“On Property” By James Madison

My god it is late at night - much later than I am accustomed to for doing work but when feeling compelled, as I am at this moment, I have to at least begin this article and finish it in the morning. If I wait until morning, I fear little sleep and good rest.

Today, I was reading two opinion pieces in the Bismark Tribune out of North Dakota. One piece was written by Roger Kaseman, perhaps the self-appointed leader of the North Dakota Hunters for Fair Chase. Kaseman uses “deceptive” practices in order to convince readers that a group, also in North Dakota, called the, “Citizens to Preserve North Dakota Property Rights”, is using “deceptive” practices in doing battle against the Fair Chasers who want to outlaw hunting on game ranches. (Make sure you read all the comments that follow) Read the story »

Does Supplemental Feeding Of Elk Support Artificially High Numbers, Promote Disease?

Groups are suing to stop the supplemental feeding of elk at the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming saying that by doing so it is promoting the growth and spread of diseases such as chronic wasting disease and brucellosis. Supporters of supplemental feeding say without it thousands of elk will die. Read the story »

“We’ll Be Quiet No More!!!”

Editor’s note: The following appeared as an editorial in “The Outdoorsman”, Bulletin 28 of the May 2008 issue. With permission from the editor of that magazine, I reprint it here.

The editorial is accompanied by two graphic photographs of which I have chosen to include at the end of the text of the editorial simply because of the graphic nature. Consider this a warning to readers that what we all love to call “nature” can be cruel and visually upsetting. On the same token, it is reality, something of which is all too often absent from debate in dealing with wildlife management. Read the story »

Through Better Men than I

By Master Sargent Mike Sibley

I can hear their whispers wherever I go. “Control your breathing, concentrate on the blade, and squeeze.” “Feel your way along with your toes instead of watching your feet.” “Work your way down through that black-growth and you’ll find ‘em in that stand of beech.” So persistent are they that I sympathize with a schizophrenic who feels as if he’s never alone. Unlike him, my voices are not a psychotic delusion created by chemical imbalances crying out for the saving grace of lithium. Real men spoke those words and no amount of time or distance will ever silence them. They are my last connection to a past that I crave but know I’ll never see. They define the man who hears them. And I pray they shape the lives of my sons. Read the story »