By Chad Love

The shooting of a grizzly bear in Grand Teton National Park by hunters participating in a special elk reduction hunt has sparked calls from opponents to end the hunt.

From this story in the Jackson Hole News and Guide:
A hunter who was yards away when others killed a grizzly in Grand Teton National Park on Thanksgiving Day described a volley of shots and then shocked men retreating from the woods. Charles Peet, of Jackson, said Monday that he was hunting “75 to 100 yards” from where 48-year-old David Trembly, of Dubois, and Trembly’s 20- and 17-year-old sons gunned down the adult male bear....Park officials investigating the incident haven’t said whether the three hunters deployed bear spray before the shooting.

By Chad Love

In the midst of one of Colorado's busiest big-game seasons ever, a new report highlights just how important hunting and fishing are to the state's economy.

From this story in the Denver Business Journal:

By Chad Love

I mostly ignore news stories involving PETA because PETA, quite frankly, is an organization of publicity whores who don't constitute even a somewhat viable threat to hunting and fishing like other, more serious animal rights groups. PETA is in the business of attracting attention to PETA, and every outlandish publicity stunt they pull is a calculated move to that end, rather than any serious attempt at instigating change. Having said that, it was interesting to see PETA recently taking a page from British animal-rights groups in urging media distribution companies to restrict minors from viewing hunting, fishing and shooting magazines.

From this story on whptv.com:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is encouraging national retailer Hudson News to put hunting magazines where children can’t see them -- because, “Like other forms of casual or thrill violence, hunting spawns a dangerous desensitization to the suffering of others.” 

By Chad Love

If you aren't watching already, dump all television plans tonight to catch part two of Ken Burn's mesmerizing PBS special "The Dust Bowl." You couldn't ask for a better glimpse of our potential future than this masterful telling of our past. I don't know if Ken Burns (who is a national treasure) hunts or fishes, but the almost prescient timing of his latest project is a perfect wake-up call for American hunters and anglers.

"The Dust Bowl" is an amazing documentary in its own right, but you would have to be blind, deaf and dumb (really, really dumb) to not notice the parallels between the social/economic factors responsible for "The Great Plow-Up" of the early 20th Century and what's taking place right now in the plains and midwestern states. And when you throw in the obvious similarities between the climatological conditions responsible for the Dust Bowl and the current long-term drought in a great many plains and midwestern states, well, things start getting eerie. And frightening.