Tweetweek: Urban dove hunting, dead deer in strange places, celebrity chick hunters and a hilarious ad

Not a slave to Twitter? No problem - here's what I've been tweeting about lately:

Urban hunting? A new state law in Arizona allows hunting within municipalities.

Wow. The second I read this, I thought about all the legal game I've seen in my yard: doves, squirrels, pigeons, even a random pheasant. And I actually saw a wild turkey in the neighborhood last week!

But I'm pretty sure back-yard hunting isn't what Arizona Game and Fish had in mind.

"We plan to take a prudent and thoughtful approach when implementing these new authorities," said Game and Fish Deputy Director Gary Hovatter. "Our intent is to strike a balance between increasing hunting opportunities on open uninhabited lands within municipalities while doing our best to minimize potential or even perceived conflicts, where practical."

A regulation prohibiting shooting game within a quarter mile of an occupied residence still applies.

The new law that allows municipal hunting, SB 1334, works by prohibiting municipalities from enacting regulations limiting lawful hunting. We have the same discussion here in California every year, but the bill is a harder sell in California. Wah!

Deadly fence: Mike Hanback blogged last week about two deer in one week dying trying to get through an iron fence.

At first I couldn't figure out why the doe you see here died so quickly - you see lots of stories about animals getting stuck in fences for days and being successfully liberated. Then I looked more carefully at the fence: Looks like she was impaled trying to make the crossing. (Click on the photo to see a larger version.)

I'd have to say there's a problem with the fence, and someone needs to get a clue and address it.

Continuing the dead-deer theme... Chad Love blogged on F&S recently about a dead fawn found dangling from a POWER LINE.

WTF?

OK, this one isn't the power line's fault. The theory is that an eagle killed the fawn, but wasn't able to fly very far with it. Personally, I'm surprised an eagle could get off the ground with a fawn, but there may not be a better theory.

Nice suit! I can't put the whole photo here because it's copyrighted. All I can say is you Really need to click here to check out the Realtree vest, jacket and hat one of my Twitter friends, @IanHarford, had custom made for himself.

Celebrity chick hunters: Usually we hear about Hollywood celebs siding with PETA, but here's a list of 12 female celebrities who hunt.

What was really funny to me was that I didn't recognize half of these women. Ha! Not surprising - all I watch on television is food shows, science shows and hunting shows.

Humans as prey: I love, love, love this Snickers ad, because it seems only fair to think of ourselves as prey, not just predators. Hilarious!


© Holly A. Heyser 2011

Tweetweek: A predictable bear editorial, a credit card company that hates hero shots, and NYT love

Not a slave to Twitter? No problem - here's my Tweetweek in Review:

L.A. Times on bears: I'm sure it will come as a shock to everyone that the L.A. Times just posted an editorial that takes the HSUS position on black bear hunting hook, line and sinker.

This is to say that the venerable Times thinks our Fish & Game Commission needs to back off a proposal to raise the statewide bear cap next week from 1,700 to 2,000. Instead, the Times says, it should take time to study regional bear populations to see if there are any variations that should be taken into consideration.

Granted, we do apply some special limitations in some regions on deer hunting so it's not like the idea is inherently freakish. It's just that ... hmmmm ... the HSUS's biologist suggested taking that route but for some reason didn't mention that there is really any hint at all that there are any regional bear population problems.

Given HSUS's propensity for, and considerable skill at, exploiting any advantage it can get, I'd think HSUS would've mentioned it if there's a sensitive population that warrants extra consideration. Funny, eh?

Then at the end of the editorial, the LAT recommends banning hunting bears with hounds because animal rights activists think it's unsportsmanlike.

Naturally, I tried leaving a comment on the LAT site, but of course, the comment feature doesn't seem to be working this evening. I hit "post" and nothing happens. No spinning wheels, nothing. So, L.A. Times, here's my comment, and I hope I don't see 17 copies of it on your site tomorrow:

"(T)he bigger question is how bear populations are faring region by region in the state."

Bigger question, indeed! Is there a region where we have some hint that bears, as a species, are in trouble? Do you really believe that if there is such a region, the HSUS, with its vast resources, hasn't heard about it? I looked for, but did not find, hint of it here.

"Animal welfare advocates have argued for years that this is unsportsmanlike."

Tell me, what do "animal welfare advocates" consider sportsmanlike? Could it be that they use the term to sound reasonable, when in fact, they not only oppose all hunting, but all consumption of animal flesh? I don't hunt with hounds, but nor do I look to people who oppose hunting for guidance on hunting sportsmanship.

Two fun facts before I close:

1) Hank and I are eating bear tonight - and this was planned well before we saw the editorial - but I think I'll have seconds now, just because.

2) I will give the LA Times credit: Last time they covered this topic (which I wrote about here), it was with an incredibly biased "news" story. This time, at least, the opinion is showing up in the proper section - the opinion section. That's where newspapers are supposed to take positions. It just so happens that I don't think this position was well-reasoned.

Speaking of HSUS: Gwyn Zetah-Meitin used to be a member of the HSUS, and she loathed hunting. The night she met Patrick Meitin, she made it clear she hated hunters.

"She listed the usual indictments against slobs who spotlight and kill animals out of season, are interested in antlers only as collection pieces, shoot roadside signs and toss beer cans from vehicle windows," Meitin writes.

"I smiled and offered my stock reply. 'We're in agreement then,' I said, pausing for her look of confusion. 'I hate them too. But of course, you're not talking about hunters. You're talking about jerks who happen to own firearms.'"

You can already figure out one part of the story by the way the woman's last name closely resembles his now. You can figure out another part when you see the title of the piece: "My Wife, The Bowhunter."

It's a long piece (said the pot, calling the kettle black), but well worth the read as it culminates in her first - you got it! - black bear kill. What she says about that kill at the end is something pretty much every hunter will be familiar with, but something the folks at, say, the L.A. Times would do well to read.

I really wanted to leave a congratulatory comment on the story, but the Petersen's doesn't seem to have a comment function at all. Hopefully the folks there will see my praise for the story here.

Why I'm glad I don't use my Capital One card anymore: Capital One loves to tout the fact that cardholders can design their own card, but when New Jersey cardholder Lou Hinger tried to upload a photo of her husband posing with a deer he'd killed, CapOne said it was "unacceptable."

The problem? “Sorry, we were unable to approve the image you submitted. We will not approve any images that contain the following: Violence, hatred, or cruelty to humans or animals, profanity obscenities or any type of death imagery.”

So, hey, farmers, don't you dare upload pictures of the cows you plan to slaughter. And foodies, whatever you do, DO NOT UPLOAD PHOTOS OF JUICY STEAKS! You sick, animal-hating bastards.

You can read the whole story at NRAhuntersrights.org, but - spoiler alert! - the good news at the end is that if you have an NRA card, you can customize it with your hero shots.

Shameless self-promotion: Hank's upcoming book, Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast, got a glowing mention in the New York Times last week.

I love the New York Times. The newspaper has shown incredible openness to hunting, and appears to get the fact that a lot of people hunt for a lot of good reasons.

The book comes out May 24, but you can pre-order it here.

Hint, hint.

Gratuitously funny video ending: I don't have time to cruise YouTube, but my students always turn me on to the best stuff. Like a baby penguin being tickled:



Have a good weekend, everyone!

© Holly A. Heyser 2011

Cazadora's Top Tweets: Crap in the gene pool, a dead little stallion and dolphins cuddling a cat

Tweetweek in review:

A dumb ad: How about a nice big raspberry for Dodge for its really stupid ad on YouTube for the 2011 Ram Outdoorsman?

What's wrong with it?

It features a guy who's camping out under the stars. He's trying to sleep, but some crickety thing keeps chirping, keeping him awake. So he gets up, grabs a compound bow from the handy storage compartment in his truck, and shoots the chirping thing.

When he returns to his sleeping bag to enjoy the peace, a frog starts croaking, and the ad leaves us to believe he's going to get up and kill that, too. Get it? Bother a hunter and he will hunt you down and kill you.

This is not the worst image of hunters I've ever seen. I just hate it when people on "our side" project an image of hunters that makes us look like a bunch of 7-year-old boys who can't stop ourselves from shooting everything that moves. It's just not helpful.

Thanks to Peebs for bringing this one to my attention.

Please remove this person from the gene pool: Some moron videoed himself on a snowmobile chasing a moose. The moose runs and runs and runs and finally stops and nearly head-butts the idiot.

Almost all of the comments on the video are pretty caustic - deservedly so.

I don't own a snowmobile or an ATV and I doubt that I ever will, so I don't take personal umbrage at what this idjit has done to besmirch the reputation of snowmobilers.

I just think he's a jerk, and I hope he never procreates.

Thanks to Chas Clifton at the Southern Rockies Nature Blog for bringing this one to my attention.

Wolf-dog hybrids kill miniature stallion: Apparently, there are a bunch of wolf-dog hybrids running around Riverside County, and one of them killed and ate a miniature horse, maybe 30 inches high at the shoulders, right in front of a rancher.

See the problem here? The fearlessness of a domestic animal, the instincts of a wild one? Hide your kids, folks.

Of course, that fearlessness turned out to be a problem for one of the wolf-dogs, because one of the ranch hands promptly shot it. But a second wolf-dog got away after taking a few rounds himself.

According to the Riverside Press-Enterprise story, "Wolf-dog hybrids are dogs that have been bred with wolves or wolf mixes. Detractors describe them as being wild and unpredictable, but supporters say they are good around people."

Thanks to @alquackenbush at the SoCal Bowhunter for Tweeting this one first.

Good news: A win against HSUS! A federal judge rejected a lawsuit by the Humane Society of the United States that attempted to end hunting at more than 50 national wildlife refuges, according to a story in Ammoland.

If you're like me and like more than one source for your news, you'll find there wasn't much written about Wednesday's decision. The only other substantive piece I could find was this story by the Courthouse News Service.

Something to make you go "Awwwwwww!" You know how I love my kitties, so I couldn't resist this sweet little video of a cat engaging tenderly with some dolphins.



It's a really touching video, and I wasn't surprised to see the following comment on the YouTube page: "I believe Heaven is just what I saw, all the creatures getting along."

Apparently this person wasn't aware that dolphins - like humans - can be cute one moment, then hungry for meat the next:



Ah, life in all its glory!

© Holly A. Heyser 2011

Cazadora's Top Tweets: bald eaglets, bikinis, turkeys, ethics and Darth Vader

When I first started this blog, I used to write a lot more about interesting hunting- and nature-related stuff I found on the web, but once I started a Twitter account, I shifted a lot of those tidbits to the Twitterverse.

Twitter, with its 140-character limit, seemed like a great place to share something that's interesting, but not necessarily worth a whole blog post. That's still true, but I've found increasingly that I've wanted to share some of these things with blog readers who aren't on Twitter (or don't stay glued to it every waking moment).

So, behold, my first installment of Cazadora's Top Tweets: a sampling of some of the stuff I've been tweeting about in the past week. Here we go:

Decorah Eagles: My foodie friend @CarolBlymire turned me on to this one, which has been utterly consuming: There's a webcam trained on a bald eagle nest in Decorah, Iowa, and you can tune in day or night to see what's happening. Two of the three eaglets have hatched so far, so it's not too late to try to catch the final blessed moment.

The live footage, courtesy of the Raptor Resource Project, has been utterly fascinating to watch: the partnership of the parent eagles (they tend the nest in shifts), their odd little way of rocking when settling down on eggs and/or eaglets, the way the stronger eaglet bullies the weaker one, and the incredible collection of dead animals piling up on the nest to keep the little ones (and the eagle on nest shift) well-fed.

If you love nature, you'll love this. And if the live action is slow when you tune in, scroll down and it'll take you to replays on YouTube. The replays could stand to be edited down a bit - I'm a cut-to-the-chase kind of viewer - but they do catch key moments.

A hunting television show we don't need? Steve Sarley, a columnist for the Northwest Herald in McHenry County, Illinois, tells us there's a new hunting TV show in the works: Bikini Buck Shot. It's about three Chicago city girls going out to the country and attempting to hunt.

Sarley planned to do an interview about it until he watched a video one of the participants had posted on Facebook. You should check out what he had to say about it, but the short version is it didn't seem terribly ... serious.

Of course, I could be wrong about this show - it could be an amazing way to get urbanites into hunting, which is something I'm actually quite interested in. But if that's the case, the word "Bikini" in the title really doesn't serve it well.

Yo producer, are you reading? If you can make a case for this show being serious, email me.

Mean old hunters: Newhampshire.com columnist Stacey Cole wrote a column this week about something that really bugged her, and the headline says it all: "Careless hunter left arrow in living turkey."

The arrow was sticking through the bird's chest, close to its neck (ow).

Cole, who says she's not anti-hunting, writes, "How a bow hunter could hit a turkey with such a direct body shot and then not follow the wounded game until it could be retrieved, is a bit beyond me. It certainly appeared to me that this was not the action of a hunter who was interested in a quick, clean, kill."

Sigh. It never ceases to amaze me that when people see a wounded animal, particularly one with an arrow stuck in it, they tend to assume that the hunter was mean, negligent or cruel.

Sadly, there is no comment function on that website (though, for some reason, the site lists Cole's address). If there were, I would happily point out that most hunters really want to kill what they shoot at, and when the animal doesn't die right away, they generally work really hard to get the animal and finish the job.

Unfortunately, most animals run faster than we do, and turkeys can actually fly away, which really makes it a challenge to give chase. Sheesh!

Field & Stream ethics column: Field & Stream announced Friday (yes, on April Fool's) that it's starting an ethics column. For real.

The editors are inviting readers to pose questions for the column to address, click here if you'd like to add to the pile.

Straight-up funny: Hank (@Hank_Shaw) turned me on to Darth Vader vs Hitler. Epic Rap Battles of History 2. Nothing to do with hunting or nature or food - it's just funny as hell. Be warned, though: There's a bit of inappropriate language, so if your kids' ears are pristine and you'd like to keep it that way, check this out after you've put them to bed for the evening.



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© Holly A. Heyser 2011