mike rossi

http://youtu.be/LF73NVYK0p0

Incompetent principle, school board and police officers attempt to send antigun message by persecuting teen.

Join the Central New York Chapter at their 4th Annual Sporting Clays Challenge Sunday, July 21, 2013 451 McCormick Road Coraopolis, Pennsylvania 15108 1-888-JOIN-RGS Confirm that you like this.Click the "Like" button.

They will keep trying to re-nest until the hours of daylight (photoperiod) decreases. When the days get shorter it shuts down the hormones needed not only for mating but also for laying and nesting. (Similar to providing artificial light to chickens and removing eggs keeps them laying). If the unfavorable weather persists until the days shorten beyond the birds' threshold, the hormones shut off , and they lose opportunity to re-nest, even though they very likely have already mated.

I appreciate that story! It is a pretty good illustration of how certain facts or ideas can have very powerful influences on public opinion. Case in point, you still remember the story and it effects you even though you hunt big game it had a mental impact on your attitude toward small game hunting or at least killing doves. Just think how it would effect the average vegan neophyte.... In my post here, I mention BIDE rates, including an annual mortality of over half the population of doves. That tells a story too. It says that more than half of all doves do not live more than one year and those that do almost surely loose their mate. So, you can rest easy, the odds strongly favor that you did not change the life course of the mate of the dove you killed years ago... I used to hunt big game and gave it up along with fishing for the most part. I fish only for big game and release anything other than wall hanging billfish, marlin, and sharks.

If you get caught poaching a migratory bird, you get hit with a dual violation - federal and state charges, FYI. As far as doves mating for life, that may be true, but they rarely live more than a year, whether they are shot by hunters or not.

Of all the states which have seen cwd, NY is the only state that claims it is eradicated.

I understand now and would agree with that.

Even though precocial, the hen lays one egg per day for an average of 14 eggs. During that laying period, the hen is not incubating or constantly around the nest protecting it , so partial clutches are just sitting there, mostly unattended, for an average of two weeks. How long would a loaf of bread last at the base of a tree? I disagree, I think the nesting behavior of turkeys makes them highly vulnerable to squirrel predation. Another thing to keep in mind is that the entire clutch or the hen does not have to be destroyed to impact populations, it only takes consistently smaller average clutch sizes. There are many other predators, and not all of them are furbearers either. However the DEC has harvest data on furbearers from which pop trends can be demonstrated. However that is a weak assumption considering all of the types of potential turkey predators. The nature of the sportsman is to blame the predator that is either the biggest or ones he is connected to, and the report on the DEC website only mentions furbearers. I could have mentioned a variety of birds and reptiles and domestic cats or other rodents. But I think the nest selection behavior of turkeys coupled with the behavior and abundance of squirrels might come into play, especially considering that the turkey population may be "contracting", per the DEC report. An unsustainably high turkey population which responded to restoration efforts in marginal habitat were turkeys nest along tree bases and squirrel populations are high might just be past its best days... The population may be contracting in those areas due to squirrels as the limiting factor. Since the DEC uses harvest data and archery hunter bird counts to estimate turkey population, the data may be biased and not reflect the role of habitat. Reporting to the WMU does not address the habitat component. I agree with you and wouldn't point at one predator or predation in general, but I certainly would look at the possible interaction I suggested above. I also said elsewhere the report doesn't mention pesticides, herbicides, and lead pellets. All of these add up. Another thing I cited was the relationship between the initiation of youth hunts and noticeable drops in turkey numbers. Gobbler harvest should not effect population (sexually dimorphic with a polygynyous mating system- as I am sure you know}; but the timing of {regular) spring turkey seasons reflects a consensus from studies of how to reduce hen mortality and mating disruption. NY DEC does follow that standard protocol for the regular spring, but it seems that the 2 - day youth hunt might be smack down at exactly a bad time????

Doc, there are many (hundreds) of different recipes and each one calls for a different number of doves. Some of our favorite recipes call for one or two doves for me and my wife. Dove meat is one of the best tasting meats there is, whether compared to other wild game or domestic meats. Ironically, one NY senator's aide I spoke to a few months ago was convinced they were non edible, a stock argument of anti-hunters. The antis have been telling legislators in 8 states for twenty some years that doves are too small to eat and taste terrible, even trying to sound scientific by stating that dove hunting occurs during migration when doves are at their lowest body weight. That is a patent lie, the opposite is true, at migration, all species of birds are at their greatest weight. We eat shrimp and scallops and nobody ever says they are too small to eat....

You are referring to this link: http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/59626.html I don't read 64 % though, it seems that it was the usual with hunter surveys - many didn't bother to return them. I imagine, if you surveyed a sample of the 700,000 NY hunters, about geese, ducks, woodcock, or grouse, the response wouldn't be too much different in respect to both interest and in bothering to send back the form. This sort of survey lacks vigor and the webpage doesn't even indicate any statistical tools were used to adjust for the lack of vigor. However, over the course of several NY dove bills, the legislators I have spoken to indicated that while they get little contact from hunters supporting a dove season, they get somewhat more from anti-hunters opposed to it. The HSUS generates form letters about NY dove bills which are preaddressed to the correct voting district of each of their members in NY. All the member has to do is press enter and a form letter is directed to the senator and assembly member who represents their voting district. The mantra they have been using in these form letters has not changed over the years, despite being biologically incorrect. For example, the main talking points are that doves reduce nuisance plants; doves are song birds; and that doves have a bitter taste and are not edible. In any event in your communication about doves, I would raise the issue of the questionable statistical vigor of the survey. We would be interested in working with you, I encourage you to follow our face book page, that's what its for, it takes about 5 minutes to register an account with face book.

Mourning Doves are positively NOT a songbird. A songbird has a different vocal apparatus in its throat. This argument is not relevant anyway - the crow IS a songbird, we hunt them... It has nothing to do with them being a song bird... It has to do with because they are not designated a game species, the DEC does not have the authority to set a season. It requires the legislature and governor to designate them as a game species, and when that is done, the DEC then has the authority to set a season. Write your elected officials and ask them to allow the DEC to decide if doves should be hunted... We will eventually get a season, but it might be several years. Take 10 minutes and sign up for face book and follow our page by liking it, there is a lot of good info on it, and it will help you stay engaged with the issue.

A Live Test for Chronic Wasting Disease Shows Promise Biopsies of the rectal mucosa of live female elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) accurately detect chronic wasting disease (CWD) 72 to 85 percent of the time, according to a study by Ryan Monello of the National Park Service and other colleagues. In order to develop better CWD treatments, researchers need to observe the disease’s progression in live animal systems. Therefore, tests that diagnose live animals at all stages of the disease’s progression must be developed. Current detection methods, including biopsies of brain or pharyngeal lymph nodes, can only be performed on dead animals. The researchers compared levels of an abnormal prion protein associated with CWD in rectal mucosal samples that can be collected from live animals to those in lymph nodes samples from euthanized animals. In the early stages of the disease, the rectal mucosal samples of infected animals contained prion protein levels similar to those in lymph nodes 72 percent of the time. In the later stages of the disease, this number increased to 85 percent. The researchers conclude that the test could be used to detect CWD in live animals, but caution that CWD-positive animals in the early stages of infection may be missed.

They extended opportunities, here is the link: http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/91856.html

erussel, doewhacker, and felonious monk...

I think she may be right. Call it a troll or rabble-rouser, and it may be without bad intentions - I think he or she is a ghost author who is beating around the bush about possession limits, the concept of sport hunting vs. market hunting, and wanton waste. Good topics, but I think its a crude way to start a discussion, and its not the first time on here. Time to start using real names around here.

What you are describing sounds like (another} built in mechanism animals have to counter less than ideal conditions. But some things in nature don't work perfect. The habit of nesting against trees may be an example. A prediction is that when the restoration of turkeys, which were depleted from market hunting began, biologists were assuming turkeys were old growth, big woods birds - because that is were the remaining birds existed. However, when birds were restored, they did better in other habitats. Those remnant birds probably were there not because that habitat favored survival, but because market hunters couldn't hit the mountains as hard. We transferred more birds into these suboptimal habitats and even introduced turkeys to areas that they did were not indigenous to. The birds expanded all over until the populations in the suboptimal areas experienced "population contraction" (what may be going on right now, per the DEC) mean while, and to no surprise, bird populations in more suitable habitat has not shown the same decline. One explanation or partial explanation why that habitat {woodland, mountain with plenty of oak acorns) might be less suitable is the presence of squirrels and / or the absence of fallow fields along with the tendency of turkeys to nest against tree bases. In any event, demanding the DEC focus on one factor or one predator, isn't constructive and is going to make sportsmen look ignorant to the non shooting conservationists. (Which actually is a fair assessment in all too many cases}...

I never heard one egg every other day, but maybe your right, but I thought it was one egg per day. About the temperature, the eggs do not have to be kept warm until incubation starts. So if the hen lays a partial nest and it gets cold while she is away feeding, it doesn't kill the eggs. As a matter of fact, you can refrigerate eggs for days and then put them into an incubator and they will hatch fine. After all the eggs are layed and incubation starts it may be a different story, but one would assume the hen will delay her own feeding until it warms up. Birds can go 30 days without food during severe cold, so I imagine a nesting hen can put off eating for some time as well. Stop reading now if tree-hugger is part of your vocabulary and go do some bench presses or something... The hen also has the ability to delay fertilization - so even if mating occurs during nasty weather, she can delay pregnancy until conditions are favorable. ( weasels, skunks and other mammals can do almost the same thing, for the same reasons, delay implantation after fertilization}.The hen also is wired to select nest sites in favorable habitat and sun exposure - if the habitat is available and not occupied by another bird. Getting off topic a little; one dysfunctional habit of hens is there tendency to nest against tree bases. They will use grass fields and burrow under brush piles when available, but they often nest against trees. Well, even the DEC neglects to mention squirrels (red, gray/black, fox, woodchuck) are known nest predators which outnumber coyotes & fishers and even the turkeys themselves... With the exception of woodchucks, which do climb trees by the way, and are squirrels, those critters run up & down trees constantly. Those behaviors make one wonder if squirrels are not a population limiting factor for turkeys. I think if standing fallow fields were available, turkeys would choose them first, and nest success would be higher. But a study like that is a waste of money you know, just kill all the coyotes & fishers, that will do it....

He needs a different brand of ammo , not bird seed, cause he is shooting lead. Cause its a red he's legal, as he said, but he's cavalier about letting the carcasses get carried off, hopefully its a house cat and it will die of plumism in June or at least become sterile or reproductively compromised...

Brand of ammo...

Funny, the tree huggers seem to be calling for knocking the deer way down and maintaining lower deer populations. I know that wont sit well with the crowd who thinks deer numbers are low, but the other camp of hunters is always touting population control. One of you miscategorizes the study design and another one of you misses the point about the wrong kind of saplings replacing the hemlock. As the women say - "whatever"...

No the other way around. They excluded deer from reference areas and compared the plant communities. The areas were deer foraged naturally were degraded, the areas deer did not have access to were not. LOL - did you realize this was even mentioned during the crossbow town hall meeting? This is what Senator Grisanti was referring to when he asked about the impact of deer on birds . Watch it again - its like Ragu- "it in there". Doc, you have a habit of raising questions about variables. It is the researchers who are thee experts in determining what the co-variates are, that's what they do. Scientists have suspicious minds too...

The mourning dove is federally designated as a migratory game bird and hunted in 40 of the lower 48 states, but not in NY. The NY Department of Environmental Conservation cannot set a hunting season until the NY state legislature and the governor change the state’s classification of the mourning dove to be consistent with the federal designation. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 recognizes sport hunting as a legitimate use of a renewable migratory bird resource. The BIDE rates, population and harvest estimates certainly support harvesting doves: Current Population Estimate: 308 million doves in the United States Annual Mortality: 58% Juvenile Annual Mortality: 69% Sustainable harvest (which considers replacement–level birth rates; natural mortality; and stochastic factors): 60 to 75 percent 2012 annual harvest: 5.5 percent of population or about 17 Million birds, of which 7 million from the Eastern Management Unit, which includes NY. The 2012 harvest at 5.5% could be 69.5% higher without impacting the population, which would be equivalent to an additional 214 million birds harvested. This is not a suggestion that hunter satisfaction is low among those who hunt doves, as a matter of fact, surveys indicate the opposite is true. It does illustrate the mourning dove’s resilience to harvest and why it makes no sense whatsoever not to implement a dove hunting season in NY. It should also be pointed out that even if hunting occurred in all states, a harvest of 60 to 75 percent is possible only in theory, as hunter numbers, effort, and skill level preclude this, especially under contemporary regulations and the concept of fair chase. A high reproductive rate and short generation time makes this species resistant to stochaticity as well. A significant form of natural mortality is the mouth-dwelling parasite Trichomonas gallinae. Mourning doves will sometimes host this parasite without symptoms, but in other individuals it will often cause yellowish growth in the mouth and esophagus that will eventually starve the host to death. The manifesto of the Humane Society of the United States that mourning doves provide significant ecological services to the agriculture industry by consuming seeds of nuisance plants is not documented in the scientific literature or otherwise empirically demonstrated. To the contrary; birds are believed to have a role in seed dispersal; therefore it is possible that doves may actually facilitate the spread or abundance of nuisance plants, rather than reduce them. The HSUS, in addition to (unsuccessfully) opposing a dove season in Wisconsin, has made similar campaigns in that state to block the establishment of hunting seasons for woodchucks, sandhill cranes, gray wolves, and most remarkably, mute swans, a deleterious introduced species. Mourning Doves are one of the most abundant and widespread of all North American birds - ranked eleventh among 251 species in relative abundance throughout a geographic distribution range covering 6.8 million square miles. It is also thee leading game bird, and the third ranked game species overall, after deer and slightly behind turkeys, with an average of 20 million birds harvested and enjoyed as table fare annually in the U.S.

No, I am not interested in the outcome of this issue, but I am put off by its presentation. Keep in mind though, I am not unlike any other neutral party, if one side makes erroneous arguments, they turn neutral people off. Drawing a bow on game is much more difficult than raising a crossbow to take your shot - anyone who has done just a little hunting knows that... Denial of that is a put off.

Police Officers put up with a lot of crap, but this law is too subjective and laws against obstructing justice or interfering with a police officer are already in place and sufficient. I cant see how this can be a good idea.