I’ve attended a lot of benefit dinners.  California Waterfowl, Ducks Unlimited, Quail Unlimited, The Mule Deer Foundation, California Deer Association… it’s a great way to spend time with other hunters, as well as to put some money into the various programs.

One of the things I think most of us enjoy at these shindigs is the auctions.  There are all sorts of great items for sale, including things like art (sculptures and prints), guns, gear, hunting trips, and so on.  It’s a hoot, even when you’re not bidding, just to listen to the auctioneer and watch the other bidders.  From time to time, you can get a great deal, but that’s not really what the auctions are about.  It’s about raising money for the “cause”… well, that, and about the tax write-offs.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation will be holding their own event, Elk Camp, in February.  Along with everything else, there’ll be an auction.  Why does this one stand out?  Well, because there’s going to be an item for sale.  I’d describe it myself, but the press release does it better than I ever could.  So read on…

MISSOULA, Mont.–A custom casket featuring hardwood inlay artwork of an elk and mountain scene, hand-forged elk antler handles and camouflage bedding is among many special items to be auctioned in Las Vegas, Feb. 2-4, 2012, to support the conservation work of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

The auction will be held as part of RMEF’s 27th annual Elk Camp convention and expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Riviera Hotel.

Elk Camp is RMEF’s largest annual fundraiser. Proceeds help support a variety of initiatives to ensure the future of elk, other wildlife and their habitat. Over the past year, RMEF passed the 6 million acre mark for habitat conserved and enhanced nationwide, supported elk restoration efforts in Maryland and Missouri, helped mitigate the effects of historic wildfires in Arizona, introduced thousands of youths to hunting and conservation, assisted with legal efforts to manage and control wolves, and much more.

The handmade casket, built from maple with walnut trim, is being donated for the RMEF auction by BNG Finish Products of Etna, Calif.

Company rep Nik Branson says coffin making began as an experimental offshoot of his custom cabinet business, “but now we do commissioned pieces for families around the country, and the biggest response has been from people who enjoy the outdoors, hunting and fishing.” Caskets with outdoor scenes and themes are the most requested, he said.

The coffins typically retail for $1,500 to $4,500.

Other RMEF auction highlights will include:

• A pack mule named Possum
• A New Holland tractor
• Art, firearms, furniture, jewelry and collectibles
• Many types of outfitted hunts
• Other kinds of travel packages including a motorcycle rally in Sturgis, S.D.
• An electric ATV from Timberline

I’ll be in Vegas for the SHOT Show in January, so I doubt I’ll be able to make it back again in February, unfortunately (I’m just a working guy, after all).  But the RMEF Elk Camp definitely sounds like a blast.  If you’re interested in trying to get out there for this good time, you can learn more about it at the RMEF website.

The House Natural Resources Committee just passed H.R. 2834, which requires federal land planning documents to include sportsmen’s interests, such as hunting, fishing, and target shooting.  The bill was introduced to counter the efforts of various environmental and anti-hunting interests to leverage loopholes in federal land use policy in order to block sportsmen’s access.

Here’s the press release from the US Sportsman’s Alliance:

House Natural Resources Committee Passes Legislation Protecting Sportsmen’s Access

Columbus, Ohio – Today the House Natural Resources Committee passed H.R. 2834, the Recreational Fishing and Hunting Heritage and Opportunities Act. This bill would protect fishing, hunting and recreational shooting on federal lands.

H.R. 2834 passed the Committee with strong bipartisan support by a vote of 29-14. This vital piece of legislation would require fishing, hunting and recreational shooting to be included in all federal land planning documents and would fix numerous inconsistencies in federal law that are being exploited by litigious environmental groups to reduce hunting opportunities on federal land. This bill is strongly supported by the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, Safari Club International, the National Rifle Association, and millions of sportsmen across the country.

“This legislation is vital given the Administration’s recent actions toward hunters and recreational sport shooters,” said Melissa Simpson, Director of Government Affairs for Safari Club International. “Sportsmen have repeatedly sought to collaborate with the federal agencies and have been greeted with proposed closures in areas such as the Sonoran Desert National Monument, where the BLM intends to close the entire one-half million acre national monument to shooters.  There are some 63 shooting sites within the monument, closure of which will end access for sportsmen.   Passage of H.R. 2834 is necessary to protect against these anti-hunting policies.”

“Sportsmen are increasingly facing attacks aimed at stopping them from using public land,” said Bud Pidgeon, President and CEO of the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance.  “This bill closes the loopholes that anti-hunters have used time and time again to try to deny access for hunting, fishing and shooting.  Now is the time to put a stop to it.  We are extremely pleased and appreciative that the House Natural Resources Committee recognized the importance of this bill.”

–30–

I don’t often cover these issues here on the Hog Blog, even though they’re all completely relevant to all of us.  But if you want to stay informed and get involved, head over the US Sportsmen’s Alliance site and sign up for the newsletter.  Even better, join the organization.  They spend a lot of time and money working hard to ensure that our hunting, fishing, and shooting heritage is protected on state and federal levels.

On a similar note, check out Holly’s (NorCal Cazadora) post about another great organization for California sportsmen, the California Outdoor Heritage Alliance (COHA).

I haven’t posted up much about Coon Camp Springs lately, mostly because I simply haven’t been able to get up there at all this year.  Between one thing or another and the price of fuel, I curtailed a lot of my road trips this summer… when work didn’t have me off to Spokane.

Nevertheless, and with me or without me, Dave’s been toiling along diligently.  This project is his passion, as evidenced by the fact that he keeps at it, even when frustrated by the lack of help and funds.  It’s paying off now, and we’ve finally got the CWA involved in a project to restore the historic wetlands on the property.  This is gonna be huge when it’s done!

Anyway, in addition to the general work, it’s coming up on Labor Day weekend and Dave wanted me to let folks know that anyone who doesn’t have other plans is more than welcome to come on up for the holiday.  There are 7000 acres to play on, and a little bit of work for anyone who wants to pitch in.  Here’s the message he sent out to his mailing list last week (I was on the road, and didn’t have bandwidth to post this up at the time):

Coon Camp Springs is looking for volunteers for the Labor Day weekend. This will probably be the last of the year. Come on up and join us in helping the wildlife in this little (7000 acres) piece of high desert heaven. Meet some new people, plant some food plants, hike, hang out and have a general good time.

The main project will be transplanting two year old plants from the nursery to various places on the project. If I can get my hands on some more seedlings, we will plant them in the nursery.

As usual, we will have a menu of wild game including various fish we just caught in Baja, elk, venison and other goodies.

Have a great day,

Dave Allen
Visit my web site at
http://www.cooncampsprings.com

In addition to the work weekend, Dave also wanted to let folks know that there are still a couple of tags available for hunts at Coon Camp Springs this year.  There is one PLM deer tag left (PLM allows us to hunt the rut, which can be phenomenal hunting with some really good bucks) for $3300.  There is also an antelope tag which Dave is selling for $2000.  The purchase price is tax deductible (CCS is a non-profit organization), and funds are used to keep the habitat restoration project alive.

Contact Dave Allen for more information at info@cooncampsprings.com.

That’s right, and all it takes to win one, or two, or 52 is the purchase of one of the 1000 tickets, at $50/ea. 

Sportsmen can now purchase tickets for a weekly drawing that could put brand new firearms or bows in their hands while protecting their hunting rights. The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance’s 52-Gun Raffle sponsored by Vance’s Outdoors, Inc. 

Only 1,000 3-digit tickets (numbered 000-999) will be sold for $50 each. Winning numbers will be determined by the Ohio Lottery’s Pick 3 drawing on Monday nights. Ticket holders can win more than once.

The raffle will begin June 6, 2011.  To purchase tickets, click here or contact the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance at (614) 888-4868. Out of state participants may purchase tickets via the USSA online store only.

It’s a pretty nice list of guns, bows, and crossbows too!  You can check it out here, by clicking to enlarge the image, or just pop over to the USSA site, read up, and register! 

There are only 1000 tickets being sold for 52 guns.  The drawings are based on the Ohio Lottery’s Pick 3 drawing.  If the numbers in the lottery draw match your ticket, you win.  If they match again, you win again.  Keep playing all year! 

Remember, if you’re not an Ohio resident, you’ll need to enter via their online entry form…not through the mail or telephone. 

The drawing starts in June, so don’t put it off!  Good luck!

In Michigan, there’s a movement afoot to ban hunting with firearms in a large section (over 67,000 acres) of the Huron-Manistee National Forest.  The argument is that hunting and some other recreational activities detract from other users’ enjoyment of the National Forest lands which have already been designated “semi-primitive”.  These “noisy” activities allegedly make it difficult for other users such as hikers, birdwatchers, and horseback riders to enjoy the quiet of nature. 

I have to first confess that I haven’t been following this issue the way I should.  The discussion first came up in March, and honestly, I didn’t think it would gain any traction.  But I guess when you pit a skilled lawyer against the federal government, you can’t take anything for granted.  And now it’s down to the wire.  The period for public comment ends tomorrow morning… February 11. 

I’d suggest that anyone wanting to get in their two cents worth take the time to read up a little about the issue.  Here’s what the NSSF has to say about it on their blog:

NSSF is urging all hunters and sportsmen to submit comments to the U.S. Forest Service on a proposed firearm hunting ban for areas of the Huron-Manistee National Forest in Michigan. The proposed ban could pose a threat to firearm hunting on portions of federal lands across the nation. The Forest Service is accepting public comment on alternatives until Feb. 11.

Background: In September, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Forest Service’s regulations required that it consider banning hunting with firearms on lands designated as “semi-primitive” within the Huron-Manistee National Forest. The court felt the noise associated with firearm hunting could harm the quality of the recreational experience of hikers, backpackers, and cross country skiers. The court ruled that the Forest Service had to consider closing these areas to hunting with firearms if other public hunting land was available nearby. The U.S. Forest Service is therefore required to do a formal review to determine if it should move forward with a ban on firearms hunting ban on these areas.

Please submit comments to the Forest Service urging it to adopt the “No-Action” position, which would allow hunting with firearms in areas designated as semi-primitive to continue.

Sportsmen can fax comments to Lee Evison at 231-775-5551 or e-mail comments to comments-eastern-huron-manistee@fs.fed.us.

Please include your name and address with your comments. E-mailed comments must include “Forest Plan SEIS” as the subject line of the e-mail. All comments must be received by Friday, Feb. 11.

You may also submit your comments via mail to:

Forest Planner
Huron-Manistee National Forests
1755 S. Mitchell Street
Cadillac, MI 49601

You can Google the topic to read some other viewpoints, and I strongly recommend that you do.  But for my part, what I see here is a dangerous precedent being set wherein hunters will face more and more challenges to their access to Federal and State lands.  It may not be sweeping, but if this effort succeeds, it will mean that more of our own efforts, and the resources of hunter advocacy organizations, will be spent fighting further closures.

Growing up in NC, there were a lot of things we couldn’t do on Sunday.  Most businesses were closed, except grocery stores and a few restaurants.  You couldn’t buy liquor, and beer was only available after 1:00pm (unless you were in a “dry” county).  And of course, you couldn’t hunt.

As a youngster, I remember chafing against the Sunday hunting prohibition, and I never understood it.  No one ever had a particularly sound explanation for it.  It took a little stretch to make it a valid religious issue, and I just couldn’t see the social ramifications.  All I knew was that it limited my hunting to one day per week, since hunting season was mostly overlapped by school. 

Of course, NC isn’t the only state that has rules against hunting on Sunday (although they relaxed the rules in 2010).  There are currently 11 states that still have Sunday hunting restrictions.  Efforts to revoke the restrictions or change the laws are practically perennial, but they haven’t gained much ground. 

At last week’s SHOT Show several hunters’ advocacy organizations, including the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) and US Sportsmen’s Foundation (USSF) formed the Sunday Hunting Coalition to overturn Sunday hunting restrictions.  You can read more about the Coalition on the USSF Bullseye Blog, and over at the NSSF blog as well.  It’s a pretty cool idea, and I hope it goes well.  I also hope it signifies the beginning of a trend. 

The USSF and NSSF have been working constantly to improve hunting access and to fight anti-hunting legislation.  The formation of the coalition of organizations that includes groups as diverse as the NRA, Boone and Crockett club, and Cabelas could be the first step in an organized effort to protect hunting rights and access on a national scale… adding strength and money to the fight.

This could be a very good thing.

Click the flyer to enlarge it

Live in southern California, or enjoy spending time in the mountains and deserts?  The Forest Service and CA DFG are looking for volunteers to spend some time in the San Gabriel Mountains over the weekend of February 26-27 to assist in the annual Bighorn Sheep Count.

If you’ve got the time and inclination, this is a great way to get out and see some beautiful country, check out some cool wildlife, and help out an important effort. 

Click here to read the Sheep Count Flyer.

I’m still trying to catch up on email and such after the last couple of weeks of travels.  Apologies if you’ve commented or emailed and I didn’t respond.  I just can’t stand here all day talking to my many fans (Almost Famous reference if you’re a Cameron Crowe fan).  Seriously, I lose track and don’t always catch up.

Anyway, while I was out, I received an email from Kirsten Fuoti, Producer and Assistant Director of a new film called, “The Harvest.”  It’s a documentary about the Hunt of a Lifetime organization, which is a story that’s definitely worth telling and a cause I can get behind.  Here’s a brief bit from the press kit:

This isn’t your average Make-A-Wish foundation. Enter the world of the American hunter sub-culture where dreams come true for boys and girls deprived of a typical childhood—dreams of hunting and killing the animal of their choice.

When Make-A-Wish wouldn’t grant Matthew Pattison his dream of hunting a moose, his mother Tina took matters into her own hands. Ten years later she finds herself at the helm of one of the most popular wish granting foundations in America, Hunt of a Lifetime.

The Harvest chronicles the success of Hunt of a Lifetime and three wish recipients faced with the uncertainty of life, the untimely loss of innocence, and the struggle to provide for one’s own. Follow Tyler, Arianna, and Casey as they brave the greatest challenge of their life: hunting and killing the animal of their dreams.

View trailer, clips, and learn more at:
www.theharvestmovie.com
www.facebook.com/theharvestmovie
http://kck.st/eifcyN

Anyway, with the Christmas season rolling in, and as we sit back and take accounting of the blessings of the past year, it’s a great reminder that there are organizations and people out there who could use a little extra blessing themselves.  And if you’re looking for a charitable organization for your Christmas gift this year… Hunt of a Lifetime is definitely worth consideration. 

Also, it looks like the filmmakers putting this film together could use a patron or two as well.  Check out the links above, view the trailer, and when this film comes around, get out and see it.  If you’re interested in helping to bring this film to fruition, there’s a link up there where you can be a part of that as well.

A few months back, I wrote about an opportunity for hunters to show their conservation roots and experience a rare chance to hunt the Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s elk.  The big picture is to reduce the herd significantly with volunteer hunters.   This first season, the target is 275 elk. 

The hunts are underway, and it looks like things are going pretty well, at least as I have read in this article from the Bismark Tribune.  It’s not an easy hunt, apparently, and the participants have to be willing and able to pass the tests both of hunting skills and marksmanship, as well as of the rugged Badlands environment. 

It looks like the effort will be ongoing for a couple of years.  Check out my last post on this topic for details, and if you’re interested, it would be worthwhile to contact the good folks in North Dakota and get yourself added to the list.   It’s a great opportunity to make your hunting count for more than just a personal experience.

Big thanks to my friend, Jim Petterson from the National Park Service for the heads up and early info on this.

Our self-proclaimed “friends” at the Sierra Club have reached a new low… or is it a new high? 

(Thanks to the good folks at Field and Stream’s Field Notes blog for getting my blood pressure up this morning.)

Apparently they’re concerned about the ecological disaster looming in the woods as bear hunters’ hounds do their doody on the trail.  According to this article in the Visalia Times-Delta, the fear is that the dog poo will somehow spread death and disease to “endangered” species in the forest.

Earlier this month, Richard Garcia, an executive member of the Kern-Kaweah Chapter of the Sierra Club, asked the Tulare County Board of Supervisors to support his group’s efforts to persuade the California Fish and Game Commission to change bear-hunting rules in the state. They want hunters to keep their dogs on leashes at all times and to remove their dogs’ feces from hunting areas.

Dogs and their feces, which can spread disease, threaten such animals as the Pacific fisher, American marten and California wolverine — all members of the weasel-ferret family — and the Sierra Nevada red fox, Garcia said.

“The problem is, we have some animals in our local national forest that are on the brink of extinction,” he told supervisors.

I’m sorry, Mr. Garcia, but the problem animals aren’t the ones running around on four legs.  It’s morons on two legs we, the wildlife, and the environment, have to worry about. 

Let’s be honest here.  This isn’t about saving endangered species or stopping the spread of disease (even ignoring for a moment, the fact that good hounds can be pretty expensive, and most houndsmen take pains to keep them disease free).  It’s about harassing hunters by attacking legitimate hunting practices.  It’s about using spurious claims and ignorant speculation to restrict an activity with which these Sierra Clubbers disagree. 

In the interest of full disclosure, only one chapter of the Sierra Club is currently engaged in this discussion. The national chapter doesn’t appear to be involved, which may indicate that some level of intelligence still functions in the organization. 

(A side note:  I’ll never forget the little gang of Sierra Club hikers I encountered on a horse ride in the East Bay hills.  My horse, as horses do, unloaded her bowels along the trail as the group was approaching.  One or two gingerly stepped around it, but another stopped and glared indignantly at me.  “Are you going to clean that up,” he queried?

“As soon as someone cleans up behind the cattle and coyotes,” I replied. 

He glared.  I glared.  And away he huffed.)