A USDA Forest Service Law Enforcement Officer was fatally shot Friday, March 5, at the Ocmulgee Bluff Equestrian Recreation Area on the Oconee Ranger District of the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in Jasper County.

The officer, Christopher Arby Upton, 37, of Monroe, GA, was on routine patrol in the area about 11 p.m.  Two individuals were hunting coyote with a high-powered rifle equipped with night vision and apparently mistook the officer for game. After the shooting, the hunters dialed 911 and reported a hunting incident.  

The Maryland Natural Resources Police (MNRP) charged Mathew Brian Hungerford Sr., 46 of Germantown, MD. with four counts of Theft over $1000 but under $10,000 and one count of Theft Scheme with a value over $10,000 but under $100,000.  The arrest is the result of a year long investigation into stolen property from hunting camps in Worcester and Somerset Counties.
   

By Tim Lawhern, President of the International Hunter Education Association (IHEA)

Ensure the young people graduating hunter safety courses in 2010 and beyond are the safest hunters yet while making effective use of your PR funds with the new IHEA Training Gun set, produced by Remington Outdoor Foundation.

The five firearms in the set include every action covered in IHEA's curriculum, plus they are completely disabled to be nonfunctioning so students can receive hands on training with a tool that simulates an actual firearm in every way except for live fire. The IHEA Training Gun Set eliminates liability issues because they are not capable of discharging during training or any other time.

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 5 -- The Texas Parks and Wildlife issued the following news release:

A four-year, multi-agency investigation that began when two Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Game Wardens received information about possible stolen property on two Northeast Texas ranches has ended with federal prison sentences for a father and son who pled guilty to transporting stolen property and wildlife trafficking.

August 13-15th, 2010 at The North American Game Warden Museum. For information and contacts please go to:

http://wardensonwheels.blogspot.com

Hope to see you there.

Rob Grainger

FWS to Propose Injurious Species Listing under Lacey Act

NEW YORK, NY – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will propose to list the Burmese python and eight other large constrictor snakes that threaten the Everglades and other sensitive ecosystems as “injurious wildlife” under the Lacey Act.