The BP Gulf Oil spill is not something we will soon forget and while the area has made great strides in recovery there is still a ways to go. BP and some of the other companies involved have paid fines and penalties to the federal government which one would expect would be used to restore the area back to how it should be but if we (and I mean You and I) don’t speak up that money is going to be dumped in some Washington government sewer to never be seen again.

The damage from the oil spill was done in the Gulf, so Congress should ensure that oil spill fines go to the Gulf, not to unrelated federal spending.
This Gulf state agreement paves the way for Congress to do what voters expect: hold the parties responsible for the Gulf oil disaster accountable for restoring the Gulf because our nation’s economy depends on a healthy Gulf.

As sportsman we need to speak up because the gulf is an important region for us as wintering grounds for many birds as well as the fish and seafood we get from the gulf. So take some time and send an email or make a phone call….its important.

Andrew & his roommate “diehardhunter” with a 317lb feral hog

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is conducting public meetings next month to hear public comments about opening up year round night hunting on both hogs and coyotes.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is inviting the public to comment on proposed rules that will allow the hunting of feral swine and coyotes at night with a light.
The proposed seasons would be year-round, and would allow the hunting of feral swine and coyotes on Sundays on private lands with archery equipment. Night hunting is one means of controlling the population of coyotes and feral swine, both of which are non-native to North Carolina.
The public can comment online, email regulations@ncwildlife.org or attend one of the following five public hearings across the state, which will begin at 7 p.m.

March 20, Iredell County Agricultural Extension Center, 444 Bristol Dr. Statesville, N.C.
March 21, District Court #1, Buncombe County Courthouse, 60 Court Plaza Asheville, N.C.
March 26, Bladen County Courthouse, 106 W. Broad Street, Elizabethtown, N.C.
March 28, Room 153, Fulford Building, Pitt Community College, 4381 County Home Rd., Greenville, N.C.
March 29, Centennial Campus Center for Wildlife Education, 1751 Varsity Dr., Raleigh, N.C.

I’m glad to see that the proposal is to allow year round night hunting of these species cause we really don’t need them to get strongly established in this state and hunting at night is one of the most productive methods. So please weigh in and let Wildlife know this is a pretty good idea.

Elk in GSMNP are still accesable despite the slide

As I reported earlier today a rock slide overnight has closed a section of I40 on the Tn/NC border inside of Tennessee. The slide deposited large boulders in the breakdown lane on the westbound side and there is still a potential more rocks will slide. Tennessee officials have brought in geologists to study the situation and develop a plan to stabilize the rocky face and remove the slide rocks and reopen the road. While a timeline has not been set speculation is this will be more a matter of weeks as opposed to the last time when it took 6 months to reopen the road. The east bound lane remains open.

“It doesn’t look anywhere near as extensive as the major rock slides years ago,” said Mark Nagi, a community relations officer for Tennessee DOT.

It is unclear what or how big an effect the rockslide will have on businesses in Haywood County.

“That is just something that we can’t answer at this point in time,” said CeCe Hipps, president of the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce. “Hopefully, this will not have a big effect on business in Haywood County.”

For now, county tourism leaders are spreading the word that Interstate 40 is still open near Waynesville, Maggie Valley, Canton and Clyde.

“We are just thinking how to keep the doors open,” Hipps said.

The Haywood County and Maggie chambers and the Tourism Development Authority have emailed businesses and posted information on their websites about the slide and encouraged visitors not to cancel their plans.

“We want to make sure that people are not deterred,” Hipps said.

Smoky Mountain News

With a much milder winter this year now is a good time to beat the crowds in the Cataloochee Valley and see the elk. This is one of my favorite places in North Carolina to go and relax if you’ve never been you need to go check this place out.

A rock slide this time on the Tennessee side of the border has closed sections of I 40 in North Carolina and Tennessee.

Asheville, N.C. — The North Carolina Department of Transportation closed westbound Interstate 40 in Haywood County on Tuesday morning following a rock slide in Tennessee.

The interstate is expected to be closed for at least two weeks as crews clear the debris from the roadway and stabilize other rocks to prevent similar slides.

Westbound drivers need to take the following detour: Exit at westbound Interstate 240 (Exit 53B) in Asheville and head to Interstate 26 West (Exit 4A). Then, follow I-26 to Interstate 81 South (Exit 8A) in Tennessee and back to I-40.

Eastbound traffic isn’t affected by the rock slide.

A rock slide west of Asheville in late 2009 closed I-40 for about six months.

WRAL News

This mountainous section of the state is pron to rock slides and hopefully they can clear it quickly. This is important travel route for commerce as well as outdoor types looking to access Great Smokey Mountain National Park and other high interest locations. We’ll continue to follow this story as it develops

This past Sunday 60 Minutes did a story about how many extinct or nearly extinct exotic game animals are thriving on game ranches in Texas. Why are they thriving? Because they are valuable to hunters who want the opportunity to hunt them and will pay ranchers for that opportunity. Of course the anti wacko’s are working to end this practice which would be the demise of many of these animals. A rancher needs to be able to make a living and raising critters that no longer have a monetary value to him isn’t going to happen for long. As long as they can sell some hunts these herds will flourish and thrive take that away and they will die off. The wacko’s show how crazy and logical they are when they argue against allowing these game ranches to continue.

The case for hunting and the standard of fair chase

Restoring these animals to their native lands….hunting and hunters help fund these efforts.

The full 60 Min Story (note this is a lengthy clip and on some pc’s may take a while to load)

Animals die everyday whether of old age, disease, hunting by humans, hunting by another animal, and countless other ways. Life is sustained only through the death of another living thing be it a pod of peas being eating in a stir fry at an unscaled restaurant or a wolf munching on a moose calf in the Alaskan tundra. The Circle of Life. The wackos can oppose this all they want but they can’t stop it.

Paw Print Kill Stickers cause uproar

Animal Rights groups that oppose any type of wolf control that includes the killing of the wolf pushed an old issue this week to stir controversy over aerial control. Photo taken 5 years ago showing the use of a “kill sticker”, like used by fighter pilot aces during WWII, surfaced this week. The use of such stickers was banned a few years ago because they could be viewed as offensive by some people. While it sounds ridiculous for anyone to even care about such a trivial issue the government still felt compelled to issue an apology.

This is much to do about nothing but it does show us how far astray we have become when an apology gets issued for something as dumb and useless as this.

NCWRC sent out a notice for hunters to be on the look out for deer suffering from hemorrhagic disease.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is alerting hunters that they may encounter sick or diseased deer afflicted with hemorrhagic disease. Two closely related viruses — epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) virus and bluetongue virus — cause hemorrhagic disease and both are spread by biting flies, called midges.

The Commission is asking hunters to report any sightings of the disease, which has no human health implications but is one of the most significant infectious diseases of white-tailed deer in North Carolina. Hemorrhagic disease should not be confused with Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), which is a distinctly different disease that occurs in members of the deer family. Extensive monitoring since 1999 has yielded no evidence of CWD in North Carolina and strict regulations are in place to prevent the introduction of this disease.

Symptoms of hemorrhagic disease in deer vary widely. Some diseased animals will exhibit no symptoms. Some may appear bloated, very thin and weak, while others suffering from the disease for longer duration may drastically lose weight. They also may have foot, mouth and internal lesions. High fever associated with the disease can make deer thirsty, so dead and dying deer are often found near water. Hunters may observe cracked or sloughing hooves on harvested deer, which is another classic symptom of the disease.

We had a break out a few years ago in Caswell County where I hunt and it knocked down our deer population for a few years. We found a number of dead deer concentrated around water sources.

To report sightings of symptomatic deer, or dead and dying deer, contact the Division of Wildlife Management at (919) 707-0050 or wrccomments@ncwildlife.org.

When people report sightings, it allows Commission biologists to determine what areas of the state are experiencing outbreaks and the extent of those outbreaks. It also gives biologists opportunities to obtain tissue and blood samples for virus isolation by veterinarians at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study (SCWDS) in Athens, Ga. Reported occurrences are summarized annually and sent to SCWDS where the occurrence and outbreak extent is monitored collectively for all states.

Commission biologists have observed outbreaks of the disease this year in deer across North Carolina — the most prevalent in the northeastern part of the state in and around Halifax, Edgecombe, Northampton, Bertie and Gates counties. Evidence of the disease also was documented in the western part of the state in Cherokee and Yancey counties.

The disease does not pose a threat to humans so hunters should not be concerned about any potential exposure.

With mounting litter at Grand Canyon National Park a plan was developed to ban plastic bottles (that accounts for 30% of the litter) was side tracked after Coke-Cola weighs in. At last that is what it looks like even though both sides deny it.

A plan to ban the sale of plastic water bottles at the Grand Canyon was scrapped after talks with Coca-Cola, which is a donor to the national parks system and a bottled water distributor, a former park superintendent who worked on the plan said.
However, National Park Service spokesman Dave Barna said Thursday the plug was pulled on the ban after the agency’s director determined it wouldn’t solve the littering problem at the popular tourist spot and that the plan needed more work.

The Coca-Cola Co. was not the leading factor in the decision to dump the plan two weeks ahead of its scheduled Jan. 1, 2011,[sic wrong year 2012] start, Barna said. Coca-Cola also denied trying to influence the decision.

MSNBC

I guess the fact that Coke donates significant money to the National Parks to the tune of 14 million wasn’t a factor.

I enjoy the National Parks and have been to Grand Canyon a number of time. The general conditions of our National Parks is pretty strained with bad roads outdated facilities etc. so private donations are pretty important. I also never understand why people feel like the world is their trashcan just dumping litter where ever.
There is no doubt a plan needs to be come up with that balances visitors needs as well as the impact on the environment. I would suggest strict enforcement and stiff fines for those who litter in a park. As far as trashcans and recycle bins it seems to be ample ones within the park. We always carry our stuff out if we are hiking or if we are riding we keep it in our car till we get to a location to properly dispose of the litter. Common sense and proper behavior suggests everyone should do this but we all know that is never the case.

No matter what the reason for putting this rule aside a better solution needs to be developed because the size of the park makes it almost a necessity for these products to be offered for sale within the park.

Grand Canyon in Winter Photo by Moose

Taking a few days off for hunting I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the deer stand and I had my camera with me. The following are some of the shots I got.

Wild turkey population looks to be healthy

Corn popular bait and supplemental feed for deer across the state

The town of Carrboro in an effort to control deer has banned supplemental feeding of them in an effort to reduce their numbers.

The feeding ban comes in response to concerns about the town’s growing deer population and the effect on landscaping, gardens and public safety. The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission estimates Orange County has 30 to 44 deer per square mile.

The new ordinance prohibits residents from placing fruits, vegetables, salt and other materials outdoors on public or private property to feed or attract deer. The law does not apply to natural vegetation, crops or feeders used for domestic animals or livestock. The town will give violators 48 hours to remove illegal food or feeding devices before levying a $25 fine.

Read more: http://blogs.newsobserver.com/orangechat/carrboro-bans-deer-feeding#ixzz1chUMoba9

While banning feeding may help as a long term effort the deer population needs to be dropped a bit quicker and hunting is the most cost effective way to do that. There is a group urging town lawmakers to do just that but given the political leanings of Carrboro I’ll be surprised if that flies. Bow hunting is safe and very effective method to kill deer and can be used safely in urban areas.

Then again with no supplemental feeding it will take a long time for the deer to starve to death cause I’m sure landowners are going to keep replacing bushes and flowers that the deer eat.