Spirit of the Sportsman

Saltyshores.com has some of the best photography and video related to fishing you’ll find on the web.  Sam Root’s work is a great way to spend a few minutes…or hours.

Sam Root Redfish

The River Time Forgot-Mongolia from Mikey Wier on Vimeo.

Click icons below to share this post

If you have any space on your iPhone for another ap, look no further.  Hatch 2 gives you a list of over 300 rivers in the US with their associated hatches and patterns.

Cory Pratt's The Hatch 2

More interesting is Cory’s story about how a guy with Mac, a love of Fly fishing, and absolutely no experience in iPhone app development created his first app.

After the purchase of a new MacBook Pro about a year ago, I thought you know what?  I’m going to try and develop an app.  I hadn’t seen anything related to fly fishing and thought maybe I could create an app that provides a hatch chart for rivers across the US!

Click icons below to share this post

Waterfowl hunters and anglers in the Sacramento area be advised, the International Sportsmen’s Expo returns January 21st, 2010:

The largest of the outdoor retail shows, the 23rd International Sportsmen’s Exposition, returns to Sacramento’s Cal Expo on Jan. 21-24 and features nearly 500 exhibits, 175 seminars, contests, demonstrations and a large display of sportfishing. The 2010 ISE fills five buildings and hosts the only Northern California stop on the Adventure Base 100 National Tour celebrating the centennial of the Boy Scouts of America.

Show hours: 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Thursday and Friday; 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Saturday; and 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday. Tickets: $15 adults, free for youth 15 years and under. Discount tickets online at sportsexpos.com.

Sit

Click icons below to share this post

Reno, Nevada ranchers have suffered livestock losses due to predator pressure. To help minimize the loss of livestock, the ranchers have organized a coyote hunting tournament where teams of hunters compete to harvest the most coyotes over a two day period. This tournament has outraged animal rights activists who find the hunts morally objectionable.

“Wendy Keefover-Ring of WildEarth Guardians said coyotes play an important role in the ecosystem. “These kinds of high body-count hunts are completely unethical and go against the spirit of ethical hunting,” she said. “They’re not going to use the bodies for food or anything else. It’s just a waste.”

Organizer Matt McFarlane said he doesn’t understand the fuss, noting similar tournaments have been held to help protect livestock elsewhere across the West for decades. McFarlane said coyotes have killed several calves over the last three weeks at his family’s ranch near Fallon, about 60 miles east of Reno. McFarlane expects about 20 to 30 teams to bag up to 60 coyotes. “That doesn’t put a dent in the coyote problem,” he said. “The feds don’t have the money to do the killing. They rely on us.”

The organized and regulated culling of predators to protect livestock is both reasonable and responsible conservation. Without the efforts of these hunters, working people would face economic hardship and wildlife would face excessive predator pressure. We look forward to the day when animal rights activists care at least as much about working Americans as they do about animals.

Click icons below to share this post

The annual Computer Electronics Show (CES) is a world-wide showcase for new technology. Geeks, computer nerds and tech enthusiasts converge on Las Vegas every year to experience and/or demonstrate the latest in high-tech gadgetry. So what seems to be the favorite forbidden pleasure of the technorati?…adult beverages?…gaming?…carnal amusement?…well yes but when they grow weary of these diversions they go to the range to fire weapons forbidden in the homelands.

“a weak dollar and tourists who jaded by strip joints. “With the weakened dollar, we get a lot of Canadians and Europeans, lots and lots of them,” Conn says. “We book bachelor parties and bachelorette parties, people who get tired of going to the topless bars.” Even sex, apparently, can get old.

Guns, by contrast, can be appreciated at any age, thanks to video games. “Kids coming in here with their parents can name every gun, because they use them in the video games they can tell you the rate of fire, what era it is from,” Conn says. “You can find a 12-year-old boy who will all about the guns and sub-machine guns that were used in the second world war — it’s amazing.”

Ballistic diversion at the Las Vegas Gun Range and Firearm Center

bang

Click icons below to share this post

“Those looking to feed their hunger for more outdoor activities can head inside to the Washington Sportsmen’s Show, the biggest outdoor show in the state, which brings together plenty of attractions, exhibits, seminars and kids’ activities.

The show will be held Jan. 27-31 at the Western Washington Fairgrounds in Puyallup.

The show also offers deals and show discounts on fishing and hunting gear, outdoor clothing, camping equipment, sport fishing boats, RVs and accessories.”

Click icons below to share this post