International Hunter Education Canada

Have you started taking down stands yet? Part of the safety plan is taking down treestands at the end of each season. #HunterSafetySystem ARROW WILD TV

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is in need of a few good women and men to add to the cadre of Wyoming Game Wardens. The 2021 Wyoming Game Warden Exam is o...pen. Check out the following website for information: https://wgfd.wyo.gov//Law-Enforcement-Car/Game-Warden-Exam . . . . #wyogamewarden #gamewarden #thingreenline #conservation #wildlife #wyomingwildlife See more

Upland Hunter Special E-Bike Raffle by Pheasants Forever Calgary! Our colleagues at PF Calgary are drawing this E-Bike Raffle this Friday, January 15! Check out the raffle and get your tickets here: http://www.pfcalgary.ca/upland-hunter-special-e-bike-raffle/

-45 windchill today and I'm smoking 20 geese in my hut, snow geese and having 2 for supper

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Enjoy this amazing spectacle of snow geese at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware. Be sure to turn the volume up to get the full experience of all the geese honking! What winter birds are you seeing? (Video courtesy of Valerie Fellows)

I had a conversation with an animal rights activist this weekend. I know that because those were the first words she said after hello, even though that fact ...wasn’t relevant to anything in our as-yet short interaction. Clearly, that was part of her core identity. So I told her I’m a trapper. Now, my goal was not to try to change her mind or even to question her beliefs. My goal was to give her a (hopefully) positive and rational interaction with a trapper. She did say I was the first trapper she’d ever personally spoken to (and was surprised to encounter a female trapper). So she asked the expected question: why do you like killing things? And I told her I don’t like killing things. And that if I had a quarter for every time I read trappers are white guys who get a stiffy every time they kill something I’d be rich. And I do see that comment (and similar, even more offensive versions) often. It’s childish and offensive, and I asked her to consider the mentality of someone who would think that. But I told her I do like trapping. I like knowing how to read animal signs and predict behaviour. I like playing an active role in wildlife management. I like helping people deal with wildlife problems in a humane way. I’d rather trap that coyote than have a landowner leave out poisoned bait (yes, illegally) that anything could eat. No, live-trapping and relocating is not humane. I like having an uncommon and practical skill. I like producing a sustainable product. I like being able to put food on my own table. And I like being able to give an animal a faster and more humane death than it will get in the wild. To that last point she actually said I’m sure that’s what the Nazis said during the Holocaust, too. So I paused, and took a deep breath, and looked at her. And calmly said: do you really want to compare me to a Nazi and trapping to the Holocaust? She stammered and eventually said No, I guess not. But I’m fairly certain a bit of backup from another like-minded activist would have been all that was needed to get her to stand her ground on that one. I tried to ask her a few questions about how she thinks animals die in the wild (hint: it’s rarely pretty), and whether she realizes that every human kills animals either directly or indirectly. But by that point, she’d had her rant (her word, not mine), and thanked me for talking to her. Did I change her mind on anything? Of course not. Did I waste a few minutes out of my day? Probably. But just maybe she’ll take away from our conversation that trappers are real men and women with rational reasons for trapping, rather than a bunch of white guys getting their rocks off. (Photo is some of my beaver furs this season).

Law enforcement is a critical piece of the conservation puzzle. The MWF is thankful for the hardworking Conservation Officers, and the teams that stand behind t...hem, for continued protection of our wildlife in Manitoba. Conservation officers continue to conduct patrols to enforce Manitoba’s new Wildlife Amendment Act (Safe Hunting and Shared Management), resulting in: the issuance of 50 Serious Wildlife Offences to 39 individuals, warnings issued to 20 individuals for night hunting without a permit or for hunting in a moose conservation closure, charges issued to 14 individuals for possessing illegally taken wildlife, seizures of 10 vehicles, seizures of 20 firearms, and Serious wildlife offence restitution orders totalling $29,000. All fish and wildlife restitution orders handed out from April 1, 2020, total $164,854. #wildlife #conservation #manitoba #wildgame #conservationofficers #biggame #waterfowl #mymanitoba