Today I am infuriated as a hunter, not only as a bowhunter, but a hunter because the anti's and the government are one step closer to ending hunting altogether in California. Yesterday, AB 711 passed in the California State Assembly by a vote of 44-21. What is AB 711? The Bill is to end all use of lead ammunition in ALL (yes ALL) of California. No bird shot (which has been like this for a while), no slugs, no BULLETS in any way, shape or form.The bill was co-written by a Democrat from Lakewood, CA - Assemblyman Anthony Rendon. It now heads to the Senate floor.
They say it is easy for hunters to make the switch to non-lead ammo. Really? Is the CA state government going to start handing us vouchers for discounts on copper bullets? Not a chance. I think the gov't fails to have any foresight here. Think about this; if we can't afford to buy non-lead ammo, ammo sales will drop leading to hunting license sales dropping and pretty soon there will a huge loss of revenue for our CA gov't. Yeah, I am going to go out on a limb and say the Assembly is disillusioned and has blinders on as they are not thinking of the ramifications of this bill. Am
I sounding off in the extreme? I don't think so. I am also a
proponent of hunting. PERIOD. I continually encourage people to get out
and hunt and enjoy the outdoors. Our government is trying to take that
way from us.
You know what this reminds me of? This reminds me of PROHIBITION. We all remember how that played out. Bottoms up!
Watch this video from HuntForTruth.org and listen to the Game Commission heads who were against it. Listen to the scientists who dismiss the 'evidence' because it isn't substantiated because there is no evidence that says lead bullets are THE main cause to blame.
My brothers and sisters in California, this is an attack on hunting. They outlawed hunting with lead ammunition in the 'Condor Zone' because they said the condors were getting poisoned from lead bullets. While that may be true, the condors are STILL GETTING SICK and it isn't strictly from lead bullets or fragments. How about them eating lead paint or getting it naturally in the environment? There are plenty of other ways they can get sick. It's a smoke screen and a myth if you think the condors are getting sick STRICTLY from lead bullets. Where is the evidence of this in other states? Nowhere. Why? The HSUS and other anti-hunting organizations are targeting California because it's easier for them to get the easily-swayed government officials to change their minds and not get into any confrontation. They are using negative, fabricated media to sway them. We Californians need to band together and fight this with everything we have!!
Phillip Loughlin, who authors The Hog Blog and is an avid hunter, has been posting about the lead ammo issues for years. His latest post on the issue was on May 4th and he makes some great points:
Why wasn’t this risk assessed before the first condor was released
back into the wild? Why wasn’t this dialogue started, on a wide scale,
before there were a bunch of zoo-bred birds flying around CA and AZ,
dining on hunters’ deer, pig, and elk carcasses?
If I were planning to implement a program on federal land, I’d have
to develop and complete a study on the program’s impacts to the
environment. I’d have to know what flora and fauna my activities might
put at risk, and I might have to mitigate those risks. If my activity
impacted an endangered or threatened species, I’d have to jump through a
series of additional, exhaustive processes and procedures to mitgate
that impact or my project would have to be cancelled. With this in
mind, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that, before releasing
an endangered or threatened species into the wild ecosystem, a similar
set of studies and reports should also be completed, and risks addressed
and mitigated before the project goes forward…especially
considering that the species is being released right back into the same
habitat conditions that nearly brought it to extinction in the first
place.
Here are some other great points made by Robert Faraga at The Truth About Guns - AB 711 Could Kill Hunting in California. They are spot on and must be read! A couple years ago, my friend Bill Howard wrote about the EPA going after lead ammo. It was written two (2) years ago.He makes some great points and even discusses the rising cost of ammo for everyday hunters and new hunters.
"Shotshells would not be the only ammunition regulated either.Most hunting cartridges consist of a lead projectile.A young hunter’s first rifle is often a .22 caliber.Ammunition is cheap, so the youth can become familiar with the operation of the rifle by shooting many times.A box of 100 .22 cartridges runs approximately $7.50.Changing the composition of the bullet could increase the cost by 4 times that amount.Again, the increase would likely eliminate many new hunter's first excursion, or at least repeated excursions into the outdoors."
The CA government thinks it will be easy for hunters to make the switch to non-lead ammo. Easy for whom? Copper bullets are expensive as hell!! You can't just go out and sight in your rifle without watching it squeeze blood out of your wallet. Have they tried buying shotgun ammo lately? Plus, have you tried to find any ammo these days? It's damn near impossible to locate it just to target practice... and that is expensive, too! We ALL need to write our state Assembly, Senators and fight! We MUST do this! You can search for your local representatives here. Scroll down to 'My Elected Officials'. We need to flood them with phone calls, emails and letters and stand strong. If there was ever a time to fight for your rights as hunters it is NOW! Please write, call and let them know that you oppose this ban with heart and soul. Oh, and today is Endangered Species Day. What an interesting thought as pretty soon hunters are going to be the endangered species in California.
It's not often that I have guest authors contribute to the SoCal Bowhunter, but every so often it calls for it.Chris Turgeon, one of the guys have have been hunting hogs with recently, was asking me about some new sights a couple months ago and mentioned the Trophy Ridge React Sight. I mentioned that I had not used one, but that it looked pretty cool. As usual, I was skeptical about the claims of quick, easy set up and such. Chris did some research on his own and has been shooting the React Sight for a couple weeks. Here is his in depth gear review. ______________________________________________________________________
Like most of you, I watch hunting shows on TV whenever I'm not at work, working on honey-dos, or out in the field. I see all kinds of new bells and whistles available to hunters these days. I am the kind of person that is willing to try just about anything to see if it will work better for me than what I am already using. I am a very aggressive hunter and usually it's my gear that pays the price, so I am constantly replacing items due to damage.
Recently, I talked to my friend Al about wanting to try the new React Sight by Trophy Ridge, but was having a hard time deciding if it were worth spending that much money on. After a few weeks I finally got my hands on one and my first impression while in the box was great it's just gonna be another plastic sight that I am going to break in a few trips.
Well I was wrong about that! It is a very well built and solid sight. So I pulled it out of the box and played with it in my hands for a few minutes before mounting it to my bow.
This is the new Trophy Ridge React sight with Smart Pin Technology, a revolutionary, tool-less sight system that once calibrated at 20 and 30 yards, makes your 40, 50, and 60 yard pins mathematically impossible to be inaccurate. Perfect precision. Season after season. In less than 10 minutes.
Features:
Ballistix CoPolymer System
Reversible Sight Mount
Designed for use with left or right hand bows and high or low anchor points.
Multiple mounting holes for more versatility
100% Tool-less micro-adjustment
Rheostat light
.019 Fiber optic pins
Sight level
3 EASY STEPS
Sight in your 20 yard pin using the tool-less micro windage and elevation adjustments.
For the next pin step back to 30 yards and fine tune at that distance before shooting the remaining pins.
Once you have 2 pins sighted in accurately the rest of your pins will be automatically set, it’s that easy.
I then headed to the range to see if the sight is as easy to get dialed in as they say. After 9 shots at 20 yards I was splitting arrows! I locked down the sight ring and moved back to the 30 yard marker, made a guess of where my pin should be and let an arrow fly. It hit about one inch low from where I was aiming so I gave the dial a third of a turn and let another arrow fly and it hit perfect. I shot another just to be sure and split the arrow. I then locked the dial down so no more adjustments could be made and dropped back to sixty yards. I let 3 arrows fly and walked up to see what it looked like. I was very impressed with what I saw! I am confident in saying that if I take a shot at anything inside of sixty yard it will be human error if I miss the shot.
I know how hard it is for some people in So Cal to get out to a range where you can practice shots out to sixty yards. Most places have indoor ranges that only have 20-30 yard shots available. I know with this sight that I can hit one of those indoor ranges and feel 100% confident in all my longer yardages.
As far as durability goes, I have high hopes for this sight. I am hard on my gear and only time will tell how this bad boy holds up in the field this season. I have more than a few hog hunts coming up soon and if it can make it through that then my hat will be off to Trophy Ridge.
Perfect practice leads to success in the field. We have all heard it many times, but it rings true. Not mentioned often is the art of practicing patience both on the range and in the woods, both with you and with other archers. Learning to harness it is something that does indeed take practice.
One of the reasons I like to get to the local archery range early in the morning is that there is less pressure than later in the day. When I lived in New York I had the luxury of having a target set up in my backyard and could practice at a moment’s notice. I could shoot anytime and I didn’t have to wait for others to finish up. Here in California it’s a different story. In the city where I live, I am not allowed to shoot in my backyard. It’s a safety issue that I understand. The other options are to go to a local pro shop to shoot up to 30 yards, or to go to the local outdoor archery range. The outdoor range I speak of is the site of the 1984 Olympic archery competition. It’s a large range where you can shoot out to 110 yards if you like. On Saturdays and Sundays the range fills up quickly, so it is in your best interest to get up early and claim a bale target.
Recently, my friend Brett and I have been hitting the range around 7:30 AM on Saturday mornings. The weather is cool, a bit overcast and we can almost always grab our favorite target area – the one on the very end. On two separate occasions, we have watched the range fill up quickly. This causes a bit of congestion. Here is where focusing on being patient comes into play. If you are late to the range, you must be patient and wait for a target to open up. If you are like Brett and I, we must be patient with ourselves. You have one of three decisions to make. You can give up your target to allow someone else to shoot. Not a likely choice as you made the effort to get there early. You can cave under the pressure and rush through your practice to accommodate the people waiting for you. This would be the absolute worst decision as it would cause poor form, poor technique, and quite honestly poor practice. The best thing you can do is shoot like you would during a perfect practice session. Take your time, focus on technique and worry about you and no one else.
If you have ever gone golfing in a foursome there is bound to be someone in your group that is slower than the rest. Usually it is me, but that is beside the point. Before long, the foursome behind you is on your heels. You have three choices. You may continue to play slow and irritate the other group. You may allow them to play through. Or you can stress out under the pressure to speed up and totally mess up your day of relaxing on the course. The same will happen on the archery range should you allow it.
We had a gentleman come sit right by us at 40 yards after we had only been there a half hour. We usually shoot for two hours or so and I was sighting in a new single-pin sight, so I was patient. As the minutes went by, arrows flew downrange and we had a blast. Before long two and a half hours had elapsed and our arms were spent. We offered up our target and the man graciously took it. He was patient and so were we. Everyone was happy.
My favorite part of the day was toward the end of our range session. A young boy walked up beside us and started shooting. You can see him in the left side of this photo. His first arrow in his aim was true and he exclaimed to his teacher, ‘I hit the target! Look, I hit the target!!’ His enthusiasm was pure and full of energy. It totally made my day to see someone so excited about archery. I hope all of us can get out there and let that inner child out as often as we can. We should all carry that enthusiasm and have fun when we hit where we are aiming. Even after nearly thirty years of shooting a bow and arrow, I still get a thrill out of my arrow hitting exactly where I am aiming.
With rain clouds appearing in the sky, Chris and I shot out Sunday afternoon to try and intercept some pigs. It didn't turn out with a kill, but there was good reason for it.
My day started off very early for a Sunday. I was at the archery range at 7:00 AM ready to fight the masses. Fortunately for me, the range was nearly dead. The cloud cover and threat of much needed rain kept most indoors. I stuck with short range shooting to work my arm and focus. I had a great time and felt incredibly at peace shooting that early. I wish I had a backyard where I could shoot because I would be out there each and every day!
As the day progressed, I packed up the car, and cleaned up with some 'dirt' soap and hit the road to meet up with Chris. According to the trail cam pics the pigs... ok, there are no cam pics because the camera broke down! We have some great pics of darkness. Fortunately, Wildgame Innovations is going to replace the camera as it has a malfunction. Without pics we decided to get into the area that we know holds pigs and do a spot and stalk.
Let me just say I am super thankful for ThermaCELL! With the cloud cover and tree canopy the mosquitoes came out to battle. Damn things were relentless, but we both cranked up the ThermaCELLs and we were safe for most of the evening. As we crept along and kept searching the brush for odd shapes we heard a branch break and stopped. It was an eternity as more branches broke and we hunkered down to wait out whatever was out there. We uncomfortably sat for nearly an hour and a half as we heard grunts, squeals and lots of brush breaking. There were pigs, but they didn't seem happy (not good) and were weary or us. They stayed just out of sight until darkness started to fall.
As dusk settled, they made their way through a clear opening and while I couldn't see them Chris had the angle and could see one boar looking right at us. His head was lifting up and dropping down for a few moments and then they all disappeared.
We hiked out at the end of legal shooting light and ran into a guy who said he was camping right by where we stopped. It was no wonder the pigs were on edge, the damn campers were throwing off their patterns. We were thankful to have been able to get out and hunt, but disappointed because of the camper setting up shop. We must have just missed his campsite as we stalked through the gnarly brush.
The drive home was filled with wet roads and cold rain. We were finally getting rain! It poured and I am stoked that we hunted when we did, because the rain will probably throw off their pattern even more.
Overall, we had a great time. Cheers to Chris for sharing his knowledge of the pigs and for the great hunting stories. I am thankful to have the opportunity to get out and hunt on a whim and give it another go. A big thank you to my wife and daughter for sharing dad with the great outdoors, too. I was able to set some 'honey-do's' aside so I could get out there. Here's to all the bowhunters going after game this week! Good luck and God Bless!
This press release arrived in my email this morning and I had to share. My home state of New York is a great place to get into archery and to bow hunt. It makes me very happy to see the Nation Archery in the Schools Program being more readily accepted nowadays. When I was growing up I had my family to help me and to motivate me. For me that was enough, but some people don't get those opportunities. Three cheers to the NASP and the New York Bowhunters Inc. ____________________________________________________________________
School districts from across New York State are invited to enroll in the
National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) sponsored by the New
York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Commissioner
Joe Martens announced today. The winners of this year's competition were
recently recognized at the New York Bowhunters Inc banquet in
Canandaigua, Ontario County.
"The National Archery in the Schools Program is growing rapidly in New
York," said Commissioner Martens. "Under Governor Cuomo's NY Open for
Hunting and Fishing Initiative, this cooperative effort between
conservation agencies, school systems and private organizations is a
great way to bring the sport of archery to millions of students across
the United States and other countries. Archery is one of only a handful
of sports that enables students of all ages and athletic abilities to
compete at the same level for top honors, and as a sport dominated by
precision and practice rather than age and brawn."
The overall top female archer in the tournament was Beth Bush with a
score of 271; she attends Fabius-Pompey High School in Onondaga County.
The top male archer in the tournament was Derrick Daniels with a score
of 279; he attends Bainbridge-Guilford High School in Chenango County.
Each will receive a plaque, a trophy for display at the school, a
Genesis bow, a Morrell target and a dozen arrows at the New York
Bowhunters (NYB) annual banquet this month. The New York chapter of the
National Wild Turkey Federation, Sportspeople Helping Others Through
Sharing and NYB sponsored the tournament and have been strong supporters
of NY-NASP. Awards are also given out in each of the three divisions
for first through fifth places.
Students that placed in the top five in each of the three divisions
qualify to compete and represent New York at the national NASP
tournament held in Louisville, Kentucky on May 10th and 11th. Last
year, eleven students from New York participated in the national NASP
tournament in Kentucky.
The fifth annual school-based state tournament was a great success with
566 students from 19 schools participating in this competition during
the first two weeks of March. A school-based tournament is where the
students compete at their respective schools and send their scores to
the NASP state coordinator. Each competitor could achieve a maximum
score of 300 points. There are three divisions: High School, grades
9-12; Middle School, grades 7-8; and Elementary School, grades 4-6.
NASP is designed to engage more students in the educational process and
improve participation in outdoor-type activities among students of all
athletic abilities. DEC is involved in the program to introduce young
people to archery and other shooting sports, a common way to become
interested in hunting and the outdoors. NASP continues to grow at the
national level with 1.7 million students participating in the program
during the 2010-11 school year. More than 9,000 schools in 47 states,
Washington D.C., Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia have
adopted the program. In New York 178 schools from 115 school districts
participate in the program.
Connie Frasier, a volunteer who teaches NASP at Mohawk Valley Christian
Academy, in Herkimer County and had three students attend the national
tournament last year said: "NASP is a fantastic program, it is fun and
it keeps the students focused, which is a great life skill. Going to
the national tournament was a great experience; I wish every student
could go."
Robin Bartholomew, a physical education teacher at Cato Meridian, in
Cayuga County said: "NASP is a very well organized and methodical
approach to teaching Archery to students. It helps to have an activity
to offer to students who are not interested or skilled in team sports. I
have found that it is one sport that many of the students look forward
to doing in class as well as participating outside of the school
setting. Those students who enjoy it seem to quickly pick up on the
skills and grow tremendously in the areas of self-confidence and esteem
when participating in the program. I would have to say that NASP is
right on target for many students."
DEC is looking for volunteers to assist in training physical education
teachers for the NASP. Those interested in volunteering or know of a
school that would like to join the program, please contact Melissa
Bailey, the state program coordinator for NY-NASP at 315-793-2515 or
e-mail at mrbailey@gw.dec.state.ny.us.
Governor Cuomo's NY Open for Hunting and Fishing Initiative is an effort
to improve recreational activities for in-state and out-of-state
sportsmen and sportswomen and to boost tourism opportunities throughout
the state. This initiative includes the streamlining of hunting and
fishing licensing and reducing license fees, improved access for fishing
at various sites across the state, and increasing hunting opportunities
in various regions.
