Reports of another coyote attack on a domestic dog in a park in Monmouth County, New Jersey and officials are saying that what killed a chihuahua the other day may have been another domestic dog.

An owner walking his dog in Shark River Park unleashed, said he saw his dog being chased by two coyotes along the edge of a fence. His dog suffered some puncture wounds on its rear legs.

Yesterday I reported that a chihuahua had been attacked and killed in Middletown near where other dogs and two children had been attacked.

Now officials are saying it wasn’t a chihuahua but a fox terrier. They are also saying the terrier may have been the victim of a domestic dog attack.

“We’re not saying conclusively that it was not a coyote, but based on what the biologists observed, we think it could have been a domestic animal,” said Darlene Yuhas, a spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Protection.

The dead dog, now identified as a fox terrier, not a Chihuahua as township officials initially reported, was attacked on its stomach, according to an examination by state biologists. The injuries are similar to those common in fights between domestic dogs rather than in predatory attacks by coyotes, which tend to seize their prey by the neck and head, the biologists said.

Coyotes were initially blamed because the dog’s owner, who witnessed the attack, reported that a coyote seized the animal within seconds after the dog was let out of the house at 4:15 a.m. Police who arrived at the scene also observed two coyotes in the area, township officials said.

But domestic dog tracks, not those of a coyote, were found at the scene, Yuhas said.

Coyote tracks are more oval than those of domestic dogs, according to state biologists, who have been trying to trap coyotes in Middletown since a 5-year-old boy was attacked on Pomo Court by one of the wild canines on May 21. Earlier, a toddler was attacked by a coyote on Kings Highway East on April 6.

Are we to believe that story or are they just saying this to quiet the masses?

Tom Remington

The Smokie Coyote Hunt Club, now in 20 counties in West Virginia, pays out bounties for coyotes in an attempt to control these predator populations. Is this a viable way to manage coyote populations?

Tom Remington

This is the story about 23-year old Matthew Corwin, an East Los Angeles College student and former military police officer probably headed back to Iraq this summer, who has been charged with 6 counts of possession of illegal weapons. What do you think?

Tom Remington

Some are calling it a gun rights bill and others are saying it is a victory for gun rights advocates. A bill already passed by the Arizona Senate and now the House, will move on to Governor Napolitano for signing.

The bill says that when anyone bans guns from an event or public building, they must provide a secure place where an individual’s gun can be locked up while they are inside and retrieved when they come out.

What foolishness really! If you honestly consider why a person wants to carry and the rights provided them under the Constitution, what good is it doing them to lock their gun up outside the building?

Most people carry weapons for protection and self defense. What good does that weapon do anyone who needs to protect themselves when it is locked up outside somewhere?

Others say that such a bill requiring the provision of space for securing a weapon will become cost prohibitive. The same bill states that any event or building, etc. that does not provide a secure lock up, has to allow the carrier inside with their weapon.

A bill that restricts the right to bear arms in any form is a gun control bill. This is no different than requiring trigger locks on guns in your own home.

Some question how this new law will effect an existing law that allows operators of events and owners of public buildings to ban weapons. While this compromise bill is seen by some as a tiny step toward an easing of gun restrictions, it is done so only on paper.

Tom Remington

Coyotes in the Middletown area of New Jersey continued their killing ways yesterday when a coyote attacked and killed a chihuahua dog that was left unattended for a moment in a lady’s backyard on Highland Ave.

At the Earle Naval Weapons Station, authorities there allow wildlife personnel to enter the property to set up traps and search for coyotes. This area is believed to be where the coyotes are living which is adjacent to the same areas where attacks have occurred.

Two children have been attacked by the wild canines in this area of late – a 5-year old and a 22-month old, in their own backyards.

Tom Remington

South Dakota has evidently had enough of the actions of one U.S. Fish and Wildlife federal agent, Bob Prieksat. They say Prieksat used bullying tactics against hunters and landowners. The state gave USFWS 60 days to either reassign Prieksat or fire him and USFWS did nothing.

Now South Dakota has said they will terminate law enforcement agreements they have had with USFWS in 30 days if nothing is done. It appears USFWS is not going to do anything.

Governor’s Chief of Staff Rob Skjonsberg says, “I think what they are telling us is that this issue is something we shouldn’t be concerned with and if that’s their response to us I think it’s incumbant upon us to stand up for ourselves and say this kind of behavior is not acceptable and this kind of behavior is not something we want reflected on our Game, Fish and Parks Department.”

So, what does this mean? It means that state officials can’t enforce certain federal laws and vice versa. What that really means is unclear but I think should this termination of agreements end, situations will arise that will require delicate handling, however USFWS is planning to conduct business as usual.

Mowad (Gary Mowad, Prieksat’s supervisor) says, “My agents will continue to do work as they have always done work, the only change that I see coming down the pike if it does occur is we would have to cancel some covert investigations we’ve got going.”

Communications with Prieksat and his office will end and the state says that any negative effects to wildlife will be USFWS fault.

Tom Remington

The state of Idaho and the Department of Fish and Game are beginning work on updating their deer management plan. Part of that work involved a January survey sent to 1,500 hunters in order to gather hunter’s input about certain aspects of mule deer hunting.

The survey found that overall, hunters were satisfied with mule deer hunting. But they want to see more and larger bucks, which often requires reducing hunting opportunities. Deer hunters also overwhelmingly said they want to hunt every year.

“Ability to hunt every year is critical,” said Ed Krumpe, professor at the University of Idaho’s Department of Conservation and Social Sciences, which conducted the survey. “It’s something they want to preserve.”

Even though the majority of those surveyed said they wanted to be able to hunt every year, they acknowledged that they were willing to face restrictions in order to do so.

Controlled hunts were the most acceptable restrictions, followed by limiting harvest to bucks with four points or more, closing roads and trails, limiting hunts to short range weapons, and allowing only two-point bucks for harvest. Not hunting every year ranked at the bottom of the options.

A draft of a new deer management plan should be available sometime in December.

Tom Remington

Who ever heard of such a thing? This can’t be right, can it? Arkansas is giving away 18 of 20 available elk hunting permits for free. This is absurd! (I’m being facetious).

If you are an Arkansas resident, you have until June 1st to apply, for free, for a chance to win one of the 18 permits that will be made available. Applying is free and if selected, the permit is also free.

Two of the twenty available permits will be auctioned off as a fund raising effort by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. They say 85% of the proceeds will be returned to the state of Arkansas to improve elk habitat.

Online applications must be received prior to May 31st, midnight.

About the drawing and other permit information.

The drawing for the public land permits will be Saturday, June 30, on the Newton County Courthouse Square in Jasper, near the Buffalo River and center of Arkansas’s elk country. Persons applying for permits don’t have to be present, but many attend each year, joining in the festivities and activities.

There is an added attraction this year. One permit will be issued to someone who makes application at the Elk Festival in Jasper. Sign up, stick around and you may win a permit. For this one, you have to be present to win it. And like the other public land elk permits to be drawn, you have to be an Arkansas resident.

About the Elk Festival.

Tom Remington

I have had this discussion a million times it seems either online in hunting forums, on this and other blogs or in person. I got fired up again after reading an article in the Concord Monitor out of New Hampshire about their management goals for deer, mainly to do with controlling populations.

Here’s New Hampshire’s dilemma. They want to increase the whitetail deer population statewide by 45% with the exception of wildlife management area “M”. Ironically, area “M” is the most densely populated region of the state and the deer population is nearly out of control.

Officials have said they want to reduce deer numbers in zone “M” by 30% while at the same time finding ways to increase the numbers in the rest of the state by 45%.

Here’s your chance to offer some insight into the deer management challenges. First, answer this question. Why is it nationwide that deer thrive so easily in heavily human populated areas?

Secondly, how do you go about increasing the deer population by 45%?

You don’t have to live or hunt in New Hampshire to have ideas and understand basic whitetail deer management.

Let’s start a conversation and answer these questions. You can also ask and/or answer other questions you may have. I’ve spouted off my ideas before, now I want to hear yours.

Tom Remington

Have any of you seen Geoff Metcalf’s 40 Reasons For Gun Control? It’s not what you might think. Here’s a teaser.

2. Washington DC’s low murder rate of 69 per 100,000 is due to strict gun control, and Indianapolis’ high murder rate of 9 per 100,000 is due to the lack of gun control.

Tom Remington