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McCain 2008 Announces Sportsmen For McCain Leadership Governors Pawlenty, Keating to Serve as National Co-Chairs ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA -- U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign has announced the National Steering Committee of the Sportsmen for McCain coalition. These leaders in the angling, hunting and shooting communities are working across the country to emphasize John McCain's dedication to protecting Americans' right to gun ownership and his commitment to preserving and promoting our hunting, angling and shooting traditions. John McCain said, "I am proud to have the support of these national and state leaders within the sportsmen's community and know that their support...

Like many townies, my prejudices about the Glorious Twelfth were well and truly fully formed. The official start of the shooting season was nothing more than an ancient ritual to massacre thousands of defenceless birds. So it was with some cynicism and not a little trepidation that I agreed to take part in the Glorious Twelfth last Tuesday, the traditional start of the shooting season, on a moor on the Durham/ Northumberland border. (edit) Having missed my first bird and about to hand over my place to the next gun, I looked back at the group. Mums with red-faced...

denver and the west Mountain lion snatches dog from owners' bedroom By Ann Schrader The Denver Post A mountain lion slunk into the master bedroom of an Idledale home early Monday, snatched a yellow Labrador retriever and vanished. Officers are hunting the mountain lion and have set a trap, said Jennifer Churchill, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. "A lion that will brazenly go into someone's bedroom . . . we need to be careful of," Churchill said. The dog's body was found near the property. Churchill said the residents had left open the French doors to their...

Reactions from smokers ranged from stunned to furious -- and often unprintable. "Outside?" gasped Isaac Kim, who's about to start pre-pharmacy classes at the Silver Spring/Takoma Park campus. "Do they have the right to do that?" Welcome to the land of tolerance and freedom Mr. Kim. Your rights will be dictated to you in the Citizens Manual. Should you stray, they have a special police force to enforce your right not to smoke or chew tobacco. See if you can pick out the innocent-sounding, Stalinist name for the anti-smoking cops. And yes, employees could ultimately be fired or students kicked...

People are shunning the great outdoors. Blame conservationists, not video games ON JULY 4th, normally the busiest public holiday of the year, tourists were put off by high petrol prices and more than 300 wildfires raging across California. On Memorial Day, traditionally the beginning of the summer season, it was cold. In 1999 there was a grisly murder. In 1997 the Merced river flooded, inundating a hotel and wiping out hundreds of campsites. There are always excuses for the absence of people in Yosemite National Park. The number of visitors to California’s most spectacular valley has dropped for nine out...

Check out this scary video of a burglar stealing a family’s carpet. If anyone finds a carpet on ebay matching the rug in the video, please report it to the local authorities.

Wyoming officials confirm fifth case of plague found in mountain lions Friday, June 6, 2008 4:51 PM MDT Mountain lion hunters, the owners of domestic cats and others who may come in contact with mountain lions in Wyoming and other Western states are urged to protect themselves and their animals against plague. “Plague was confirmed in a mountain lion found dead in mid-April by a landowner in rural Johnson County,” said Todd Cornish, an associate professor in the University of Wyoming College of Agriculture's Department of Veterinary Sciences. Cornish said this is the fifth case of plague confirmed in mountain...

This video is of a red shoulder hawk singing its song and perched on an upper limb, while being watched by a family with binoculars, the hawk gives his view.

Hunting can be fun, think about it, if we kill to eat or supply food for the hungry, is natural but to kill just for fun and target practice is cruel. The characters of this video are my grandchildren, mourning dove and a rare Columbian parakeet called Perija.

The throngs filling campgrounds across America this weekend will include hardy outdoors types and those who prefer creature comforts, but they'll have at least one important thing in common: Nearly all of them are white. A small but committed group of campers is trying to change that by growing a generation of black campers, one person at a time. The National African-American RVers Association is composed almost exclusively of black people who camp, although it includes a few whites and Hispanics. The group doesn't have much money to buy ads or solicit new members. Instead, it always holds its major...

Fayetteville, N.C. — Wildlife agents are scouring the woods near Cedar Creek after a man says he spotted what looks like a king cobra there last week. Vernon Byrd was on an all-terrain vehicle in a field off Johnson Road last Tuesday when he said an 8-foot-long snake reared up beside him – and the serpent's head was about shoulder high to him. "I caught something out of my eye, and this snake comes up beside me and looked at me," Byrd said. "I've seen every kind of snake in this part of the country, but I've never seen a...

The One That Got Away World-record class Dixon Lake bass "Dottie" dies and ends era for three old friends By Kyle Carter ESPNOutdoors.com Jed Dickerson holds world-record class bass Dottie after she was found dead on Dixon Lake Friday. Jed Dickerson had just left Dixon Lake exhausted and was about to sit down for lunch when he got the call from Jim Dayberry, one of the Ranger supervisors with the park's lake division. "You might want to come back down here," Dayberry told Dickerson at around 11:45 a.m. PT on Friday. "We just found Dottie floating on the north side...

May is a wondrous month, bursting with life and growth and energy, with color and scent and sound, a bittersweet taste of what the Garden of Eden must have been like before the fall from grace. Flowers are coming into their own, birds are nesting and hatching their young, puddles are full of tadpoles. Everything is celebrating the passing of winter and preparing for the long, hot summer ahead. With it’s perfect weather, May is the month to enjoy just being alive. May is time to plant the vegetables that need warmer weather. The soil temperature needs to be at...

I have had a week from Hades and will be perfectly honest with you all.........I completely and totally FORGOT about this thread yesterday. And so you all have my heartfelt apologies. My brain is pretty much just mush at the moment and so I am just going to share some of my favorite links.Edible LandscapingYou Grow GirlNational Home Gardening Club

What possessed three 1950s housewives to defy convention and set off together for the forbidden reaches of the Himalayas? And what did they find when they got there? Sally Williams talks to the women today Fifty years ago three English housewives set off on a remarkable adventure. Anne Davies, 35, Eve Sims, 25, and Antonia Deacock, 26, who had no previous experience of overland expeditions, embarked on a journey everyone said could not be done by women: a 16,000-mile drive to India and back, and a 300-mile trek on foot into Zanskar, the remote Tibetan Buddhist kingdom. They were the...

April is a debutante’s ball for green and growing things! Young foliage garbs the trees in gauzy, pastel gowns of gold and green and russet, like a watercolor by an old master. Their subtle color is a poignant reminder and a future foretaste of the fall’s bold leaves of orange and yellow and rust. The wild azaleas will be blooming soon, their delicate apple blossom pink petals shining through here and there and their honey sweet fragrance filling the air. The violets, from the large purple ones with heart shaped leaves to the tiny, almost invisible white ones with lance...

This video is of a family watching a red-shoulder hawk and the voices are from o7jimmy, wife and grandson. The hawk sound is of a red-shoulder hawk.

STOWE, Vt. (AP) - Bob Shannon is an avid hunter, a fishing guide and owns a tackle shop, but he sometimes struggles to get his own son out into Vermont's woods and fields. "He'll be sitting there with the video games," Shannon said of 9-year- old Alexander. "I finally had to lay down the law last summer: 'If it's a nice day, you're outside.'" Shannon's challenge reflects a larger problem plaguing many state governments: Revenue from hunting and fishing license sales is plunging because of waning interest in the outdoors. "We're losing our rural culture," said Steve Wright, a regional...

Poppy lovers flocked to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve on Lancaster's west side during the weekend, enjoying the orange blossoms and the great weather. And Judy Elgin, senior park aide at the State Parks Mojave Information Center in downtown Lancaster, can finally tell callers there are poppies to see. "There are scattered blooms throughout the park and there are more poppies coming out each day," Elgin told an information center visitor in the middle of last week. "And there's much variety in the blooms." The 1,800-acre reserve, on Lancaster Road at about 150th Street West, is a chief destination...

Noted outdoors writer and television personality Claude H. “Grits” Gresham Jr., who passed away at age 85 Monday after a lengthy illness, will be remembered as one of the best outdoors communicators ever. Gresham hosted The American Sportsman on ABC and Shooting Sports America on ESPN, was shooting editor of Sports Afield magazine for 26 years. He wrote eight books but might be most widely known for his role in a series of commercials for Miller Lite beer. In 2006, he received the only Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which then established, with the Professional Outdoor...

The Cardinal is a regular, the Doves just started showing up recently. http://www.pbase.com/tsiya/root http://photobucket.com/albums/v244/tsiya/ http://cabbagehammock.blogspot.com/

GOLDEN HILL, Md. -- Contestant No. 1 sashayed down the catwalk, her hair bouncing in blonde curls, and smiled a radiant beauty-queen smile. She picked up a furry dead rodent about the size of a football. Then she took out a very sharp four-inch blade and stuck the point in just above the animal's tail. "Then," she said, narrating the incision as sweetly as a Miss America contestant talking about world peace, "you're going to want to take your knife . . . " This was the "talent" portion of the 2008 Miss Outdoors pageant, part of an improbable Eastern...

My neighbor has 3 horses, and a Billy goat. Billy gets his kicks from chasing horses. It sounds like a Lone Ranger movie, thundering hooves, neighing horses, all but the William Tell Overture. Finally, the horses just jump in the pond, Billy isn't a swimmer. My neighbor used to holler at Billy, "stopitdammitgoat"! He gave up on that, Billy won't listen. The other pics are from the rest of my day.http://www.pbase.com/tsiya/root http://photobucket.com/albums/v244/tsiya/ http://cabbagehammock.blogspot.com/

Fewer people are visiting national parks and taking part in outdoor activities such as camping, according to new research that suggests people are falling out of love with the natural world.The study by US conservationists discovered an "ongoing and fundamental shift away from nature-based recreation" that they say could threaten future efforts to preserve wilderness areas. The experts say people now make up to 25% fewer trips than they did in the 1980s, and say the rise of computer games could be to blame.Oliver Pergams, a biologist at the University of Illinois, and Patricia Zaradic of the US Environmental Leadership...

  Sturgeon goes on and on   Reel-y big ... Nick and George with their monster catch  Published: Today       TWO British anglers got a reel shock while boat fishing in Canada – when they caught a TEN FOOT long sturgeon. Nick Calleya, 36, and George Carstairs, 42, took an hour to land the 500lb fish – thought to be more than 100 years old. Nick, of Cubert, Cornwall, and George, of Aberdeen, caught it on Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada. Nick said: “It was so strong it was lifting George off his seat.”

CASPER, Wyo. - Tears in his eyes, an Iraq war veteran recounted for the first time publicly the desperate remorse he felt after tossing a large rock off a cliff that killing a climber below. "I'd do anything to change it," 23-year-old Luke Rodolph said Tuesday. On Aug. 11, Rodolph was sitting on the rim of a canyon with three others when he picked up a 15- to 20-pound rock the size of a bowling ball and looked over the edge. He said he didn't see anyone below. "I picked up a rock and threw it off," he said. "Looked...

Experts fear today's empty playgrounds http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070709/A_NEWS/707090322 http://tinyurl.com/3d4fpu By Jennifer Torres July 09, 2007 Record Staff Writer Heat on Friday nudged outdoor playtime earlier and cut it shorter than scheduled for nearly 70 children at Stockton's Seifert Community Center day camp. Once it got going, though, campers cheered on teammates during a running, jumping, twirling relay race, while other groups played basketball or made up their own games on playground equipment. Some outdoor play - any outdoor play - is important, recreation leader Michaiah Martin said. "Keeping them inside compresses a lot of the negative energies." According to environmentalists, child-development specialists...

How children lost the right to roam in four generations http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=462091 http://tinyurl.com/yt6geg By DAVID DERBYSHIRE Last updated at 01:03am on 15th June 2007 When George Thomas was eight he walked everywhere. It was 1926 and his parents were unable to afford the fare for a tram, let alone the cost of a bike and he regularly walked six miles to his favourite fishing haunt without adult supervision. Fast forward to 2007 and Mr Thomas's eight-year-old great-grandson Edward enjoys none of that freedom. He is driven the few minutes to school, is taken by car to a safe place to ride...

The Final Word: Maybe it's time to let boys be boys — outside http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/finalword/2007-05-01-final-word_N.htm http://tinyurl.com/ythtr3 By Craig Wilson, USA TODAY May 1, 2007 E-mail Craig Wilson at cwilson@usatoday.com

What Does The Decline In Hunting Mean For America's Kids? http://fieldandstream.blogs.com/news/2007/06/what_does_the_d.html http://tinyurl.com/2azh4n June 18, 2007 “I like to play indoors better,” a fourth grader told Richard Louv, “because that’s where the electrical outlets are.” In his bestselling 2005 book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, journalist and author Louv argues that never before has a generation of children been so separated from the natural world. The consequences, he says, can be seen in trends such as increases in obesity, stress, and psychiatric disorders among our kids. With the declining number of outdoorsmen indicated by the...

Hooking youth: Fishing is a pathway to nature for America's children http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2007/jun/06/commentary-hooking-youth/ http://tinyurl.com/2pcycu Mamie Parker Wednesday, June 6, 2007 Waters, long-coursed downstream, press on me still. The lunges of memorable fish linger in the eddies of my mind. Bright waters beckon this private vice of mine, fishing. And my recollections, no matter how old, always have the tenor of springtime, when all things are new. Fishing fixes me to places where I really feel alive. As a young girl and even today the experience carries a vestige of adventure and wildness - an escape from the artifices of man. As...

Nature calls even without cell phones http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2007/05/23/editorial/editorial/daily876.txt http://tinyurl.com/3dmegu By The Sentinel, May 23, 2007 Last updated: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 11:16 AM EDT One of the drawbacks of the highly technological society we've created is the sedentary lifestyle it has inspired. When so much of your information gathering, communication and entertainment is centered around staring into a screen - not to mention the vast majority of most people's work duties - the amount of time we spend mostly motionless adds up quickly. Naturally, we're teaching this new non-active lifestyle to our children, whether intentionally or not. Look at all the...

JOSEPH GALLO, 10, of Santa Cruz, Calif., is well armed in the battle against childhood boredom, with a bedroom arsenal that includes a computer hooked to the Internet, a DVD player, two Game Boys, as well as an Xbox and GameCube. But in recent weeks, the hum of that war room of machinery has quieted because Joseph has acquired a new playtime obsession that would have seemed quaint even in his parents’ day: marbles. But lately, a number of educators like Mr. Cohill, as well as parents and child-development specialists are trying to spur a revival of traditional outdoor pastimes,...

BOSTON - To hear Mitt Romney talk on the campaign trail, you might think the Republican presidential candidate had a gun rack in the back of his pickup truck. "I purchased a gun when I was a young man. I've been a hunter pretty much all my life," he said this week in Keene, N.H., to a man sporting a National Rifle Association cap. Yet the former Massachusetts governor's hunting experience is limited to two trips at the bookends of his 60 years: as a 15-year-old, when he hunted rabbits with his cousins on a ranch in Idaho, and last...

Soldier's body returns home Ashes of Speedwell man killed by bomb in Iraq to be spread on Norris Lake By MATT LAKIN, lakinm@knews.com March 23, 2007 Family members plan to gather today as the body of Army Staff Sgt. Terry William Prater returns home from Iraq. Prater, 25, of Speedwell, died March 15 in eastern Baghdad when a roadside bomb exploded as he and his unit returned from a search. The blast killed three other soldiers and wounded two more. Prater was born in Prestonsburg, Ky., and grew up across the state line in Claiborne County, where he graduated from...

Youth ministry finds God in the great outdoors http://www.yorkdispatch.com/local/ci_5487035 EYANA ADAH MCMILLAN The York Dispatch Article Last Updated: 03/21/2007 12:00:12 PM EDT Daniel Hatterer has learned more than how to handle a few bumps in the road during his mountain biking ventures with a local extreme sports ministry. "I've learned how God is in our lives, that he put you on Earth for a reason and everybody has a purpose in life," said the 14-year-old. "If you're having a hard time, just talk to God and ask him to help you out. It works for me." Last year, Daniel --...

Scouting in pines Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.18.2007 There are hundreds of ways for kids to have fun in the good ol' summertime, but it's hard to beat camping in the pines. For decades, Southern Arizona's Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts have enjoyed hiking, crafting and about a million s'mores at Camp Whispering Pines and Camp Lawton, high above Tucson in the Santa Catalina Mountains. Come along with us as we listen to the early tales of these camps — back when a boy could camp for $2 a week at Camp Lawton, and a cook in high heels helped...

  Sen. Kline tells off-roaders to buzz offPosted by David Postman at 11:41 AM .(snip).... sometimes Kline has no interest in restraint. In responding to an e-mail from someone asking Kline why he was backing a bill that would crack down on loud off-road vehicles, the senator sent this e-mail: Dear Mr. Helgeson, I signed on because I have been annoyed, endangered, and angered one too many times by people riding motorized dirt-bikes and other off-road vehicles that have no damn business anywhere. To me, this bill is narrow — it doesn't include those "personal watercraft," seemingly jet-powered little...

In light of comments made by Jim Zumbo in his February 16, 2007 blog posting on the magazine’s website, Mr. Zumbo has offered to terminate his association with Outdoor Life, and the magazine has accepted his offer.

WARNING Nature is unpredictable and unsafe. Mountains are dangerous. Many books have been written about these dangers, and there's no way we can list them all here. Read the books. Nelson Rocks Preserve is covered in steep terrain with loose, slippery and unstable footing. The weather can make matters worse. Sheer drops are everywhere. You may fall, be injured or die. There are hidden holes. You could break your leg. There are wild animals, which may be vicious, poisonous or carriers of dread diseases. These include poisonous snakes and insects. Plants can be poisonous as well. We don't do anything...

Conservation Group, Unions Joining Forces Saving Habitat, Ensuring Access Sought By Blaine Harden Washington Post Staff Writer SEATTLE -- In a first-of-its-kind alliance that could fundamentally reshape the environmental movement, 20 labor unions with nearly 5 million members are joining forces with a Republican-leaning umbrella group of conservationists -- the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership -- to put pressure on Congress and the Bush administration. The Union Sportsman's Alliance, to be rolled out in Washington on Tuesday after nearly three years of quiet negotiations, is to be a dues-based organization ($25 a year). Its primary goal is to increase federal funding...

A Tale of Three Cities Last Thursday evening in Decatur, Alabama, I had the occasion to hear Alabama Governor Bob Riley address a banquet room full of outdoor writers. The occasion was the 42nd Annual Southeastern Outdoor Press Association (SEOPA) Fall Conference. It wasn't expected to be the place where a governor running for reelection would be expected to announce a major initiative or political decision. Honestly, I didn't even expect too-much in the way of a typical political stemwinder speech. Riley's not known for firebrand rhetoric or high-pressure politicking, and he kept to that low-key delivery. Riley did, however,...

DOUGLAS n- It had been a good morning in the field for Arkansas sportsman Roy McKim. He'd shot a wild turkey on his first try and was enjoying a day off from work as a dispatcher for the Arkansas Forestry Department. Then a friend from work called, excited. "He said, 'Roy, you know that hunt in Wyoming you’ve been trying to get in? They called,'" McKim recounted. He thought surely the call was a prank n- he’d been putting his Helluva Hunt application in the mail faithfully for six long years. But sure enough, this was his lucky day, and...

More than firearms are sold at Glade's Gunsmithing including re-loading equipment, ammunition, holsters, primers and powder. Gordon said he enjoys gunsmithing because "(I'm) very much a hunting enthusiast … (I) love being in the woods and the mountains. "I was very interested in what makes a gun work … what makes it function (and why)." "It's a service to people who enjoy having their guns in working condition," ... "It's a service to … people who enjoy shooting sports."

Go outside and playhttp://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/1158309564312510.xml&coll=2 http://tinyurl.com/pg6bd That's the advice nature educators have for increasingly reined-in kids and their very protective parents Friday, September 15, 2006 Susan Glaser Plain Dealer Reporter When Steve Cadwell was a kid, he had the North Chagrin Reservation in his back yard, and he used to disappear for hours. "My mom said, 'Go outside, and don't come back until the streetlights are on,' " said Cadwell, 47, now executive director of the Nature Center of Shaker Lakes. Rare is the mother who issues that directive these days. Thanks to everything from fears about stranger danger to video...

Calling all fishermen. the Great state of Tennessee has long been known for its call to service and has earned the title, "Tennessee Volunteers." Well it time to step up to the plate for all of the fishermen out there as well as the lady fishermen. The American Bass Anglers, along with the Paris/ Henry Coounty Chambers, The Stewart Co Chamber, Northwest TN Tourism and the Friends of Paris Landing need your help to take the solders of the 101st Airborne Div on a fishing trip to be held on KY Lake out of Paris landing State Park on Oct...

Ten Reasons To Be An Adult Leader http://melrosetroop68.org/blog.html Friday, September 01, 2006 It is that time of year. Boys around the country will be joining Boy Scouting for the first time this month. And new parents will be asked to help their troop by becoming an adult leader. There are many reasons not to be a leader, but let me give you ten reasons why you should become a Scouter. (These are not in any sort of order.) 1) Be a positive influence in a boy's life. I think we can agree that there are many youth out there who...

Ten ways scouting outranks televisionhttp://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2006/08/30/news/lake_life/lakelife03.txt http://tinyurl.com/pex7t By Don Grillo Wednesday, August 30, 2006 10:12 AM EDT Any time of the year is a good time for parents to enroll their sons in Scouting. But most boys join Scouting in September and October. During this period, annual recruiting programs are conducted by Cub Scout Packs and Boy Scout Troops throughout the Cayuga County Council. Boys are attracted to Scouting for the obvious reasons - camping, hiking, uniforms, pinewood derby races, earning badges and awards, making new friends, learning new things and having fun. Parents want their sons to join Scouting because...

One day a few years ago, Khady Lusby's twins were 5 and playing by themselves in the park that abuts their Arlington house when another mother called her at home. "She said, 'Do you know your boys are at the playground playing?' And I said, 'Yes, I know,' " recalled Lusby, who is from Senegal. "She said, 'Oh, you know this is not the way we do things here,' meaning in America. I just made a joke: 'Well, I'm African -- wherever I go I take my African way,' and she said, 'Well you can be reported.' " Undaunted, Lusby...

Wednesday, August 23, 4-6 pm CT, Clinton Presidential Library & Museum (1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock). Meet all the Bassmaster Legends pro anglers at this one-of-kind event. See their amazing wrapped boats, get their autographs, and hear their strategies for the tournament.