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With millions of hunters and sport shooters of an age when they can benefit from preventive medical tests, the National Shooting Sports Foundation applauds the new health campaign, “Real Men Wear Gowns,” that encourages men to do the smart thing and take charge of their own health.
December 12, 2007-On rare occasions, my husband Shawn and I argue about the best way to do things on the ranch. Even more rarely – to my way of thinking – he’s proven correct. But he’s always humble in victory, and quickly points out that our disagreement was one of “form over substance.”
Brendan Pearson was happy just to get a deer during his first season of hunting. The fact that it was a buck has the 12-year-old from Lewiston still grinning weeks later…
Anglers and Hunters are Split on Whether Our Nation’s Energy Needs Outweigh the Potential Environmental Impacts that May Occur (March, 2007):
Many people wonder if our nation’s energy needs outweigh potential environmental damage that might occur if the U.S. drills for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. According to AnglerSurvey.com and HunterSurvey.com, sportsmen are split over this issue. Almost half either strongly or somewhat agreed that our energy needs outweigh the environmental risks (46% of anglers and 55% of hunters), while half (48% of anglers and 38% of hunters) felt the environmental dangers are greater. The remaining were undecided or had no opinion.
The joint Forest Service/Bureau of Land Management local offices will be closed to the public on Monday and Tuesday, December 24 and 25 and the following Tuesday …
Two baby bears are still wandering around the Ashton, Idaho area without their mother. Idaho Fish and Game agents caught a third cub this week…
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Upper Snake Field Office is implementing a closure to human entry in the area of Stinking Springs and Wolf Flat, starting December 1, 2007 through April 15, 2008…
For those of you who enjoy the tradition of cutting your own Christmas tree, the time has come to purchase Christmas tree permits from one of the Ranger Districts …
The Caribou-Targhee National Forests (C-T NF) is offering a prospectus for the campground and related Granger-Thye Concessions on the C-T NF.
“As residents of the Intermountain West we share a love of the outdoors and the beautiful lands our region offers,” the Delegations wrote in the letter. “As such, the preservation of our national parks is something we are deeply concerned about. We recognize that these parks require skillful and careful management to ensure that future generations will experience these national treasures.”
“We are doing this as a service to our customers,” said Deycie Luke, BLM Education Specialist. For further questions, you may contact the Eastern Idaho Visitor’s Center, 208-523-1010, or check with additional Idaho Falls locations to purchase your registrations and/or passes.
The 2007 Sportfishing Summit, held October 10-12, in Sanibel, Fla., featured a keynote address by Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne. In his remarks, Kempthorne recognized ASA’s proactive role in working with the federal government on polices that effect ASA’s members, including access and habitat conservation. Kempthorne also spoke to ASA’s members and guests about the critical issue of connecting children with nature saying, “We need to get our children out of cyberspace and into open space.”
Washington, DC — Conservation groups, represented by Earthjustice, put the Caribou-Targhee National Forest and J.R. Simplot Company on notice they could be sued for allowing selenium pollution at the Smoky Canyon Mine in southeast Idaho. Earthjustice is representing the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
With the vast expanse of the Chesapeake Bay as his backdrop, on October 20, 2007, President Bush signed an Executive Order establishing gamefish status for striped bass and red drum…
Several American Sportfishing Association (ASA) members were recently appointed to the Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council by Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne…
“Thanks to the dedicated efforts of several volunteers in the Blackfoot, American Falls and Pocatello area, said Vernon Preston, Pocatello Area Friends of the NRA Chairman, “we will be having our fifteenth annual auction and banquet.” The event will take place Saturday night, November 3 starting with a social hour at 5:00 p.m. The location is the Red Lion Inn – serving the Harvest Buffet – on Pocatello Creek Road.
People pushing these wilderness bills try to claim that wilderness designation is good for local rural economies. If that is true then why are most or all of the rural communities adjacent to wilderness areas in Idaho struggling economically.
BLM fire managers plan to use prescribed fire throughout October, November and December to reduce fire hazards and improve vegetation growing conditions. Burning will be conducted by BLM and Forest Service personnel on BLM lands and by local fire departments with agency assistance on private lands.
Approximately thirty miles northwest of Idaho Falls, a 107-acre area will be exposed to extreme heat. This fire, along with three other methods of treatment being applied to that vegetation, will help determine optimum management for sagebrush sustainability in both sagebrush-steppe and sagebrush semi-desert environments.
The Westside Ranger District of the Caribou-Targhee National Forest will be conducting a 300-acre prescribed fire, six miles south of Pocatello, Idaho in the Gibson Jack drainage. Burning is expected to occur Friday, September 20th 2007.
The Forest Service/Bureau of Land Management Malad Office will be open to the public on Thursday and Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The office will be closed …
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Boise District Office is hosting a Wild Horse Adoption September 21-22, 2007, at the Hailey Rodeo Grounds …
Fire officials who have been managing the Bear Wildland Fire Use event have lifted all emergency fire area and trail closures starting …
Stage I Fire Restrictions will be lifted for zones 6, 7 and 8, starting Friday, September 7th.
Weak high pressure will keep warm and dry conditions in place through Monday. Gusty winds will be a possibility late Sunday and…
“Temperatures may have gone down but it is still hot and dry”, stated Lynn Ballard, Fire Information Officer for the East Idaho Interagency Fire Center. “Fire restrictions will be in place through the Labor Day weekend and beyond depending on conditions that directly affects fire behavior.”
Leading edge of monsoonal moisture in Utah will drift up to Utah/Idaho border by late afternoon bringing chance of isolated dry thunderstorms to the area…
The Caribou-Targhee National Forest has prepared a Draft Environmental Analysis (EA) for the Big Hole Mountains Subsection Summer Travel Management Plan.
The Caribou-Targhee National Forest has terminated the temporary area closure order, put in place last Friday, August 17, 2007 for the Moose Creek area near Big Springs in Island Park.
For Lewis Campbell (81) of Chubbuck, Id., the faint smell of spent black powder in the Marsh Valley air and rhythmic pulse of muzzleloaders barking in the distance brings back fond memories of friendships formed during Rendezvous past.
It’s finally here! The largest Rinehart shoot in America in our own backyard. Last year we had over 440 archers attend, making this the largest shoot in Rinehart last year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced that an independent Brookings Institution panel found the USDA Forest Service exercised appropriate and adequate fiscal diligence in suppressing wildfires during the record breaking 2006 fire season. The panel reviewed 19 large fires that burned more than 1.1 million acres and cost $470 million dollars to suppress.
In 2002, an area-wide study was conducted by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality that identified selenium contamination at 19 phosphate mines, including the eight mine sites that are the subject of the petitions. The area wide study, however, only assessed general risks to the region and did not contain any specific assessments of the threats posed by individual mines. It also did not examine groundwater at the mine sites, despite the fact that contaminated groundwater is suspected at all of the phosphate mine sites in the region. No further study or investigation of the contaminated sites has occurred since the 2002 study.
The CIEDRA 2006 version paid ranchers to relinquish their permits granted by the federal government authorizing them to graze on our public land. The purchase of these permits could have had far reaching implications that would harm both the government and ranching industry.
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced that the USDA Forest Service has purchased a 5,200 acre parcel-which houses the historically significant and natural resource rich Elkhorn Ranch in western North Dakota.
We need to do whatever it takes to put more steelhead in Idaho’s rivers. We all know, “if you build it, they will come.” It’s equally true that if we stock the rivers, the anglers will come; and spend their money when they get here.
The fact is that most preyed upon species reproduce faster than species predators. Like with everything what we need is good management of our resources. But we need to manage both sides of the resource. Sometimes that means we have to reduce the number of predators that are eating the very animal that thousands of Idahoans find very delightful to hunt.
Some years, when the winters are mild, the local, state, and federal agencies involved in managing the Egin-Hamer Area Closure have been able to open portions of the area earlier, but that was not the case this year. Biologists have been keeping a close eye on the movement of big game in the closure area and early green up, especially on recently burned areas, means that some animals have still been hanging around in the closure area.
Hunters and anglers want wildlife policies that give them a great outdoor experience now and for future generations. Idaho’s rank and file hunters and anglers must be heard.
Senior Forest Service scientist Dr. Dennis Lemly warned, “This ecosystem is a tinder box and allowing additional selenium discharges will likely start a cascade of irreversible events, culminating in severe toxic impacts … for many years to come.”

Outdoor writer Dave Langston resides in Chubbuck. He grew up in the Midwest and south fishing and hunting across the country.
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The Western States Sportsman crew recently paid a visit to the Crow’s Nest Ranch near Mackay, ID to hunt pheasant and chukar. We had a great hunt there hunting the wild chukar that roost on the mountain above the ranch as well as the pheasant that the operators of the ranch raise for hunting.
This is a special episode of the Western States Sportsman. Come with us as we venture to Juniper Mountain Ranch in Idaho and test out products new for 2007 and 2008.
With thousands of elk, deer and exotic antlers, Wild West Designs makes some of the finest western home furnishings on the market.
This prize winner is equally good with hamburger if you don’t have any game available.
This sausage has a wonderful flavor to complement any breakfast — try it in a breakfast sandwich . . . we did and it was great!
Chef Kirt gives some tips on how to keep your jerky fresh once your done smoking it.
The Exhibit at the Idaho Museum of Natural History will be on display for the next year. It’s a great opportunity to experience our heritage which has actually expanded to today’s practices.
Chef Kirt Martin shows how to make sure your wild turkey remains juicy and tender.