Maybe it’s time lights came on against pests
Hunting at night?
It may be coming out of necessity. Controlling coyotes and exotic pests such as wild hogs has been a losing battle for most state wildlife agencies. Our Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has seen a steady increase in reports of crop and stock damage for several years. Both species are mostly nocturnal.
Last August North Carolina introduced temporary regulations for night hunting of wild hogs and coyotes with artificial lights. The new rules are for private lands only and permission of landowners is required. There is no limit on either species. You can bet that the TWRA will be watching the results of this new tactic.
• A sign of the times called the computer age. http://GunBroker.com , the world’s largest Internet auction site for firearms and accessories, has reached two billion dollars in cumulative merchandise sales on Nov. 10. It is a testament to the company’s reliability and popularity that the site first reached one billion dollars in sales 10 years after its launch in 1999, rapidly growing to two billion dollars in less than three additional years. For the past several years it has grown by more than 265,000 users each year.
http://GunBroker.com • The second scheduled quota
deer hunt on the Oak Ridge Reservation took place on Nov. 10-11 (The October hunt was cancelled for
security reasons). A total of 195 deer were taken, 130 bucks and 65 does. The largest rack was a
12-pointer; the largest buck weighed 171 pounds dressed; the largest doe weighed 115 pounds. Three
turkeys were harvested. Only one deer was retained for internal radiological
contamination. • Here is an excellent opportunity to join the National Wild Turkey Federation
at a big discount, or to give a sportsman a great gift. Join NWTF, renew or give the gift of
membership online for only $35 and receive a $25 Bass Pro Shops Promo Card in time for Christmas
gift giving. You can give the Promo Card as part of the gift, or keep it for yourself. http://www.nwtf.org . • Here is an interesting perspective on the devastation caused by Hurricane
Sandy. It is estimated that 65,000 recreational boats were damaged, destroyed or displaced by the
storm. More than 32,000 boats were damaged in New York, 25,000 in New Jersey, 2,500 in Connecticut
and 6,000 in the various other states. Dollar damage is estimated at $650 million dollars. To put
that into perspective, hurricanes Wilma and Katrina had estimated damages of $700 million -
combined. These figures come from Boat Owners of the U.S. (BoatUs). Tom Wiest welcomes
news, questions and comments from readers. Contact him at (wiest.tom@gmail.com)
