Wisconsin saw a relatively high number of hunting incidents during the opening weekend of the 9-day gun deer season.
Six people were shot, including one that resulted in the death of an 11-year-old boy.
For perspective, last year there were six shooting incidents during the entire 9-day gun deer season and no deaths.
This year, all the incidents have either been someone accidentally shooting another person in their hunting party or themselves.
Sauk County, Woodland Township:On Nov. 19, 2022, at approximately 11:10 a.m., a 22-year-old male was the victimofa gunshot wound to the thigh. During a deer drive, a 20-year-old male shooter, who was a driver in the hunting party, shot at a running deer, striking the victim, who was a stander in the hunting party. The victim was transported to the…
Back in 2015, when I started covering climate change,climate warmeant one thing. At the time, if someone said that climate change posed a threat to the world order, you would assume they were talking about the direct impacts of warming, or its second-order consequences. Analysts and scholars worried over scenarios in which unprecedented droughts or city-destroying floods would prompt mass migrations, destabilizing the rich world or giving rise to far-right nationalism. Or they worried that a global famine could send food prices surging, triggering old-fashioned resource wars. Or they fretted oversocial scienceshowing that weather fluctuations could lead to revolutions and civil wars.
The world of 2015 is not the world of 2022. Countries have made remarkable…
MIAMI CO., Kan. (WIBW) – Game Wardens in Kansas arrested one person after they allegedly poached multiple whitetail deer, two of which met the trophy classification.
Kansas Department of WildlifeGame Wardens say that during the week of Nov. 14, officials received a tip that warned of an ongoing deer poaching incident in Miami County.
Wardens said they acted quickly on the detailed information which later resulted in the interview and arrest of a suspect for illegally killing…
Shane Zoglman, who describes in Poultry Press working earlier in his life on a battery-caged hen farm and a turkey farm, shot this footage of turkey concentration sites and killing locations, and scenes of them freezing in trucks where he lives, in Dubois County, Indiana. He sent his video to us November 22nd to share as we wished.
In “I Feel So Bad for These Turkeys Hauled on Freezing Nights,” Shane told UPC: “These days I do not buy guns and ammo to kill animals with. I buy binoculars to enjoy watching them with, and instead of putting effort into killing, I put effort and money into taking in animals that need a home as well as trying to spread some of the message in my own way that things need to change.”
I posted a thought on the YouTube channel featuring Shane’s video. Feel free to add your own. — Karen Davis, United Poultry Concerns
This commentary is by Barbara Felitti, a resident of Huntington who retired after working for 28 years at the Institute for Sustainable Communities in Montpelier and as a consultant for international community development and NGO support work.
It’s time for the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and elected state officials to act on the wishes of the majority of Vermonters and ban recreational and fur trapping for furbearers (bobcat, otter, fisher, coyotes, beaver, red and gray fox, muskrat, raccoon, opossum, weasel, mink and skunk).
Fish & Wildlife recently commissioned a survey of Vermont residents on furbearer trapping. A majority of Vermonters oppose recreational and fur trapping — 68% disapprove of recreational trapping (only 26% approve) and 62% disapprove of fur trapping (only 31% approve). This is consistent with the 2017 Vermont Center for Rural Studies survey finding that 75% of Vermonters want trapping banned. (See page 49 of the draft document “Vermont Residents’ Attitudes Towards Furbearer Management” 2022 by Responsive Management. The document was obtained from Fish & Wildlife through a public records request.)
So why are Fish & Wildlife and elected officials ignoring the wishes of a majority of Vermonters?
Arguments against a recreational and fur trapping ban fall along some predictable lines:
Tradition. Trapping is a Vermont “tradition.” However, traditions can and do change with time. Dogfighting and cockfighting were once “traditions” that are now banned throughout the U.S., as they were recognized as a form of legalized animal abuse. There is no legitimate need in the 21st century for trapping wildlife in painful ways so someone can kill them for recreation or fur.
Flatlanders. Some feel if you haven’t lived in Vermont for generations, you shouldn’t try to change traditions. This ignores the fact that some hunters and lifelong Vermonters are part of the 62% to 68% supporting a recreational and fur trapping ban.
Additionally, I seem to have missed the place in the Vermont Constitution where rights are assigned to people based on how long they’ve lived in the state. Are people who have not lived in Vermont for generations second-class citizens?
Misdirection. Inevitably, the issue of banning recreational and fur trapping raises the topic of the much maligned beaver and damage to infrastructure. Nuisance damage from beavers can be managed in nonlethal ways. More importantly, banning recreational and fur trapping under 10 App. V.S.A. § 44 will not disallow nuisance trapping under 10 V.S.A. § 4828.
Guaranteed rights. Fish & Wildlife’s website wrongfully states that trapping is protected by the Vermont Constitution. It is not. The constitution guarantees the right to “hunt and fowl,” which have distinctly different definitions than trapping under Vermont regulations.
“Detractors.” Unfortunately some Fish & Wildlife staff see disagreements with department policy as having to deal with “detractors” who are discrediting their work (Fish & Wildlife staff email Oct. 20, 2021, obtained through a public records request). This is a disingenuous and dismissive response by public officials that ignores the legitimate right of citizens to question and petition for changes to department policy.
Sadly, ignoring majority public opinion on trapping extends to the Legislature. Last legislative session, S.201 proposed a ban on leghold traps. Instead of a ban, the Legislature passed a bill to establish “best management practices” for trapping. Trappers in a working group to advise on best management practices wouldn’t even agree to limit killing of trapped animals to gunshot only. They still want to be able to use inhumane methods — for example, bludgeoning, stomping, or choking — to kill trapped wildlife. A best management practices-approved leghold trap can still maim an animal and will not prevent indiscriminate trapping of pet dogs and cats, raptors, or endangered species. Is this really “best”?
The opening weekend of Wisconsin’s deer season was marred by the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy by a member of his hunting party.
Officials are asking all hunters continuing in the nine-day gun deer season, which opened Saturday, to follow thefour basic rules of firearm safety, including always being aware of where the gun’s muzzle is pointing.
On Sunday in Green Lake County, a 41-year-old man was attempting to unload his gun to place it in the back seat of the vehicle when the gun went off, hitting the 11-year-old in the chest. The boy was flown to a nearby hospital, where he died.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials…
On Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022 around 9:45 a.m., Wahkiakum County Emergency Management Services and Sheriff’s Office and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police responded to a report of a hunting incident in Cathlamet at the Elochoman Slough. A shotgun discharge seriously injured a 53-year-old male from Cowlitz County.
It was reported that the two friends were duck hunting in a small boat that morning and, while retrieving ducks from the water, the shooter’s shotgun fell over from a propped-up position. In an attempt to retrieve the shotgun, the shooter fired the firearm striking the victim.The shooter immediately called 911 and transported the victim to the Cathlamet Marina where he met medical aid. The victim was transported to Longview and then flown to Vancouver’s SW Medical Center where he is currently in stable condition recovering from his injuries.
In a letter to the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets, local and national animal protection organizations are calling on Commissioner Richard Ball to suspend operations at the 87 live animal markets across the state that sell live animals to the public and slaughter them on the premises. The calls come amid an avian flu outbreak at a Queens live poultry market that led to the temporary closure of 34 similar markets in New York and New Jersey. Approximately 170 birds were killed in the Queens facility where the flu was found.
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Exposing the Big Game 