Hollywood Calling? New Outdoor TV Show Host Wanted

Hey, who doesn't want to be a movie star right? A new outdoor TV show is looking for someone who can hunt, fish & knows survival skills. Looks like they are wanting someone with a face that doesn't scare small dogs so that rules most of my hunting buddies and me out.

If interested, contact Mike at OutdoorTV@live.com

Bass Pro Fall Classic Booth Pics

Every August Bass Pro Shops is kind enough to let us man a couple of booths at their stores. Bryce Mann from our JHO staff has been working a booth at the Manteca CA store and I've been doing my part at the Rancho Cucamonga CA Store.

Here's some pics of the fun we have teaching kids the sounds of the animals and how to make the calls for them too. We also enjoy meeting the outdoorsmen and women who visit the stores.

We'll be at the Bass Pro stores 1 more weekend Aug 21-23 2009. I will be at the Rancho Cumcamong CA store and Bryce will also be doing seminars on upland hunting and upland dogs at the Las Vegas Bass Pro Store. Stop on by for a free JHO decal.

Young hound dawg and owner stopping by to say hello.



Jim Matthews, outdoor writer and owner of Outdoor News Service, passing out info.



Boy learning how to run a turkey boxcall. The girls pick up how to run the calls a lot faster than the boys for some reason.



Brother and sister goofing with the rattlin' antlers.



Skip Clemens from Adventure Hunts and Jesse (me) from JHO.



Skip and his wife at California Pizza Kitchen in the nearby Victoria Gardens Mall.



Jim Matthews and his wife Becky at California Pizza Kitchen in the nearby Victoria Gardens Mall

Chasin' The Albacore in Mexico Part 2

Cleaning the house can sometimes turn up long lost gold. The last much needed purge here produced a fishing video tape I have been looking for the past 3 years. The tape had fallen down in between the headboard and mattress on the bed. Ah, the life of a bachelor, I guess that gives away how long it's been between thorough cleanings here in Camp Happyland.

The video is of my albacore fishing trip with Rick (Westy) and Mike (FF&F) to Mexico on the Pacific Queen in June 2005.

It was a little early for a WFO (Wide Freakin Open) bite but we were antsy and wanted some rail time to cure the long off season blues. We lucked out and had pretty calm seas the 2 days we were on the water. We launched out of Fisherman's Landing in San Diego, the heart of the tuna fleet for SoCal. The regular Captain of the Pacific Queen, Bill Cavanaugh, was not going with us due to a new baby coming so we set sail with a substitute captain manning the boat.

It wasn't long until albacore were boiling on our chum line.

Part 2

Chasin' The Albacore in Mexico Part 1

Cleaning the house can sometimes turn up long lost gold. The last much needed purge here produced a fishing video tape I have been looking for the past 3 years. The tape had fallen down in between the headboard and mattress on the bed. Ah, the life of a bachelor, I guess that gives away how long it's been between thorough cleanings here in Camp Happyland.

The video is of my albacore fishing trip with Rick (Westy) and Mike (FF&F) to Mexico on the Pacific Queen in June 2005.

It was a little early for a WFO (Wide Freakin Open) bite but we were antsy and wanted some rail time to cure the long off season blues. We lucked out and had pretty calm seas the 2 days we were on the water. We launched out of Fisherman's Landing in San Diego, the heart of the tuna fleet for SoCal. The regular Captain of the Pacific Queen, Bill Cavanaugh, was not going with us due to a new baby coming so we set sail with a substitute captain manning the boat.

It wasn't long until albacore were boiling on our chum line.

Part 1

YouTube & Fair Use

Gee, what's the big deal, it was on the Internet so it's gotta be free to download right?

Anybody who's been around the Wild Wild Web very long has been to YouTube to watch a video or two. Many of the most watched videos are filmed by the Average Joe or Jane, who then dub in a music track from a well known band. Word spreads of their outstanding production and then one day they get the dreaded "Cease and desist" letter. Shortly thereafter their video is unceremoniously taken down. Who's right? "Why can't we use music in our videos?" is the cry heard round the Internet jungle.

To wit,


The copyright laws are an morass of lawyer mumbo jumbo but most folks try and run with the "Fair use" exception that allows certain uses of copyrighted material. Recently a court case was filed that may shed some light on this using copyrighted music on video issue. Los Angeles Times Article. A woman in PA is suing Universal Music Group after they had YouTube pull her video off because she had used some of Prince's music on a short video of her kid dancing around. The woman is claiming "Fair Use" for a defense in her case. Gonna be interesting the precedent this case will set.

Where do you stand? Should an artist's work product be protected under the copyright laws even if it's for personal use? Or for commentary or parody? Should this new generation, born with a mouse in their hand, be held to the same standards as us older folks were or do they get new rules to live by in the switched on computer age?

Time will certainly tell.

Take The Wood To These Folks, PLEASE!!!!

A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle fish wrap by Tom Stienstra about a poacher busted with a bunch illegally taken game has me wondering when our courts systems will finally put the wood to these folks. The wrist slaps simply are not working.

At the recent California Fish & Game Commission meeting here in Upland CA the commissioners talked about raising the current fines and penalties for the commercial poachers since the current laws are not working to deter folks from raping our natural resources. I think the egregious poachers also need to be lumped in with the commercial poacher law change.

One simple violation like shooting too late would be just a small fine. If you get caught with multiple violations or are a repeat offender than they throw the book at you. Maybe a 2 strikes and you're out dealio. Wardens tell us the current fines are no deterrent when the poacher can make 10X the fine selling the poached game. The solution seems simple, raise the fines to where it really hurts and add in some mandatory jail time. That should get their attention for starters. The commission also talked raising the serious poaching cases to felony level. Whatever it takes, I've had a bellyful of seeing someone caught way WAY over the line and they get a simple $100 fine and back out they go to do it all over again.

I also think the guys poaching for trophy game should also be lumped into the harsher punishment category. Some states have already taken action to stop the trophy poachers with the Samson Law. This legislation significantly increases the penalties associated with the poaching of trophy big game animals. Heck, I'd vote for 1/2 hour with a belt sander being applied but I don't think that's going to fly

I believe the trophy poachers are the worst as they leave the headless animal to rot in the woods or field, many times in plain sight of a road where all can see. Dad and I found a headless whitetail like this near Swan Lake NWR several years back. It really left an empty feeling in me that someone could be so callous in regard to our wildlife and hunting traditions. They simply shot the buck from their vehicle, hopped out with a Sawzall and cut the head off and hopped back in and scrammed. Maybe took them 5 minutes to do their handywork.

What else can we do to stop this nonsense? Store your state's poaching tip line in your cellphone. If your state doesn't have a tip line ask them, "Why Not?" Carry a small digital camera with you in the field. If you see something that raises your suspicions take some pics. You don't need to confront the bad guys, just make the call and let the wardens and cops do their job. In some states they even offer rewards for the tips. You can remain anonymous and help weed out the dirtbags who steal from the community. We also need to educate and put pressure on our local district attorneys and judges who are the ones lowering the boom. Many times they don't understand the severity of these crimes and how they affect our image to the non hunting or fishing public.

What do you think? Are the current poaching laws and punishment fair or do you think we need to tighten the screw a bit? How does your state operate? Do they have a tip line?

P.S. That big whitetail buck above, he was poached on Swan Lake NWR in Missouri and the guy was caught. The mount is on display in the refuge office.

The Wild Wild Web, YouTube & Dinosaurs

They say dinosaurs faded out when they failed to adapt to changes on the planet here. Today I see the same thing happening with the Internet and the current dinosaurs who say "I don't get the Internet". How could you not get the Internet? It's like a huge library at your grubby finger tips. You can research a lodge for a fishing trip, check out pics to see what a jaguarundi really looks like and so much more. What kid didn't stare in wonder the first time they walked into the school library, all that info and such a short a time to cram it into our small melons.

Fast forward to the video age on the web today, online video is so dominant I'm thinking about turning off my DirectTV satellite. I can get all my hunting shows now on MyoutdoorTV.com. I watch the local news channels OTA (Over The Air), you know, the old TV antenna on the roof setup except now it's a digital HDTV feed to the big screen. It's all free too once you buy the HDTV tuner box. Who needs Sat TV anymore, especially at $100+ plus a month if you get the better packages? The only real channels I'll miss is my hockey which I can now watch on the laptop too.

Oh and about those dinosaurs, I recently bumped into a couple who questioned the free videos I shot of their company youth event and posted on YouTube. A few members of this companies' board were moaning the fact my YouTube video was ranked #3 in a Google search for their event and they were talking of having me pull the video. I had a verbal go ahead to film but some of the board members were not in the loop and had some heartburn over the videos. You'd have to be a fool to turn down free Google 1st page ranking like that promoting your product, especially when the video was geared to the younger generation which this company wants to attract. The company had filmed a commercial and some other video for TV broadcast at this same event but how many teens do you see sitting in front of a TV now days? It's the computer, Ipod or cellphone mostly that I see the kids paying attention to.

The links that are created with these videos and the websites that these links are posted on are what makes the web go round. It's the glue that holds this magic all together. So much so Google ranks linkage and the traffic on those links very high in the indexing of a website. The more links you have to high traffic websites the more golden you are, literally. For the small mom & pop companies this is the edge they need to get noticed, their foot in the door of the outdoor market. With a $500 camcorder, some $100 editing software and a decent computer you can produce your own promotional videos or "how to" video blogs (Vblogs).

I guessing if you're reading this you get the Internet but how many of your family or friends don't get the wild wild web? What are their reasons?

Have you embedded lately?

Goobermint Run Amok

Brace yourself, this one's as painful as watching a 2 year old get a splinter removed. It's complete with the same caterwauling and foot stomping.

Most of the states now have online licensing where you can walk into many stores and buy your hunting or fishing licenses. Eazy, peazy, Japanezy. You'd think California, being the high tech hotbed we are, would be one of the first states to adopt this time and money saving system. But Nooooooo. We're are currently in year 13 of trying to get the ALDS (Automated License Data System) up and running.

At the June 26th 2008 California Fish & Game Commission meeting the ALDS project manager gave the commission the current sitrep. It was brutal. Commissioner Daniel Richards called the current ALDS situation a "trainwreck". The project was started in 1995 and the DFG is still getting excuses from the contractor, Outdoor Central Inc., on why they can't perform. They don't even have a date for delivery yet, maybe 2010 is the new guess. The commission is JUST NOW asking for milestones from the contractor.

Unbelievable!!!

From what I can gather the commission does not have performance bonds on this contract, something that is standard practice in the business world to prevent this kind of mess. In my opinion it's high time to fire the contractor and sue them for non performance.

Link to Commission video If you want to view the debacle it's at the 2 hour 54 minute mark.

I know some coders you could supply pizza to for 2 months who could hammer this online system out. I'm still digging trying to find out how much of our money DFG has peed away down this black hole.

Some of the commissioners mentioned Idaho and Oregon having up and running systems and wondered why California is so behind. ALDS project manager Reyes said the contractor first tried to piggyback on the code they already have up and running for other states but then they had a management loss and upheaval. Then the contractor decided the piggyback wasn't going to work and because CA is soooooo different we need "special" code written for us special folks.

The final insult to injury was hearing the contractor has only "about" 25% of the "special" code done according to DFG. Reyes looked looked like a deer caught in the headlights at the commission meeting. "I'm holding their feet to the fire", Reyes said when asked what was being done to correct the problem.

"A pig in poke is what we got heruh", as my grandpa would say.

Do you have online licensing in your state? If you do how long have you had it? Do you like it or not?

Happy Father's Day To All The Dads

I have to admit that without my Dad's passion for hunting and fishing that I probably wouldn't have been able to run around the lakes and woods as much as I did as a kid. Thank you Dad for taking the time to introduce me to the outdoors. I still stare in rapt wonder at many of the critters and plants I see while outdoors. Nature is the best classroom I've ever attended.

3 cheers also for all the Dad's out there who pass on this fine tradition we have of hunting and fishing to our children.

Here's a pic of Dad with his bow up near Mark Twain Lake in MO before they flooded the area to make the lake.