TheJump.Net News Journal

As the sports announcer says when a baseball coach argues with the umpire, "When it is all said and done, the umpire will still be undefeated." It might seem strange to compare baseball with Red Snapper but it just fits and here is how. The coach is the recreational anglers and the umpire is the GMFMC (Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council). Last year a couple of states tried to buck the system (Florida and Texas) and voice there displeasure with the extremely limited Red Snapper season by keep the State Red Snapper Season open far longer than the Fed wanted them too. And this year everyone is having to pay for their insolence with an even shorter season this year.

A bit of history. Florida and Texas state waters farther out from shore whereas most states along the gulf coast have state waters that extend out only 3 miles. Red Snapper live in fairly deep water not normally within 3 miles of shore. So snapper season historically matches the season in federal waters in many states for easier enforcement.

The GMFMC is charged with managing Red Snapper in the Gulf of Mexico and have allocated recreational fishery a certain quota, measured in millions of pounds. Exceed that quota by an appreciable amount and it must be repaid next year.

So that is where we are today. Faced with repaying for Florida and Texas's subordinance last year. So the season this year has been shortened and will close August 15, 12:01 AM.

This shortened season really hurts charter boat captains and pressure from them has resulted in Florida shortening its season this year to avoid having and even shorter season than we already have. If they hadn't the season would have been shortened even further to August 2nd, in a preemptive strike to keep the quota from being exceeded again.

The Call Stands!

Cougar tracks have been confirmed by a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources biologist near livestock pen in Pepin County.

Picture and Full Article Here


Biologist Adrian Wydeven, the DNR’s leading cougar expert, examined photographs of the tracks and concluded they could not have been left by a large dog. The well defined prints were clearly of those of a large cat, he said.

They are trying to collect more information from the cat such as scat if they can find any. DNA test could tell them the likely origin of the cougar which would help determine if it was a pet or a full blown native cougar. DNA test could also reveal gender. By far most of the cougars showing up in the midwest areas have been dispersing males. A female cougar could show that the cougar migration is poised to take the next step which is local breeding of cougars.



This comes right on the heals of another Wisconsin cougar confirmation.

The Wisconsin DNR was contacted by a hunter using dogs who had treed an adult male mountain lion on March 2. With the assistance of other hound hunters, a team of biologists again treed the animal on March 4.

Photo by Matt McKay, DNR elk biologist

Carlos Sinclair set up a game camera overlooking a pond and got a two pictures of cougar.

Arkansas state officials (as always) respond with “It is our state position that the mountain lions that are here are most likely released or escaped cats,”! As if since the cougar may have been a pet at some point in the past change it from a cougar to a cute stuffed animal.

"Move along, nothing to see here... it not a REAL cougar." says the Arkansas Game and Fish officer.

Sinclair lives in rural Madison County near Wesley. He said that in December of 2008 he saw a mountain lion sitting on the bank of a pond. He checked his trail camera which was put out to take picture of deer and other such animals and he discovered luckily that he had not one but two pictures of the cougar.

Arkansas reps insist that there is no breeding population of big cats in Arkansas and that this is probably and escaped pet. They keep insisting this even though wild cougars have been verifed in Louisiana and many of the others surrounding states. Keep in mind folks that Arkansas has great habitat for cougars and was approached but turned down the opportunity to have Florida Panthers reintroduced into there state.

I don't believe in most conspiracy theories but Arkansas is definitely not a state that is going to do anything other than downplay any cougar evidence.

Author Chad D. Baus

One of the principle claims made in Diane Sawyer's rigged campus carry experiment, recently aired on ABC's 20/20, was that having a gun wouldn't protect a college student, that ordinary people like college students aren't trained to handle stress, that they might shoot innocent people, and that the bad guy might take their gun away.

Apparently someone forgot to tell a student in College Park, GA that they were better off without having a gun ready at hand...and at least ten college students say they are alive today because of it.

From Atlanta, Georgia's WSBTV:

A group of college students said they are lucky to be alive and they're thanking the quick-thinking of one of their own. Police said a fellow student shot and killed one of two masked me who burst into an apartment.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Jones met with one of the students to talk about the incident.

"Apparently, his intent was to rape and murder us all," said student Charles Bailey.

Bailey said he thought it was the end of his life and the lives of the 10 people inside his apartment for a birthday party after two masked men with guns burst in through a patio door.

"They just came in and separated the men from the women and said, 'Give me your wallets and cell phones,'" said George Williams of the College Park Police Department.

Bailey said the gunmen started counting bullets. "The other guy asked how many (bullets) he had. He said he had enough," said Bailey.

Continue Reading Original Article

Tilapia, a non-native fish commonly found on restaurant menus, have been discovered in the waterways of Port Sulphur. Port Sulphur is about halfway between New Orleans and Venice.

The finding has sent the Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries into overdrive. Wildlife and Fisheries workers have closed affected waters to fisherman and plan to use rotenon (poison) to eradicate everything swimming in the affected waters in the hope of killing off all of the invasive tilapia. Tilapia are a native of Africa and could reak havoc on Louisiana ecosystem competing with native species for resources.

Normally when a large number of fish species are discovered it is already to late. Once established it is usually impossible to eliminate the threat and you must resort to simply trying to make the best of a bad situation. Tilapia have already established themselves in both Florida and Texas waters.

Luckily Louisiana has a chance. Do to the location of the tilapia it might be possible to poison all of the water and eliminate them completely. Most of the tilapia have been found between two levees, the Mississippi River levee and the hurricane protection levee to the west, in a series of drainage canals and ditches. LDWF is hopeful that all the tilapia there can be killed. But tilapia have also been found just downsteam of the pumps that pump water into the surrounding marsh from that canal. The tilapia on the marsh side of the levee have all be found right near the pumps. Hopefully this means the salinity of the marsh is too high to sustain them.

Even if the poison isn't 100% effective hopefully the winter time temperatures will be too cold for them. Tilapia typically can't survive in water below 50 degrees. So the jury is still out on if the tilapia can gain a permanent foot hold here in Louisiana. If not then we will just have to add them to our live wells and introduce them to the hot grease along with the bass and bream they will be sharing waters with.

Actually everyone that has anything to do with firearms, hold on to you guns because the Obama admin. is trying to pull another sneak attack on the 2nd amendment. This time it is the INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION AGAINST THE ILLICIT MANUFACTURING OF AND TRAFFICKING IN FIREARMS, AMMUNITION, EXPLOSIVES, AND OTHER RELATED MATERIALS.

It might or might not sound to bad depending on how you interpert the title but if you reload or potentially even clean your weapon or want to change chokes in your shotgun you just might soon be what is known as "A criminal"!

If you reload your own ammo you may be surprised that this treaty makes you an "Illicit Manufacturer" of ammunition under an arms control treaty that President Obama started pushing resently while in Mexico. The treaty dates back to the Clinton administration but was never ratified by the U.S. senate.

Funny thing (not really) is that many gun owners have turned to reloading to hopefully postpone or avoid ammo shortages should the 2nd ammendment rights get whittle away even further. Well it turns out the reloaders might be the first to go if the treat is ratified.

Here is the first part of the treaty.

1. "Illicit manufacturing": the manufacture or assembly of firearms, ammunition, explosives,
and other related materials:

a. from components or parts illicitly
trafficked; or

b. without a license from a competent
governmental authority of the State Party where the manufacture or assembly
takes place; or

c. without marking the firearms that require
marking at the time of manufacturing.

In laymans terms the above means that if you reload ammo any ammo in any amount and don't have a license from the government then you are an "Illicit Manufacturer" of ammunition!

The treaty goes on to address what should happen to reloaders... umm I mean Illicit manufacturers.


Article IV
Legislative Measures

1. States
Parties that have not yet done so shall adopt the
necessary legislative or other measures to establish as criminal
offenses under their domestic law the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition, explosives, and other related materials.

In other words if you reload ammunition without a license after the treaty is signed you will be a criminal. If you are dumb enough to think that all you would need to do is get a license from a government that ratified this treaty, then you need help. The government will be passing this law to deter you from doing such things... how easy do you think they will make it for you. How cheap do you think it will be to get a license? It will not be practical for an individual.

The treat says in black and white that you are not even allowed to assemble a legal firearm. Doing so makes you a criminal. Best case senario here is that they don't enforce this part of the treaty initially until time has passed and enforcement would cause less of an uproar.

Depending on who is reading the law things such as Gun Clubs, BB guns, cleaning your rifle or handgun could all be considered illegal.


It gets worse Article XI requires the maintenance of any records,
for a "reasonable time," that the government determines to be necessary to trace firearms. Currently Illegal!!! Can you say hello national registry or database.

The long awaited closing of the MRGO has finally happened. As you may know the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet near New Orleans has been under attack by enviromentalist and conservationist and in general from people that don't want to drown. The MRGO is widely credited with being part of the problem that New Orleans faces each year from hurricane tidal surge.

The rock dam is currently underconstruction and won't be completely finished for a couple of months or so but the construction stage has now reached a point were no boat traffic, including small recreational boats, will be allowed to pass.

Fairfax, Va. - Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. (R) announced today that he signed important National Rifle Association-backed legislation into law that will protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners. Senate Bill 78 will protect the right to lawfully transport and store firearms in privately-owned, locked motor vehicles that are parked in a publicly accessible parking lot controlled by a business.

"Governor Huntsman and the Utah legislature have taken an important step toward reinforcing self-defense laws in Utah," said Chris W. Cox, NRA’s chief lobbyist. “Crime can happen anywhere – even during a person’s daily commute. As employees work longer hours and travel longer distances, it is reasonable for these workers, if they choose, to have an effective means of self-protection."

In addition to signing Senate Bill 78, Governor Huntsman also signed House Bill 357. Existing Utah law requires a person to have a concealed weapon permit to carry concealed in or on their own property. HB357 fixes this problem. Now law-abiding individuals will be able to carry a concealed firearm in their own residence, on their own property, or in their place of business without a concealed carry permit. HB357 also clarifies current law with respect to firearms in vehicles, to allow law-abiding citizens the choice of how they would prefer to carry a handgun for self-defense (open, concealed, unloaded or loaded).

“The right to self-defense and to protect loved ones is paramount, and we are pleased to see legislatures across the country reinforce this right,” concluded Cox. “NRA would like to thank Governor Huntsman and the lead sponsors, State Senator Mark Madsen (R-13) and State Representative Steve Sandstrom (R-58) for their continued support for the Second Amendment.”

Source: http://www.nraila.org/News/

The Fish & Wildlife Service was sued! A federal judge Tuesday ordered the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to revisit its decisions not to designate habitat and create a recovery plan for jaguars in the United States.

The Defenders of Wildlife and the Tucson-based Center for biological Diversity filed a lawsuit against the Fish and Wildlife service over their longstanding decision to not do anything to help restore jaguars to their native range which originally covered an area from California eastward through Texas all the way to the far western Louisiana.

Ironically the decision comes just a couple of weeks after the fish and wildlife agency killed one of the few if not the only remaining Jaguar in the USA (Arizona). The Jaguar was euthanized after being radio collared because the very old Jaguar was suffering from kidney problems and was unlikely to survive and was in pain.

Judge John M. Roll's decision does not mandate the Fish and Wildlife Service do anything to restore the Jaguar population. It falls short of that but what it does do is force the Fish and Wildlife Service to revisit the decision and to get them to try to at least justify their decision on more acceptable grounds, which they may or may not be able to do.

Don't expect any official decisions or news on this for almost another year as the deadline for their report on the matter isn't due till January of 2010.

Although this doesn't force their hand many Jaguar advocates are hopeful. The Fish and Wildlife has given a couple of lame reasons for not taking action in the past. First they said highlighting the existence of the Jaguar would endanger any remaining. That was shot down and then they came back with another slightly better but still lame excuse that the U.S. habitat was not critical to the jaguars existence. So either critical habitat will be designated and a plan formulated or a third excuse will be forth coming.

The Gun Ban list is out... Don't Say I Didn't Warn You, OK maybe I didn't warn YOU, but still don't say it. haha. Just a little joke on something that is no joking matter.

Here it is folks, and it is bad news. The framework for legislation is laid, and the Democrats if they vote as a block have the votes to pass anything they want to impose upon us. In the past in countries such as USSR (Russia), China then Australia and most recently England the steps toward gun bans is always the same. First registration and then confiscation... ALWAYS! Surprisingly, at least to the leftist and pacifist is that for some reason the criminals do not turn in their weapons.

Right to own a gun Remember, The first step in establishing a dictatorship is to disarm the citizens.


Here is the leaked CURRENT list. The final list is surely going be larger and broader.

Rifles (or copies or duplicates):

M1 Carbine,
Sturm Ruger Mini-14,
AR-15,
Bushmaster XM15,
Armalite M15,
AR-10,
Thompson 1927,
Thompson M1;
AK,
AKM,
AKS,
AK-47,
AK-74,
ARM,
MAK90,
NHM 90,
NHM 91,
SA 85,
SA 93,
VEPR;
Olympic Arms PCR;
AR70,
Calico Liberty ,
Dragunov SVD Sniper Rifle or Dragunov SVU,
Fabrique National FN/FAL,
FN/LAR, or FNC,
Hi-Point20Carbine,
HK-91,
HK-93,
HK-94,
HK-PSG-1,
Thompson 1927 Commando,
Kel-Tec Sub Rifle;
Saiga,
SAR-8,
SAR-4800,
SKS with detachable magazine,
SLG 95,
SLR 95 or 96,
Steyr AU,
Tavor,
Uzi,
Galil and Uzi Sporter,
Galil Sporter, or Galil Sniper Rifle ( Galatz ).
Pistols (or copies or duplicates):

Calico M-110,
MAC-10,
MAC-11, or MPA3,
Olympic Arms OA,
TEC-9,
TEC-DC9,
TEC-22 Scorpion, or AB-10,
Uzi.
Shotguns (or copies or duplicates):

Armscor 30 BG,
SPAS 12 or LAW 12,
Striker 12,
Streetsweeper. Catch-all category (for anything missed or new designs):
A semiautomatic rifle that accepts a detachable magazine and has:

(i) a folding or telescoping stock,
(ii) a threaded barrel,
(iii) a pistol grip (which includes ANYTHING that can serve as a grip, see below),
(iv) a forward grip; or a barrel shroud.

Any semiautomatic rifle with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 10 rounds (except tubular magazine .22 rim fire rifles).

A semiautomatic pistol that has the ability to accept a detachable magazine, and has:

(i) a second pistol grip,
(ii) a threaded barrel,
(iii) a barrel shroud or
(iv) can accept a detachable magazine outside of the pistol grip, and
(v) a semiautomatic pistol with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 10 rounds.

A semiautomatic shotgun with:

(i) a folding or telescoping stock,
(ii) a pistol grip (see definition below),
(iii) the ability to accept a detachable magazine or a fixed magazine capacity of more than 5 rounds, and
(iv) a shotgun with a revolving cylinder.

Frames or receivers for the above are included, along with conversion kits.


Think that isn't bad enough. Attorney General gets carte blanche to ban guns at will. Under the proposal, the U.S. Attorney General can add any "semiautomatic rifle or shotgun originally designed for military or law enforcement use, or a firearm based on the design of such a firearm, that is not particularly suitable for sporting purposes, as determined by the Attorney General." Note that Obama's pick for this office (Eric Holder, confirmation hearing set for Jan. 15) wrote a brief in the Heller case supporting the position that you have no right to have a working firearm in your own home.

Expect other pieces of legislation dealing with ammo and taxes on ammo. What good is your gun if you don't have any bullets!

The closure of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) is underway! A quick review of the MRGO for those unfamiliar with it. The MRGO is a 76 Mile long canal dug through coastal Louisiana from New Orleans to the Gulf to allow for shorter routes for container ships. Before it was even built there was opposition. The Corps knew better (haha), and it was built. It has proven to be a huge environmental disaster and has never panned out economically like the government claimed.

The Canal has widened and allowed saltwater intrusion to destroy many thousands of acres of marsh, turning marsh into open water. This marsh and cypress swamp, now all dead thanks to saltwater intrusion, no longer can provide as much of a buffer to hurricane storm surge. Therefore putting the city at greater risk.

Well following Hurricane Katrina, the government has finally seen the light and the closure of the MRGO is finally underway.



Rocks that once armored the sides to try to contain the erosion of the canal is being hauled northward to build the plug. The plug is being built near Hopedale, just south of Bayou La Loutre.

The plug in and of itself will do little to protect New Orleans and little to help restore the marshes. But there the closure is just part of a large plan to combat erosion and saltwater intrusion in the area.

Other pieces to the puzzle include Restoration of Bayou la Loutre Ridge that was breached by MRGO, Mississippi River reintroduction at Violet, using dredge material from sites in lake borne to fill in marsh along the western end of Lake Borne, armoring of over 9 miles of the Lake Borne shoreline and a diversion in the vicinity of Blind River.

These projects and others will hopefully result in increased hurricane protection for New Orleans as well as help stop the loss of marsh between New Orleans and the Gulf.

A large segment of the US population thinks that New Orleans should be abandoned because it is below sea level in many areas. But the truth of the matter is that if done correctly New Orleans should be a less of a risk than many other coastal cities that don't have any protection at all. New Orleans has levees and marsh between it and the gulf... does Miami? or any of a number of other cities that ring the Gulf of Mexico?

The key is doing the job right and in a timely manner. I am not to optomistic that it will be done in a timely manner or done correctly but hopefully the government will do a good job of restoring the marshes that protect the city and a good job of building the levees. Building the levees is something that should just be a matter of getting out there and doing it but on numerous occasions the levees have been found to be made with subpar materials. Hopefully these deficiencies are being found and corrected.

As of right now and for a number of years into the future New Orleans will be at risk of medium size hurricanes. Cross your fingers that the Corps is given the time by mother nature to complete its plan before the next "perfect storm".

Well maybe I shouldn't say "again" because the out of touch with reality weirdo's never really ever stop. Peta is pushing a school in Spearfish South Dakota to change its name and mascot to "Sea Kitten High School". This is part of their on going push to have fish renamed from fish to sea kittens. Their reasoning, if you can call it that. Is to make fish appear more cuddly and cute to the public in the hopes that it will deter people from eating so much fish.

The school is having nothing to do with this nonsense, thank God and stopped short of being derogatory about Peta, but I believe the distaste for the organization was there. Nice to see officials not bowing to the wacko fringe minority.

Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) recently made a shocking discovery. No it wasn't some new exotic from the deep that we had previously never seen before. No, this fish has been known since the late 1930's. But until now all the specimens scientist had to look at were mangled and dead.

Well a live specimen was brought up from the deep ocean abyss intact and alive recently and the researchers were amazed at what they discovered.


What they discovered was that the barrel fish has a transparent head. Big deal you say there are lots of other transparent fish with transparent bodies to hide from predators. True... true... but this fish doesn't have a transparent head to hide from predators. Its transparent head which really looks weird on such a large fish servers another purpose entirely. The fish has eyes withing its head that are actually barrel shaped and have the unique ability to rotate within the fishes head. This allows the barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma) to actually rotate its eyes and look THROUGH h its own head to see in different directions.

Scientist now believe the fish hang motionless at the very edge of light penetration into the deep sea looking upward through their transparent, fluid filled head searching for the faint silhouette of jellyfish and other such creatures. Only when they are eating are positioned to eat do the eyes point forward in the head so they can see what they are eating and maneuver accordingly.

For more pics and even video you can go to the MBARI.org website.

Authored by "Watchmaker"

A lumen is not a lumen when somebody intends to throw a big bunch of them out of a small reflector the size of a dime or nickel. At least it seems to be that way.

It used to be easy to tell the power of a light by the lumens figure, not anymore. You could be an experience user of lights, say a policeman that had used for years a 200 lumens Magchager and is well acquainted with its capabilities. Now he reads about this small light the size of a thumb that also outputs 200 lumens and is all excited to get the new marvel.
He does and is promptly disappointed because the small light seems to throw a good amount of light, but all close by, and is nothing that can compare with his duty Magcharger that can illuminate objects at 100 yards.

Besides emitters in the 200 lumens bracket can kill themselves with the heat that they produce when they are used in small lights with poor heat sinking. It is mostly a novelty thing and it should be used with caution. Some of them come in lights with multiple settings, and that is fine when the literature advice you to use the 200 lumens sparingly, and you follow that advice.

To illustrate the point, here are a couple of pictures of beam shots at 20 yards, you can clearly see the superiority of the Bear Cub (reflector size 2”) over the Lightstar 220, (reflector the size of a dime) even when both lights are rated at 220 lumens.

LIGHTSTAR 220 LUMENS AT 20 YARDS



BEAR CUB 220 LUMENS AT 20 YARDS




Some manufacturers wishing to quote big numbers are now putting clusters of these small reflectors on duty size flashlights. Mind you these clusters that are from three to four are still all small reflectors with limited throw.

So, somebody putting a cluster of four reflectors in a big head can claim 800 lumens, but you know better now, knowing that those 200 lumens for each reflector are not really behaving like real lumens!

Unfortunately I don’t have one of those lights to prove the point. But I can get my own cluster of lights in the 200 lumens bracket, and demonstrate by picture what can you expect.

I have here two of the Lightstar220 lumens, plus a Fenix P3D of 205 lumens and an Ultra Fire with Rebel emitter of 200 lumens, all of which together in a cluster will throw the figure of 845 lumens.

The opposite number is a Black Bear 720 lumens flashlight, a light that is 10” long and weights 24 oz. and uses a 2” reflector that can throw several hundred of yards with a strong white light.

HERE IS THE PICTURE OF THE CONTENDERS



The distance for both beam shots is in this case 35 yards to the target (The no trespassing sign tacked in the tree). The camera is 20 yards from the target.

CLUSTER OF REFLECTORS 845 LUMENS




BLACK BEAR 720 LUMENS ONE REFLECTOR 2”



Observe how the beam of the 720 lumens light travels beyond the range of the cluster lights, illuminating objects that the cluster lights are not capable of showing.
So, if you are in the market for a new light, this use of small reflectors in clusters to boost lumens figures is something you should be aware off.

Cheers

Watchmaker

African wildcat rests at the zoo
by The Times-Picayune
Wednesday February 18, 2009, 11:44 AM

Eliot Kamenitz/The Times-Picayune

SAY CHEESE---An African serval snarls in a pen at the Audubon Zoo, a day after it was captured in an Uptown New Orleans backyard. Carl Henderson discovered the cat resting in the backyard of his mother's home and called the police. The cat was tranquilized by Audubon's veterinarian staff and taken to the zoo.

According to zoo spokeswoman Sarah Burnette, the animal's final placement will depend on either Wildlife and Fisheries or the court system. Meanwhile it will be cared for at the zoo, she said. It is believe the animal is an escaped pet, which is illegal to have in the city.




The Serval showing up on a continent that it isn't even native too should hopefully show ONE: people own illegal pets and TWO: that cougars showing up in places that are far removed from native populations isn't out of the question. Would you pet that cat? I doubt it. Why because it might take your hand off right! It is a wild animal. Well a cougar is no different. Keep it in captivity and then release it and what do you have. A WILD cougar that was once held in captivity.