Hunting

Idaho F&G Holding Negotiated Rulemaking Meetings for the Landowner Appreciation Program Fish and Game's Landowner Appreciation Program (LAP) currently allocates a proportion of controlled hunt tags to a lottery draw specifically for landowners who provide important habitat for deer, elk, and pronghorn in units where general hunting is limited. Landowners who draw authorization for a control hunt tag can designate the tag to another individual. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game recently initiated negotiated rulemaking to gather public input about revising the Landowner Appreciation Program due to landowner and sportsman concerns with the program. IDFG is presenting a revised draft of LAP rules for comment in upcoming negotiated rule meetings. Under the proposed changes, allocation of control hunt tags…

MISSOULA, Mont.--The largest grizzly bear ever taken by a hunter has been entered into Boone and Crockett records. The big bruin, taken in 2013 near Fairbanks, Alaska, scores 27-6/16. It missed the World's Record mark by 7/16 of an inch but landed a spot as the second-largest grizzly ever recorded. The reigning World's Record is a skull found in Alaska in 1976. Bears are scored based on skull length and width measurements. Conservationists use Boone and Crockett trophy data to gauge outstanding habitat, strong recruitment of game animals into older age classes, sustainable harvest objectives and other elements of sound wildlife management and fair-chase hunting. Grizzlies are symbols of our willingness to accommodate large predators and wilderness, but hunter Larry…

WASHINGTON - Monday, the Bureau of Land Management announced a strategy and requested public input for refining and modernizing land use planning for 245 million acres of public lands that provide valuable fish and wildlife habitat and are prized by sportsmen. The TRCP and other stakeholders are calling this process an opportunity to address gaps in the existing BLM planning process, sustain resource-based economies and ensure that key habitats, migration corridors and backcountry lands are responsibly managed. The "Planning 2.0" process represents the first substantial revision in the BLM's land use planning since the agency first began developing land use plans almost 40 years ago. Influential sportsmen and professionals in the field of land use and wildlife management spoke up…

...regulation would apply only in Craven County and is drafted based on local acts in force in the neighboring counties of Pamlico and Carteret. Following the public hearing, commissioners are scheduled to hear budget presentations from Craven County Schools Superintendent Lane Mills and Craven Community College President Catherine Chew. Commissioners meet in open session at 7 p.m. Monday in the upstairs meeting room of Craven County Administrative Building at the corner of Craven...

The 20th Annual Payson Wildlife Fair is happening on Saturday, May 10. This free event in the cool pines runs 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. at Green Valley Park, 1000 W. Country Club Dr. in Payson. Admission, parking and activities are free! The Arizona Game and Fish Department will be stocking 800 pounds of rainbow trout for this event; that's more than 1,000 fish going into the lakes! There will be fishing poles and bait available to borrow for free. No fishing license is required during the event hours (sign up at the fishing clinic booth). See you there!

n WASHINGTON - An announcement today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that a Farm Bill conservation program enhancing sportsmen's access to privately owned lands will open for enrollment drew praise from the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and its partners. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack this morning announced that applications now are being accepted for the Agricultural Conservation Easements Program, or ACEP, and the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program, or VPA-HIP, providing as much as $386 million to help landowners restore wetlands, conserve working agricultural lands, bolster the economy and support hunting, fishing and other recreational activities. Implementation of VPA-HIP, popularly known as "Open Fields," elicited an especially positive response from the sportsmen. The program offers incentives to owners…

CPW TO HOLD MULE DEER STRATEGY MEETINGS GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Colorado Parks and Wildlife, in coordination with The Keystone Center, an independent facilitator, is holding a series of seven public meetings across the state, including three in the northwest region during May. The goal is to receive the public's input for the development of the Colorado West Slope Mule Deer Strategy. The Strategy will guide agency efforts to work towards increasing mule deer populations. For more information about the mule deer strategy, visit www.cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/CO-WestSlopeMuleDeerStrategySummit.aspx Across the West, state wildlife agencies are seeing declines in mule deer populations. In recent years, mule deer populations in Colorado have decreased below the target objectives set by wildlife managers in concert with the…