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Week of November 11, 2013 |
| Hunting & Shooting Products/Issues |
| Regional |
| Illinois |
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| Minnesota |
| Wisconsin |
| Other Breaking News Items |
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Hunting & Shooting Products/Issues
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Diversion
Bags Allow for Discreet Firearm Transportation
Whether taking time during a lunch break to hit the range or working undercover in a crowd, the Diversion line masquerades as everyday, ordinary bags and packs, hiding firearms in plain sight. From a full-size rifle to a handgun, the BLACKHAWK! Diversion line fulfills just about any firearm owners� needs for discreet concealment.
Discreet and Convenient |
The Diversion
Range Bag and Courier Bag offer a wide variety of options
The Courier
Bag�s customizable front pocket allows for multiple configurations,
including storage of four AR-15 mags and a single pistol mag or four M14
magazines. A pass-through zipper in the lid gives quick access to the main
compartment, which contains numerous loops and pockets for accessories,
radios and additional pistol mags. The hidden handgun compartment provides
ambidextrous access for added versatility. |
Regional
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Weekly Great Lakes Water Levels for Nov 8 WEATHER CONDITIONS Temperatures throughout the Great Lakes basin last week were above average for the most part, with a few areas near average. The Great Lakes basin saw a significant amount of precipitation last weekend with the heaviest precipitation on Thursday and Friday. Temperatures through the weekend are expected to be below their seasonal averages throughout the entire Great Lakes basin, with an exception of Saturday�s temperatures which are expected to be near average. Rain and possible snow showers are also forecasted for the region on Saturday. The Great Lakes basin is then expected to see below average temperatures along with a chance of rain or snow on Monday. LAKE LEVEL CONDITIONS Lakes Superior and Michigan-Huron are each 13 inches above their levels of a year ago. Lakes St. Clair, Erie and Ontario are 7, 5, and 13 inches, respectively, above what they were at this time last year. Over the next month, the levels of lakes Superior, Michigan-Huron and St. Clair are each predicted to decline 2 inches. Lakes Erie and Ontario are projected to drop 3 and 4 inches, respectively, over the next 30 days. See our Daily Levels web page for more water level information. FORECASTED MONTHLY OUTFLOWS/CHANNEL CONDITIONS Lake Superior�s outflow through the St. Mary�s River is projected to near average for the month of November. Lake Huron�s outflow into the St. Clair River and Lake St. Clair�s outflow into the Detroit River are both |
expected to be below average throughout the month of November. The outflow of Lake Erie into the Niagara River is expected to be near average while the outflow of Lake Ontario into the St. Lawrence River is predicted to be above average in November. ALERTS Official records are based on monthly average water levels and not daily water levels. Lake Michigan‑Huron is near chart datum and expected to be below datum over the next several months. Users of the Great Lakes, connecting channels and St. Lawrence River should keep informed of current conditions before undertaking any activities that could be affected by changing water levels. Mariners should utilize navigation charts and refer to current water level readings.
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CITGO ordered to investigate Refinery Fire Cannot restart crude unit until it proven safe to resume operation State alleges CITGO violate pollution laws Chicago � Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Will County State�s Attorney James Glasgow last week announced an interim agreement has been filed in court that orders Citgo Petroleum Corp. to conduct an analysis and review of the cause of the fire that damaged a crude oil unit at its Lemont refinery last month.
During maintenance on a pump at the crude oil unit the evening of October 23, a valve and bypass piping malfunctioned. Heavy crude material leaked from the unit and a fire ensued. The Will County Emergency Management Agency responded to the fire, which caused the release of particulate matter, smoke, pollutants and contaminants into the air. Residential areas are located within a mile of the refinery located at 135th St. and New Ave in Lemont.
�This incident created a significant threat to public safety and the surrounding environment,� Madigan said. �We�re taking this legal action to ensure that Citgo takes all necessary steps to prevent dangerous equipment malfunctions.�
�We�re working with Attorney General Madigan�s office and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to hold industries accountable for operational malfunctions that jeopardize the safety of our residents and the surrounding environment,� said Glasgow. �We need to know what
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caused this fire and we need assurances that the refinery is operating properly and safely.�
In addition to performing an investigation to determine the cause of the fire and release of contaminants, Citgo must also provide recommended corrective actions and a work plan for approval by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). Citgo also must submit the results and location of any air sampling it conducted during or following the fire detailing the amounts of contaminants released and a list of all citizens and local officials or agencies it contacted regarding the incident. Citgo cannot restart the vacuum section of the crude unit until it has demonstrated that it is safe to resume operation.
Madigan and Glasgow also filed a three-count complaint alleging the fire created a substantial danger to the environment, public health and welfare and that Citgo violated air pollution laws and failed to operate its facility in a manner that minimizes the release of hazardous substances. Each count seeks a civil penalty of $50,000 per violation and an additional $10,000 for each day of each violation.
Supervising Attorney Rebecca Burlingham and Assistant Attorney General Ellen O�Laughlin are handling the case for Madigan�s Environmental Bureau. Assistant State�s Attorney Phil Mock is handling the case for the Will County State�s Attorney�s Office.
www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/pressroom/2013_11/20131108.html |
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Two Rivers National Wildlife Refuge Boosts Local Economy Refuge Visits Stimulate Area Sales, Jobs, Taxes Two Rivers National Wildlife Refuge in Illinois generated $159,600 in economic benefit for the Calhoun, Greene, Jersey, Madison, St. Charles and St. Louis counties area in Fiscal Year 2011, according to a new economic analysis. The benefit � which includes retail sales, taxes and job income � came from visitor spending tied to recreation activities on the refuge.
The figures come from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service study, called Banking on Nature, which used 92 of the more than 550 national wildlife refuges for its economic sampling.
Wildlife refuges pumped $2.4 billion into the economy and supported more than 35,000 private-sector jobs in Fiscal Year 2011. Refuges contributed an average $4.87 in total economic output for every $1 appropriated and produced nearly $793 million in job income for local communities. The refuges are part of the National Wildlife Refuge System, managed by the Service.
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�Our National Wildlife Refuge System is the world�s greatest network of lands dedicated to wildlife conservation but is also an important contributor to our economy, attracting more than 46 million visitors from around the world who support local restaurants, hotels, and other businesses,� said Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. �Every dollar we invest in our Refuge System and other public lands generates huge dividends for our country.�
Some recreation activities on Two Rivers Refuge are hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing and photography.
Researchers examined visitor spending in four areas − food, lodging, transportation and other expenses (such as guide fees, land-use fees and equipment rental). Local economies were defined as those within 50 miles of each of the 92 refuges studied. Learn more about the study here: http://1.usa.gov/185tp06
Learn more about visitor opportunities at Two Rivers Refuge here: www.fws.gov/refuge/two_rivers/ |
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New Lamprey Estimates Suggest a Dramatically Decreased Population Each year, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission evaluates the success of the sea lamprey control program by estimating the sea lamprey population in each lake. These estimates come from on-the-ground assessment and models. Recently released news is quite encouraging: the basin-wide sea lamprey population declined by 50% between 2012 and 2013. Although it is too early to determine the strength of this trend, the decrease is likely due to major control initiatives during the past several years. 2013 Adult Sea Lamprey Abundance Estimates The annual estimate of the adult sea lamprey population is derived from a model that was developed in 2003 and improved during the ensuing years. Estimates are measured against the abundance targets set for each lake to determine the level of required sea lamprey control. The models differ for each lake, taking into account specific attributes like the sea lamprey treatment cycle and the number of lamprey-producing streams.
The 2013 estimates for sea lamprey abundances indicate that populations are within the target range for lakes Superior, Michigan, and Ontario. Populations remain above target in lakes Huron and Erie, yet they are trending in the right direction, toward target levels. Perhaps most notable is that the total basin-wide abundance has decreased from last year by nearly half. The total abundance of adult sea lampreys across the entire Great Lakes basin decreased from an estimated 511,000 during 2012 to an estimated 275,000 during 2013.
Key Areas of Concern: Lakes Huron and Erie
Lake Huron
Due in large part to these major sea lamprey producing tributaries, sea lamprey abundances in Lake Huron have been above target for many years. To remedy the problem, sea lamprey control experts initiated a large-scale effort to treat the North Channel area of Lake Huron (including the St. Marys River) during 2010-2011, along with geographically expanded treatments in the northern parts of lakes Huron and Michigan in 2012 and 2013. While this increased treatment effort successfully reduced larval sea lampreys in the St. Marys River to an all-time low, the
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adult sea lamprey population remained frustratingly high. The good news is, the latest estimates suggest a trend in the right direction, which can likely be attributed to the increased treatments during the past three years.
Lake Erie
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Illinois
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Illinois Concealed Carry classes Planning to take a concealed carry class in or around Chicago or in the northern Illinois area?
Take our approved curriculum for the 8- or 16-hour concealed carry class authorized by the new Illinois Firearm Concealed Carry Act HB 183. Classes are $125 a day plus range fees; and if you show your current fishing or hunting license, you will get a $10 discount.
Illinois Concealed Carry Part 1 Illinois Concealed Carry Class Part 1 is scheduled for Nov 12, 16 & 24 Price: $125.00 plus range fees
Illinois Concealed Carry Part 2 Illinois Concealed Carry Part 2 is scheduled for Nov 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 23 & 26. (You must have 8 hours of prior approved training or be Active or Honorably discharged from the military prior to taking this class.) Price: $125.00 plus range fees.
No refunds, credit for future classes only.
Call or e-mail [email protected], 708-233-0211, Cell 708-212-3067 for a registration form
More Classes are being scheduled as the need arises
If you have a class of 10 or more, we will travel to your hall or meeting location and give the class in your neighborhood. The criteria for an Illinois law to determine whether you take 16 or just the 8 hour class is determined with the following Illinois schedule.
The credit list of instruction classes authorized by the Act is here: Illinois CCW Prior Training Credit Also, veterans with an honorable discharge and a DD214 or active service military members will only be required to take the one-day class.
The full law can be read here - Illinois Concealed Carry Act
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Questions? Contact Mike Slevnik: [email protected], 708-233-0211, Cell 708-212-3067 www.privatedetectivechicagoillinois.com
For digital finger printing: Williams, James 630-715-2760
188 Industrial Dr, Suite 214 B Elmhurst, IL 60126
ISRA Success in securing Concealed Carry Law Are you a member of the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA)? The ISRA was diligent and instrumental in working with the state legislature to secure our Concealed Carry law. Join now For online individual memberships and renewals: Click Here! For online family memberships and renewals: Click Here! Download ISRA Membership Application
More Info: ►Digital printing is an additional fee, but those prints are only good for 60 days, so hold off on getting them till November or December.
►Veterans with an honorable discharge and a DD214 will only be required to take the one-day class. Be sure to bring a copy of your prior training or DD214 to class.
►Active service military members will only be required to take the one-day class
►Concealed Carry License apps will be available on the Illinois State Police web site January 5, 2014
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Proposed Boating Safety Legislation Three separate bills aimed at increasing safety on public waters are being discussed statewide by a special Senate committee throughout the state. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield), has been the topic of discussion by the boating public over the last several months.
►SB 1805 would require a boater to fly a flag visible to other boaters when towing a tuber or a skier.
►SB 1477 would require anyone born on or after January 1, 1990 to take |
a mandatory boater education course before operating motorized watercraft. (Current language will be amended to exclude non-motorized watercraft).
►SB 1478 would link Operating Under the Influence (OUI) to Driving Under the Influence (DUI). This would summarily suspend someone�s driving privileges for three months if that person is convicted of two or more OUI convictions. The IDNR is generally supportive of the legislation and looks forward to working further with the committee and the public to make a positive impact on water safety throughout Illinois.
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Coastal Grants for environmental education and outreach The Illinois Coastal Management Program (ICMP) is announcing the Fall 2013 Coastal Grants for environmental education and outreach, and sustainable coastal planning within Illinois Coastal Zone communities. Applicants can request between $30,000 and $150,000. Applicants must
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be a unit of government or a 501 (c) 3. Education project locations must be within a Coastal Zone community. Planning grants must be for projects entirely within the Illinois Coastal Zone. For more information about the Illinois Coastal Management program or to download an application please visit www.dnr.illinois.gov/CMP/Pages/default.aspx
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Donate deer for distribution to food shelves Hunters are encouraged to donate whole deer to the Illinois Sportsmen Against Hunger program � part of the IDNR �Target Hunger Now!� initiative. Participating meat processors turn the donated deer into ground venison for delivery to food banks and charities in Illinois. For more |
information on �Target Hunger Now!� and the Illinois Sportsmen Against Hunger program, check the IDNR website at www.dnr.illinois.gov/programs/ISAH/Pages/default.aspx or by email [email protected]
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Resident hunters can apply for �14 spring Turkey Resident hunters may now apply for the first lottery for 2014 Illinois Spring Wild Turkey Season permits online. Go to the IDNR website for more
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information at this link: www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/turkey. The application deadline for the first lottery for 2014 resident spring turkey permits is Dec. 1, 2013.
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Remaining Firearm Deer Permits Remaining Illinois firearm and muzzleloader deer permits are available over-the-counter (OTC) from DNR Direct license and permit vendors
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through Dec. 8, or until quotas are exhausted. Find a vendor near you at this link: www.dnr.illinois.gov/LPR/Pages/LicensePermitVendors.aspx
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Late-Winter and CWD Deer Special Hunt Area Applications Hunters may apply online through Nov. 25 for site-specific permits for designated IDNR Special Hunt Areas for the Late-Winter and CWD Deer Hunts. The online application system will be available through the IDNR website at www.dnr.illinois.gov.
Permits for these sites are limited and will only be available through the online application through Nov. 25 (paper applications are not available). Hunters may submit only one online Special Hunt Area application. |
Unfilled 2013 site-specific firearm, muzzleloader or youth permits for these sites are not valid during the Late-Winter Firearm and CWD Deer season (except at sites where standby hunting is available). Late-Winter and CWD Deer season dates are Dec. 26-29, 2013 and Jan. 17-19, 2014. For a Late-Winter and CWD deer hunting information sheet, with details on sites open to deer hunting with county permits during Late-Winter and CWD seasons, check the IDNR website: www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Documents/Late-WinterSHAHuntingPermitInformation.pdf |
Minnesota
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DNR anticipates
good deer hunting season
�Minnesota�s deer population is largely stable in the southern half of the state because of mild winters and generally conservative deer management,� said Leslie McInenly, the DNR�s big game program leader. �Mild winters result in more survival of adults, more fawns being born, and more deer in the state�s fields and forests the following hunting season.�
Winter, which is a significant source of mortality in Minnesota deer, ranged from moderate to severe in northern Minnesota. As a result, permit area designations across most of northern Minnesota are either lottery or hunter choice.
Hunters may find farmland conditions more challenging due to this year�s later corn harvest, which results in a substantial amount of standing corn. Last year, Minnesota�s nearly 500,000 deer hunters harvested 186,000 deer. A similar harvest is expected this year.
McInenly said deer permit management designations that limit hunters to one, two or five deer largely are the same as last year. The limits reflect the department�s interest in rebuilding or maintaining the deer herd in certain portions of the state by managing the harvest. Based on 2013 population estimates, almost 80 percent of permit areas |
are at population goal. Antlerless and bonus deer permit availability decreases as overly abundant populations are brought into line with department goals.
Minnesota�s deer harvest has varied widely over the past half century. In a historical context, too many deer were taken during the 1960s, forcing the closure of the deer season in 1971 and a rebuilding of the deer herd from the 1970s through the 1990s. The highest deer harvest occurred in 2003, when 290,000 deer were taken as part of an effort to reduce the deer herd. Today, the DNR manages the deer population based on goals established with public input.
�As the state�s deer population has been reduced to meet goals, more consistent and moderate harvests are anticipated,� McInenly said. �That said, population goals in some places were established nearly 10 years ago and the DNR is initiating a public process to revisit goals for permit areas statewide during the next few years.�
The DNR will be working with hunters and other stakeholders this winter to evaluate deer population goals for southeastern Minnesota. The firearms deer season concludes Sunday, Nov. 24, in Series 100 permit areas, which cover much of northeastern Minnesota. In Series 300 permit areas, which cover the southeastern corner of the state, the first season ends Sunday, Nov.17, but a late season opens Saturday, Nov. 23, and concludes Sunday, Dec. 1. Firearms season ends Sunday, Nov. 17, in Series 200 permit areas, which cover the remainder of the state.
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Donate deer for distribution to food shelves Deer donated to food shelves can be processed at no cost to hunters. Prior to 2007, hunters could donate deer to food shelves but had to pay processing costs.
�The venison donation program has multiple benefits,� said Leslie McInenly, big game program leader for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). �In portions of the state, hunters are encouraged to harvest multiple deer, the program provides hunters an
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avenue to donate the extra deer they harvest without having to pay processing costs. Demand for food assistance also has been increasing in recent years across Minnesota, and this is a great opportunity to provide locally-sourced meat to families in need.�
More details are available online at www.mndnr.gov/hunting/deer/donation. Processors who accept deer are paid $70 to process each animal for food shelf distribution.Funding for the program comes from surcharges placed on antlerless permits and non-resident hunting licenses. |
Wisconsin
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Hunters stand good chance of falling if hunting from a tree stand Time to start wearing a tree stand safety harness
MADISON --
One in every three hunters who hunt from a tree stand will fall at some
point in their hunting career and of those, 75 to 80 percent occurs
while ascending or descending the tree. A recent study by the International Hunter Education Association showed that nationally, 300-500 hunters are killed annually in tree stand accidents and another 6,000 will have tree stand related injuries. Wisconsin has had three reported fatal tree stand falls already this year, according to Jon King, hunter education administrator for the DNR.
�Tree stand incidents are one of the leading causes of injury to hunters so we strongly urge hunters to use follow safety measures when hunting from a tree stand,� King said.
Here are a few tips King offers for tree stand safety: |
More info on tree stand safety and on a free tree stand safety course is available by searching the DNR website for �tree stand safety.� |
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(Click on title or URL to read full article)
Walleye and perch vulnerable if bighead and silver carp enter
Great Lakes
Senators raise alarm over Asian carp invasion in Great Lakes
How Obamacare contractor bungled Canada�s gun regjistry
CGI, the global
information-technology company responsible for the
botched Obamacare website
debacle, previously botched
Canada�s gun-registry computer systems, yet was still given
a massive contract by the Obama administration. The
Canadian government hired CGI in the mid-1990s to develop a
computerized firearms registry.
Asian carp
DNA detected in Lake Michigan sample
Conservationists concerned about impact of manmade structure in
St. Clair River |
The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the GLSFC, its officers or staff.
Reproduction of any material by paid-up members of the GLSFC is encouraged but appropriate credit must be given.
Reproduction by others without written permission is prohibited.
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