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Russ Mason

Commentary: Time for Fish and Wildlife agencies to re-engage with constituents

Featured, Fishing, Fishing, Fishing, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Michigan, Minnesota, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Wisconsin /

The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is unique.
Nowhere else in the world did hunters and anglers coalesce and become a sufficiently powerful political force to save fish, wildlife, and their habitats from ruin beyond recovery. It’s a story that everyone should know, not just consumptive users of the resource, but the public as well.

Commentary: Time for Fish and Wildlife agencies to re-engage with constituents Read More »

Party animals: Does some wildlife chase intoxication?

Home Page News, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nature Page & Night Sky, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin /

The other day, I read a report in the Wyoming-based Cowboy State Daily about grizzly bears and trains. The article relates that the bears had been eating fermented grain spilled from rail cars and then going to sleep on the tracks.
According to the engineers, “It’s a game of chicken between drunk grizzlies and trains, and the bears lose every time.”

Party animals: Does some wildlife chase intoxication? Read More »

How much deer disease can society tolerate? Wildlife managers weigh effects, results of culling

Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Michigan, National Hunting, Opinion /

Culls in one form or another are how we produced domestic animals and many crop varieties (selective breeding is a form of culling).
It’s been used to change antler qualities behind fences and tried as a method to change antler qualities in free-ranging deer (doesn’t work). Many hunting regulations (e.g., enhanced doe harvest) are just culling programs aimed at changing buck-to-doe ratios.

How much deer disease can society tolerate? Wildlife managers weigh effects, results of culling Read More »

Commentary: Time to re-examine the concept of fair chase

Featured, Fishing, Hunting, Hunting, Michigan, Minnesota, National Fishing, National Hunting, Ohio, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion /

Most of us are familiar with “fair chase,” the honor code North American hunters have followed for roughly a century. Coined by the Boone and Crockett Club (BCC) in 1888, the concept describes an ethical code originally applied to big game hunting.
It requires that the targeted animal be both wild and free ranging, with a fair chance of escape. As an aside, the BCC was especially concerned with the water-killing of deer (driving deer into lakes where hunters in boats would shoot, club, or spear them). Article 10 of the BCC constitution states that the killing of swimming (big) game was grounds for membership suspension or cancellation.

Commentary: Time to re-examine the concept of fair chase Read More »

Are deer suffering from ‘voluntary overcrowding?’

Featured, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, National Hunting, Nature Page & Night Sky, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin /

The North American pre-settlement population of white-tailed deer totaled somewhere between 24 million and 62 million animals, or an average of about 14.2 deer per square mile over roughly 3,011,600 square miles of estimated range. (Hanberry, B.B. and P. Hanberry. 2020: Wildlife Society Bulletin 44(3): 512-518)
Most of these animals lived on 2,007,800 square miles east of the Mississippi River. Today, there are somewhere between 11 million and 35 million whitetails, about half of the pre-settlement number. But landcover has changed dramatically, and several Midwestern states hold numbers of deer, ranging from 15 to greater than 45 deer per square mile.

Are deer suffering from ‘voluntary overcrowding?’ Read More »

Commentary: Exploring the connection between invasives and climate change

Featured, Home Page News, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nature Page & Night Sky, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin /

Here are two largely accepted premises.
• First, most conservationists and environmentalists will agree that climate change is a threat to fish, wildlife, and habitat.
• Second, most conservationists and environmentalists will agree that invasive species are a problem for fish, wildlife, and habitat (albeit not as existential as extreme heat, drought, severe storms, or ocean/lake/reservoir/river and stream warming).
Perhaps under-appreciated is that invasive species are, in large measure, a biotic manifestation of the changing precipitation and warming.

Commentary: Exploring the connection between invasives and climate change Read More »

User-pay funding no longer a sustainable revenue source for conservation

Featured, Fishing, Home Page News, Hunting, Michigan, National Fishing, National Hunting, Opinion /

In private business, milking the revenue streams of successful products to support new ones that generate no income is a recipe for disaster, even when the “giveaways” are popular.
Unless the new products begin generating revenue, decapitalization of successful products inevitably erodes their quality. Inevitably, customer complaints and defections increase and sales drop. Consider Tesla, Twitter, and “X.” Luckily for conservation and the public, government isn’t a private business. Historically, game and non-game species have flourished more or less on the consumptive community’s dime. But that doesn’t mean that the model is endlessly sustainable.

User-pay funding no longer a sustainable revenue source for conservation Read More »

Is a field test for CWD coming soon?

Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, National Hunting, National News, New York, News, News, News, News, News, News, News, News, News, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin /

Some are “definitive” tests. Others are not; these merely “fail to detect” the presence of disease. At least one assay has the potential to detect prions in environmental samples.

Is a field test for CWD coming soon? Read More »

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