What Jonathan Martin, 43, of Greenfield (Ohio) told the judge at his sentencing for a string of recent wildlife crimes. Between 2004 and 2007 he was also convicted of poaching 4 Boone and Crockett-class bucks.
I don’t know what to make of that clown, he brings us all down.
Source: coshoctontribune.com
Most of you have never heard of Kirt Darner, legendary outfitter and hunter of the 1970s and 80s. Darner had 11 trophy heads in the record book. He had endorsement deals. The only reason he didn’t have his own TV show and website is that back in those days there were no hunting TV shows and websites. Darner was the man, especially when it came to killing monster mule deer.
Last month the man, age 69, pleaded guilty to multiple wildlife crimes, including the biggie--receiving stolen property (bighorn sheep heads). Darner must turn over his guns and can never hunt again; he will be fined (likely a pittance) and will pay restitution for some animals (could be hefty).
I met Kirt Darner in the early 1980s and talked with him on the phone for a year or so. I was a young, green editor who could hardly believe I was getting the chance to mentor the new hunting legend on his writing, which was very rough around the edges. As I recall, Darner was friendly and nice, with grand stories of stalking and shooting enormous animals in the Rockies. Like so many in the business, I ate it up hook, line and sinker.
After a while came the whispers that Darner was dirty—poaching, illegal outfitting and tagging, and other shenanigans. All of us, even the big-boss editors of the day, gave him the benefit of the doubt. While we were naïve and should have vetted Darner more closely, I understand how it happened. To this day even the cleanest, most honest hunter who kills giant deer is going to be accused of lying and cheating by an envious few. We just figured the jealous people were trashing Darner.
According to this story in the Denver Post, writer Rich LaRocca, with whom I also worked some back then and who ghost-wrote at least one of Darner’s books, heard the rumors, investigated and eventually came forth with evidence of some Darner dirty dealings. "Maybe he stole or poached all of them. I don't know," LaRocca told the Post. "I think he may have been corrupted right off the bat."
The rise and fall of Kirt Darner is a sad and sordid tale of how big egos and big money can corrupt hunting, not to mention fool a lot of smart people. The only good to come of this is that the Colorado Division of Wildlife estimates only about 2 percent of hunters cheat, poach or steal for fame, money and fortune.
BTW, about that picture, which I remember vividly. Darner was just getting famous, but he didn’t have any kill shots of animals for the magazines, so the big NY editors told him to take his mounted trophies outside and have staged photos taken. The picture appeared in Outdoor Life in 1981 (I think) and subsequently in other mags and books. Guess what? The monster was not Darner’s, but the rack came off a titan muley killed back in 1948! How and where Darner got it is still a mystery. The man was a piece of work.
From what I hear, Kirt Darner still lives on his pretty ranch in Colorado. He delivers fresh eggs to the locals as he awaits sentencing.
The #1 question I get from young guys: "Mike, I live to hunt and fish, so how do I get a job like yours?" I asked Adam Bender, with whom I corresponded last year, to guest blog on how he broke through and landed his dream job at Cabela’s (that's Adam w/big walleye).
I was a senior in college at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, at the point where a student starts to think about what he’ll do after graduation. I’d had a passion for writing since a young age and always wanted to be one of “those guys” who wrote for a magazine like American Hunter or Field & Stream. Growing up with a father that subscribed to every outdoor publication imaginable, I found myself immersed in articles. Whether it was reading about Chuck Adams’ getting one step closer to the Archery Grand Slam, or Mike telling you how to hunt big bucks in the rut, I read every word.
One comment from my e-mails with Mike stuck with me: “Adam, send every resume/portfolio you can and go full speed ahead.” I made it a priority to follow Mike’s advice, no matter how much the odds were stacked against me. The rejection letters came and the phone calls followed; 99.9 percent of the time I didn’t get the job because I was too young or I didn’t have any experience. This perplexed me and I asked Mike, “How am I supposed to get any experience if no one wants to give me a chance?”
Meet Dusan Smetana, America’s top outdoor photographer by a far shot IMO.
Dusan was born and raised in a small village in the Carpathian Mountains, where he spent his boyhood fishing for trout and hunting red deer and boar with his father. In Czechoslovakia, he studied forestry and photography. Long fascinated by cowboys and Indians in the American West, he eventually escaped the communist regime of his homeland. Today he lives, works, fishes and hunts in the great state of Montana.
I had the honor of working with Dusan for the first time on the John McCain interview back in June. He took the still photographs of the Senator, and of course they were fantastic. As we boarded the bus for the interview in the urban jungle of Arlington, VA Dusan looked around in some amazement and said (I paraphrase): “In Czechoslovakia it is an honor to be a hunter. In some places like this in America when you tell people you are a hunter they look at you funny and think the opposite.”
Think about that for while.
Then click over to Dusan’s website and kill some time browsing his incredible photographs, many of which have appeared in Field & Stream, Smithsonian, Nat Geo Traveler and other top publications. You will be amazed.
Enjoy Your Freedom & God Bless Our Troops
Hi Mike: Miss your deer columns in Outdoor Life. Are you doing any magazine writing these days, or are you just TV and a blog man now? Love the blog but I like reading magazines too. Let me know, Ken in NJ
Ken, thanks for checking in. Yes I'm still in the mag game, writing mostly for the NRA's American Hunter, where I got my break in the business back in the 1980s. Great times; I got to travel all over North America, shoot stuff I never dreamed I would ever get to hunt (moose, sheep, arctic caribou, etc.) and then write adventure articles about it. I can remember pecking out those 4,000-word stories on an electric IBM typewriter. You young guys have never even seen one of those. How weird and hard was it? One good article with all the edits and changes took weeks, sometimes a month.
BTW, that's me on the cover in 1988 with my biggest buck at the time. I was one of the first American writers to go up to Saskatchewan when they opened things up to non-residents. I made the most of it by somehow shooting this brute as he chased a doe in a hayfield at dusk. (I didn't really know jack about deer hunting at the time.) Rifle: Ruger M77 in .30-06 (since retired) and 150-grain Federal load. I shall never forget walking up to that dead deer, gasping for air and shaking (me, not the deer). I could not believe the enormity of rack (170") and body (320 pounds legit, we weighed him on cattle scales). Wild, man.
Anyhow, I'm back writing a monthly column for American Hunter and have a bunch of big-buck feature articles coming out later this summer and fall. Please check it out. If you're not an NRA member, sign up here and mark American Hunter as your magazine of choice.
From the AP and Yahoo News (click to read it all):
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the justices' first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. history.
The court's 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms laws intact.
This is a landmark decision, a great day for us and a tremendous defeat for the anti-gunners and by extension the anti-hunters.
One day in April 2004, two people went hunting on a Missouri farm, both had permission. Tragically, one hunter mistook the other for a turkey and shot him. The farmer was named as a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit because the accident occurred on his land. Attorneys for the deceased claimed the farmer could have warned the men that more than one person would be hunting there that day.
The suit made it all way to the Missouri Supreme Court, which ruled that a landowner who gives people free access is immune to injury or death lawsuits on his property.
The ruling didn’t get much ink, but I see it as a landmark precedent for hunting-land access. Suppose the court had ruled the farmer negligent? With the threat of a lawsuit hanging over their heads and ruining their lives, why would anybody ever give hunters permission again?
I sense this was a cut-dried ruling because Missouri has a Recreational Use Act that provides immunity for landowners who give free access for hunting, camping, etc. Your state may or may not have such a law.
It doesn’t matter. When somebody gives you permission to hunt his or her land, you and only you are responsible for your actions. Think about that the next time you load your gun, climb a tree, aim at a deer…you get the picture. Be careful and safe, hunt at your own risk.
BTW, I once met a guy who drafted a simple contract and offered it to every person he asked for permission. It said that he (the hunter) was hunting at his own risk, and that he would never sue the landowner for an accident. I don’t know how much legal weight such a disclaimer would carry, and I am not recommending it cause I’m no attorney. But the guy said you would not believe how many more awesome places he got to hunt because of it. I found that interesting.
Source: Daily Record and the Kansas City Daily News-Press
The Commerce Department reported today that retail sales jumped 1 percent in May, the biggest increase since last November and double what those high-brow economists had predicted. Many retailers had their best month in a year as more than 50 million hardworking Americans said to hell with $4 gas and ran out to blow their stimulus checks. So what did you get? New bow, arrows, gun, scope, binos, camo, trail-cam...? Please tell me it was something good :)
Halfway into the bus ride last Saturday the interview turned to hunting and conservation issues. Senator McCain said:
I am proud of my environmental record. I believe that somewhere along the line we (Republican Party) lost the Teddy Roosevelt commitment to the great outdoors, but at the same time I think the environmental movement was hijacked by extreme environmentalists. Teddy Roosevelt would never agree with Sierra Club on a broad variety of issues, that’s just a fact. I think we Republications let them become the voice of the quote “environmental movement” when we were clearly the leaders. We would never have the National Park Service we have today if it hadn’t been for Teddy Roosevelt. We Republicans are the environmental movement, and I believe we are now starting back towards the position we earned over generations.
One of my top priorities is to increase multiple-use of federal lands for hunting, fishing, camping, etc. It has to be done responsibly. We all know that 99% of the people who enjoy the outdoors take care of it better than anybody else.
Continue reading "John McCain on Hunting, Conservation & the Environment " »
