Gun Talk Radio

MANDEVILLE, LA --(Ammoland.com)- Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk welcomes KTGO AM as the latest affiliate to add the nationally-syndicated radio talk show to their schedule.

KTGO 1090 AM, located in Tioga, North Dakota, airs Gun Talk live on Sundays from 1PM – 4PM Central Time.

“It’s great that gun owners in northwest North Dakota will now be able to join our conversations about guns, the shooting sports, self defense, and gun rights,” said host Tom Gresham.

“Whether you are buying your first gun or have been shooting since you were in grade school, you’ll enjoy the conversations on Gun Talk.”

About:
In its 17th year of national syndication, Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk Radio airs live on Sundays from 2PM-5PM Eastern, and runs on more than 130 stations, plus on XM (Ch. 165) Satellite Radio. All Gun Talk shows can be downloaded as podcasts at http://www.guntalk.libsyn.com and Apple iTunes, or through one of the available Apps: the Gun Talk iPhone App, the Blackberry Podcast App, the Android App and the Gun Talk App for Android on Amazon. More information is available at www.guntalk.com.

American Deer & Wildlife Alliance

AUSTIN, Texas --(Ammoland.com)- On Nov. 2nd, North Dakota voters will consider Measure 2, a ballot initiative which could restrict hunting opportunities and land owners’ rights.

The American Deer & Wildlife Alliance (ADWA) reaffirms its support for freedom of choice among sportsmen in all forms of hunting and private property rights for land owners.

The ADWA strongly believes support for all forms of hunting creates more hunting opportunities, provides greater accessibility for sportsmen of all ages, and helps preserve our American outdoor traditions.

“Measure 2 will ban certain types of hunting, cost thousands of jobs in the state and - even more disturbing – take away a land owner’s right to do what they want with their own property,” says John Meng, president of ADWA.

“Private property rights are the cornerstone of America. If North Dakota’s Measure 2 is passed, sportsmen will have less opportunities to hunt and we all lose a bit more of our freedom. We lose more of what makes us Americans.”

If approved, the ballot initiative known as Measure 2 will ban hunting preserves and prevent sportsmen from deciding for themselves how and where to hunt. In addition, the measure will make it a criminal offense for someone to operate a game ranch which involves privately-owned big game or exotic mammals.

The American Deer & Wildlife Alliance is a non-profit organization working to promote the deer and wildlife industry and to preserve our American outdoor traditions. As a part of its public education efforts, ADWA produces Points Journal, a full-color magazine covering industry news, wildlife management issues, products and services; Spikes Magazine, a quarterly youth publication distributed to summer camps and public libraries across the country; and the www.iHuntAmerica.com website, a comprehensive search engine for hunting ranches, game preserves and outfitters. ADWA also sponsors Keith Warren’s Deer & Wildlife Stories, which airs on the Pursuit Channel, and the Outdoor Patriot, an online podcast which features commentary and industry guests.

For more information on the American Deer & Wildlife Alliance and/or to become a member, please call 877.331.8607 or visit www.deerwildlifealliance.org.

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, the American Deer & Wildlife Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to the growth of the deer and wildlife industry, and to help educate consumers and the youth on the conservation issues which effect deer and wildlife as well as the industry. For more information on the American Deer & Wildlife Alliance, call 877.331.8607 or visit www.deerwildlifealliance.org.

Pheasants Forever

Grafton, ND-(Ammoland.com)- Dedicated pheasant hunters with high interest in conservation have formed the newest Pheasants Forever chapter in North Dakota. Known as the North Valley Pheasants Forever Chapter, the Walsh County group has rallied around introducing youth to outdoor activities.

“My family and I have been passionate about pheasant hunting and conservation for many years,” explained Jared Pokrzywinski, a Grafton, North Dakota, resident and the chapter’s first president.

“With the current decline of outdoor interest from the next generation, I feel it’s important to promote activities to spark an interest in the outdoors from today’s youth.” North Valley Pheasants Forever joins the national Pheasants Forever organization’s No Child Left Indoors® initiative, a nationwide movement to get kids unplugged from electronics and turned on to the outdoors.

The chapter will do this through activities such as mentored youth pheasant hunts and youth outdoor field days.

North Valley Pheasants Forever is the 29th chapter in North Dakota, and like all Pheasants Forever chapters nationwide, will retain control of the funds it raises.

Pheasants Forever provides its local chapters the ability to decide how 100 percent of their fundraised dollars are spent. This local control gives chapters and members the ability to make things happen for wildlife in their communities, while belonging to a national organization advocating for wildlife and conservation in policy discussions in Washington, D.C.

“North Valley Pheasants Forever is dedicated to the future of pheasants, pheasant hunters, and the success of conservation,” explained Jesse Beckers, Pheasants Forever’s Regional Wildlife Biologist in North Dakota. “The chapter leaders and volunteers share common excitement for helping youngsters find themselves in the outdoors. The best way to make a difference is by getting involved, which this promising new Pheasants Forever chapter is doing.”

North Valley Pheasants Forever
The North Valley Chapter of Pheasants Forever has also elected LuWanna Lovcik of Pisek as treasurer; Merlyn Feltman of Grafton as banquet chair; and Ken Miskavige of Grafton as youth/education chair.

North Valley Chapter plans to hold its first banquet the winter of 2010-2011. The chapter is already being supported by local companies such as AgriMaxx and Grafton-Inn Gun Club.

Pheasants Forever is dedicated to the conservation of pheasants, quail and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public awareness, education and land management policies and programs.

Ducks Unlimited

BISMARCK, ND --(Ammoland.com)- A large majority of North Dakotans support conserving the state’s best water, natural areas and wildlife habitat through dedicated state funding and by providing landowners the tools they need to conserve their property, according to a poll released today by Ducks Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, Audubon Dakota and the North Dakota Natural Resources Trust.

Conducted by a bipartisan research team, the survey results clearly demonstrate that by a wide margin North Dakota voters support conservation and approve of expanding upon current efforts to better protect the state’s natural areas, water, and wildlife habitat. Specifically, voters favor dedicating state funding for conservation, allowing landowners to sell their property to non-profit conservation organizations, and permanent conservation easements.

The poll found that 67 percent of voters support dedicating state funding for conservation. Voters are nearly twice as likely to strongly support setting aside state money to protect North Dakota’s lands and waters than to strongly oppose such an action. Support for dedicating state funding for conservation is not only deep but also broad, with voters from every region of the state and from a wide variety of demographic groups in the state backing the concept.

“The state is changing and it’s clear that a sizeable majority of North Dakotans agree that it’s time to preserve our best lands and waters, including by increasing state funding for conservation,” said Keith Trego, executive director of the North Dakota Natural Resources Trust.

Genevieve Thompson, vice president and executive director of Audubon Dakota, agreed. “North Dakota residents love the outdoors. And they want to conserve their water, wetlands, wildlife habitat and native prairies.”

The poll also showed that an overwhelming majority of North Dakotans — 85 percent — support allowing landowners to sell their property to conservation organizations. Support is overwhelming even among voters who make a living from agriculture — 83 percent among those at least somewhat reliant on agriculture favor allowing landowners to sell their property to conservation organizations.

In addition, three-in-five North Dakota voters support allowing conservation organizations to use permanent easements as a strategy for conserving natural areas, water, and wildlife habitat in the state. More than 60 percent of voters support conservation easements, or voluntary land preservation agreements, that allow landowners to continue to own, work and maintain their property but ensure that the land is not developed.

“There seems to be a disconnect between what North Dakotans want and the state allows, especially regarding laws that keep landowners from conserving their property with a permanent conservation easement or by selling it to a conservation group,” said Steve Adair, director of Ducks Unlimited’s Great Plains Office in Bismarck.

Peggy Ladner, director of The Nature Conservancy in North Dakota, said she hopes the results released today will prompt state leaders to step up and provide the tools needed to conserve North Dakota’s best lands and waters.

“We’re hopeful that state lawmakers will recognize that this is both what the public wants and what is best for North Dakota,” she said. “By conserving key lands and waters, we protect the quality and quantity of our water supply, mitigate flooding, control erosion, preserve grazing lands and ensure the state remains a great place to live, work and explore.”

The telephone poll of 400 likely voters from throughout North Dakota was conducted between April 6 and April 8 by the bipartisan research team of Public Opinion Strategies, a Republican political and public affairs research firm, and Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz and Associates, a Democratic research and public policy analysis firm. The poll’s margin of error for the full sample is 4.9 percent.

See Clint Eastwoods Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum revolver used in Dirty Harry.

National Rifle Association

Fairfax, VA --(Ammoland.com)-National Firearms Museum Senior Curator Doug Wicklund will be at the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in Medora, North Dakota, June 12-13.

The “Gun Road Show” takes place at the Cowboy Hall of Fame Saturday and Sunday, and Wicklund isn’t coming empty handed — he’s bringing the famous Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum revolver Clint Eastwood used in Dirty Harry.

Wicklund will be evaluating firearms from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday and 12 to 3 p.m. Sunday at the Hall, located at 250 Main Street in Medora. Organizers have established a one-firearm-per-person limit, and require each participant to have their gun checked at the door.

On Saturday, Wicklund will present a free seminar titled “Guns of the West” at 7 p.m. Learn about the famous guns of outlaws and lawmen as well as Hollywood firearms that won the cinematic West, many of which are on display at the National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, VA.

“The last time I was in Medora, some fantastic guns came in for me to review,” Wicklund said. “I’m looking forward to seeing more pieces of Western history.”

The North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame is the interpretive center for the history of Native Americans, ranching, rodeo, and the western lifestyle of the plains and Badlands. Designed by Bismarck architect Arnie Hanson, the 15,000-square-foot building, with a 5,000- square-foot patio, is located in downtown Medora, N.D., at the gate of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

For more information on the National Firearms Museum, visit nramuseum.org.

National Rifle Association

FAIRFAX, Va.--(AmmoLand.com)- Chuck Russell of Bismarck, North Dakota, is the winner of the 5th Annual National Survey conducted by the National Rifle Association’s Friends of NRA program. He received the grand prize of a Ruger Signature Series Mark I .22 pistol. Chucks’s name was chosen from over 1,500 people that submitted surveys this past year.

A NRA member who has attended Friends of NRA banquets for years, Chuck had never before won anything from an event and was very excited about his early Christmas present.

Friends of NRA is a grassroots fund-raising program that fosters community involvement, raises money and gives 100% of the net proceeds to qualified local, state, and national programs.

For the fifth year in a row, Friends of NRA banquet attendees had the opportunity to fill out surveys asking about their recent experiences at their local Friends of NRA banquet. Their feedback provides insight as to how Friends of NRA staff can improve events and better cater to communities in the future. Friends of NRA banquets support community services such as firearm education, hunter safety, wildlife conservation, range improvements, youth marksmanship, and law enforcement, among others.

Participation in next year’s contest starts January 1, 2010. Attend a Friends of NRA banquet in your area, fill out the survey, and become eligible to win a Winchester 1300 Pump Action Shotgun 12GA. The contest deadline is December 8, 2010.

For additional information on the 2009 Friends of NRA Survey please call 1-800-672-3888, ext. 1354. You may also visit www.friendsofnra.org/events to locate an event or banquet in your area.

About:
Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military.

Pheasants Forever

Saint Paul, Minn. – -(AmmoLand.com)- Pheasants Forever is expanding its Farm Bill Biologist program in North Dakota with the addition of two new positions created in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and local Soil Conservation Districts. Matthew Olson of Fort Ransom, North Dakota, is the new Farm Bill Biologist based out of Forman and Jeff Potts of Watertown, South Dakota, is the new Farm Bill Biologist based out of Dickinson.

Pheasants Forever’s Farm Bill Biologist program is designed to educate farmers and landowners – through one-on-one consulting – about the benefits of conservation programs (such as the federal Conservation Reserve Program, or CRP), as well as assist those farmers and landowners after programs have been implemented. Pheasants Forever first began employing Farm Bill Biologists in 2003 and now has over 45 Farm Bill Biologists working in seven states – Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Farm Bill Biologists have contacted and consulted over 28,000 landowners, resulting in the improvement of over 1.3 million acres of land for wildlife.

“These positions come at an especially critical juncture for North Dakota, where nearly 775,000 acres have expired from the wildlife-friendly CRP in the past five years and another 1.8 million acres are slated to expire in the next five years,” said Jim Inglis, Pheasants Forever’s Farm Bill Biologist Coordinator, “With continuous CRP practices and other conservation programs, landowners have numerous conservation options. The challenge has always been informing them, and these Farm Bill Biologists meet that challenge head on.”

Matthew Olson
A native of Fort Ransom, North Dakota, Olson joins Pheasants Forever after four years with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. An avid outdoorsman, Olson has an excellent knowledge of the Forman and surrounding area. Olson earned his B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Management from North Dakota State University. He is based out of the Wild Rice Soil Conservation District Office in Forman and can be contacted at (701) 724-3247 or via email at molson@pheasantsforever.org.

Jeff Potts
Potts joins Pheasants Forever after earning his B.S. in Wildlife Fisheries and Science from South Dakota State University. He already has extensive experience in the natural resource field, having worked previously with the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks as a wildlife technician and a land/habitat intern. Potts is based out of the NRCS office in Dickinson and can be contacted at (701) 225-3811 x118 or via email at jpotts@pheasantsforever.org.

Pheasants Forever also has a Farm Bill Biologist position in Jamestown, North Dakota. Steve Stensgard can be contacted at the Jamestown NRCS office (701)252-2521 ext. 129 or via email at SStensgard@pheasantsforever.org. For more information on Pheasants Forever’s Farm Bill Biologist program, contact Jim Inglis, Pheasants Forever’s Farm Bill Biologist Coordinator, at (419) 569-1096 or via email at jinglis@pheasantsforever.org.

About:
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are non-profit conservation organizations dedicated to the protection and enhancement of pheasant, quail, and other wildlife populations in North America through habitat improvement, land management, public awareness, and education. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever has 125,000 members in 700 local chapters across the continent.

For additional information please visit www.PheasantsForever.org and www.QuailForever.org

Pheasants Forever

Bottineau, N.D. --(AmmoLand.com)- Residents from Bottineau County, North Dakota have formed the newest chapter of Pheasants Forever (PF). The group’s first fundraising banquet will be held on Thursday, October 29th at the Bottineau Armory with the chapter’s leaders focused on using those dollars to improve local habitat for pheasants.

“Being only 10 miles south of the Canadian border, our birds face tough winters. Through Pheasants Forever’s model, our banquet dollars stay under our control for habitat projects to create winter cover for the birds here in Bottineau County,” explained Ryan Getzlaff, the chapter’s president and Bottineau resident.

PF is the only national conservation organization that empowers local chapters with the responsibility to determine how 100 percent of their locally raised conservation funds will be spent. This local control allows members to see the fruits of their chapter efforts in their own communities, while belonging to a national organization with a voice on federal conservation policy in Washington D.C.

“I hunted last week’s opener near Crosby, which is roughly the same distance south of Canada as Bottineau, and there were birds everywhere,” reported Getzlaff. “The recipe is simple; plant the habitat and establish the winter cover, and the pheasants here in our county will respond too.”

North Dakota’s 27 chapters account for nearly 3,000 PF members statewide. Those chapters have completed 4,000 habitat projects benefitting over 43,000 acres in the state since the first PF chapter formed in North Dakota in 1986.

“I am very excited to finally have a chapter based in Bottineau County,” said Jesse Beckers, PF’s regional wildlife biologist for North Dakota. “There is tremendous potential for increasing the bird numbers in the area with some strategic thermal cover habitat projects. I hope all the bird hunters and pheasant fans across the county will come out for the chapter’s banquet on the 29th of October to support this group of volunteers working hard to improve wildlife habitat for the entire community.”

To purchase tickets for Bottineau County’s first-ever Pheasants Forever banquet, please contact Ryan Getzlaff at (701)228-4959, Kenny Fix at (701)228-2220, or Stuart Coleman at (701)263-7375. You can also email Getzlaff at ryangetzlaff@yahoo.com for more information about the chapter.

If your are interested in joining a chapter or starting a chapter in North Dakota, please contact PF’s Jesse Beckers at (701) 202-8120 or email jbeckers@pheasantsforever.org.