Designed to end outfitter-sponsored nonresident big game licenses, Montana’s Citizen’s Initiative 161 could have far-reaching implication. The proposal reflects the public’s frustration with outfitters tying up all the best hunting land—a feeling that’s plainly shared by many hunters beyond Montana’s borders.

From the Great Falls Tribune:
The struggle for access to public wildlife on private land in Montana may go to the ballot box in the form of a citizen's initiative that would abolish outfitter-sponsored nonresident big game licenses.

Citizen's Initiative 161, sponsored by Montana Public Wildlife, was certified by the Montana Secretary of State's Office and is out for signature gathering. If enough people sign the petition, it will be on the ballot in November.

"This is a natural progression of people being upset over a long period of time," said Kurt Kephart of Billings, who heads MPW. . . .

Kephart is upset that outfitters lease private land and lock out the general public. He blames the outfitter-sponsored nonresident big game licenses, created by the Legislature in 1995, adding that no other industry in the state is guaranteed a client base.

Be sure to check out this important story and tell us your reaction. [ Read Full Post ]

The driving principal of modern deer management for more than a decade now has been: Shoot more does. The problem has been: How many more? It’s a thorny question that inevitably causes strife between managers, who want to control herds, and hunters, who want to see more deer. Nowhere has the battle been more openly heated than in Pennsylvania, and the latest change in deer seasons, given preliminary approval by the state Game Commission this week, is already sparking debate.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Commissioners raised the number of units in which doe hunting won't start until the first Saturday of the two-week season from four to eight. . . .

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Near the end of last week’s ATA (Archery Trade Assoc) show, another writer and I were comparing notes about new products and trends we’d noticed. “Did you see how much the crossbow market has expanded?” he asked. “There are more companies making them now than ever.”

I couldn’t feel too smug that I’d spotted the same thing. You didn’t have to wander too far through the Columbus Convention Center without bumping into a crossbow display. There were dozens of makes and models, and companies scrambling to capitalize on this expanding market.

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In two days at the 2010 SHOT Show I have yet to hear a discouraging word; in fact the place is bulging and throbbing like an unlanced boil. I’ve just fled from one of the law-enforcement halls because it was so mobbed that you couldn’t get through the aisles, and it is not much different anyplace else.

On the other hand, 2010 is not much of a year for innovation, at least in rifles. There are all sorts of “new” models that are only cosmetically different, but for actual new the only one that I’ve seen is the Blaser R8. Optics, however, is a different story. [ Read Full Post ]

Greetings Gun Nuts. Though I never thought an occasion would arise that caused me to stray from my post at the Honest Angler blog and enter the realm of Mr. Petzal and Mr. Bourjaily, sometimes strange things happen. One actually happened today. I aimlessly wandered the SHOT Show floor with Phil Bourjaily, filming whenever something grabbed his attention. Here's a look at what we found, including some of the hottest new guns and gear, plus a booth babe that signs lingerie. I hope you enjoy the show, as Phil and I certainly had fun making it -- Joe Cermele

OK. So it’s supposed to be an eye-catching headline. But all it means is this; country boy (me) goes to archery show crammed with people (the Archery Trade Association’s annual show) and gets whopped with flu bug. Returned last weekend and have been flat on my back since. For those who’ve been looking for fresh material here, I apologize for my tardy return.

Generally, I thought the ATA show was good, and the organization’s own stats seem to bear this out. There were 478 exhibitors (25 more than last year), including 90 first-timers and 24 start-up companies. CEO Jay McAninch called the mood at the show—held in Columbus, Ohio Jan 13-15—“the most upbeat” he’d seen in his 10 years with the organization. ATA’s post-show press release stated they hoped the robust show was sign that “the bowhunting industry is cautiously optimistic about 2010.” Hope they’re right.

I’m not much of a crowd person (see paragraph one), but I enjoy attending this show every year to catch up with old friends, look for interesting/innovative new items, and keep track of trends. I’ll use the next couple of posts to tell you what I... [ Read Full Post ]

A guest post by Field & Stream Deputy Editor Jay Cassell

The day before the SHOT show doors open is the fun day, the day writers and editors get to go to area ranges and shoot all the new guns being offered by firearms manufacturers from across the planet. This year, I attended the annual Browning-Winchester event, held at the Desert Rifle and Pistol Sportsman’s Club 45 minutes outside of Las Vegas. Two guns in particular attracted my interest.

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I try to blog about books and writing as much as the online editors will let me get away with, and I thought it interesting that today I received in the mail three books with a Field & Stream connection.
 
The first is The American Hunting Dog, copyright 1916 by Field & Stream Publishing Co. and written by former (and I'm assuming late) Field & Stream editor Warren H. Miller. The second is The Experts' Book of Upland Bird and Waterfowl Hunting, copyright 1975, edited by David E. Petzal. The third is He Loved The Dog, The Bill Tarrant Story by Mike Gould, a dog trainer Tarrant often featured in his writing.

 
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My Jeep Liberty chose the last Saturday of pheasant season to suffer power steering problems quite possibly related to -13 overnight lows.  When it warmed up to -1 or so, I closed out the year taking my wife’s car – a 2002 PT Cruiser – to the field.  Jed’s box fit neatly in the back with the seats folded out of the way.  It held me, my older son, our guns and gear, a snow shovel just in case, and, on the way back from the field, a couple of unlucky roosters.

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My friend Bob is a very good bowhunter. He scouts exhaustively. Shoots continually. Hunts both hard and smart (and there is a difference). His trophy walls are proof of his skill and attention to detail; last time I was in there, I think Bob had close to 20 whitetails hanging that any hunter would be proud of.

So here’s the deal: For the last couple of seasons, Bob has known about a giant buck on property he has permission to hunt. Two years ago he passed the deer, knowing it had tremendous potential. Last fall the buck had made a big jump in antler growth and Bob was dialed into his early season patterns like a thief breaking a lock combination. Then an accident kept Bob out of the woods for much of the fall, unable to hunt the buck.

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Virtually every mile I’ve driven since age 16 has been logged in whitetail country. Somehow I’ve managed to hit only two deer during that span. Actually both of those whitetails ran into me, but this is a technicality insurance companies don’t recognize.

Statistically, I’ve been pretty lucky. According to State Farm Insurance, the nation’s leading auto insurer, the number of deer/vehicle collisions is on the rise; an estimated 2.4 million deer were hit by vehicles from July 2007 to July 2009. That averages out to 100,000 incidents per month, or one every 26 seconds.

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