The Peasant Wars

(Republished by permission)

Opinion by George Dovel

George Dovel is Editor and Publisher of The Outdoorsman.

In 2003, North America’s foremost wildlife scientist, Dr. Valerius Geist, made the following observations:

“The miracle of North American conservation is that it is basically a blue-collar system, grounded in the political and financial support and the active participation of large numbers of middle-class citizens who bring their basic honesty and decency to bear on important issues. This is just the opposite of the elitist system that has existed throughout Europe for centuries and is spreading like cancer around the world today, even right here at home.

“Because of the democratic nature of American hunting and wildlife management, and the demands for accountability it implies, our system has worked miracles in returning wildlife to a continent that, just a hundred years ago, saw the near-extinction of most big game animals and other wildlife. In my mind, this represents the world’s greatest environmental achievement of the last century.”

In 2006, representatives of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) adopted and agreed to fund the “Public Trust Doctrine in Fish and Wildlife Conservation.” This was essentially a doctrine reaffirming that wildlife is the property of the people, held in trust and managed for them and by them, and that hunting shall remain a democratic process available to all of the citizens who own the wildlife – not just the wealthy.

Yet WAFWA and the state wildlife agencies are exploiting the wildlife by selling it to the wealthiest hunters and excluding less affluent families from equal opportunity to harvest the wildlife they jointly own. The so-called “North American Model of Wildlife Conservation” is ignored in their rush to promote wolves and agendas that destroy the wild game sportsmen spent more than half a century restoring.

A week or so ago, in an exchange of emails between scientists and other concerned outdoorsmen like me, Dr. Geist wrote the following observation:

“I may be permitted to take this opportunity to comment on another matter, namely the futility – in the long term – of narrow conservation efforts such as those of the Wolf Recovery Foundation.

“My point of departure is the exceedingly brutal history of wildlife management in our occidental society, which, unfortunately, is all but unknown to North Americans. It inevitably begins with wildlife held as resource in common, accessible to citizen for their use and training in arms.

“It winds up as the de facto private property of the elite, which disarms citizens, and protects its privilege position of owning wildlife by force of arms (against the citizen). This is one substantial reason among others for armed rebellions by the deprived, most notably such bloody rebellions as the peasant wars of the 1520’s and the French revolution.

“Take away wildlife or make it irrelevant to the citizen, and wildlife winds up as private property, jealously defended. There is good reason for this as wildlife is a creator of wealth and privilege and thus very valuable.
Currently, simple-minded efforts to spread and multiply wolves lead to a depletion of wildlife – severe enough to lose the hunting public and with that the passion for wildlife. And with that it moves very surely into private ownership.

“And when wolves, grizzly bears and cougars are private property, the public has no say over their fate. I need not emphasize that even in North America the de facto grasp for wildlife by large land owners has led to the defense of that wildlife against the public with force of arms.

“Currently on Vancouver Island the following developed. With the return of wolves in the 1970’s deer populations dropped precipitously. The hunter kill went from about 25,000 deer annually to less than 3,000 in recent years.

“Deer hunters go to the mainland to hunt deer now. Still, it’s a loss to the island economy of about 50-75 million dollars.

“The large forest companies began to close and cut off roads that were previously kept open by public pressure. There is little protest as the voices are now so few for keeping the back country open.

“Deer are very scarce in the backcountry, not worth the effort to get there and hunt.

“The latest we hear now is of chalets being planned in the now – roadless – back country were wealthy clients can go to recreate by helicopter in a wilderness setting. The good fishing in the backcountry lakes, the hunting of giant elk, the wilderness, etc will thus be reserved for the elite.”

Best regards
Val Geist

Whether you are a hunter or fisherman, a natural resource manager, or just a citizen who is concerned about the ongoing depletion of our valuable wildlife resource and our way of life, I urge you to contact your State legislators and express your concerns to them. Write letters to the editor, call in on talk radio, and do whatever you can to energize your fellow citizens.

Remember English philosopher Edmund Burke’s warning, “The only thing necessary for the triumph (of evil) is for good men to do nothing.”

And when your efforts are criticized I urge you to remember this:

“He who fears criticism is hopeless. Only those who do things are criticized. To hesitate for fear of criticism is cowardly. If our course is right, be not afraid of criticism; advocate it, expound it, and if need be, fight for it. Critics always have been and always will be, but to the strong-minded, they are a help rather than a hindrance. Take your part in life’s stage and play your part to the end.” Thomas Jefferson

Posted by Tom Remington

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Could Removing Maine Dams Threaten Prized Trout And Salmon Fishery?

Restoration projects don’t always result in desired outcomes. Maine’s Penobscot River once provided a bounty of resources; a multitude of fish species, nutrients to care for the fish and other aquatic plant life, along with numerous opportunities that benefited the natives and residents within the river watershed. Then progress got in the way, so to speak.

Several dams were built along the river stretching from near Ellsworth north toward the Millinocket region. These dams, all a part of progress, were built mostly for producing electricity and water control. The result played a pivotal role in the destruction of a natural fishery that included several species of sea-run fish.

Man has been the culprit of many things but man being an intelligent creature with instincts for survival, learns from the mistakes and over time works to correct them. Efforts are currently underway to remove some more of the dams and construct fish ladders, fish lifts or fish ways as they are commonly called. The dream is to restore the Penobscot River to what it used to be.

Even though man is all too often blamed for every bad thing that happens to the environment, there is one thing that is certain and yet is overlooked. Man is still here. Man isn’t going away anytime soon, we hope. And with this knowledge, man must also become a part of the equation to solving our environmental problems.

While it certainly is a commendable dream to want to restore the Penobscot River to or near its original condition, we have to ask if it’s feasible, practical and the right thing to do both biologically and socially.

The Penobscot River Restoration Project is lead by the Penobscot River Restoration Trust. The Trust is comprised of the following organizations: 1) the Penobscot Indian Nation, 2) American Rivers, 3) Atlantic Salmon Federation, 4) Maine Audubon, 5) Natural Resources Council of Maine, 6) Trout Unlimited, and 7) The Nature Conservancy. These groups are working with the U.S. Department of Interior (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service), the State of Maine and PPL Maine Corporation, the company that owns the dams.

All of these groups have worked together in forming an agreement that aims to accomplish certain things, as are listed on their website.

# Restore self sustaining populations of native sea-run fish, such as the endangered Atlantic salmon, through improved access to nearly 1,000 miles of historic habitat;
# Renew opportunities for the Penobscot Indian Nation to exercise sustenance fishing rights;
# Create new opportunities for tourism, business and communities;
# Resolve longstanding disputes and avoid future uncertainties over the regulation of the river.

The agreement also will provide for the following:

* The Penobscot River Restoration Trust (PRRT) the option to purchase three dams from PPL Corporation, and subsequently remove the two lowermost dams on the river: Veazie and Great Works;
* The PRRT, after obtaining the approval of the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, to decommission and pursue construction of a state-of-the-art fish bypass around the third dam, Howland, that will, if found feasible maintain the impoundment;
* PPL Corporation the opportunity to increase generation at six existing dams, which would result in maintaining essentially all of the current energy generation;
* PPL Corporation to improve fish passage at four additional dams.

There are two issues with this effort that may not be getting the attention and the scrutiny that they should. One is the replacement of the lost electricity from removal of two dams and the closing of a third. The other issue is that of accounting for the spread of other invasive species now living below the dams that were not there back in the days of which the PRRT dreams of restoring the river to.

There are presently two organizations that I am aware of that have come out publicly in opposition to both the loss of electricity and the opening of the waterway to invasive species, namely the northern pike – The Millinocket Fin and Feather Club and the Town of Millinocket.

The Millinocket Fin and Feather Club recently drafted a letter of opposition to the dam removals and sent it to the Federal Energy Regulation Commission. (View a copy of the complete letter here.) FERC controls the licensing of the operation of the dams for the purpose of generating electricity. It is my understanding that the reason the letter went to FERC is because the next step in the PRRT restoration project is for PPL Maine to turn over their licensing in order that the dams can be purchased and removed. These groups want to stop that process.

The Town of Millinocket has also drafted a letter that has been sent to FERC with copies mailed to the Maine Governor, U.S. Congressmen and Women, state representatives, several towns along the river and other key players. Both letters essentially address the same two issues. (Read the Town of Millinocket letter here.)

The issue of invasive species should raise a pretty big debate. According to the Bangor Daily News, PRRT concurs that pike are present in the Penobscot.

Laura Rose Day, the river restoration trust’s executive director, said the trust shares the councilors’ concerns. Pike have been in the Pushaw Lake area of the lower Penobscot since at least 2003, state biologists said.

“We have been aware that pike are in the drainage of the river, and that’s why we had a team of experts that looked at that issue,” Day said Tuesday. “There is a risk, but it’s one factor among many.”

The real argument comes in whether or not northern pike, a known vicious predator of most fish species, including trout and salmon, would find its way north through the Penobscot watershed and into the many tributaries that have some of Maine’s finest trout and salmon fisheries. If this should happen the results could be devastating.

We need to go back for a moment and revisit what I said earlier in this article about the presence of man. The reason that pike are present in the Penobscot River below these dams is said to be the results of man’s illegal introduction of the fish into Maine waters. We can curse and throw worms to show our frustration but it doesn’t change the fact that this deed was done and now we have to live with it. It now becomes part of the restoration equation.

The Town of Millinocket and the Fin and Feather Club raise some serious questions about the spread of invasive species after the dams are removed. Ray Campbell, Jr., President of the Millinocket Fin and Feather Club, explains the possible watershed contamination.

If the surrender of license is to take place as planned, it would introduce invasive species, never there before, into the pristine Piscataquis River, plus giving northern pike, already in the Penobscot River below these dams, access into the Piscataquis River. The northern pike will not only destroy the fishery in the Piscataquis, but recent studies show that they, in all probability, will gain access from the East Branch of the Pleasant River (which flows into the Piscataquis) into upper Jo-Mary Lake, and from there into the West Branch of the Penobscot. This will essentially destroy the entire fishery downstream of
Ripogenus Dam.

Would opening the Penboscot River waterway threaten the existing fisheries? It appears nobody wants or has the ability to answer that question factually. There aren’t an abundance of studies available on northern pike migration. The fish is considered a sedentary species but that certainly doesn’t mean it doesn’t migrate at all.

The northern pike is commonly referred to as the wolf fish because of its notorious feeding habits and pronounced teeth. Essentially it will feed on most any fish species along with other aquatic animals including ducks. Fear runs rampant in trout and salmon fishermen when they hear of pike being found in their favorite fishing hole as the fish are known to destroy existing fisheries by both eating the fish and the fish the fish eat, like smelts.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Northern Pike Management Plan (2001), fully recognizes the existence of the fish in several of Maine’s waters. The plan calls for managing the fish to provide opportunities for fishermen but recognizes that every effort needs to be made to prevent the fish from getting into undesirable waters. The plan offers very little insight into the migration and distribution of the fish.

A study conducted in the mid 1990s in Alaska (Seasonal Movements, Age and Size Statistics, and Food Habits of Northern Pike in Upper Cook Inlet during 1994 and 1995, David S. Rutz) lends us some knowledge of the habits of northern pike.

The Cook Inlet Study in part looks at the migration of pike from the inlet into rivers and other tributaries that feed the inlet. One tracked fish traveled a distance of 13 km (just under 8 miles).

Another study done in Germany (Long range seasonal movements of northern pike (Esox lucius L.) in the barbel zone of the River Ourthe (River Meuse basin, Belgium), M. Ovidio and J. C. Philippart, 2003) also shows us that northern pike can travel a substantial distance during normal migration periods.

In this study, pike were tracked through their migration periods up and down the river. Again, one fish traveled a distance of 15.7 km (9.75 miles). Of note was the fact that tracking of fish downstream was stopped due to what the study calls a weir (obstruction, possibly a dam. It doesn’t say.)

I think we can safely conclude that pike will migrate to distances far enough that other waters north of the dams could face fisheries problems. The question becomes how proliferate will the pike become and what kind of damage will they cause?

Even though Richard Dill, regional fisheries biologist for Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, is hesitant to officially state that pike are in the main portion of the Penobscot, few will argue it’s only a matter of time.

As much as the Penobscot River Restoration Trust would like to bring the river back to its glory days, it would be irresponsible to not fully explore the dangers that exist. Yes, these pike are here because of the ignorance of man but ignoring the problem will not make it go away.

The BDN story says this about whether pike could find their way all the way to West Branch and beyond.

But biologists have not determined whether the connective waters — Upper Ebeemee Lake, Wangan Brook and Sanborn Pond — are deep enough to allow that, Dill said. Their studies are ongoing.

This presents another problem in trying to make a determination. The MDIFW Northern Pike Management Plan I referred to earlier, states some of the difficulties in trying to stop the proliferation of pike. It points out that when pike spawn they move into weedy areas. Biologists would like then to lower water levels to sharply reduce the survival of the northern pike. The problem is that the spawning period, also the period when pike migrate the farthest, coincides with spring when water is at it’s highest. This fact alone can aid in the further spread of the invasive pike.

What we know about the northern pike may not be enough to accurately assess the complete potential danger that exists should the dams be removed. One thing is for sure. It would seem that rushing into the removal could be a huge mistake. I know this may not seem like rushing for the PRRT. Perhaps the millions of dollars that are going to be spent to purchase these dams and tear them down, could be better spent trying to determine what might happen once they are removed; at least enough to satisfy everyone.

I would love to see the Penobscot returned to as close to what it used to be but not if it means ignoring the problems man has created that could destroy a healthy fishery now. That makes little sense.

Tom Remington

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What Will Al Gore Do After Global Warming Dies A Quiet Death?

No, no, no! He refuses to join Weight Watchers!

Global warming has already tried to reinvent itself by changing the name to climate change. And now it is, like most environmental scare jobs, dying a slow but painful death – painful meaning its costing us taxpayers a lot of money to keep Al Gore in his private jet.

At IMAO, they are asking what ever happened to acid rain and the ozone layer but what’s funny is their list of the next top 10 environmental con jobs that we can look forward to. Check it out!

Tom Remington

Tom Remington

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When You Need Help Fast With A Burglary

A reader sent me this story this morning so I thought I would share.

HOW TO CALL THE POLICE WHEN YOU’RE OLD AND DON’T MOVE FAST ANYMORE.

George Phillips of Gold Coast, Australia was going up to bed when his wife told him that he’d left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window. (Boy does this sound familiar!)

George opened the back door to go turn off the light but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.

He phoned the police, who asked “Is someone in your house?” and he said “no”. Then they said that all patrols were busy, and that he should simply lock his door and an officer would be along when available. George said, “Okay,” hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again.

“Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed. Well, you don’t have to worry about them now because I’ve just shot them.” Then he hung up.

Within five minutes three police cars, an Armed Response Unit, and an ambulance showed up at the Phillips’ residence and caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the Policemen said to George: “I thought you said that you’d shot them!”

George said, “I thought you said there was nobody available!”

(True Story) I LOVE IT – Don’t mess with old people !

Tom Remington

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Wisconsin: And Then There Were More Bears

The Natural Resources Board in Wisconsin will raise the bear harvest quotas for next year after they agree that there a far more black bears around than they had thought. According to the Capital Times, the DNR had estimated there were around 13,000 bruins ramming the woods of Wisconsin but a study done by the DNR and assisted by the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association, showed around 37,000 bears. That’s quite a discrepancy.

The good news is that the fish and game officials recognize and acknowledge the problem and are moving to do something about it. Consequently the bear harvest quota will be upped to 4,585 and will be monitored closely.

Also, further east in New York, bear hunters this year appear to have had a pretty good season reaching at or above record bear harvest numbers in two of three hunting zones.

Tom Remington

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As U.S. Moves Left Anti-Gun Bills Appearing

When it was announced that Barack Obama would be running for the presidency, it quickly became common knowledge that he was one of the most liberal senators in Washington. We new little about him then and today still know little about him but we are slowly finding out.

During the campaign much discussion took place on this blog and others across the Net about Obama’s anti-gun positions, even though he has attempted to paint a different picture of himself than the actions he has taken against guns. Campaigns can put spots on zebras and stripes on hippopotamus.

It appears that President Obama may not have to be the one to directly begin offering up bills that will strip Americans of their Second Amendment rights. I have said from the beginning that once Obama is elected, we’ll begin seeing an emboldened movement to support his liberal agenda.

Oddly enough, just the other day I was telling my wife, more out of disgust than anything, “You mark my words! Within 3 months a bill will be proposed, that if passed, would require that every gun bought and sold in America would have to be registered with the federal government!”

When I sat down to work this morning and opened by email, I found myself staring into information a reader sent me about H.R. 45, Blair Holt’s Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009.

This bill will do exactly what I warned my wife it would do. Not only that, if you happened to read my last post about Ann Coulter’s article on liberal victimhood, well, welcome to liberal victimhood in the form of another anti-gun bill.

(6) on the afternoon of May 10, 2007, Blair Holt, a junior at Julian High School in Chicago, was killed on a public bus riding home from school when he used his body to shield a girl who was in the line of fire after a young man boarded the bus and started shooting.

As tragic as this is and as self-sacrificing as Blair Holt was, this bill will do nothing to stop that from happening again. As has been pointed out before, it will make matters worse.

The bill spells out what it believes the purposes of the bill are.

(1) to protect the public against the unreasonable risk of injury and death associated with the unrecorded sale or transfer of qualifying firearms to criminals and youth;

(2) to ensure that owners of qualifying firearms are knowledgeable in the safe use, handling, and storage of those firearms;

The public is not going to be protected because a criminal murderer who did not register his gun. The danger in presenting this in this manner is that it leads some people to believe that if a gun is recorded it will no longer be used to commit a crime.

In number two, any intelligent person should ask if the person who killed Blair Holt was knowledgeable in the safe use, handling and storage of his firearm? And if he had registered it, what difference would it have made?

As the Obama administration continues its migration to the far left, his followers, like the sponsors and supporters of H.R. 45, will begin appearing, feeling empowered by the President’s own anti-gun past, and will attempt enactment of bills like this and others.

I’m sure Mr. Obama would consider this bill one of those “reasonable restrictions” often spoken as being necessary.

Let’s get to work and defeat this bill.

Tom Remington

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Ann Coulter Speaks Of Liberal Victimhood

Ann Coulter’s column today speaks of liberal victimhood, the act of playing victim in order to achieve goals and oppress others. In it she mentions the victim Caroline McCarthy, a New York U.S. Representative whose husband and son were shot to death on the Long Island Railroad in 1993. She has since been a strong advocate for banning gun ownership.

This of course makes a great opportunity to win the hearts and minds of people by thrusting your trials and tribulations on others in order to win their advocacy. But Coulter points out that when McCarthy says she is a voice for victims, she may actually be creating more victims.

Colin Ferguson’s shooting spree wasn’t stopped sooner because none of the passengers had guns. As has been demonstrated beyond dispute at this point, armed citizens save lives.

In a comprehensive study of all public multiple shooting incidents in America between 1977 and 1999, economists John Lott and Bill Landes found that the only public policy that reduced both the incidence and casualties of such shootings were concealed-carry laws. Not only are there 60 percent fewer gun massacres after states adopt concealed-carry laws, but the death and injury rate of such rampages are reduced by 80 percent.

Rep. McCarthy claims to “speak for the victims” by promoting policies that will provably create a lot more victims.

For those of us who are on the front lines fighting to protect our Second Amendment rights, we have realized for some time that victimhood has been a giant tool so often used to fight gun ownership. Nearly every anti-gun bill presented has the name of a victim on it. After all, it’s a little hard to call someone out who has been a victim.

Tom Remington

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Obama’s Obsession With Rush Limbaugh

I just don’t get it! President Obama and now it appears the majority of the democratic party , seems fixated on Rush Limbaugh as though he is now some evil monster – well I suppose to them he is. But why?

Recently, President Obama told Congressional republican leaders to stop listening to Rush so that they could get something done. In all seriousness, is President Obama so insecure that he fears Rush Limbaugh? Granted Rush is a powerful man with a large following but does anyone think he can lead a junta against the president and his party? Or that he would even want to?

It all makes little sense to me.

But now it has gone a bit beyond the ordinary. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is circulating a petition among their members with the intent of sending a message to Rush Limbaugh.

We need every grassroots Democrat to show Rush Limbaugh and all of the Republicans what they’re up against if they start attacking President Obama and Democrats who are working to end the failed GOP policies of the last eight years.

Well, okay! If this is how the DCCC wants to spend their time, there is not much difference in opposing this petition as there is in opposing Rush Limbaugh. In other words, if I don’t want to listen to what Rush Limbaugh has to say, I’ll not tune in my radio to his show. Nor would I sign a petition asking him to shut up. What’s more, isn’t it hypocritical to exercise your right to free speech in order to encourage stifling free speech? Isn’t the real issue here about freedom of choice?

The petition being circulated includes a few disturbing demands which to me somewhat resemble the tactics used by dictators of the past.

Jobs, health care, our place in the world – the stakes for our nation are high and every American needs President Obama to succeed. Creating real change requires every American stand strong against Rush Limbaugh’s attacks – and all of the other partisan attacks from desperate Republicans that are on the way.

This is essentially asking Americans to bury the years of party politics, a two-party system that, while certainly not perfect, has allowed for a certain degree of checks and balances. At no time during history that I am aware, has anyone seriously called for the censorship of opposing views.

The Media Research Center is taking this action very seriously. Today I received another email asking for support as the MRC believes President Obama’s comments to republican leaders asking them to stop listening to Rush Limbaugh is a paving of the way that will lead to the demand to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine.

If it is, all Americans need to think long and hard about what they are considering. If it’s not then it seems only intelligent to question the time being spent fixated on one man on one radio station by not only the DCCC and the democratic party but our own President of the United States. Isn’t it a bit sophomoric to even make a comment like that?

The DCCC should look in the mirror for a moment and see that they have a right to circulate their petition. They have a right to oppose and offer counter arguments to every one of Limbaugh’s ideas. But rights and freedoms extend beyond the democrat party.

Rush Limbaugh, Al Franken, Sean Hannity, Chris Matthews and Joe the Plumber all have a right to freedom of speech. Suggesting that now someone should stop talking in order for the President to succeed is not only ridiculous, it’s dangerous.

Time for those in Washington to grow up!

Tom Remington

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Gore In Washington Further Polluting Minds

Al Gore, who stands to reap millions and millions more money from so-called “green” business he has invested heavily in, is on Capital Hill today lying to Congress and of course Congress is buying into it. Makes you wonder how many of these politicians are also heavily invested in green business?

Tom Remington

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“Living With Death In The 1700s” – Wolf Attacks

A little over two weeks ago I brought you a book review of Will N. Graves’ book, “Wolves in Russia: Anxiety Through the Ages“. Wolves in Russia is the compilation of accounts in Russia of the many hundreds of deaths to humans caused by wolves; some by rabies contracted from wolf bites and some by deadly attacks from healthy wolves. It is staggering to learn of the fear people had to live under in dealing with such a vicious and powerful predator.

Since posting the review of Graves’ book, I’ve been sent another account translated from Italian called, “Living With Death in the 1700s“. This work also recounts wolf attacks occurring in portions of Italy during the 15th through the 19th centuries. The regions studied were Lombardy, Eastern Piedmont and Italian Switzerland.

The document is about 10 pages in length and includes maps and index with footnotes and resources.

Tom Remington

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How Our Government Leaders Think

Find the whole article here.

“(F)ood stamps and unemployment insurance, which affect the people in the states, are necessary at this time when funds are short and the economy is down, (and) actually have the most stimulative effect on the economy,” Pelosi said. “Food stamps first, unemployment insurance next, infrastructure after that, and it goes on from there.”

“Actually, those investments bring a bigger return than the tax cuts,” she said,

Can somebody actually believe this?

Tom Remington

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How The Media Can Be Dangerous While Serving Injustice

I am “the media” so don’t think that I’m excluding myself here. But I’m also proud to exclaim I am not the so-called Main Stream Media, which is working its way toward extinction. I recently heard Bernard Goldberg on the Sean Hannity show refer to the media (main stream) as a political activist organization now, having moved beyond simple bias.

We all have our own biases and opinions about the media. I’m sure most influenced to some degree in how we have been treated. The question exists as to what drives the media to report what they report the way they do. Is it activism? Is it agenda driven? Is it personal bias? Might it be ignorance? Or is it mostly what sells copies? It might be some or a lot of any and all of the above.

I would like to share with readers an example of how main stream media reporting ends in dangerous injustice. I would also like to point out that this is not an isolated case.

Recently I brought you three articles (here, here and here) that pertained to a column that appeared in the online version of Newsweek. The article, “Survival of the Weak and Scrawny”, related information from a study (Coltman et al 2003) done on Ram Mountain in Canada that supposedly proved that hunting “trophy” big horn sheep resulted in a weakening of the gene pool leaving the survival of the species at risk.

One of the dangers of the article was the way it was presented. It was incomplete and one sided. Was this intentional? Did the author have an agenda? Was it poor journalism? Or did Newsweek editors decide this article written in this fashion would sell more copies of their magazine? We may never know for sure.

The article refers to only one portion of the study, a portion described by Dr. Valerius Geist, Professional Biologist, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science, The University of Calgary, as a necessary study to prove what the scientists involved believed to be already true. What they needed to prove as part of the complete study was that if you deliberately target the dominate male sheep and remove it from the reproductive cycle, the horn size, body size and overall physical strength of the controlled group of sheep would diminish.

The results of this one lone study gets grabbed up by the main stream media. Nature, Newsweek and hosts of other media outlets begin what almost resembles and orchestrated effort to discredit the practice of hunting because hunters are leaving our game species “weak and scrawny”. It gets worse.

One of the scientists involved in the Coltman, et al 2003 study was Marco Festa-Bianchet. Bianchet did his doctoral dissertation with Dr. Valerius Geist at the University of Calgary, Canada. Dr. Geist describes Bianchet as “brilliant and highly capable”.

If you are an anti-hunter or one who espouses to the theory that hunting so-called trophy game is dumbing down the genes, you might find Marco Fest-Bianchet a hero. On the other hand, if you’re a hunter or someone who believes proper management of game is producing positive results, you might think Bianchet to be something not worth repeating here.

Mr. Bianchet is neither hero or enemy of the hunter. He is a scientist being exploited by the media.

There’s more. Beth MacCullum did her Masters of Environmental Design Project also with Dr. Valerius Geist at the University of Calgary. He has only wonderful and positive things to say about her. Here is her accomplishments as part of that project. She convinced industry people and the government to allow her to take an abandoned strip mine in Hinton, Alberta and transform it into a mecca for big horn sheep. Her results were nothing short of amazing as are described by Dr. Geist.

Her design is to generate a custom built bighorn habitat from the moon-landscape left behind by the mining process. It is totally novel and original. It has never been done before. It is a real test of our collective knowledge of sheep ecology. Can we build habitat so good for bighorns that they will thrive? The bighorns respond quickly with a massive increase in lamb production and survival. The population shoots upward! The females double in body size. The rams grow increasingly larger in body and horn-size, soon breaking all North American records. Bighorns from Jasper National Park visit this new sheep habitat – and remain. That is, in this study not only is horn size increased beyond any expectation, but the genetic base of the population – the holy grail – is enhanced by visiting sheep from neighboring populations coming and staying.

Once anyone seeking the truth searches to find it, they will discover that in the Ram Mountain survey, the end result was that what was having the most negative effect on big horn sheep was poor habitat. Clearly the two events had opposite results and for one thing it showed us that mistakes made by man from poor game management and lousy habitat can be reversed. In this case by taking an abandoned strip mine and converting it into a wildlife Shangri-la.

The media injustice comes from not one mention of Beth MacCullum’s work. Dr. Geist describes this journalistic injustice this way.

Marco Festa-Bianchet is a successful man, a University professor. Beth MacCallum is a successful private consultant. They are both complete people in their public and private lives. The news media fawn over the man’s success, and totally ignore the woman. So does her Alma Mater! Her brilliant, farsighted work receives no awards, no praise. Extreme environmentalists denigrate her work because it makes industry look good. In the meantime her restoration work becomes far more than a test of our knowledge of mountain sheep ecology. Elk, mule deer, grizzly bear, wolverine flock in. More and more bird species take hold and the number of nesting birds rises steadily. What was once waste is transformed into an oasis of life. Local people support and fight to retain this miracle of transformation; bureaucrats are apparently now fixed on destroying it.

Even though some of the American people are catching on to the media’s tricks, danger lurks for those who blindly consume the incomplete written word. Those in the know understand that it is the money coughed up by hunters that have funded a lot of wildlife research that has resulted in this country having bountiful game and wildlife. Hunting is only a small but vital part of this conservation effort.

To hand select parts and pieces of studies to support agendas and biases is a sin. To ignore what man is capable of achieving for political gain is a travesty.

Tom Remington

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70% Of Montanans Want Wolves Delisted

According to a report from a survey taken by the Montana Standard.

Tom Remington

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Test Your Social/Civic Knowledge

How smart are you when it comes to social knowledge? Do you know what Free Enterprise is or what the First Amendment says? The average score of over 2,500 Americans taking the test was 49%.

Take a test now to find out how you stack up. They say the average high school student should pass this.

Tom Remington

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The 2012 Pelosi GTxi SS/RT Sport Edition

Just too funny not to share! Warning! Liberals should need to take a Zanex before watching.

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