Trophy Hunting Produces Survival Of Weak And Scrawny?

This is by far not a new topic but one that has shown its face in the media world once again. I’m talking about the theory that trophy hunting culls out the best of the litter in game animals, dumbing down the genes and weakening the species.

A recent article published in Newsweek magazine once again raises the question. Read more

Large Predators: Them And Us!

Reprinted by permission from the author.

Valerius Geist, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science, The University of Calgary
Calgary, Canada.

We pay close attention to large predators. We do so because we evolved as prey. It was our ancient fate to be killed and eaten, and our primary goal to escape such. Our instincts are still shaped that way.

There is thus a reason why the bloody carnage on our highways is a mere statistic, but the mauling of a person by a grizzly is news. It’s not only that so many fossilized remains of our ancient ancestors are meals consumed by large predators in secluded caves or rock niches, but also that we speciated like large herbivores. That is, our pattern and timing of forming species, of adapting to landscapes, mimics and coincides with that of deer, antelope or cattle, but not that of large carnivores. And that despite our fondness for meat, despite “man the hunter”, and despite the fact that at least on species of humans, Neanderthal man, grew into a super predator. Read more

Death By Wolves And Misleading Advocacy. The Kenton Carnegie Tragedy

Reprinted with permission from the author.

On November 8th 2005 a 22-year-old honors and scholarship student in Geological Engineering, Kenton Joel Carnegie, from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, was killed in northern Saskatchewan by a pack of wolves. While he was almost certainly not the only victim of wolf predation in North America in the past century, judging from conversations with native people, and a closer review of case histories, this was the best-investigated case to date . In the process of that investigation matters were uncovered that need to be discussed as they have significant policy implications for wildlife conservation and human safety. However, we need to review what happened to Kenton Carnegie, as it is relevant to considerations following. Read more

Commentary. The Dangers Of Wolves

Last week I referenced the work of Dr. Valerius Geist in my article title, “Myths of Wolf Behavior“. Below is the full manuscript with references as provided to me by the author.

Reprinted by permission from the author:

Valerius Geist, 2008. Commentary. The Danger of Wolves. Wildlife Professional Vol 2, No. 4 pp. 34-35. Winter 2008 edition. Read more

Skinny Moose Media To Stream Live Audio/Video of Maine Moose Lottery Drawing

Mark your calendars for June 12, 2008. That is the date of the annual Maine Moose Lottery Drawing, this year to be held at the Kittery Trading Post in Kittery, Maine. More information below.

I’ve been working with the folks at KTP and Bob Adams has given me a great Internet connection speed so that I can stream audio and video from our web site. You will be able to do that by clicking this link at Skinny Moose Media broadcasting. We will make this link available at several of our websites so that you can more easily find it. Read more

70-Year Old Canadian Woman Attacked And Killed By Black Bear

70-year old Cecile Lavoie and husband Alexandre were on a fishing trip in a remote area of Quebec Province about 600 kilometers northwest of Ottawa, when Lavoie was attacked and killed. According to the Globe and Mail, the husband and wife split up or got separated for a short period of time. Read more

Buck To Doe Ratios

“There must be at least 100 does for every buck I see in the woods now!” How many times have you heard that exclamation? If you’re like me, more than you care to. Hey, look! We all do our share of complaining, of which the vast majority of it is just complaining out of lack of success or basic knowledge of what you’re seeing, or better yet, what you’re not seeing.

Is it biologically possible to have 100 doe deer for every one buck? Er, um, well……I guess it could be done but I think it would have to be under controlled circumstances with a deliberate intent to skew the ratio far out of balance. I might even be wrong on this and would wager a guess it wouldn’t be a very healthy population of deer if it did exist. Read more

Maine And Vermont Right Next Door, Yet Worlds Apart With Deer Management

Maine is tucked up into the far northeast corner of the United States. On its southern boarder is the Atlantic Ocean. Her eastern boarder touches with New Brunswick, Canada and to the north and northwest, Quebec, Canada. About the only boarder of the state that mimics a straight line of any kind is the western boarder that looks over into the state of New Hampshire.

Vermont is not very far away at all. At its farthest reaches of the Northeast Kingdom, the state is separated from Maine by perhaps only 25 miles of New Hampshire. Down south, the distance between Maine and Vermont at its widest point might stretch to 85 miles. Read more

Listing The Polar Bear Could Be Bad For Bear, Economy And All Hunting And Fishing

On this past Thursday’s Open Air radio show, I shared with you an article written by Hugh Hewitt about the foreseeable troubles and real agendas behind the push by environmental groups to get the polar bear listed as “threatened” or “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act. You can get some information and listen to the radio broadcast here.

In Hewitt’s article he has this to say about what could happen if the polar bear gets protection. Read more

Harsh Winter Killing Maine Deer

“If winter conditions persist we will need to brace ourselves for a large decrease in Any Deer permits as well as a reduced harvest in 2008 in order to compensate for an expected increase in winter mortality,”

Those are the words spoken by Lee Kantar, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife deer biologist when referring to the current winter that has gripped the state of Maine and buried it under record breaking snow falls in some areas and near records in others. Read more

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