NSSF Statement on the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show January 24, 2013 By nssfnews   We have just learned that Reed Exhibitions has decided to postpone the 2013 Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show. In the days following Reed Exhibitions’ announcement that modern sporting rifles would be prohibited from the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show, the leadership of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has been in intense, frank discussions with Reed Exhibitions management in an effort to reverse this unacceptable decision. These discussions reached an impasse. NSSF is in no way affiliated with, nor does it participate in or exhibit at this show in any way. Reed Exhibitions does, however, manage the NSSF-owned SHOT Show (though Reed manages the SHOT Show, all SHOT Show decisions, policies and actions are made at NSSF’s direction). Because of Reed’s recent actions, NSSF is considering all options regarding the management of future SHOT Shows. _________________________________

State Lyme commission only lacks funds By Cynthia Mccormick cmccormick@capecodonline.com June 13, 2011 The creation of the state's first Lyme disease commission is all but a done deal. A budget amendment proposing creation of a commission to study the tick-borne illness has passed both the House and Senate. The commission becomes official once Gov. Deval Patrick signs off on the state's fiscal 2012 budget, which legislators expect to take place by the end of the month. The new fiscal year begins July 1. The commission will bring together experts in medicine, wildlife management, public health, and insect control, as well as patients and advocates, to come up with ways to prevent and treat the disease. Local advocates for people with Lyme disease say the commission is a positive development in advancing understanding of the illness, which was controversial even before it was first recognized in 1975. "There's hundreds of people who are sick, getting sick," and cannot find physicians who will treat them, said John Kenneway, a fisherman in Chatham. The medical community agrees on very little when it comes to diagnosing and treating Lyme, which is named after a town in Connecticut where it first drew public notice.   Every issue debatable The debates start right away, from how many doses of doxycycline to use in early stages to which laboratories are best for testing blood for evidence of antibodies indicating presence of the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. Physicians disagree on whether late-stage Lyme even exists, although sufferers say it's debilitating. Kenneway said if he had been treated properly when he became ill in 1986, his Lyme disease might have been controlled. Instead, he said, it's created havoc with his immune system and caused neurological problems, muscle pain and physical weakness, among other symptoms. In its early stages, Lyme is more of a flulike illness, sometimes accompanied by a bull's eye rash. Advocates say the suffering caused by the tick-borne disease is particularly acute on the Cape and Islands, which has the highest incidence of Lyme per capita in the state. In 2009, the last year for which the state has figures, there were 4,028 newly diagnosed cases in Massachusetts, including 255 cases in Barnstable, Nantucket and Dukes counties.   Legislator's advocacy It took the advocacy of state Rep. David Linsky, D-Natick, chairman of the House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight, whose son has Lyme, to make the commission a reality, Richard Sylver of East Dennis said. "That's what it takes — somebody who has the disease or knows somebody who has the disease, to get this thing going," Sylver said. He is a founder of the Brewster Lyme Disease Support Group. As part of its work, the Lyme disease commission aims to educate the medical community and remove barriers to treatment. Members of the new commission will include representatives from medical camps with opposing views of treatment and chronic care, as well as members of the Legislature and municipal health officials. Also included will be representatives of the state Department of Public Health, the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, the state Laboratory Institute and the state epidemiologist. Four other members will be patients or family members of patients and members of Lyme disease organizations from across the state. "The more feedback from patients and those involved in the issues of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, the better," said Joanne Creel, a Lyme sufferer and activist from Yarmouthport. She said she hopes the commission includes representation from the Cape and Islands, which has one of the oldest Lyme disease task forces in the state. The commission is expected to report back to the state Legislature next year. "I think it's a step forward, pending administrative support and some funding," said Brenda Boleyn of the Cape and Islands Lyme Disease Task Force.  

It has all the makings of a horror movie — a 300-pound beast with oversized teeth running amok in forests and fields, eating everything it can. FLORENCE, Ala. (AP) — It has all the makings of a horror movie — a 300-pound beast with oversized teeth running amok in forests and fields, eating everything it can. Instead, it is a real-life scenario that is becoming more common in the Tennessee Valley and across the nation as the feral hog population expands. Feral hogs, descendants of farm animals that escaped or were purposely set free, are wreaking havoc on farm crops and pastures and destroying wildlife habitat throughout the nation. Wildlife officials estimate the nation's feral hog population at more than 4 million, and estimates show they cause more than $1.5 billion in damage each year in the United States. Feral hogs are not just a problem for rural areas. In 2010, hunters were called in to help remove feral hogs that invaded the Florence sportsplex on the western edge of the city. Traps also were used in the effort to remove hogs from the sportsplex. Todd Nix, community services director for the city of Florence, said the wild hogs learned to avoid the area after hunters and traps were used in the effort to remove them. Nix said hog tracks can still be found at the edge of the sportsplex property at Alabama 20 and Gunwaleford Road, but the swine have learned if they come into the open they may be shot or trapped. "We have eliminated the problem, but we have not eliminated the hogs,'' Nix said. "That was not our goal. We knew we would never get rid of all the hogs, but we wanted to train them to stay away from the fields at the sportsplex.'' Hunting and trapping are the two most popular methods used to slow the feral hog population explosion. Biologists admit hunters cannot eradicate the wild hog population, but hunting helps keep the animals under control. There is no closed season or bag limit for feral hogs in Alabama. Permits are available allowing landowners and farmers who are being overrun by feral hogs to hunt them at night. Officials at Bankhead National Forest are asking hunters to join a feral hog hunt that runs through Sept. 18. Barry Baird, biologist at the Black Warrior Wildlife Management Area in Bankhead Forest, said he hopes hunters will take advantage of the upcoming hunt and help reduce the feral hog population there. "They are real nuisance,'' he said. "The more hunters can remove from the forest, the better.'' In Tennessee, lawmakers have removed game animal status for wild hogs, reclassifying them as a nuisance and liberalizing harvest limits. "Feral hogs are a huge problem,'' said Allison Cochran, biologist at Bankhead National Forest. "They are a nuisance animal that causes extensive damage to the land and native plants, and they compete with native wildlife like deer and turkey for habitat. Feral hogs are the number one enemy for native wildlife and plants.'' Chris Jaworowski, a wildlife biologist for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said there are few things wild hogs won't eat. "A hog is an opportunistic omnivore,'' Jaworowski said. "Pretty much anything they can get in their mouth, they are going to eat.'' A feral hog's diet includes acorns and other food eaten by native wildlife. "A hog going through the forest where there has been an acorn drop is just like a vacuum cleaner,'' Jaworowski said. "They will pick the forest floor clean of acorns that could have provided food for native species.'' Feral hogs will eat wild turkey eggs and those of other ground-nesting birds, Cochran said. They also eat birds, frogs, deer fawns and other animals they are able to catch. In addition, feral swine can destroy endangered plants by rooting and wallowing. Erosion caused when the hogs root up the soil can lead to silt in nearby streams and harm rare fish and other animals that live there, Cochran said. Jaworowski said feral hogs were once limited to southern Alabama. In recent years, the animals have spread throughout the state, though. "We now have feral hogs in pretty much every county in the state,'' he said. "It's not just a problem in Alabama. It's a national problem. Since 1982, feral hogs have spread from nine states to 45.'' The earliest feral swine in Alabama were escaped hogs that European explorers brought to America almost 500 years ago. Jaworowski said more recently, well-meaning hunters played a major role in the proliferation of wild hogs. He said hunters hoping to create hog-hunting opportunities close to home would catch the animals in one area and move them to another. Also, farmers who no longer can afford to feed their hogs have released them throughout the state. Once the animals are released, their population typically increases rapidly and the animals spread to adjoining property. Department of Conservation biologists said it's impossible to estimate the number of wild hogs in Alabama because the population is expanding so fast and the animals are most active late at night and rarely seen by anyone trying to count them. Ron Eakes, a supervising biologist at the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources office in Tanner, said it's undeniable that the state's feral hog population is increasing rapidly. The typical feral sow has two litters of four to 14 piglets each year. He said two pairs of wild hogs and their offspring can produce 16,000 piglets in three years. "They reproduce incredibly fast,'' he said. "With no predators, it doesn't take long for a population of feral hogs to reach problem levels once they move into an area.'' The hogs generally live six to eight years. Jaworowski said a single adult feral hog can cause $2,000 in damage to farm crops in a year. Alabama farmers reported they caused more than $90 million in damage to their crops in 2010. That doesn't include the amount of money being spent in an effort to eliminate them. "Wild hogs are a huge problem for agriculture,'' said Eric Schavey, a regional agent for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. "They will walk through a field knocking down corn stalks and eating the corn. They will root in wheat fields and soybean fields, causing lots of damage.'' Florence farmer Randall Vaden has had wild hogs damage his fields along Gunwaleford Road. "They can really ruin a cornfield,'' Vaden said. "I've seen them go row by row digging up the seed when a field is first planted in the spring and then come back and push down the stalks to eat the ears in the summer.'' Jaworowski said hunters who released swine likely did not realize the problems the animals would cause. "They didn't know the hogs were going to take food from the deer and wild turkey and destroy the turkey and quail nests,'' he said. "They didn't realize the hogs they released on their 200-acre hunting lease were going to leave that property and cause problems over a large area. A hunter who lets a hog go can cause problems for farmers 10 miles or more from where the animal is released.'' It is illegal to release swine into the wild in Alabama and Tennessee or to transport live feral hogs. Dwight Cooley, manager of Wheeler Wildlife Refuge in Decatur and Key Cave Wildlife Refuge in Florence, said crops planted at both refuges have been damaged by feral hogs. Grain crops are grown to provide food for wildlife. At Key Cave, a portion of the property is rented to a farmer who grows cash crops such as corn and soybeans. "The feral hogs can cause major damage by rooting up the corn and soybean fields,'' Cooley said. "Where they have dug up the ground, it looks like the war movies where mortars have hit and left big craters in the ground. Feral hogs can do a tremendous amount of crop damage.'' Jade Keeton said wild hogs frequently damage food plots for wildlife on land in western Lauderdale County where he and his family hunt. Despite the damage, wild swine have redeeming qualities. "They are really good to eat,'' Keeton said. "I mean really, really good to eat.'' In Tennessee, landowners are being urged to kill every feral hog on their property. Feral swine in Tennessee are no longer protected by hunting laws. Doug Markham, a spokesman for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, said the state's wild hog population has risen dramatically in recent years, prompting lawmakers to declare open season on the animals. Permits are available to allow wild hogs to be shot at night in Tennessee and to be lured into shooting range by spreading corn or other bait on the ground. "We no longer refer to harvesting wild hogs as hunting,'' Markham said. "We are calling it eradication. We know we will never be able to eradicate them, but hopefully we can slow them down.''

Michigan's wildlife policymakers on Thursday voted to end a ban on baiting and feeding of whitetail deer in most of the state's Lower Peninsula.   LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan's wildlife policymakers on Thursday voted to end a ban on baiting and feeding of whitetail deer in most of the state's Lower Peninsula. The 4-3 vote by the Natural Resources Commission means baiting will be legal again in most of the Lower Peninsula from Oct. 1 to Jan. 1. The exception is a northeast section where bovine tuberculosis remains a problem, including Alcona, Alpena, Iosco, Montmorency, Oscoda, and Presque Isle counties. Bait could be "scattered'' but not "piled'' and the amount of bait could not exceed two gallons at any one hunting site. The debate isn't over, however. The commission also voted to revisit the ban in three years, if not earlier. Baiting and feeding have been banned in the Lower Peninsula since August 2008, when a deer with chronic wasting disease was found at a captive breeding farm in Kent County. No other cases have been reported. That led some to push for ending the ban, which was instituted to prevent deer from spreading diseases to each other while eating highly concentrated piles of food left by hunters and others. The new plan also would allow people to feed deer for recreational viewing year-round except in the bovine TB zone. Policies that allow limited baiting and feeding in the Upper Peninsula remain in place. Hunters have long been divided over baiting. Some advocate it in part because they say it increases their chances of a successful hunt. Others consider baiting to be unethical and say it has encouraged deer to feed at night, when they cannot be hunted. Some commissioners noted Thursday that the ban has been difficult to enforce. "This is a very controversial and emotional issue,'' said John Madigan, a Natural Resources Commission member who voted in favor of lifting the ban.

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There are many options on the market today for a low priced bolt-action rifle. But the true test of what an inexpensive rifle should be is not just the price. It should be the cost vs. quality and features, this is where the T/C Venture delivers. With its 5R rifled precision barrel, adjustable trigger, Hogue traction panels, Melanite Coated Bolt and Guaranteed MOA Accuracy, there is nothing that can come close to what the T/C Venture offers for under $500. The T/C Venture is also USA Made and backs the famous T/C Liftime Warranty and with 16 available calibers there is no problem finding the gun you are looking for. So this year when you go to buy a new bolt action rifle don't sacrifice quality and features, get the T/C Venture. »New Calibers for 2011! .270 WSM and .300 WSM     CALIBERS: .270 WSM, .300 WSM, .204 Rug, .223 Rem, .22-250 Rem, 7mm-08, .243 Win, .308 Win, 30 TC, .270 Win, .30-06 Springfield, 7mm Rem Mag, .300 Win Mag, .25/06, .280 REM, and .338 WM! »Spec Charts T/C Venture features a classic sporter style stock in rugged composite material with traction grip panels, the T/C Venture has a sophisticated appearance with the durability and accuracy to back it up. Thompson/Center’s Venture... made in the USA and backed by the famous Thompson/Center Lifetime Warranty... It delivers the finest in accuracy, reliability and quality craftsmanship in an attractive, affordable package. Venture is now available in Weather Shield/Composite in 22-250, 308, 7MM-08, 270 Win, 30-06 SPRG, 7MM Rem Mag and .300 Win Mag. Thompson Centers Venture bolt action rifle has quickly become one of the top names in the market with its class leading features and quality. For 2011, Thompson Center has taken the T/C Venture rifle to the next level by adding it's highly corrosion resistant Weather Shield finish to the platform. Now on top of getting one of the most accurate, most affordable rifles on the market today, you are also getting one of the toughest, designed to take anything mother nature can throw at it. The T/C Venture Weather Shield is truly a rifle built with the hardcore all season hunter in mind.

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 30th, 2013   Krieghoff International Teams With Hunters, Boy Scouts In Fundraiser Shoot    Washington, DC – Safari Club International Foundation (SCI Foundation) and the Boy Scouts of America Foundation (BSAF) will host their second annual sporting clays shoot on February 4, 2014 at 9:00 am.  This event precedes the kickoff of the 2014 Safari Club International Convention in Las Vegas, Nev. and all proceeds from the shoot benefit the programs of both SCI Foundation and BSAF.   “I am extremely thankful to be working again with the Boy Scouts for our 2014 Sporting Clays Fundraiser,” said SCI Foundation President Joe Hosmer. “Krieghoff International’s generous donation of a world-class K-80 Pro Sportermakes it that much more special for our second year. If you are a supporter of SCI Foundation’s mission of wildlife conservation or the Boy Scout’s mission of developing future leaders, then we know you’ll be with us on February 4th.”   A variety of celebrity sporting clays experts will be in attendance.  Participants will even have a chance to take pointers from Olympic bronze medalist Corey Cogdell.    “Both SCI Foundation and the Boy Scouts know that the future of hunting and shooting depends on developing the next generation of participants and at Krieghoff we have always had a passion of bringing more shooters into the field,” said Alex Diehl, Chief Operating Officer of Krieghoff. “When we were approached to sponsor the 2014 Sporting Clays fundraiser, not only did we want to field a team, we donated a top-tier sporting clays shotgun.”   As the lead sponsor for the 2014 shoot, Krieghoff International has donated a new Krieghoff K-80 Pro Sporterover/under, 12 gauge shotgun with 32-inch barrels.  A sweepstakes drawing for the gun will be one of the highlights of the Second Annual SCI Foundation & BSAF Sporting Clays Fundraiser. Every shooter who registers for the competition will receive one ticket to the drawing, with additional tickets available for $100 apiece. A maximum of 300 tickets will be sold, so register soon to secure your team for February 4th.   The Boy Scouts serve nearly three million youth annually through their leadership driven programs and award more than 200,000 shooting sports achievements yearly. SCI Foundation promotes wildlife conservation and education worldwide and has donated well over $50 million in support of its vital projects and programs since 2000.   Make your reservation to join SCI Foundation and BSAF for the Second Annual Clays Shoot by contacting Kimberly Byers at the SCI Foundation Headquarters at (520) 620-1220, ext. 322 or email to kbyers@safariclub.org   MEDIA CONTACT: Nelson Freeman; Nfreeman@safariclub.org   Like SCI Foundation on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SCIFOUNDATIONCONSERVATION Join SCI Foundation on Twitter: http://twitter.com/SCIFoundation Learn more today at http://FirstForWildlife.wordpress.com   Safari Club International Foundation (SCI Foundation) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that funds and manages worldwide programs dedicated to wildlife conservation, and outdoor education. Since 2000, SCIF has provided over $50 million to these causes around the world.   Visit the SCI Foundation’s website at www.safariclubfoundation.org for more information on how you can contribute to international conservation.  

  “Americans have the right and advantage of being armed, unlike the people of other countries, whose leaders are afraid to trust them with arms.”   ~ James Madison~

                                         BREAKING NEWS   Judge julie Mogenis has received some encouraging news from her physicians and will be integrating some "ground work" or light duty back into her schedule. Although she will initially be delegating some hosting to the Adventure Pros, the Judge has wasted no time in her zest to "get the show on the road". Watch for her as she revs up the PR    She is already planning some explosive episodes for her show World Wild Adventures for this coming season. There is some great unseen 2012 big game footage to be aired in two upcoming series and.....the  World Wild Adventure Team is anxiously standing by with Parachutes on - ready to jump on a plane at a moments notice for their next adventure. Destination, unknown. Adventure, unknown.   It is rumored that Judge Julie will be in Huston this week for the NRA Convention to speak with new sponsors and to a New Celebrity Pro-Staff Member! Stand by for Further Updates!!

Microstamping Threat Back in New York Anti-gun legislators from New York City have once again introduced firearms microstamping legislation (A. 1157b, Assembly Codes Committee) that would result in banning firearms in the Empire State. If microstamping were to become law, firearms manufacturers would be forced to employ a patented, sole-sourced concept that independent studies, including those from the National Academy of Sciences and the University of California at Davis, found to be flawed and easily defeated by criminals. Passage of this bill could result in layoffs of factory workers throughout New York as manufacturers, already being heavily lobbied by tax and gun friendly states, consider moving out of New York. Furthermore, firearms manufacturers could be forced to abandon the New York market altogether rather than spend the astronomical sums of money needed to completely reconfigure their manufacturing and assembly processes. This would directly impact law enforcement, firearms retailers and their law-abiding customers. "This is an extraordinarily dangerous bill," said NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lawrence G. Keane. "As legislation that would mandate microstamping not only threatens law-abiding gun owners but our industry's ability to supply the nation's law enforcement officers and military with high-quality firearms, we encourage all citizens of New York to contact members of the Codes Committee and their assemblymember today and urge them to oppose A. 1157b, firearms microstamping. Learn more about microstamping by viewing the NSSF Microstamping Fact Sheet.