The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and Louisiana State University recently received a $500 donation from Acoustical Specialties and Supply Inc. to help purchase equipment and supplies for a new deer telemetry project that will begin in the fall of 2006. The project is titled “Population Characteristics of a White-tailed Deer Herd in a Bottomland Hardwood Forest of South-central Louisiana.”
“This generous donation from Acoustical Specialties and Supply Inc. will greatly improve the success of this research project,” said LDWF Deer Program Manager Scott Durham. “I would like to personally thank them for their support and interest in this project.”
However, donations for research supplies are still needed. Any person or organization interested in contributing financially to the project should contact Scott Durham, LDWF Deer Program manager, at 2000 Quail Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70898 or by phone at 225-765-2351. A fund held by the South Louisiana Quality Deer Management Association has been established to accept the tax deductible donations.
Acoustical Specialties and Supply Inc. is located on 12433 South Choctaw Drive in Baton Rouge. They have been in business since 1975 and supply building materials to residential and commercial contractors throughout Louisiana and the southern areas of Mississippi. They can be contacted by visiting their Web site at www.assi-br.com.
A. Wilbert’s Sons L.L.C. is the primary landowner and cooperator and is also providing technical, logistical and housing support for the researchers. Michael J. Chamberlain, Ph.D. representing the LSU School of Renewable Natural Resources, will direct the research.
The primary objectives of the study are to assess range and movements of male and female white-tailed deer, evaluate age and sex-specific harvest rates of white-tailed deer and evaluate survival and causes of death among male and female white-tailed deer.
“This telemetry project will provide valuable information for Louisiana deer and land managers,” said LDWF Deer Program Manager Scott Durham. “This information will help refine management plans dedicated towards improving herd health and quality.”
Researchers will conduct the study on approximately 40,000 acres of bottomland hardwood forest located west of Baton Rouge and east of the Atchafalaya Basin. The study area is currently leased to more than 30 private hunting clubs, and each club belongs to a cooperative that promotes quality deer management on the property.
White-tailed deer are an important economic and recreational resource across their entire range. In Louisiana and other southeastern states, land managers are choosing strategies geared toward developing quality deer herds. Because this management regime involves restricting harvest of younger-age-class bucks and increasing the harvest of females to lower herd density, substantial interest exists in understanding the effects of quality deer management on population characteristics.
For more information, contact Scott Durham at sdurham@wlf.louisiana.gov or 225-765-2351.

DNR to host free coyote hunting and calling seminar at Hampshire County High School March 18
The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources will be hosting a free coyote hunting and calling seminar at the Hampshire County High School on March 18th at 7 p.m. to educate hunters on the recreational opportunities that exist in West Virginia, according to Frank Jezioro, Director.
“There is a lot of interest in coyote hunting in West Virginia,” Jezioro said. “However, the majority of our hunters are unfamiliar with the techniques and regulations that are involved. Because of this lack of knowledge, the DNR has been hosting seminars around the state to provide our hunters a chance to meet firsthand with experts on coyotes and coyote hunting. This will ultimately allow our hunters to become more successful. The seminars we have held around the sate have been well received with hundreds in attendance and I expect the seminar in Hampshire County to receive just as much interest.”
Presentations will be given by representatives from the DNR on the life history of the coyote and regulations pertaining to coyote hunting. Gary Roberson, a professional game caller of Burnham Brothers Game Calls of Texas, will be providing a detailed presentation on hunting techniques that will work for West Virginia hunters.
“I hope hunters from the Romney area take advantage of this seminar and attend,” Jezioro said. “I can assure them that the information provided will be very beneficial and will allow them to be more efficient in hunting the coyote.”

The Colorado Wildlife Commission was presented with the public input collected on the Big Game License Allocation Work Group’s recommendations at the Commission workshop in Alamosa, late last week.
The results of the public input are available for review by visiting: http://wildlife.state.co.us/hunt/BigGame/. Click on “License Allocation Group,” and then clicking on “Results” under the Public Input Results section.
The Big Game License Allocation Work Group developed a series of recommendations and options on how to allocate elk, deer and pronghorn licenses in Colorado over the course of several meetings that took place in April, May, and June. The committee’s final report was then made available on the Internet. Division of Wildlife personnel conducted a series of eight public meetings around the state to outline those recommendations. Any interested member of the public was then asked by the DOW to comment on the recommendations and options using a public input document that was made available both at the public meetings and on the DOW Web site.
The group’s recommendations and options, along with the result of the public input, has now been presented to the Wildlife Commission to assist it in making its decision on what to implement. This next step in the process will take place at their September meeting in Lamar.

A grunt. A gunshot. Another clay bird evaporates into dust. Up and down the line at the Iowa Trapshooting Association championships this month, the scene was repeated tens of thousands of times.
Each summer, the weeklong state shoot attracts participants from across the country and beyond. “They come from all over Iowa and the upper Midwest, from Oregon, New York; all over the U.S. as well as Canada and Australia; about 1,300 shooters this year,” tallied ITA coordinator Phil Thyer. “This Iowa shoot has been going on for 129 years. It’s normally the third or fourth largest in the country.” Half the 400 trophies go to out of state competitors. Many shooters are on a circuit, travelling by recreational vehicle from shoot to shoot; culminating in the mid-August national championships in Vandalia, Ohio. Those RVs crowded the camping area, behind the mile-long trap range, near Janesville. With vendors hawking everything from several thousand dollar trap guns to T-shirts, ice cream bars and women’s jewelry, the whole area takes on a county fair atmosphere. This isn’t a week of rest and relaxation, though. The shooters here get serious, when they step up to the line.
“On the singles we shot this morning, we had class AAA, AA, A, B, C and D. Every competition was won with 100 straight except for the D Class,” said Thyer. “We had phenomenal scores. When I figured out the results, about 45 percent of the shooters today broke 98, 99 or 100…with 11 percent breaking all 100.” Categories also include juniors, sub-juniors, ladies, veterans and senior veterans.
Partial credit for the bird-busting accuracy goes to a $260,000 investment by the ITA, installing ‘patrap’ automatic target throwers. “They allow us to set a really consistent target. Everybody has the same look. The targets will be the same height all the way across,” explained Thyer. “With the old hand sets, some might have come out a little higher or lower; the wind could have affected them a little. It allows everybody the chance to break a good score.”
But most of the credit goes to the shooters stretched out across the 34 trap fields, each field with five concrete strip stations. Shooters compete from 16 to 27 yards out. It is ‘practice make perfect’ times 1,300, as they raise custom built guns to shoulders. “The more proficient shooter will shoot immediately,” said Thyer. “Most try to look out in infinity. That’s because your eye comes back to your gun more quickly. The sooner the eye sees the target, the sooner they move back to the gun. Some people just shoot quicker than others.” Top Guns here, in flighted competitions similar to golf tournaments, can take home up to $5,000. And the firepower here helps hunting and wildlife programs, even though no one strays from the clay-strewn fields during the week while shooting. The shells that they buy carry the same federal excise tax as shells purchased by hunters ahead of opening day. That, and other related purchases chips in $50,000 or so to the Pittman-Robertson trust fund, which is apportioned back to the states.
But the real dollar signs are in the local economy, which feeds, lodges and provides other services to these specialized tourists. “Normally, we figure the economic rollover is $2 million. This year, though, with extra shooters, we figure it will be as high as $3 million,” estimates Thyer. “It’s like a small town here; campers for a full mile with other camping spots filled in the area. Hotels are full. It’s quite a boom for the community.” That’s a boom that sticks around, too, long after the shooting range is silent again.