From a Pennsylvania Game Commision press release:
Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Conservation Officers today announced that, on Oct. 29, [Andrew Moore, 46, of Tannersville] pled guilty to 30 counts of illegal possession of various species ranging from blue jays to raccoons, from chipping sparrows to gray squirrels, from groundhogs to purple finches. . . .

As part of the plea agreement, charges against Moore for cruelty to animals were withdrawn. District Judge Thomas E. Olsen, of Tannersville, ordered Moore to pay $2,250 in fines, and $750 in reimbursement to the Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation Center for expenses incurred treating the wildlife that survived.

Check out the full, strange story.

A guest post from Executive Editor Mike Toth.

Most of us well know the inverse relationship between hunters collaborating on a squirrel and the squirrel itself. That is, the more the hunters collaborate, the less squirrel there is when the shooting is over. This rule was made abundantly clear earlier this week when Senior Editor Colin Kearns and I went after bushytails on a Wildlife Management Area in central New Jersey.

Jersey is a shotgun-only state (with exceptions for muzzleloader), and my favorite squirrel load is ...

... 1 ounce of No. 6 shot out of a Modified choke on a 12 gauge. This gives me an effective but not too dense pattern, decent penetration without overdoing it, and, when I need it, enough range.

The problem is when you don’t have enough range. That’s what happened on our hunt.

Colin puts the same amount of effort into still-hunting squirrels as he would looking for a six-by-six bull in the Grand Tetons, so any squirrel that pops up in his path is likely burying its final acorn. Not ten minutes into our hunt (we had decided to walk the woods together), Colin surprised one at the base of a tree and shot immediately, but the squirrel moved as he pulled the trigger and the pattern hit its hind end. I came around the far side and saw the bushytail hiding on the other side of the tree, where Colin couldn’t see it. I started backing up to give my load a chance to spread out. But the squirrel—surprisingly mobile--started to move toward a dense tangle, so I shot just above it, hoping to edge it with the pattern. Miss. Another high shot. Another miss. The squirrel was still moving toward the brush, and I hated to think that we’d leave a wounded creature in the woods, so I put the bead on its head. I did not miss.

Boy, did I not miss.

There was enough meat to salvage, but most squirrel recipes don’t include decimals in the ingredients, if you get my drift. Fortunately Colin got another one later in the day (shown here), which gave him enough meat to make a small pot pie.

We all love cleanly killed animals that look great for the camera, but the reality is that once in a while, you are going to mangle game, no matter how hard you try not to. On this hunt, I deliberately shot at close range so I wouldn’t risk losing the squirrel. But I do admit to occasionally having taken close shots purely out of choice—and greed. After a long day in the field with nothing to show for it, it’s difficult to hold your fire on an animal that appears right in front of your gun, because waiting for it to move farther away may result in your not getting a shot off at all.

My resolution from here on is to wait for all close-flushing (and non-wounded) game to move farther from my muzzle before I shoot. If I get a shot at a range that won’t tear up the meat, terrific. If not, I will learn to accept the game as lost, and move on. The animals we hunt, even when they’re dead, deserve that respect. --Mike Toth

On Tuesday, October 27, two coyotes mauled 19-year-old Taylor Mitchell on a hiking trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia, Canada.  Although Mitchell was hiking alone when the daylight attack occurred, two nearby hikers heard the commotion and called 911. Officers responded in time to shoot one of the coyotes.  Airlifted to a Halifax hospital, Mitchell died of her injuries the next day.

Mitchell, a 2009 Canadian Folk Music Award nominee, leaves behind grieving family and fans, a shocked wildlife community, and a public wondering whether coyotes are animals to fear.

The consensus among wildlife professionals is that a fatal coyote attack on a human is a freak occurrence. “If I had to guess what animal would be responsible for a fatal attack in eastern Canada I would have guessed black bear, never coyote,” says Mike O’Brien, the Nova Scotia DNR’s Manager of Wildlife Resources. O’Brien says coyotes first appeared in Nova Scotia in the 1970s, and there have been very few attacks on humans since that time. Incidentally, eastern Canada’s coyotes are significantly larger than their western relatives, often weighing well over 40 pounds, perhaps due to interbreeding with wolves.

“It’s very abnormal,” says Ron Andrews, Iowa DNR Fur Resource Specialist. “It’s as rare as you can get. Normally coyotes avoid close contact with humans. They usually turn tail and run.”

While the United States averages over 20 fatal dog attacks a year, there has only been one fatal coyote attack ever recorded in the U.S.:  in 1981 a coyote killed a three-year old girl in California.  However, as coyotes and humans continue to invade one another’s habitats, conflicts become inevitable.

Coyote-Human Conflict
Mitchell’s death will remain a horrific aberration, but more human-coyote encounters take place every year. Suburban sprawl creates coyote habitat, especially in dry southern California, where irrigated lawns boost rabbit and rodent populations  while bird baths and swimming pools provide sources of water. In addition, humans leave food in the garbage, pets in the yard (suburban coyotes provide the ecological benefit of preying on feral and free-roaming pet cats that feed on songbirds), and, in some cases, people intentionally feed coyotes.  So good is life in town that suburban coyotes live longer than “wild”coyotes.

Coyotes are almost never hunted and are rarely harassed in the suburbs. Consequently they know little fear of humans. As coyotes make themselves at home in suburbia, incidences of coyotes biting people increase.  In the nine years from 1988 to 1997 there were 41 coyote attacks reported in California. The frequency of attacks rose to 48 in five years from 1998 to 2003. In nearly every case, there was food, a small child or pets present, all of which can be seen as a meal by an opportunistic coyote.  In some instances coyotes attacked adults who were running or bicycling, which coyotes may interpret as flight behavior.  Almost every attack recorded in the United States has taken place in suburbia, with most occurring between May and August, a time when coyotes need to feed their young.

Cape Breton Highlands Park
At first glance, the attack on Taylor Mitchell in a 367 square mile national park doesn’t fit the pattern of the usual suburban coyote attack, yet it’s an exception that proves the rule. Cape Breton Highlands is a very popular park, attracting large numbers of leaf-viewers in October. There’s  a well-used campground near at the head of the Skyline Trail where Mitchell was killed. Coyotes frequent the area, having long ago learned to scavenge around the campsites. There is no hunting or trapping allowed in the park; coyotes associate humans only with food, not danger.  Six years ago a healthy adult coyote bit a teenage girl on the same trail where Mitchell was mauled.  A cross country skier in the park last winter fended off a pursuing coyote with a ski pole. Like suburban coyotes, coyotes in the park have adapted to life close to people and occasionally they approach curiously or aggressively.

Solutions
Your chances of being attacked by a coyote if you’re out hunting or fishing are virtually non-existent.  Wild coyotes retain their fear of man. “If you make your presence known, show them you are the boss and in control, they won’t  tangle with you,” says Andrews.  “The worst thing to do is run away. That can stimulate an attack.”

It’s much more likely you will come into conflict with coyotes around your home. If you’re worried about coyotes, keep pets inside; reduce the amount of food (garbage, pet food, bird seed, fruit) around the house; prune and thin heavy cover. Consider building a fence, although be aware that a coyote can climb almost anything under six feet tall. Haze coyotes -- act in a threatening manner towards any you see, yelling, waving your arms, throwing rocks or shooting paintballs.

Many communities have responded to growing coyote populations with both lethal and non-lethal measures.  The city of Denver has an organized hazing program in which both parks and recreation personnel and volunteers are trained to aggressively confront any coyote they see. Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado and non-lethal control advocate cautions:  “Hazing works, but only if people stop feeding coyotes intentionally or unintentionally. The positive reinforcement of food overrides negative reinforcement of hazing. Coyotes are persistent.”

Dr. Robert  Timm a University of California Wildlife Extension Specialist is the creator of CoyoteBytes.org, a website dedicated to urban coyote management. He believes hazing can be effective in the early stages of a coyote problem. Once coyotes begin taking pets, Timm says lethal controls are more effective. According to Timm, trapping, rather than shooting, quickly re-instills wariness of people in coyotes. Timm further believes it’s only necessary to take a few animals from an area, not try to wipe out an entire population.

The death of Taylor Mitchell, although a singular, tragic event, nevertheless stands as a warning: we need to find ways to deal with coyotes living close by, because they aren’t going anywhere. “They’re very adaptable animals,” says Andrews. “Long after humans are gone, cockroaches, crows and coyotes will still be here.” -- Phil Bourjaily

Sometimes you read something that - to be perfectly honest - leaves you feeling hopeless and doomed. Something so depressing it makes you want to throw up your hands, shout "to hell with it all!" and head straight to the nearest bar. Something like this, from the LA Times.
 
The latest figures from Nielsen have children's TV usage at an eight-year high. Children's health advocates warn of adverse effects.
 
More than an entire day -- that's how long children sit in front of the television in an average week, according to new findings released Monday by Nielsen.

"They're using all the technology available in their households," said Patricia McDonough, Nielsen's senior vice president of insights, analysis and policy. "They're using the DVD, they're on the Internet. They're not giving up any media -- they're just picking up more."
 
While this has obvious implications for the future of hunting and fishing, it also goes beyond that and straight to the core of our fundamental appreciation for nature itself. No one is born a hunter, an angler or a hiker. We all start life as a blank slate and what gets etched on that slate in our early childhood shapes who we will eventually become. You, I and everyone else who enjoys the outdoors, be they a hunter, an angler, a hiker, a birder or whatever, didn't get that way by mainlining 32 hours of high-definition methadone: we got that way by crawling around in the dirt catching bugs, climbing trees, building forts in the back yard and stomping around in creeks. You know, being kids. That childlike wonder, the curiosity, imagination and self-guided exploration of your surroundings. That's the base from which everything else rises. Lose that - as we most assuredly are - and you've lost an entire generation of children. And for what? So they can grow up to be the same mindless, self-absorbed zombie consumers their parents obviously are?
 
Seriously, anyone who lets their small child watch 32 hours of television, video games and Internet a week should be smacked in the head with a rolled-up copy of Richard Louv's "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder."
 
American parents, WTF are you thinking? Put down your go*****ed cellphone, get your fat a***s off Facebook, turn off the TV and pay some attention to your kids. Take them outside, let them get dirty. Let them think and explore for themselves without the help of corporate-sponsored storyline.
 
Good gawd, didn't this used to be called common sense?