High School Principal Removes Hunting Trophies from Office After Complaints

A high school principal in South Carolina has removed an extensive collection of mounted African animals from the walls of his office after a small outcry from town residents.

Summerville High School Principal Buddy Chapel told the Post and Courier Monday that he had removed the hunting trophies after the school district received letters from two angry town residents.

Dorchester District 2 leaders said Chapel was told about the complaints and removed the animals without any directive from the board.

A mounted lion, several antelopes, wildebeests and other animals filled every wall in his office.

The collection of animals generated controversy after it was featured in a Jan. 19 story in the Post and Courier. Two letters urged school officials to remove the animals.

Chapel said he told students when he first came to the school last fall that if the animals offended them, he would meet with them elsewhere. He said students generally thought the collection was cool.

“They have a great time,” he said. “It’s like a big zoo for them. It hasn’t freaked any kids out that I know about.”

One of the townspeople, Alison Harvey, who was offended by the display, said she was glad to see the animals gone.

“When there are so many controversial issues that students and teachers aren’t allowed to discuss in a public school setting, why would something as controversial as this be permitted?” she said.

Marian Martin, a Charleston County teacher, wrote the second letter against the animals on display.

“What message is he sending those kids?” she said Monday. “I just thought it was outrageous that he had all of that in his office. It’s just in your face. I just don’t think it has a place in the public school setting.”

Outdoor Hub, The Outdoor Information Engine - High School Principal Removes Hunting Trophies from Office After Complaints

It’s a Small Game Smorgasbord

As deer seasons and other big game hunting opportunities come to an end across much of America, it’s time to continue the hunt. The seasons to hunt squirrels, rabbits, and some upland species continue to offer hunting opportunities for many hunters. In most cases you already have the licenses, the gear, and the knowledge on where these species can be found—and hunted.

In the small game pursuit category, nothing quite compares to holding a .22 caliber rifle and slipping through an open hardwoods forest in search of squirrels. Often you’ll hear gnawing or barking before you see your prey. Chips of hickory nut hulls or acorn shells atop stumps let you know you’ve found the spot where squirrels like to hang out. You can also add to the excitement level by using a dog to tree them. And remember to take the kids or wife because everyone likes to hunt squirrels.

Rabbit hunting seasons also remain open in many regions of the U.S. Rabbits rank near the top of our food chain in taste. These lagomorphs are also fun to hunt, and the nearest brush pile or briar thicket is a top site to begin your quest. Look for a shiny eye, protruding ears or that namesake small white cottontail. Remember that a short pause by you often causes a hidden and motionless rabbit to think it’s been detected—and cause it to move. Moving rabbits are definitely easier to spot. There are many other species and regions that continue to offer open hunting seasons this time of year.

Arizona, for example, adds mourning doves, quail, sandhill cranes, grouse, chukars and pheasants to its huntable small game species list. Great hunting tips can be found on the Arizona Game and Fish Department website at: http://www.azgfd.gov/h_f/small_game.shtml. Quail, chukar and rabbit hunting seasons are open in some areas until February 5, 2012.

Across America in South Carolina, hunting seasons for crows, grouse, squirrels, rabbits, fox and quail remain open until March 1, 2012. Dove hunting seasons are open December 21 through January 15, 2012. Remember that snows in the North push doves down to the South. Concentrate your hunting efforts around corn and cotton fields that were harvested recently, or take a second look at many of the public hunting grounds across the state.

Just remember that many hunting seasons are still open, and while some hunters retire to the home to sit by the fireplace, other hunters still have great hunts and less competition afield. It’s time to keep hunting.

Fast Facts:

• By some estimates doves can fly at speeds around 50 mph.
• Rabbits have been noted to run at speeds up to 45 mph for short distances.

Outdoor Hub, The Outdoor Information Engine - It’s a Small Game Smorgasbord

A Warning To Outdoor Users About Echinococcus, From Worms

by

Tom Remington

This is a warning to outdoor users about a potentially deadly biological event that could result from one’s curiosity to poke at and kick through scat from wolves, coyotes and foxes. Of course not everyone knowingly does this but many hunters, trappers and simply the curious, want to know what these animals have been eating. Read more

Picture This!

With all the great stories, equipment, adventures and people out there I thought it would be great to get some pictures.  If you have any pictures from a hunt, your gear or best of all you geared up that would be great.  If you send in pictures I will post on our site as well as putting some of the best pictures on all our sites.  Things I am looking for, but not limited to.

•    Gear: Clothes, utility tools, ATV’s…
•    Favorite weapons: guns, bows, sticks, stones…
•    Best Duck Blind or Hide…
•    You, family or friends dressed for the hunt…
•    Where you hunt

All I need is a digital picture in any PC compatible format and a description of the picture.  You can make the description as long or short as you would like.  If there is a story behind the picture we would love to hear about it.

Send Pictures to:

Todd Krater
U.S. Hunting Today
Managing Editor
todd@ushuntingtoday.com

Note: If you want a picture posted and do not have a digital copy I would be willing to scan it for you.  Please contact me for details.

US Hunting Today reserves the right to refuse any picture for any reason as well as edit it where appropriate.

South Carolina Introduces “Firearms Freedom Act”

Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, one of the lead organizations to push through and get passed Montana’s Montana-made firearms bill, HB246, announced today that South Carolina is introducing a similar bill. The other day I told you that the news about HB246 was catching on quickly around the nation and had gone viral.

Senator Lee Bright just introduced another clone of Montana’s HB 246 as the “South Carolina Firearms Freedom Act,” S. 794.

Below is a list of the other states that have similar bills and the links to information about those bills. Read more

Florida NWTF Turkey Calling Championship

Scott Ellis, a contributing writer for U.S. Hunting Today and Skinny Moose Media, will be participating in the 2008 Florida National Wild Turkey Federation Turkey Calling Championships in Orlando, Florida next month. Scott is a 5-time winner of turkey calling events in Florida and will be joining others for this event. Read more

Indiana DNR Wants To Prevent Coyotes From Being Sold

What some are calling an ambiguous loophole in an Indiana state law, trappers who are taking wild coyotes outside of the prescribed coyote trapping season, are keeping them alive and selling them to dog trainers and using them to collect urine for use by trappers. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources says that practice has to stop.

Coyotes are being sold to states that allow hound trainers to use live wild animals for training purposes. Indiana does not allow this so trappers are selling the coyotes to states like South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia where the use of live animals is allowed for dog training.

Animal rights groups are pressuring the IDNR saying the practice is cruel and inhumane but some legislators who sit on the Natural Resources Study Committee don’t see it that way at all.

State Sen. Greg Walker, who is on the committee, said he did not see a problem with selling the animals to dog-training facilities because the care is often better than their lives in the wild.
“For the kennels which do the training of hunting dogs, they prefer to keep the animals in good condition,” said Walker, R-Columbus.
Generally, trainers do not allow the bait animals to be caught, Crider said.
“It’s really nothing that runs counter to what these animals experience in the wild anyway,” Walker said. “It’s part of their natural makeup, it’s part of their DNA, and so if it’s cruel, I guess sometimes you’d say nature is cruel.”

While the DNR is suggesting a change to the rules, the Study Committee could propose legislation that would override any DNR recommendation.

Tom Remington

EHD A Bit “Ho-Hum” In The Deep South

We are at a point where it would be safe to say that this year’s outbreak of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) is quite widespread. Here’s a list of states that have confirmed cases of the virus that is carried to deer by biting midges or no-see-ums: Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, Montana, Mississippi and Georgia. In addition, some states are waiting for test results to confirm what they already suspect – South Carolina is one such state.

To confirm the presence of the disease, blood and certain tissue has to be analyzed.

According to both the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the Alabama Department of Conservation, dealing with EHD is quite routine. Charles Ruth, Deer/Turkey Project supervisor for the South Carolina DNR says flair-ups in that state seem to run in cycles of 3-5 years and there’s a reasonable explanation.

“This is probably related to the fact that once deer are exposed to the disease they are more resistant to it. Therefore, if you have disease one year the deer become exposed or inoculated to the disease and you do not see much disease activity until there is turnover in the deer population. After several years you are dealing with another cohort of deer and their systems are ‘naïve’ to the disease. The last time there was significant hemorrhagic disease activity in South Carolina was in 2002, therefore, disease activity could be relatively high this year.”

This theory is confirmed by a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

“We have some cases every year,” said Keith Guyse, a whitetail specialist with the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division in the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “In the Coastal Plain, the virus is there frequently enough that deer have been exposed to it and have some resistance to it.

Both representatives indicate that EHD in their respective states is pretty much routine only because of the build up of a certain degree of immunity. Therefore, these southern states don’t see wide outbreaks of the disease that often. When EHD hits the more northern climes, EHD seems to grab harder. Ruth explains.

Deer likely die in South Carolina each year from hemorrhagic disease, however, there is no indication that a major outbreak has occurred in the state since the mid 1970s. The disease is part of life for deer in the Southeast and fortunately it appears that Southern deer have acquired some immunity to the disease, said Ruth. Northern deer, on the other hand, are not exposed to the disease as frequently since the insect vector is not as common in cooler climates. For this reason, significant outbreaks and mortality from hemorrhagic disease are more likely in northern deer populations.

Guyse from Alabama makes reference to the same theory.

“Typically in North Alabama and above the fall line, they’re not exposed to it as often. So over a period of time you have a population that doesn’t have much resistance. When you have (outbreaks) up there, it tends to be more noticeable.”

This helps us understand why some states may have more severe outbreaks, killing larger numbers of deer, than others but why this year are outbreaks so widespread across the landscape of the country? Some have related it to the summer heat and drought. That may be true, I don’t know. It would be logical to assume that being that the virus is carried and spread by tiny midges or gnats, a larger than normal population of that insect would be directly proportional to the spread of the disease. Of course science isn’t that simplistic and we know that there are probably many more factors to consider or it could be just merely a coincidence.

However, Guyse from Alabama eludes to the theory of increased numbers of midges, somewhat.

“Auburn (researchers) had traps out to catch the flies and they might catch a few every once in a while, and then all of a sudden they catch hundreds,” Guyse said. “Much of that still is a mystery.”

Obviously, they don’t have a good handle on it either.

Hunters and others should be aware of the symptoms they may find on deer suffering from the disease.

Symptoms of hemorrhagic disease include poor physical condition, sloughing hooves, abrasions or sores on the brisket and legs, and ulcerations on the mouth, tongue, and rumen (stomach).

As I said earlier, verification of the disease has to be done in the lab.

If you see sick or dead deer in your travels, please report it to the appropriate authorities. It is highly recommended that nobody eats any of the meat from deer sickened by EHD.

Tom Remington

Oklahoma Eases Age Restrictions, Required Hunter Safety

A new mentoring program signed into law in Oklahoma by Gov. Brad Henry provides for young hunters under the age of 16 to hunt small game without first taking the required hunter safety class, providing that hunter is with a licensed hunter over the age of 21.

The same law allows hunters 16 – 35 to hunt all game without first taking a hunter safety course and they must be accompanied by a licensed hunter over 21.

South Carolina also has a newly signed bill with a similar mentoring program. The National Wild Turkey Federation has more on both stories.

Tom Remington

Appalachian Houndsmen Association

There’s an enthusiastic group that has formed a brand new organization called the Appalachian Houndsmen Association. Even though they aspire to eventually become a nationwide entity, their focus right now is on Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina. The club’s motto pretty much tells what’s on their mind.

Preserving the Houndsmen’s Heritage for the Next Generation in Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina.

If a lot of you are like me, when you read or hear the word hound, a whole array of mental images crop up in your head. I spent some time browsing around their new website in order to get a better idea of what the Houndsmen were all about. I found out it isn’t just coon dogs nor is it rabbit dogs or bear hunting dogs. It’s all about every kind of dog you can imagine that’s used in the varied hunting and outdoor sports including breeding of sporting dogs as well. Read what the website says about what they are all about.

The Appalachian Houndsmen Association is an association that was started on the basis of joining together all of our clubs from all the different hunting areas to be able to unite(sic) as one large voice to stand up and fight to protect our hunting and breeding rights. We want members from all types of dog hunting, coon hunters, big game hunters, beaglers, fox hunters and bird hunters. We need everyone to be able to make our voice heard. As our motto states “Preserving Our Hunting Heritage for the next Generation”, is a large and bold undertaking and this cannot be accomplished by one person or one club or one group of hunters. Together as a united group we can fight and be heard.

The reason for a united front comes because of the increased pressure from anti-hunting and animal rights groups. I see the AHA is taking action to speak up in support of what they do and the long time heritage associated with it. More and more people are learning as have the AHA that the only ones that are going to fight for what you believe in is you, so they are banding together.

One of the issues that AHA is involved in is support of a bill in South Carolina that would permit the use of dogs in hunting and training for bears. That bill is H3258. There has been opposition to this bill by some anti-hunting and animal rights groups and leaders of the AHA are encouraging its members to contact all the South Carolina representatives and Senate Wildlife Committee members.

There’s more to the Appalachian Houndsmen Association than just getting people together to fight for rights. Their website is soliciting much needed membership to help the cause. There’s also a busy schedule of events including a lot of shows and qualifying competitions and they have plans to start a youth moment within the organization called “PUPS“.

It is clear to me that this new group has a firm grasp and understanding of the importance of hunting as part of our American heritage. They want to work hard to guarantee that heritage to the next generation and they need your help. I would suggest that first you visit their website and learn more about them. There you will find contact information and how you can become a member and get involved. Don’t wait until it’s too late and above all else, don’t wait and let someone else do all the work. Get involved.

Tom Remington