Well I was almost worried about this video when it started but it got better as it went along. However I was inspired to make a post to the comments section because of the typical anti-hunter stuff. Check it out for your self.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwUyqXwobMo

BTW....Here is my post if you cannot find it in the comments:

 

Please everyone let me explain something; those of you who are expressing negative feelings toward hunting are missing the point. By far, the greatest threat to wildlife around the world is loss of habitat. This comes in many forms, from population pressures and over-development to simple neglect. But it all steams from one simple thing, a loss of connection to the natural world.

All hunter-gatherers had a spiritual connection to the natural world that most people today do not understand. But it is still in our subconscious mind – and many of us yearn for it in our own ways. As an active hunter and fisherman, I can truly say understand that feeling of "connectedness" to nature. I've been in the outdoors my whole life. I am an active spelunker, backpacker and hiker, and I chose professions that keep me outside often (professional geoscientist and professional land surveyor). I am also an active and ethical sport hunter.

I remember being very young when I was carried along on my families many outdoor excursions. Proper ethics were taught at an early age, and those lessons stayed with me to this day. As my passion began to grow, the natural world became one of the most valuable things in my life, and that included my pursuit of fish and game. I inserted value into it because I loved and developed a true passion for it, and with that passion eventually came the feeling of responsibility as a guardian of nature.

Nature has no morality associated with it because it is simply about survival; it is something that just IS. Hunting is a basic driving force of the evolutionary process. We humans have the ability to inject our un-natural feeling into it in one way or another. Silly ideology is a threat when it seeks to separate humans further than they already are from the natural world. My greatest fear is that so many people are becoming addicted to electronic media that love a nature is dying in them and it is only a concept, a thing they see on TV or view on a You Tube Channel, but have no real experience with it.

The world needs more involvement of humans in nature, not less if we are to duplicate the conservation and restoration successes we have had in North America in other places. The Xs & Os of the dollars and time spent on conservation by hunters are very well documented so I will not cover them again today. This is simply and attempt to show some of you who probably spend little time outside there is another side to the argument.

Well just what is the "The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation". Without myself being long winded and repeating what has already been said so well, just follow the links here and let me know what you think:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukqzPNckrbg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGZZ8C4Os2U
http://www.rmef.org/Conservation/HuntingIsConservation/NorthAmericanWildlifeConservationModel.aspx

 If we as hunters and fishermen are going to protect the things that we love so much as well as protect the future of wildlife for our kids and grand kids, then we need to be as proactive as possible in promoting our way of life, and as up-to-date as we can be in what is going on. With all the antis and PETA types around today it is more important than ever to be well informed ambassadors for our lifestyle.

I think this makes it abundantly clear that if wildlife is going to have a future on our planet then we need to "take them with us" to quote Shane Mahoney. The worst thing that can happen is for the citizenry to lose all connection with wild spaces and have only a privileged few "in charge" of it all for the rest of us.

By the way, I am subscribing to Steven Rinella on YouTube now.

Tiger reserves in Africa?
Well if this isn't exactly what I am talking about. Check it out and remember the name "John Varty", this has my whole hearted support. Indeed efforts like this are going the be a big part of the future of wildlife on our planet. If creatures cannot survive in their native terrains then we will have to find a place for them where people are congenial to their existence until they can be reintroduced at a later time to their home ranges. Visit this web site for a glimpse of what I am talking about: http://www.wildphotossafaris.com/tigers-in-africa.html. Notice one key feature of this is the privatization of wildlife as an "alternative" means of conservation. I know a lot of folks are going to be uneasy about this but this is just an alternative and if it is successful then why would anyone oppose it for any reason other than ideology. Preserving wild species & spaces must include people at the core center of it all, after all we are the ones who give it value. More can be found a the following: websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Varty;
http://www.londolozi.com/en/

Comments appreciated.

Can hunting save an endangered species? 60 minutes special
The real key about the Texas success story is the fact that it is almost entirely the result of private individual making decisions on their own with almost no government involvement. In the video you see that the exotics are referred to as private property, that's because that is what they are. The market has created a place for these animals to survive. I have to think that also does not sit well with the antis because most of the ones I have encountered over the years are leftys by heart and authoritarians by nature. They despise human beings, except for themselves. Check out the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r9-WeNXzTQ

I must admit I have to give 60 min credit for once, they simply presented the facts as they stand and it made Priscilla Ferrall look pretty foolish.

Well indeed it has been a long time since I have posted here. I started this effort now almost a year ago with trepidation due to the fact I knew i was short on time to begin with. Now that I have successfully got my first son in college I have gained a little of my time back, but still my posting is lagging. Anyway I am going to try to have a couple of new post every month or so to keep up with current events. What really inspired me to post again is the story about hunter Melissa Bachman that is all over the news today. The antis are at it again but this story on the website townhall.com sums it up well:  http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2013/11/18/ignorant-antihunters-freak-out-over-woman-who-legally-killed-a-lion-n1748813

Emotion trumps common sense every time.

PLEISTOCENE REWILDING!

What on earth does that mean? Well for a better explanation than I can give you in the few short minutes see the following links (http://rewilding-symposium.weebly.com/index.html), (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_rewilding), & (http://www.rewilding.org/pleistocene_rewilding.html). In short, it represents an effort to recreate vanished ecosystems by using closely related "proxy animals" to begin to re-established the diversity that used to roam North America, Asia, and Europe as little as 13,000 years ago. Much has been said and written both pro and against the idea as you will see with a simple Google search of the term "Pleistocene Rewilding". As for myself, I stumbled across it simply by accident conducting a search about the vanished North American Cheetahs of the Ice Age. I was captivated by it immediately and saw the potential right away.

There is really no good reason why such thing as a "Pleistocene Park" (http://www.pleistocenepark.ru/en/) could not exist. And lo-and-behold it has existed sinse 1996. Leave to the Russians to beat us to the punch on this one but I am glad to see it working out. In fact there is some evidence that the presence of the large grazing animals is altering the moss/lichen water logged dominated habitat of northern Siberia to grass land because of the grazing and trampling of the slow growing mosses. Here is an example of suggested proxy-animals on a figure I copied from Geocurrents Web Site. Steve Sanford is responsible for the illustration and I hope he does not mind if I use it here.

I am not sure if they can find a replacement for the mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses though. But other species my be suitably replaced with existing proxies. I know this vision is a bit romantic and some of you may find it crazy, but all we really need is to find existing habitat that is unoccupied or minimally occupied, as in the case of most of the northern hemisphere, then you can start a project of your own if you are a cooperative land owner. As for predators, I will post more about these animals later, I am both for predator reintroduction, and for controlling of their numbers through management (hunting), as in the case of wolves in the lower 48. 

This may be where I begin to lose many of you but hold on a second, the ETHICS for doing a thing such as this are based on the fact that the entire northern hemisphere is extremely anemic with regard to large animals and has been for at least 10,000 years. The diversity that we see today in Africa and parts of Asia historically are really the norm, and ancient humans may be partially to blame for the absence of many of those species today. As the ice age waned (geoscientist please for give me - technically we are still in the ice age, we are just in an inter-glacial period between periods of glacial advance) undoubtedly animal populations would have been thrown into a serious flux and numbers greatly reduced as the environment went through massive upheavals. With humans being added to the mix at this critical time (especially in the Americas) we may have been the straw that broke the camels back and tipped many species into extinction.The Pre-Colombian fauna that many environmentalist dream about is in fact a seriously depleted fauna. For example there is very good fossil evidence now that the American Mastodon and the Dire Wolf survived until only about 5-6 thousand years ago at a number sites across the West. This would actually make both species then part of the Pre-Colombian fauna.

So how does all this relate to the Texas-Serengeti Project (TSP), well I feel that the TSP is already conducting this experiment across millions of acres in Texas, mostly on private ranches behind high fences, but some species have escaped and are now free ranging across vast areas, as in the case of the Chital (Axis) Deer, Black Buck Antelope, Aoudad Sheep, and Corsican Sheep. Ths following are examples of free range animals seen commonly across Texas these days.

Inevitably, these animals can become a problem and have to be hunted to keep their populations from getting out of control, and our free ranging mountain lions are simply not dense enough in number to put a serious dent in their populations. The only other alternative is predator reintroduction which I have said I will cover in a later post. So as I see it, we have A LOT of available land with only whitetail deer on much of it. Texas land owners have already become familiar with the benefit to their pocket book by stocking their ranches with exotic animals, why not create a Pleistocene Park or ranch here in the USA. I would love you feed back on this issue, till next time, 

St8sh00tr..........

Hello, this is personal ambition, an inspiration really of my own to promote the conservation and preservation  of large ungulate mammals world wide, and to defend the place where one of the most successful conservation efforts in history has been lead, my home state of Texas. For many decades a quiet revolution had been occurring, all be it almost completely decentralized, on the many scattered private ranches in my own back yard. There are over 100 species of exotic animals from all over the world on private ranches all across the state (some of which are threatened or endangered on their home ranges) and only a small number of there are hunted every year. The proceeds from hunting allows the ranchers to maintain their herds and their land. It is a beautiful example of how good intentions and practicality (profit) can work in unison to foster a benefit for everyone. I might add that all this has occurred almost entirely without the involvement of the government. Unfortunately the general public is slowly beginning to take notice now and outsiders are getting involved in what is occurring in our home. This is in fact one of my inspirations for beginning this blog. This will be a private citizen simply trying to set the record straight and to act as an advocate for the things I love, wildlife, nature, and hunting. Let me say that I have absolutely no financial interest in as much as I do not have or own any interest in a ranch, outfitting, or game operation of any kind. That will be obvious as this goes along because if I were a professional being hired to do this then I'm sure I would do a much better job. I have never created a blog before and I am simply winging it so to speak. I do not know where this will go or how it will take shape. I am a busy professional and have kids headed to college so I am short on time, as some of you can relate. So here goes, I'll be back soon,

Sincerely, st8sh00tr