Defenders of Wildlife call Hunters "anti-wildlife"

“Help Stop the Wolf Assault”. This is what reads on the home page of the Defenders of Wildlife’s website. It should read “Help Stop our Elk, Deer and Moose Assault and Slaughter”. This quote was also taken directly from their website – “Our wildlife needs your voice. Please write your senators today and oppose this extreme anti-wildlife agenda”.

Anti-wildlife? Do they not know and understand that no one and I mean no one cares more and does more to sustain the wildlife in America than hunters and sportsmen. Half of species thriving and living in America today wouldn’t even be living here today if it weren’t for sportsmen and their efforts.

The Defenders of Their Own Agenda, I mean the Defenders of Wildlife need to read their history and find out who truly protects and cares most about America’s wildlife.

How many elk, deer, moose, cattle and livestock have been needlessly killed, half eaten or not eaten at all and left to rot by wolves since they’ve been reintroduced back into the Rockies? (Where they don’t belong now). More than I want to know about.

Rest assured we at Hunters Against PETA will put up our best fight against groups like these who are trying every single day to take away our hunting rights. As long as they’re fighting us we’ll be fighting them.

Hunters Against PETA

Update Regarding Our Wilderness

This article was pulled directly from MSNBC.com

DENVER — The Obama administration on Thursday undid a Bush-era policy that curbed some types of wilderness designations within the 245 million acres managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management.

While Congress remains the only body allowed to create “Wilderness Areas,” the move gives BLM field managers the go ahead to protect areas determined to have “wilderness characteristics.”

“I am proud to sign a secretarial order that restores protections for the wild lands that the Bureau of Land Management oversees on behalf of the American people,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in Denver, where he announced the shift.

Congressional Republicans pounced on the announcement as an attempt by the Obama administration to close land to development without congressional approval.

“This backdoor approach is intended to circumvent both the people who will be directly affected and Congress. I have to question why this announcement is being made only after Congress adjourned for the year,” said Washington state Rep. Doc Hastings, a Republican tapped to lead to the House Natural Resources Committee when the GOP takes control of the House in January.

The order essentially repeals a policy adopted in 2003 under then Interior Secretary Gale Norton. That policy stated that Interior could not designate some wilderness protections on its own and had to rely only on Congress for any designations.

The 2003 policy reflected an out-of-court deal struck between Norton and then-Utah Gov. Michael Leavitt to remove protections for some 2.6 million acres of federal land in Utah.

The policy allowed oil and gas drilling, mining and other commercial uses on land under consideration as wilderness areas.

The new policy creates a management category called “Wild Lands”.

The Interior Department said that “‘Wild Lands,’ which will be designated through a public process, will be managed to protect wilderness characteristics unless or until such time as a new public planning process modifies the designation.

“Because the ‘Wild Lands’ designation can be made and later modified through a public administrative process, it differs from ‘Wilderness Areas,’ which are designated by Congress and cannot be modified except by legislation, and ‘Wilderness Study Areas,’ which BLM typically must manage to protect wilderness characteristics until Congress determines whether to permanently protect them as Wilderness Areas or modify their management.”

BLM Director Bob Abbey said it hasn’t been decided how many acres are expected be designated as “Wild Lands” and whether those acres will be off-limits to motorized recreation or commercial development while under congressional review. It’s also unclear whether there will be a time limit on how long acres can be managed as “Wild Lands” before a decision is made on their future.

Salazar said the agency will also resume evaluating federal BLM lands that could be recommended to Congress for designation as wilderness areas.

The BLM has six months to submit a plan for new wilderness evaluations, Salazar said.

Ranchers, oil men and others have been suspicious of federal plans to lock up land in the West, worrying that taking the BLM land out of production would kill rural economies that rely on ranchers and the eastern Montana oil and gas business.

Their suspicions have been heightened since memos leaked in February revealed the Obama administration was considering 14 sites in nine states for possible presidential monument declarations.

That included 2.5 million acres of northeastern Montana prairie land proposed as a possible bison range, along with sites in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon and Washington.

Environmental groups praised the reversal, though there has been grumbling that it took the Obama administration nearly two years to overturn the Bush-era policy.

“Washington D.C. always takes longer than you want, but we’re glad we’ve gotten here,” said Suzanne Jones, regional director for The Wilderness Society.

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Thanksgiving Time

Could you possibly imagine having Thanksgiving without any turkey meat? Well that's exactly what the animal groups want and what they're pushing for. Every year around this time the anti's start sending out letters to turkey farmers and grocery stores urging them to stop selling and killing turkeys. Saying it's cruel and unusual to kill and eat so many turkeys.



Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I can still remember how excited I would get when I was a kid and Thanksgiving rolled around. My family has had a tradition that's been going on for the last 50+ years. We all get together and play a football game in the morning before dinner and we call it the "Turkey Bowl", do you notice that it's not called the "Soy Bowl" or "Vegetarian Bowl". Eating meat is as natural to man as waking up everyday or the sun rising in the east.



Thanksgiving just wouldn't be Thanksgiving if we didn't consume some delicious turkey meat. As a matter of fact, if I get lucky next year and draw a turkey tag I'll be eating some wild turkey for my next turkey day.


Some of the best turkey I've ever had, was a wild turkey that was deep fried in peanut oil. Peanut oil gives turkey meat some of the flavor I've ever had.


I wish and hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. We must do whatever we can to carry on our American traditions. We must fight to keep our freedoms and rights to carry on our traditions to future generations.



Take care and good hunting.

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Lead Fishing Tackle is Safe

Thanks to your help, on Thursday, November 4, 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rejected the petition to ban lead in all fishing tackle.

The EPA and Members of Congress received more than 43,000 messages from anglers just like you opposing a federal ban on lead in fishing tackle. Your voice was heard and had a direct impact on the EPA’s decision.

Despite the good news, the fight is not over! There is still work to be done and we can’t do it without your help.

Donate now to help KeepAmericaFishing™ keep the EPA out of fishing.

Legislation recently introduced in Congress will ensure future efforts to ban lead in fishing tackle are based on scientific fact, not guess work or unproven claims. If this legislation fails to pass, the costs of sinkers, jigs and other fishing tackle will significantly increase.

Donate now to help KeepAmericaFishing advocate and preserve your right to fish on our public waters.

Your contribution will directly support KeepAmericaFishing’s efforts to keep our nation’s waters open, clean, and abundant with fish now and for generations to come.

Thank you for sharing your voice.

Here’s to tight lines!

Gordon Robertson
KeepAmericaFishing™

This is great news and a victory for all sportsmen across America. It’s great to see sportsmen ban together and fight for something we all love. – Hunters Against PETA

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Montana Letter that Supports the Delisting of Wolves

Monday, October 21, 2010

Dear Montana Congressional Delegation,

We write to express our support for H.R. 6028 sponsored by Congressman Denny Rehberg and Congressman Chet Edwards, to remove wolves from listing under the Endangered Species Act and return wolves to state management. We also support the Senate version of H.R. 6028, S. 3919, sponsored by Senators Hatch, Crapo, Risch, Barrasso and Enzi. We applaud the efforts which have resulted in obtaining broad based bi-partisan support for this important legislation.

The experimental reintroduction and explosive growth of wolf populations across the Northern Rockies and Upper Midwest, and in particular in our own state of Montana has become of great concern to the Montana livestock industry, wildlife organizations and sportsmen’s groups. Wolf populations reached delisting criteria as early as the 1970’s in Minnesota, 1993-1994 in Wisconsin and Michigan and 2002 in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The decisions by both the Bush and Obama administrations to delist wolves have been repeatedly challenged in an ongoing effort to stop any wolf management in the lower 48 states and to undermine state management of its wildlife and grazing resources.

Notwithstanding the best efforts by the state of Montana and the explosion of wolf populations far beyond established delisting numbers, legal and political maneuvering has prevented the promised return of wolves to state wildlife management. Montana is not alone. The states of Idaho, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan are experiencing similar challenges. It has become clear that saturated wolf populations are now doing significant damage not only to wildlife populations in some of our most important wilderness areas, but also threatening the economic health of livestock producers across much of the Northern Rockies. We feel the future of the livestock industry and wildlife populations in Montana depend on the passage of these two important bills.

We join with our counterpart organizations in the states of Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Arizona and New Mexico in support of these bills. We strongly oppose any efforts that would: (1) delist only portions of the United States wolf population; (2) leave the door open to ongoing legal challenges by anti-grazing and anti-hunting groups that could further delay needed wolf control activities; or (3) that would undermine the authority of state fish and game agencies to manage wolves or other wildlife populations.

Given the importance of this legislation to the state of Montana, we urge each of you to dedicate whatever resources are needed to enact this legislation. Additionally, we ask you to apply the political capital with members of Congress across the country to obtain the remaining votes needed for passage of S. 3919 and H.R. 6028. While we understand that Congress has many important matters to address, no legislation is more important to the future of wildlife and livestock in Montana.

Thank you for your leadership on this important management issue.
Sincerely,

Bob Hanson, President
Montana Farm Bureau Federation

Errol Rice
Montana Stockgrowers Association

David L. McEwen
Montana Woolgrowers Association

Alan Merrill, President
Montana Farmers Union

Kim Baker, MCA, President
Montana Cattleman Association

David Allen, CEO
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

Marshall Johnson, Regional Director
Mule Deer Foundation-Montana

Bill Merrill, President
Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife and Wildlife-Montana

Jon Wemple
Safari Club International
Western Montana

George Cobb, Regional Representative
Safari Club International-Montana

We fully support this letter and encourage other sportsmen/hunters to do the same – Hunters Against PETA

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Arizona Sportsmen Must Vote "YES" to Prop 109

This article is for all sportsmen in AZ and something that all sportsmen across America need to pay close attention to. Proposition 109 would guarantee Arizonans the right to “hunt, fish and harvest wildlife lawfully.” It would prohibit any law or rule that unreasonably restricts hunting or fishing using traditional means. So as you can see Prop 109 is very important to sportsmen's rights. It's very important that this bill gets passed not only in AZ but for sportsmen all across America.



The Humane Society is leading the fight in opposition to this bill. If you don't know this already the Humane Society is the world's largest anti-hunting organization and if given the power they would shut down all forms of hunting and fishing immediately without question or concern.



Then there are people such as Sandy Bahr director of the Sierra Club's Grand Canyon Chapter, who is saying hunting and fishing should remain privileges, just like being able to drive a car. Bahr said amending the constitution would change the way officials can manage hunting and fishing and how citizens can change things via initiative. Here's what else she has to say about hunting: “You're putting it on par with things like freedom of speech, freedom of religion, right to bear arms, all of those very important fundamental rights,” Bahr said. “We find that pretty outrageous.”

If voters approve Proposition 109, Arizona would become the 11th state to make hunting and fishing a constitutional right.



Hunting and fishing are our constitutional rights. It's been a right and freedom in America since explorers first landed in America. They should remain our rights forever as we see fit and should never change. Hunting and fishing is a God given right and is an American right. It's who we are and what we stand for. This is still a free country right?



Groups like the Humane Society, PETA and the Defenders of Wildlife are going to keep pushing their anti-hunting agenda as long as they're around and still in business.



It's up to us sportsmen to put a stop to their anti-hunting/fishing agenda. We must ban together, voice our opinions and all stand up for something we all love and believe in.

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Sportsmen in AZ vote "YES" to Prop 109

Some hunters may or may not agree with Arizona’s Prop 109. However we want to encourage and make all hunters aware that whether or not you agree or disagree with some of the laws and rules in Prop 109 you must do your part and vote “YES”. It all boils down to our freedoms to continue to hunt and fish the way we see fit. We can’t allow animal rights groups to dictate to us how and when we can hunt and fish.

Think about this for a moment. Do you really want groups like The Humane Society, PETA and the Defenders of Wildlife deciding the rules and regulations regarding our hunting and fishing? Animal rights groups are the reason that these new rules and laws protecting wildlife get started. They start with simple ideas like to quit using steel-jawed traps, hound hunting of bears and bear baiting. These methods of hunting and trapping have been common hunting practices in America for generations. After these hunting methods are outlawed then they choose the next method of hunting to try and ban, and it goes on and on.

The Humane Society is really pushing their members to vote “NO” on Prop 109.

Here’s what the Humane Society has to say regarding this: “If approved, Prop 109 could repeal the voter-approved ballot measure on trapping, legalize canned hunting, and protect outrageous practices like hound hunting of bears or even bear baiting, if someone decided to start engaging in that activity. And we could forget about any attempt to restrict the use of lead shot that is killing highly endangered California condors, since a requirement to use nontoxic shot would “unreasonably restrict hunting.”

“They don’t like that we succeeded in convincing Arizona voters to outlaw cockfighting and extreme confinement of veal calves and breeding pigs on factory farms by ballot initiative. And they especially don’t like that we succeeded in persuading the electorate to ban the use of cruel and inhumane steel-jawed leg hold traps on public lands—since that was a restriction on the taking of wildlife.”

Click here for the full Humane Society article: http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2010/10/arizona-prop-109.html

The Humane Society has spent over $250,000 on this issue, so as you can see this is very important to them.

Here’s what Sen. John McCain had to say regarding this issue: “Hunters are true conservationists and stewards of wildlands.” “Protecting the right of hunters in Arizona means a highly effective way to preserve wildlife populations and land management.”

Sandy Froman, the former president of the NRA is trying to defend sportsmen’s rights in AZ and is working with Sen. McCain on this issue. She had this to say: “Prop 109′s opponents, led by the anti-hunting Humane Society of the United States, are trying to mislead Arizona voters by throwing around terms such as – quote – power grab by the Legislature,” Froman said. “They’ve chosen this line of attack not because it’s in any way true but in an attempt to appeal to people’s current dissatisfaction with government.”

Click here for the full article: http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/102210_mccain_prop109

Hunters Against PETA is urging all Arizona sportsmen to vote “YES” on Prop 109 to defend your rights to hunt. If animal rights groups succeed in AZ then it adds power to their cause and affects all sportsmen across America.

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Utah and Montana Fight Back Against the Wolf Threat

These articles were pulled directly from Standard.net.

Utah Article

“SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Wildlife Board has taken a stand supporting federal legislation that would take the gray wolf population off the endangered species list, a move that angers some wildlife advocates.

On Tuesday, the board voted unanimously to support both a U.S. House and Senate version of legislation that reverses a recent federal court decision ordering protection for the gray wolf, an animal with few confirmed sightings in the Utah wilds since 2002.

Part of the debate over how to manage the wolves is connected to state legislation passed in the 2010 session and sponsored by Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden.

The Wildlife Board believes if federal lawmakers de-list wolves from the Endangered Species Act, Christensen’s legislation will kick into gear a 2005 state management plan that has been dormant since it was written. The plan, partially supervised by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, would allow a limited population growth for the wolves.

The Salt Lake City hearing on the board letter supporting federal legislation had its tension, which often happens over the wolf issues.

“There is no neutral zone, everyone is either for them or against them,” said Bill Fenimore, a Farmington member of the board who acknowledged the long-standing heat in the room surrounding the topic.

The gray wolf, not officially seen in Utah for years, has been sighted six times in 2010, state officials said. Two of those confirmed sightings were in the northern area of Utah that was an unprotected area for the wolf until the August court case.

“We want wolves to return to Utah,” said Bob Brister of the Utah Environmental Congress.

Brister and others at the meeting worry how the wolf-management plan would be carried out.

Wildlife advocates say the federal ruling to renew Endangered Species Act protection buys time to create a plan that ensures the wolf population doesn’t dwindle again in the northern Rockies.

“Wolves are growing exponentially; (the population) grows worse, not better,” said Don Peay, representing a multi-state group called BigGame Forever.

Peay and others believe wolves deplete big game or livestock and remain a threat.

The board also supported a second letter to the Utah congressional delegation, one signed by leaders in nine groups and three state agencies, which expresses a similar view to supporters of the move to override the court ruling.

The federal legislation that does that is co-sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.”

Montana Article

“KALISPELL, Mont. — Rep. Denny Rehberg, who manages a ranch outside Billings, Mont., knows quite literally what it means to have the wolf at the door: Several years ago, a single wolf got into his pasture and killed 51 prized cashmere goats.

“‘Shoot, shovel and shut up’ is a joke in Montana,” said Rehberg, referring to a longstanding reference among landowners across the West — perhaps only half in jest — to the best way to deal with a federally protected endangered species like the gray wolf.

The reintroduction of the wolf in the northern Rocky Mountains has been so contentious that Rehberg, a Republican, is joining a group of congressmen preparing an unusual move to aim their weapons at the Endangered Species Act itself.

Bills introduced in Congress over the last few weeks would either remove the act’s protection of wolves in the Northwest or, as proposed by Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, prohibit any listing at all of the once nearly extinct predator. Biologists say that outcome could jeopardize recovery efforts in the Southwest and Midwest and in fledgling new populations in Washington and Oregon.

The 1973 act, the nation’s landmark species protection law, has rarely been amended, and conservationists say the bills mark a significant shift in the enduring contest between mining, timber and ranching interests and the plants and animals often squeezed out by human expansion.

“Heretofore there’s been fairly strong bipartisan support of the sort of Noah’s Ark notion that if we’re serious about our moral commitment to share the planet with our fellow inhabitants, we don’t start throwing identified species off the ark,” said Douglas Honnold of the public interest legal organization Earthjustice, which has been fighting to expand wolf protections in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

“I think to a large degree it would really be unprecedented,” said Andrew Wetzler of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “If passed, any of these bills will rip the heart out of the Endangered Species Act and set a terrible precedent for wildlife management generally.”

Government officials in Montana and Idaho say that after 15 years of trying to follow the letter of the law in restoring wolves around Yellowstone National Park, they have been rewarded with a large and growing wolf population that threatens livestock and game animals like elk, as well as hunters and hikers in the backcountry.

“They’re everywhere. There’s a problem that’s got to be controlled, and now’s the time to do it,” Ed Jonas, a rancher from Rollins, Mont., said at a meeting Rehberg convened here and in two other towns last week.

“Two times in the last two weeks, I’ve been out there in the middle of the night with a rifle because my coon hound was chasing something. You don’t sleep well anymore because you don’t know when you wake up if you’re going to have all live animals,” he said.

The original target was 300 wolves spread across the three states. Officials now estimate there are more than 1,700 wolves; conservationists say about 2,000 are necessary for full recovery.

“It’s not that we want to gut the Endangered Species Act. It’s not that we want to destroy a species. It’s that we want some finality,” Rehberg said at the Kalispell meeting. “We met the threshold, and now the courts have changed the goal lines. That’s the problem.”

The act’s protections were lifted in Montana and Idaho in 2007, clearing the way for the states’ first legal hunts last year. Restrictions were kept in place in Wyoming, where officials have held out for the right to shoot wolves on sight outside a narrow protected area near Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

Wyoming’s intransigence proved to be the undoing of the progress that had been made in the two neighboring states; U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled in August that the government couldn’t continue to call the wolves endangered in Wyoming but recovered in Montana and Idaho.

The wolves were relisted, this year’s hunts were canceled, wolf populations have continued to increase, and ranchers and elk hunters say they have reached the end of their rope.

“We held up our part of the bargain. But the rules keep changing,” said Jon Hanian, spokesman for Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, a Republican. “People are expressing their frustration, and it’s at a boiling point.”

Similar disputes have been ongoing in the Midwest over protection of wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, and in the Southwest, where federal biologists are attempting to bolster the population of Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico.

In Oregon, Rehberg’s “shoot, shovel and shut up” dictum has come into play: A $7,500 private reward has been offered for information about the Sept. 30 shooting of a radio-collared wolf in the Umatilla National Forest.

On Sept. 22, Idaho Republican Sens. Michael D. Crapo and Jim Risch introduced legislation to delist wolves through most of the northern Rockies.

Edwards’ bill goes a step further, removing wolves from the act’s purview across the country.

On Sept. 28, Montana’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Max Baucus and Jon Tester, introduced their bill to delist wolves in Idaho and Montana and place the animals under state management plans that, as currently written, could take wolf populations down as low as the original target of 300 animals.

“This bill provides a common-sense solution that will put wolves in Montana back in Montana’s control,” Baucus said in a statement. “The debate has gone on long enough.”

Only twice before have special provisions been carved out of the Endangered Species Act, beginning with a 1978 amendment passed as a result of the controversy over the snail darter blocking a Tennessee Valley Authority dam.

It allows a Cabinet-level committee known as the “God Squad” to deliberate especially problematic listings. The committee was convened in the 1991 controversy over the northern spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest and cleared the way for some timber sales within the owl’s habitat.

In neither case was there a wholesale exemption from the act for a species.”

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Idaho Blasts The Federal Gov Saying They Won't Protect Wolves Anymore

This article was pulled directly from the Idaho Reporter.com.

Idaho wildlife officials will leave it to the federal government to manage wolves in the state. Gov. Butch Otter sent U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar a letter Monday saying that the state won’t manage wolves as a designated agent of the federal government.

“While some herald the introduction of wolves and the current population as a biological triumph, history will show that this program as a tragic example of oppressive, ham-handed ‘conservation’ at its worst,” Otter said in his letter to Salazar. “Starting today, at least the state will no longer be complicit.”

State and federal officials, including Otter and Salazar, have communicated regularly since an August federal court decision put wolves in Idaho and Montana back on the endangered species list. That ruling ended Idaho’s public wolf hunt. Otter said that without the wolf hunt, there is no reason for Idaho to be involved in managing wolves.

With the governor’s decision, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) will no longer monitor wolf populations, investigate illegal wolf killings, or run a program helping livestock producers whose animals are killed by wolves. It’s unclear if or how federal agencies will step in to manage wolves. Officials with the governor’s office and IDFG said they haven’t heard a response, and the Interior Department has not responded to phone calls from IdahoReporter.com.

“We don’t know how this is going to shake out,” said IDFG spokesman Ed Mitchell. “It starts right now.”

Otter said he didn’t want money from hunting and fishing licenses to pay for monitoring wolves while a public hunt is barred. He also said the Idaho is still working with the feds on a path to ultimately delisting wolves.

Mitchell said the agency spent $1.7 million on wolves during its last fiscal year. Approximately $500,000 came from license fees, with the rest coming from federal funding sources. Two IDFG biologists who focused on wolves will now turn their attention to ungulates, including elk, moose, and deer, that can be prey to wolves.

The governor’s decision was called reckless by Keith Allred, the Democratic challenger in the November election. Allred, who also panned the August court decision protecting wolves, said Idaho should manages its wolf population.

“Idaho needs to control its own destiny, and in an Allred administration we’d take control of this issue, not avoid it,” Allred said in a news release.

Defenders of Wildlife, one of the environmental groups that brought the lawsuit ending Idaho’s wolf hunt, also criticized Otter. “Refusing to allow state agencies to participate in wolf management or to investigate, or enforce against, illegal killings of wolves is political showmanship, not the statesmanship that one expects from a governor,” Defenders President Rodger Schlickeisen said in a news release.

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Help Us Stop the Spread of Wolves Before Our Big Game Herds and Hunting Heritage is Gone

To all Sportsmen,

As you know there’s been a lot of talk and controversy surrounding the wolf issue lately. Wolves are a very serious threat to the future of our big game herds and hunting here in the west and soon to be many states in America. We must fight this problem tooth and nail and we must make our senators and congressmen fight this serious problem as well.

Recently there’s been a few anti-wolf bills that have been submitted by a few senators that will stop wolves from spreading through the western states and wiping out our big game herds.

We’re urging everyone to contact your state’s senators and congressman by PHONE or EMAIL and tell them to get behind these bills that I’m going to discuss below.

House bill (6028) was submitted by Texas Senator. Chet Edwards and would make it impossible for the federal government to protect wolves by taking them off of the Endangered Species List and keeping them off.

Another bill (3919) that was submitted by Utah Senator. Orrin Hatch would also take wolves off of the endangered species list and keep them off.

I had the pleasure of listening to Utah Senator. Orrin Hatch and Utah Congressman. Jim Matheson on Monday, Oct 11th regarding this issue and these men are going to do whatever it takes to protect our big game herds and heritage in America.

Here’s some disturbing numbers and the negative impact wolves have had on our big game herds here in the west:

Big Game Population Statistics
Lolo Elk Herd, Idaho
Before Wolf Introduction: 20,000
After Wolf Introduction: 1,700

Yellowstone Elk Herd
Before Wolf Introduction: 20,000
After Wolf Introduction: 6,500

Jackson, WY Shiras Moose
Before Wolf Introduction: 1,200
After Wolf Introduction: 120

Gallitan Valley Elk Herd
Before Wolf Introduction: 1,500
After Wolf Introduction: 200


Also don’t be fooled, worldwide wolf abundance-wolves are NOT endangered.
Canada
50,000 wolves

Alaska
11,000 wolves

Europe and Asian
60,000 to 100,000 wolves (estimated)


Here’s a directory that has phone numbers and web form contact info for all of the congressmen and senators for your state. It’s easy to use just pick your state and hit search.

Click on this link to contact your state’s representatives: http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html

Contact your Senators and Congressmen and urge them to join the fight and to get behind bills 6028 and 3919.

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Chip Ward an Author Tries to Defend Wolves

Chip Ward who is an author out of Utah recently wrote an article that has been published nationwide by numerous news sources. In his article he states all of the benefits of the wolf reintroduction. However he left out all the facts stating all the damage and havoc wolves have caused in Yellowstone and more importantly outside of Yellowstone since they were reintroduced back into Yellowstone 15 years ago.

After reading Chip’s article it’s easy to see whose side he is on. Here’s what Chip has to say about hunters: “Worse yet, from the hunting point of view, elk behavior has changed dramatically. Instead of camping out on stream banks and overeating, they roam far more and in smaller numbers, browsing in brushy areas where there is more protective cover. Surviving elk are healthier, but leaner, warier, far more dispersed, and significantly harder to hunt. This further dismays those who had become accustomed to easy hunting and bigger animals.”

Does Chip not know that there’s no hunting in Yellowstone National Park?

If hunting were allowed in Yellowstone Park of course it would be easy, animals in Yellowstone are like animals in a petting zoo. In my 15 years of hunting experience though I’ve never heard of or experienced such a thing as “easy hunting” or an easy elk hunt for that matter.

Chip we urge you to write an article about the benefits of wolves not living in Yellowstone. Cause there aren’t any.

After all, wasn’t the original plan for wolves to be reintroduced only in Yellowstone National Park? Why is it then that they’ve been allowed to survive and thrive once they’ve left Yellowstone Park?

If wolves are actually a “scientific” benefit to Yellowstone National Park; great lets keep them there, only in Yellowstone. We at Hunters Against PETA will not stop until all wolves outside of Yellowstone National Park are dealt with.

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Idaho and Wolves

This article was pulled directly from MagicValley.com which is a news source out of Twin Falls, Idaho:

“Idaho joined Montana and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar this week in appealing a U.S. District Court ruling relisting wolves as endangered species in the Intermountain West.

Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and Attorney General Lawrence Wasden led the pack Thursday to ask the 9thU.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy’s Aug. 5 decision that restored federal protections to wolves in Idaho and Montana.

Going at it from a different angle, U.S. Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, both R-Idaho, introduced a bill Wednesday to remove the wolves from the endangered species list altogether.

Under the Endangered Species Act, wolves are managed as a single population. If a population spans more than one state, Molloy ruled, protection cannot be removed on a state-by-state basis. In this case, Salazar had tried to delist wolves in Idaho and Montana, but not Wyoming.

“We’re seeing a troubling pattern of behavior here, with Judge Molloy consistently ruling in support of federal control over our land, our resources and our way of life in the West,” Otter said in a press release, referring to another of the judge’s decisions this week that upheld federal control over regulating firearms.

However, Garrick Dutcher of Ketchum-based Living With Wolves called Idaho’s appeal just an 11th-hour election-year stunt, and claims by Otter of livestock carnage overstated, saying attacks on livestock have fallen this year.

“This is not a state sovereignty issue,” Dutcher said. “Sadly, the waste of taxpayer funds to pursue this appeal is not about wildlife management and reality; it is about politics.”

Bob Clark, associate regional organizer of the Sierra Club wolf program, said his group — which fought delisting in court — isn’t saying state fish and game departments aren’t capable of managing wolves. And it respects the states’ right to appeal.

“The courts are used by both sides,” Clark said. “But delisting wolves along political boundaries doesn’t meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act, which demands decisions based not upon emotion or politics but on the best-available science as recently upheld by Salazar,” he continued, referring to the Interior secretary’s Wednesday move to issue rules to protect scientific integrity.

Meanwhile, the clock’s still ticking on an ultimatum by Otter to stop monitoring, providing law enforcement support or investigating wolf deaths in Idaho.

Otter told Salazar that he’d negotiate a new agreement for the state to manage wolves until this Thursday. But if an agreement isn’t struck by then, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game will cease to carry out its wolf management responsibilities.”

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Bobby Rush and Lead Ammo

With the recent of push of trying to ban lead fishing tackle, Congressman Bobby Rush decided to add to it by introducing a legislation that would ban all traditional lead ammo.

Bobby Rush is a U.S. Representative out of Illinois and is famous for introducing the anti-gun legislation H.R. 45 (Blair Holt’s Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act).

This House Resolution 5820 would amend the Toxic Substance Control Act of 1976 (TSCA) by removing the exemption included in the law for traditional ammunition. It was that specific exemption that forced the EPA to deny the ammunition portion of a petition filed by several groups seeking to ban both traditional ammunition and fishing tackle.

At the same time Bobby Rush introduced this bill that would ban lead ammo and fishing tackle another bill was introduced (S. 3850) that would protect all lead fishing tackle. This bill was introduced on September 28 by Senator Blanche Lincoln (D- AR).

”If the petition is accepted as presented, all lead in all fishing tackle would be banned, which would substantially increase the cost of recreational fishing and negatively impact angler participation across the country,” said American Sport fishing Association (ASA) Vice President Gordon Robertson. ”Senator Lincoln’s legislation will help to ensure that future regulations on fishing tackle are established in response to scientific data instead of unjustified petitions.”

All sportsmen should oppose the 5820 legislation by voicing your opinions to your state’s U.S. Representative. This bill will raise the prices of ammo and fishing tackle 3 to 5 times higher and will have devistating effects on the hunting and fishing industry.

Sportsmen should also contact their U.S. Senators immediately and ask that they join Sen. Lincoln in sponsoring this legislation (S. 3850) so it will go through protecting our rights.

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

PETA's 30th Anniversary

PETA kicked off their 30th anniversary celebration on Sept 25th, with a red carpet full of famous Hollywood stars ranging from Pamela Anderson, Wilmer Valderrama, Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck, Kelly Osbourne, James Cromwell, Jenna Dewan Tatum, Fred Willard, Jay Hernandez, Iggy Pop, Yvonne Strahovski, Sophia Bush, Owain Yeoman, Lucy Davis, Jim Parsons, Jena Malone, Bryan Adams, Eli Roth, Dave Navarro, Eva Mendes and Anjelica Huston.

It’s a shame to see PETA receive so much support from so many famous people. However it’s good to know who really supports PETA.

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Email from Congressman Jim Matheson

September 28, 2010

Dear Mr. Fackrell,

Thank you for sharing your concerns regarding a petition currently pending before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban lead ammunition and fishing sinkers. I appreciate your interest in the issues facing our country and state, and I am glad for the opportunity to respond to your inquiry. By contacting me on issues important to you, I am better able to represent Utah in Congress.

On August 3, 2010, a petition was filed by several environmental groups requesting the EPA revise the rules governing toxic substances to ban the manufacture, processing and distribution of lead shot, bullets, and fishing sinkers. As you may know, EPA has the authority to protect against unreasonable risk of injury to health or environment from chemical substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). On August 27, the EPA determined that it did not have authority to regulate lead shot and bullets due to the exemption provided for these substances in TSCA, and subsequently denied that portion of the petition. However, EPA is still reviewing the request on lead fishing sinkers and must make a determination by November 3.

As a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights and sportsmen’s rights, I agree with the EPA’s decision to deny the petition regarding lead shot and bullets and hope they will make the same determination for lead fishing sinkers. The EPA is currently accepting public comments on the fishing sinker issue, and I strongly encourage you to weigh in during this process.

Again, thank you for sharing your concerns with me. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact my office.

Sincerely,



JIM MATHESON
Member of Congress

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Hunting and The New York Times

A few days ago the New York Times posted an article in their newspaper talking about why it's important to preserve our heritage. Not only was I shocked to see this article posted in the New York Times, I was very impressed and happy to see this.



If you don't know this already public opinion has a lot of sway in how our laws are decided and whether they are passed or not. If the majority of Americans decide they don't like hunting or fishing because they think it's cruel and inhumane and it should be banned. How long do you think our hunting and fishing rights will last? Public opinion is very important and is overlooked most of the time.



Seeing a major publication like this publish a pro hunting article is very promising and a great step forward in the preservation of our hunting rights. I'm sure it had the anti's squirming in their seats. Every hunter and sportsman should rejoice and look at this as a positive step in the right direction.



When you think about the New York Times, publishing a pro hunting article is not the first thing that comes to mind. I know it was definitely a great surprise to me when I read it in the Sunday morning paper. It's not often that a major publication publishes a pro hunting article like this one. Hunting is our heritage and something that we must preserve for all time so generations of kids can make the same great memories we did growing up.



I recommend every sportsmen to check out that article when you get a chance.



It sure brought a smile to my face.



Be safe and good hunting.

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Hunting and The New York Times

Working to Keep a Heritage Relevant

This article was pulled directly from the New York Times.

HAMBURG, Pa. — To millions of Americans, autumn means not just N.F.L. games and the World Series but also the start of hunting season — a few months packed with chances to stalk deer, bear, ducks and doves with rifles, shotguns, bows and even black-powder muskets.

“Hunting is one of those sports where you can’t have too much stuff,” said Dan Gechtman, 46, one of many customers streaming into Cabela’s, a hunting and fishing megastore here, on a balmy afternoon. “This store is on steroids,” he said while trying on a camouflage suit that fluttered with artificial leaves and taking in the dazzling array of products, stuffed animal dioramas and a laser-shooting arcade.

In some rural areas, hunting is still so universal that schools close on the opening day of deer season. President Obama, in a ritual White House act requested by sporting fans and manufacturers, proclaimed Saturday National Hunting and Fishing Day. But as the hunters revel in their preparations for their annual forays into the wild, hunting enthusiasts are gearing up to reverse the long-term dwindling of their ranks.

As the nation becomes more urban and teenagers seek other recreation, the popularity of hunting is declining. The latest federal survey, in 2006, found that 12.5 million people hunt each year, down from 17 million in 1975. Other studies suggest that perhaps 18 million people hunt occasionally, but in any case, hunters represent a shrinking part of the population.

The graying ranks and the impulses that have sustained stores like Cabela’s, even in the recession, are typified by Gerard Dick, 72, who has hunted since childhood and through a career as a high school science teacher. He owns plenty of weapons, he said, but on Thursday afternoon he was checking out a small rifle with a camouflage-covered stock.

“I’ll use it on turkeys and groundhogs,” he said.

The decline in hunters is a concern for state fish and game agencies, which are financed through licenses and excise taxes on sporting goods, as well as for pro-hunting conservation groups and advocates like the National Rifle Association.

“We’re concerned that in the future we aren’t going to have adequate dollars to manage our wildlife resources,” said John E. Frampton, director of South Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources and president of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. “We also want to preserve an important part of our heritage.”

Mr. Frampton serves on a new federal advisory board intended “to help promote and preserve America’s hunting heritage for future generations,” in part by drawing in more youths and women.

While declining interest and shrinking wildlife habitat may be the main threats to the pastime, hunting and gun groups are worried by the occasional efforts to restrict it, like the ban on mourning dove hunting in Michigan that was promoted by animal rights advocates.

South Carolina is one of four states, along with Arizona, Arkansas and Tennessee, that will vote this fall on adding the right to hunt and fish to their constitutions. Ten states already have such provisions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

None of these long-term worries were on the mind of Victor Hakes, 53, as he wandered in Cabela’s on Thursday afternoon with his wife, Shawna, and their grandson after making a two-hour drive from northern Pennsylvania. Mr. Hakes, who builds custom trailers, bags deer and turkeys every year but has not yet shot a bear, “although I passed over two cubs,” he said.

On this trip he was just buying boots, but his eyes shifted toward the gun racks. “I’ve got 10 rifles and shotguns, and she won’t let me buy any more,” he said, nudging his wife with a laugh.

Their 3-year-old grandson, Aiden Jaeger, looked with wide eyes at a huge stuffed moose. “He’ll be a hunter and a fisherman,” Mr. Hakes said, expressing a hope that Aiden would buck the national trend and carry on a family tradition.

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Now More Hunting and Fishing In America

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Announces More Fishing and Hunting Opportunies

Last week September, 15th the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that more hunting and fishing opportunities would be expanded on 8 different refuges. These new openings include some lands that are already open to hunting and fishing but sportsmen are now able to harvest more species on more land that they weren’t able to before.

Here’s a list of the refuges:

1. Modoc in California - more land opened for migratory bird hunting.
2. Cape May in New Jersey - now able to harvest upland game and turkey hunting.
3. Fort Niobrara in Nebraska – opening land to big game hunting.
4. Caddo Lake in Texas – first time hunting and offering big game opportunities.
5. Deep Fork in Oklahoma - more land opened for big game hunting.
6. Bosque del Apache in New Mexico - now adding turkey to the list of game animals that can be hunted.
7. Rappahannock River Valley in Virginia – opening land for fishing where it was previously not allowed.
8. Minnesota Valley in Minnesota - more land and species for migratory bird and upland game hunting and additional land for big game hunting.

This is great news for us sportsmen. It’s always great to see our rights moving forward.

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

New York Troops Need Our Help

We recently received an email from a gentleman by the name of George Wooden stating that a group of troops out of Ithaca, New York who happen to be sportsmen are being attacked by animal rights groups for wanting to go hunting and fishing. There's a lodge that provides free fishing and hunting for our troops in Ithaca. It's titled the "Liberty Lodge". This is a great place for these troops to go and relax and forgot about everything they saw in the Middle East and now these animal rights groups are attacking them.

It boggles my mind that some people and groups have absolutely no shame whatsoever. These troops put their lives on the line so we can all enjoy our lives and be able to be free to pursue whatever it is we desire. Troops allow us to live in a free country that in my opinion is the best country in the world.

I would like to encourage members of these groups to hang out with some wounded and disabled veterans for a day. And then try to continue to bash and attack them merely because they want to pursue a love and passion that 13 million Americans share.

We as sportsmen must ban together and stop these hateful, negative groups from taking away something that we all love and enjoy all year long.

It's up to us if we want to keep our rights and stop things like this from happening again and again.

Please show your support.

Be safe and good hunting.

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Our Troops Need Your Support

This is an email we recieved from George Wooden. We’re going to do what we can to help these guys out and we urge everyone who reads this to do the same.

“Hey ya’all…

PLEASE READ THIS MESSAGE…its VITALLY important!!!

Ive been hunting for 20 years. Walks, crawls, flies or slithers…I hunt it. I grew up on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay…so you know I have been fishing all my life.

At the same time, I am a red blooded American. I know one thing about people like us…we love our country.

HERE is where I am begging you all to help out. I am helping out a non profit Hunting Lodge in Ithaca, New York called “Liberty Lodge.” Its a place, where men and women who were wounded in the Armed Forces can go, relax and hunt/fish totally free.

So far, because of their upcoming fundraising event…they have been attacked by PETA and other organizations out there. THEY ARE ONLY TRYING TO TAKE VETERANS HUNTING!!! This is absolutely a true story!!!

If you live near Ithaca, New York or within traveling distance…please come to the “Out of the Rubble Gala”…even if you dont spend a dime there, come out and have a FANTASTIC Dinner only for $40.00 each. Its a HUGE Hunting show, BIG Fundraiser…like a DU Dinner on Steroids.

If you dont live anywhere near there, you can still help out if you truly believe in our Troops or our country NOT THE GOVERNMENT…you can buy a seat for a hero, donate something to this incredible cause OR just post up the link to the Gala which is:

http://www.outoftherubblegala.com/

Its time that people like us, stand up for people like us…I am not asking for your help…I am BEGGING FOR IT…Please!!!

George Wooden”

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com