By Dave Hurteau

From The Virginia-Pilot:

Virginia’s first triple-digit freshwater fish has been caught. Tim Wilson of Natural Bridge landed the historic 102-pound, 4-ounce blue catfish while working the waters of the James River near Dutch Gap.

Wilson's fish is being considered for state-record status by a committee of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

By Chad Love

I started hunting and fishing with a mountain bike in college because I didn't have a car and I was young, fit and poor. I am now old, fat and regrettably still poor, but I still enjoy using a mountain bike to hunt and fish public land.
 
A good mountain bike is a surprisingly effective means of off-road transportation and I've always wondered why more hunters and anglers didn't utilize them, especially in areas closed to motor vehicles.

By Chad Love

There's already been a  boatload of bloviation expressed on the recent reversal of the ban on loaded firearms in our national parks, some of it sensible but most of it (predictably) bordering on  hysterics.

This column from the Huffington Post is a perfect example:
 
"In fact,  the new rule is likely to make national park visitors less safe around  wildlife. Packing heat could give some people a false sense of security and  make them more likely to approach bison, elk, moose, and grizzly bears,  rather than keep a safe distance which is better for both people and  animals."

But the most certain outcome of this congressional action is  that it will promote poaching. The National Park Service warned in its fiscal 2006 budget submission each year for the past several years ... The data  suggests that there is a significant domestic as well as international trade  for illegally taken plant and animal parts." Poaching, the agency said, "is suspected to be a factor in the decline of at least 29 species of wildlife  and could cause the extirpation of 19 species from the parks." 

By Dave Hurteau

From The Greeley Tribune: