Back in May of this year, Jeff Garrett of Aurora, Colorado was mistaken for a turkey and shot and killed. Garrett was Assistant Vice President of Qwest in Colorado, married and had two children.

Police believe that while Garrett was quite well hidden in heavy brush and calling turkeys, someone mistook him for a turkey and shot him. The suspect fled the scene and until recently nobody had been charged with the crime.

Now authorities believe the shooter was a Mexican national working at a nearby ranch clearing brush. The rifle that was used in the shooting has been found and one person has come forward as a witness. The suspect is believed to have fled back to Mexico but police are confident that justice will be done.

Tom Remington

Would someone please explain to me how a 3 year old child shoots a 6 year old with a gun. The story goes like this. A family in Texas was on a hunting trip on leased land in Williamson County. The 3 year old picked up a .22 caliber rifle, which was obviously loaded, pulled the trigger and shot his 6 year old brother in the leg. The injuries are not life threatening.

Authorities say the family thought the guns were unloaded. Thought? What can be going through the minds of any adult who would “think” a weapon was unloaded? There is no excuse. I’m sorry.

Police haven’t decided whether charges will be filed against any of the family members. In Texas it is against the law to make a gun accessible to a child. What decision is there to make? Some idiot(s) leave a loaded gun laying around where children have access to it and they can’t decide whether to press charges?

Tom Remington

One of our regular readers and a member at Maine Hunting Today Hunt Club, sent me an email the other day requesting help in gathering information about Maine’s hunting heritage.

Here is a copy of that email. At the end is his email address where you can contact him directly with information.

Dear Blog Reader,

I’m currently writing a curriculum framework for a new program
entitled,
“Maine Master Hunter”. This program will be sponsored by the Maine
Chapter
of the Izaak Walton League along with the endorsement of several other
Maine
outdoor based organizations..

I’m currently looking for articles, books and publications describing
Maine’s hunting heritage. If you are aware of literature that would be
helpful, please forward the information to me. Primary source material
of
Maine hunting stories and legends would be especially helpful. The
information will be used to support a section in the curriculum on
“Maine’s
Hunting Heritage”.

Bill Richards – brichar2@maine.rr.com

Tom Remington

You must go to the Bangor Daily News and read this article about Carl “Bill” Morrison, gunsmith in the area for 65 years. He is most noted for two things – his gunsmithing and lying…. errr, I mean storytelling. Here’s a teaser.

“He can swear for 20 minutes and never repeat the same word,” said Don DeLuck of Bangor, a longtime customer and friend. “He’s also the best storyteller I’ve ever heard in my life. My wife could never understand why I could spend so much time out there and get home so late, until she went with me.”

Oh, ayuh! And there’s more where that came from.

Tom Remington

Not that any sensible person would have expected differently, MTV aired its program of what they perceive as reality TV, about 4 people and how guns have impacted their lives.

CNS News carried the story yesterday, warning us the program would be on and this morning they critique the program. They did say that the two people who are law abiding and own guns were treated fairly but that was about as far as it went.

Is it any surprise? First of all, I would have suspected that a far left program such as MTV would present guns in two ways. One, as most antis do, that guns actively walk around seeking whom they may kill and two, from MTV land, you’d expect them to present guns as a tool for thrill seekers. After all, this is the same television network that has a program glorifying idiots doing obscene and dangerous acts – just for the fun of it.

Enough time spent on talking about a television program that I loathe.

Previous post.

Tom Remington

Plans for a new television show are underway, where specially trained scientists and game detectives seal off crime scenes with bright yellow tape, take photographs, collect as much evidence as they can, including samples for DNA testing and with all this information, officials can virtually re-enact the events that lead up to the shooting death of an eight point buck.

Sound like a good show? Well, the television show part of the story is made up but the rest of it is true. This is what is being played out more and more in the woods across America. Officials working to crack down on poachers.

In the past, game officials have been frustrated with attempts to prove guilt in poaching cases because there was never enough evidence to fully prosecute suspected criminals. Things they are a changing.

Officials now are using DNA testing to help prosecute poachers. In one Pennsylvania case, wardens busted three men for poaching. They actually caught them with one deer and no legal hunting licenses.

In the area where the poachers were carrying out their illegal deeds, several gut piles were found and dogs lead wardens to a house that had a freezer full of venison. DNA tests are being conducted to determine if the gut piles match the venison.

I can now see the head detective, wearing dark sunglasses, staring off into the woods, nose raised slightly into the air, hands on hips and queries, “Tell me about this venison here in your freezer.”

“Well, that’s fine. With our people and DNA tests, it looks like you’ll be doing some hard time.” (at this point we get a “dum dum” sound as cameras fade to a commercial. Tonights episode is brought to you by “Deer Cocaine” the ultimate in deer baiting equipment). Sorry! Where was I?

I guess it was only a matter of time before some real serious forensics would be used to help stop game law breakers. I’m sure that with the costs of these forensics, fines levied will have to go up to offset the cost of science.

Tom Remington

The Secretary of the Interior is expected to sign an agreement next week that would place control over management of the gray wolf into the hands of the states and out of the control of the Federal Government. When this happens states like Idaho, Montana and Wyoming intend to allow the animal to be hunted.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

This of course has raised objections from mostly animal rights groups and in particular those that are focused on the gray wolves. Carter Niemeyer a self proclaimed educator, peacemaker, moderator and referee for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Boise, Idaho stands up for the wolf.

In contrast, Ron Gillett of the Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition, wants to see all the wolves gone completely. He says this about the gray wolf.

“…immediately remove them by whatever means are necessary.”

“They kill everything, all of the game first, then the predators, then each other,” he said, adding that they are outsiders.

“These are Canadian wolves,” Gillett said. “The only place they belong in Idaho is in a zoo, neutered.”

I’m not a rocket scientist but I think I know where Mr. Gillett stands on the gray wolf issues.

On the other hand, Niemeyer says that the gray wolf roamed the landscape in these areas long before man arrived and hunted them to near extinction. He also downplays the fact that the gray wolf preys on cattle owned by ranchers in the region. He says this about those who would disagree with him.

“But I know they don’t want to let facts get in their way,” he said of anti-wolf activists.

This is no new story. There has been a war brewing over the gray wolf for many years. Ranchers want them gone for the simple reason that wolves kill their cattle. Mr. Niemeyer states facts (his own) about the insignificant impact wolves have on cattle. As a rancher, losing one cattle is a substantial lost – at least from my perspective.

The agreement that has been reached with the Department of the Interior with the states, namely Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, is to allow ranchers the chance to kill wolves that are regularly preying on their cattle – or harassing them as was reported by MSNBC. It would also allow game officials to eliminate wolf numbers that are threatening a healthy population of deer and elk.

I don’t have a copy of the agreement to know exactly what it says but who and what determines when a wolf or pack of wolves regularly preys on cattle.

Idaho and Montana have approved plans in controlling the wolf but Wyoming is suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife agency over the rejection of its plan, which would allow unregulated hunting of wolves outside of national parks and designated wilderness areas.

And so the posturing goes with the one side wanting to kill all wolves and the other side wanting wolves to have free rein. Stuck in the middle of this debate are the Wildlife Departments of each state feeling like an incompetent child. Does anyone believe that the states powers in this matter want to control and not eliminate the gray wolf?

When looking at other species of animals that were once placed on the endangered list, like the Canada lynx, and removed, behind it you will find a very competent game department that probably doesn’t get enough credit for making the change possible.

With the extremes of both sides warring, generally, consensus is reached and a sensible solution is put into place. Man must live with animals and animals must live with man – that, is a fact that isn’t going to change.

Tom Remington

We brought you this notice a while back about changes proposed for licensing of Registered Maine Guides. As a requirement by law to provide safety standards for the protection of clients of Maine Guides, what is being proposed is for all Registered Maine Guides to undergo a criminal background check.

With that said, a public meeting has been scheduled. Here are the details.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY: 12 MRSA Section 12851

PUBLIC HEARING: January 24, 2006 – Bangor Auditorium/Civic Center, 100 Dutton Street, Bangor

DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS: February 3, 2006

AGENCY CONTACT PERSON: Andrea Erskine
AGENCY NAME: Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
ADDRESS: 284 State St., 41 SHS, Augusta, ME 04333-0041
TELEPHONE: 287-5201

For more information, follow this link to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Game.

Tom Remington

The world of technology is growing so fast that sometimes it is nearly impossible to keep up – or maybe you’re a bit like me and don’t want to keep up.

One of the biggest items found underneath Christmas trees all across America this year is the IPod. Many feel the IPod is going to change communicating as we know it today. I’m not so sure it is that impressive a little gadget but people sure do like them.

It seems that cutting edge businesses are getting on the band wagon too and they are beginning pod casting. Pod casting is providing audio or video files through RSS for people to download and listen to or view.

We have even gotten into the act here at Maine Hunting Today and the Black Bear Blog. We have audio blogs available to those who would prefer to listen to the news or hear me speaking my mind on some issues involving the outdoors. We also have the Maine Hunting Today Radio.

We are moving toward making the files available for pod casting and if you got one of those dandy little gadgets for Christmas, you will be able to log on to our site and listen to your news and information.

I think there is another idea that might be useful. How about pulling out your Ipod and listening to or viewing a pod cast while fishing about how to properly present a mosquito nymph? Sound far fetched?

Well, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is encouraging ice fishermen to take their Ipods with them fishing. They are making pod casts available with ice fishing tips for the angler. You can read more about that here.

So, if you were one of the lucky ones and Santa brought you an Ipod, there are things you’ll be able to listen to or watch that I bet you had no idea you’d be able to.

Oh, just one thing! Be careful not to drop your Ipod down the ice hole.

Tom Remington