Field Notes

*A special report by Jay Cassell

If you're concerned about the future of hunting in this country, then you might want to pay attention to what's going on in Washington later this month, when a group of government agencies and conservation organizations will meet to issue far-reaching blueprints for hunting and wildlife conservation. It's called the 2008 White House Conference on North American Wildlife Policy, and it will impact hunters across the country for at least the next 10 years.

The wheels for this policy initiative were put into motion on August 16, 2007, when President Bush issued an Executive Order, "The Facilitation of Hunting Heritage and Wildlife Conservation".  The purpose was to direct Federal agencies to 'facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting opportunities and the management of game species and their habitat.' This is a good thing for hunters, intended to preserve one of our nation's most deeply rooted traditions.

At the President's direction, the policy recommendations will be put together by the Secretaries of the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture and the Council for Environmental Quality (CEQ), with consultation provided by the Sporting Conservation Council (SCC) and other concerned groups. Many of the policies will be based on scientific white papers that were presented last April and which cover such topics as hunting access, wildlife management on Federal, state and tribal lands, funding for conservation, habitat management, and how to perpetuate hunter traditions. It will be called the Recreational Hunting and Wildlife Resource Conservation Plan. If you hunt, it will affect you.

"We will ultimately have one action plan that will have an effect for the next 10 years," Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Interior, told me in an interview on the Hill this past May.  I was there to attend a reception commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the 1908 White House Conference on Conservation, when President Theodore Roosevelt called the nation's leaders together to discuss natural resource conservation.  "Part of it is to reconnect Americans with the outdoors," Kempthorne said. He went on to explain that plans will be made to not only get Americans back into the outdoors, but also to get young people out there.

Looking to win the $1,000,000 Sasquatch Photo Challenge? Here’s a hot lead, from the Missoulan:

[S]asquatch and the gray wolf - two creatures with a long history in human mythology - were reported to have turned up on the side of the road in western Montana last week.

The Montana Department of Transportation found a dead wolf July 21 along Interstate 90 near Lookout Pass on the Idaho border. . . .

Bigfoot, on the other hand, may never have existed.

Nonetheless, a motorist reported seeing one of the purported giant primates along I-90 near Alberton about a week ago.

The motorist said he saw the Bigfoot approaching a middle-age couple who were fly-fishing, said Matt Moneymaker, who heads the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization in California.

The motorist, who called 9-1-1, described the sasquatch as more than 7 1/2 feet tall with long arms, a skinny frame and brown hair.

From The Morning Call:

Way back in 1953, angler Bill Krauss Jr. decided it would be fun to start keeping a logbook of his trout catches.



He recorded his first fish -- a 7-inch brownie from the Little Lehigh Creek in Allentown -- on April 15 and went on to catch a total of 53 trout that season.



Fifty-five years and 61,074 trout later, what began as an innocent hobby has become an all-consuming passion for the 71-year-old Lowhill Township resident.



In 1983, Krauss’ annual trout tally surpassed 1,000 for the first time, and in 1989, his total surpassed 2,000. Nowadays, Krauss considers it a disappointment if his annual catch doesn't reach a minimum of 2,500 fish.

From San Diego’s The Union-Tribune:

San Diego is known worldwide for its heavyweight largemouth bass, but it was a giant blue catfish that set a record Thursday at San Vicente.

Steve Oudomsouk, 58, of San Diego landed a 113.4-pound blue catfish while fishing off Quaide Point at the reservoir. The catch shattered the state record for blue catfish, a 101-pounder caught and released at San Vicente by Roger Rohrbouck in 2000.

We all know that Labs are better people than most. So why not? Read about would-be Fairhope, Alabama, mayor Willie Bean Roscoe P. Coltrane here--and about Louisiana’s ring-bearing Remi (short for Remington) Sue Lajaunie here.

From the Associated Press:

A federal DNA study points to wildlife — most likely elk — as the source of [brucellosis] found in a cow near Yellowstone National Park . . . .

"This is the smoking gun we were looking for," [Montana State Veterinarian Marty] Zaluski said. . . .

The potential role of elk in spreading brucellosis already had raised tensions between livestock producers and sporting groups worried over the potential for reductions in herd sizes. . . .

A representative of . . . the Bozeman-based Gallatin Wildlife Association, said Thursday that the federal report needs greater scrutiny [and that] he was concerned government agencies will begin treating elk like infected bison, which are periodically captured and slaughtered as they migrate from Yellowstone National Park to prevent contact with cattle.

Be sure to check out the full story.