Virginia Votes To Allow Guns In Restaurants

And of course the anti-gun people are all up in arms and throw out such thoughtless comments as:

The debate was concluded by Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple (D). “As a final comment, let me just say this. I’ve really never been afraid for my life at the Red Lobster,” she said.

Gee, I bet three dead people at the University of Alabama Huntsville and many, many more had never really been afraid for their lives at the University. Perhaps if we didn’t use idiotic reasoning of what happens after the fact and one of those three dead people could have been carrying a weapon for protection, as is guaranteed under the Constitution, there would be innocent people alive and one deranged sicko dead instead.

Tom Remington

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Virginia Files Firearms Freedom Act

Add one more state to the list of those filing a Firearms Freedom Act bill – HB69.

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Virginia Moves Toward Restoring Elk Population

MISSOULA, Mont. ?Kentucky?’s elk herd runneth over, and Virginia has decided to welcome the overflow and build a sustainable, huntable population of its own.

In August, the governing board of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) voted unanimously to end unmanaged harvest of elk by state deer hunters. For years, any Virginian with a deer permit could shoot an elk wandering across the state line from Kentucky. That practice is expected to officially end this fall.

Additionally, the VDGIF board also moved toward an official elk reintroduction and management plan for southwestern Virginia.

?Kudos to conservation leaders in Virginia. Restoring a native game species to management levels is one of the highest achievements in conservation, and it?s great to see Virginia aspiring to that goal for elk,? said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO.

He added, ?The Elk Foundation is extremely proud of the role we played in restoring elk to neighboring Kentucky. With a lot of money, technical assistance from our staff and support from our volunteers, we helped relocate over 1,500 elk to Kentucky between 1997 and 2002. Today that herd has more than 11,000 animals and offers incredible hunting opportunities with legitimate chances to take world-class bulls.?

Research shows that Kentucky elk have dispersed into four neighboring states with varying degrees of hospitality. Virginians originally wanted to keep elk out but now the culture appears to be changing, said Allen.

As an extension of its mission to ensure the future of elk, other wildlife and their habitat, RMEF promotes sound management of wild, free-ranging elk, which may be hunted or otherwise enjoyed.

A YouTube video clip of the VDGIF board discussion and vote follows:

Posted by Tom Remington

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Gun Owners – “Threatening To What It Means To Be An American”

Those in Virginia headed for the polls this November might want to consider comments made recently by former governor, Mark Warner, running for the soon to be vacated seat of retiring John Warner.

Mark Warner says there’s a coalition, a Christian coalition, taking over the republican party and if they have their way they’ll take over the state. Among other groups, Warner says this coalition is made up of NRA members, home-schoolers and those with different views. He says this is “threatening to what it means to be an American”.

Think about that for a minute…..no, actually you need only a second. Did I wake up one morning to discover America has completely changed? What is going on?

Tom Remington

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Anti-Dog Breeder Bill Passes Virginia House

Dear SAOVA Friends,

I’m temporarily filling in for Susan Wolf, who is recovering from surgery. The Humane Society of the U.S. HB538 “commercial” breeder measure passed the Virginia House on 2/12/2008. It will clear our Senate within days. HSUS is about to gain in Virginia what it couldn’t in years of Washington lobbying the Santorum Pet Animal Welfare Statute – (AKA PAWS). VAPAWS (HB538) requires hobby dog breeder licensing and inspection for anyone selling puppies at retail as well as wholesale, if they’re over a certain size. Virginia has an early, very short and frenetic legislative session. Its 2008 agenda included over 30 animal rightist supported bills. HB538 was HSUS’s top priority.

Sportsmen and hobby breeders here lost to HSUS’s five paid Richmond professional lobbyists, its DC personnel and numerous very well coordinated local semi-pro anti activists. HB538 duplicates and supplants the federal licensing system that registers and inspects all large dog breeders and investigates any dog breeder with four (4) or more females about whom a tip or a legitimate complaint has been received. USDA-APHIS has 5700+ Class A breeders that it monitors and inspects at least once per year, including 14 in Virginia. The federal government did 10,000 inspections last year, checking compliance with 60 pages of detailed dog care standards.

HSUS personnel used the public firestorm over Michael Vick’s despicable dogfighting and created their own inflammatory anti-dog breeder hyped press. Horton’s Dogs in Carroll County, Virginia, the HSUS “Virginia is for Puppy Mills” cause célèbre, was well known to local authorities and the animal control officer (ACO) for years. He had a business license, a 500 dog kennel permit, five employees, bought dog food by the ton and advertised puppies in newspapers and on the Internet. He sold both retail and to pet stores and should have been federally licensed and inspected by law, but wasn’t. On that there’s no dispute.

That situation was a local political problem, not a federal law or enforcement shortfall. Someone could have brought Horton to the USDA’s attention at any time. Three months after the well-publicized HSUS November “raid,” there still hasn’t been a complaint lodged with USDA, nor has the local ACO returned to that facility, which continues to sell puppies. Horton remains in business and still meets the USDA definition of a licensed “dealer.” The fourteen USDA licensed and inspected VA dog breeders are listed on the USDA-APHIS website. This isn’t some mysterious, unknown or unaccountable animal welfare service, just one the State Veterinarian’s Office and ACOs need to learn about, rather than being asked to supplant, or duplicate the federal program at great cost to local taxpayers and risk to responsible dog owners.

HB538 requires local county ACOs to review pet store records and to enforce both new state dog kennel inspection standards and those of USDA-APHIS. This is totally absurd, as the bill has internal self-contradictions, as well as numerous conflicts with federal animal care regulations. Further, the new inspection system will cost $ millions to implement, none of which has been budgeted. The counties and cities have been saddled with another unfunded mandate from Richmond. The bill’s precise details may be found at http://vhdoa.uplandbirddog.com/stater.html Suffice it to say that Virginia’s new “commercial” breeder definition includes many hunt clubs, those with co-owned dogs and other responsible breeders that aren’t “puppy mills.”

One of my disappointments while lobbying against this bill over the last three weeks was the refusal of top USDA-APHIS management to take position on HB538. Even more discouraging, a few dog owner groups supported HB538, to the point they joined the animal rightist speaking panels and heavily lobbied members one on one. Included among these individuals was the fired professional lobbyist of the AKC Virginia Federation of Dog Clubs and Breeders (VFDCB) and another Richmond lobbyist representing a MFH hunt club. The Legislative Chairman of the Virginia Veterinary Medical Association also supported this anti-dog breeding measure. Unfortunately, the American Kennel Club’s HB538 opposition letter arrived too late to be useful.

Despite all of this opposition, it’s usually easier to stop a bill than it is to pass one. That didn’t happen in Virginia, for the second significant time in three years. We lost the crucial committee vote (9-Y 8-N). The Old Dominion dog groups opposed to HB538 failed to cooperate with each other, coordinate their efforts, or compensate for the adverse actions of VFDCB’s dismissed lobbyist. Our lobbying effort was very frankly embarrassing. The lessons learned during our 2005 PAWS opposition fight were forgotten. HSUS announced last year that it was taking its PAWS anti-breeder effort to the states and that Virginia was its first target. Please learn from our mistakes and prepare to better defend your sport and your dogs.

Freely forward and cross post.

Sincerely,

Bob Kane, President
Virginia Hunting Dog Owners’ Association
Chairman Emeritus, Sportsmen and Animal Owners’ Voting Alliance
http://vhdoa.uplandbirddog.com http://saova.org

Posted by Tom Remington

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Indiana DNR Wants To Prevent Coyotes From Being Sold

What some are calling an ambiguous loophole in an Indiana state law, trappers who are taking wild coyotes outside of the prescribed coyote trapping season, are keeping them alive and selling them to dog trainers and using them to collect urine for use by trappers. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources says that practice has to stop.

Coyotes are being sold to states that allow hound trainers to use live wild animals for training purposes. Indiana does not allow this so trappers are selling the coyotes to states like South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia where the use of live animals is allowed for dog training.

Animal rights groups are pressuring the IDNR saying the practice is cruel and inhumane but some legislators who sit on the Natural Resources Study Committee don’t see it that way at all.

State Sen. Greg Walker, who is on the committee, said he did not see a problem with selling the animals to dog-training facilities because the care is often better than their lives in the wild.
“For the kennels which do the training of hunting dogs, they prefer to keep the animals in good condition,” said Walker, R-Columbus.
Generally, trainers do not allow the bait animals to be caught, Crider said.
“It’s really nothing that runs counter to what these animals experience in the wild anyway,” Walker said. “It’s part of their natural makeup, it’s part of their DNA, and so if it’s cruel, I guess sometimes you’d say nature is cruel.”

While the DNR is suggesting a change to the rules, the Study Committee could propose legislation that would override any DNR recommendation.

Tom Remington

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Virginia Considering “Earn A Buck” Program

With the whitetail deer population somewhere around 1 million and growing in Virginia, officials with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is considering instituting an “Earn a Buck” program in eight locales around the state where deer populations are the highest and most problematic.

The so-called Earn a Buck program requires that hunters harvest at least one doe deer before they are allowed to take a buck. This effort has been tried in other states with reasonable success and helps in reducing deer populations. Without the requirement, sometimes hunters will opt out of taking a doe and taking only buck deer instead. This leaves more does and more does mean more fawns in the spring and the cycle continues.

Read more about this proposal and the areas that will be affected here.

Tom Remington

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EHD A Bit “Ho-Hum” In The Deep South

We are at a point where it would be safe to say that this year’s outbreak of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) is quite widespread. Here’s a list of states that have confirmed cases of the virus that is carried to deer by biting midges or no-see-ums: Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, Montana, Mississippi and Georgia. In addition, some states are waiting for test results to confirm what they already suspect – South Carolina is one such state.

To confirm the presence of the disease, blood and certain tissue has to be analyzed.

According to both the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the Alabama Department of Conservation, dealing with EHD is quite routine. Charles Ruth, Deer/Turkey Project supervisor for the South Carolina DNR says flair-ups in that state seem to run in cycles of 3-5 years and there’s a reasonable explanation.

“This is probably related to the fact that once deer are exposed to the disease they are more resistant to it. Therefore, if you have disease one year the deer become exposed or inoculated to the disease and you do not see much disease activity until there is turnover in the deer population. After several years you are dealing with another cohort of deer and their systems are ‘naïve’ to the disease. The last time there was significant hemorrhagic disease activity in South Carolina was in 2002, therefore, disease activity could be relatively high this year.”

This theory is confirmed by a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

“We have some cases every year,” said Keith Guyse, a whitetail specialist with the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division in the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “In the Coastal Plain, the virus is there frequently enough that deer have been exposed to it and have some resistance to it.

Both representatives indicate that EHD in their respective states is pretty much routine only because of the build up of a certain degree of immunity. Therefore, these southern states don’t see wide outbreaks of the disease that often. When EHD hits the more northern climes, EHD seems to grab harder. Ruth explains.

Deer likely die in South Carolina each year from hemorrhagic disease, however, there is no indication that a major outbreak has occurred in the state since the mid 1970s. The disease is part of life for deer in the Southeast and fortunately it appears that Southern deer have acquired some immunity to the disease, said Ruth. Northern deer, on the other hand, are not exposed to the disease as frequently since the insect vector is not as common in cooler climates. For this reason, significant outbreaks and mortality from hemorrhagic disease are more likely in northern deer populations.

Guyse from Alabama makes reference to the same theory.

“Typically in North Alabama and above the fall line, they’re not exposed to it as often. So over a period of time you have a population that doesn’t have much resistance. When you have (outbreaks) up there, it tends to be more noticeable.”

This helps us understand why some states may have more severe outbreaks, killing larger numbers of deer, than others but why this year are outbreaks so widespread across the landscape of the country? Some have related it to the summer heat and drought. That may be true, I don’t know. It would be logical to assume that being that the virus is carried and spread by tiny midges or gnats, a larger than normal population of that insect would be directly proportional to the spread of the disease. Of course science isn’t that simplistic and we know that there are probably many more factors to consider or it could be just merely a coincidence.

However, Guyse from Alabama eludes to the theory of increased numbers of midges, somewhat.

“Auburn (researchers) had traps out to catch the flies and they might catch a few every once in a while, and then all of a sudden they catch hundreds,” Guyse said. “Much of that still is a mystery.”

Obviously, they don’t have a good handle on it either.

Hunters and others should be aware of the symptoms they may find on deer suffering from the disease.

Symptoms of hemorrhagic disease include poor physical condition, sloughing hooves, abrasions or sores on the brisket and legs, and ulcerations on the mouth, tongue, and rumen (stomach).

As I said earlier, verification of the disease has to be done in the lab.

If you see sick or dead deer in your travels, please report it to the appropriate authorities. It is highly recommended that nobody eats any of the meat from deer sickened by EHD.

Tom Remington

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EHD Outbreak Widespread And Following Drought

As most hunters are aware, several states are experiencing outbreaks of EHD (Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease). To date, states involved are, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey and Montana. In those states, some are experiencing widespread outbreaks while others are sporadic. Either way, it appears that this year’s outbreak is one that could be classified as the most widespread in some years.

J.R. Absher, the Newshound, and I sent a couple emails back and forth this morning about what’s happening with EHD. In one of my emails, I asked J.R. if this was what he would consider a large outbreak from his years of experience in the field. What he told me was that in a previous article he mentioned that he had talked with a friend of his, Doug Markham, information officer for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, about this year’s outbreak.

My good friend Doug Markham, information officer for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, dropped me an email over the weekend saying it’s as bad as he’s ever seen it in his 20 years with the agency.

Some especially hard-hit areas of the Volunteer State could lose half their deer to EHD this year, Markham speculated.

One other thing that J.R. mentioned was that it seemed that the EHD outbreak was following a similar path as this summer’s drought. I’ll have to do some investigating to see if I can find out if that is a common occurrence.

In the meantime, we all need to be praying for some frost and freezes to kill this thing off.

Tom Remington

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Further Spreading Of EHD And Troubles With Water Contamination In Pennsylvania

We can now add Montana to the growing list of states confirming outbreaks of epizootic hemorrhagic disease, EHD, or blue tongue. EHD is contracted by the bite of insects called “biting midges.” The virus usually kills the animals within five to 10 days. It is not spread by deer-to-deer contact and is rare in domestic cattle. States already having confirmed cases of EHD are: Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and New Jersey.

Montana officials have confirmed the presence of EHD in the southeastern part of the state.

So far “hundreds” of antelope and deer carcasses have been reported.

The heaviest concentration of the disease appears to be in the Melstone area east to Ingomar and Sumatra.

There really is not much that can be done about the disease. We just wait until the first good frost or freeze that will kill the midges that carry the virus.

In the meantime, troubles from dying deer in Pennsylvania are raising concerns about the possible contamination of drinking water supplies. In Beaver, Greene and Washington counties estimates are that over 1,000 deer carcasses are lying about rotting and stinking up the air. For some, there is concern that the decaying carcasses, many of which are lying in water, are contaminating the water supplies.

Russell Morgan is a Greene Township Supervisor and a farmer. He’s concerned about the water problems but is getting no help from the Pennsylvania Game Commission to get the carcasses cleaned up.

Already, Morgan said, he has confirmed 17 dead deer on and around his property. Township secretary Sandy Wright said one resident found 50 dead deer within a short distance of each other. Another resident reported finding 35 dead deer, Wright said.

Morgan said the game commission should at least help remove the remains from water sources. Instead, he was told removal of the deer is the responsibility of the homeowner,

“No one wants to take responsibility for what’s going on,” he said.

One of the side effects of the disease in deer causes the body temperature to rise, thus sending the deer to water to cool off. This is often where they expire.

Game Commission Supervisor Barry Zaffuto says it isn’t the responsibility of the PGC to take care of the dead animals and that the rotting deer are not contaminating the water.

“A deer is 100 percent natural,” he said. “This virus is not transferable, so it would be just like a deer that dies in the water naturally, because it does happen.”

The commission, he said, does not have the resources to search across a three-county area for deer and then remove them, especially when nature is taking care of that for them.

“That would just be totally impossible. What would we do with them?’ he said. “Deer decompose naturally and rapidly.”

Morgan isn’t buying Zaffuto’s explanation about deer being all natural and wouldn’t ruin the water. As a farmer, he is required by law to remove any of his livestock if it should dye in or near water. Under the watchful eye of the Department of Environmental Protection, he is made to clean up the carcass immediately because it will contaminate the water. Morgan wants to know what the difference is between a cow and a deer?

Morgan isn’t the only one concerned about the dying deer and how to clean up the mess. According to the PGC, it’s the landowners’ responsibility but this is angering citizens because of the double standards being exemplified in this video.

Tom Remington

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EHD Or Blue Tongue Showing Up In More States

Epizootic hemorrhagic disease or blue tongue is affecting whitetail deer herds in several states now. On the list are Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and now New Jersey. There may be more.

Fred J. Aun of the Star-Ledger, in reporting about the discovery of the disease in New Jersey, describes EHD this way.

EHD is not uncommon and it’s not dangerous to humans. It is caused by the bite of certain midges and results in high fevers and hemorrhages in the mouths, noses and eyes of deer prior to death. Fish and Wildlife said deer usually expire within 10 days of getting EHD.

Vice President of Global Operations for Skinny Moose Media and U.S. Hunting Today, John Stabley, called Dr. Colleen O’Keefe, IDOA division manager of Food Safety and Animal Protection, in Illinois to ask her specific questions about the disease, its affect on deer and other animals as well as humans. You can read the entire interview at Stabley’s blog, Stabley Outdoors.

J.R. Absher, the Newshound, has been keeping his readers abreast of the locations and severity of the disease.

In the meantime, as we hunters head into the woods to do our scouting or for the start of any of hunting seasons, keep an eye open for the possibility of EHD being present in deer. If you encounter any cases you are encouraged to contact your fish and game department with the information.

Tom Remington

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EHD Found in Indiana And Pennsylvania

Thanks to my good friend J.R. Absher, the “Newshound” at Outdoor Life for providing me the link I was looking for that confirms the presence of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease, also referred to as blue tongue, in the whitetail deer population.

Yesterday I reported that EHD had been confirmed in Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama. Today, Pennsylvania officials report 100 deer found dead in the southwestern part of the state was due also to EHD.

Here’s a bit more information about EHD from the Indiana DNR website.

The disease is transmitted by biting insects called midges. EHD is not transmitted to humans and is not normally found in domestic animals, which generally contract a related disease commonly called Blue Tongue instead.

EHD poses no danger to humans from handling, processing or eating the meat of an exposed animal. Hunters should take normal precautions handling all deer. As always, deer meat should be thoroughly cooked to kill any bacteria present.

This disease should not be confused with the unrelated brain disease in deer, Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), which has never been found in Indiana.

EHD causes severe, flulike symptoms, plus a high fever in deer, apparently causing those infected to seek open water to cool. Sick deer may lose their appetite, coordination and their fear of normal dangers. The animals become dehydrated and progressively weaker as the disease progresses, with mouth and eye tissue often showing a rosy or bluish color. A sick deer will be obvious to someone familiar with what a healthy deer looks like.

EHD is a common virus found in whitetail deer and will run its usual course until the first hard freeze, when insects that carry the disease will die off. It is not always fatal to the deer.

Tom Remington

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“Dog Fighting As Bad As Hunting”?

R.L. White, president of the NAACP’s Atlanta chapter is saying that Michael Vick, quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons who pleaded guilty to charges involving dog fighting, should be given a second chance and not be banned from the National Football League.

According to this MSNBC report, White also said this:

White said he does not support dogfighting and that he considers it as bad as hunting.

“His crime is, it was a dog,” White said.

I sure would like for Mr. White to elaborate on that just a bit. It’s hard to know if he is simply comparing the level of crime committed or whether he is actually comparing hunting and dog fighting as being similar. Makes you wonder what he thinks about fishing.

In a related report, the U.S. Sportsman’s Alliance Vice President for Government Affairs, Rob Sexton, was to appear last night on Fox News to “address comments made by a Washington Post columnist and an NBA star that compare dog fighting to hunting”. I haven’t been able to find any links to that story yet but when I do, I’ll either update this post or put up a new one depending on the timing of the release.

Tom Remington

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Human Poop Pellets Ward Off Deer?

In the Washington, D.C. area sewage treatment plants are manufacturing human poop pellets. A poop pellet is a fertilizer derived from the treatment of human waste. Yes, stuff that used to be in your toilet bowl. The product is called TLC, Tuscarora Landscaper’s Choice, and people who use it say it is an incredible fertilizer that makes lawns green and lush and one user claims in grows vegetable plants where no seeds where ever planted. Such a deal.

Some users are claiming that using this stuff, which has a bit of a pungent odor, keeps deer at bay. In areas of Virginia and Maryland where deer herds are so numerous, farmers and homeowners are being eaten out of house and home by the deer. They are looking for anything that will help.

But not all people say the stuff works as a deer repellent.

The Washington Post covers the story.

Tom Remington

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Hunting With Dogs In Virginia

Last week I called and talked with the Director of Wildlife for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Bob Duncan, about the plan the state has to address the issue of landowner rights and hunting with hounds. I wrote an article about the interview.

Today, Gene Mueller of the Washington Times, puts his spin on the issue.

Tom Remington

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