By David E. Petzal and Philip Bourjaily

In February, in order to escape the SHOT Show, I went with Keith McCafferty to the Las Vegas Gun and Knife Show, held at the Mandalay Bay exposition center. It’s a big show, and contains everything from the most horrendous junk to veritable treasures with everything in between. It also contained a prime lesson in the economics of used-gun pricing. To wit: It ain’t how much it’s worth, it’s how bad people want it.

The gun in question was a Winchester Model 97 Trench Gun, made for the U.S. Army  in the early years of the 20th century. It was in absolutely pristine condition, and carried a price tag of $3,000. Three grand for an ugly military gun that probably cost the government $23.50 when it was new. Obviously, someone out there is strange for Model 97s, or trench guns, or is just strange, period. [ Read Full Post ]

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

"Last week a rumor that 50 wolves had been released in New York's Adirondack Mountains was circulating in outdoor circles around Pennsylvania. But a spokesman for the New York DEC said no such introduction occurred, and that there are no immediate plans for a release"

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette story linked below details the latest on northeastern wolves.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06064/665360.stm [ Read Full Post ]

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

Boat-launching fees at state-run facilities puts some $350,000 into Kentucky coffers each year. Tournament bass anglers, however,  don’t want to pay up anymore. And given their political clout as part of the state’s $1.3 billion-per-year sportfishing industry, they probably won’t have to. Late last week, a House committee approved a bill to eliminate the fee.
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/14001654.htm [ Read Full Post ]

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

The National Rifle Association has filed a motion for contempt against the City of New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin, and the acting chief of police Warren Riley. Calling the Mayor a “colossal disappointment,” NRA spokesmen say they have exhausted all efforts to cooperate with the defendants, who they argue repeatedly ignored a court restraining order mandating an end to all illegal gun confiscations.
http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/Releases.aspx?ID=7272 [ Read Full Post ]

By David E. Petzal and Philip Bourjaily

In October 2003, a failed actor named Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend Amy Hugeuenard were killed and eaten by an Alaska brown bear, which was in turn killed by the people who went to clean up the mess. Treadwell, the self-styled “protector” of bears in a region of Katmai National Park, had lived with them for 13 years until finally the bears had enough of him.

In 2005, a German film director named Werner Herzog made a documentary on Treadwell’s life and death, and it ran on the Discovery Channel this past weekend. I’m reviewing it here because it’s a creepy and unforgettable 103 minutes. In his 13 summers with the bruins, Treadwell filmed them and himself, and much of the movie is of brown bears, and of Treadwell mouthing off to the camera about his relationship with them.

The brown bear footage is amazing, but Treadwell is the most dislikeable human being I have ever seen on film, and he was also stark raving crazy. Witness him fondling a moist, fresh bear turd and crooning with ecstasy, or weeping softly and muttering endearments to a bored red fox. Clearly, this is a guy who should have had a net thrown over... [ Read Full Post ]

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

On Tuesday, upset Virginians left flowers, teddy bears, and notes of mourning at a Richmond wildlife exhibit to memorialize two captive black bears that were euthanized after one bit a 4-year-old toddler who climbed over a wooden barrier and put his hand through a chain-link fence. Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder called the deaths senseless, and an area talk show host said she had “never seen public response to a situation, topic or issue like this besides 9/11." Click here for the story [ Read Full Post ]