Calling The Wild Turkey……..When And How Often??

By: Scott Ellis

2005,2006,2007 Florida State Turkey Calling Champion

2004, 2007 Florida State Gobbling Champion

Quaker Boy Game Calls Pro Staff

One of the most asked questions about hunting the wild turkey is “when do I call and how often?” I feel that there is an art to calling turkeys. It’s all based on feeling him out and knowing what he wants to hear. How do you know this? Well I think it will come to you the more you work gobblers in different scenarios. Right off the roost, mid morning with hens, with out hens, public land bird, private land bird. In my opinion, whether calling a hot to trot two year old or a four year old hard hunted public bird, it’s a matter of getting his attention and keeping his interest just enough to get him to investigate. If you over call him, he will stand his ground and wait for this hot hen to meet him for their rendezvous. If you under call him, he will move off to the next hot item. Read more

Mexico Calls On U.S. To Alter Boarder Plans To Save Animals

The L.A. Times has a short snippet this morning saying that the Mexican government is asking the U.S. to change its plans of building a fence because it may effect animals. Instead they want to build bridges and such done in a way so as to “be less attractive to smugglers”.

Let’s get this right. The Mexican government wants most of their people to go to the U.S. and make American dollars and ship them back to Mexico and we should listen to their recommendations? These illegals are currently destroying the ecological systems that support all of these animals they say need protecting, yet they have no interest in addressing that problem.

And we must remember that when illegals come into this country, they consider areas that are “less attractive” to cross the border. Please!

Tom Remington

New Mexico Senate Passes Big Game Hunting Auction Bill

The New Mexico senate yesterday passed a bill, 33-1, that would allow the Department of Game and Fish to auction off two hunting packages each year. The high bidders would receive permits to bag a deer, an elk, an oryx, an ibex and a pronghorn antelope.

G&F hopes the auction will generate $250,000 each year. The money will be used to match federal grants for habitat improvement and conservation.

Tom Remington

Late Season Archery Deer And Elk Permits Available In New Mexico

If you missed a chance at a deer or elk during the regular season, beginning October 17 permits will be available on a first come first served basis. Here’s how.

the Department of Game and Fish will make 405 late-season archery elk licenses and 349 deer permits available online and over-the-counter at department offices in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Raton, Roswell and Las Cruces.

Licenses for November and December archery elk hunts in Big Game Management Units 12, 34, 37, 43 and 50; and January archery deer permits for Units 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 and 40 will be available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 8 a.m. Oct. 17. The department is encouraging hunters to save time, gas and to avoid long lines by using the online application system at www.wildlife.state.nm.us. The online system should be faster, improving hunters’ chances of securing preferred permits. Applications are limited to one person per form. To keep lines moving, each walk-in applicant will be allowed to submit no more than two individual applications at once. Walk-in applicants will use Form 2006.

And here is a listing of wildlife management units, dates and number of permits to be issued.

Unit 12: Nov. 25-29, 25 licenses.

Unit 34: Dec. 9-13, 300 licenses.

Unit 37: Dec. 9-13, 40 licenses.

Unit 43: Nov. 11-15, 10 licenses.

Unit 50: Nov. 11-15, 30 licenses.

Deer: Unit 29: Jan. 1-15, 137 permits.

Unit 30: Jan. 1-15, 56 permits.

Unit 31: Jan. 1-15, 16 permits.

Unit 32: Jan. 1-15, 38 permits.

Unit 33: Jan. 1-15, 85 permits.

Unit 40: Jan. 1-15, 17 permits.

For more information, visit the department Web site at www.wildlife.state.nm.us or call (505) 476-8000.

Tom Remington

Scientists Want To Protect Wildlife By Opposing Border Wall In The Southwest.

The Center for Biological Diversity has released a statement condemning the Senate-approved building of a wall in the deserts of the southwest to keep out illegal aliens. I agree that what they are saying is of concern to me and it should be to all of us but there are at least two aspects in the debate that aren’t being discussed.

When some organization like the CBD issues statements saying:

“The only living things the walls won’t stop are people,”

we can only wonder what is really behind their public opposition to the wall. They then go on to tell us what dangers and damages will result if this wall is constructed.

Proposed border construction projects will severely harm some of the Southwest’s most significant lands and wildlife habitat, including wildlife refuges, national parks, forests and wilderness areas. More border walls further damage already-stressed wildlife and places, such as the Cactus Pygmy Owl and Sonoran Pronghorn in Arizona; Flat-Tailed Horned Lizard and Peninsular Ranges Bighorn Sheep in California; Jaguar and Mexican Gray Wolves in New Mexico; and the Rio Grande River, Ocelot, and Big Bend National Park in Texas. Walls harm wildlife by blocking critical migration corridors and destroying valuable habitat.

Nowhere in their statement do they discuss or tell of the serious damage being done to our environment and the habitat of these creatures they mention plus many more they haven’t, from the illegals taking up temporary residence in the open spaces and deserts all along the U.S. and Mexican border.

If you really want to know and if the Center for Biological Diversity wanted to know, they could reference articles such as this one, that tells of the immense destruction of natural habitat being caused by the illegals.

And then there’s this story that tells more about what really goes on in the deserts when illegals enter this country. Or this one, detailing efforts being undertaken by local hunting groups and concerned citizens venturing into the desert and picking up tons and tons of trash, filth and human excrement left behind by the illegals.

This activity by itself is destroying valuable habitat that migrating animals such as the CBD is talking about, won’t have to sustain during their natural migrations. I think history has shown that when loss of habitat occurs, animals change their normal routine to compensate for it.

So on the one hand you have a group, the CBD, condemning the construction of a wall, yet says nothing about what is and has been going on for years now to our desert lands in the southwest. It can only lead me to believe that the agenda of the CBD is either politically motivated or too narrowly focused that they can’t, won’t or refuse to see the big picture.

The second issue that isn’t being discussed by conservation and animal rights groups is, when does national security take precedence over protecting wild animals? As much as all of us don’t want to see lizards, owls and sheep die, I think the possibility of terrorists coming across our borders with the goal of killing infidels, may be more urgent than saving these animals.

The CBD offers some suggestions to make the wall more “animal” friendly. Whether this is even feasible we don’t know. If the CBD really cares that much about the impact this wall will have on the animals, why aren’t they showing the same concern over what has already happened that is destroying native wildlife in the desert southwest.

Maybe they should go talk to the residents down there and find out what is happening to their land and the wildlife that used to live there.

Tom Remington