In the past IN Canada geese sported silver-colored bands around their legs, but now the migrators will wear larger, plastic bands in either orange or white. The new brightly colored bands are much larger than the aluminum variety and much more noticeable—more bling-bling you could say. The different colored bands will help biologists better track relocated geese, which were removed from urban areas. The new bands will help decide whether these relocations really work.

Posted by SwampYankee at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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The usual suspects—PF, QU, RGS—are supporting and encouraging the 2007 Farm Bill, which recently passed the US House of Representatives and making its way through the Senate. If you don’t think that this legislation is important, then think again. According to the RGS it is “the single most important piece of conservation legislation considered by the 110th Congress.” The Farm Bill in the past has been the largest single source of federal funds to enhance fish and wildlife habitats on private lands. If you’d like to help, write, phone or email your congessman and urge them to support the Farm Bill.

Posted by SwampYankee at 08:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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A few weeks ago in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the 2007 Pan American Games, 22-year-old Haley Dunn won the Gold Medal at the Women's Olympic Skeet event. Not only is that an accomplishment in itself, this is Dunn’s her first go at the Pan American Games as a USA Shooting Team member. Dunn is drawing a bead on bring home the Gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She’s also a full-time student at the University of Columbia-Missouri and has recently claiming the title of 2007 Women's National Champion at the ACUI Intercollegiate Clay Target Championships. And she also works with the Scholastic Clay Target Program, an organization that introduces shooting sports to kids. Dunn is considered by many to be the US's best chance for Olympic Gold in the Women's Skeet event next year in China. Let’s keep an eye out for her.

Posted by SwampYankee at 08:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

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One of the first really down-to-earth outdoor blogs I came across was Deer Camp Blog. Rex has a knack for putting life into perspective and enjoying it with family, friends, and bloggers. A nepotistical bunch yes, because we hunting bloggers stick together. Give Deer Camp Blog a click and tell Rex Upland Feathers sent you.

Posted by robert at 06:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

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Not sure if you’ve been keeping track of what was going on in Goochland, VA, but it was touch and go there for a while concerning a Goochland County man who wanted to open a clay-target shooting range on his property of 672 acres. There were groups protesting Andrew Dykers’ desire to open a clay-target shooting range despite the fact that he operated a shooting range alongside his quail hunting preserve from 1989 to 1991. The groups complained his operation was too noisy and the county temporarily shut him down. The disagreement continued to boil as pro-Dykers allies argued that the urbanization of Virginia already has made it more difficult for game enthusiasts to find shooting ranges, and that requiring a special permit would make it even harder, reports the Daily Press. As you can image protests will probably continue since the Goochland County Board voted to reinstate a requirement that landowners get a conditional-use permit to run a shooting-type business. A few rod and guns clubs in our area have suffered from sprawl just the bear and deer suffer from it. Of course a deer can bed down in someone's yard. I doubt that we could get away shooting clay pigeons in someones back 40.

Posted by SwampYankee at 07:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

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According to a Newsday article, President Bush ordered any federal agencies that manage public lands, outdoor recreation or wildlife to...

"facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting opportunities and the management of game species and their habitat."

It seems the Bush administration wants government agencies to look for more room for hunters to hunt and to step up efforts to conserve places where wildlife roam. The order impacts the Fed’s Interior and Agriculture departments, which manage 700 million acres. More chances for hunting waterfowl, big game and upland game birds is good thing as far as we’re concerned. And hopefully, as the Ag Department said the expectation is for...

"a natural balance among hunter, habitat and wildlife."

Posted by SwampYankee at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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CT is one of those states with more No Trepassing and Posted signs than you can shake a stick at. Ask my buddy Rick over at Tails and Trails, who just ran a hunting permission story. In years past it was easier to ask for money than permission. Recently, however, CT town clerks will start to maintain lists of private hunting lands. The state passed a law last month that offers owners of property on which hunting or shooting sports regularly occur the option to list their property with their town clerk to publicize the availability of their land for such use. Town clerks will post the list in the clerk's office. Hunters are still required to obtain permission from landowners before accessing private property, but just think how much easier it will be. And there won't that dred of getting a flat out "NO" to your request. As an added incentive, landowners who allow public to access on their property for recreational purposes at no charge will still have the same protections against liability afforded under current law. This is a real plus for both land owners and hunters.

Posted by SwampYankee at 09:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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Every once in a while I get sucked into those then-and-now stories. You know the ones, they are like those email chain letters that start: “You know you are a child of the 1970s when…” Two in question are The hunting life: Then and now on Go Upstate in South Carolina and an entry on ESPN’s outdoor blog named Changing Times. We all know that we live in a different world and that a boy with a pocketknife was as natural as effervescent mineral water back in the day. He’d be considered a felon today or worse. We all know we could walk into a diner wearing our hunting clothes and not get an odd stare but a “How’d you do?” We all like to remember how it was but let's please only allow one Then And Now story per writer--please. It's like a poet using the word "soul" in a poem. You get to use "soul" once in a poem and if you use it more than once your poetry becomes trite, stale, hackneyed even. Hunting is steeped in tradition and to forget our past is a mistake, but to revisit the past and long for it and think change is awful is not productive. It’s a downer in fact (can you tell I’m a child of the ‘70s?). Let’s keep our history and hold our traditions firm but not at the expense of having the future evaporate around use like ice in August. We should be writing and blogging about how things have changed for the better and how we can ensure our traditions are handed down to our sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters? Case in point is the wild turkey popoulation in the northeast. Up here we are just silly with hens and toms but 40 years previous there was nary a cluck or gobble to be heard. Sure the old hunting stories are great stuff and they're in a genre by themselves, so let’s keep the comparison stories to a minimum because they remind me of when I was a kid and I hunted grouse all day (then) and today I hunt grouse all day (now). Meet me at the porch rockers for future reminiscing.

Posted by robert at 05:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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Outdoor bloggers are a nepotistical bunch. We all swap plugs for each other’s blogs and websites. If you haven’t checkout Kevin at Hunting Life blog, don't bother. He's already moved on to bigger and better websites namely Hunting Life. You should really check out this new and improved website, especially if you have an interest in big game hunting. There’s a lot of great stuff and it ranges from pronghorn hunts in the US to African elephant ivory. Give it a click and tell Kevin Upland Feathers sent you. And let me tell you I'm jealous--his web intiative is bigger than my web intiative.

Posted by robert at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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If you have your eye on sports at this time of the year you may be wondering where the Red Sox and Yankees are in the standings. Maybe you're vaguely interested in the batter from California who is poised to beat the Home Run record. You might not be thinking about Maddie of Bedford County, Virginia, however. Maddie is a black lab who recently competed in the 2007 NAHRA/RAW Invitational Hunt Test, the “NFL of retrieving,” held in Pennsylania. You may recall we posted an entry about the event in June, Pennsylvania: Dogs Catch Some Big Air. She earned the title of Grand Master Hunting Retriever. Not sure if she gets a green collar like winners of the Master's who get the green jacket. Maddie's home town paper, the Bedford Bulletin, ran a piece about their home town hero. Maddie is unfazed by her new found celebrity status. She just looking for the next bird to retrieve.

Posted by SwampYankee at 06:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

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This is a little out of Uplandfeathers.com’s range, but really encouraging news. The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department reports that the 2006 season for pheasant was the second-best in 40 years; some 1.85 million birds were harvested by pheasant hunters. In 2005 about 100,000 more pheasants were bagged. Anyone who has ever hunted pheasant knows that South Dakota is a sweet spot for pheasant hunting. Some people think of visiting Paris—and it is a beautiful city—or traveling to the Caribbean to lay on white sand beaches—and that’s nice, too, but give me cut cornfields in October. Other upland game species have also benefited from SD’s habitat management such as sharp-tailed grouse and prairie chickens. It’s been stated the central and northeast parts of SD re reporting some of the highest grouse numbers in the past 15 to 20 years. Yes habitat management works. The grouse harvest totaled 41,000 birds, partridge was 9,000 birds, and 1,800 quail were taken.

Posted by robert at 06:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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