Entries Tagged 'News' ↓
June 18th, 2009 — Guns, Hunting, News
The decision was made less than a day before the East Wake High School (North Carolina) marksmanship team was set to face off in a statewide shooting competition. At the behest of one of the principals of East Wake, along with the superintendent, the school team was barred from competing in the competition.
Wake County, like many school districts, bans the presence of firearms from campuses and school sponsored trips. In this case, however, the decision to prohibit the team from competing extends the ban to state sponsored events, at an off campus location, and under the supervision of adults with firearms training. State law allows for firearm education at schools, while the decision goes directly against it. The decision also goes against efforts from wild life agencies, hunting organizations and other groups engaged in recruiting and replenishing the number hunters. It also goes against the cultural tradition of hunting in rural Wake. All of this for fear of a school massacre occurring.
The 16 member marksman and orienteering team is an offshoot of the school’s future farmers of America. The decision tossed away months of practice and hard work. Had the decision been made sooner, it could have been challenged.
Many Wake schools have marksmanship teams, allowing the use of air rifles at school sanctioned events, such as Cary High School’s Navy JROTC program. But according to the superintendent, JROTC programs are part of the curriculum while FAA programs are not. Ultimately, it came down to the decision made by the superintendent, who made his decision once another school sought permission to participate.
For the past thirty years, the Wildlife Commission tournament has been providing an incentive to middle and high school students to participate in a hunter education course, part of a broader goal of attracting new faces to hunting.
In response to the decision, the International Hunter Education Association expressed concern over the repercussions of such a decision. Their argument is towards the fact that prohibiting participation was a counter productive measure when it comes to the prevention of gun violence.
The event involves a combination of skeet shooting, archery, navigation and rifle marksmanship. The goal is to attract new hunters but more importantly provides means to learn about gun safety and what happens in the case of unsafe gun handling. Without the program, there is no incentive or opportunity to get the gun safety training. This can only lead to unsafe circumstances in many situations. The risk of any sort of school shooting, given the presence of adult supervision, is nil. Studies have in fact shown that it is due to wild life programs that gun safety has largely improved.
All in all, we have a school that is making its decisions out of fear and not looking towards prevention through education, not prohibition. There is clear evidence of the positive effect that education about firearms provides when given to the youth, and these wildlife programs are what enable the state to provide that education. They also help to bring fresh faces to the hunting industry.
Photo Credits: 1
Originally posted 2009-01-26 05:48:18. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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June 18th, 2009 — Hunting, News
In Texas, it is the occurrence that is the bane of hunters that comes only once every other year. During the four month season, hunting and fishing finds itself in the Texas Capitol building in Austin. Many hunters are unaware of the impact of the legislature on their activities. There can be special interest groups or politician mandates. There are also budget restrictions placed upon the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which sets a upper cap on the amount of money that the legislature can spend in a year.
In the Texas House, there are a few misunderstandings on where the committee assignments are after the election of Joe Straus to the post of House speaker. This has given hope to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, as nothing has cut into their budget so far. However, it is too early in the game to be able to tell what will occur. The TPWD staff heads to the capitol, not to lobby (which is against the rules) but will provide testimony on the bills that will impact their budget, or the natural resources of the state in general. There have not been any sort of bills that deal with the natural wild life or fisheries, but there is one hot topic that has kept the TWPD on edge. The TWPD is going through what is known as the Sunset Revue, where its necessity and performance are evaluated and a determination is made as to whether or not to keep the department and if they keep it, how to improve it.
Now the TWPD has seen good days and bad, almost all of which was tied to their bookkeeping methods and such. Now that it dealt with, it looks that the TWPD will breeze through the review this time around. The committee overseeing the TWPD review has raised a concern over the invasion of aquatic plant species into this state, which the TWPD is putting millions of dollars and a large number of man hours, along with other agencies, towards the problem. The number one threat is the giant salvinia, but the hydrilla and water hyacinth are also a threat. The biggest issue behind this invasion is that there is a list of prohibited plants for aquarium and water garden usage, but it fluctuates too slowly to match what is going on. The solution is to switch to an approved plant list, where anything not on the list will require special approval.
Hunters will have to face the same consequences as some one with a speeding ticket, when the TWPD joins a 30 state license compact. What will occur is that out of state hunters who violate game laws, as well as Texas hunters in other states, will suffer a more severe penalty. The result is that wardens confronting a violation will have to present them to a Justice of the Peace for processing. A warden can write a ticket and send the hunter along, and if they fail to correspond, their license in Texas and in their home state may get revoked. This all includes the quarter of a million fisherman and 70 thousand hunters from Texas who travel out of state.
Photo Credits: 1
Originally posted 2009-03-04 14:58:04. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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June 18th, 2009 — Hunting, News
May 27th, 2009 — Crossbows, Hunting, News
As far as sports go, hunting and ping pong really have nothing alike. However, hunters who are preparing to enjoy the 2009 archery hunting season have been forced to watch a rather tedious series of parries as the Game Commission’s board of directors lodge a series of serve and return assaults that are much more suggestive of a match of tennis or ping pong than anything that has to do with hunting.
The battle is all about hunting with crossbows. This is because commissioners are currently sparring regarding what degree crossbows can be used to, and how they should be capable of being equipped, mainly because these seasons were previously reserved specifically for traditional, conventional archery and not crossbow archery.
For the past few decades, hunting with the use of a crossbow during the conventional archery season was completely prohibited in the state of Pennsylvania, unless it came down to a hunter possessing a permit that declared him or her to be physically incapable of using the more conventional form of archery equipment, better known as a vertical bow. This “disabled person permit” would allow them, and only them, to operate a crossbow during the standard archery season.
It was in the late 1990s that the commission finally approved the use of crossbows during the standard archery season, but only in specific urban areas. The regulation went on to be amended later, including a number of Management units, covering nearly the same territory. Then the pace picked up further when the October 2008 meeting was held by the Game Commission. The board voted for a preliminary approval of the full inclusion of all types of crossbows during archery seasons for big game, and the proposal won a 4-3 approval rate in January of 2009.
Those who did not vote for this measure are still fighting, however, because they do not feel as if the issue should be rushed on, and they are more than willing to voice their opinions accordingly. There are some very different opinions on this Game Commission, which is making it difficult for a final solution to be reached regarding this issue. There was such strong opposition present from the more conventional bow hunters in the commission that it began legal for a crossbow to be used while hunting bear and deer across the state of Pennsylvania during the upcoming archery seasons in 2009.
Some of the commissioners do not believe that using automatic archery equipment like the crossbow is going to cause any harm during the hunting season. On the other hand, some commissioners felt that biological impact may be beyond our understanding, and while hunter opportunities may be widened, the amount of damage done biologically may also be widened as well. This match is likely to continue for some time yet as both sides of the situation continue to argue about the merits and flaws of crossbows being used during the conventional archery seasons.
Photo Credit: JMooreIII
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