Gemsbok — Oryx
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Filson came up with the five best mobile apps for the outdoorsman. Check them out below.
1) Primos Hunting Calls
We have to agree with the ratings on the best-selling hunting app of all time. Primos Hunting Calls attracts prey with a variety of over twenty remarkably natural calls. Improve your ability to lure in turkey, elk, deer, duck, hogs, and more. Use tried-and-true favorites of the hunting professionals at Primos like “The Gobbler” and the “Heart Breaker.”
2) Ducks Unlimited Waterfowler’s Journal
The DU Waterfowler’s Journal is the only app designed exclusively for waterfowl hunters to keep a detailed log of each trip to the field. Both seasoned pros and beginners can build a detailed diary of the number and type of birds harvested, hunting blind locations, weather conditions, photos, and personal notes. In addition to creating your own journal, you can catch up on Duck Unlimited’s extensive glossary of waterfowl ID characteristics.
3) iSolunar Hunting & Fishing Times
Filson anglers and hunters can trust the up-to-date hunting and fishing information from iSolunar Hunting & Fishing Times. iSolunar provides the best time of day for hunting and fishing anywhere in the world. Using astronomical data from the US Naval observatory, you can find precise local information on feeding/activity times, day rating, current weather, moon phase, moon rise and moon set, and Sunrise and Sunset periods.
4) Ducks Unlimited Waterfowl Migration
Follow the ducks on your iPhone this season! The DU Migration App gives you access to more than 10,000 real-time migration and hunting reports across North America. View local reports of those from across the U.S. and Canada if you are planning a trip. Waterfowl hunters can submit their own report on current findings and access reports from trained Ducks Unlimited Field Editors and Avery Pro-Staff.
5) Hunting Light & Blood Tracker
This app enhances hunters’ visibility in all lighting conditions. Hunting Light & Blood Tracker is a handy flashlight that provides screen lights of various colors for specific uses in the field under variable light conditions. Green light enables night vision and blue light enhances green objects that would otherwise be camouflaged. The addition of a “blood tracking” light filter enhances the visibility of a blood trail left by wounded game so you are quickly on the move to recover.
As the United States writhes in one of the driest and hottest summers in history, with nearly two-thirds of the lower 48 states experiencing some form of drought, millions of Americans (including farmers and ranchers) are struggling from the resulting loss of income and higher prices for food and fuel. Other recent disturbing news illustrates the practical implications this weather event can have on fish and wildlife. Millions of fish – sturgeon, large- and smallmouth bass, channel catfish and other species – are dying in the Midwest as water temperatures skyrocket to as high as 100 degrees.
What is clear: both the human toll and the impacts to fish and wildlife caused by a changing climate and warmer temperatures have real consequences and cannot be ignored.
A new NASA report states that climate change is responsible for recent extreme weather events and that the probability of unusually warm summers has greatly increased. Now, Dr. Richard A. Muller, a physicist known for his staunch denial of global warming, has concluded that global warming is in fact real, with human production of carbon dioxide causing the world to slowly warm.
“I’m personally very worried,” says Dr. Muller. “I personally suspect that it will be bad.”
Of course, many continue to refute the science underlying climate change and indict the majority of scientists who accept its existence for promulgating a political agenda. In my opinion, as the TRCP’s climate change initiative manager, these individuals are simply resistant to accepting the reality of what science has made abundantly clear: climate change is real, and it already is affecting our natural resources, fish and wildlife and outdoor opportunities.
I recently wrote a guest article in The Seattle Times arguing that to develop an effective approach to addressing climate change, we cannot rely solely on public opinion polls. We must pay attention to those who are “voting with their feet” – the fish and wildlife that cannot debate habitability in the public square and must adapt to or migrate from changing habitat or die.
At the TRCP, we accept the growing evidence that climate change is real and that changes go well beyond disturbances driven by entirely natural forces. We regularly consult with fish and wildlife biologists in state and federal agencies throughout the United States on the habits, distribution and abundance of fish and wildlife.
The facts leave no doubt that climate change is undeniable. Here are a few examples:
What is the TRCP doing now? We are actively working to inform, educate and mobilize sportsmen by reporting timely data from state fish and wildlife agencies and federal land management agencies. Our state-specific presentations highlight the implications of a changing environment on fish and wildlife and the consequences for sustainable hunting and fishing. We’ve developed presentations for Montana, Washington and Colorado – with Oregon and New Mexico in the works.
Rather than debating specific points of air temperature or carbon dioxide data, the TRCP focuses on the cascading effects of a changing climate in the biological world, including impacts to species of fish and game most important to sportsmen. We highlight on-the-ground projects that help fish and wildlife adapt to a changing environment.
We are taking these state-specific presentations directly to sportsmen-based clubs throughout the West with the goal of providing factual evidence on climate change. Take five minutes to watch the video below and draw your own conclusions.
Following numerous revisions and several years of debate, a management plan for Colorado’s 4.2 million acres of roadless national forest backcountry has been published in the federal register, cementing it as the law of the land until another politician or judge sweeps through with enough momentum or gusto for reform.
Considered in the context of the 10th Circuit Court’s recent decision to uphold the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, the finalization of the Colorado rule – and the importance of maintaining a high standard for backcountry lands in the state – is undeniably clear.
The Colorado roadless rule maintains that standard by including roughly 30 percent, or 1.2 million acres of backcountry, under a higher level of safeguards (i.e., “upper tier” areas) from unneeded development. While the rule keeps these areas intact, it also allows some backcountry lands to be developed for coal mining and ski area expansion. It also allows tree-cutting and some road building in backcountry lands located within 1.5 miles of communities recognized as at risk for wildfires. Colorado’s remaining backcountry areas are managed in a similar fashion to the 2001 rule.
Sportsmen were a consistent, engaged and reasonable presence throughout the multi-year rule-making process. Recommendations from members of our community helped result in the final Colorado rule being a common-sense management tool able to assure conservation of some of the state’s best hunting and fishing grounds and most valuable fish and wildlife habitat. The state of Colorado and the U.S. Forest Service likewise deserve recognition for their efforts to refine and improve the plan for the benefit of Colorado’s backcountry traditions.
As someone who enjoys backcountry hunting and fishing throughout the state and who is well-acquainted with both the Colorado and national rules, I can celebrate the fact that much of Colorado’s most important national forest lands will remain intact and accessible for hunters and anglers into the foreseeable future.
Data from the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife demonstrates that more than 900,000 acres of lands designated as “upper tier” under the new rule provide extremely important habitat for much of Colorado’s bedrock fish and wildlife, including cutthroat and other wild trout species, elk, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, grouse and bighorn sheep.
Backcountry roadless areas are lands already largely devoid of roads and other development. Daily, they are becoming rarer and rarer. The Colorado roadless rule does not close any existing roads or trails. Instead, it keeps some of the state’s last remaining intact public lands intact and accessible to sportsmen and other citizens. That equals thousands of acres that I know I can depend on for a true backcountry experience, and that’s huge in my world.
The Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, creators of the award-winning “Take Me Fishing” campaign, works to increase boating and fishing participation in the United States. Watch RBFF’s video about the positive state of the fishing and boating industry as well as some of the newest RBFF tools.
From now until January 1, 2025, every donation you make will be matched by a TRCP Board member up to $500,000 to sustain TRCP’s work that promotes wildlife habitat, our sporting traditions, and hunter & angler access. Together, dollar for dollar, stride for stride, we can all step into the arena of conservation.
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