ll||ililil|llililililil lll liltil Display unlilApril2013
Flushes & Notewo
POintS
Elmer Crowell carved thislife-size bobwhite While Elmer Crowell isknown forhisduck quailforthe45thgovernor ofMassachusetts, decoys, healsocarved awide variety of (1858-1939). Eugene (Photo Noble Foss birds such asthisAmerican woodcock. courtesy ofCopley Fine Arts) (Photo courtesy ofNortheast Auctions)
,o*ritedbyro^a Kpen
Carving enthusiasts willfindawidevariety ofElmer Crowells workinthenewCane Codmuseum dedicated tohislifeandcraft. (Photo courtesy ofSkinner, Inc.)
Museum for ElmerGrowell Poised for Flight The life and work of one of the most notedwildlife carvers in historywill soonbe commemoratedin a new Harwich, Mass.,museum.Elmer Crowell, who died in 1952,was a worldrenowneddecorativecarverwho specializedin uplandgame birds,waterfowl,and shorebirds.Crowell's duck decoysare highly soughtafterby collectors,with a pintail drakefetching $l.l million in2007. According to the Cape Cod Times,theproject to restore Crowell'sdeconstructed barn-workshopis a joint effort between theA.E. Crowell AmericanBird Decoy FoundationInc., as well as Harwich'sChamberof Commerce,HistoricalSociety, CommunityPreservation Commission,and a handfulof concernedcitizensknown looselyas the Friends. Born in 1862,Crowell cameto carvingthroughhunting. He was a prolific bird carverfor his entireworking life, often puttingin six-dayweeks.Around 1900,Crowell was selling carveddecoysfor g2 apiece.Rheumatismfinally forcedhis retirementin 1943. "This barn is the essenceof a very famous Harwich
gentlemenwho was perhapsknown more nationallythanherein his hometown,"saidJaneMartin, the Presidentof the Harwich HistoricalSociety."It's all just a go, and we're gettingall the pieces in line. This is going to openup a new spotlighron a collectionwith new informationto share." Dick Hoyer,a Harwich residentwho hasbeenworkins on the barncommittee,remembersCrowell from his childhood.Iiis father was good friendswith the carverand boughtmany decoys..,It was quite an experienceto sit therewith suchan artist,"Hoyer saidof Crowell. "He was an easygoinggentleman,he didn't seemto be in too much of a rush,and he loved and knew his birds." As Crowell had no living heirs,townspeopleformed a series of committeesto spearheadthe effort to preservehis barn. The museumwill be part of Harwich's Brooks Academy,and bringing in decoycarversand training sessionswould be ideal..,It's the kind of thing that spreadswith excitement,"Martin said.,.They'reexcited we're going to tell the story of this fascinatingHarwich man." The grouphopesto havethe museumup and functioningby the summerof 2013.
TraintheTrainer
Dog men and women spenda significant amount of their off-seasontime working with pup. Some attendseminars,others work on basicsand conditioning,and a selectgroupcompetes in field trial circuits. A tremendousdegreeof focus goesinto preparingpointers and flushersfor the hunting seasonso that when the dogs hit the fields they are ready to perform. There is a new program to add to the mix - a Rick
Birddoghandlers willnowgetthetraining theyneed togetthemostoutof theirdogsattheRickSmith Handlers ClinictobeheldattheLitfleMoran Hunt (Photo/Tom Club inMinnesota. Keer) @ fft" Upland AlmanacI Spring 2013
Smith Handler'sClinic that will be held on April 26-29,2013, at Minnesota'sLittle Moran Hunt Club. The focus of this Rick Smith/SonnyPiekarz/SteveGrossmanseminar?Teachthe old dog handlersnew tricks. The three-dayclinic focusesprimarily on the dog handler and secondarilyon the dog.Accordingto SteveGrossman,owner of Little Moran, the seminarbuilds on a lot of the hardwork that trainershave alreadydone. "Field training is a great way to get a dog to be obedientand learncommands,"Grossmansaid."That said,cover hunting conditions are dramatically different from handlingdogsin open space.Rick Smith and SonnyPiekarz me on takingbasictrainingto a new level, and I'm approached excitedaboutthe possibilities.Our focus will be on properhandling techniques, understanding dogsin the field, readingthe bird dog's body language,and dos and don'ts aboutover handling.We'll teach dogs to patternbirds, how to get dogs to stay focusedas they move from bird coversto pass-throughcovers,and running a braceof dogswith backingand honoring.A varietyof relevantexamples from the pros and consof bells and beepersto will be addressed, gettingdogsto retrieveversuspointingdead.Huntersfrequently ask thesequestionsduring the season,so now we're addressing their topicsin a format.We're aboutas excitedaboutthis eventas we areaboutany otherone we've conductedin the past30 years." The seminarhasa numberof otherbenefitsas well. The group selectedthe late April time frame so as to run all dogs on wild birds.By then,woodcockwill havereturnedto Minnesota, and when combinedwith alreadystronggrousepopulations,dogs will havesignificantexposureto wild birds.A part of the seminar will involve collaborativeeffortswith the Stateof Minnesota Departmentof NaturalResourcesand Fish andWildlife agencies to identify nestingwoodcock.Nestingspotswill be markedand monitoredso that wildlife biologistscan returnpost hatchand band the birds for furtherstudy.The eventis sponsoredin part by Purina Pro Plan.Rick Smith.and Little Moran Hunt Club. For more information:Little Moran Hunt Club. Steve 218 -494-3852, Grossman,www.doublegunbirdhunts, doublegunbirdhunts @gmail.com.
Forward FundisSportD0G toitsConservation TheFuture s newest addition (Photo/SportDog) Fund Program.
AddsGrant SportD0G The folks at SportDOG have launcheda new initiative toward conservingwild game populationsas well as critical habitat. According to EleanorMarshall, "We at SportDOG and our families enjoy many of the samehunting opportunitiesand outdooractivitiesthat our customersdo. As a result,we recognize the importanceof wise conservationand habitat-enhancement initiatives.We supportconservationefforts by contributing time and funding to projectsthat ensurehunterswill have wild placesto
hunt wild game for generationsto come. From habitat-enhancement projectsat the local level to parlnershipswith someof the most proactiveand respectednationalconservationorganizations, SportDOGis proudto contribute." The manufacturerof electronictraining productsfor sporting dogshasannouncedsevenfinalistsin its first-everFutureForward Fund Grant Contest,which showcasesinnovativeconservation projects.Finalistsarevying for votesfrom the sportingcommunity. and the projectwith the most voteswill receive$25000 to put toward completionof the initiative.Another $5,000grantwill go to the runner-up. Accordingto LanceTracy,Vice President,SporlDOG,"It's humbling,exciting,and encouragingto seehow much time and effort volunteerswill put forth for conservationcauses." Hunters,conservationists, SportDOGcustomers,and the importanceof conservationare anyoneelsewho understands encouragedto participate. (The 2012 award winners were not selectedby presstime.)Any readersinterestedin enteringthe competitionfor 20l3 shouldvisit the SportDOGwebsiteathttp:ll ion. sportdog.com/about-us/conservat
PETA UrgesPeople to BreaktheLaw
Accordingto the U.S. Sportsman'sAlliance (USSA) a blog from PETA, the animal rights group, urgespeopleto violate laws and to harasshunters. In the blog, PETA urges its minions to "help counterthe 'No Hunting' signson cruelty of hunting in your area:Post your land and that of sympatheticneighborsand friends,join or form a local anti-huntinggroup, protestorganizedhunts, and spreaddeer repellentor human hair (from barbershops) nearhunting areas.Also, before supportingany wildlife or conservationgroup, make surethat it opposeshunting." Fortunatelyfor hunters,thesetacticsconstitutehunter harassment,a practicethat is illegal in all 50 statesand also on federal land. The USSA championedthe enactmentof these laws during the 1980sand 1990sin responseto a campaign entitled "Hints for Hunt Saboteurs"by the anti-hunting organization,Friendsof Animals. The USSA also helped defend statehunter harassmentlaws in both Iowa and New Jerseycourts when challengedby the antihunting lobby. The result has beenprotection for American sportsmenand women from the exact sort of thing being promotedby PETA. "It may be hunter harassmentin itself for PETA to be encouragingothersto break the law," observedUSSA president and CEO, Bud Pidgeon."If indeedthere are foolish peopleout there who follow the PETA directive to harasshunters,I would not be surprisedto seethe authorsof this article chargedas well as the perpetrators." Hunters encounteringprotestors,deer repellent,or other items placed in their hunting areasshould irnmediatelycontact their local conservationofficer or local sheriff's department and report the violation.
The UplandAlmanacI Spring2013&
Flushes &N
Daln*a f Ull I llt
TovKEEn comoiledby
HunterSafetyGourses Online Available,VirtuallyAnywhere The digital era is having a positiveeffecton new hunter recruitmentby making it easierthanever for huntersto completea huntersafetycoursein preparationfor gettinga is an Internet huntinglicense.In most states,all that is necessary connectionwith a smartphone,tablet,or laptop. The website,www.hunter-ed.com, is sponsoredby Kalkomey.Accordingto EdwardCossette,the userexperience managerfbr the group,"Studentsexpectto tacklea varietyof taskson their smartphonesand tabletsso it makessensefbr hunter-ed.com to be mobile ready.The pagesat hunter-ed.com automaticallyresizeaccordingto the deviceused,from a smaft phoneto InternetTV. There'sno app to downloadand eachpage is easyto view and read." being availableon any Anotherbenefitof hunter-ed.com's deviceis studentscan accessthe courseon the web even ifthe only way they haveto connectto the Internetis via their smart phone. is state-approved and The trainingat www.hunter-ed.com coversthe samematerialthat is taughtin the classroom.The new mobile-readysite makesthe mostout of technologyand featureslive-actionvideos.realisticillustrations.and interactive animations.An optionalnarrationfeatureis availablein many states,allowing studentsto hearthe coursein Englishor Spanish.And bestof all, it's free.After the courseof study is complete,studentsmusttakean exam to becomecertifiedand pay a one-timefee when they passthe test.A fringe benefitis to pass. that the testcan be takenas many timesas is necessary Severalstatesrequirestudentsto attenda field day to completeall huntereducationrequirements. Studentscan registerfbr a field day or classroomcourseat www.register-ed. studentscan use com in pafticipatingstates.At register-ed.com, their smartphone,tablet,laptop,or desktopto sign up for field daysand courses.
AmericaGoneWild
(Note: This adaptationfro,??Nature Wars:The Incredible Story of How Wildlife ComebacksTumed Backyardsinto Battlegroundsby Jim Sterba,appearedin The Wall Street Journal.) ln 2012,Princeton,N.J.,hired sharpshooters to cull 250 deerfrom the town's herdof 550 over the winter.The cost: $58,700.Columbia,S.C.,is spending$l million to rid its drainagesystemsof beaversand their dams.The 2009 "miracle on the Hudson,"when US Airways flight 1549had to make an emergencylanding after its enginesingestedCanadageese, saved155passengers and crew,but the $60 million ,{320 Airbus was a completeloss.In the U.S.,the total cost of wildlife ffi fte Upland AlmanacI Spring 2013
ffi
Choose Your State and Register
W
StrOy tn" Nraterial.We've Made it Fun
@ yort d$.
K$ Pass the Test, Print Your Certificate .ri1d{b!
ssr.rr
pn' r*ino
i/! fr rf'
State
&
ffil \g/
hunter-ed.com-' Hunter-ed.com hasmade hunter safety courses accessible onsmartphones, (Photo/ Individual requirements apply. mobile devices andtablets. state hunter-ed.com)
damageto crops,landscapingand infrastructurenow exceeds $28 billion a year ($1.5 billion from deer-vehiclecrashesalone), accordingto Michael Conoverof Utah StateUniversity,who monitorsconflictsbetweenpeopleand wildlife. Thoseconflictsoften pit neighboragainstneighbor.After a small dog in Wheaton,Ill., was mauledby a coyoteand had to be euthanized,officialshired a nuisancewildlife mitigationcompany. Its operatorkilled four coyotesand got voice mail deaththreats. A brick was tossedthrougha city official's window,city council memberswere pepperedwith threateningemails and letters,and the FBI was calledin. After Princetonbeganculling deer l2 years ago,someonesplatteredthe mayor'scar with deerinnards. Welcometo the naturewars,in which Americansfight eachother over too much of a good thing - expandingwildlife
populationsproducedby our conservationand environmental successes. We now routinelyencounterwild birds and animalsthat our parentsand grandparentsrarely saw.As their numbershave grown, wild creatureshave spreadfar beyond their historic ranges into new habitats,includingours.It is very likely that in the eastern United Statestoday more people live in closer proximity to more wildlife than anywhereon earth at any time in history. In a world full of eco-woeslike speciesextinctions,this should be wonderfulnews - unless,perhaps,you are one of more than 4,000driverswho will hit a deertoday,or your child's soccerfield is carpetedwith goosedroppings,or feral catshaveturnedyour bird feederinto a fast-food outlet, or wild turkeys have eatenyour newly plantedseedcorn, or beavershavefloodedyour driveway,or bearsarelooting your trashcans.And that'sjust the beginning. In just a few decadeswe haveturneda wildlife comeback miracleinto a messthat'sgettingmessierand costlier.How did this happen?The simpleanswer:Forestsgrew back over the past two centuries,wildlife cameback over the pastcentury,and people sprawledacrossthe landscapeover the pasthalf-century. Reforestationbeganin 19th-centuryNew England,when farmersstartedabandoningmarginalpasturesand buying cheap feedgrain from the rich, relativelyflat landson the otherend of the newly openedErie Canal.Later,petroleum-based feftilizers andgasoline-powered machinerymadeMidwesternfarming more productiveand draft animalsobsolete,freeingup 70 million acres that were beingusedto feedthem.Many farmers,meanwhile, optedfor jobs in town. Treestook back much of their land and, afterWorld War II, nonfarmersbeganmoving onto it. Today,the easternthird ofthe countryhasthe largestfbrest in the contiguousU.S., as well as two-thirdsof its people.Since the 19th century,forestshave grown back to cover 60 percentof the land within this area.In New England,an astonishing86.7 percentof the land that was forestedin 1630 had beenreforestedby 2007,accordingto the U.S. ForestService.Not sincethe collapse of Mayan civilization I ,200years ago has reforestationon this scalehappenedin theAmericas,saysDavid Foster,directorof the Harvard Forest,an ecology researchunit of Harvard University. In 2007,forestscovered63.2percentof Massachusetts and 58 percent of Connecticut,the third and fourth most denselypopulatedstates in the country,not counting forestedsuburbanand exurbansprawl (though a lot of sprawl has enoughtreesto be called a real forest if people and their infrastructureweren't there). Some350 yearsof unbridled exploitation of wild birds and animalsfor feathers,furs, hides and food by commercial markethuntersand settlersescalatedinto a late l9th-century rampage that turned wild populationsinto remnants.It all startedwith a 50-poundrodent. The "fur trade" is a feeble euphemismfor the massacreof beavers,America's first commodityanimal.By the late lgth century,a populationonce estimatedat as many as 400 million was down to perhaps100,000,mostly in the Canadianoutback.By 1894,the largestforestleft in the easternU.S.,the Adirondacks, was down to a single family of five beavers.
Beyondbeavers,by 1890,a pre-Columbianwhitetaildeer population of perhaps30 million had beenreducedto an estimated 350,000.Ten million wild turkeyshad beenreducedto no more than 30000 by 1920.Geeseand duckswere migratingremnants. Bears,wolves and other"vermin" were all but gone.The passenger pigeonwould soonbe extinct.The featheredskinsof hummingbirds,usedto make women'sbonnets,sold for two cents aprece. With toothlesslaws and lax enforcement,the carnagewas slow to end.But conservationists slowly gainedstrength.Elected governorof New York in 1898,TheodoreRooseveltwas so incensedthat plume-hunterswerekilling egrets,whoopingcranes and otherexotic shorebirds for women'shatsthat he outlawedtheir salein his stateand went on, as president,to createthe first federal wildlife refugesand nationalforests. Restockingwildlife was a mixed bag.In 1907,50 Michigan white-taileddeerwere shippedto Pennsylvania. Elevenyears later,forestersand truck farmerstherewere complainingabout "too many deer" - a phraseutteredto this day.In many places, however,seeinga deer(or a goose)in the 1950sand '60s was still so rare it madethe local newspaper. Betweenl90l and 1901,34beaversfrom Canadawere releasedin the Adirondacks.With no predatorsand no trapping, they grew to 15000 by 1915.Todaythey are almosteverywhere that waterflows and treesgrow. Beaversare wonderfulecoengineers,a so-calledkeystonespeciesbuilding damsthat create wetlandsthat benefitcountlessother species,filter pollutants, reduceerosionand control seasonalflooding.The troubleis, they shareour tastein waterfrontreal estatebut not in landscaping. We put in a driveway,they flood it. We plant expensivetrees,they chew them down. The U.S. Departmentof Agricultureestimates that the cost of beaverdamagemay exceedthat of any otherwild species. Bringing backducksand geesewas slow going.Commercial and sport hunterslong kept live birds (in addition to wooden facsimiles) as decoysto lure migrating waterfowl. The use of these live flocks wasn't outlaweduntil 1935.They hadn't migratedin generations. The outlaw birds were usedto stocknewly created refugesin the hope that they would join migrating flocks and help them to grow. But they stayedput. Their descendantsinclude the four million or so residentCanadageesethat now occupygolf courses,parks,athleticfields,corporatelawns and airlineflight paths. The foundersof the conservationmovementwould have been astonishedto learn that by the 2000 Census,a majority of Americans lived not in cities or on working farms but in that vast doughnutof sprawlin between.They envisionedneither sprawl nor today's conflicts betweenpeople and wildlife. The assertionby animal protectioniststhat theseconflicts are our fault becausewe encroachedon wildlife habitat is only half the story.As our population multiplies and spreads,many wild creaturesencroachright back - even speciesthought to be people-shy,such as wild turkeys and coyotes.(In Chicago alone, The UplandAlmanacI Spring2013W
-
Flushes & Notewo there are an estimated2,000 coyotes.) Why? Our habitatis betterthantheirs.We offer plenty of food, water,shelterand protection.We plant grass,trees,shrubs and gardens,put out birdseed,mulch and garbage. Sprawl suppoftsa lot more critters than a people-freeforest does.For many species,sprawl'sbiologicalcarryingcapacity - the populationIimit the food and habitatcan sustain- is far greaterthana forest's.Its ecologicalcarryingcapacity(the point at which a speciesadverselyaffectsthe habitatand the otheranimalsand plantsin it) isn't necessarilygreater.The rub for many speciesis what'scalledsocialcarryingcapacity,which is subjective.It meansthe point at which the damagea creature doesoutweighsits benefitsin the public mind. And that'swhere many battlesin today'swildlife wars start. What to do? Learnto live with them?Move them?Fool them into going away?Sterilizethem?Kill them?For every optionand every creaturethereis a constituency. We have bird loversagainstcat lovers;peoplewho would savebeavers from cruel traps and people who would saveyards and roads from beaverflooding;Bambi saviorsversusforestand garden protectors. Wildlife biologistssaythat we shouldbe managingour ecosystems for the good of all inhabitants,includingpeople. Many peopledon't want to and don't know how. We have forsakennot only our ancestors'destructive ways but much of their hands-onnatureknow-how as well. Our knowledgeof naturearriveson screens,wherewild animalsareoften packaged to act like cuddly little peoplethat our Earth Day instincts tell us to protect.Animal rightspeoplesay killing, culling, "human-directedmortality" or whatever lethalmanagement, euphemismyou chooseis inhumaneand simply createsa vacuum that more critters refill. By that logic, why pull garden weedsor trap basementrats? Peopleagainstkilling usuallyadvocatewildlife birth control. Practicaland affordablecontraceptionfor deer was saidto be just aroundthe corner30 yearsago.It still is. You can dart femaledeerliving in a confinedarea(behinda fence, on an island)with PZP (porcinezonapellucid)for $25 per doseplus hundredsofdollars per animalper yearto setup and run the program.For free-rangingdeer,forget it. You can feed OvoControl to Canadageeseto stop their eggsfrom hatching for $12 per gooseper season.Do the math. For feral cats,the panaceais called trap-neuter-return: The cats are trapped(not easy),sterilizedand then returnedto wherethey were caught.Voilh, no more feral kittens!Even the American VeterinaryMedical Associationcalls this a mirage because"an insignificant percentage"of 60 to 90 million ferals out there at any one time have been neuteredto reducetheir overall population.And "returning" thesenon-nativepredators to the landscapedrives bird protection groups up the wall. Somepeople advocatebringing back natural predators,as if they really want wolves and cougarsroaming the sprawl. But they overlook a deerpredatorthat is alreadythere: us. Indeed, s}fn"
UplandAlmanacI Spring2013
POintS
,o*oited byrorvr KBsn
researchsuggeststhat since the last ice age,the top predatorof deer hasbeenman. But by blanketingsprawlwith firearmsrestrictions and huntingprohibitionsin the nameof safety,we havetaken ourselvesout ofthe predationbusinessinjust a few decades. Suddenly,for the first time in I1,000 years,we haveput hundreds of thousandsof squaremiles in the heartof the white-taileddeer's historic rangeoff-limits to its biggestpredator. In Massachusetts, it is illegal to dischargea firearmwithin 150 f'eetof a hard-surfacedroad or within 500 feet of an occupied dwelling without the owner'swritten permission.Theserestrictions alone put about 60 percentof the stateoff-limits to hunting with guns.And nearlyhalf of its 35 I municipalitiesimposemore restrictions,includingon bow hunters.Many statesand townshave similar restrictions. Local governmentsare increasinglyhiring sharpshooters to cull deer.and homeownersretainnuisancewildlife controllers (trappers)to kill beavers,geese,coyotesand whateveris in the attic.Bryon Shissler,presidentof NaturalResourcesConsultants in Fort Hill, Pa.,who consultson deerproblemswith towns, corporationsand propertyowners,sometimesrecommendshiring sharpshooters to cull herds.He also thinkstownscould train local hunters(typically copsand firefighters)to sharpshootand then recouptown costsby sellingthe venisonat local farm markets.Itis illegal,however,to sell any truly wild gamein Americatoday.But that could change. After decadesof decline,the numberof huntersin the U.S. grew 9 percentfrom 2006 to 201l, accordingto a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Servicesurvey.But they remainoutcastsin many of the placeswhere they are neededmost becausethey are thought to be unsafe.Even that,however,may be changing.Sometownsare becomingmore tolerantof huntersthanof deer,notingthat while gunskill 31,000Americansa year,hunterskill only about 100, mostly eachother.Deer,on the otherhand,kill upwardof 250 - and hospitalize30,000 peoplea year - driversand passengers more.Somecommunitiesscreenhunters,allowing them to useonly bows and affows and shotgunsthat havelimited ranges. One encouragingexampleis Weston,Mass.,in suburban Boston,a town with a seriousdeerproblem.Brian Donahue, associateprofessorof environmentalstudiesat BrandeisUniversity, serveson the town's conservationcommission,which decidedto try controlledbow huntingthis fall. He seessomeof his liberal suburbanneighborscoming to believe that "hunting is good - one of the best,most responsibleforms of stewardshipof nature,"he says. "Maybe I'm dreaming,"he adds,"but huntersarethe new suburbanheroes."Cr