I was raised in a household where firearms were common.  Truly behind ever door of every bedroom and in the back of every closet in our house you'd find a shotgun, a rifle, or perhaps both.    Dresser drawers and cabinets might hold a pistol.  You'd even find a gun or two in the outbuildings--hidden away, but standing by in case of the errant coyote or other need for firepower to protect livestock.

Guns in my home growing up were tools.  They served a purpose just like a rake, a hoe, a hay baler, and a tractor.   There was also a clear and standing rule when we were youngsters---never EVER touch one of those guns unless an adult is with you.   

My siblings and I were taught to shoot at an early age.   I was probably in Kindergarten or perhaps younger when I first shot a .22 rifle.   My dad used considerable care to make sure we all knew how guns worked and the need to shoot them accurately.  He also taught us a healthy dose of respect for those guns.  We'd carefully examine whatever was down range serving as a target.   The ripped holes in pop cans or milk jugs were plenty of motivation to always maintain a safe attitude.   Should that not be enough motivation, there was the secondary consideration of Daddy's belt on our backside.  Through proper training and discipline, our curiosity was well curbed of the temptation to pull out a gun when he or my mother or another adult wasn't around.   

I literally can never remember a time one of us got into trouble for messing with the guns.  I can also never remember a time I've had to discipline my own children for such a mistake.   Like my dad, I've also passed along all necessary information about guns to my children.  They are well aware of the responsibility and consequences of mishandling a firearm regardless of the outcome of such an incident. 

However, from time to time there is news of a tragedy.  A child playing with a firearm discovered in a home shoots themselves or shoots another child.  I cannot imagine the agony on a family and frankly I never want to.  

I write this as a reminder to all who have firearms in the home to make every effort to keep them out of the hands of curious children.   If you're going to have a gun--a lot of that curiosity can be removed if you teach the child how it's properly used and stress the need to use it responsibly.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation recently issued its recommendations for what to teach children in regard to gun safety.  They are wise notes to live by.

The four basic rules are:

--Always keep the gun's muzzle pointed in a safe direction.
--Treat every gun as if it were loaded.
--Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
--Know your target and what lies beyond it.

The National Rifle Association through the Eddie Eagle Gun Safety program teaches children in its workshops: 

When you see a gun.  Stop.  Walk away.  Find an adult.

Still, children will be children so it's incumbent on us to also maintain a great level of care to keep those guns away from tiny hands.    Many of my friends lock up their guns, which is a good practice.   If you aren't locking them up, by all means make sure they are stored UNloaded and the ammunition is stored in a separate place.  

I realize in West Virginia many tend to keep a handgun near the bedside.   That’s fine, but always keeps it secure.  I've often found there's a greater risk a youngster will find the gun before an intruder finds your home.  You have to be the one who weighs the risk of the two possibilities and plan accordingly.

Children are out of school for the summer and they'll be spending more time around the house than usual.  In many cases that will be unsupervised time and can often lead to disaster.   Take this column as a reminder and do a follow-up on your guns to make sure they're out of the way of youngsters. 

There's nothing at all wrong with having guns in a home, even when children are present.  Every citizen has the right to keep and bear arms, but along with that right comes the responsibility of making sure they are properly secured. 

Like so many Americans, I've watched the video of the oil slick in the Gulf with pangs of anger and pity.   It seems like the underwater camera showing the black fluid bleeding profusely into the most productive fishery in America is on one continuous replay loop.  

The aftermath has been horrific.   Black goo is coming ashore on the marshes.  Birds are coated in crude.  There's video of dead animals and fish and some very worried fishermen--both commercial and sportsmen.  It's the visions we've become accustomed to on a daily basis for more than a month.

I have fished in the Louisiana Delta.   I covered the first BassMaster Classic out of New Orleans.   I fished for the two days before the competition and rode along with the competitors as an observer for several more.   The Delta is an extremely prolific and productive area, although it wouldn't seem that way.    The swampy region is littered with sunken boats, abandoned shacks, and all manner of ancient oil drilling machinery.   

The oil companies had a fingerprint on the region well before the Deep Water Horizon disaster and that isn't always a bad thing.    I recall locking across the Mississippi River and fishing with two competitors in an area where the waterways were nothing more than a grid of canals, dug by the oil companies.  I'm not sure of the purpose of these perfectly straight waterways, but the intersections offered four points--and on each was prime habitat for bass.  

That habitat becomes mute if oil washes into that cross-stitch pattern of waterways near Houma, Louisiana. 

Everybody is scrambling to place blame, point fingers, start claiming damages, and trying to gain political leverage.   The first order of business should be to find a way to cap the well.    The broken pipe hemorrhaging black liquid from the ocean floor needs to be stopped. There will be plenty of time to place the blame.  

Once that time arrives--who gets the blame?   Certainly the case is clear that B-P bears responsibility.   How much responsibly will probably be a court question for which answers will be months or years away.  Lawsuits against various parties have been filed in the last few days and every resident of the Gulf Coast probably has an attorney on retainer for one claim or another.

It's hard to imagine what the monetary figure will ultimately be placed on this disaster.  It's also hard to imagine B-P covering the entire cost.   Pressed hard enough, BP could go bankrupt trying to pay for the disaster.   Extremists are cool with that, they'd love nothing more than all oil companies go out of business--and take the coal industry with them...same outfit.   However, if B-P is run out of business, they won't be around to help clean it up and ultimately pay for it.   That, as usual, will probably fall to "us" the U.S. taxpayers.

It's hard to imagine the Gulf region ever being the same again, but over time Mother Nature will heal herself.   Sometimes her timeline is far longer than we wish.   I'm no environmental engineer.   I don't know how long or even if the mess can be fixed.   I'm also no politicians, so I don't know how you’re supposed to play this to benefit somebody's political agenda.  Although I know somebody will.

What I am is a realist.  The truth is, despite the ugly images and the horrible damage, we still drive cars and use the products made from petroleum.  Ultimately we'll still need the oil, just like despite the dangerous and at times environmentally degrading work of coal mining--we still need to turn the lights on.   But, we also need the bounty the Gulf of Mexico produces oil, fish, and the tourism dollars generated by sport fishermen.  

I'm hoping those angry and divided groups presiding over this disaster and cleanup will find a way to put their differences aside long enough to stop the problem and clean up the mess.   Instead of rhetoric and finger pointing--somebody step forward, take charge, and shut down the blame part of the operation until the initial task at hand is complete.

Although not the one referenced in the story, this is a good picture of a Giant Oarfish.  The creature lives in more than 1,000 foot depths of the ocean.

I love to fish for a lot of reasons, but one of those is the fact that you never really know what you're going to catch.   It's true you can adjust your baits and your tactics to increase the odds of one particular species, but there's no law of nature that will prevent any number of fish from biting.

I've often been fishing for bass and hooked a catfish.    I've tried to catch crappie and caught bluegills.   I once hooked a bluegill and before I got him to the bank had a musky snapping at him.   It's the beauty of fishing, you just never know.  Not only are the mysteries on the other end of the line--you'll occasionally just come across them.  I once watched a bald eagle snatch a fish from the water on the New River.   I saw a most bizarre post-spawn salmon nearing death in the water's of the Snake River in Idaho.   I also saw a 10-foot mako shark break water twice in what looked like a scene from a Hollywood production while fishing off the coast of Virginia.

Kurt Eriksson has been fishing in his native country of Sweden for most of his 73-years.   I'm sure he's seen a lot too, but few things compared to what he recently found floating along the shore near his native Bovallstrand on the west coast of Sweden.   Ericksson retrieved a 12-foot "serpent-like object" from the water, thinking it might be a piece of plastic.  Marine biologist have determined what he found was the world's largest bony fish, a Giant Oarfish, last seen in Swedish waters more than 130-years ago.

He tells the Associated Press, "It was very long and shiny.  It had whiskers, even though it looked like they had been broken off.  And a strange light-pink dorsal fin."

The fish was dead and has been donated to a local aquarium.  They're still not sure what to do with it.  Biologist say the fish is a deep water dweller and was last recorded in Sweden in 1879.

Yep, it's the beauty of being on the water, you just never know what you'll pull out of the drink.

A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court this week constitutes a victory for hunting in the nation.    The court struck down a law aimed at criminalizing the depiction of anything ultimately judged to be cruelty to animals.    The definition of "animal cruelty" was considered too broad to make a reasonable judgment.

Congress wrote the law to make it illegal and punishable by up to five years in prison for the depiction of the killing or wounding of a live animal, if the act depicted was illegal in the state where the video or picture was sold.   Safari Club International was among those filing a "friend of the court" brief in the case.  They used the example of the sharp-tailed grouse which is legal for hunting in Idaho, but not in neighboring Washington.   By the law--the videos of a sharp-tailed grouse hunt would be illegal in Washington.   Closer to home, a similar example, it is illegal to kill an elk in West Virginia.  Any videos of hunting elk in Colorado would be illegal here along with pictures in any magazine of elk hunting in other parts of the country.   It's easy to see the slippery slope it would have created, a slippery slope animal rights groups were hoping for.

Advocates of the law argued hunting videos would be exempt because they fall under the "educational clause" to protect materials used for teaching about wildlife or instructional materials.  SCI successfully argued the lion's share of videos of hunting were not educational, but were in fact for entertainment, marketing of hunting equipment, and a recruiting tool to increase hunter numbers in the country.

The original case was challenged by a man who produced dog fighting videos.   He defended his right to produce those through the first amendment.   Congress, fueled by animal rights advocates, swept the ban into law without thoroughly considering the impact.   This happens a lot in Washington on a lot of issues.  Congress feels compelled to do "something" and whether it's the "correct action" or whether it will actually make a difference doesn't seem to matter.  

Nobody, including me, wants to take a position of defending dog fighting.  However, in zeal to throw up a road block to the ugly practice of dog fighting, lawmakers consequently swept away the rights of hunters.   Under this law outdoors magazines would have disappeared and your favorite outdoors programming on cable and satellite would have been a think of the past--along with the videos you can buy of various hunting and fishing trips.  It’s not a stretch to believe it may have been by design of the animal rights organizations. 

The Supreme Court made the right call and recognized once again that hunting--when practiced correctly and in accordance with sound management driven game laws--is an important part of the American landscape.  Thankfully, groups like SCI and others are standing by to be the watchdog as anti-hunting advocates use their considerable clout in DC to ram through proposals which throw the baby out with the bathwater.   

I'll be in Elkins this weekend for the 16th Annual Hooked on Fishing Not on Drugs event.

If you've never been to this gathering, it's well worth your time.  I'm amazed at the number of children who come through the doors of Elkins High School to participate.  Officials with the Randolph County HOFNOD organization estimate between 2,500 and 3,000 people will attend.

The Randolph County HOFNOD event is one of the best examples you'll ever see of a community taking ownership of a quality cause.   HOFNOD is a national organization with numerous chapters across the United States.   As the name would imply, it was started as a way to increase the interest in fishing among children during their formative years, in the hope it would steer them away from the tragic pitfalls that occasionally cripple youngster’s lives.  

The Randolph County School System started the program. It languished for the first few years, but eventually started to grow.  Like most things, funding and support withered in the schools and they were ready to drop the program and move on to something else.   Enter the DNR and Davis Memorial Hospital.  

Individuals with those two entities liked the idea and decided it was a cause worth saving and cultivating.   Their passion for the program was inspiring and soon more and more private businesses in the Elkins area were getting on board.  Conservation groups and school clubs were taking on volunteer tasks and private individuals were giving their time.   Soon the program had grown into one of the biggest HOFNOD events in the nation.   

Chairperson Robin Miller tells me they aren't rigid in following the national group’s guidelines, but that's okay.   The organizers in Elkins have made the program their own and customized it to something which works well for their community.  It's a testament to the value of allowing local people make decisions at the local level.

Miller says she's had requests from surrounding counties for her organization to come in and help start other events. So far most of those plans have fallen through the cracks, but she remains willing to help anyone get a program up and running.    Hopefully other communities will shape their own HOFNOD events, but the most important component of the Elkins event to consider is the high level of community support, involvement, and commitment.  Without that ingredient, nothing will move forward.

Randolph County should be proud of the job they've done on this worthwhile program with an extremely noble goal.  

My son Hank announced at the dinner table last night, "I get the TV at 6:00 Saturday night and Sunday night." 

I wondered whatever for--football season is over and he's not much of a TV watcher to begin with.   He then reminded me the weigh in of the Bassmaster Classic will be live on ESPN. 

The Classic is getting underway on Lay Lake in Alabama this weekend.   Although I don't pay as much attention to the world of bass fishing as I once did, I do have fond memories of covering the Classic as a reporter several years back. 

During the 2005 Classic in Pittsburgh, I got the opportunity to ride with noted professional angler Gerald Swindle.  Swindle is quite the character. He's from rural Alabama and has the accent and attributes of a classic son of the south.  But, don't judge a book by its cover.    As we rode from the hotel to the ramp for the first day's launch, "G" as he's known to fellow anglers, reached over and turned up the radio and said, "Hey that's Nellie."   I must confess I had no idea who he was talking about.  Apparently Nellie is a well known rapper, which explains why I was clueless.  

Swindle could also fish like nobody's business.  During the heat July, on the already difficult Mon River, I watched him boat five keeper bass in the span of 20-minutes.   Swindle pulled up on a piece of steel jutting out of an overgrown bank about six feet into the river.   Two submerged rocks were at the end--forming a current between them.  He worked his worm between those rocks on every cast and got a strike.  It was incredible to observe. 

During the 2000 Classic in Chicago, I had a chance to ride with Charleston's Russ Smarr.   Russ is one of only two West Virginians to ever fish the Classic.  Frank Haught was the first back in the 1980's.  Russ caught a lot of fish, but only one measured the required 12-inches.   

The Chicago Classic was on stormy Lake Michigan.    During one of the days I rode with a guy from Florida who insisted on heading into the big water with six-foot swells.   We would literally go airborne in the boat on one wave...then crash down and spear the next one.   It was quite a ride, but he was onto something.  Woo Daves won the tournament fishing along the break wall of the harbor in that choppy stuff. 

During the 1998 Classic, my first, the event was held at High Rock Lake near Greensboro, North Carolina.    It was the first year B.A.S.S. had a western division and I was paired with a young Californian fishing the event for the first time.  Today Skeet Reese is a household name among anglers.  I got to know him when nobody wanted to ride with him.   Skeet's a great guy.

The Bassmaster Classic held on the Louisiana Delta in 1999 was the first time the event went to the Big Easy.   It has returned several times since.  It was without question the hottest, muggiest place on earth in the middle of July.   It was also one of the best places to fish I've ever seen.   There are tons of stories from that event.     I covered the weigh-in inside the Superdome before Hurricane Katrina tore it apart.

Anglers were allowed to fish an area that was about 300-square miles.  One angler I drew said we were running to a place with a French name I couldn't pronounce.  I don't even remember it now.   However, he said it would be a long ride.  He wasn't joking.   It was a 2 and a half hour ride one-way.   It was so far we had to stop to fill up with gas and went through a lock on the Mississippi River!   The trip took us out into the Gulf of Mexico where we were running side by side with a school of dolphins!   As you can imagine on a trip this far and with the clock ticking, the guy was running his boat at only one speed--wide open.  It was a crazy ride and I get sore just thinking about the beating I took from the boat that day. 

When we arrived the area he was fishing was literally a grid of canals dug by oil companies.   It was a perfectly straight, checkerboard system of waterways.   Each intersection had four points--all of which looked "fishy."   You must remember, traveling time on this venture was literally five-hours round trip.  Therefore, to make it back by the check-in time, he had about an hour and a half at most to fish.    This guy was very tuned into his location.  We would travel a couple of miles and he'd stop on a specific point, throw five to ten casts and move on.    We stopped five times like that--and he put five fish in the live well.    On a sixth stop--he culled one with a very nice keeper bass.  However, his day ended there and he had to get going.  I was thoroughly impressed with the guy's skills.   A million things could have gone wrong.  It was a huge gamble.  He didn't win, but he finished in the top-10 and that was impressive. 

Anglers who win the Classic, fishing's most coveted prize, will tell you that's the way you must approach the tournament.   You have to be willing to take risks and make gambles that could easily become disasters--because there's always the chance they'll pan out and you'll etch your name into bass fishing lore.    There are no points for second place and it’s one of the few times a top-ten finish or even a runner-up finish isn’t good enough.   It’s largely a winner-take-all event.    That mindset makes fishing into incredible drama.

The caller to West Virginia Outdoors chided me for disparaging comments made about ice fishing.   Okay, perhaps I was a bit hasty in making jokes about "hard water fishing." 

I still don't relish the idea of fishing through a hole in a frozen lake.  However, I'm willing to acknowledge there are plenty of guys out there who do enjoy it. 

The caller from Huttonsville tells me he sets up the same blind he uses for hunting, fires up a small gas heater, and two guys can sit comfortably in tee-shirts working fish through the auger-drilled hole in the ice.    He argued its fantastic camaraderie and at least it's something to get you out of the house when the snow is blowing and temperatures are cold.

On those two points, I must admit he has a point. Any opportunity to do anything in the outdoors is a good one.   By now, it's likely we are all eaten up by cabin fever.   I've worn out my copy of the Cabela's and Bass Pro catalogs wishing for a day when I could use some of the stuff I've bought or am considering buying. 

Last weekend, I stared out the window at snowfall while I ran brushes and patches down the barrel of every single firearm I own.  I even cleaned my kids' pellet guns and air rifles.   I've taken apart every fishing reel, packed it in grease, cleaned away the grime, and reassembled it.  I re-spooled each rig with new line.  They're all just sitting there begging to be wet.     I've made repairs to law chairs, tent poles, bird feeders, power tools, radios, bathroom fixtures.   It's one of the few times I've truly been able to actually finish the honey do list and still be looking for outlets to occupy idle hands.    It's gotten so bad, that I've suggested to my wife we go to Home Depot and start buying materials for projects planned when the weather breaks.     My garage needs painting, the front porch banister is in need of replacement, the entire house needs pressure washed, and I need to put down a coating of grass seed on the lawn.   

Friends, I'm actually fantasizing about yard work.   That's just how long and harsh this winter has become.   Spring, rescue me.....NOW!

During an age when funding for almost everything seems to be scarce, the West Virginia DNR keeps plugging along.   The financial status of the agency charged with overseeing the state's wildlife is low when compared to other states and when one considers the high interest in hunting and fishing per capita of the state's citizens.

The DNR relies on license dollars to fund the bulk of all its work.    That money is bolstered by the federal excise taxes on the purchase of guns, ammo, motor boat fuel, etc.  As I've explained here before, the Pittman-Robertson and Wallop-Breaux Acts funnel that excise money back to state wildlife agencies based on the numbers of licensed hunters and fishermen.    Therefore the more licenses a state can count the more money it will receive.

West Virginia loses Millions of dollars every year because of a quirk in our licensing system.  Senior Citizens in West Virginia are not required to buy a license, therefore they cannot be counted when those federal excise dollars are distributed back to the state.  A year ago legislation that would have created a senior-citizen license at minimal expense failed in the legislature.  That failure was a blow to DNR coffers, but new legislation introduced this year threatens to be an even bigger blow.

Adding to the difficulties of House Bill 2943 is it's a hard one for lawmakers to oppose politically.   The legislation proposes a hunting and fishing license exemption to all armed forces veterans.   Think about how many people that will be.   Certainly the number of senior citizens in West Virginia is a big chunk of the population--but when you add in veterans amid ongoing conflict --the number increases exponentially and more and more money that would have come to West Virginia for wildlife and fisheries management heads to Ohio, Pennsylvania, California, and other states.  

The bill has placed the legislature in a no-win situation.  Those lawmakers who typically are supportive of programs aimed at preserving and enhancing hunting and fishing will be hard pressed to oppose such a bill.  What lawmaker wants to go into reelection nine-months after a voting against a bill that gives a benefit to a veteran? 

It's unclear what support the legislation will have, but in poses a dilemma for some lawmakers and another financial threat to our hunting and fishing in West Virginia. 

It comes around every January and it's the most fun you can have with hunting and fishing when there's really no hunting and fishing to be had.   I'm talking about the West Virginia Hunting and Fishing Show which opens today at the Charleston Civic Center.

Don't get me wrong, I realize there are some hunting seasons open in West Virginia.   There's plenty of enjoyment to be derived from coyote, grouse, and rabbit hunting.   Plus, if you're a die hard and willing to really work at it, you can throw together a mid-winter fishing trip.    But for most sportsmen, they're waiting for the weather to break and the wait is driving most nuts with cabin fever.

The cabin fever is what makes the show's date's perfect timing. Over the course of the next three days 15 to 20 thousand folks will pass through the doors for what's probably the biggest event of the year for the Civic Center.   

It's the 24th year for the show, which actually began in Beckley, has become a wintertime staple at the Charleston Civic Center.    One member of the trophy hunters said the show was considered one of the five best shows of its kind in the nation in 2009.   That's a pretty tall statement, but not a surprising one.   The West Virginia Trophy Hunters Association does a fantastic job with this event.  

Vendors love the show.  The obviously do well or there would not be so many repeat vendors every year.   Actually, if there's a knock on the show--that is the one it receives from time to time that things don't change much.  However, this year there are 30-new vendors at the show plying everything from a Safari in South Africa to a pack of beef jerky.     Vendors will also tell me the West Virginia show is a tremendous value for their dollars with one of the lowest show fees in the country.  

Although the price of admission jumped by a dollar this year, the show for the public remains affordable.    There are few things you can do for the weekend for $7 that last all day and include so many things to see and do.  

The reason the West Virginia show is so successful and so popular is because of the Trophy Hunters organization.   Other outdoor shows are promoted by a single promoter or a promotion company.  Their business and livelihood are derived from the fees they charge vendors and the admission prices.    The Trophy Hunters are just a bunch of guys who love hunting and fishing and are deeply concerned about the future of those activities.    The Trophy Hunters don't live or die by the amount of money they make.  They don't do the show for a profit--they do it for a love of the outdoors.   The show's proceeds are used to pay the bills and anything left over is dolled out to various conservation organizations and worthwhile causes that promote or in some way benefit hunting and fishing activities in West Virginia.    The Trophy Hunters are benefactors for a number of DNR programs and help enhance many conservation efforts all year. 

This year I'll be doing another special edition of West Virginia Outdoors from 10am to 1pm on Saturday on our flagship station 58-WCHS in Charleston.  We'll be live on the show floor.  I hope you'll come buy and see us or if you can't make it, you'll listen in. 

I had an interesting conversation this week with Gary Knapp of the West Virginia Bear Hunters Association.  Gary is fresh off a fight--and a victory over a highly restrictive tethering ordinance for dogs in Kanawha County.    The result was a compromise that makes amends for hunting dogs.     Gary mentioned during our discussion that he came away from this matter with a different view of those we often look upon with fear and some disdain.

"It used to be that if they were for something, I was against it," said Knapp about the Humane Society. "I'm now convinced they aren't all as far left and as bad as I thought they were."

He's right about that.  Extremists tend to sour attitudes on a lot of things.   During the discussion of the ordinance, many in Kanawha County's humane organization revealed they truly had no animosity toward hunters or their use of hunting dogs.  That was a refreshing revelation.   However, before we join hands and start singing Kum-Bah-Ya, it should be noted there were several in the fray who adamantly opposed the idea of any compromise and truly have an agenda to end the use of dogs for hunting--and frankly to end all hunting.   They're never going away and they do have more strength and backing than we like to think. We should NEVER forget that. 

However, I can see Gary's point.  I've never really written much about it, but I bet if we all searched our brains we could find certain activities where we have some common ground with those on "the other side."

One example comes right down to the dog ordinance itself.  I personally don't like the idea of a neglected animal, chained constantly to a doghouse, unfed, uncleaned, and unkempt.   That IS cruel--and frankly should be a criminal act.  

Another matter that bothers me greatly is canned hunting in a high fence area.   This is one of the most indefensible styles of hunting.  I frankly don't consider it hunting at all.    It takes little to no skill to take a position in a high fence area where a farm raised uber-buck is guaranteed to walk --or be driven-- by the farm owners.   There are some outrageous cases in which the animals have literally been drugged to make them even easier to kill.    Those who participate in such activity should be ashamed and the practice should be outlawed.   However, if you have the money--you can guarantee yourself a spot hunting on somebody's game farm and a big trophy to hang on the wall for all your dollars--er, I mean efforts.  Ahem.  Therefore, I don't see this going away anytime soon.

Surveys of the general US population in recent years find the majority of the non-hunting public generally supports the idea of hunting, especially if the hunting is done to provide a food source, to control an animal population, and is done in a fair-chase setting.  Hunting exclusively for a trophy head is less acceptable, but when it's a byproduct of the aforementioned activities for table fare, and done in a fair-chase method, it remains ethically acceptable. 

We need to be vigilant about such things.  As hunters, we have the duty of self-policing and practicing ethical hunting ourselves, to protect the rights we enjoy.   During the Kanawha County Commission's approval of the dog tethering ordinance, Commissioner Kent Carper pointed out if animal control staff discovers a pattern of abuse of the hunting dog exemption, the matter will be revisited.  It shouldn't be a problem.   Those working on the ordinance looked back at the violations written for animal cruelty and there wasn't a single case of hunting dogs being abused.  

Perhaps we can all learn something from the exercise in Kanawha County, but be ever careful to do things right and keep the guard up when it comes to our own activities.