TN-Birders: Ooops! I just again read Scott Somershoe's Jan. 29 post about the "Sandhill season ?" What was I thinking ? Back in late February at a waterbird council meeting in Louisiana, TWRA guys were pushing "hard" for a Sandhill Crane harvest and management plan. The Commissioners of TWRA voted today to go ahead with plans to work on some kind of Sandhill Crane season in Tennessee. Details are yet to be worked out by TWRA, they always say it will take "years" to work up a management plan. Maybe by that time birders in Tennessee can work up a good sweat and get panicked about all this. This is why I wrote in my post of Jan. 26 that "Bob Hodge of the Knoxville News-Sentinel is not a blind hog that suddenly discovered an acorn. When seeds are planted in the right places, new ideas seem to sprout right up. It doesn't matter how long wildlifers have been jockeying for the right time to pull the trigger." Hodge had insider information all along and he knew what TWRA was going to do. I bet the agency guys were leaking this to get a sense for the heat. Hodge even appears to be light years ahead of Sommershoe, TWRA's State Ornithologist, who told us on TN-Birds Net that: "I would/should hear about plans long before any rule or regulation was passed since they are currently "non-game" species in TN and I'm the non-game bird guy with TWRA. I have heard nothing about a movement to open a hunting season and doubt it will actually happen anytime soon, specifically for all the reasons David Aborn listed. Hunting Sandhill's is not an issue here with TWRA as far as I can tell." Man can you believe your eyes ? TWRA sounds like a see no evil, hear no evil, know no evil show at the circus. Or else it is called wildlife doublespeak. Maybe this is what you get for having an office in the coat closet at the far end of an agency hallway beyond the furnace room in the basement of wildlife management in Nashville. When Bob Hatcher was over at TWRA you didn't see him peeking out of a coat closet. But, give Hatcher credit, he was not the State Ornithologist. We all knew him well and we all respected what he told us and he respected us. David Aborn said in his post on the Hodge article that, "Crane hunting is an issue that is definitely important, and I encourage everyone to participate in the process however they can. As I said, however, there won't be any hunting for a while, so let's get too panicked." David, I am still trying to get too panicked but TWRA and their newspaper mouth piece in Knoxville make me so nervous I just knee jerk. Sorry about that. I want to be cool about killing those freakin' things but it is hard. You know what I mean ? Let's go crane watching..... Wallace Coffey Bristol, TN ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott Somershoe" <Scott.Somershoe@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: "TN-Birds" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:51 AM Subject: [TN-Bird] Sandhill season? > Just a brief response to the general comments about Sandhill Crane hunting > = > in Tennessee. If this was to ever happen, I would/should hear about plans > = > long before any rule or regulation was passed since they are currently = > "non-game" species in TN and I'm the non-game bird guy with TWRA. I have > = > heard nothing about a movement to open a hunting season and doubt it will > = > actually happen anytime soon, specifically for all the reasons David Aborn > = > listed. Hunting Sandhill's is not an issue here with TWRA as far as I can > = > tell. > > In case you didn't know, a new Sandhill Crane license plate has been = > passed and approved by the State of TN. I found the proclamation online = > months ago after I got a call asking about it and I'd not heard anything = > about it. Not sure who submitted the crane for a tag, who is designing = > the tag, or who gets the $ raised by the sale of the tags, for example the > = > TWRA Watchable Wildlife fund gets $ from the Bluebird tag and we use that > = > $ to fund nongame research and conservation programs. I know nothing = > about the tag, but that it has been approved. A 1000 also have to be = > pre-ordered for it to actually happen as well. > > If you have questions about Sandhills, hunting, or the tag, contact me = > directly at: scott.somershoe@xxxxxxxxxxx=20 > > Cheers, > Scott > > State Ornithologist > Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency > P.O. Box 40747 > Nashville, TN 37204 > 615-781-6653 (o) > 615-781-6654 (fax) > =20 > UPS address: 440 Hogan Rd > Nashville, TN 37220 > =20 > FedEx address: 5107 Edmondson Pike=20 > Nashville, TN 37211 > > > =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== > > The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with > first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. > You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds > you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should > appear in the first paragraph. > _____________________________________________________________ > To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: > tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx > _____________________________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, send email to: > tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. > ______________________________________________________________ > TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society > Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) > endorse the views or opinions expressed > by the members of this discussion group. > > Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN > wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > ------------------------------ > Assistant Moderator Andy Jones > Cleveland, OH > ------------------------------- > Assistant Moderator Dave Worley > Rosedale, VA > __________________________________________________________ > > Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society > web site at http://www.tnbirds.org > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > > ARCHIVES > TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ > > EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES > Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp > Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif > Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com > > _____________________________________________________________ > > > =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________