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Vanuatu: Woman reels in world record fish

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:20:00 -0200

WHAT a catch!

Samantha Vale expected to break some local Vanuatu records, but she never thought about smashing a world record when she reeled in this 44kg dog-tooth tuna on 10kg line.

“We cracked open a beer to celebrate. Straight away we knew it was a good fish, whether it broke a record or not,” Sam said when The Morning Bulletin caught up with the former Rocky girl yesterday.

The 29-year-old was on a four-day fishing trip at Shepherd Island, Vanuatu, with her fiance Russ Housby, another local Ni-Vanuatu crewman Johnnie Ware and Captain Herve in February this year when she reeled in the beauty

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Sam's tuna broke the International Game Fish Association's world angling record for the heaviest catch of a species in an approved line class.

The record had been standing since 1977 – a 29.93kg catch from the Seychelles.

Sam holidayed in Vanuatu in 2005 for a week and fell in love with the lifestyle, deciding to make it home.

She extended her stay for nearly four months, picking up work on a yacht before going home to tell her family the news.

“I came home to see mum and dad and catch up with the family before I moved back. I was lucky enough to find a full-time job,” Sam said.

She started work for an electrical company in Vanuatu and completed her coxswain skipper's ticket.

Over the past two-and-a-half years, Sam started and has been operating her own management and consultancy business.

Sam also met her fiance, a skipper and Englishman.

“Our dream is to run a fishing lodge some day,” she said.

Sam's love for fishing turned into a career when she started working on boats at the Sunshine Coast after realising that “dream job” of sales and marketing wasn't for her.

The passionate angler worked for Cruise Maroochydore where she was put through a skipper's course.

But her love of the ocean started at the age of three when she joined the fishing adventures with her dad Cid, brother Clayton, and sometimes mum Lois.

“Dad has photos of me covered in fish blood with a big grin on my face,” Sam said.

Sam, who still calls Rocky home, made the Australian team as a trampolinist while growing up there.

“I still catch up with my coach, Kerry Smyth, when I go home. She knows my love for the adrenalin of sporting whether it be jumping up and down or reeling in a big fish.”

http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/ ... sushi-for-400-no-problem/

USA: "Legendary" Bear Hunting

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:11:10 -0200

We traveled deep into the Northwoods, to the self proclaimed "Black Bear Capital of the World", to find out why bear hunting in Glidden, Wisconsin is not only popular...it's legendary.

"It's known statewide...if not worldwide", says lifelong Glidden resident, Karl Schmidt.

He was around in November, 1963 when a local logger and his friends from Milwaukee killed one of the largest black bears in the world.

"At that time they didn't realize how big that bear was, until they shot it, and pulled it out of the den. They found out at that time, it was the black bear record, not only in Wisconsin but in the world", says Schmidt.

The town immediately began calling itself the "Black Bear Capital of the World", and soon restaraunts, bakeries and gas stations were all named after the 7 foot 10 inch beast. It wieghed more than 750 pounds when it was killed.

Today, it's the centerpiece of town and it remains a state record, but not a world record.

"Very many people throughout the year, especially in the summer time, tourists come through town and stop at the restaurants and gas stations to ask the facts about the bear...it's a pretty popular item", says Schmidt.

The world record black bear has made Glidden one of the most popular bear hunting areas in the state.

Hunters come from all over, hoping to create a legend of their own.

As for the legend of the black bear, the story of just how it was captured varies...but in the end, the proof is on display, right in the middle of town.

"It all depends on who is telling the story, some of them like to add a little juice to it, some of the guys are honest...but not alot of them. But the fact remains, it was a world record", explains Schmidt.

The black bear weighs 665 pounds stuffed and dressed.

http://www.wsaw.com/home/headlines/102569739.html

USA: Area hunters punished for Montana violations

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:06:04 -0200

GLASGOW, Mont. — Hunters from Fond du Lac County have been convicted as part of a multi-year investigation of illegal hunting activities in Montana.

he total amount of fines, bond and restitution collected in the case was $17,416. The 12 defendants also lost a total of 63 years of hunting, fishing and trapping privileges in the 34 states involved in the Interstate Wildlife Violators Compact, according to a Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks (FWP) press release.

The investigation was conducted by FWP Criminal Investigator Lennie Buhmann and Savage, Mont.-based FWP Warden Randy Hutzenbiler.

The case revolved around Paul D. Leinen, 60, and James A. Leinen, 66, both of Montana. The duo were loaning hunting licenses to non-resident family members and friends so they could illegally kill big game animals.

The Leinens were charged with loaning a license to another person and failing to properly validate a license. They were each fined $370 and lost their hunting, fishing and trapping privileges for 10 years.

The two-year investigation, which also involved the North Dakota Department of Game and Fish and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, led to a search warrant being issued on vehicles and a private residence along the Missouri River in Richland County.

Other defendants and their criminal case dispositions in Richland County and Roosevelt County Justice Courts include:

—Scott Vercauteren, 37, and Lanna Vercauteren, 36, both of Campbellsport. Lanna Vercauteren loaned a license to another person and forfeited $235 bond. Scott Vercauteren killed three mule deer bucks, a turkey and an antelope without licenses, used other people's licenses and failed to properly validate a license.

The bond forfeited and restitution totaled $5,040. Scott Vercauteren lost privileges to hunt, fish and trap for three years.

— Scott Morenzien, 32, of Fond du Lac, possessed an unlawfully killed mule deer buck. He was ordered to pay $1,035 and lost hunting privileges for two years.

— Dennis G. Wittkopf, 67, and Scott D. Wittkopf, 32, both of Fond du Lac, possessed two unlawfully killed white-tailed bucks and each paid $2,070. Dennis Wittkopf lost privileges to hunt, fish and trap for two years.

— Tammy Wittkopf, also of Fond du Lac, possessed an unlawfully killed white-tailed buck. She paid $1,035. Tammy and Scott Wittkopf each lost privileges to hunt, fish and trap for 10 years.

— Larry Morenzien, 51, of Kewaskum, possessed an unlawfully killed white-tailed buck and mule deer buck. He paid $2,070 and lost hunting privileges for two years.

— Michael L. Leinen, 65, and Ron M. Leinen Jr., 40, both of West Bend, were convicted. Michael Leinen used another person's license and killed a white-tailed buck without a license. He was assessed $1,270 in bond forfeiture and restitution.

— Ron M. Leinen Jr. used another person's license on two occasions and possessed an unlawfully killed antelope. He forfeited a $1,005 bond. Both men lost hunting privileges for two years.

— Clete C. Leinen, 70, of Fairmount, N.D., reached a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to residency charges. He was fined $846 and lost his hunting privileges for 10 years.

http://www.thenorthwestern.com/articl ... ed-for-Montana-violations

South Africa: Rhino poaching accused get bail

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:05:02 -0200

Lephalale - Five suspected rhino poachers appeared in the Lephalale Magistrate's Court in Limpopo on Tuesday and were granted R10 000 bail each.

Patricia Mukwhevho, 30, Secret Cutama, 29, Rhinus Makhadu, 28, Louis Musekwa, 31, and Abram Kgalushi, 33, face charges of unlawful hunting of protected wild species and the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.

The suspects, who are all from Louis Trichardt, are allegedly linked to at least eight cases of rhino poaching that took place in the Makhado area earlier this year.

“The hunting rifle that was found in their possession has been linked to other rhino poaching crimes,” confirmed Limpopo provincial police spokesperson Ronel Otto.

The suspects were arrested on Ferroland Private Game Reserve near Lephalale late last month.

An unlicensed .308 hunting rifle with its serial number filed off, as well as five rounds of ammunition, were confiscated.

The suspects have not been asked to plead and their case was postponed to November 3.

- African Eye

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/New ... accused-get-bail-20100907

USA: Severely Wounded Vets To Get Free Hunting Licenses

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:04:11 -0200

The Colorado Wildlife Commission today unanimously agreed to provide free licenses to hunt deer, elk and pronghorn to Colorado combat veterans severely wounded in action while deployed overseas since Sept. 11, 2001. These licenses will be available this fall.

The release from the Commission says the DOW will provide a free deer, elk and pronghorn license to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who are participants in the military's Wounded Warrior Programs.

"Offering free big-game licenses is just a small token of the gratitude we all feel toward the men and women who have served our country so courageously," said Wildlife Commission chairman Tim Glenn. "We want them to know their sacrifice will not be forgotten."

Free licenses to hunt antlerless deer, elk or pronghorn will be made available in game management units where the total antlerless license allocation is at least 100 for deer and elk or 50 doe pronghorn licenses statewide during rifle seasons. Licenses would be capped at 10 licenses per game management unit or 2 percent of the total issued in that unit, whichever is greater.

For antlered deer, elk and buck pronghorn, Wounded Warrior licenses will be issued for private land only and capped at five licenses per game management unit or 2 percent of the total, whichever is greater. Antlered tags will not be issued for Ranching for Wildlife properties or in units which take more than four resident preference points to draw.

The program applies to servicemen and women who are residents of or are stationed in Colorado and mirrors the DOW's existing mobility-impaired hunting license program in that applicants must have a mobility impairment resulting from a severe combat-related injury, which makes it physically impossible for them to hunt without the assistance of an attendant.

http://www.kktv.com/news/headlines/102586904.html?ref=904

UK: The truth about women and fishing

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 05:54:54 -0200

Fishing and its soothing effects on the psyche have long been considered the preserve of the male of the species.

But women are increasingly falling for the sport... hook, line and sinker

So, are you a maggot drowner or a fluff chucker? Or, to the uninitiated, a bait fisherman or a fly-fisher. For me, fishermen of every ilk have always cut rather bemusing figures, poking up silently and unexpectedly from the long grass. Often solitary creatures, although occasionally found in clusters, they seem to spend an inordinate amount of time lurking on riverbanks. As for the lesser-spotted female of the species – the attraction seems even more mystifying.

Fishing is officially the most popular participation sport in the UK. The Environment Agency estimates there are currently around 3.5 million sea and freshwater anglers in Britain, at least 300,000 of whom are female, and the sport has been experiencing something of a boom recently.

Annual rod licences, required for fishing in England and Wales, have increased by more than 30% since 2000. Last year, anglers bought nearly 1.5 million licences in England and Wales. In Scotland, where rod licences are not required, anecdotal evidence suggests a similar trend.

Who better to explain the appeal than certified fly-fishing instructor John Milne, a retired fireman, who has turned a passionate part-time hobby into a full-time business, and who has agreed to teach me the basics of the craft. We meet in the late afternoon of a scorching day at the scenic Lawfield fishery – an artificial lake which is regularly stocked with brown trout – near Kilmacolm. “Business is certainly booming,” says Milne, as we don the necessary hat and sunglasses to protect from misdirected flies. “My business has grown year on year, and more people have been looking for lessons. For a while, companies were having team-building days and I was getting quite a lot of corporate work, although last year that came to a halt with the credit crunch.”

Recently, people holidaying at home and wanting to be able to fish properly while on holiday has been a big part of his business, he says. Compared to many sports, fishing can be done cheaply, another possible reason for the uptake. “If you spent £100 in a local tackle shop, you will be well set up,” says Milne. “You can even go cheaper than that,” he says, as he shows me how to thread the line along the rod and picks out a fly from the box.

Milne estimates that at least 40% of his customers are approaching retirement and keen to take up the sport for the first time. But he has also noticed a surge of interest from females.

“Women come in groups, sometimes as an activity to do together that’s a bit different. Ladies tend to be easier to teach; they tend to come with more of an open mind and you don’t have to get them out of a bad casting technique.”

The Ladies Fly-fishing Association, part of Sana (Scottish Anglers National Association), the governing body for game fishing in Scotland, promotes female angling and funds a team to compete in the Ladies International event. The annual two-heat competition involves all four UK countries and each hosts the contest every four years; this year it returns to Scotland.

Founded in 1989, Sana Ladies currently has 1797 members, which compares with a male membership of 14,800. Nikki Ross, 39, from Falkirk, is chair of the women’s association and, like many, was introduced to the sport by her other half.

“When I met my husband he was into fly-fishing and had been since he was 15,” says Ross, a mother of one.

“I was left at home at the weekends while he went off and did fly-fishing. We went to Ireland on holiday and he took me fishing and it was like a white-knuckle ride out on the boat.”

“My worst fear is drowning and I really didn’t enjoy it at all. I didn’t fish, I just watched John. When we came home he took me to Linlithgow where he was in the fishing club. He cast the line, I pulled it back in and I caught a fish. I enjoyed the thrill and just got more and more into it. It also meant I got to spend time with him as he fished most weekends.”

It was Ross’s husband who persuaded her to fish competitively. “The first year it was very daunting because I didn’t know anybody,” she says. “Through the selection process, I didn’t make the team but not everybody took up their place in the team so I got in.”

Last year, Ross, who works as a retail manager, became chair of the Sana Ladies committee.

“Before I joined Sana Ladies I hadn’t come across many other women fishing,” she says. “It was quite enjoyable because at the club I joined with John it was all men. They were very knowledgable and gave me a lot of insight into different aspects. Fishing with ladies meant having more in common, and being on the same level, which is nice.”

One avenue introducing new women to fishing is a charity called Casting For Recovery, which works closely with Sana and helps those affected by breast cancer. “It maybe hasn’t brought so many into the international scene but certainly they are enjoying the fishing,” says Ross.

Although the ladies team receives a grant from Sana, Ross is constantly looking for new ways to fundraise to enable the team to travel round the UK and compete.

The costs of hiring a team bus, hotel stays and entry fees are not always covered by club funds and she believes this could be putting off new members. “Angling is not as big as football,” she says. “People will sponsor football no bother.”

Abigail Montgomery, 32, a secretary who lives in Inverness, and treasurer of Sana Ladies, believes that many women are less drawn to the competitive side.

“When you travel round fisheries it seems more and more women are showing up,” she says. “The number of women has been on the increase over the years, although the numbers in competition fly-fishing tend to stay about the same.

“The average age in the national fishing team is late 40s, early 50s. Where I have noticed an increase is in the 35-45 age bracket.”

Montgomery herself started young. She was taught to fly-fish by her father and went for trials with the Scottish youth team before joining Sana Ladies when she turned 18. She says she has very rarely faced any negative reactions from male fishermen. “A guy about 10 years ago told me that I should be at home scrubbing floors and raising children,” she says, “but those kind of reactions are getting rarer as the years go on because more women are doing it. Attitudes are slowly changing.”

So are segregated competitions the way to encourage even more females? “Most competitions are open to both sexes,” says Montgomery. “Not as many women will tend to bother going in for the mixed gender, but I don’t think the competitions should be single sex. There’s obviously a place for women’s fishing to get women into it and use it as an introduction, but I go into mixed competitions all the time. The more competitions you fish, the more you learn because you will find yourself with people of different capabilities.”

When it comes to physicality, Montgomery believes the differences between the sexes are minimal. “With regards to casting, if you use the rod properly it will actually do the hard part of casting for you. If you have huge brute strength and you are trying to chuck the line out further and further all the time you’re more likely to make mistakes.

“When it comes to women, I think more of them will find it [competing] more physically tiring than men, especially when you are away for an international, which is four hard days of constant fishing.”

Some of those I talk to believe the surge in the ranks of female anglers is helped by the rising number of female instructors. In 2005, Ann Champion and Sue Macniven became the first women in Britain to pass the AAPGAI (Association Of Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructors) exams.

Keen amateur Debbie Johnston, 29, from Glasgow, would like to follow in their footsteps. Johnston, a nursing auxiliary, was introduced to fly-fishing by a former partner. After hours spent sitting on the bank watching men fish, she decided to stop twiddling her thumbs and join them.

“I used to sit about and watch, and then thought I’d have a wee try,” she says. “I’ve not had any formal lessons – I always just asked questions.”

The fact that fishing does not require great strength may make it more appealing to women than other male-dominated sports. “I picked it up quite quickly,” says Johnston. “In general, females have more patience and concentrate more on how the line lands in the water, whereas guys try too much to get as much line out as they can.”

After a decade, Johnston is now a dab hand and believes she would have benefited from tuition early on. She tries to go fishing at least once a week, usually to Harelaw fishery, a large, shallow reservoir set in moorland near Neilston. “For me, it’s about the tranquillity of the whole thing – getting away from everyday stresses. It’s so peaceful and it’s really nice to get out there and think about nothing else. I enjoy the social side as well.”

Her love of fishing took her to Alaska in 2003 and to Slovenia several years in a row. She agrees that attitudes to female anglers have changed since she was starting out. “I definitely see a difference in people being more accepting to females,” she says. “When I started I had a few incidents. Because I’m quite girlie, with my make-up and my hair, when I took a rod out of the car and put my waders on people would go, ‘Er, right, no way’. I had a few arguments with guys being really rude. They would stand and stare at me until they saw me fishing and could see that I knew what I was doing.”

Johnston believes that while there are a lot of skilled male tutors, the presence of more female instructors might prompt more wives and partners who accompany their male partners to the fisheries to consider taking it up themselves. Making female angling more visible is key, she believes.

“There are not enough females in fishing magazines. It’s always guys in the photographs and modelling the gear. Often, when guys are flicking through these magazines, their partners are there and if there were women featured it would help.

“I think when you say ‘fishing’ to females they think it’s boring or think, ‘yuk, you need to touch fish’. I thought the same before I started but was keen to keep going. The first time I caught a fish, I’d have to say I was hooked. Your heart absolutely pounds out of your chest and your adrenaline goes crazy.

“I remember the first time wanting to scream and tell everybody. I still get that adrenaline rush, even now. It didn’t bother me at all killing my first fish, even though I’d been dreading it, although I usually catch and release.”

Johnston is now something of an evangelist for the sport. “There’s just so much to fly-fishing,” she says. “Having to read the water and find out what’s catching. You’re wading in and constantly moving about – a lot of thought and concentration goes into it.”

This chimes with my own impressions as I leave Lawfield Fishery with John Milne, my eternally patient and knowledgable tutor. Incredibly, three hours have whizzed by as he covers the basics of setting up and casting. By doing it, I realise that part of the reason that fly-fishing is so relaxing is that the constant low-level activity makes it completely absorbing, allowing me to push all other thoughts from my head and relax. We leave empty-handed but I am determined to come back and try again. If anyone is looking for me … gone fishing.

*Lessons in fly-fishing with John Milne are available from £15 per hour. To book call 01415712164.

*Lawfield Trout Fishery, Kilmacolm, 01505 874 182.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/life-st ... men-and-fishing-1.1053094

Australia: Over 100 tiger sharks caught hunting together

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 05:52:11 -0200

A rescue helicopter has spotted a group of tiger sharks preying on a large school of fish off the east coast of Noosa, Australia.

The crew of the helicopter said they saw more than one hundred sharks encircling the fishes in a long stretch of the coastal area, according to media.

There were no swimmers in the vicinity, but local life guards nearby have been alerted of the sharks presence.

Although known as solitary hunters, recent studies on different shark species indicate some of them follow a pattern of group hunting.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Over-100-tiger ... cleID/174500/Default.aspx

USA: These 'divas' hunt and fish

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 05:50:40 -0200

DALLAS — When Judy Rhodes founded a group more than a decade ago to encourage women to shoot and hunt, her own outsized personality guaranteed that members would be a force to be reckoned with in the outdoors.

The group — DIVA ... Women Outdoors Worldwide, or DIVA WOW — now counts more than 1,500 members around the world. Rhodes, the daughter of a Texas rancher who learned how to handle a BB gun at age four, said that about half of the women who join also have strong outdoors backgrounds, while the other half haven't picked up a gun before.

"That was just second nature to me to see a shotgun or a rifle in the gun rack," said Rhodes, a feisty blond with a southern accent. "Whenever something slithers, crawls or hops, you've got to pop it."

The group offers clinics and seminars in fishing, archery, dog training and how to handle handguns, shotguns and even an AR-15. They also organize hunts all over the world.

Rhodes said the group gives women the chance to find their niche in the outdoors. For instance, she said, those who don't want to shoot something "with eyelashes," might enjoy shooting clay targets. But the 60-year-old Dallas designer said it doesn't take newcomers long to become converts.

Statistics from the National Sporting Goods Association show that the number of women hunting and shooting has been on the rise. According to the latest statistics, women hunting with firearms has increased from about 2.7 million in 2000 to about three million last year, and the number target shooting reached about 4.7 million.

When the "divas" gather, there's lots of encouragement shouted, and usually a fair amount of accessorizing as well, said Rhodes, who has decorated promotional materials and their website with leopard print.

"When they first come to see us they may be in flip-flops and blue jeans and a nice tailored shirt and the next thing we know, it's Annie Oakley," she said. "They have everything but the buckskin and the deer that they killed all draped around them."

Cheryl Long, 58, of Fairview, located just north of Dallas, joined the group around the time it was formed, not long after she started shooting pistols. She's now the group's communications director.

"I really loved the actual part of the shooting and the competition," she said. "Then it was the camaraderie of the women. I loved the independent spirit of the ladies."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/cana ... ZWpZl-A?index=0&ned=en_za

Australia: Boy, 11, shot by mate in hunting mishap

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 05:48:54 -0200

A boy is being flown to a Perth hospital after being shot by a friend in a duck hunting mishap southeast of Perth.

The 11-year-old victim had stayed with his friend overnight on a farm near Cranbrook, 330km southeast of Perth, and the boys took a .22 calibre rifle to a nearby lake.

WA Police Inspector Jeff Ellis said the boys were standing at opposite sides of the lake when one boy shot the other.

"One of the boys has shot at a duck and the bullet has ricocheted off the lake and hit the boy on the other side," he said.

The boy's injuries were not life-threatening, he said.

His friend took him to the nearby Mount Barker Hospital shortly after 2pm (WST) and the boy was taken from there to Albany Hospital.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service will transfer the injured boy to the Princess Margaret Hospital.

Staff there will transfer the boy to Perth's Princess Margaret Hospital for surgery.

Police are satisfied the shooting was an accident, Insp Ellis said.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news- ... ishap-20100905-14w0j.html

South Africa: Suspected rhino poachers in court

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 05:47:16 -0200

Five suspected rhino poachers are expected to appear in the Lephalale Magistrate’s Court on Monday. They were arrested last month on a private game farm.

Four men and their female accomplices are expected back in the dock for a second time since their arrest.

Rangers from the Ferroland Game Estate spotted their vehicle driving near the farm last month and quickly stopped them.

They were found with a hunting rifle that had the serial number filed off and several rounds of ammunition.

There have been recent successes in the fight against rhino poaching that they were hunting rhino as their tracks followed those of the animals.

Meanwhile, security officials last week said they foiled two alleged rhino poaching attempts in Limpopo with three arrests being made.

In another incident Anti-Poaching Unit members gunned down a suspected poacher during a shootout at the Pilanesberg Reserve in the North West.

http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=47829