April 2008 page 5 Updates

7 April

Upland Birds

A continuation of an earlier hunt update, "Field Shots", March 20.

Dot has a bird held in high prairie ready for Chris...

Say no more...

Thanks guys, anyone that bird hunts can always appreciate a good sense of humor.

Waterfowl

Blue winged teal are always the first waterfowl to show up early in the in the fall and this year seem to be amongst the last to pass through.

Center, a male blue winged teal in breeding plumage

A flock of blue winged teal mixed with a couple of gadwall on a farm pond the end of March.

CRP Payments

"...FSA bases rental rates [CRP] on the average value of dry-land cash rent for the past three years..."

Few active farmers will be satisfied with an average of the last three years when last year's land rent prices alone were record highs anticipated to increase. Retiring farmers may find CRP more attractive than depending on a neighbor to actually come up with rental payments after harvest.

CRP practice CP38E now available for Kansas Upland Game Birds, High Plains/MidWest Ag Journal, April 4, 2008, staff.

For CP38E in the entire state of Kansas there is a total of 31,100 acres [maximum enrollment] funded. Hummm....

Then from: Pierre, S.D. (AP), Higher crop prices could pressure CRP program, Apr 5 2008.

"Farmers might be having second thoughts about the Conservation Reserve Program now that crop prices are much higher...some farmers have asked about breaking their contracts early..."

The Other Side

"...To hunters, HSUS is the "most dangerous outfit" because of its $135 million annual budget, its political action committee to get political candidates elected, its lobbyists to get laws changed and its one dozen full-time attorneys "who do nothing but sit around and dream up problems they can create for users of animals," Story said. "And more and more, we (hunters) are the principal target..."

and

"...Robert E. Carter Jr., director of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, expressed agreement with the humane society's position on hunting ethically.

"Probably 80 percent of the public doesn't hunt and fish," Carter said. "That 80 percent is the sleeping giant. . .We've got to behave ourselves, folks. [We need to] teach our kids the way to hunt and fish in an ethical manner. We've got to behave ourselves or we're going to wake up the sleeping giant, the 80 percent, and they're going to put it on a ballot. . .and start taking our rights away..."

Hunting group, humane society butt heads, The Humane Society of the United States says traditional hunters have nothing to fear from the organization, by Seth Slabaugh, The Star Press, [Muncie Indiana], April 7, 2008.

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