Daily Archives: August 23, 2012

Sixty-five Prairie Dogs Relocated to Hutton Niobrara Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary

For the full report visit http://audubonofkansas.org/2012/08/22/sixty-five-prairie-dogs-relocated-to-hutton-niobrara-ranch-wildlife-sanctuary/

This is a report on the status of our project that involves transferring prairie dogs from the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge to the 5,000-acre Hutton Niobrara Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary in order to establish a new colony. 
Please be sure to view the extensive photo gallery with detailed descriptions on our website. Click here to visit the gallery.
We are hoping that the experience and information obtained will help to encourage and/or prove useful to other landowners and managers who want to establish new and/or maintain existing prairie dog colonies-and also benefit many of the associated wildlife species (including Burrowing Owls, Swift Foxes, Ferruginous Hawks, Golden Eagles and Ornate Box Turtles).  In particular, success with fencing may prove useful for landowners who want to include it along with other techniques, such as vegetative barriers, to discourage dispersal from existing prairie dog colonies to adjacent areas where they are not wanted.

Fishing Legend Videos Available to Support KeepAmericaFishing

Legendary professional anglers from across the country recently gathered at the 2012 International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades, better known as ICAST, to show their support for KeepAmericaFishing, the American Sportfishing Association’s (ASA) angler advocacy campaign.

Fishing legends such as Kevin VanDam, Mike Iaconelli, 

Chris Lane

, Shaw Grigsby, Lefty Kreh and Mark Sosin share what fishing means to them and how supporting KeepAmericaFishing helps ensure that our nation’s waters remain open, clean and abundant with fish.

KeepAmericaFishing is working hard on behalf of all anglers, from novice to professional, to support fisheries conservation and keep our public waters open to recreational fishing. Together, we can ensure the future of recreational fishing for generations to come, and keep America fishing.

Videos are available at http://www.keepamericafishing.org/ambassadors.html or athttp://www.youtube.com/keepamericafishing.

7th Annual Darrell Brown Memorial Youth Upland Hunt Oct. 27

Hunt for youth ages 12 through 18

Smoky Hill Pheasants Forever No. 424, in cooperation with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT), Pheasant Runn Controlled Shooting Area, and the Hunting Heritage Group, Inc., will host the 7th Annual Darrell Brown Youth Upland Hunt, in memory of former volunteer Darrell Brown, on Oct. 27. The event will be held at Hays City Sportsman Club, ¼ mile north of I-70 off Exit 157 near Hays.

The hunt is for youth ages 12 through 18 years old. Each youth hunter will have the opportunity to harvest at least four birds while hunting over pointing dogs.

Participants will hunt and be mentored on a variety of related subjects, including how to hunt with pointing dogs, field safety, how hunting dogs are trained, gun handling, how to clean and prepare harvested birds, and what type of habitat to look for when hunting upland birds. The D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program is also incorporated into the event.

Special hunts like this are part of KDWPT’s Hunter Recruitment and Retention Program, called PASS IT ON. This program recruits new hunters and helps retain existing hunters to ensure the future of hunting and wildlife conservation.

To register for the hunt, contact Shayne Wilson at 785-628-1415, 8 a.m. through 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. There is no charge for the event.

El Dorado State Park Named Top "Waterpark"

Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation lists eight best parks

El Dorado State Park has been voted by fans of the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation’s (RBFF) Take Me Fishing campaign as one of eight best “waterparks” in the country. This summer, RBFF fans visited the organization’s Facebook page to participate in Nature’s Waterpark Showdown. Each fan was invited to help determine the top eight natural “waterparks,” or state parks, for boating and fishing inAmerica. Participants could also register to win the grand prize, a vacation to a state park for a family of four.

El Dorado State Park, in Butler County, was voted one of the top eight state parks in America based on fishing, boating, and “family fun.”

The list of eight stretched from New Hampshire to Kansas, including these parks:

♦ Lake Murray State Park, Oklahoma

♦ Itasca State Park, Minnesota

♦ Blue Spring State Park, Florida

♦ El Dorado State Park, Kansas

♦ Presque Isle State Park, Pennsylvania

♦ Cave Lake State Park, Nevada

♦ Fall Creek Falls State Park, Tennessee

♦ Wellington State Park, New Hampshire

El Dorado Reservoir was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and was completed in June of 1981. The lake consists of approximately 8,000 surface acres of water, 4,500 acres of state park lands, and 3,500 acres of wildlife area. The park consists of four primary campgrounds offering a full service marina, a sailing club, approximately 1,000 campsites, picnic shelters, rental cabins, trails (horse, hiking, and bicycling), swim beaches, shower houses and restrooms, ADA playgrounds, boat ramps, and a laundry facility. The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism manages the park and the reservoir resources.

For more information on the Nature’s Waterpark Showdown winners visit the Take Me Fishing™ Facebook page at facebook.com/takemefishing. The parks showcased in the campaign are just a fraction of the many outdoor recreation spots available throughout the nation. For more information on boating and fishing and a full list of places to participate in the sports, visit TakeMeFishing.org.
Visit the El Dorado State Park website at http://www.kdwpt.state.ks.us/news/State-Parks/Locations/El-Dorado