By Chad Love

Politics, as the old saw goes, makes strange bedfellows. Just ask Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, who recently picked up endorsements from both the National Rifle Association and the Humane Society of the United States. You might want to start looking around for flying pigs and fiery icicles...

From this story in the Northern Ohio News-Herald:
In a world of political parallel universes incumbent Democrat Governor Ted Strickland and incumbent U.S. Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Bainbridge Township) have received endorsements from the opposite poles of sportsmen-related issues. Both Strickland and LaTourette have the unqualified endorsement of the National Rifle Association. And now each has garnered the likewise enthusiastic support of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, the political action arm of the Humane Society of the United States which is generally regarded as the nation’s most potent and richest anti-hunting, anti-fishing and anti-trapping organization.

By Chad Love

A hunter's trail cam has captured images of the fourth confirmed mountain lion sighting in Kansas.

From this story in the Wichita Eagle:
A north-central Kansas archery deer hunter has added to the proof that mountain lions are roaming Kansas. Caleb Mahin, of rural Courtland, found several images of what appears to be a mountain lion on a remote-controlled camera he had placed near the Republican River in Republic County.

By Chad Love

A video purporting to show a member of the country-western group Montgomery Gentry killing a tame black bear in a one-acre enclosure in 2006 is making the rounds of Youtube.

From this story on LEX18.com:
A video surfaced on YouTube this week that appears to show that the shooting of a black bear by country music star Troy Gentry back in 2006 was staged, and that the bear was actually a tame animal. The video was obtained by an animal rights group that went to court and forced U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials to release it. In the video, Gentry, a Lexington native and part of the group Montgomery Gentry, is revealed to be "hunting" in a one-acre enclosed area surrounded by an electric fence. According to the video, the bear was actually a tame bear owned by Gentry's hunting partner, Lee Marvin Greenly. Greenly according to the video, did not want to pay to have needed dental work done on the bear, named "Cubby."

By David Maccar

Apparently, the map of the sea floor off the coast of Maine, used for many years to assess the impact of fishing in the area, only used 190 sample points taken from an area of more than 25,000 square miles.

According to this story from SouthCoastToday.com, a new study has produced a much more accurate map and may change how the local fishing industry is regulated.

A new study of the sea floor on Georges Bank may compel fishery managers to dramatically re-evaluate the measures currently employed to regulate the fishing industry there. A submerged plateau warmed by the Gulf Stream, Georges Bank lies about 60 miles off Cape Cod. Its shallow waters, swept by nutrient-rich currents, provide rich feeding grounds for a wide variety of marine life, making it one of the world's most productive marine ecosystems. Fishermen have worked these grounds for 400 years, resulting today in the closure of large areas, some of them permanently, to protect fish habitat and stocks. However, the map used to assess the impact of fishing on Georges Bank was compiled using just 190 sample points taken from the entire expanse of the bank, an area totaling more than 25,000 square miles.

"On average, that's 125 kilometers (72 miles) between points, and some samples date back as far as the time when guys were throwing lead weights over the side," said Bradley P. Harris, a research associate with UMass Dartmouth's School of Marine Science and Technology who carried out the new study.