The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks will make what has been called an important announcement Friday, and insiders say the news will affect the status of deer baiting in the state.

In last year’s Legislature, the Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks was given the authority over the deer baiting issue when Gov. Haley Barbour signed the bill to give the decision over to the biologists and professionals, not politicians.

This is a different year.

The House has already passed H.B. 1089, which allows hunting over bait that is protected from the elements and is specifically on private land. The bill is awaiting the decision on a Senate committee amendment, which gives the Wildlife Commission the authority to control the baiting in emergency situations. Those would include the introduction of disease, the spread of disease, etc.

I haven’t hunted deer for a long time, but I have hunted. And I hunted what I thought was pretty hard. But I still haven’t killed a deer.

I won’t put out a feeder just to take home a deer. Using bait feeders to kill a deer is not hunting.

Some hunters argue that other people are baiting, stealing the deer from the lawful hunters. That logic doesn’t play well.

The solution is not to allow everyone to bait for deer, but to provide enough enforcement so that everyone plays by the same rules.

FROM THE NRA:

Annapolis, MD – Maryland ’s sportsmen and gun owners are heartened by back-to-back victories in the Maryland Legislature. A House of Representatives bill that would have required all handgun and several calibers of rifle ammunition sold in Maryland to be microscopically engraved with serial numbers by the manufacturers has failed.

The Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus backed by the Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Foundation strongly represented the
rights of hunters and shooters as it made its case to the House Judiciary Committee considering the bill. A representative from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), its state affiliate - the Maryland Association of Firearms Retailers - and sportsmen’s and pro-firearms organizations testified at the Tuesday hearing of the bill. This comes on the heels of the failed ‘Minimum Age Hunting License’ bill withdrawn only one week earlier.

  HB517: The ‘Encoded Ammunition’ Bill received ‘Unfavorable’ status from the House Judiciary Committee on Friday, February 29, and was withdrawn Monday.  Since there is no accompanying bill from the Senate, the issue is dead for this session.

  The details of the bill briefly stated; By January 1, 2009, all ammunition sold in Maryland required by handguns and a list of ‘assault-type’ firearms included in the bill would have to be ‘encoded’. This means each bullet and each casing would have been required to be laser engraved with matching serial numbers and each box of ammunition would have the same serial number as the ammunition – no two boxes of ammunition could have the same serial numbers. The owner of any regulated firearm that required
encoded ammunition and owned un-encoded ammunition would have to dispose of it by January 1, 2011.

  The bill also called for a 5-cent tax to be added the price of each round. The tax-per-round would have gone into a special fund to maintain a database of all the encoded ammunition purchased in the state. Also, when an individual purchased a box of encoded ammunition, they were required to present their identification. Their personal information and how much ammo they purchased would have then been entered into the State Police database.

  The bi-partisan Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus is an affiliate of the National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses (NASC), which icomprises 34 state caucuses nationwide.

BASS Elite Series pro Timmy Horton of Muscle Shoals, Ala., held his ninth annual Fishing for Kids benefit tournament at Florence, Ala., on Saturday, Sept. 23.

Here are a few scenes from the event:

The 18th annual Sportsman’s Bonanza included Daryl Sprout of SnakeEncounters.com, with “Comedy, Magic, Snakes.” Also there were the fish tank, duck callers and children.

Chris Rivers of St. Martin and Roger Morrow of Belmont discuss their strategies for next weekend’s BoatUS National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship in Lake Lewisville, Texas. The two will represent Mississippi State, along with Cal Clark of Pulaski, Tenn., and Sam Lawrence of Jackson, Tenn.

From the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action

With the United Nations continuing its efforts to enact gun control laws in countries around the world, the U.S. Senate passed the Foreign Operations appropriations bill, which included an amendment by Senator David Vitter (R-La.) that seeks to address the U.N.’s ongoing international gun ban efforts.

By an overwhelming 81-10 vote, the Senate passed Vitter’s amendment to prevent any funding to foreign organizations that infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of Americans. Any organization that adopts a policy counter to the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment would no longer be eligible for U.S. financial assistance — including the U.N.

Greg Hood of Clarksdale, owner of Southern Game Calls, taught duck calling to a group of about 70 youngsters at the recent Mississippi Wildlife Extravaganza in Jackson.

The video is a short clip from his instructions to the callers. Click on the audio button to hear the entire seminar.

Catch-A-Dream, based in Starkville, provides hunting and fishing opportunities for youths who are facing life-threatening diseases.

The group has online videos that provide information about itself, the children it helps and the sponsors who help Catch-A-Dream. To watch the videos, follow these links.

A general video.

About the children who are helped.

About the sponsors who help.

The White House has called for federal land management agencies to begin working to improve wildlife management on public lands in order to expand hunting opportunities.

To do this, President Bush has called for a White House conference on North American wildlife policy.

Coordinating the conference will be the Sporting Conservation Council.

This could be a big step in preserving the natural wildlife for future generations so that conservation efforts can keep hunting productive.

Pickwick Lake guide Roger Stegall wears many hats as a professional fishing guide. Especially the one that says, “Strike King.”

Read about his hectic life on the water on Sunday’s outdoors page in the Daily Journal.

To see how he uses a “jump box” to put out a trotline, watch the video.