TIMBERGEAR™ HUNTING PRODUCTS

September 9th, 2011

Hunting seasons are opening across the nation . Working fast and furious to put the finishing touches on gear, sets, and land.

January 18th, 2011

Watch The Buck Pole in action at the ATA Show in Indianapolis, Indiana on bowhunting.com.

Saturday October 30th, 2010

The rut is gearing up hot and heavy in the upper Midwest. Be on stand as much as possible in the upcoming days.

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

Timbergear Hunting and Outdoors becomes a sponsor of Pass Through Productions offering fair chase hunting videos.

"We are honored to have met the Pass Through Production team and look forward to a successful season in 2010".

Jeff Boduch, President
Timbergear Hunting and Outdoors



Thursday, October 22, 2009 8:35 AM CDT

Three Ohioans face Lacey Act charges in federal proceedings

By Frank Hinchey

Columbus - Owners of a Highland County hunting preserve were ordered to pay $4,582.44 in restitution and a $1,000 fine after pleading guilty to federal wildlife trafficking violations.

In addition, both men were each sentenced to two years probation and barred from deer propagation during the probation period.

Earl A. Boyd, 46, and son, Charles Clinton Boyd, 27, of Hillsboro, Ohio, pleaded guilty Oct. 5 to violations of the Lacey Act and were sentenced by U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael R. Merz.

The Boyds own Ohio Whitetail Legends, a 200-acre wildlife hunting preserve in Highland County. The preserve propagates and buys commercially pen-raised deer from other propagators in Ohio and other states, according to court filings.

The Boyds were required to keep written records of the deer acquired by such purchases. The Boyds were also aware that any deer coming into their preserve from out of state were required to be tested, be certified as free of tuberculosis, ear tagged, and be accompanied with a veterinarian's certificate, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Columbus.

Any deer not certified as free of Chronic Wasting Disease cannot be transported across state lines nor are deer purchasers permitted to receive uncertified deer shipments, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

In October and November 2005, Charles Boyd ordered and received two shipments of whitetails from Minnesota, according to court papers. Only one of the approximately 16 deer transported to Ohio was tested and certified by a veterinarian. Charles Boyd located and purchased deer for the preserve, court papers stated.

Earl Boyd was accused of failing to record untested deer in propagation records maintained by the preserve. Earl Boyd handled paperwork related to deer purchases, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

As result of the investigation, wildlife officials destroyed the preserve herd of 150 adult deer and fawns so that the animals could be tested for Chronic Wasting Disease.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Ohio DNR.

In an unrelated case, a Tuscarawas County man is on trial in U. S. District Court in Columbus on felony violations of the Lacey Act involving the shipment of whitetails to a game preserve in South Carolina.

Danny L. Parrott of Kimbolton, Ohio, has pleaded not guilty to one count of wire fraud and 14 Lacey Act violations.

If convicted, Parrott faces up to five years in prison on each of the Lacey Act violations and up to 15 years in prison for wire fraud.

Parrott is accused of transporting commercially raised whitetails from Ohio in 2005 for release at a South Carolina hunting lodge; falsifying documentation for the deer; and failing to test the animals for disease, such as CWD and bovine tuberculosis, as required by state and federal laws.

He is accused of purchasing whitetails from Ohio deer breeders and reselling the deer to James Schaffer, of Charleston, S.C., to establish a deer herd at Schaffer's hunting preserve, according to the indictment.

The indictment also accuses Parrot of conspiring with named and unnamed conspirators to purchase whitetails in other states, including Wisconsin, which has previously reported the fatal CWD.

Schaffer, charged with Lacey Act violations in a related case, is identified in court papers as the owner of land in Bamberg County, S.C., described as a guided deer-hunting business called Graham's Turnout Hunt Co., catering to hunters from South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and other locations.

Last March, Schaffer pleaded guilty in federal court in Columbus to three federal misdemeanor violations of the Lacey Act. He was accused of conspiracy, false documentation and transporting the 54 propagated deer from Ohio. Schaffer testified in Parrott's trial on Oct. 8.

As a condition of his plea, Schaefer agreed to pay $50,000 to the National Wildlife Trust Fund, $50,000 to the South Carolina Harry Hampton Wildlife Fund, perform 500 hours of community service in a South Carolina state park, and pay an estimated $95,000 in restitution to the South Carolina Natural Resources Department for testing and euthanizing the confiscated deer.

Schaffer faces up to 1 year in prison and up to a $100,000 on each of three charges when he is sentenced by Judge James L. Graham.

The Lacey Act was the nation's first wildlife protection law, signed by President William McKinley in 1900. It was introduced in Congress by Iowa Congressman John Lacey.

Mostly amended in 1981, the Lacey Act makes it unlawful to import, transport, sell, buy or possess fish, wildlife or plants in interstate or foreign commerce in violation of any federal, state, foreign or Native American tribal law, treaty or regulation.

The law also makes it illegal to mislabel wildlife shipments that might harm native wildlife populations.


Thursday, October 15, 2009 10:45 AM CDT

Is archery 30-point buck a new record?

By Kevin Naze
Contributing Writer

Shiocton, Wis. - Describing himself as a "small-town country boy," Earl Clement, of Shiocton, hit it big-time on Saturday, Sept. 12, opening day of Wisconsin's 2009 archery deer season.

It's not that the 42-year-old lift truck mechanic had never shot a big buck before. In fact, Clement said he's tagged 16 Pope and Young bucks in 30 years of bowhunting, including a buck that scored 1797/8 inches in 2007.

But Clement joined an extremely small group of hunters on opening morning when he arrowed a 20-point nontypical buck that surpassed 200 inches of antler, green-scoring in the neighborhood of 204.

"What's most impressive to me is the antler mass," Clement said. "It's just incredible. The majority of the mass measurements are 6 inches plus. It should be the new No. 2 in Waupaca County for nontypicals."

Clement told his wife he was going to hunt from one of his most comfortable ladder stands on opening morning, to enjoy the view and see what kind of critters would show themselves.

"I had no intention of shooting a deer, and lo and behold, he just showed himself," Clement said.

Clement got into his stand at about 5:20 a.m. on opening morning in an area not far from a roadway. He described it as a transition area between feeding areas and bedding areas on private agricultural land.

Deer began showing shortly after 6 a.m. Around 6:30 a.m., he was watching a dandy 10-pointer.

"There were a few does around, and I was wishing I had my video camera," Clement said. "Then I saw some feet coming through some brush and cedars. I knew where the head should be. Above the brush, I saw tines, and I immediately started to prepare for the shot."

Fortunately for Clement, the buck came through an opening and presented a quartering-away chance at about 17 yards.

"My next plan (if Clement didn't shoot a deer on opening weekend) was to wait to hunt again until the temperature dropped to 50 to 60 degrees," Clement said. "Opening morning, it was in the mid-60s. By the time we got done caping the buck and taking pictures, I guarantee it was 85 degrees."

Clement said five or six hunters annually try their luck on the property, which is a mix of forest and cropland. They have about 50 acres in year-round and seasonal food plots.

"I am a big baiting-hater," Clement said. "I think it affects the deer movement too much and, quite frankly, I don't think it's healthy for the deer - and that's about the only thing I agree on with the DNR."

Clement had a trail camera photo of the buck from July 3, and has both sheds from last year and one shed from two years ago. A neighbor got a trail camera photo of the buck around July 20, but nothing thereafter. Coming into the season, Clement wondered if the buck had been taken illegally.

"We've been watching him for quite a few years," said Clement, who believes the buck was nearly 51/2 years old. "We have a lot of shining around the area, and we've had poaching problems in the past. I thought the deer was gone."

Clement shot the buck with a Darton Avalanche set at 70 pounds, a Carbon Express Maxima arrow and a 100-grain Muzzy broadhead. He said he doesn't use any scents.

"I believe it is better to be as scent-free as possible," Clement said. "I believe a mature deer can tell the difference between real scents and fake ones, so I never put any attractant out, either."




Wednesday, August 26, 2009 3:54 PM CDT

Delaware hunters must register deer online or on phone.

Dover, Delaware (AP) - The Delaware Division of Fish & Wildlife says hunters must now register all harvested deer over the phone or online.

State fish and wildlife officials say taking a deer to a check station or butcher shop was expensive and time-consuming. The new requirements begin with the 2009-2010 hunting season.

Hunters still have to register deer 24 hours or less after they are harvested.

Hunters can go to the division's Web site, or call 866-511 DEER to register their harvest.

The state says the new method gives the agency a faster, cheaper source of harvest information within days of the season's close, rather than months.



Thursday, August 13, 2009 11:32am

Duck Stamp legislation clears House committee

Washington - A bill that increases the price of the federal Duck Stamp continued its steady march forward recently when it was approved 26-16 by the House Committee on Natural Resources.

The bill, now headed to the House floor, would increase the price of the Duck Stamp from $15 to $25. The stamp's price has remained the same since 1991.

The Migratory Bird Habitat Investment and Enhancement Act "will provide increased funding for purchases of wildlife refuges across the country ...," said U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., sponsor of the bill.

Failure of the Duck Stamp to keep pace with inflation and increased land prices have diminished its purchasing power, Dingell said in a press release. In fact, in 2007 proceeds from the stamp (about $16 million) purchased about 15,000 acres; in 1991, about $17 million in stamp proceeds purchased about 34,000 acres, according to the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission.

"The numbers don't lie," Dingell's press release states. "In 2007 we were able to purchase half the land we purchased in 1991 for very nearly the same cost."

John Devney, senior vice president of Delta Waterfowl, said there's been some opposition to increasing the price of the stamp because its "perceived as a tax" on sportsmen. However, he said, given that 98 percent of Duck Stamp funds are used to purchase or lease wetland habitat for the national wildlife refuge system, most waterfowlers will accept the increase.

"It's hard to imagine a time when land will be anything besides more expensive," he said.

The federal Duck Stamp was created in 1934; the stamp is required to legally hunt waterfowl in the United States.

According to the House Natural Resources Committee, the price increase to $25 could begin next year and run through at least 2020.

The committee also added amendments that would cap the stamp price at $15 for those individuals eligible to collect unemployment compensation, as well as those age 65 and older, and age 19 and younger, as well as some military personnel.

Ducks Unlimited also applauded committee passage of the bill.

"This is an important step for conservation," Scott Sutherland, DU's director of government affairs, said in a press statement. "The diminishing buying power of the Duck Stamp is hamstringing the efforts of millions of conservationists that are investing in the program to protect waterfowl habitat."

Devney said possible spikes in commodity prices (leading to increased crop planting) make it even more important to protect duck habitat via the stamp program.

According to DU, more than 1.5 million people buy Duck Stamps each year, about 95 percent of them waterfowlers.

Neil Shader, of DU's communications department, said the Senate hasn't taken up the Duck Stamp issue; likely senators will wait for an approved House bill.

In the House, he said, "It's good it's moved as far as it has, as soon as it has."

Committee members Reps. Ron Kind, D-Wis., and Dale Kildee, D-Mich., voted in favor of HR 1916.

By Tim Spielman
Associate Editor


August 6, 2009

Wisconsin Bear-Hunting Hounds Killed By Wolves

Four more bear-hunting hounds have been killed by wolves in northern Wisconsin while running free during bear-hunting training sessions. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reported today that the dogs were killed, and another injured, in separate incidents the past two weeks in Bayfield, Burnett, Clark and Oneida Counties & Wisconsin has more than 500 wolves that, under a court settlement, were last month returned to federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. It remains illegal under federal law to kill a wolf in Wisconsin, except for federal trappers who kill wolves near where livestock or dogs have been killed. Dog owners also receive reimbursement from the state for the wolf-killed dogs. Source: Duluth News Tribune Online.



Friday, July 31, 2009 3:16 PM CDT

South Dakota pheasant brood count under way

By Wayne Ortman
Associated Press Writer

Sioux FallsS, S.D. (AP) _ There's no shortage of interest in South Dakota's most popular bird count.

Staff in Game, Fish and Parks Department offices are eager to volunteer, and hunters looking forward to October days in the field await results of the pheasant brood survey that's under way.

The July 25-Aug. 15 survey gives a sampling of the summer pheasant hatch, an overall picture of pheasant densities and an estimated population leading up to the hunting season.

``We've got staff beating down the door to run brood surveys,' said Chad Switzer. ``Everyone wants to do that, and rightfully so.'

The 2008 pheasant season, which the GF&P estimates put $219.6 million into the state's economy, drew 176,180 hunters - many of them from outside the state.

The survey is on 110 30-mile routes of primarily gravel roads. Each survey begins at sunrise and ends within two hours. The bird counters drive at no more than 20 mph from west to east to keep the sun out of their eyes as they count chicks and adult pheasants drawn to the road to eat grit and gravel that aids their digestion. Generally, it's one person per route.

Switzer, a wildlife biologist who's the GF&P's pheasant specialist, said the optimum weather conditions for the survey are moderate to heavy dew, clear skies and calm winds.

"That really gets those pheasant broods and roosters and hens out on the road and provides us the most accurate count on those 30-mile surveys,' he said.

"Even after a good rainfall with a calm morning and sunny skies, that's great times to run those routes as well,' Switzer said.

The GF&P began the summer brood survey in 1949 and has stuck mostly to the same routes, with some additions to increase the sample size.

Last year's survey showed an average of 8.5 birds per mile, the most in 45 years and well above the 1990s average of 3.24 per mile.

"I'd be surprised if we exceed our (2008) statewide average pheasant per mile. I'm not saying it can't happen, but I would be surprised,' he said.

The survey could give some indication whether winter storms cut into what had been a rebounding pheasant population in northern South Dakota.

"We had some anecdotal reports of maybe losses greater than average in that north central, northeast part of the state,' Switzer said. "However, with that being said, we're getting good reports from staff and landowners on the number of pheasant broods they are seeing in those same spots that we observed some mortality loss.'

Nesting habitat was good in spring, but Switzer said cool temperatures during the peak hatch could have reduced brood success.

Youth-only and resident-only seasons precede the general hunting season that runs Oct. 17 to Jan. 3, 2010.



July 31, 2009

Safari Club Goes To U.S. Supreme Court

Safari Club International has taken its litigation efforts to the nation's highest court with the filing of an amicus brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in the case U.S. v. Stevens. SCIs brief defends the production and distribution of hunting TV programs and videos activities of great importance to SCI members and hunters generally. The case involves a federal law that makes it a criminal offense to produce, sell, or possess a depiction of animal cruelty. But the devil is in the details. The statute's definition of "animal cruelty" could foreseeably include TV or videos that depict lawful hunting. For example, if an outdoor television program filmed a black bear hunt in Pennsylvania where bear hunting is legal, but distributed it in New Jersey where bear hunting is not currently legal, then those involved could be in violation of the law. In this example, mere possession of a bear hunting video in New Jersey with the intent to distribute could also be criminalized. In its brief, SCI argued to the Court that the law as written is unconstitutional under the First Amendment because it criminalizes legitimate speech. The Congressional Sportsmens Foundation joined SCI on the amicus curiae brief, filed on July 27. Many anti-hunting groups, including the Humane Society, lined up on the other side. The Supreme Court will hear the case on October 6, 2009, the first day of its new term.



July 9, 2009

How Green Is Hunting?
By Jason Gurskis

As seen on Fox News

Killing wild animals doesn't seem so eco-friendly at first.

History shows us that hunters were the ones who decimated the bison population across North America and made the passenger pigeon extinct. Lead ammunition left behind after a hunt can cause waterfowl to become sick.

And in many cases, the hunting of predator species such as grizzly bears and wolves has left prey species dangerously overpopulated.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there were more than 12.5 million active hunters over the age of 16 in the United States as of 2006. They definitely have to have a large impact on the environment -- but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

"Hunters are the most conservation-friendly people out there. They are good stewards of the environment," said Joe Hosmer, vice president of the Safari Club International, a foundation recognized as a worldwide leader in wildlife-conservation and education programs.

And some environmentalists agree.

"Done properly, with proper regulation and wildlife management, hunting can be very 'green,'" says Douglas Inkley, a wildlife biologist who holds the position of senior scientist at the National Wildlife Federation.

"Once regulations and proper management were in place here in the United States, hunters have never made a game species extinct, endangered or even threatened," says Hosmer. "Wildlife management is done scientifically and with laws to prevent this from happening."

Hunters hunted 220 million days and took 185 million trips in 2006. They rely on varied wildlife populations remaining strong from one generation to the next, so there will always be game. This wildlife, in turn, requires a diverse natural habitat that is unpolluted and undisturbed.

"Preserving land not only helps the hunted species, but benefits all other species living in and around this land," added the National Wildlife Federation's Inkley.

Preservation of these lands takes money and influence. Fortunately, hunters bring their wallets along on expeditions.

Fish and Wildlife estimated hunting expenditures at $22.9 billion nationwide in 2006, a huge amount that gives many local economies a boost and incentive to keep their environments preserved.

"Hunting is something that gives a game species a value it didn't have before," said Hosmer. "And it creates commerce in communities around the United States, and around the world such as eastern and southern Africa."

This value is recognized by the suppliers of everything "hunting," from ammo and guns to lodging and trip outfitters. The species hunted becomes a valuable commodity and every effort is made to protect it and its habitat.

Plus, the federal government has imposed an excise tax of approximately 10 percent on hunting goods and services.

"Hunters, being the most ardent conservationists around, strongly support the federal excise tax because it raised 400 million dollars, which was then given to state conservation agencies to manage the wildlife and preserve the lands they hunt," noted Inkley.

Hunting is also a natural way of keeping certain species from overpopulation.

"Overpopulation has detrimental effects that ripple through the entire ecosystem," explains Inkley. "Overgrazing by the white-tailed deer changes the entire plant species and composition of the forest. For instance, deer can eat all the red maple, so species that rely on the red maple dwindle."

Another major problem with species overpopulation is that it increases interaction with humans, often in unfavorable ways. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates that there are more than 1.5 million deer-vehicle collisions each year, and about 150 of those end up being fatal to humans.

Animal lovers would argue that overpopulation is not the problem; our ever-expanding desire to live in the suburbs is at fault.

"All in all, we bulldoze the natural habitats of these species, and they have nowhere to go," says Nicole Matthews, spokesperson for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) www.PETA.org. "Plus, we've killed off the predator species for coming too close to our homes, and these predators are responsible for regulating populations naturally. Nature has a way of regulating itself."

It could be argued that there is a greener way to preserve the animals and their natural habitat, a method that's catching on with younger generations.

Ecotourism is on the rise. Hunting was only 4 percent of recreational-visitor days to wildlife refuges in 2006, as opposed to 80 percent for "non-consumptive activities," according to Fish and Wildlife.

"People should do environmentally friendly activities like kayaking, camping, bird-watching, and wildlife photography," says PETA's Matthews. "This truly respects all habitats and wildlife."

For those who rely on hunting instead of the supermarket for their meat, Matthews has an argument against that too  one that may be hard to swallow for millions of dedicated hunters who won't be easily persuaded to trade their rifles for a farmer's market.

"If you have a lust for meat, consider your health. Meat is full of cholesterol and saturated fat and devoid of fiber. A vegetarian diet isn't only more environmental it helps to prevent heart disease, cancer, and stroke," she says. "The best way to protect animals and their environment is to leave them off of your plate."

That's a conclusion that might be hard to swallow for the millions of dedicated hunters not easily persuaded to put down their guns and hit the farmers' markets.

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