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Minn. hearing to focus on hunting bullets
The chairman of the Minnesota Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee plans to hold a hearing on the human and wildlife health risks posed by lead bullet fragments in venison.
Read complete story from the Pioneer Press

Wildlife refuge camera gets shot of ocelot mom, baby
Rio Grande Valley biologists were thrilled after a trip camera snapped an image of an ocelot with her kitten, the first ocelot kitten spotted on the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in 11 years.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

Study: Bad judgment leads to peril in Utah parks
If you're a guy on a day hike in a national park in Utah, step carefully. You're among the most likely to need rescuing.

Between 2001 and 2005, there were more than 1,100 search and rescue operations at National Park Service units in the state, according to a new study. Of those, 60 percent involved men, and most ran into problems while on a day hike or boating.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

Art or ad? Fish mural nets a fine in Clearwater
The mural depicts a swordfish, a redfish, a grouper and a snook. The owner of a local bait and tackle shop thought it would be a cool thing to have painted on the side of his building. Now he's fighting with city officials who say it must go.
Read complete story from the St. Petersburg Times

State may lose millions in federal wildlife funds
The Illinois General Assembly must act this month to restore $9.25 million in restricted funds "swept" to pay state bills or risk losing millions in federal dollars for fish and wildlife management.
Read complete story from the State Journal-Register

Congress gets an early start to a banner year for wilderness
Congress took an important first step today towards making 2009 one of the most important years for wilderness designation in nearly two decades.
Read complete story from the Wilderness Society

Duck hunters fined more than $22K, licenses suspended
Eleven duck hunters from Benton, Dickson and Humphreys counties have learned the hard way that is does not pay to violate Tennessee's game laws, and their illegal activities have cost them a total of $22,821, along with loss of their hunting privileges for up to seven years.
Read complete story from the Leaf Chronicle

Virtual hunting: Hunters track and shoot their prey indoors
On top of snowy Steuben Hill Road, at Mountain Top Archery and Trapping supplies, it's tournament season.

For the hunters who go there, that means a chance to shoot at living, moving prey — from deer to buffalo to wolves — sort of.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

Minnesota deer herd: Hunter mentalities differ
Some Minnesota hunters say the state's current deer hunting regulations are skewing the state's deer population, resulting in fewer mature bucks.

Those wanting bigger bucks offer several solutions — all of which would be controversial.
Read complete story from the tar Tribune

Coyote chases 9-year-old skier at Tahoe resort
On Sunday, Cindi Dyer of Reno and her son, Nicholas, were skiing down a black diamond run at Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort about 3 p.m. Dyer said the run was well-groomed and hard packed.

"I was telling (Nicholas) to carve his turns a little bit more," she said. "All of a sudden, out of the trees came a coyote that pursued him straight down (the run).
Read complete story from the Associated Press

Dog foils probable coyote attack on island girl
An animal that wildlife experts believe to be a coyote attacked a 7-year-old girl on Prudence Island on Dec. 30, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her toward the woods.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

Grand Canyon, Loch Ness compete as nature wonders
GENEVA — The Grand Canyon, Mount Everest and Loch Ness will vie with more than 200 other spectacular places in the next phase of the global competition for the New 7 Wonders of Nature, organizers said Wednesday.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

Increase of sick brown pelicans baffles experts
LOS ANGELES — Wildlife experts are trying to figure out why sick, disoriented and bruised California brown pelicans are being found in record numbers along more than 1,000 miles of coastline.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

Lou the mule alerts Tenn. woman to house on fire
McMINNVILLE, Tenn.— Lou the mule brayed his way into his owner's heart with a New Year's warning that her rural Tennessee home was on fire.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

Bush to establish three marine monuments in Pacific
WASHINGTON — The home of a giant land crab, a sunken island ringed by pink-colored coral, and equatorial waters teeming with sharks and other predators are being designated national marine monuments by President George W. Bush in the largest marine conservation effort in history.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

Judge sentences taxidermist
DENVER, Colo. — A Cortez man will spend six months in home detention for doing taxidermy work for a convicted poacher.
Read complete story from the Herald Denver Bureau

Brady Campaign sues to stop National Park gun rule
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, America's largest anti-gun organization, sued the Department of the Interior today to prevent the implementation of the controversial administrative rule allowing loaded and concealed firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

Hunters turn up CWD in W.Va. deer herd
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Preliminary test results indicate the chronic wasting disease (CWD) agent was present in five hunter-harvested deer collected in Hampshire County, W.Va., during the 2008 deer firearms hunting season.
Read complete story from the Farm and Dairy

Exploiting nature to cut mosquitoes' life short
Old mosquitoes usually spread disease, so Australian researchers figured out a way to make the pests die younger — naturally, not poisoned.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

Colo. gun sales shoot through roof in '08
Gun sales reached record levels in Colorado in 2008, a spike many attributed to fears that Barack Obama's election will mean tougher firearms laws.
Read complete story from the Rocky Mountain News

Buck breaks state record
CHATFIELD, Minn. — The famous Field and Stream buck won't set a world record, but the antlers of the deer downed two months ago by Bob Decker of Eau Claire will bear another significant honor.
Read complete story from the Leader-Telegram

Read Lynn Burkhead's preview from November, 6, 2008

Lawmaker seeks to curtail hunters' use of lead bullets
A Minnesota lawmaker says she will introduce legislation to restrict the use of lead ammunition. Recent studies found lead bullet fragments in venison, and a number of eagles have died from lead poisoning. Some hunters are voluntarily giving up lead bullets. Others say the whole issue is being blown out of proportion.
Read complete story from Minnesota Public Radio

A month later, folks still fascinated by antlered doe
Mike Smith's 15 minutes of fame is stretching into days and weeks. The rare whitetail doe with antlers he shot Dec. 3, the opening day of firearms deer season, had 27 points and unofficially totaled 179 inches of score.
Read complete story from the Wichita Eagle

Webcams capture success of deer underpasses
A picture is worth a thousand words — or in this case, about 800 deer, a few antelope and a lone bull elk.

That was the approximate number of big game animals photographed by newly installed deer underpass webcams during their first week of operation along U.S. Highway 30 in Nugget Canyon.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

Crews rescue 12 people stranded on Wis. ice
Twelve ice fishermen were stranded for hours on a huge chunk of ice that broke off from shore Thursday and floated into Green Bay, but rescue crews plucked them all safely from the large ice sheet, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

Samurai archery, an ancient sport, still thrives
ZUSHI, Japan — It is about as far from the Olympic sport of archery as it can get. The bow is taller than the person shooting it, and, to the uninitiated, it appears lopsided and unbalanced. There are no sights, no high-tech stabilizers.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

Woman drowns retrieving dog from frozen pond
New Jersey authorities say a woman drowned trying to retrieve her grandson's dog from a frozen pond.

Authorities say 61-year-old Janet Howard was walking a German Shepherd named Apollo on Saturday when it wandered onto the ice covering Plainsboro Pond. Police speculate that Howard went after the dog but the ice broke, plunging her and the animal into the water about 25 feet from shore.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

More small quakes rattle Yellowstone National Park
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — More earthquakes are rattling Yellowstone National Park.

The small quakes include three more Friday that measured stronger than magnitude 3.0. The University of Utah Seismic Stations say the strongest was 3.5.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

Hawaii's pygmy killer whales stay close
HONOLULU (AP) — A new study of pygmy killer whales — one of the least understood marine mammal species - shows that those living off Hawaii tend to stay close to the islands and don't swim out to the open ocean.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

NY judge: Monkey meat needs permit
A federal judge in Brooklyn has rejected a Liberian woman's religious reasons for smuggling endangered monkey meat into the country.
Read complete story from the Associated Press