Bushmaster closing Windham plant

The firearms maker, which is based in Windham and employs 73, will shut down next March.

By J. Hemmerdinger jhemmerdinger@pressherald.com
Reporter

Four years after being acquired by a private equity firm, Bushmaster Firearms International plans to close its manufacturing plant in Windham, effective March 31.


The firearms manufacturer, which was founded in 1973 and is based in Windham, employs 73 workers in Maine.

A media release from Madison, N.C.-based Freedom Group Inc., Bushmaster's parent company, said the Windham plant's staff will be given "comprehensive severance packages" and assistance in finding new jobs.

Freedom Group will retain the Bushmaster brand but move the manufacturing of products now made in Windham to other facilities. Freedom Group owns other firearms manufacturers, including Remington Arms Co., Dakota Arms Cos., Parker Gunmakers, H&R 1871 and Marlin Firearms.

Members of Maine's congressional delegation called the closure a blow to the Windham community.

"The workers of that company have earned an international reputation for the quality of their work ... It's very disappointing to see them cut out of the respected brand they have worked so hard to build," said Rep. Chellie Pingree in a prepared statement.
A statement from the offices of Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins said Bushmaster "has provided good jobs to workers in the Windham area, and the facility's closure will be a great economic loss to southern Maine."

Bushmaster makes short-barreled and long-barreled rifles, including the M16 military rifle and the related AR15. Those models are used by law enforcement agencies, private security firms and the militaries of 50 countries.

Bushmaster guns are made from aluminum and advanced carbon fiber and are used for hunting, recreational and competition shooting and home defense, according to the company's website.

Bushmaster made news in August, when R.J. Grondin & Sons proposed building an enclosed firing range at its quarry in Windham for weapons testing by Bushmaster. The proposal followed months of complaints by residents about noise from high-power weapons testing at the quarry.

Bushmaster was acquired in April 2006 by the New York City-based private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, which also acquired Remington, DPMS and Marlin from 2006 to 2008.

All were placed under the ownership of Freedom Group, a company owned by Cerberus.

In a 2009 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said the acquisitions were intended to create "the world's leading firearms and ammunition company."

Jonathan Hemmerdinger can be reached at 791-6316 or at:
jhemmerdinger @mainetoday.com

http://www.pressherald.com/news/bushmaster-closing-windham-plant_2010-12-11.html

The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

Sarah Palin hunting: Why the world shakes when she shoots a caribou

Sarah Palin hunting: Some commentators see a political commentary in Sarah Palin hunting caribou on 'Sarah Palin's Alaska,' calling the caribou, 'Obambi.' Others see animal cruelty. To hunters, though, the furor shows that urban America doesn't understand rural life.

 

By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer
posted December 9, 2010 at 5:04 pm EST

Atlanta —

A caribou peeks over a ridge in the north Alaskan tundra. Shots ring out, the animal collapses.

 

It's a familiar scene on cable hunting shows, but this time, with Sarah Palin hitting the target on the widely watched TLC program, "Sarah Palin's Alaska," the kill shot became so much more. A "snuff film," fumed Hollywood producer Aaron Sorkin. "An allegory for politics" with "Obambi" representing "the elegant animal standing above the fray," posits The New York Times' Maureen Dowd.

The scenes playing out on "Sarah Palin's Alaska" – including her clubbing a large halibut, per common fishing practice – have goaded liberals to attack the former vice presidential candidate for exploiting animals for her own political purposes. But they also raise a deeper question: how much do urban and rural America – blue and red America – understand each other, or even want to?

The rural-urban divide on issues of conservation and hunting "is an interesting sociological experiment you're watching, the unfolding of a real debate going on," says Gary Lawson, a spokesman for US Sportsmen's Alliance, a pro-hunting group.

The idea that hunting and a pioneer mentality is morally wrong "is a mindset that's gaining in currency as people move to the cities and try to impose new ideas on top of ideas that have been tried and true historically for as long as can ever be remembered."

In that light, adds Lawson, "Palin has almost become a Rorschach test for how people feel about different kinds of cultural issues, which are often founded in the differences between where people live."

Mr. Sorkin's statement that Palin's caribou shot was akin to NFL quarterback Michael Vick killing dogs showed that ideas about husbandry have changed dramatically in the US.

Though surely aware she'd face attacks for the segment, Palin seemed perplexed by someone with Sorkin's weighty pop culture influence – he most recently wrote the screenplay for "The Social Network," a movie about Facebook – drawing a parallel between hunting and dog fighting.

“So a left-wing Hollywood producer thinks there is no ‘distinction’ between harvesting healthy, wild organic protein to feed my family and engaging in dog fighting?” Palin wrote in an e-mail to the Associated Press. “I didn’t know anyone ate dogs, tanned the hides, and made boots out of them.”

Yet even some hunting defenders say Sorkin missed the opportunity for a more substantial critique of Palin's tundra hunt.

"She repeatedly missed a standing caribou; her father had to work her gun's action; and she acted like she was along for the ride," writes the Guardian's Craig Dougherty. "She is a beginner at best, which is fine – unless you portray yourself as something else. And Palin does. Americans are suspicious of pretenders, especially when they are talking about being the leader of the free world."

But beyond being a TV show led by a potential presidential candidate, the issues raised by "Sarah Palin's Alaska" do resonate more broadly in an America teetering politically – see "tea party" – between rural and urban values. In Ms. Dowd's eyes, the gun-toting Palin's hailing of "mama grizzlies" and rural "pioneer women" poses a direct threat to political and cultural enlightenment.

"Even with a rifle aimed at him, [Obama as the caribou is] trying to be the most reasonable mammal in the scene, mammalian bipartisan, and rise above what he sees as empty distinctions between the species so that we can all unite at a higher level of being," writes Dowd. "[T]rigger-happy Sarah represents the Republicans, who have spent two years taking shots at the president, including potshots, and tormenting him in an effort to bring him down."

To be sure, the flap over Palin's caribou shot may ultimately be more about her polarizing persona and the fact that the show is aired on a network that usually doesn't feature animal bloodshed.

After all, 78 percent of Americans support hunting, according to a 2006 poll by Responsive Management, which carries out research for universities and state natural-resource agencies. But hunting groups are aware that that support is shifting as Americans leave the heartland for more urban and suburban destinations.

"There are so many dramatic changes in terms of the demography that just allowing people this window to see that this is a legitimate lifestyle is a good thing," says Mr. Lawson. "At the same time, you run the risk of shooting the messenger."

http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/348653

Ky. Ponders Deer Hunts at Parks to Raise Revenue

Humane Society opposes plan to allow hunters who stay in state parks to shoot deer

The Associated Press
By ROGER ALFORD Associated Press

FRANKFORT, Ky. December 9, 2010 (AP)

Political leaders in cash-strapped Kentucky are proposing winter getaway packages for hunters that would allow them to shoot deer at publicly owned parks to raise money for state government.

Tourism Secretary Marcheta Sparrow said such a move could generate cash during a time of year when traditional tourists tend to stay home. Some hunting is already allowed in the parks to manage deer populations.

The proposal drew quick opposition from The Humane Society of the United States.

"We think it's a travesty, because state parks are one of the few safe havens left, not just for animals but for people who enjoy watching wildlife," said Laura Simon, the Humane Society's field director for urban wildlife.

Sparrow briefed the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission on the proposal last week. The cost for the proposed hunting getaways hasn't yet been determined.

"We think it's a good opportunity to build a new constituency," she said.

Sparrow said the parks are closed Sunday afternoons through midday Wednesday during the winter months, and that it would be during those periods that hunters would be invited in.

"We're working as hard as we can do develop any market we can," she said.

Kentucky, like other states, has been wrestling with financial problems brought on by the economic recession. State revenue has fallen by some $2 billion in the past three years, prompting widespread cuts in government agencies and programs.

Sparrow has been exploring ways to cut costs, including privatizing some park operations to help offset the budget shortfall.

Simon said the hunting packages are a bad idea.

"We're seeing a big push in other states to open up more public land to hunting, but the package deals being proposed in Kentucky are unique and push the envelope even further," Simon said. "We don't think this is an appropriate use of state lands, to open them up for hunting for the primary purpose of filling state coffers."

State tourism spokesman Gil Lawson said deer hunting isn't new to the park system. The state routinely schedules quota hunts to manage the size of deer herds. Next month, hunters will be used to thin herds at Greenbo, Green River and Lake Barkley state parks.

"These all relate to overpopulation of deer," Lawson said.

The proposed deer hunting packages, Lawson said, would also be geared toward controlling deer populations, and would be available only in a handful of the 15 parks that have cabins and cottages.

"They're destroying habitat, and they could face starvation and disease, and so we see this as a herd management tool as well as to help state parks gain some business," he said.

Simon dismissed that argument, calling it "terribly flawed."

"We are not seeing starvation," she said. "Deer are doing really, really well."

What's worse, Simon said, is that the park deer likely won't know to run from hunters.

"They do become habituated, and there's certainly no sport in shooting them," she said. "You've got tame deer, and they're sitting ducks for hunters. They'll come running right up to them, practically."

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/wireStory?id=12353831

Hunting expert grades Sarah Palin’s shooting skills

From ANI
Washington, Dec 9: Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s shooting skills have been a hot topic after it took a few shots for her to hit a caribou.

Palin, her father Chuck Heath and a family friend were featured in the fourth episode of “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” as they headed above the Arctic Circle to go caribou hunting.

And while some have joked about her shooting skills, her supporters have jumped to her defense, pointing out that the gun she was using at first was off.

Now Nick Seifert, a sportsman and conservation advocate who hosted the “Straight Shooting” segment of “American Gun Dog” for five seasons and had a 12-year career with Field and Stream and Outdoor Life magazines, has been roped in to give his expert opinion.

“Technically, it wasn’t perfect, but to me it seemed honest. Unlike a lot of shows that cut everything out, that was a fairly honest hunt,” the Politico quoted Seifert as saying.

As for what was technically off, Seifert said Palin “shot a lot of times, it’s hard to say what kind of shot she is”. But he noted that Palin “had a good rest, she was calm and she squeezed the trigger”.

On how often Palin hunts, Seifert said that she struck him as the kind of person who does not hunt every weekend.

Palin also took heat for the questions she asked her father about the gun kicking and when to shoot, but Seifert said that he has heard experienced hunters ask similar questions, as they do not want to injure the animal.

Another big criticism of Palin’s hunt was that the caribou did not move when she shot, even though she missed a few times. Could it have been an editing room trick or did the caribou really stand there?

“That was a young caribou. I hate to say it, but caribou are some of the dumbest animals,” Seifert said.

Seifert’s biggest criticism of the Palin hunt was that she should not have shot when the animal was on the horizon.

“You need to know where your backstop is. The bullet could go a little bit further. It’s not like they’re going to hit a house, but by the strictest rule, that’s something you shouldn’t do,” he added.

His conclusion of the hunt is that it was realistic and honest.
Copyright Asian News International/DailyIndia.com
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/413272.php

New Jersey Hunt Kills Record Amount of Bears
Written by TGB Staff

Speaking of bad news bear, New Jersey’s potentially annual bear hunt, which began on December 6th, has broken the record for bears killed in a single day. After the first day of the hunt, 264 bears had been killed and as of day 2, that number has climbed to 341 – already more than the total from the last hunt, which killed 297 bears over 6-days in 2005. To make matters worse, the need to cull the bear population is now in question.

The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife estimated that the state bear population has risen to 3,400 bears, and that the only way to deal with the population and to protect the people was to open a hunt. Their goal was to cull the population by 300-400 bears, but after two days, it is now estimated that 700+ bears could be killed.

Somewhat troubling is that one of the first bears to be killed was shot just one hour after the hunt opened – by an 11-year old child. Little Christian Davidson killed a 3 ½ year old female bear, and, along with his dad and uncle, brought the 200 pound bear to a taxidermist to stuff. (yuk)

More troubling is that some hunters are keen to kill the bears because they are tired of seeing them in their yards. Hunter Daniel Smith said of his target, "I’m tired of seeing him on my front steps," and nicknamed him "’Carpet,’ because I’m hoping that’s what he’s going to be."

But the most troubling report comes from NBC New York. The former Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Mark Mauriello told NBC New York that he wasn’t sure if the science behind the decision to hold the hunt was accurate.

His reason: New Jersey didn’t so much count the population of bears to arrive at the conclusion that there was a population problem. Instead, they counted the number of unconfirmed bear sightings that the people of the garden state called in and reported.

"I'm not a hunter, I'm hunting neutral," Muriello said on the second day of the hunt. While admitting that he did believe hunting could be a “reasonable tool,” he questions whether the hunt is based on facts or faulty reports of bear sighting.

In a state that is notorious for big hair on women and bear like hair all over the men, certainly some form of bear sighting confirmation should be made before assuming that the hairy thing crossing the street by the nail salon was a bear, and not just someone’s husband, right? We’re talking about Jersey here. JERSEY!

We are quite disappointed by this whole tragic event. And not just about the potentially bad science used or the teaching of hunting to children. We admit that we're also disappointed by the quality of the protester’s signs, which read “Mother Nature is Crying.” Come on, people, you have to do better than that if you want to make a statement.

Incidentally, there has been one recorded killing of a person in New Jersey by a bear. Of course, it happened in 1870 … Clearly, the beasts need to be gunned down.

http://www.tinygreenbubble.com/animal-rights/item/1207-new-jersey-hunt-kills-record-amount-of-bears

Sandhill Crane Comments: The Silence is Deafening (and Response -2)
Editorial Opinion
by Richard Simms
posted December 7, 2010

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_190009.asp

Editorial Opinion of Richard Simms, Chattanoogan.com Outdoors Editor

Insiders say the discussion and feedback regarding a proposed hunting season for sandhill cranes in Tennessee is surprisingly silent, especially among the hunting community.

Meanwhile Tennessee Wildlife Commissioners who will ultimately vote "Yea" or "Nay" on the hunting season are hearing from folks who are opposed to the season.

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Region III Manager John Mayer said, "Personally I’ve not been hearing anything (regarding the hunting season proposal). I understand that commissioners are hearing a lot from the opposition. What concerns me is that if everyone doesn’t share their opinion. I don’t want anybody sitting back and thinking someone else is going to talk for them."

It is not surprising that the non-consumptive community seems to be speaking out the loudest. In virtually any situation in life, the folks who perceive they are about to "lose" something are the ones who protest the loudest, while those who stand to gain something stand mum.

The birdwatching community perceives a huge loss. For decades the tens of thousands of sandhill cranes that winter on the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in Meigs County have been the focus of a massive wildlife education and tourism campaign. The "Sandhill Crane Days" have been one of the most successful non-consumptive wildlife gatherings I've ever witnessed.

Click HERE to listen to the haunting "trill" of sandhill cranes.

The TWRA, along with birdwatching and tourism groups, has helped spearhead and build the effort that's received widespread recognition.

And now the birdwatchers feel blindsided by TWRA's proposal to establish a limited hunting season for the cranes. Under the proposal hunting would not be allowed on the Hiwassee Refuge. However the birders are concerned that any hunting in the area will discourage the sandhills from "stopping over" at Hiwassee during their winter migration.

TWRA officials say that's doubtful and that their hunting proposal is on the very "conservative" side. TWRA Waterfowl Biologist Tim White says the U.S. Fish & Wildlife guidelines provide for a maximum annual harvest of 10 percent of the flyway population. He says that would equal about 6,000 cranes taken each year.

He says however TWRA is only proposing 733 permits with a maximum of three cranes each, totaling 2,199 cranes. And he says normally he would expect a mere 25 percent success rate, totalling about 550 cranes taken by hunters, which are said to make excellent table fare. That is about 1 percent of the nearly 50,000 sandhill cranes that wintered on the Hiwassee Refuge last year.

The birdwatchers also express concern that hunters might inadvertantly take endangered whooping cranes that also migrate through the area in small numbers following a federal re-introduction effort several years ago.

White counters that he believes it is unlikely and that the initial guidelines of the whooping crane re-introduction specifically spelled out that the effort could never interfere or halt any hunting within the area of re-introduction.

Hunters complain that the sandhill cranes have taken over what is intended to be a refuge for ducks and geese, literally running the ducks and geese off through over-competition.

Birdwatchers say, "So what?" It's a wildlife refuge and it should be up to the wildlife to determine what seeks "refuge" there. Not us.

Hunters say, "But we pay a lot of money for that refuge while the birdwatchers contribute absolutely nothing."

It is a never-ending tit-for-tat. In every discussion I've had with either side, each can counter any statement made by the opposition.

Here is the way I see it.

Do I want to hunt sandhill cranes?

Not really. But if it is biologically sound, I believe I should have the right to whether I actually do it or not.

In Tennessee the birdwatching community thrives and they "watch" lots of the same birds I could hunt ... ducks, geese, dove, quail, grouse, turkeys, woodcock, snipe, and English sparrows (yes, there is a hunting season for English sparrows). So why not sandhill cranes?

On the other hand I think TWRA has shot itself (or potential sandhill crane hunters) in the foot by working tirelessly for decades to encourage a very special, and highly-successful, wildlife observation opportunity through the Sandhill Crane Days. They have introduced literally thousands and thousands of non-hunters to the beauty and joys of a unique wildlife species, creating a huge "Sandhill Crane Fan Base." And then they say, "Now we want to shoot them."

I'm not surprised that wildlife commissioners might be receiving some nasty letters.

With the exception of an excellent web page providing information, elements of TWRA's education effort about the proposal have been less-than-organized. At one point TWRA posted a simple, single-question online survey asking, "Are you for a sandhill crane hunting season? Yes or No." However after a few days, for unknown reasons, the survey was shut down with no results tabulated.

Hmmm?

So if I actually had a vote.... how would I vote?

I'm a hunter and I'm a serious supporter of the rights of hunters. But in this case I've heard from virtually no one in my personal hunting network who is just dying to go sandhill crane hunting. My perception is that most are like me... a few hundred hunters who simply want "the right" to hunt sandhills whether they actually do it or not.

On the other hand I see thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of non-hunters who have come to love the cranes, and as a result they have a far greater appreciation for wildlife in general... and if we all work together rather than squaring off in our opposite corners, we can accomplish great things in the future.

Therefore, I believe in this case, as a hunter, I am willing to surrender the sandhill crane battle in hopes the two sides can ultimately join hands and win the war. I need someone to convince me otherwise.

SIDEBAR: I do wish however, the non-consumptive community would help pay for it all.

Hunters should never believe that our licenses "buy us the right to hunt." Our licenses buy us the opportunity to protect and enhance all wildlife populations... the ones we hunt and the ones we don't.

The non-hunters should be doing the same... and they aren't.

Your Opinion?

Do you have an opinion?

If so, first e-mail it to TWRA. The deadline for doing so is January 19, 2011.

Then if you want it posted here, e-mail it Richard Simms... preferably 250 words or less. Include your name and city.

Critics Take Shots at Sarah Palin’s Hunting Skills

 

Sarah Palin took shots at a caribou on her TLC reality show; now critics are taking aim at Palin’s hunting skills. A piece on the Awl pointed out several rookie mistakes that Palin apparently made during a hunting trip with her father that she filmed for “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” Among them was Palin’s failure to sight her rifle before shooting and not personally loading shells into the gun she used. PETA is predictably responding negatively to the hunting footage as well.

Palin’s performance as a hunter — she missed several times before killing the animal and was heavily coached through the process by her father — would likely not be an issue if she hadn’t touted her hunting experience in previous interviews.
Any readers of Speakeasy who hunt, help us out. Is Palin a Natural Born Killer or do her hunting abilities need honing?

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/12/07/critics-take-shots-at-sarah-palins-hunting-skills/tab/print/

Posted at 12:53 PM ET, 12/ 6/2010

The hunting and the snark -- Sarah Palin shoots caribou. I'm unimpressed.

By Alexandra Petri

(The Palin Family, Gilles Mingasson/Getty Images)
Oscar Wilde called "the English country gentleman galloping after a fox -- the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable." I am not calling Sarah Palin "unspeakable," or the apparently "tiny" -- according to Piper Palin -- caribou she shot "uneatable," but who knows what Wilde would have done had he been in my position.

I apologize for writing about Sarah Palin again. But Sarah Palin's Alaska is like a serialized TLC version of The Ring. If you watch it, it consumes you from within unless you pass it on to others.

Besides, this week Sarah Palin shot a caribou. I don't know much about the size of caribou, other than what I've learned from playing Buck Hunter, but Piper Palin seems unimpressed, and Piper would know. I like Piper. She is a straight shooter, unlike, apparently, her mother -- who claims that it was some sort of problem with the sights.

But hunting is a peculiar pastime. It's the true oldest profession, the one thing that binds cavemen, English gentry, and the protagonists of the TLC series Bama Belles. Hunting is a Lifestyle Sport, a pursuit that comes with its own noun. You don't hunt. You are a Hunter. Only a few other activities fall into this category -- there are Runners and Cyclists, Swimmers and Tree-Huggers. But play basketball in your spare time, and you aren't a basketball player. What you probably are is President Obama.

Hunting reminds you of your place on the great scale of being. If you aren't the Hunter, you're the Hunted, unless you're The Camera Crew or The Guy Who Got Out Of His Car To Relieve Himself And Wound Up In The Middle Of This.

Personally, I know little about hunting. I blame this on having read "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers at a young age and getting the notion that hunting was supposed to involve naturalism and squalor and wistfulness and some confusing anecdotes about deaf-mutes. To me, dressing an elk means putting it in a sweater. I once went skeet shooting and barely managed to wound the skeet. Have you ever been charged at by a wounded skeet, half-mad and blind with pain? It's an experience.

The closest I've come to the full flavor of the hunt is the day I spent wandering around Manhattan without a cell phone. I have to assume this is fundamentally the same: at the end of the day I was sweaty and uncomfortable, my feet ached, and I had strong opinions about the Second Amendment. I also had to wrestle an elk to death, but that was just because I wound up at a trendy restaurant on the Lower East Side that specialized in "DIY raw food."

Still, watching Sarah Palin and a woman she described as the authentic Mama Grizzly, out in the wilderness supporting themselves with their rifles, I began to worry. The real Mama Grizzly lived alone in a place where her nearest neighbors were 120 miles to the northeast. This woman had been bitten by a bear! She had sewn her own head back together! It was only when Sarah Palin's plane floated up into the sky that she began to cry and cry. "When Sarah, Chuck, and Becker leave, I won't be seeing anybody for nine months," she said. "It's very hard to see your friends leave." Sarah Palin was the only person she'd seen in nine months? Who did she think she was, the mainstream media?

Still, as I watched Sarah dress the tiny caribou, I began to be terrified. (Piper: "It reeks! What is that, Grandpa?" Grandpa: "That's a tiny caribou. Your mom shot a tiny one.") Had I gone soft?

If someone left me out in the wild for three days, I would be completely unable to defend myself. My only hope would be that a caribou had recently gone through a bad breakup that left it emotionally vulnerable, and that I could maybe get close enough to fatally depress it with my general demeanor. Something similar seemed to have happened to Sarah Palin's caribou, which just stood there as she fired off round after round. "There's another shot!" it seemed to think. "Ah, life! I suppose I could move to the left. Ah, death! She couldn't hit an elephant at this distance! Sunrise, sunset!"

It's not that I don't hunt. I'm not a vegetarian -- which, according to a bumper sticker glimpsed on the series, is an old Indian word for bad hunter. I have been job-hunting, bargain-hunting, and apartment-hunting. I played Oregon Trail for years and shot a lot of pixelated squirrels, moose, and bears, but I could never carry more than 200 pounds of food back to the wagon. Sometimes I have difficulty finding words in the dictionary because they wade through streams of silent consonants to throw me off their tracks. That's got to count for something! And apartments can be very dangerous if you only manage to wound them.

Does this make me any less a Mama Grizzly? Probably.

Still, being a writer is something like being a hunter. It's a solitary craft with its own attached noun. Flaubert used to sit at his desk for hours staking out "le mot juste"; the right phrase can be as elusive and deadly as a white wolf. And sometimes you can sit there for hours tramping through the muck and all you manage to hunt down is an undersized caribou.

And Sarah Palin is a challenging quarry. Do you rain epithets at her and hope she startles and heads for cover? Or do you bide your time and then, when the moment comes, go for the jugular? I can't tell. And no one else seems to be able to either.
Maybe we've found the most dangerous game. And next week she's camping with Kate Gosselin.

By Alexandra Petri  | December 6, 2010; 12:53 PM ET

The Record: The hunt is on

Monday, December 6, 2010

The Record

http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/111366349_The_hunt_is_on.html

 

THERE are some issues that straddle chasms of opinion so wide, no amount of debate will end in agreement. Hunting is one of those issues.

Today, a six-day bear hunt is set to begin in New Jersey's northwest corner, an area north of Route 78 and west of Route 287 that includes parts of Bergen, Passaic and Morris counties. Licensed hunters using shotgun slugs and muzzle-loading rifles will be allowed to kill one bear apiece, while hunters elsewhere are pursuing deer.
It is the first bear hunt in five years, and comes after a report by the state's Fish and Game Council that recommended regular hunting become a part of the state's bear management plan. State Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin formally approved the hunt last month.

That careful process follows legal rules set by a state appeals court in 2007, when judges disallowed a planned hunt because they considered the state's black bear management plan incomplete. The ruling made clear that hunting must not be a foregone conclusion, but may be part of an overall strategy that allows bears and their human neighbors to safely live side by side, if circumstances and science support it.

That is the thrust of the report by the Fish and Game Council, which reviewed non-lethal bear management options such as birth control and relocation and concluded they are ineffective and too expensive. Animal-rights activists criticized the report as one-sided, noted the council's historic allegiance to hunters and argued that birth control and relocation are possible solutions. Since the data come from projections and limited experiments, the statistics allow plenty of room for debate.

Both sides also are arguing over the population and bear-human encounter statistics in the report, which show growing numbers. Those in favor of the hunt say the number of bears has tripled to 3,400, and that the rising encounter numbers are due to the growing incursion of bears into populated areas. Those opposed say the increase in encounters can be attributed to a lack of reporting standards and duplications. They also differ in their assessments of whether community education programs are sufficient, and whether a ban on feeding black bears has been fully enforced.

Anti-hunting advocates last week asked the state appeals court to stop the hunt, arguing that the DEP and council's science was faulty and that it did not adequately consider the public's point of view. But, as judges affirmed Friday, it's clear that the Fish and Game Council has done its due diligence. The DEP's data are reasonable, it held public hearings as required and it has acted legally in approving a hunt.
Nonetheless, we cannot agree with the ultimate conclusion in this debate. As in the past, we do not support a bear hunt in New Jersey.

A comprehensive management plan cannot begin with hunting as its center; instead, more rigorous bear-aversion strategies such as garbage control should be expanded. Towns throughout New Jersey are starving for revenues — surely bear-prone communities could step up their fine-collection efforts by checking for forbidden bird feeders and unsecured garbage cans. We also support continuing birth control research.

Hunting should be the last resort, after all other strategies are proven ineffective. But saying "when" on non-lethal methods is a judgment call, one that appears motivated by deeply held opinions about hunting as much as — or more than — the statistical analysis of the day. After years of a traditionally hunt-resistant DEP, the sportsmen-dominated Fish and Game Council has at last found a sympathetic ear.

The hunt isn't expected to bring in much revenue, since hunters can add a bear permit to their deer-hunting permit for a measly $2. However, if the council and DEP are serious about the comprehensiveness of their plan, we'd expect to see whatever money is raised spent on public education and enforcing the feeding ban. Everyone can agree on that.

THERE are some issues that straddle chasms of opinion so wide, no amount of debate will end in agreement. Hunting is one of those issues.

Today, a six-day bear hunt is set to begin in New Jersey's northwest corner, an area north of Route 78 and west of Route 287 that includes parts of Bergen, Passaic and Morris counties. Licensed hunters using shotgun slugs and muzzle-loading rifles will be allowed to kill one bear apiece, while hunters elsewhere are pursuing deer.

It is the first bear hunt in five years, and comes after a report by the state's Fish and Game Council that recommended regular hunting become a part of the state's bear management plan. State Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin formally approved the hunt last month.

That careful process follows legal rules set by a state appeals court in 2007, when judges disallowed a planned hunt because they considered the state's black bear management plan incomplete. The ruling made clear that hunting must not be a foregone conclusion, but may be part of an overall strategy that allows bears and their human neighbors to safely live side by side, if circumstances and science support it.
That is the thrust of the report by the Fish and Game Council, which reviewed non-lethal bear management options such as birth control and relocation and concluded they are ineffective and too expensive. Animal-rights activists criticized the report as one-sided, noted the council's historic allegiance to hunters and argued that birth control and relocation are possible solutions. Since the data come from projections and limited experiments, the statistics allow plenty of room for debate.

Both sides also are arguing over the population and bear-human encounter statistics in the report, which show growing numbers. Those in favor of the hunt say the number of bears has tripled to 3,400, and that the rising encounter numbers are due to the growing incursion of bears into populated areas. Those opposed say the increase in encounters can be attributed to a lack of reporting standards and duplications. They also differ in their assessments of whether community education programs are sufficient, and whether a ban on feeding black bears has been fully enforced.

Anti-hunting advocates last week asked the state appeals court to stop the hunt, arguing that the DEP and council's science was faulty and that it did not adequately consider the public's point of view. But, as judges affirmed Friday, it's clear that the Fish and Game Council has done its due diligence. The DEP's data are reasonable, it held public hearings as required and it has acted legally in approving a hunt.

Nonetheless, we cannot agree with the ultimate conclusion in this debate. As in the past, we do not support a bear hunt in New Jersey.

A comprehensive management plan cannot begin with hunting as its center; instead, more rigorous bear-aversion strategies such as garbage control should be expanded. Towns throughout New Jersey are starving for revenues — surely bear-prone communities could step up their fine-collection efforts by checking for forbidden bird feeders and unsecured garbage cans. We also support continuing birth control research.

Hunting should be the last resort, after all other strategies are proven ineffective. But saying "when" on non-lethal methods is a judgment call, one that appears motivated by deeply held opinions about hunting as much as — or more than — the statistical analysis of the day. After years of a traditionally hunt-resistant DEP, the sportsmen-dominated Fish and Game Council has at last found a sympathetic ear.

The hunt isn't expected to bring in much revenue, since hunters can add a bear permit to their deer-hunting permit for a measly $2. However, if the council and DEP are serious about the comprehensiveness of their plan, we'd expect to see whatever money is raised spent on public education and enforcing the feeding ban. Everyone can agree on that.

Posted: Dec. 5, 2010

Eric Sharp

Nice place to hunt pheasant, quail

By ERIC SHARP
FREE PRESS OUTDOORS WRITER

HERSEY -- They call it Shooting the Breeze Hunt Club because it seems the wind always blows over these rolling hills. The way it was whipping snow over the landscape this day, it felt as if the glaciers that carved up the country were barely out of sight.

Those glaciers left a wonderful legacy for upland bird hunters, a scene of hummocks and hollows, marshes and savannas, where the owners are bringing back native plants like the big bluestem and wild sunflowers that covered the country before it was cleared for farms.

The bird that held the interest of Jazz, a 9-year-old English setter, was far from a native. It was a ring-necked pheasant that was released at the club by part-owner, guide and dog trainer Tim Fox. And while the bird had been freed on a hilltop, it had since taken refuge in a dense clump of marsh grass a quarter-mile away.

It was fascinating to watch the dog pick up the pheasant's scent from 30 yards off, slink in toward it like a small, white ninja, then lock up on point 3 feet away with eyes trained on the bird like lasers.

Fox walked in and kicked the clump to force the bird to fly, and it dropped in a harvested field under a fusillade of shotgun blasts from the four hunters following Jazz.
Shooting the Breeze (just north of Big Rapids) is a good example of how land can be managed to maximize the survival of game birds like pheasants and quail. The 390 acres offer everything that pheasants require at different times of the year -- spring nesting cover, summer roosting cover and winter survival cover, all near food sources.
Some surveys have shown that predators like foxes, opossums, weasels and skunks destroy up to 75% of the pheasant nests in an area, largely because there is so little cover that predators easily can find the few nesting areas.

And while some farms offer huge winter feeding areas, the birds often must cross big open areas to reach the food, where they are vulnerable to hawks and owls as well as mammalian predators.

At Shooting the Breeze, uncut corn and sorghum plots are surrounded by grassy areas and marshes. And there is also good winter cover, plants that bend under deep snow but don't crush to the ground. That creates a network of tunnels under the snow where the birds can sit safely when they aren't feeding.

Yet despite the ideal habitat, Fox finds little evidence of natural breeding and figures that only about 1%-2% of the 5,000 birds released here each year manage to reproduce.

Ring-necked pheasants were so common in Michigan in the mid-20th Century that many people thought they were native, but they're an exotic species. Pheasants were introduced to Michigan before 1900 and by 1925 were common enough to support a hunting season.

The farms of the Thumb, with their mixed crops, miles of tree rows and hedgerows and brush-choked roadside ditches, proved to be a pheasant Eden. Between natural reproduction and planted birds raised by the state and 4-H groups, the pheasant population exploded. By the 1940s, hunters were killing more than a million a year and pheasants outranked deer hunting in popularity.

Michigan pheasant numbers went through boom and bust cycles until about 1970. Then permanent changes in agricultural practices, including mowing and planting roadside ditches and fencerows and the introduction of single-crop fields from horizon to horizon, sent the birds into a steep and steady decline.

Fields in Washtenaw, Oakland, Macomb and even Wayne counties that had been superb pheasant habitats were buried under thousands of square miles of roadways, commercial buildings, parking lots and housing developments.

While parts of the Thumb still offer good pheasant populations, in the rest of the state pheasants are found mostly where landowners manage intensely for them.

Michigan still has a regular pheasant season Oct. 1-Nov. 14 in the Lower Peninsula, Oct. 10-31 in a limited part of the southwest Upper Peninsula, and Dec. 1-Jan. 1 in the southeastern Lower Peninsula.

But finding birds is difficult, and getting permission to hunt them can be even harder. That's why game bird preserves have become so popular with hunters, especially those who own bird dogs.

Fox said hunting fees at Shooting the Breeze are $350 a day for two hunters, which includes a guide, dog and eight to 12 pheasants. The hunters also can take quail, paying $10 for each one they kill. Groups of four hunters get a discounted rate of $400-$500, which includes 16-32 pheasants. The club also provides meals.
That's attractive to a lot of hunters who otherwise would have to spend considerably more money and time to drive with their own dogs to Iowa and the Dakotas, or spend days covering pheasant-free zones in Michigan in hopes of coming across a few stragglers.

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