--Chad Love

Apparently, drones aren't just for taking out terrorists and spying on citizens any more. An animal rights group says it will launch a remotely-piloted helicopter to videotape the unspeakable horrors of a South Carolina pigeon shoot.

From this story in the (Orangeburg, SC) Times and Democrat:

Live pigeon shoots scheduled this week at a private plantation near Ehrhardt are ruffling the feathers of two animal rights groups. Press releases put out by SHARK (SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness) and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) say the Broxton Bridge Plantation event, scheduled for Feb. 9-12, should be halted. They have called upon Gov. Nikki Haley and both the Colleton and Bamberg County sheriff's departments to intervene to stop it. Steve Hindi, president of SHARK, said investigators from his agency will be videotaping what he called the "cruel and inhumane live pigeon shoot." 

--Chad Love

Hunter participation in Texas' post-season conservation order snow goose hunts has plummeted, as the number of birds wintering in Texas has declined dramatically.

From this story in the Houston Chronicle:

During the 2000 snow goose conservation season, almost 28,000 waterfowlers went afield in Texas. They took, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department surveys, a little more than 102,000 geese. The next two years, participation fell a bit, to about 18,400 in 2001 and 21,700. Then things changed, drastically. In the early 2000s, the number of snow geese coming to the Texas coast nose-dived as the birds began a major shift in wintering grounds.

--Chad Love

There are any number of things that can go wrong, sometimes horribly, when we take our dogs into the field. They can run through a fence and get torn up, run through a cattle guard or hole and break a leg, run into a porcupine or skunk, inhale dangerous seeds, get bitten by a snake, trampled by a cow, run over by a car, get overheated, dehydrated or completely lost, the list is pretty much endless in terms of potential dangers.

All you can do is take it on faith that those things won't happen while hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. That's why most of us do things like carry first-aid kits on all our hunting trips and plugging the phone numbers of local vets into our cell phones.

But here's one more thing that every one of us should familiarize ourselves with: what to do if one of our dogs gets caught in a body-gripping trap. Here's an absolutely heartbreaking story from last week's Minneapolis Star-Tribune about a rash of dogs dying in traps.

From the story:

Doug Snyder won't forget the day he loaded a .22 rifle and shot his dog at point-blank range. He and his two teenage sons were walking along a forest road near their cabin east of Hinckley in late December when Polka Dot, their 9-year-old setter-Lab mix, suddenly howled in distress. Bolting headlong into the woods, Snyder found his dog 60 yards away with its head and neck caught in a deadly body-gripping trap. "She was standing there, bleeding from the snout," he said. Frantically, Snyder and his 16-year-old son struggled to free their pet before it suffocated. But two powerful springs held the trap's jaws tightly closed. "We fought like hell to get it off, and we couldn't," he said. "She was melting away."

by David Draper

There are a lot of great ways to get wild on Super Bowl Sunday. You could paint yourself in team colors, go streaking, and post the resulting video (and arrest) on YouTube. Or you could just dip into the larder and cook up a fish or wild-game inspired dish to share with your friends during the game. I’m not going to encourage you to do the former, but I will help you along with the latter by throwing a Super Bowl Snack Contest.

Post your favorite fish or game dish below in the comments section below, along with a few sentences on why it’s the perfect food for this year’s Super Bowl party. The most creative idea will win a box of assorted cooking/food-related goodies from Camp Chef, Hi-Mountain Seasonings, Cabela’s, and other generous folks. To be eligible to win, post your entry by Saturday, February 4 at 6:00 p.m. MST. I’ll announce the winner next week.