Pheasants Forever, a non-profit organization, will host an Outdoor Woman’s Life program from June 10 to 12 at the historic Woodmont Lodge at Fort Frederick State Park in Maryland.
Pheasants Forever, including its quail conservation division, Quail Forever, is the nation's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to upland habitat conservation.
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 135,000 members and 700 local chapters across the United States and Canada.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
Maryland 2011 Spring Turkey Harvest Data
Hunters reported taking a total of 2,826 wild turkeys during Maryland's 2011 spring turkey season. The total was nearly identical to the 2010 harvest of 2,847 birds. The harvest is slightly above the 10-year average of 2,902 birds.
Some counties noticed slight declines in harvest while others observed increases. Jakes comprised 29 percent of the 2011 spring harvest.
Two notable regulation changes took effect for Maryland's 2011 spring season. Hunting was permitted until sunset during the last two weeks of the season to increase hunter opportunity and minimize the potential impacts of additional hunting pressure.
Hunting was also allowed on one Sunday in May in Alleghany and Garrett counties only, which resulted in a harvest of 16 turkeys.
Garrett County reported 339 turkeys, followed by Allegany (287), Washington (285), Charles (222), Dorchester (210) and Worcester (191).
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Chronic Wasting Disease Affects North American Deer, Elk and Moose
According to a new U.S. Geological Survey study, the long-term impacts of the chronic wasting disease (CWD) epidemic in North American deer, elk and moose will depend on how the disease persists in the environment.
The study used computer simulations to make predictions about future deer herds. CWD is caused by unusual, infectious proteins called prions; it is a fatal neurological disease of deer, elk and moose.
The disease is related to "mad cow" disease, a cattle disease that has infected humans. However, there is no evidence that CWD has infected humans. Prions can be transmitted directly through animal-to-animal contact, and indirectly through animals that come into contact with infected feces, urine and carcasses.
CWD has been detected in 19 states and two Canadian provinces. Disease-causing prions, responsible for some incurable neurological diseases of people and other diseases in animals, are notoriously difficult to decontaminate or kill. Prions are not killed by most detergents, cooking, freezing, or by autoclaving, a method used to sterilize medical instruments.
The USGS study, Modeling Routes of Chronic Wasting Disease Transmission: Environmental Prion Persistence Promotes Deer Population Decline and Extinction, is available from the public accesses journal PLoS ONE, online.
source: USGS press release
The study used computer simulations to make predictions about future deer herds. CWD is caused by unusual, infectious proteins called prions; it is a fatal neurological disease of deer, elk and moose.
The disease is related to "mad cow" disease, a cattle disease that has infected humans. However, there is no evidence that CWD has infected humans. Prions can be transmitted directly through animal-to-animal contact, and indirectly through animals that come into contact with infected feces, urine and carcasses.
CWD has been detected in 19 states and two Canadian provinces. Disease-causing prions, responsible for some incurable neurological diseases of people and other diseases in animals, are notoriously difficult to decontaminate or kill. Prions are not killed by most detergents, cooking, freezing, or by autoclaving, a method used to sterilize medical instruments.
The USGS study, Modeling Routes of Chronic Wasting Disease Transmission: Environmental Prion Persistence Promotes Deer Population Decline and Extinction, is available from the public accesses journal PLoS ONE, online.
source: USGS press release
Saturday, April 23, 2011
2011 Wyoming Conservation Stamp Artwork Chosen
A Wyoming outdoor artist painting of a black bear was judged best in show at Wyoming's 28th annual Wyoming Conservation Stamp Art Competition. Renee Piskorski was awarded $3,500 for the winning entry.
Piskorski's painting was selected by a panel of judges out of 79 entries from 23 states and Mexico. Thirty- six Wyoming artists entered the competition this year.
Each year Wyoming Game and Fish selects one species to be the subject of the competition and eventually appear on more than 100,000 conservation stamps.
The artists is now a two-time winner. Her bluebird painting was judged best in show in the 2003 Conservation Stamp Competition.
The subject for next year's competition will be the Wyoming state reptile, the short-horned lizard, commonly referred to as the horned toad.
source: Wyoming Game and Fish
Piskorski's painting was selected by a panel of judges out of 79 entries from 23 states and Mexico. Thirty- six Wyoming artists entered the competition this year.
Each year Wyoming Game and Fish selects one species to be the subject of the competition and eventually appear on more than 100,000 conservation stamps.
The artists is now a two-time winner. Her bluebird painting was judged best in show in the 2003 Conservation Stamp Competition.
The subject for next year's competition will be the Wyoming state reptile, the short-horned lizard, commonly referred to as the horned toad.
source: Wyoming Game and Fish
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Colorado Big Game Hunting Opportunities
The Colorado Division of Wildlife has released statistics from the 2010 big game hunting seasons in the state.
"Hunters will continue to see great chances to get in the field in Colorado and access our world-renowned herds," said Tom Remington, Director of the Division of Wildlife.
The 2010 season was highlighted by a record-setting harvest of pronghorn. With recent expansion of access to licenses and lands, hunters statewide harvested a record 12,301 pronghorn during the 2010 seasons. The season beat the previous record of 10,941, set in 2009.
Colorado's most important attraction for big game hunters continues to be elk hunting with more than 214,000 elk hunters in the field last fall. Elk hunters experienced a 22 percent success rate, harvesting 48,018 elk.
Bull elk harvest continues to be available in both the limited seasons and the over-the-counter seasons with the harvest split almost equally between the two license types. Colorado is the only state to offer an unlimited, over-the-counter bull elk tag during the second and third rifle seasons.
Now the elk hunting capital of the world, long-time hunters in Colorado will remember the days when the state was renowned for mule deer hunting and those opportunities appear to be returning. The 2010 harvest of 34,768 was up slightly from the previous year total of 33,922.
Colorado has an estimated 460,650 deer, 287,270 elk and 76,710 pronghorn, making it a top hunting destination. With more than 23 million acres of public land, the state draws hundreds of thousands of hunters every fall, contributing more than $300 million direct dollars into the Colorado economy.
Because of the large number of big game hunters in the state, the Division of Wildlife does not require hunters to report harvest on most species instead the agency utilizes phone and on-line surveys to establish harvest estimates. The statistics are extensively validated and audits have shown that the process is quite accurate.
Harvest stats from 2010 can be found at the Division of Wildlife webpage at: http://wildlife.state.co.us/hunting/biggame/statistics/.
source: Colorado Division of Wildlife
"Hunters will continue to see great chances to get in the field in Colorado and access our world-renowned herds," said Tom Remington, Director of the Division of Wildlife.
The 2010 season was highlighted by a record-setting harvest of pronghorn. With recent expansion of access to licenses and lands, hunters statewide harvested a record 12,301 pronghorn during the 2010 seasons. The season beat the previous record of 10,941, set in 2009.
Colorado's most important attraction for big game hunters continues to be elk hunting with more than 214,000 elk hunters in the field last fall. Elk hunters experienced a 22 percent success rate, harvesting 48,018 elk.
Bull elk harvest continues to be available in both the limited seasons and the over-the-counter seasons with the harvest split almost equally between the two license types. Colorado is the only state to offer an unlimited, over-the-counter bull elk tag during the second and third rifle seasons.
Now the elk hunting capital of the world, long-time hunters in Colorado will remember the days when the state was renowned for mule deer hunting and those opportunities appear to be returning. The 2010 harvest of 34,768 was up slightly from the previous year total of 33,922.
Colorado has an estimated 460,650 deer, 287,270 elk and 76,710 pronghorn, making it a top hunting destination. With more than 23 million acres of public land, the state draws hundreds of thousands of hunters every fall, contributing more than $300 million direct dollars into the Colorado economy.
Because of the large number of big game hunters in the state, the Division of Wildlife does not require hunters to report harvest on most species instead the agency utilizes phone and on-line surveys to establish harvest estimates. The statistics are extensively validated and audits have shown that the process is quite accurate.
Harvest stats from 2010 can be found at the Division of Wildlife webpage at: http://wildlife.state.co.us/hunting/biggame/statistics/.
source: Colorado Division of Wildlife
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