Field Notes

If you’ve been following along on the New Jersey bear hunting saga, you know that hunters won a hard-fought battle last year to secure a bear-management plan that includes hunting seasons. This year, new Gov. Jon Corzine (who is openly opposed to bear hunting) along with new Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Lisa Jackson decided to simply scrap that plan and effectively cancel the state’s bear hunt to explore “nonlethal methods.”

In what the US Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation calls “a perplexing decision,” an appellate court ruled in November that sportsmen did not demonstrate how they would suffer ‘irreparable harm’ if no hunt occurs this year. So sportsmen’s groups brought the case to the New Jersey Supreme Court to seek an emergency injunction to restore the hunt. Yesterday, Chief Justice James Zazzali said, "Denied," refusing to hear the appeal.

From a USSAF press release:
“The state’s black bear management policy was adopted based upon recommendations made by the Division of Fish and Wildlife,” said [Rick] Story [USSAF senior vice president] . “There were open deliberations by the Fish and Game Council, and input and approval by the previous Commissioner. A new Commissioner cannot simply toss out the policy because she does not agree with it.

Sportsmen argue that Jackson’s decision was arbitrary and ignored sound science. Jackson and Gov. Jon Corzine . . . are stopping the hunt because it goes against their political beliefs, not because of scientific reasoning."

What’s your reaction?

With a doe on the ground, Meadville, PA, man Robert Hanna was probably thinking that the opening day of the state’s rifle season was shaping up nicely for him. That is, until three thugs in blaze orange allegedly ordered him at gunpoint to empty his rifle and come down out of his stand. Hanna says he was then struck from behind and knocked to the ground as the men hauled his deer away. Police are treating the incident as an armed robbery and assault. Here's the whole story.

“I just like to hunt deer,” Kim Harden told the Kirksville Daily Express. “It’s my favorite. That’s all there is to it.” And who can blame her with bruisers like this running around her folk’s property. But even as Harden shot the massive 26-pointer, she didn’t know just how big it was: “I thought it was just a small buck. The only thing I could tell at the time was that it had four points on one side.” Turns out it green scored at 218 1/8.

Jim Smith, owner of the New Orleans flyshop Uptown Angler, apparently broke the eight-pound line class IGFA world record for red drum (redfish) when he reeled in this beast that tipped the certified scales at 33.67 pounds. Smith was fishing with his son Jamie and Captain Gregg Arnold out of Hopedale, Louisiana, on Sunday November 26.

“Everything just lined up; it was a perfect day, the water was clear, there was only a light wind, and no clouds in the sky,” said Smith. “We saw this fish in about 10 inches of water.”

The fish ate a “Halley’s Comet” fly (a purple crab pattern). Arnold said the fight lasted 22 minutes, and had it gone a minute longer, they might not have landed the fish.

“Right after Jamie netted the fish we noticed the tippet had frayed,” said Arnold. “It was probably a matter of another few seconds and that fish would have broken off.”

Interestingly, Arnold doesn’t see this record standing for a long time.

“Someone has a good chance of breaking it this month if the water stays clear,” explained Arnold. “I’ve been seeing a lot of fish in this class, and they’re all up on the flats just eating crabs … and getting heavier.”

Info: www.fishinthelandofgiants.com.

From The Colorado Springs Gazette:
Virginia Sen. George Allen, a Republican who narrowly lost to Democrat James Webb on Nov. 7, in one of the races that overturned control of Congress, seems intent on going out with a bang rather than a whimper. Allen last week unveiled S. 4057, a bill that would overturn the almost-total ban on personal firearms in national parks, an idea we strongly support because our constitutional rights don’t end at national park boundaries and there are sound reasons why Americans might want to be armed in these places.

What do you think? Should Allen’s bill pass? Or are the current restrictions needed to prevent poaching, as some park authorities say?

It being the first deer he’d ever shot, Tony Zajac wasn’t quite sure how unusual his buck was—despite the fact that it had a fifth leg growing out of its chest. Tom Micetich, deer project manager for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, on the other hand, was pretty clear: It is a freak, a rarity, a one-in-a-million find, he said. “Most of the freaks end up dying because some predator gets them. This is just one of those oddities.”

If anyone has seen a picture of this deer on the Web, please put a link in the comments space below. Here's the story.

UPDATE: Tony's dad, Dena, just sent us pics of the deer. Here's one (below). See them all by clicking here.

While overall hunter numbers have been down in recent years, the number of female hunters is fast on the rise. This from Reuters:
One recent study by the National Sporting Goods Association estimates more than 3 million women now hunt, accounting for about 16 percent of the nearly 21 million active hunters in the United States.

The fastest-growing age groups are women aged 18 to 24, followed by those aged 35 to 44.

Have you noticed more women in the field? How important do you think female hunters are to the future of the sport?

British school caretaker Carl Smith recently decided to try catfishing in Spain and almost wound up dragged into the River Ebro. Instead, he claimed a new record for European wels catfish—thanks in part to two buddies who held on to the angler, preventing the 226-pound behemoth from catching him, instead of the other way around. Smith weighed, measured, and photographed the fish before releasing it. Here's the whole story.