Tag Archives: “sportsmen”

Stop Ontario’s Spring Bear Hunt

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Stop Ontario’s Spring Bear Hunt – Action Needed!
URGENT!  Please send Sign-On letter!
Orphaned bear cub
Take action now!

Dear Friends of Wildlife

Premier Kathleen Wynne’s decision to allow a Spring Bear Hunt in Ontario will result in the death of hundreds of small bear cubs just like this one.

Attracting hungry adult bears with food bait when they are coming out of a long hibernation and easily shot by a hunter hiding in a nearby tree blind is a cowardly act made worse by the small dependent cubs that are left to die a slow death of starvation.  Sometimes hounds are used to track and tree bears for hunters to shoot. Wounded bears fall to the ground where the hounds attack them. Hounds may also attack cubs that are stranded on the ground without their mothers.

You and I can make a difference in stopping this morally-indefensible hunt. If you live in Ontario:    

  • Add your name to the Sign-On letter. Even if you have signed other petitions or sent a letter, please send this one as it will go to all Ontario MPP’s, sending a strong message that there is province-wide opposition to a Spring Bear Hunt.
  • Make the letter your own by changing the subject line, first paragraph or adjusting the order of others.
  • Second, send a response to the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) consultation. The comment can be as brief as saying you are ‘strongly opposed on moral grounds to hunting bears in the spring when they are caring for very young dependent cubs’ or you can add a different point or two taken from the Sign-On letter. Click here to view the EBR posting or go directly to the comment page.

Please forward this to family and friends who share your love of wildlife and use social media to get the word out, particularly among young people, because we know they care.

Ontario Wildlife Coalition

Stop the Cruel Sled Dog Race

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From ALDF.org 52894dc72233b_preview-620

Animals will be harmed during the 2014 Iditarod, this is a fact. Teams of dogs will be forced to pull a sled over a thousand miles across the Alaska wilderness, often running at a grueling pace of up to one hundred miles per day for seven to ten straight days.

Injured or “dropped” dogs may not receive shelter, unless for medical treatment, and must be put back outside once treatment is completed. Furthermore, dropped dogs are left alone at checkpoints on a chain with four pounds of dog food. Dropped dogs — and all participating dogs — remain tethered at all times. Dogs receive one mandatory 24 hour resting period and additional shorter periods for rest — but the event relies upon the honor system, and it’s up to the musher to rest for the entire period.

Since the race began more than forty years ago, more than 140 dogs have died during the event — from heart attacks, pneumonia, muscle deterioration, dehydration, diarrhea, and spine injuries. They are impaled on sleds, drowned, or accidentally strangled.

Please take action to help ALDF speak out for sled dogs by asking the corporate sponsors of events like the Iditarod to withdraw their support.

Warm Alaskan Winter May Pose Problems for Iditarod Dog Sled Race

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http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/warm-alaska-winter-may-present/23749451
By Kristen Rodman, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer
February 27, 2014; 4:25 PM
Alaska’s most popular sporting [sic] event, the Iditarod Sled Dog Race is set to begin March 1, 2014. However, due to the milder-than-normal weather that has depleted snowpack this winter this winter, mushers may encounter some setbacks.

Kicking off the race, the annual ceremonial start will take place in downtown Anchorage on Saturday, March 1, 2014. The actual start to the competition will be on Sunday afternoon, March 2, 2014, in Willow, despite recent discussions.

Due to the lack of snowcover thus far this winter, race organizers considered moving the race start from Willow to Fairbanks, according to an Alaska Public Media  article. However, a construction company offered to help fix the trail with specialized equipment, and as a result, the race will stick to its traditional route through the Rainy Pass of the Alaska Range.

Musher Michelle Phillips of Tagish, Yukon Territory, Canada, makes the final push on the Bering Sea ice for the finish line a few miles outside Nome, Alaska, on Wednesday, March 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

“It’s been a very unusual winter up across Alaska,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jack Boston said. “The problem has been frequent mild days, which have been knocking down the snowcover.”

In January, Anchorage’s average temperature was 12 F above normal, causing the city’s snowcover to melt. Farther northwest in Nome, the temperature soared to a record-breaking high on Jan. 27, 2014, hitting 50 F for the first time ever during the winter season. Nome’s average temperature for January was 16 F above normal.

Despite the region’s massive winter warmup, many areas along the path of the race have received near-normal snowfall. So far this winter, Anchorage has received 53.7 inches of snow, or 90 percent of the normal snowfall, while Nome has accumulated 53.9 inches, or 96 percent of the normal snowfall.

As nearly 70 mushers get ready to make the 1,000-mile, multiple-day journey from Willow to Nome, the weather does not seem like it is going to cooperate this year but not because of its normal severity. Typically, the troublesome weather conditions that the race faces include winter storms, blizzards, high winds and subzero temperatures.

“It looks like a mild start to the Iditarod,” AccuWeather Long-Range Forecast Meteorologist Jason Nicholls said. “It looks like there can be a little snow on the ground around March 5, 2014, but it should not amount to much more than a few inches.”

Defeat the Sportsmen Heritage Act!!

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URGENT – CALLS NEEDED TODAY Defeat the Sportsmen Heritage Act

In Defense of AnimalsPlease act immediately! We need you to make calls RIGHT NOW or before the end of the workday today, Friday, February 21, at the latest. These bills could be taken up and move very fast Monday, February 24, or soon after.

Senate bill 1996 and its seven companion bills are extremely bad for wildlife and the non-hunting public alike. The goal of this package of bills, collectively called SHARE (Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreation Act), is to further “sportsmen’s” interests by opening more federal land to hunting, fishing, and trapping, allowing the importation of polar bear “trophies” from Canada, and allowing hunting in National Parks.

WE MUST KILL THESE BILLS!

The House has already passed the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act of 2013. Now there is Senate bill 1996, and a package of seven companion bills, all of which would tragically hurt wildlife and take away the rights of the majority of Americans who don’t hunt, trap, or fish.

If enacted, these bills would:

  1. Mandate a free-for-all of trappers/hunters/fishermen/recreational shooters on 700 million acres of National Forests and Bureau of Land Management land (BLM) – federal public land that belongs to YOU. Trapping is implicit and defined as a subtype of hunting and as such, trapping is green-lighted without being mentioned again. This is analogous to the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 by Don Young (R-AK), which turned National Wildlife Refuges System from sanctuaries into playgrounds for hunters, anglers, and trappers.
  2. Make hunting, fishing, and trapping a “priority public use” of federal lands. National Forests and BLM land are hunted, trapped, and fished already. Many have public shooting ranges. The bills would go even further by placing one class of visitors above the majority of recreationists on federal public lands who don’t hunt, trap, or fish. The bills would be a menace to public safety and interfere with other visitors’ quiet, peaceful enjoyment of nature.
  3. Get hunters into National Parks through a backdoor. While hunting is prohibited in National Parks, “skilled volunteers” (read: hunters) would be allowed in the killing (culling) of wildlife populations on federal lands.
  4. Allow polar bear “trophies” from Canada be imported into the US. That would stimulate hunting of this imperiled species.
  5. Bar the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating lead in ammunition and fishing sinkers. Lead is a neurotoxin which we’ve eliminated from gasoline, paint, and toys. But 3,000 tons of lead shot and bullets per year are fired into the wild and 4,000 tons per year from fishing tackle is lost in ponds and streams. Many birds of prey ingest spent lead fragments when feeding on animals that were shot and are themselves killed.

What We Need From You:

  1. We only want to contact the Senators listed at the end of this alert. Please look at the list of Senators below. If none of your Senators are listed, no action is necessary, but please stay tuned. If you do see your Senator(s) listed, please CALL them immediately – before the end of the workday today, Friday, February 21. See our list of Senators to call below.
  2. To the person in the office of the Senator(s), say this:
    “Please ask Senator _________ to call the cloakroom and state that he has concerns about all of the following bills: S.1996 Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act, S. 170 Recreational Fishing and Hunting Heritage and Opportunities Act, S. 738 Permanent Electronic Duck Stamp Act, S. 847 Polar Bear Conservation and Fairness Act of 2013, S. 1212 Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act, S. 1335 Sportsmen’s Act, S. 1634 Hunter and Farmer Protection Act of 2013, and S. 1660 SPORT Act.”

Have the office person read back the bill numbers to ensure they’re correct. If asked for reasons for the Senators to be concerned see 1-5 above.

List of Senators to contact, sorted by state:

<strong>California:</strong><br>Boxer, Barbara – (D – CA) 112 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-3553 Contact: <a href=”http://www.boxer.senate.gov/en/contact/&#8221; target=”_blank” data-mce-href=”http://www.boxer.senate.gov/en/contact/”>www.boxer.Senate.gov/en/contact/</a&gt;

Feinstein, Dianne – (D – CA) 331 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-3841 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-3841 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.feinstein.Senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me
Colorado:
Bennet, Michael F. – (D – CO) 458 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-5852 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-5852 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.bennet.Senate.gov/contact/
Connecticut:
Blumenthal, Richard – (D – CT) 724 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2823 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2823 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Delaware:
Coons, Christopher A. – (D – DE)  127A Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-5042 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-5042 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.coons.Senate.gov/contact/
Carper, Thomas R. – (D – DE) 513 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2441 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2441 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: carper.Senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-senator-carper
Hawaii:
Hirono, Mazie K. – (D – HI) (202) 224-6361 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-6361 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.hirono.Senate.gov/contact
Schatz, Brian – (D – HI)  722 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-3934 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-3934 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.schatz.senate.gov/contact
Illinois:
Kirk, Mark – (R – IL)  524 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2854 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2854 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.kirk.Senate.gov/?p=contact
Indiana: Harkin, Tom – (D – IA)  731 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-3254 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-3254 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.harkin.Senate.gov/contact.cfm
Maine:
Collins, Susan M. – (R – ME) 413 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2523 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2523 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.collins.Senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email
Maryland:
Cardin, Benjamin L. – (D – MD)  509 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-4524 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-4524 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Mikulski, Barbara A. – (D – MD) 503 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-4654 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-4654 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.mikulski.Senate.gov/contact/
Massachusetts:
Markey, Edward J. – (D – MA) 218 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2742 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2742 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.markey.senate.gov/contact
Michigan:
Stabenow, Debbie – (D – MI) 133 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-4822 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-4822 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.stabenow.Senate.gov/?p=contact
Levin, Carl – (D – MI)  269 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-6221 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-6221 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.levin.Senate.gov/contact/
New Hampshire:
Shaheen, Jeanne – (D – NH) 520 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2841 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2841 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.shaheen.Senate.gov/contact/
New Jersey:
Booker, Cory A. – (D – NJ) 141 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-3224 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-3224 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.booker.senate.gov/?p=contact
New Mexico:
Udall, Tom – (D – NM) 110 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-6621 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-6621 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.tomudall.Senate.gov/?p=contact
New York:
Gillibrand, Kirsten E. – (D – NY) 478 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-4451 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-4451 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.gillibrand.Senate.gov/contact/
Schumer, Charles E. – (D – NY) 322 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-6542 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-6542 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.schumer.Senate.gov/Contact/contact_chuck.cfm
Ohio:
Brown, Sherrod – (D – OH) 713 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2315 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2315 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.brown.Senate.gov/contact/
Oregon:
Wyden, Ron – (D – OR)  221 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-5244 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-5244 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.wyden.Senate.gov/contact/
Pennsylvania:
Casey, Robert P., Jr. – (D – PA) 393 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-6324 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-6324 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.casey.Senate.gov/contact/
Rhode Island:
Reed, Jack – (D – RI) 728 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-4642 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-4642 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.reed.Senate.gov/contact/
Whitehouse, Sheldon – (D – RI)  530 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2921 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2921 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.whitehouse.Senate.gov/contact/
Vermont:
Sanders, Bernard – (I – VT) Class I332 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-5141 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-5141 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.sanders.Senate.gov/contact/
Leahy, Patrick J. – (D – VT) 437 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-4242 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-4242 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.leahy.Senate.gov/contact/
Washington:
Murray, Patty – (D – WA) 154 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-2621 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-2621 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.murray.Senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactme
Cantwell, Maria – (D – WA) 311 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-3441 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-3441 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.cantwell.Senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-maria
Wisconsin:
Baldwin, Tammy – (D – WI) 717 Hart Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-5653 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (202) 224-5653 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting Contact: www.baldwin.Senate.gov/contact

http://ida.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=SportsmenHeritageAct&autologin=true&AddInterest=1022

Not All Winter Sports Negatively Impacted by Climate Change…

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…THAT IS, IF YOU CONSIDER KILLING RABBITS A “SPORT”!!!

The USA Today ran an article yesterday by U.S. Olympic cross country skier, Andrew Newell, entitled, Climate Change Impacts Winter Sports.” Newel tells us, “As a skier, my life revolves around winter and being outside. Years spent training have not only honed my skills, but also shown me the negative impacts of climate change first-hand. There have been countless times in the past 10 years when our early season competitions have been delayed or canceled due to lack of snow, or our spring and summer training camps disrupted due to erratic weather or insufficient snowpack. It’s no coincidence then that the last decade was also the hottest decade ever recorded…

“Even the most reliable snowfall areas have seen a decrease in storms and precipitation. In the last few seasons, Scandinavian countries such as Finland, Norway and Sweden, which host world cup ski events in November and December, have had to rely upon man-made snow and injected ice for races. Many Nordic athletes, myself included, train on glaciers during the summer months.DSC_0098

“I’ve witnessed the visible recession of off season ski destinations such as Eagle Glacier in Alaska and the Dachstein Glacier in Austria in the last decade. Warming temperatures melting snow has meant in recent years, summer skiing conditions on glaciers have become too unstable to train on. Some countries have resorted to skiing indoors in artificial ski tunnels due to unpredictable conditions.

‘The conditions in Sochi are no exception. The organizers of these Winter Games ran into similar problems and had to go to extreme and unorthodox means to supply the snow necessary to hold high-level competitions. Workers in Russia have been stockpiling nearly 16 million cubic feet of snow and adding a special kind of salt to prevent melting.”

The article goes on: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/02/11/andrew-newell-olympics-global-warming/5370379/  and in many ways parallels an early post of mine about the impacts of climate change on skiing, “In Case You Haven’t Noticed, Global Warming is Real.”  https://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/in-case-you-havent-noticed-yet-global-warming-is-real/

imagesQB1DEJITBut there’s one winter “sport” (if it can be called that) that isn’t effected by a lack of snow–bunny blasting. As Utah’s Daily Herald claims, “Rabbit hunting offers chance for winter sport” reports, “Regulations allow each hunter with a license to kill up to 10 cottontails.” [per day, no doubt.] And it also quotes Mark Zornes, who boasts, “This is what bunny hunting is like,” he said. “We rarely see people doing this, and this is the most fun kind of hunting. It’s also a great kid activity.”

So, forget snow sports, winter can be yet another chance to kill something.

Bill promoting hunting, fishing passes U.S. House

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By Dave Golowenski For The Columbus Dispatch
Sunday February 9, 2014

A divergent range of sportsmen’s groups commended the passage in the U.S. House of Representatives of the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act (SHARE) last week.

The package of eight bills represented by SHARE would promote hunting and fishing on land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and make the purchase of a federal duck stamp easier. Among the act’s authors is Rep. Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green).

Groups including Safari Club International, the National Rifle Association and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership praised the bill and urged the Senate to follow the House’s bipartisan approval.

Meanwhile, a measure that would raise the price of a federal duck stamp to $25 from the current $15 moved out of a Senate committee last week. Revenues generated by the stamp help fund wetlands conservation.

No bump in price has occurred since 1991, the longest period without an increase since the program was established during the 1930s.

Honked off

A Mississippi hunter is reporting he got his 8-point buck after he blew his nose. The sound apparently ticked off the buck, which came running toward the hunter’s stand in full attack mode.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2014/02/09/bill-promoting-hunting-fishing-passes-u-s–house.html

HuntingTrophiesJamieKripke600

Morrissey Writes Another Scathing Letter About the Royal Family’s Hunting Habits

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http://pitchfork.com/news/53894-morrissey-writes-another-scathing-letter-about-the-royal-familys-hunting-habits/

Morrissey Writes Another Scathing Letter About the Royal Family’s Hunting Habits

“… We can only pray to God that their hunting guns backfire in their faces.”

By Evan Minsker on February 9, 2014

Once again, Morrissey has written a letter about the Royal Family, once again focusing on their hunting habits. Appropriately titled “The story is old, I know, but it goes on”, he criticizes Prince William’s speech about protecting endangered species, as it came one day before he went hunting in Spain with Prince Harry. “We can only pray to God that their hunting guns backfire in their faces,” writes Morrissey. Read the entire thing here:…

One day prior to giving a public plea on behalf of animal welfare (!), Prince William is to be found in Spain (with Prince Harry) shooting and killing as many deer and boar as they possibly can! Although William’s speech (no doubt written by his publicity aides at Clarence House) will concentrate on endangered species, William is too thickwit to realize that animals such as tigers and rhino are only driven to near extinction because people who are precisely like himself and his brother have shot them off the map – all in the name of sport and slaughter. Whenever you shoot an animal in the head the outcome is usually the same: death. Just why William kills innocent and defenseless deer does not matter – the fact is, he does it, and we must go on and on asking why any form of violence is acceptable to the British establishment. It is easy for privileged people to assume jealousy to be the reason why anyone would wish to condemn them, but the British Boil Family never fails to be a colossal embarrassment to the United Kingdom. The Spanish trip is more than likely unwillingly funded by the British taxpayer, and we know very well that the British press is duty-bound to always defend and cleanse the bad behavior of the Boil Family – no matter how abysmal and hypocritical their actions. But the rationalists amongst us – who are never allowed to speak, are intelligent enough to realize that endangered species are dying out only because of people like William and Harry, and, for this we can only pray to God that their hunting guns backfire in their faces.

Fudd

Prince William Flies off to Shoot Spanish Boar

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[Not only does this make him a hypocrite, but somehow when someone who has it all chooses to do evil it makes it all that much despicable.]

Prince William flies off to shoot wild boar in Spain… days before launching a campaign to combat illegal hunting

Next week the prince is helping to lead conference on illegal wildlife trade …

By Rebecca English

7 February 2014
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2554484/Prince-William-flies-shoot-wild-boar-Spain-days-launching-campaign-combat-illegal-hunting.html#ixzz2slSTvcih

Prince William has flown off on a hunting trip days before taking part in a high-profile campaign to highlight poaching and the illegal wildlife trade.

Accompanied by his brother, Prince Harry, the second in line to the throne flew out to Spain on Thursday to shoot wild boar and stag at an estate in rural Cordoba owned by one of the wealthiest men in Britain, the Duke of Westminster.

The princes are frequent visitors to Finca La Garganta, which is one of the largest and most exclusive hunting estates in western Europe.

Prince William has been shooting boar on a private estate in Cordoba, Spain. Here he is engaging in the pastime at Sandringham in December 2005

Prince William has been shooting boar on a private estate in Cordoba, Spain. Here he is engaging in the pastime at Sandringham in December 2005

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2554484/Prince-William-flies-shoot-wild-boar-Spain-days-launching-campaign-combat-illegal-hunting.html#ixzz2slRxPQob Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Idaho Elk Hunters Want More Wolf Trapping

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http://m.cdapress.com/news/outdoors/article_59dcd3c3-b13b-52dd-8ca8-cabf53002b54.html?mode=jqm

F4WM seeks new members

COEUR d’ALENE – A group of North Idaho elk hunters formed a foundation in 2011 that is designed to incentivize more winter trapping of gray wolves in528624c939a88_preview-620 the Idaho panhandle – and now they want to take it statewide

The Foundation for Wildlife Management, or F4WM, has created a website and Facebook page to generate interest in starting new chapters and recruiting new members.

“We are in a hardball fight for our hunting heritage in Idaho,” said former Idaho Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Anthony McDermott, who now sits on the board of the foundation.

According to McDermott, the mission of the foundation is to encourage the trapping of gray wolves in areas where the wolf predation is excessive.

“The foundation is totally focused on restoring the elk in our backcountry areas,” he said.

The board of the foundation has found that trapping the wolves is the best way to manage the predator. McDermott said wolves are smart animals that learn very quickly how to evade traditional hunters.

“This organization has figured out that trapping is the answer,” he said. “But trapping is also very expensive.”

So, the foundation offers up to a $500 reimbursement to a successful gray wolf trapper who can provide receipts for their expenses.

F4WM has 278 members in the Idaho panhandle area, and they just started another chapter in Lewiston last week. The organization has also attracted interest from people in Salmon, Challis, Riggins and the Bitterroot Valley.

Cost of membership is $35 annually and most of that money is used to reimburse wolf trappers.

In 2011 and 2012, the F4WM was able to reimburse 22 trappers, and paid 14 trappers so far this season.

For more information on how to join the organization go online to http://www.foundationforwildlifemanagement.org