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Monday, March 8, 2010

CHARLESTON, S.C. March 8, 2010 – Ducks Unlimited recently achieved another milestone by conserving its 250,000th acre in the South Atlantic Flyway. Public and private lands projects in North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida are providing crucial habitat for migrating and wintering waterfowl in the region.

Ducks Unlimited is conserving habitats like this across the South Atlantic.
 
DU has completed 185 wetland restoration and enhancement projects across the four states totaling over 151,000 acres, with the majority of these projects occurring on public lands. DU has also protected an additional 128,000 acres of private lands through our conservation easement program. Through both public lands restoration projects and private lands protection, DU is leading the way for wetlands conservation in the South Atlantic.

“Our on-the-ground conservation delivery programs have protected, restored and/or enhanced over 250,000 acres to date in the South Atlantic for waterfowl and other wetland dependant species,” said Craig LeSchack, Ducks Unlimited director of conservation programs for the South Atlantic Flyway. “Our state, federal, and private partnerships contributed tremendously to our successes in the region, and we look forward to continuing these valued partnerships well into the future. At a total cost of over $66 million for all projects, we were able to match every DU dollar with over $7 in partner contributions.”

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 09:22 AM | 0 COMMENT | LINKS TO THIS POST

Monday, March 8, 2010

EDGEFIELD, S.C. - South Dakota's wildlife and sportsmen will benefit from a new cooperative agreement between the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) and the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (SDGFP).

The three-year agreement helps support the NWTF's on-the-ground work to promote partnerships and complete projects that will benefit wild turkeys, other wildlife and important habitats in South Dakota.

James Earl Kennamer, Ph.D., NWTF's chief conservation officer, signed the agreement during South Dakota's NWTF state convention along with Jeff Vonk, secretary of SDGFP, and Dean Schueler, outgoing president of the NWTF's South Dakota State Chapter.

"This agreement is an extension of an already beneficial relationship with South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks," Kennamer said. "With a regional biologist who knows the needs of South Dakota's wildlife and sportsmen, we can plan mutually beneficial projects that will benefit wild turkeys and all manners of other wildlife including pheasants and sensitive species such as bald eagles."

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 09:14 AM | 0 COMMENT | LINKS TO THIS POST

Monday, March 8, 2010

RENO, Nev.-Ten years after his death at the Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt's enduring legacy as a competitor and outdoorsman has sparked a new partnership between the Dale Earnhardt Foundation and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

The new venture has been christened the Dale Earnhardt Land/Wildlife Legacy.

Announcing the news March 4 at the RMEF annual convention in Reno, Nev., RMEF President and CEO David Allen said the partnership is good for wildlife and hunters.

"There are lots of NASCAR fans in the RMEF membership, and lots of conservationists among race fans. Teaming up allows us to redouble our efforts on projects that honor Dale's memory-things like wildlife habitat improvement, land conservation, hunting access improvements and more," said Allen.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 09:12 AM | 0 COMMENT | LINKS TO THIS POST

Friday, March 5, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC - The Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation welcomed the sportsman-legislator champions of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus back to Washington last night at a reception honoring their commitment to hunting and fishing access in the 111th Congress.

The re-scheduled "Welcome" reception was originally scheduled for February 10 but had to be postponed until Tuesday because of the record snowfall in Washington, DC.

Over twenty members of the United States Congress joined together for this yearly gathering of hunting, fishing, and conservation leaders, policy makers, and industry representatives to celebrate the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus' successes on behalf of sportsmen in the previous session of Congress and to focus on current legislative issues affecting hunters and anglers.

"For 20 years now, the combination of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus and CSF have been at the forefront of pro-sportsmen's legislation," said CSF President Crane. "While the party in power may change, the true bipartisan nature of this Caucus insures that we never take our eye off of the sportsmen's agenda."

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 04:06 AM | 0 COMMENT | LINKS TO THIS POST

Friday, March 5, 2010

Rodney Dyer, certified wildlife biologist and consultant to Hunter’s Specialties®, recently explained how consumers can save money and reduce the amount of chemical fertilizer needed to maintain healthy food plots.

“Hunter’s Specialties believes strongly in conservation when it comes to wild game and the environment,” said Dyer. “They have developed a crop rotation plan that reduces the amount of fertilizer needed for optimum growth. Using the Vita- Rack™ Nutritional Plan for your food plot can not only help you grow a healthy deer herd but save the soil and the ‘green’ in your wallet. By rotating the three Vita-Rack seed blends: Vita-Rack Velvet™ Whitetail Clover, Booming Beans™ High Protein Mix and Winter Forage™, you can cut the cost of needed fertilizer by as much as 40%, depending on your location in the country.”

“In the fall, prepare your food plots as normal (follow the directions on the back of the bag). Then plant a plot in Velvet Mix (Plot A). Velvet Mix consists of several highly attractive clovers that the deer will find irresistible. Plant another plot in Winter Forage Mix (Plot B). Winter Forage Mix is a blend of turnips, rape, Alsike clover and sugar beets that provide tons of fall and winter forage for deer. Winter Forage Mix is also full of carbohydrates to help deer maintain their body temperature through the toughest winters. Plot A and Plot B will need to be fertilized with the proper fertilizer recommendations (on the back of the bag). After the first planting you will not need any other fertilizer but 0-20-20, because the Velvet and Booming Beans Mixes are both legumes that fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and deposit it in the soil. Winter Forage Mix will use up the added nitrogen in the soil from the legumes in the Velvet and Booming Beans Mixes.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 03:43 AM | 0 COMMENT | LINKS TO THIS POST

Friday, March 5, 2010

MISSOULA, Mont.-For 35 years, no company has produced better consumer sportsman shows than International Sportsmen's Expositions (ISE). Annual events in Denver, Phoenix, Sacramento, Salt Lake City and San Mateo, Calif., draw hundreds of thousands of hunters, anglers and conservationists.

Today the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation announced an expanded partnership with ISE.

For 2010, RMEF and ISE introduced the Ultimate Elk Hunter's Raffle. Joint marketing efforts to promote RMEF and ISE included the RMEF Great Elk Tour, and RMEF sponsorship of ISE's Adventure Theater, and Best of the West Elk Calling Contests.

In 2012, ISE will manage the sales, marketing and promotion of the exposition component of RMEF's annual national convention, called Elk Camp.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 03:33 AM | 0 COMMENT | LINKS TO THIS POST

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Being a Virginia resident and a Spotsylvania County resident I have been watching very strongly the situation in regards to the Rappahannock Watershed Management Plan.  The Friends of the Rappahannock have released a plan for the close to 4300 acres of land managed by the city of Fredericksburg.  This plan was set up to curtail access to roughly 65 miles of the Rappahannock River and its tributaries. Robert W. Duncan from the Board of Directors for the VDGIF has released a statement in regards to this plan and I feel it is very important to pay attention to this issue for hunters.

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/rappahannock-watershed-management-plan-comments/26395_RappRiverWatershedMgtPlan_CommentsToFOR030210.pdf

If this is an issue you are concerned about please provide comments to the city of Fredericksburg, VA and join with the Virginia Waterfowls Association and the Virginia Deer Hunters Association to make sure this plan includes outdoorsman and outdoors women.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 12:32 AM | 0 COMMENT | LINKS TO THIS POST

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

I was born on the thirteenth of April, but when I woke before dawn on the thirteenth of April, on my thirteenth birthday, I thought nothing of it. After all, birthdays were nowhere near as important as turkey hunting!

I had been turkey hunting for three years, and never had actually shot a turkey. Shot at them, yes. Missed, yes. Killed one, no. I had my fingers crossed for today, but today was youth day in New Jersey, so I was going to have to share this day with my older brother Joe, and younger brother Andrew. Not that I minded, I was used to hunting with one or both of them on occasion.

We headed out to the woods behind our house, it was raining lightly to my disappointment, and was a 60 degrees out, fog blanketing the woods. Of course I didn’t know at the time that these kinds of day could produce the best turkey hunting.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 08:00 PM | 1 COMMENT | LINKS TO THIS POST

Monday, March 1, 2010

Des Moines, Iowa  – Pheasants Forever’s National Pheasant Fest wrapped up today after drawing 20,230 attendees to the Iowa Events Center. The highlight of the event came on Saturday afternoon when U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a new Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general signup and the reallocation of 300,000 acres into three popular wildlife practices within CRP.
 
“Our mission at Pheasants Forever is wildlife habitat, and Pheasant Fest delivered habitat in spades. This has been a very successful event for us,” reported Howard Vincent, Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Iowa’s pheasant harvest set an all time low in 2008 due to some terrible weather and massive habitat losses. Pheasant Fest created a platform for our organization to draw the state’s bird hunters, natural resource professionals, and landowners together around this issue.”
 
Pheasant Fest also generated 1,021 new members for the organization. In fact, 40 of those members became life members with a $1,000 donation; a new Pheasant Fest record.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 12:30 AM | 0 COMMENT | LINKS TO THIS POST

Monday, March 1, 2010

It has been no secret that the Humane Society of the United States has been no big fan of hunters and hunting for many years.  What most people do not know is this organization has not spent the marjority of its money on shelters as most people believe but instead spent the marjority of its money on fighting against hunters and for animal rights causes all across this country.  Now they are being sued for RICO Violations along with a consortium of animal groups by the Ringling Brothers Circus...

Read more about these lawsuits here:

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/h/4111-federal-racketeering-lawsuit-stuns-hsus

http://humanewatch.org/

Pay attention to this lawsuit because nothing could be better for the world of hunting then for this organization to go down in flames....!!!!

The statements made here are my own - Kevin Paulson

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 01:30 AM | 0 COMMENT | LINKS TO THIS POST