Warning: Waterfowl Population at Risk!
May 25, 2010 by CollegiateCamo · Leave a Comment
At CollegiateCamo, we believe in following your passions in life. Passion is what gets changes made in the world and gets tasks accomplished. Passion is what makes the impossible tasks possible and the unattainable ideas come within our reach.
Well, hunters, imagine this: What if you wanted to pass your love of hunting waterfowl on to your kids, but were unable to because the waterfowl population is diminishing? As an outdoor community, we need to band together to make a difference. We need to make conservation a front runner in outdoor community topics, right alongside the issue of gun rights and gun control (or over-control, as some would say).
If we don’t do something to change the ways of preservation, there will be no more waterfowl to hunt. Worse yet, there will be no more ducks for enthusiasts to eat. We have enjoyed the passion of wildlife preservation, but recently a new foundation has come into play. The Save the Hens Foundation out of Sheldon, North Dakota has come to our attention. Through grassroots efforts, The Save the Hens Foundation has worked tirelessly and endlessly to get up and running and to stay in tune with the waterfowl population needs. This work is admirable, because it is completely dedicated to increasing the waterfowl population.
The foundation works through a few different, highly-effective methods. Invasive Predator Management reduces the number of predators in breeding grounds of waterfowl. Removing skunks, raccoons, opossums, snakes, foxes, eagles, hawks and any other variable pesky animals from the wetlands are one to help preserve the waterfowl breeding grounds. We know the task of reproducing is difficult, but imagine trying to make babies with these pests around?! Save the Hens removes these animals in humane and socially acceptable ways by trapping and relocating the pesky critters.
Another way to help is a little more time-consuming, but definitely worth every effort. Save The Hens also works with landowners to maintain favorable breeding grounds for native ducks. Managing the habitat that the ducks live in helps to maintain the breeding population. Landowners that participate in acreage-management are usually located in rural communities. Save the Hens also helps out these rural communities by providing job opportunities in these areas. As outdoor enthusiasts, we wish society would take a look at preserving all hunting populations.
Imagine what would happen if all the “green” population jumped in on this? Sure, recycling a plastic bottle or installing solar panels is important to the folks who are passionate about going green – but what about actually preserving the wildlife that is already here but diminishing? We can plant all the trees we can find, buy hybrid cars and install all the solar panels out their ears – but it won’t bring back a species when it goes extinct.
So, if you own land, or know someone that owns land, encourage them to maintain it. Or if you can make a breeding ground a little more pleasant by setting out a trap or two, or can make an effort to do something, anything for wildlife preservation, then do it. We find it strange that stray and abandoned dogs and cats have no problems reproducing, but native animals are being led to their own slaughter by our own ignorance and lack of attention.
To learn more, go to www.savethehens.org to see if you can donate money, time or effort in rebuilding these populations. Imagine never seeing ducks and geese migrate south for the winter again. Now imagine only being able to tell your children or grandchildren stories about them because they no longer exist. Remember, if we don’t pay attention to these issues, no one else will do it for us. Save our waterfowl hunt!
Concealed Carry on Campus Debate Heats Up
May 19, 2010 by CollegiateCamo · 1 Comment
A major national topic right now that is latent with ongoing protests and legal battles nationwide is the issue of whether to allow college students to carry concealed weapons on university campuses when they are licensed with a conceal and carry permits. Nearly every national news station and publication has reported on this major issue recently, and we figured it was time for CollegiateCamo to weigh in.
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (a pro-gun campus organization) and the protest to allow concealed weapons for permitted carriers on campus were featured in articles from World Net Daily and Human Events to the Christian Science Monitor and the Weekly Standard. They have even been mentioned in disaster-preparedness magazine Firestorm Heather. This organization is a national grassroots movement with more than 44,000 college students, college faculty, parents and concerned citizens who support the right to self-defense and firearm protection on college campuses. SCCC is not affiliated with a particular political party.
We at CollegiateCamo were impressed with the SCCC’s “empty holster protest.” Roughly 130 colleges nationwide participated from April 5 to April 9 to defend their position on gun rights and the right to self-defense on college campuses. These impassioned members and others who stand behind them are fighting for the right to carry on campus with proper permits, and they are even seeing some success! On May 5, the Colorado State University Board of Governors voted to rescind their illegal ban on concealed carry on campus. We want to send our kudos to the Colorado State Rams for supporting gun rights and protecting our youth on campus!
Several other states are reportedly planning to hold hearings on the subject of concealed carry on campus, including Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma. This topic will no doubt run rampant through U.S. courts at all levels. Some say that state laws should stand everywhere, and not be suddenly denied once someone crosses onto university grounds. This is not a new topic – these protests tie directly into our Second Amendment Constitutional rights! University students, professors and visitors claim they are being discriminated against. Others defend the universities’ rights to make the decision on whether guns should be banned or allowed on campus.
Currently 23 states allow their state universities to choose their own gun policies, and almost all of them ban weapons on campus. It all starts with the states first before the option of “where to carry on campus” is permitted. Only two states in the nation do not have concealed carry laws – Illinois and Wisconsin. Illinois bans both open carry and concealed carry, while Wisconsin does not allow the open carrying of guns. Some say that concealed carry laws place proper restrictions on who can and cannot privately tout their firearms.
License to carry a concealed weapon is a privilege and right granted by the states only to firearms owners who are at least 21 years old, have passed a thorough criminal background check, and have completed special training courses to be licensed. Proponents of the right to carry firearms on campus take the stance that if a carrier is properly trained and legally approved by the state to carry, they should have the right to carry anywhere. The only one defenseless here is the law-abiding citizen!Many students are also protesting that their rights to free speech has been violated when they are prevented from protesting for their right to bear arms on campus.
No doubt these debates and protests will continue as the issue makes its way through state courts until it bubbles up to the highest levels of legislation.
We at CollegiateCamo believe that any citizen who has gone through the proper training and steps to become licensed by the state and legally carry a gun for self-defense should be allowed to carry their firearm on- or off-campus. Our right to bear arms should apply anywhere in the state – including on college campuses. Our young people should have every right to carry responsibly and defend themselves when absolutely necessary – in an all-out campus shooting, a female rape victim defending herself late at night walking home from the university library, or any other dangerous and violent situation where otherwise our children would be left defenseless.
Is carrying your gun anywhere with the proper permits an absolute right? Did the framers of the Constitution mean for the “right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” excerpt to have an asterisk that says “except on university campuses”? We want to hear your thoughts, even if you disagree! What do you think?
College Sports Rivals: A House Divided
May 14, 2010 by CollegiateCamo · 1 Comment
Would your marriage last? How many “House Divided” couples are there? And, is the divorce rate higher for “house divided” couples? Can you imagine being married to the enemy? What happens to the kids — does the sex of the child even matter?
Do the daughters side with the mother and the son with the fathers? Would more divorces occur in KU (Kansas) vs KSU (Kansas State) couples? How about KU vs Mizzou (Border Wars)? Auburn Tigers vs Alabama Crimson Tide Couples? Florida vs Florida State?! LSU vs Ole’ Miss?! Georgia vs Georgia Tech?!!
And does it matter if the bride’s pride or groom’s side favors one school over the other? And how do demographics play into personality of the person and what school they attend and support?
It’s clear that KU is a more cosmopolitan or urban university than Kansas State, so would you say that the bride would more likely be from KU with the groom a K-Stater? What if it were reversed? So, let’s see… You might have a bride from Johnson County, Kansas that is a vegetarian, and her groom from Kansas State that eats Bambi’s dad. Got to be a little tough at the dinner table, don’t you think?
It’s an interesting subject. Marrying the college enemy would be sort of like the matrimonial controversy of Catholics & Protestants, Republicans & Democrats, blue-collar and white-collar couples? Can you imagine the arguments? “I knew this marriage wouldn’t last — should have known not to marry a Bulldog!”
This would be a great thesis… Any takers?
My Mom the Outdoorswoman
May 4, 2010 by CollegiateCamo · 1 Comment
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you moms, especially those mothers who are outdoors enthusiasts. I’d like to share with all of you some information about my mom.
When I was growing up, my mom made sure that the outdoors was a huge part of my life. From bass fishing farm ponds in Missouri to chasing pheasants all across the Midwest, my mom was always right by my side teaching me all there is to know about the great outdoors, conservation and hunting and fishing.
She grew up on a small farm in Missouri and learned many outdoor skills from my grandfather, which she has graciously passed down to me. Not only did she teach me about hunting and fishing, but she also educated me about many more important things a kid can discover in the outdoors. Things I will never forget, like morel mushroom hunting, picking goose berries, and arrowhead hunting. She has helped me look at life differently by showing me all the little things in our daily lives in which we can find joy.
Not only is she an avid outdoorswoman, but also an animal lover and a conservationist. I cannot count how many animals we had for pets growing up. Not just dogs and cats, either. Field mice, turtles, ducks, crawdads, and whatever else I brought home in my pockets. I remember the time she saw her first bobcat. She was driving home and saw it out of her car window. She then proceeded to drive by that spot once a day for about a year to look for her furry friend.
In short, I am proud to have such a great person as my mom and am so grateful for everything she has taught me.
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.
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- Marty & Mom
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- Marty & Pam Hunting
Show your mom how much you care this Mother’s Day. Our women’s camouflage college apparel makes the perfect Mother’s Day gifts.
