Outdoor Adventures
Phil Taunton, Special to The Gazette
Friday, August 8, 2008
An exciting hands-on outdoor learning opportunity has opened up to several lucky and deserving Emporia State University students this fall.
Tyson Seirer, a young wildlife management, science and biology student attending ESU, came to the Lyon County Free Fair the other night and visited with me at the Friends of NRA conservation and firearm safety education booth.
Tyson has done quite a bit of field work across the state for Kansas Wildlife and Parks in trapping and surveying both game and non-game animals alike. I hope to have the opportunity to report some of his findings and adventures to you in future Outdoor Adventures columns.
Tuesday night, Tyson enlightened me concerning a new student hunting-awareness program called Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow (CLFT). This program offers university students whose main interest of study is in wildlife science and biology, and who have never hunted, the opportunity to experience the time-honored sport in order to understand how valid and valuable hunting is as a wildlife management tool. Those who have never hunted should also understand hunting is a self-fulfilling, recreational activity that blends with the social and historical fabric of our culture.
These days, believe it or not, about half of the students graduating with wildlife degrees across the country have never hunted in their lifetime nor do they have firsthand experience with the biological and spiritual reasons why we hunt. Sad to say, but these students will fill positions in wildlife management and become our next generation of natural resource managers.
The CLFT program consists of a three-day workshop for college upperclassmen and graduate students studying wildlife and natural resources, but who have never had a hunting license. During these workshops, students experience a mix of classroom and basic field instruction designed to give them an understanding of why people hunt and why hunting is a proven game management tool. These students are also taught shooting skills, hunter ethics, responsibilities and safety.
And, to cap it all off, students in this program have the opportunity to experience an upland game bird hunt complete with hunting dogs, safe hunting guides and mentors.
CLFT is not a program that intends to recruit or train participants to be hunters. It is designed to give future wildlife managers a better understanding of the sport we call hunting. This program was initiated in 2005 when the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation of Dundee, Ill. began working with the Wildlife Management Institute of Washington, D.C. The first couple of years, the program was based on student hunter-education projects at the University of Wisconsin, Penn State University and Colorado State University. Last summer, the foundation invited instructors from Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio and Pennsylvania to train and to establish new sites in their respective states to work with CLFT students and programs.
The Kansas/Nebraska program this fall will be held September 26 through the 29th at one of the most premiere shooting preserves in Kansas, Keith Houghton’s Ringneck Ranch near Tipton. There is no cost to students selected to participate. Lodging, food and transportation will be provided. For more information concerning the Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow program, and to get your name in the pot for a fantastic opportunity to learn how hunting and wildlife management go hand in hand, please contact: Lloyd Fox, Big Game Program Coordinator for Kansas Wildlife and Parks, 1-620-342-0658, ext 207.
Barber County
mountain lion
Last March KDWP obtained the pelt of a mountain lion reportedly killed in Barber County in November of 2007. At the time, state biologists could not determine if the animal was wild. Some question still remains on the issue. Muscle tissue samples from the pelt were collected and sent to a federal research laboratory in Missoula, Montana for analysis with two goals in mind.
“The first goal was to determine whether the mountain lion is of North or South American descent,” says Matt Peek, furbearer research biologist for KDWP, Emporia. “It's believed that most captive mountain lions are of South American descent. A South American lineage would indicate that the lion either had been a captive or was a descendant of a captive lion.”
Peek notes that some captives are of North American descent, so while a positive test for North American genetics would not prove the mountain lion was wild, it would certainly indicate it might be.
“The Barber County lion’s origin was North American, indicating a potentially wild lion,” Peek explains. “While this test does not conclusively prove the lion was wild, there was no outward indication it had been in captivity. KDWP officials believe it probably was wild.”
The second test being conducted is referred to as “DNA fingerprinting.” This is an attempt to use DNA to link the Barber County lion to a specific population of lions. To date, the results of this DNA fingerprinting have not been definitive, and the source remains unidentified.
KDWP will provide additional updates when more is known about the lion, or when conclusive results are obtained.
madpoet (anonymous) says...
I wish the CLFT program existed when I got my biology degree. My professors were all positive about the role of hunting in wildlife management. But I never got to go out and hunt. I have a license now but have never had a chance to use it yet.
August 8, 2008 at 2:53 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )