hatches can change in timing depending on many factors, some of these are…Read more>
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Wednesday, May 16, 2007

The Outdoor Newshound

The very popular Outdoor Newshound is back. After an absence of several months the Newshound has finally found a new home on OutdoorLife.com and that is just in time too. Because I missed the wealth of information the Newshound offers for the outdoors person. The news offered is always hot of the press.

About J.R. Absher, the Newshound:

J.R. Absher shares his perspective while blogging about hunting, fishing, shooting sports, sportsmen's issues and the occasional offbeat outdoor tale. In more than 30 years of writing and a lifetime of enjoying the outdoors, he has worked as a newspaper reporter, photographer, mule wrangler, wilderness packer, magazine editor, political consultant, hunting-equipment copywriter, public-relations director and sportsman's advocate.

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Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Great American Outdoor Trails and Othmar Vohringer team up

For some time I have been thinking what else I could do to provide my readers with more information about the outdoors sport and related topics. Today I am very pleased to announce that the Outdoors with Othmar Vohringer Blog Network has affiliated with one of North Americas largest Radio and Podcast Programs.

The Great American Outdoor Trails Radio Magazine, hosted by outdoor personality Jim Ferguson has over five million listeners in North America.

Great American Outdoor Trail Radio Magazine is a hunting, fishing and outdoor activity program and the Great American Outdoor Update airs on Waite Broadcasting and Western Slope Broadcasting, ESPN, FOXSPORTS, and Clear Channel stations in addition to numerous independents. The concept is simple: to promote all outdoor activities, and to teach fundamentals of various hunting and fishing techniques while keeping its listening audience abreast of outdoor news, upcoming events, new products and outdoor destinations.
The Great American Outdoor Trails Radio Magazine is innovative. It combines radio transmission with the World Wide Web. Listen to excerpts of interviews, mail sent in by listeners, a review of new products and places to go.

With the affiliation of Great American Outdoor Trail Radio Magazine and Outdoors with Othmar Vohringer, I have entered a new and fast growing area in the outdoor broadcasting, it's just a mouse click away.
Great American Outdoor Trail Radio


Come back soon for a complete listing of this weeks program

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