I thought that was some good ‘ole family fun!  I am not sure how they did this without laughing, because I sure did!  They should do this gig at parties!  Give a look at these 2 brothers as they show their skills!

Brothers Phil and Lee Edmonds do the turkey rap. No turkey caller or musical instruments used in this video, just their voices.

Brothers Phil and Lee Edmonds act out a turkey hunt.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar signed a secretarial order on June 8, establishing an Office of Youth in Natural Resources at the Department of the Interior.  Senior White House Advisor Valerie Jarrett and several hundred schoolchildren joined him for the announcement, which took place on the National Mall.

“President Obama and I believe that during tough economic times, a new national youth program is needed to provide jobs, outdoor experiences and career opportunities for young people – especially women, minorities, tribal and other underserved youth,” Salazar said.

Jarrett, who chairs the White House Council on Women and Girls, joined Salazar to emphasize President Obama’s commitment to Interior’s new youth program. “This program will be a great boost to the Administration’s efforts to provide jobs and opportunities for young men and women,” she said. “Providing career paths in natural resources will be particularly helpful to women, who are under represented in the sciences. That is exactly the reason that President Obama created the White House Council on Women and Girls — he wanted all government agencies to help give young women the opportunities that their mothers and grandmothers could not even envision.”

The Office of Youth in Natural Resources will coordinate present and future youth initiatives, the signature program of which will be a 21st Century Youth Conservation Corps. Interior will model the corps after the Civilian Conservation Corps, which provided 3 million men with jobs in the 1930s. By comparison, the 21st Century Youth Conservation Corps will include women, as well as men, and strive for greater diversity.

“The program will engage thousands of young men and women in all states and territories, from diverse backgrounds, including tribal and underserved populations and those who have little opportunity to experience the outdoors,” Salazar said

Salazar said that Interior expects the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to result in the employment of an additional 5,000 young people by this summer. Many thousands of additional young people will be engaged in outdoor programs in the coming months through stimulus funds, increased appropriations, new youth programs and expansion of existing programs.

He also lauded Robert Stanton, the new deputy assistant secretary for Policy Management and Budget, who will oversee the Office of Youth in Natural Resources. Stanton previously was a career professional who rose to serve director of the National Park Service during the second half of the Clinton administration.

Interior is already listing three career jobs on USAJOBS.gov to staff the new office. To assist Stanton and the office director, the order also establishes a Youth Conservation Coordinating Council, consisting of a senior representative, whom the head of each participating bureau and office will designate.

Salazar said the jobs are urgently needed because young people are unemployed at high rates. Last summer, 3 million young people were unemployed, and the youth unemployment rate in July 2008 was 13.5 percent, the highest it has been for July since 1992. Youth unemployment disproportionately affects minorities. In addition, women are underrepresented in jobs such as park ranger and civil engineer at Interior. Interior’s youth initiatives could provide career pathways for employment in natural resources.

“Jobs are not the only reason for such a program,” Salazar said. “When President Franklin Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, he said, ‘More important than material gains will be the moral and spiritual value of such work.’”

WEST YELLOWSTONE (AP) — A Boise, Idaho, man was attacked by a grizzly bear Tuesday on a Forest Service road near West Yellowstone.

A spokeswoman for the Gallatin National Forest says the 34-year-old man suffered bite wounds to his head, shoulders, arms, torso and one leg. Spokeswoman Marna Daley says the man was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Rexburg, Idaho. His name was not immediately released and no report on his condition was available Wednesday.

Daley says the man was hiking alone when he stumbled upon a sow grizzly and her cub.

The Gallatin County sheriff’s office says deputies were dispatched at about 5 p.m. Tuesday to a Forest Service road west of West Yellowstone, where they found the victim.

The Forest Service has temporarily closed the area pending an investigation by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

Fifteen Yellowstone bison were killed on a two-mile stretch of road just north of West Yellowstone in three different collisions this week.

At around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, a Ford Fusion hit seven bison, four were killed immediately and three had to be euthanized, according to the Yellowstone National Park Public Affairs Office and the Montana Highway Patrol.

The Fusion, a midsize sedan, was totaled and the driver received minor injuries.

Then on Monday morning, eight bison were hit, seven of them by a semi truck. A GMAC Yukon, which was following the semi, hit the eighth bison, according to MHP and park officials. No major injuries were reported in those accidents either.

Read the full article here.

Four Minnesota men and a Stanford man have been fined and ordered to pay restitution and court costs of $8,540 for poaching 17 antelope over a three-year period.

Fish, Wildlife & Parks said in a news release Monday that the five men also forfeited their hunting and trapping privileges in Montana for two years.

“This is an important case because this was premeditated, organized and an abuse of our natural resources,” said Tom Flowers, a FWP regional investigator.

From 2005 to 2007, the group would receive antelope licenses good in one district, then hunt illegally in another district, Flowers said.

An investigation led to the Stanford area where FWP Game Warden Bob Hammer, with the assistance of the Judith Basin county attorney’s office, was able to get the men to plead guilty. Justice of the Peace Larry Carver sentenced the men in March.

“The nonresidents would typically apply for and receive the majority of their antelope permits in FWP’s Region 5 (south-central Montana) where their chance of a successful drawing was high,” Flowers said. “Then they hunted in Region 4 (north-central Montana) with the benefit and knowledge of a local resident.”

The illegal activity was discovered when the Minnesota men were stopped at the Canada-North Dakota border, returning from a separate waterfowl hunting trip. A search of the vehicle revealed a camera with pictures of harvested antelope that didn’t appear to be properly tagged. When questioned the men said the antelope were killed in Montana.

Michael L. Bossen, age unknown, Stanford pleaded guilty to taking an antelope in the wrong district and unlawful possession of an antelope.

Adrian Marsden Jr., 62, Bayport, Minn., pleaded guilty to taking an antelope in the wrong district and unlawful possession of an antelope.

Thomas M. Sanders, 51, St. Paul, Minn., pleaded guilty to taking an antelope in the wrong district and unlawful possession of an antelope.

Edward J. Dobbs, 44, St. Paul, Minn, pleaded guilty to taking an antelope in the wrong district by accountability and unlawful possession of an antelope by accountability.

John E. Lockner, 44, Woodbury, Minn., pleaded guilty to taking an antelope in the wrong district, two counts of unlawful possession of an antelope, two counts of taking an antelope in the wrong district by accountability and unlawful possession of an antelope by accountability.

The accountability charges are from Dobbs and Lockner taking responsibility for their teenage sons’ actions.

Here are some interesting bits of information. While all of the listed points may not be directly related to the outdoors, they may be indirectly!

Here are some recent articles that represent the 5 Forces – Globalization, Innovation, Im(migration), Saturation, and Personalization. See you back at Undercurrents!

Read the full article here.

1. Teaching Math In 1950s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

2. Teaching Math In 1960s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production
is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

3. Teaching Math In 1970s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?

4. Teaching Math In 1980s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

5. Teaching Math In 1990s
A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering
the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes?
(There are no wrong answers, and if you feel like crying, it’s ok.)

6. Teaching Math In 2009
Un hachero vende una carre tada de madera para $100. El costo de la producciones es $80. Cuanto dinero ha hecho?

I do not know if my math was that easy in 80s, but the 90s Math seems to have carried over to today!

Australian cattle dog Sophie Tucker spent her life as a pampered house pet, but when the going got rough, showed mettle that could put her human counterparts on “Survivor” to shame.

The plucky pooch was separated from her owners when she fell overboard in choppy waters, but swam five miles to an island, surviving on a diet of wild goats for four months until miraculously being reunited with her family.

Read the full article here.

While the animal rights group, PETA, has taken a stance on animal research testing as well as hunting, it seems to have no problem euthanizing hundreds of potentially adoptable pets in Virginia.

According to a report by the Center for Consumer Freedom, PETA representatives have killed about 5.8 animals each day, or 2,124 for 2008. The same group of PETA employees reportedly adopted-out just seven pet animals, including dogs and cats. Since 1998, 21,339 dogs and cats have died at the hands of PETA workers, the report stated.

Unfortunately, many veterinarians in the area did not know the animals were being killed, but thought they were being placed in adoptive homes.

For proof, visit PetaKillsAnimals.com to view the organization’s animal records that are filed with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Human Services.

HELENA — Montana-made guns may form the basis for a court showdown over states’ rights if the governor signs a bill to release some firearms in the state from federal regulation.

The proposed law aims to exempt firearms, weapons components and ammunition made in Montana and kept in Montana from federal gun laws. Since the state has few gun laws of its own, the legislation would allow some gunowners and sellers in the state to skirt registration, licensing requirements and background checks entirely.

“We’d like to just be able to make our own guns here in Montana and have the feds stay out of it,” said Gary Marbut of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, which helped draft the bill.

The real target, though, is the U.S. Supreme Court. And Marbut and others believe they can hit that mark with a simple Montana-made youth-model single-shot bolt-action .22 rifle.

Read more…