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Showing posts with label Hunting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hunting. Show all posts
Actress Jennifer Lawrence: What you see is what you get

Actress Jennifer Lawrence: What you see is what you get

Jennifer Lawrence is a real down to earth person.

Pass the squirrel guts on PETA bread, please.The Hunger Games‘ mega-hottie and Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence is apparently as cool in real life as she is playing Katniss, a bowhunting super badass survivor girl in the blockbuster movie.
The 21-year-old beauty gutted a squirrel in the most talked about scene for her role in 2010’sWinter’s Bone, (for which she was nominated). The scene was not faked, she told Rolling Stone magazine: “I should say it wasn’t real, for PETA,” she said. “But screw PETA.”
Prior to shooting Winter’s Bone, (a charming little movie RS describes as “a gritty, gothic, murder story set in Ozark meth country”), Lawrence spent a month in Missouri with a rural family shooting rifles and chopping wood in preparation for the role.
Actor Woody Harrelson, (a real hippy earth-cookie and lovable nut job himself), describes co-star Lawrence in the interview, as “the real deal, who’s not trying to be anyone she’s not. She’s just this frickin’ amazing gal from Kentucky who hit it big.”. . .
Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent on hunting

Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent on hunting

I think that Sarah Palin's show tonight on The Learning Channel at 9 PM indicates why she connects to so many Americans. The self confidence that she shows is something to be admired. Ted Nugent's clip has him pointing to Palin as one of his heroes.





A sneak preview of the show tonight is available here.

UPDATE: Predictably PETA goes nuts over Palin's show. It is amusing how they call her Sarah as if to try minimizing Palin's stature.

“Sarah seems to think that resorting to violence and blood and guts may lure people into watching her boring show,” said the statement from PETA Vice President Dan Mathews. “But the ratings remain as dead as the poor animals she shoots.” . . .


UPDATE2: Hunters seemed to approve of the show.

Nick Seifert, a sportsman and conservation advocate who hosted the “Straight Shooting” segment of “American Gun Dog” for five seasons and had a 12-year career with Field & Stream and Outdoor Life magazines, about Palin’s skills as a hunter. . . . “It seemed realistic to me, and I’m a pretty harsh critic of that because I see a lot of unrealistic stuff out there on hunting channels. I thought it was an honest hunt and I thought there are a lot of people out there who would like to have that kind of time with their dad.” . . .


Mareen Dowd is over the top in her meanness about the hunt.

The female caribou could easily have escaped, since it took the Wasilla huntress six shots, two rifles and some help from her dad to bag her prey. (Giving credence to Levi Johnston’s contention that she isn’t all that proficient with guns.)

But, inexplicably, the caribou just waited to get gunned down by Sarah Palin, who came across less like a pioneer woman than Private Benjamin with her camo, her French manicured nails, her cap that says (in pink) Girls And Guns, her 72-year-old father and her TLC reality show crew.

Sarah checked her freezer at home before she flew 600 miles to the Arctic, trying to justify her contention that she needs to hunt to eat. . . .


UPDATE3: Here is an interview that Palin had with Laura Ingraham where Palin makes some fairly libertarian arguments for keeping government out of deciding what people should eat.

"Deer-Car Collisions Soar"


This data is national data. Your chance of a car collision with a deer in West Virginia is 1 in 42, though that is the state with the highest risk. The clip from the CBS show is here.

Chrysler's Update on the gun rack



When I live in Texas in the mid-1980s there were still some pick up trucks with gun racks and guns in them. Chrysler still thinks that there is a market for a more discrete version of those racks.
Zero tolerance policy nails student who thought that he was following the rules on guns near school

Zero tolerance policy nails student who thought that he was following the rules on guns near school

Unloaded guns in a locked car off of school property get student in a lot of trouble because of zero tolerance policy. Here is an editorial from the NewsReview in Chico, California:

By now the story of Gary Tudesko, the Willows High School junior who was expelled after Interquest search dogs sniffed out two unloaded shotguns in his pickup, has spread far and wide, thanks to the Internet. Both the National Rifle Association and the California Rifle and Pistol Association Legal Foundation have come to the youth’s aid.

Like many Willows youths, Gary is a hunter, and last November he and a friend went duck hunting before school. Returning just as classes were starting, and knowing that guns weren’t allowed on campus, Gary parked his pickup on nearby Willow Street, with the two shotguns unloaded and the doors locked. The dogs, after finding no drugs or guns on campus, had searched the surrounding area and located his vehicle.

As it turned out, there is nothing in the student handbook about unloaded weapons in locked vehicles off campus, and Gary had no way of knowing it was a no-no. Nevertheless, Willows High School officials kicked him out of school—a decision subsequently upheld by the Willows Unified School District board. In their determination to carry out a zero-tolerance policy, these officials defied common sense.

Let’s hope the Glenn County Board of Education, which will hear the matter on appeal at 10 a.m. on Jan. 15, acts reasonably and lets Gary Tudesko return to school.
No health discernable risk from regularly eating animals killed with lead bullets

No health discernable risk from regularly eating animals killed with lead bullets

I found this report interesting, though one should be a critical reader of what is being reported:

Lead bullets under fire
By CHRIS MERRILL
Star-Tribune environment reporter
with wire reports
Friday, November 7, 2008 9:57 PM MST

LANDER -- . . . .

an official with the Wyoming Department of Health said the Cowboy State will not be issuing the same warning to its residents, because state epidemiologists believe the effects are "very unlikely to be clinically significant." . . . .


While the CDC study found very small difference in lead levels for those who regularly ate animals killed with lead bullets "the elevated levels were not considered dangerous . . . ."
Does Hunting make Animals Smaller?

Does Hunting make Animals Smaller?

Newsweek had an article claiming that culling out large animals for trophy hunting makes the average size of the species smaller.

When hunting is severe enough to outstrip other threats to survival, the unsought, middling individuals make out better than the alpha animals, and the species changes. "Survival of the fittest" is still the rule, but the "fit" begin to look unlike what you might expect. And looks aren't the only things changing: behavior adapts too, from how hunted animals act to how they reproduce. There's nothing wrong with a species getting molded over time by new kinds of risk. But some experts believe problems arise when these changes make no evolutionary sense. . . .


With hunters valuing larger animals, there is money to be made in providing it to them. As Frank Miniter wrote me recently:

Trophy hunting is now making the opposite true. Deer breeding for big antlers (stud deer with huge racks are worth millions) and for African game on the big ranches is big business. But little has been written about it. There just isn't a market for that kind of writing. Hunters shoot "spikes" and older deer with small antlers as "cull deer." The practice is common on any land big enough to be managed. On public lands nearly every buck gets killed, so it's hardly a selection process.
A new breed of hunter?

A new breed of hunter?

As the number of hunters continues to decline, will women pick up the slack? Is Palin serving as a role model?

PARIS, Tenn. -- Brenda Valentine was running a beauty shop in rural Tennessee when her shooting skills came to the attention of the hunting industry. Today, she is a television star and paid speaker at hunting conventions, where fans wait in lines for her autograph.

"People will bring me their grandpa's shotgun to sign or even kiss," she says. "Some have named their children after me."

Mrs. Valentine, 58 years old, is perhaps the most visible face of an industry effort to draw more women into the woods. As the number of male hunters has declined, the sport has targeted women with everything from pink guns to gender-specific hunting courses. Now, they're seeking out spokesmodels and pushing weapons tailored for women, such as lighter crossbows. Television shows starring women shooters include "American Huntress" and "Family Traditions with Haley Heath," chronicling the hunting adventures of a young woman and her tag-along husband and children.

The campaign received a boost in recent weeks from the Republican Party's vice presidential nomination of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Photographs have since emerged of the governor posing beside a caribou she'd shot, and supporters boasted that she knew how to field-dress a moose. Gov. Palin is an ideal role model, say some women hunters, because she defies the masculine image of the sport. "She's a babe," says Linda Burch, a bear-hunting Minnesota accounting executive who applies lipstick before posing for kill shots.

Gov. Palin also counters the stereotype of the woman hunter as poor, rural and uneducated. A 2003 survey of Texans who had attended a state hunting-and-outdoors training program for women found that 82% lived in cities, 79% had graduated from college and 39% had household incomes above $80,000 a year. They spent a mean of $3,250 a year on outdoor recreational pursuits, said the state wildlife agency, which conducted the survey.

But some women see the media focus on Gov. Palin's hunting as evidence of a lingering gender gap. Only after Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a fellow hunter (causing minor injury) did his hunting habits gain attention. "Why is it news that Sarah Palin is a hunter?" asks Christine Thomas, a Wisconsin college dean and long-time advocate of programs to teach women about the outdoors. . . .
Another beneficial use of guns: getting rid of pests

Another beneficial use of guns: getting rid of pests

Some Florida retirees apparently had enough with some troublesome ducks:

It's a debate waged in apartment complexes and residential communities across the country: Feed the neighborhood critters or shoo them a way?

A Florida retirement community did a little more than shoo, choosing instead to shoot at the Muscovy ducks that had fouled the pool and become a general nuisance for residents, according to a report by MyFOXTampaBay.com.

The Clearwater retirement community's homeowners association voted to obtain a firearm permit and entrust one of their own, Bruce Streeter, with eliminating the ducks.

"Because he's the youngest in here, and he can still see well to have a good aim," fellow resident Debbie Clayton told MyFOXTampaBay.com.

Streeter said he only hit two or three, but that was enough for animal cruelty charges to be filed. Streeter pleaded no contest and had to pay about $300 in court costs, which were covered by donations from his neighbors, according to the TV station. . . .
Environmentalists demand Florida Marlins stop player from hunting

Environmentalists demand Florida Marlins stop player from hunting

Palm Beach Post had this story on Sunday:

Could be a long season for the Florida Marlins, and not just because of the expected losses.

The environmental group that saw 27 of its members arrested last month in a protest against FPL is telling the Marlins they need to rein in pitcher Logan Kensing, or else.

What did the reliever do?

The off-season rancher finds it rewarding to track wild hogs and coyotes with a helicopter hovering over his native Texas, then gun them down from above.

"We want the Marlins to make him agree to stop," said the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition's co-chair, attorney Barry Silver. . . . .
Clinton has election eve conversion on hunting

Clinton has election eve conversion on hunting

WIth elections near so many politicians start to come out in favor of hunting, even in Democratic primaries. Now it is Hillary Clinton's turn:

WAUSAU, WIS. -- At a campaign stop this afternoon, Hillary Clinton’s focus was on the economy and health care but some in the crowd had other things on their minds. Clinton was asked to discuss gun control which prompted Clinton to talk about her days holding a rifle in the cold, shallow waters in backwoods Arkansas.

“I’ve hunted. My father taught me how to hunt. I went duck hunting in Arkansas. I remember standing in that cold water, so cold, at first light. I was with a bunch of my friends, all men. The sun’s up, the ducks are flying and they are playing a trick on me. They said, ‘we’re not going to shoot, you shoot.’ They wanted to embarrass me. The pressure was on. So I shot, and I shot a banded duck and they were surprised as I was,” Clinton said drawing laughter from the crowd. . . .


Emphasis added by me to the word "rifle" in the text. Does Hillary know the difference between a shotgun and a rifle? Does she realize how hard it is to shot a duck with a rifle and to even do it on one's first shot? I doubt it.

Thanks to Ben Zycker for the link.
Teaching hunting as a class in school?

Teaching hunting as a class in school?

Given all the benefits from hunting, this seems like an idea whose time has come:

CHARLESTON, W.VA. --A significant drop in the number of hunters in West Virginia has left a hole in the state's budget, and one lawmaker thinks he has a solution: allow children to receive hunter training in school.
Seventh- through ninth-graders could opt for instruction in topics ranging from survival skills to gun safety, but the weapons would have dummy ammunition or be disabled. Sen. Billy Wayne Bailey, who introduced the bill this month, doesn't envision students firing real guns during class time. . . .
Deer Spreading into in even densely populated areas

Deer Spreading into in even densely populated areas

Here is what one New Jersey County is trying to do:

MAPLEWOOD, N.J. (AP) -- On a hilltop with breathtaking views of New York's skyline, sharpshooters perched in trees took aim Tuesday at white-tailed deer, a species being crowded out of one of the nation's most densely populated areas.
The problem is common enough in New Jersey's suburbs, as it is in other communities that have brought in marksmen to thin the herd: When their numbers get too great, the gentle animals destroy the forest, spread Lyme disease and pose a hazard for drivers.
But perhaps nowhere else have the trained shooters been so close to so many people as they are on the South Mountain Reservation, a nature preserve bordering hundreds of high-priced homes in the thick of the country's most crowded state.
"I could come out on my deck and get shot," said Sharon McClenton, a 42-year-old teacher whose house in West Orange butts up against the preserve.
Officials and many other residents insist, to the consternation of animal rights activists, that the hunt is necessary. . . .
One boy who I predict is going to be a hunter

One boy who I predict is going to be a hunter

I had a friend who once claimed that he could only eat rabbit and lion meat, but I take this story a little more seriously:

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A 6-year-old Plainville, Conn., boy is suffering from a rare food allergy and deer meat is the only solid protein the boy can stomach, according to his family.

Timmy Armstrong has eosinophilic esophagitis, a condition in which food allergies trigger an intense inflammation of the esophagus, according to a report from WTNH News Channel 8. . . .
Animal Rights Groups Merge to Fight Hunting

Animal Rights Groups Merge to Fight Hunting

Animal rights groups merging to better fight to end hunting:

The voice of America's anti-hunting forces is trying to become more powerful.

In what the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance is calling a "precisely-calculated effort," the Humane Society of the United States is attempting to consolidate all of the animal rights movement's political power under a single umbrella.

Humane Society director Wayne Pacelle reportedly told one publication that his organization may soon merge with at least three unnamed animal rights organizations.


OK, so if they end hunting deer, what will happen to the deer population? What will happen to the cost of food as farmers have deer eat more of their crops? What will happen to the additional motorists who run into deer?

Meanwhile, Obama "pledges support for Animal Rights."

He said he sponsored a bill to prevent horse slaughter in the Illinois state Senate and has been repeatedly endorsed by the Humane Society. "I think how we treat our animals reflects how we treat each other," he said. "And it's very important that we have a president who is mindful of the cruelty that is perpetrated on animals."
(emphasis added)
The cost of animal and car crashes

The cost of animal and car crashes

New Op-ed: On the benefits from Hunting

New Op-ed: On the benefits from Hunting

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