The final results of a two-year Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources study indicate the state’s black bear population is more than twice as large as previously thought. As a result, the agency says the number of bear tags will be increased 50 percent for the 2009 hunting season.

The study, funded and assisted by the DNR and Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association, was conducted by Dave MacFarland, a University of Wisconsin graduate student, under the tutelage of Timothy Van Deelen, a professor of wildlife at UW.

“This is a great example of the benefits of working with our partners to complete a large and important project,” said Keith Warnke, Department of Natural Resources deer and bear ecologist.

The DNR’s Bear Committee, comprised DNR wildlife biologists and representatives from various groups such as USDA-APHIS, the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association and the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, met this week to establish recommended harvest permit levels for the 2009 bear season.

“With this new information we can confidently make more bear permits available,” Warnke said.

Gilbert Genn, a former state delegate from Montgomery County, said when the deer appeared on the front lawn of his Gaithersburg home, his chocolate Lab, Yuffie, ran to chase it off, but the buck didn’t budge.

“It came right at me, from about 10 feet away. I tried to run at an angle, but it caught me flush in the back right leg, impaled me with its weight, knocked me to the ground. It started to come right at my face with its antlers,” Genn told Washington, DC’s WTOP radio.

The attacking buck rammed the former delegate three times, inflicting wounds to his leg, chest and groin.

Recovering from the attack after treatment in a local hospital emergency room, the lobbyist, who served as a Democrat in Maryland’s House of Representatives from 1987 until 1999, joked that the deer’s actions were possibly motivated by its political party affiliation.

“Not to get too partisan, but I’m convinced it was a Republican deer, because it happened right where we had our Obama sign,” said Genn. “And all the deer could do was attack, attack, attack. So it had to be a Republican deer." 

Teacher Leslie Vanlet was instructing her Coopersville, Mich. East Elementary students about the demeanor and characteristics of animals when an unannounced visual aid entered her third grade classroom—a six-point whitetail buck.

It was the buck’s method of entry that probably did the most to disrupt the demeanor among the 23 students seated in the classroom. That’s because it shattered a double-pane window and began galloping through the classroom, wildly slinging a set of mini-blinds hooked onto its antlers while leaving a trail of broken glass, tipped chairs and dumped desks.

During a lull in the action as the buck stood in a corner, Vanlet was able to shuttle the children safely out of the room with the aid to two other teachers.

“There was this horrific crash and glass shards were flying everywhere and you wonder what in the heck is going on,” the first-year teacher told the Grand Rapids Press.

“It happened so quickly and yet it all seemed like slow motion.”

Principal Marty Alexander told the paper that one boy was treated for a small cut he received from flying glass. He said that one little girl was “emotionally shaken” after the buck brushed against her.

There was no report on the emotional (or physical) impact the whole ordeal had on the young buck, which exited the room the same way it had entered.

In addition to the mess the estimated 160-pound deer left behind and the turmoil it created, the children have something else to help remind them about the day the buck crashed their classroom: a cracked two-point antler that was discovered on one of the student’s notebooks.

“I’ll be able to tell this story for years,” the teacher said.

Through early December 2008, a record 245 gray wolves were killed by federal wildlife agents and ranchers in the Northern Rockies, representing a 31 percent spike over 2007.

In the same time period, at least 204 domestic cows, 307 sheep and 21 llamas, dogs and horses were killed by wolves in the region, for a total of 532 animals--up from 420 killed in 2007.

In November 2008 wildlife agents killed all 27 wolves in a pack near Kalispell, Montana. Their removal followed repeated attacks on livestock within the pack’s territory.

The total included 102 wolves in Montana, 101 in Idaho and 42 in Wyoming. Another nine wolves were shot in a specially designated “predator zone” in Wyoming that has since been struck down by a federal judge.

Following the July 21 failure of the Thune-Vitter Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Bill in the U.S. Senate, national anti-gun organizations claimed a major victory. The amendment would have provided for interstate recognition of right-to-carry firearms permits for the first time.

Although Thune-Vitter received a majority of votes (58-39), a filibuster-proof 60 votes were required for its passage.

Despite its failure, many gun-rights groups, firearms owners and supporters of the ambitious amendment correctly identified the narrow loss as an indication of a new groundswell of support for personal-protection concealed carry in America. In addition, the vote was particularly significant considering the present veto-proof Democratic majority now empowered in the U.S. Senate.

A new public opinion poll appears to confirm a major shift in the average American’s perception of personal firearms ownership and concealed carry laws. And amazingly, the chasm-wide disparity that once existed between the average Republican and Democratic voters on the issue of firearms ownership appears to be narrowing—to almost negligible numbers.

The Zogby/O’Leary poll performed July 21-24 asked a total of 3693 voters the following question:

“Currently, 39 states have laws that allow residents to carry firearms to protect themselves, only if they pass a background check and pay a fee to cover administrative costs. Most of those states also require applicants to have firearms safety training. Do you support or oppose this law?”

The results might surprise you.

An overwhelming 83-percent of those polled said they supported concealed-carry laws, while an incredible 80 percent of those identified as voting for President Barack Obama were also in favor of current state CCW laws.

Further, concealed carry was supported by a majority of Independent voters (86 percent), Republicans (85 percent), Democrats (80 percent), young voters age 18-29 (83 percent) and Hispanic voters (80 percent).

Asked “Do you agree or disagree that you have an individual right to own and use firearms for lawful purposes?” almost 85 percent of the 3778 individuals polled said they agreed.

Those agreeing with the premise of individual firearm ownership included an overwhelming majority of Republican voters (96 percent), Democratic voters (73 percent) and Independents (88 percent).

A total of 51 cadets—the Texas Game Warden Academy’s largest class ever—was graduated on the morning of June 9, 2009 in the House of Representatives chamber at the Texas State Capitol.

Soon after, the new Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Game Wardens were dispersed to their first duty stations across The Lone Star State.

Game wardens perform water rescue operations, respond to natural disasters, and conduct public outreach programs, in addition to enforcing traditional hunting, fishing, and water safety regulations.

“Basically, game wardens are the primary law enforcement off the pavement in Texas,” said Major Danny Shaw, director of training at the academy.

This 54th Game Warden graduating class was the first to be trained at the academy’s new site in Hamilton County, in a facility donated by the nonprofit Police Activities League. Previously, cadets trained at a converted warehouse in Austin and various borrowed facilities around the state, adding extra costs and travel time to the training schedule.

The new graduates received 1,400 hours of training over seven months in areas such as peace officer training, firearm use, public speaking, police driving, all terrain vehicles, and various Texas Parks and Wildlife statutes and other state codes.

A measure that would substantially increase penalties for poaching and other game violations in Pennsylvania received a near-unanimous approval by the House Game and Fisheries Committee and now goes to the full House for action.

“Increasing penalties for serious violations is one of the operational objectives within the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Strategic Plan, and we welcome this first-step in the process taken by the Committee,” said Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe. “Enactment of this bill will mark the first comprehensive piece of legislation to increase Game and Wildlife Code Penalties since 1987, and we believe it will significantly enhance wildlife protection in the Commonwealth. 

“We also believe that there will be widespread public support for this legislation as indicated by surveys that showed 96 percent of Pennsylvania’s citizens feel that wildlife protection is a vitally important function.”

Roe said that the causes of poaching vary, but the myth that most poachers are committing their offenses to provide food for their families is, in reality, almost never the case. 

“Most often, poaching today is committed by criminals driving $30,000 vehicles, using expensive night-vision technology, illegal silencers and firearms,” Roe said. “Most commonly, the causes are simply greed, obsessive behavior in collecting antlers; in some cases poachers take great pride in their infamous status in local communities.  A disturbing and increasingly common cause is killing simply for thrill with no intention of making use of any part of the animal.”

Roe called on the full House to pass this historic measure, so the Senate can begin consideration as soon as possible.

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has announced that paintballing and geocaching are now prohibited in state wildlife management areas (WMAs) because the activities create a “considerable amount of unnecessary disturbance to both wildlife and wildlife habitat.”

Scott Peterson, wildlife resource section supervisor, said the Game and Fish Department periodically reviews public use regulations and modifies as needed.

“While these types of activities may not always create a significant impact to an individual WMA, they do create a considerable amount of unnecessary disturbance to both wildlife and wildlife habitat,” Peterson said. “They also have the potential to create competition with hunters and anglers who help pay for managing WMAs.”

In addition to the change involving paintballing and geocaching, the agency also extended the deadline to remove treestands from WMAs three weeks, to Jan. 31.

Peterson said extending the archery season has allowed archers to hunt WMAs later into January than in previous years.

“This left very little time for archers to remove treestands,” Peterson said. “We thought it was prudent to give hunters more time to remove tree stands.”

In addition, tree stands left unattended on WMAs require an identification tag displaying the owner’s name, address and telephone number. “The reason for this is two-fold,” Peterson said. “First, it allows us to contact the owner of a tree stand if a conflict should arise, and second, we believe this will deter theft of tree stands on public land.”

Tennessee’s first elk hunt in more than 150 years isn’t scheduled to take place until October, but it’s already paid big dividends for the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency.

Four at-large tags available to the public were drawn lottery-style and announced in June. For that chance, a total of 12,821 applicants paid a non-refundable $10 each for the opportunity to hunt in the Volunteer State’s first modern era elk hunt.

That translates into a fast $128,210.00 for the TWRA and its elk program.

A fifth tag was placed on the Internet commerce site eBay for the highest bidder in July.

Cha-cha-ching!

The hunt is scheduled take place Oct. 19-23 at the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area, the successful result of the Tennessee Elk Restoration Program that began in 1996. Elk were re-introduced in the state in 2000, when 50 animals from Elk Island National Park in Canada were released in the mountains located northeast of Knoxville.

Another 117 elk were released over the next three years, and wildlife officials estimate the current elk population at 250-300.

The last documentation of an elk being legally shot in Tennessee was in 1865 in Obion County.

Despite years of pressure from anti-hunting groups and some newspaper editorial boards, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine signed a measure to allow Sunday bowhunting of deer in the Garden State.

His action was praised by many sportsmen, including the New Jersey Outdoor Alliance, an organization of hunters, anglers and conservation groups that lobbied heavily for the law.

On the other side, the bill received intense opposition from The New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance and the Humane Society of the United States and the New Jersey Sierra Club.

The legislation restricts Sunday deer bowhunting to private property and state wildlife-management areas. State parks are not included. It will become effective with the start of the 2009 hunting season in September.