Free Republic

American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA, a front for anti-Second Amendment entities) is running an ad in Pennsylvania that says Obama supports the rights of hunters and shooters. “The Democrats and Gun Control” from the Wall Street Journal [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120839466717921537.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries] exposes Obama for the liar he is. As a state senate candidate in 1996, Mr. Obama endorsed a complete ban on all handguns in a questionnaire. The Obama campaign has claimed he “never saw or approved the questionnaire,” and that an aide filled it out incorrectly. But a few weeks ago, Politico.com found an amended version of the questionnaire [http://www.politico.com/static/PPM43_080328_obama_iviquestionaire_091096.html]. It...

WASHINGTON, April 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) announced the endorsement of Senator Barack Obama on a national conference call this morning organized by the Obama for President campaign. AHSA President Ray Schoenke made the following statement in his endorsement of Senator Obama: ...As a gun rights organization we have not come to this decision lightly. We were formed two years ago because our research shows that millions of gun owners wanted a change. They not only wanted an organization that would protect their gun rights but an organization that was also committed to the protection...

Oregon's 550,000 hunters and anglers spend $1.1 billion annually...the ripple effect at $1.8 billion annually. Oregon ranks No. 25 among all states in terms of total spending. Texas is No. 1 at $6.6 billion, and Florida placed second, $4.8 billion. On the national level, 34 million sportsmen...spent more than $76 billion in 2006, supporting 1.6 million jobs...

Bob Heckman of Quakake took the second-heaviest black bear — a 628-pound boar — registered during last week’s three-day, statewide season, according to information compiled by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. His bear is second in weight to a 712-pound boar ...

<p>IF there are any pol iticians out there who believe hunt ers and anglers do not exercise their voting rights, just look to New Jersey. Garden State sportsmen and women showed their political clout on Election Day by throwing out two incumbent lawmakers who repeatedly attacked the state's hunting traditions.</p>

Public release date: 12-Nov-2007 Contact: Carl Marziali marziali@usc.edu 213-219-6347 University of Southern California Human ancestors: more gatherers than hunters? Early humans may have dug potato-like foods with tools, say anthropologists from USC, UC San Diego and UW-Madison Chimpanzees crave roots and tubers even when food is plentiful above ground, according to a new study that raises questions about the relative importance of meat for brain evolution. Appearing online the week of Nov. 12 in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study documents a novel use of tools by chimps to dig for tubers...

Mammoth hunters' camp site found in Russia's Far East 13:02 | 12/ 11/ 2007 KHABAROVSK, November 12 (RIA Novosti) - Archaeologists have found a 15,000 year-old hunters' camp site from the Paleolithic era near Lake Evoron in Russia's Far East, a source in the Khabarovsk archaeology museum said on Monday. "The site dates back to the end of the Ice Age, a period which is poorly studied" Andrei Malyavin, chief of the museum's archaeology department said. "That is why any new site from this period is a discovery in itself." The site, found during a 2007 archaeological expedition to Lake...

Number of hunters falls, worrying some By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer Sun Sep 2, 4:53 PM ET Hunters remain a powerful force in American society, as evidenced by the presidential candidates who routinely pay them homage, but their ranks are shrinking dramatically and wildlife agencies worry increasingly about the loss of sorely needed license-fee revenue. New figures from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show that the number of hunters 16 and older declined by 10 percent between 1996 and 2006 — from 14 million to about 12.5 million. The drop was most acute in New England, the Rocky...

Alien hunters 'should also seek weird life' By Tom Leonard in New York Last Updated: 2:04am BST 10/07/2007 The hunt for extra-terrestrial life should encompass what experts call "weird life", according to a committee of scientists in the US. The Huygens spacecraft visited Titan in 2004. Scientists believe the moon is a promising source of weird life Nasa selects planets and moons with hints of water for its exploratory missions. But according to the scientists, who have written a report for the National Research Council in the US, other chemicals such as ammonia or methane could also support life. So-called...

A state appeals court dismissed a challenge from a Minnesota man sentenced to life in prison for gunning down six deer hunters in northern Wisconsin, saying his complaints are meritless. Chai Soua Vang, 38, argued his trial judge should have suppressed his statements to police and a news reporter, and challenged whether the evidence supported a guilty verdict and whether the judge properly exercised his sentencing powers. The 3rd District Court of Appeals ruled there were no grounds to challenge his conviction. Vang's own attorneys told the court he had no grounds to appeal, but Vang sent eight handwritten documents...

Mountain lion hunters in Colorado now must pass a proficiency test prior to obtaining a license after unanimous action Thursday by the Colorado Wildlife Commission. The mandatory lion hunter education course, the first such requirement of lion hunters in the nation, is aimed at teaching prospective hunters how to differ between male and female lions and to prevent the overtake of female lions. “This is a monumental decision,” said Wildlife Commission Chairman Tom Burke...“Other states are going to be looking at us and following our lead.” initiated by the predator conservation group Sinapu... the Colorado Outfitters Association, which was concerned...

FORT WORTH -- The Hunters' long season in North Texas is over.The Hunters of Strike Fighter Squadron 201 have prowled the skies over North Texas, leaving contrails from the supersonic engines of Crusaders, Phantoms, Tomcats and, finally, Hornets.Saturday will mark the last of that, though. The squadron commander and base executive officer will take the F/A-18s for one last spin. They'll get a hosing-down by a firetruck, snap a few pictures and go to a party in the Hunters' hangar.Cmdr. Doug Beal, the squadron's last commander, just hopes that he walks into a party, not a wake."I want the party...

They call themselves "hunters who care." Their goal is to rid the desert of the trash left behind by illegal immigrants. Saturday, they fanned out across the Amado area to make a difference. "It was like a big surprise. I thought it would be clean and no trash. Just of bunch of trees and stuff," said Matt Aragon. Matt spots more than just wildlife when he goes hunting. "...a bunch of trash and it's causing damage to the environment." Most of the garbage was left behind by illegal immigrants. It's a sight Mother Nature wouldn't be proud of. That's why...

(Each was honored for ignoring the danger and rushing to help as a St. Paul hunter attacked in 2004. Two paid with their lives.) When deer hunter Chai Soua Vang, of St. Paul, opened fire on a large party of other hunters in northern Wisconsin in 2004, some of the people he killed, wounded and endangered were trying to save the lives of their friends and family members, according to official accounts of the melee. Five members of the party were recognized Thursday -- three posthumously -- with medals from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. The Pittsburgh-based fund carries out...

A pheasant hunter was acciden tally peppered with bird shot by a shooter from another sportsmen's party yesterday morning in Oxford Township, authorities and witnesses said. Nabhan Elsamara, 47, of Landing was hit by bird shot pellets from the gun of Frederick Flake Jr., 41, of Denville while the two were hunting in a state game preserve, according to Oxford Police Lt. Charles Lilly. Elsamara was airlifted to Morristown Memorial Hospital around 8 a.m. and released in the afternoon. He said in a phone interview he was "okay, so far," but still smarting from wounds all over: "My eyes, my...

ATHENS, Greece, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Greek police are investigating the execution-style slaying of five hunters found dead in a field in the southwestern part of the country. The victims had been shot multiple times at both long and short range outside the farming town of Agrinio, Britain's Guardian reports. Police say hunting rifles and cell phones were found next to the victims who ranged in age from 17 to 33 and were related to each other. The youngest member of the hunting party had tried to make a phone call to his father before the connection was cut off....

Col. Hunt filling in for Howie today. Happy...Howie-Days! Read below for Howie's latest column...can I get me a huntin' license here?

The man serving life prison sentences for murdering six deer hunters in northern Wisconsin in 2004 disagrees with his attorney that there are no grounds to appeal his convictions, authorities said Friday. Chai Soua Vang, 37, mailed eight pages of handwritten documents from a prison in Iowa to the state Court of Appeals responding to his attorney's conclusion about the case, deputy clerk Sheelah Guild said. The attorney, assistant state public defender Patrick Donnelly, has 30 days to respond to Vang's document before the 3rd District Court of Appeals in Wausau considers the case, Guild said. Earlier, Vang had requested...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgtWZXK9gm8 Some background: She is Judge Leslie Lewis, 3rd district of Utah. And she is up for retention, or "re-election" on this coming election day. http://www.firejudgelewis.com/

This just in: Hunters don't believe they are accurately portrayed in television and movies. A recent poll at huntersurvey.com showed that 55.2 percent of hunters felt they were rarely portrayed accurately, while 38.8 percent said they were only sometimes portrayed accurately. No kidding. Internet polls aren't exactly scientific, but it's hard to argue with this one. A couple of weekends ago when I got together with some friends for some early-season squirrel hunting, a couple of guys were talking about yet another example of Hollywood's typical take on hunting. Apparently in the popular show "Grey's Anatomy," a turkey hunter is...

Nearly two years after a dispute over a deer stand that left six western Wisconsin hunters dead, a new Rice Lake park dedicated to the hunters has been completed. Hunters Memorial Park will be dedicated at 1 p.m. Monday. The park, at Whitetail Drive and Linden Avenue, was built with private donations and will be given to the city of Rice Lake. North Builders Association donated labor, one of the two lots needed and some of the building materials. It also raised funds to cover other park expenses. Aspen Creek Services donated the second lot. The cost of the park...

A coalition of conservationist and health organizations has served notice that it will sue the state California Fish and Game Commission for continuing to allow lead ammunition to be used for hunting in California. The groups contend that lead bullets lodged in carcasses left by hunters are poisoning California condors that feed on them. "Lead poisoning from ammunition is the single greatest obstacle to the recovery of wild California condors," said Jeff Miller of the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the organizations joining forces in the suit. Other parties include the Natural Resources Defense Council, Physicians for Social Responsibility...

National Wildlife Federation Offers Free Tickets To "An Inconvenient Truth" So what's the deal with the new global warming movie, An Inconvenient Truth? We want you to find out...FREE. The National Wildlife Federation is offering a limited number of free tickets to sportsmen and women to go see the movie and post your thoughts on their website: www.targetglobalwarming.org Reserve your TWO FREE TICKETS here: www.targetglobalwarming.org/movieticket After you see the movie, come back and post your opinion. Your name will be entered into a drawing for a Cabela's Outdoor Adventure. Visit an elite pheasant hunting lodge in South Dakota...fish for salmon...

/13/2006 - KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFPN) -- Air Force reservists from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron’s “Hurricane Hunters” began flying the year’s first storm missions June 10 into Tropical Storm Alberto. The Hurricane Hunters found that the center of the cyclone had abruptly reformed near the deep convection and was relocated some 60 nautical miles to the northeast of its previously estimated position during a flight June 12. The Hurricane Hunters are flying the new WC-130J model, with dual heads-up displays for pilots and technological advancements such as improved weather radar. These features significantly improve the situational awareness...

6/5/2006 - KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFPN) -- It was a quiet opening day of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season. Hurricane Hunters of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron spent the day training and getting ready for what forecasters say will be another active season. Though the season officially began June 1 and ends Nov. 30, last year these reservists flew more than 1,500 hours into storms beginning in May with Hurricane Adrian in the Pacific and finally ending in December flying missions into Hurricane Epsilon. Tropical Storm Zeta formed later, extending the 2005 season into 2006 though it did...

A California bill that would make sportsmen who hunt with dogs and pet owners whose dogs have run-ins with backyard wildlife vulnerable to prosecution is advancing in the state legislature.   On April 4, the Assembly Public Safety Committee voted 4 to 3 in favor of AB 2110, sponsored by Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-El Cerrito.  The bill was proposed to ban open field coursing events with sighthounds.  Its vague wording could easily leave waterfowl and upland game hunters vulnerable to prosecution when they use retriever dogs in the field.  Assembly Bill 2110 now moves to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for debate. Aside...

MADISON, WI (AP) -- A man convicted of killing six deer hunters and wounding two others in a shooting spree in northwestern Wisconsin was moved to an Iowa prison because of security concerns. Corrections officials moved Chai Soua Vang to the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison, Iowa, in January, according to state records. He had been imprisoned at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun. Officials moved him because they had safety concerns for corrections staff, inmates and others, said Dan Westfield, security chief for the Department of Corrections' division of adults institutions. Westfield compared the case to that of...

It's healthier than beef, it's good in a stew or in chili, you can make jerky with it, and the Virginia Hunters for the Hungry have hundreds of thousands of pounds to give away every year. "From jerky to jambalaya from stew to chili, there's a lot -- a lot -- of things deer meat can be used for," said Gary Arrington, senior project manager for the Virginia-based organization, which last year donated a record 340,173 pounds of venison to the hungry. "It's versatile," he said. Since its inception in 1991, Hunters for the Hungry has given away more than...

The burgeoning wild boar population rooting around in Britain's woodlands needs to be culled to halt an impending environmental disaster, scientists said yesterday. Conservationists and wildlife specialists are calling on the Government to designate the ferocious creatures as game, paving the way for boar hunting seasons. Three hundred years after being hunted to extinction, thriving packs of wild boar - known as soundings - have re-established themselves across the country. It is estimated that Britain's wild boar population is already in the high hundreds and growing unabated. Along with the spread of the tusked pigs come increasing fears for the...

Some ranchers say the wolves in the Madison Valley have grown increasingly brazen and are apparently unafraid of people. State wildlife officials say such behavior is to be expected, given the federal protection the predators have had in the decade since being reintroduced in the Yellowstone National Park. Jack Atcheson Jr. said he was spooked on a recent hunting trip, when three men and three mules got within 47 yards of a wolf that was staring right at them. The Butte hunting outfitter, who books international trips, said he had never seen wolves in Alaska, Asia or other places act...

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia fondly remembers carrying a rifle around New York City as a boy and says outdoorsmen should attack the idea that guns are only used for crimes. An avid outdoorsmen who's hunted with Vice President Dick Cheney, Scalia spoke Saturday at the National Wild Turkey Federation's annual convention. "The attitude of people associating guns with nothing but crime, that is what has to be changed," Scalia told the audience of about 2,000. "I grew up at a time when people were not afraid of people with firearms," said Scalia, noting that as a youth in...

/22/2006 - MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFPN) -- One Maxwell family got the opportunity to see what it is like to be in front of the camera, as a television producer and crew documented their search for a residence in the Montgomery area for the Home and Garden Television network's "House Hunters" series. Senior Master Sgt. Greg Day, Air Force First Sergeant Academy instructor, his wife, Diane, and their two children, Mary Jo and Jacob, were visited by Pie Town Productions Feb. 9 at their temporary living facility in Maxwell-Gunter billeting. The show follows home buyers all over the...

The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association has announced the appointment of Dave Ehrig as chairman of the Longhunter Committee and the NMLRA Longhunter Muzzleloading Big Game Records Program. Since 1988, the NMLRA Longhunter Committee and staff have maintained a trophy measuring, scoring, and record-keeping program for North American big game animals taken with muzzleloading firearms. The fourth edition of The Longhunter Muzzleloading Big Game Record Book, which includes all qualifying animals taken since the program’s inception, was recently released. Mr. Ehrig is well known among muzzleloading enthusiasts and others in the black powder shooting industry. Known as "Pennsylvania’s Mr. Black...

Neanderthals: Top-Notch Hunters By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery NewsNeanderthal And Modern Humans Feb. 1, 2006— Neanderthals did not disappear because modern humans were better hunters and thus out-competed them for resources, according to U.S. and Israeli anthropologists. On the contrary, they were top predators who knew how to hunt the biggest and fastest of the animals. Neanderthals went extinct about 30,000 years ago, after having inhabited Europe and parts of Asia for roughly 200,000 years. The reason for their demise has been long debated and frequently attributed to modern humans' greater intelligence and consequently greater hunting skills. However, evidence from animal...

Thoughtful Hunters An interdisciplinary research programme, 2004-2007, at the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University sponsored by the Netherlands Foundation for Scientific Research (NWO). THe Research ProgrammeFrom about 500,000 BP onwards, Europe saw a continuous occupation by occasionally very small and rather isolated groups of hominins. The typical cold-adapted Neanderthals of the last glacial were the product of a long process of Neanderthalisation that developed during the last half million years under severe climatic stress. Over the last five years archaeological studies have shown that these Middle and Late Pleistocene hominins, in contrast to previous opinions, were capable hunters of...

Devon treasure hunters strike a rich seam 12/17/2005 12:33:49 AM EST WESTERN DAILY PRESS This is the hoard of treasure dug up around Devon - and it's set to earn a windfall for the metal detector enthusiasts who found it. The Viking gold ingot, silver gilt dress hook, silver huntsman's whistle and medieval gold and sapphire ring have all been officially declared treasure and have become the property of the Crown. The finders will now be rewarded for handing over the items at 'market value', which has yet to be decided. The Viking cast gold ingot, found in Wembury, was...

A hunting lodge with antler chandeliers and stuffed ducks on the walls seems a strange place to celebrate the comeback of the ivory-billed woodpecker, but wildlife officials are doing exactly that. They credit hunters in particular with helping bring the rare bird back from presumed extinction in the Big Woods section of Arkansas. "The people of Arkansas, the hunting and fishing community, conserved these woods," Scott Simon of The Nature Conservancy told reporters on Monday at the Mallard Pointe Lodge, where a coalition of environmentalists, academics and wildlife officials rejoiced in woodpecker's return to the living. Simon said hunters and...

Hunting season brings concerns for gun safety in the hands of persons with Alzheimer's disease. While it may seem for some that hunting and handling guns has been a lifelong skill, the complex mental skills required by the safe handling of guns are usually lost early in the process of dementia. Studies into the behavior of those with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias indicate that threatening and unsafe behavior caused by impaired judgment has been found to occur in 30 to 50 percent of persons with AD. The presence of guns could contribute to serious consequences of life threatening injury...

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- The first weekend of deer season began with hunters adjusting to a new rule: spikehorn deer -- male deer that have just a single antler -- are off limits to this year. The regulation is designed to try and strengthen herd numbers. The regulations also reduce the number of deer a hunter can take during the state's archery, rifle and black powder seasons from three to two. "I was a little bit worried about it this year, but I think in the end it will be well-worth it," said hunter Jeff Kershner. I would like to see...

Wisconsin's wild pigs deserve to be shot. That needed to be said before some pack of porcine protectors starts picketing to save the poor creatures' bacon. We have nothing against pigs in general, mind you. We respect the domesticated pig for its intelligence - it's one of the smartest of farm animals - and for its purpose - most of us enjoy a ham sandwich or pork chop every now and then. But wild pigs are a horse of a different color, so to speak. Wisconsin has recently joined the list of places confronting the problems created by a growing...

A psychiatrist says Chai Soua Vang had a history of suicidal and homicidal thoughts dating back two decades or more. Psychiatrist Robert Rawski examined Vang before the St. Paul man went on trial for the fatal shootings of six Wisconsin deer hunters. In the report -- obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- Rawski also says Vang believed the voice of an "evil shaman'' has spoken to him occasionally since 1995.

Sept. 28, 2005, 10:48PM Even dead, rattlers are dangerous Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Even a dead rattlesnake can hurt you. Just ask Trey Hanover of College Station. ADVERTISEMENT On Labor Day weekend, Hanover and his father, Tommy Hanover, were working on their deer lease when they killed a big rattler. They shot the snake's head off with a shotgun and loaded the carcass in the truck to show other hunters on their lease that they needed to be careful. "We hung the snake on the fence at the camphouse," Tommy Hanover said. "When we got ready to leave, Trey picked...

The archipelago is named after Robinson Crusoe, but perhaps it should have been called Treasure Island. A long quest for booty from the Spanish colonial era appears to be culminating in Chile with the announcement by a group of adventurers that they have found an estimated 600 barrels of gold coins and Incan jewels on the remote Pacific island. "The biggest treasure in history has been located," said Fernando Uribe-Etxeverria, a lawyer for Wagner, the Chilean company leading the search. Mr Uribe-Etxeverria estimated the value of the buried treasure at US$10bn (£5.6bn). The announcement set off ownership claims. The treasure...

No physical evidence links the unsolved slaying of a deer hunter four years ago to a Minnesota man convicted of killing six northern Wisconsin deer hunters last fall, Clark County Sheriff Louis Rosandich said Friday. It will likely take a confession to solve the slaying, he said. Chai Soua Vang, a 36-year-old Minnesota truck driver, is considered a "person of interest'' in Jim Southworth's death, based on some similarities to the murders that Vang was convicted of last week in Sawyer County, Rosandich said. Clark County investigators have not talked to Vang but want to ask him where he was...

A Minnesota man convicted of killing six deer hunters in northern Wisconsin's Sawyer County last fall is considered a "person of interest'' in the investigation into an unsolved slaying of a hunter in Clark County four years ago, a detective says. Detective Kerry Kirn of the Clark County Sheriff's Department said Thursday that he plans to ask Chai Soua Vang where he was on Nov. 23, 2001, when Jim Southworth was shot twice in the back near his tree stand on family land east of Neillsville in central Wisconsin. A jury in Circuit Court in Hayward found Vang, 36, of...

MADISON — The foreman of a jury that found a Hmong immigrant guilty of killing six white deer hunters said Saturday the man’s testimony that he acted in self-defense was not credible. Chai Soua Vang testified last week that he feared for his life after being threatened and called racial slurs and fired only after someone else shot at him first. Jury foreman William Bremer said in a telephone interview that Vang could have walked away after the hunters angrily confronted him for trespassing on their land in some isolated northwestern Wisconsin woods. After about 32 [sic] hours of deliberations...

HAYWARD, Wis. -- A verdict has been reached in the Wisconsin trial of Chai Vang, 36, accused of killing six deer hunters and wounding two others during a confrontation in the woods last November after they caught him trespassing in a tree stand. Kelly Kennedy, of the state Department of Justice, said the judge, lawyers and other court personnel are being called back for the announcement. Vang, a Hmong immigrant from St. Paul, Minn., testified he was called racial slurs and that one of the others fired at him before he opened fire in self-defense. Two survivors testified Vang shot...

In an emotional end to the trial of Chai Soua Vang, he testified this afternoon that three of the hunters he killed deserved to die. Vang, charged with killing six hunters and wounding two others in a confrontation over trespassing last November, testified that two of the hunters deserved to die because they called him names. "Why did Mr. [Robert] Crotteau deserve to die?" asked Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlauger, the lead prosecutor. "Because he was the one who confronted me and called me names, and that's who he is," said Vang, 36, of St. Paul.

The prosecution rested this morning in the trial of Chai Soua Vang in the deaths of six deer hunters in northern Wisconsin last November, and Vang reaffirmed his intention to testify in his defense this afternoon. The 36-year-old truck driver from St. Paul had tears running down his cheeks as he spoke quietly to his family after court recessed for lunch. A family member said the discussion was a private matter and family members may make a statement after Vang's testimony today. The state's final witness was a medical examiner who testified about details of the autopsies performed on three...

The hunter who angrily swore at Chia Soua Vang during a confrontation over trespassing had a small amount of alcohol in his body when Vang shot and killed him, a medical examiner testified this afternoon. Dr. Kelly Mills, assistant Ramsey County medical examiner, said that Robert Crotteau, one of six hunters killed in gunfire that erupted during the confrontation, had a blood-alcohol content roughly equivalent to the effects of one can of beer, one shot of whiskey or a glass of wine. Mills testified that she also performed autopsies on victim Allan Laski and Jessica Willers. Neither had alcohol or...