Calling Elk Bow Close

Whether hunting public or privateland, the fundamentals of calling elk remain the same.

By Michael Waddell

We heard the bull bugle at first light and snuck into his core area. When I hit a lick on my bugle, the bull simply came unglued and stormed our position like a tank, crashing through brush and small lodgepole pines like they were atchsticks. Before we could react he was in our lap and we were pinned down, myself hiding behind a camera, too afraid to even touch the tripod for fear of my shaking hands would run the footage. All I could see of my partner edged against a stunted pine was the tip of his undrawn arrow shaking uncontrollably on the rest. Before a shot presented itself, the bull smelled a  rat and disappeared as quickly as he arrived.

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.

Marshall Sage: Government Control by “Eliminating The Sovereignty Of The States”

The following is a guest article. I asked Marshall Sage for permission to publish his response to a discussion on state sovereignty and the decimation of the United States Constitution by progressives.

Marshall Sage is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel who has enjoyed the freedom to hunt and fish throughout much of the free world. Most recently radio host for “Outdoor Life” a hunting and fishing program in Southwestern Idaho. A life member of SCI and the NRA. Contact at msage22@gmail.com.

Our founding fathers gave our nation a blueprint on how to avoid a centralized, authoritarian government from taking away our individual freedoms (endowed by our Creator) and rights (Bill of Rights). This blueprint was our Constitution. It’s no accident that in less than 200 years of following this blueprint the United States of America became the most prosperous and industrious nation on earth. Read more

Montana’s New Gun Law Going Viral

H/T to reader Greg Farber on the Global News Post article.

Montana’s HB246 is the talk of the states it seems these days. It didn’t take too long I suppose but with each passing day, more media, not the main stream though, and new Internet media are picking up on the brazen and testy new gun law bill that Montana signed into law last month. I first brought you that story right here on the Black Bear Blog.

I’ll dispense with all the proper speak and get to the nitty gritty of the bill. Montana’s HB246 says that any guns or gun parts manufactured in the state of Montana and sold exclusively in the state of Montana cannot be regulated by the federal government. Read more

New Wolf Control Facts

Note: The following article was originally printed in The Outdoorsman No. 33, February 2009 by the publisher, George Dovel. With his permission, I am republishing for Black Bear Blog readers.

Before I present the current Idaho wolf population data, the following highlights from the Alaska Board of Game wolf and bear control program approved in early March 2009 are very interesting. Because Alaska DFG Biologists are the undisputed experts in North American wolf research and in state control of wolves adversely impacting big game populations, this information should be read and discussed by every legislator and biologist involved in the wolf delisting process.

In early February, 2009, before the AK Game Board even met to consider requests for wolf control, Defenders of Wildlife (DOW) mounted a television campaign in opposition to aerial wolf control, using Hollywood actress Ashley Judd as its spokesperson. Judd called aerial killing of wolves “senseless savagery,” and attacked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for approving the practice (ID and MT take note). Read more

Does Trophy Hunting Spoil The Gene Pool?

Yesterday I posted a rebuttal to a Newsweek article that supported the theory that trophy hunting was creating “weak and scrawny” game animals. The Newsweek article used information from a study done on big horn sheep on Ram Mountain in Alberta, Canada, that made the claim by some involved in that study that in 30 years it was trophy hunting that had caused a reduction in body size and horn length and mass. Since that posting, my mailbox has filled up with information.

Trophy hunting, as used in this post and related articles, can be best described as the effort of hunters to select an animal for harvesting that has large antlers/horns in combination with big body mass. The theory is that this type of harvesting selection is creating weaker and smaller species because hunters are culling out the best of the litters to hang on their walls. This simply is not true. Read more

An Oryx in the Hill Country?

by Denny L. Vasquez

© Copyrighted

Several years ago I was bitten by the “exotic” hunting bug. Since then I have been on several of these hunts, and for the most part I have really enjoyed them. Whoa!, you say, “Exotic hunts, what in the world is this guy talking about?” Well, for those of you who do not know what “exotic” hunting is, I will try to explain before getting on with the rest of my article.

The exotic species of game animals available for hunting in the US today are the offspring of animals that have been introduced into this country in areas where they are a non-native species. Examples of this are the blackbuck antelope and axis or chital deer from the Indian sub-continent, fallow deer from Europe, oryx, wildebeest, kudu and nyala from the African continent; even Rocky Mountain elk on a Michigan or south Texas brush country ranch. Read more

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Approves Of Animal Slaughter

If you don’t like that headline then perhaps you should also not like one that states that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is an animal killer and an abuser. There are however a few marked differences between what some are accusing Gov. Palin of being and what I am accusing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of being but both bear striking similarities………..that is if you are willing to look at things from a honest perspective.

There will always be people who will have an issue with the killing of any animal and some to the extreme of any living thing whether plant or animal. We witness everyday people who ignorantly support the protection of a handful of animals while being responsible for the deaths of more than they saved. For that, I offer no cures nor do I pretend that I can in all honesty have any marked alterations to their beliefs. I expect nothing different in return either. Read more

Gov. Sarah Palin – She Ain’t Afraid Of No Wolves!

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin isn’t afraid of anyone or anybody when it comes to doing what is right for the people within the constitutions and laws in which we all must abide.

Forget the far left’s attempt to smear Palin and her family, a left extremism that Barack Obama and many others support, the democrats in general are attempting to make an issue about Governor Palin’s experience. It’s probably a bit objective as to whether Governor Palin has more or less “experience” than Senator Obama. The liberal media, in its support of Obama, is saying that Sarah Palin doesn’t measure up to Obama in experience and that Senator John McCain’s attack campaign against Obama’s inexperience will now backfire, as he has picked a running mate with little experience. Read more

Alaska Retired Wildlife Biologist Offers Aerial Wolf Management Feedback

Today, Dave Kelleyhouse, a retired wildlife biologist and a former director of the Division of Wildlife Conservation of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, offers his input on Ballot Measure 2. BM2 is an attempt by anti-hunting groups to stop the Alaska Department of Fish and Game from using the necessary tools to manage predators.

You can read Kellyhouse’s editorial at The Voice of the Times.

Tom Remington

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