winter - All
Winter ist zurück: Bitte auf Wildtiere achten!
Wildtiere benötigen Ruhe, um Energie zu sparen und über den Winter zu kommen. Jägerinnen und Jäger unterstützen, wenn natürliche Äsung fehlt.
Insbesondere dem Rotwild als Fluchttier drohen bei wiederholter Beunruhigung Erschöpfungszustände. - © Michael Breuer
© Michael Breuer
Aktuell kehrt der Winter nach Niederösterreich zurück und vielerorts gibt es größere Schneemengen. Dadurch steigt der Druck auf Wildtiere, da die Fortbewegung im Schnee mehr Energie verbraucht, während gleichzeitig weniger natürliches Futter verfügbar ist. Die Jägerinnen und Jäger füttern in solchen Notzeiten zu, um die Bestände gesund zu erhalten. Vor allem das Rotwild hat sein Winterverhalten an die Menschen, Verbauung und mancherorts starke Besiedelung angepasst und bleibt auch im Winter in höheren, äsungsarmen Lagen. Dadurch ist es auf die Vorlage von Futter angewiesen. „Im Winter und bei steigender Schneehöhe brauchen Wildtiere neben der Äsung aber auch Ruhe und Deckung. Kommt es zu einer wiederholten oder dauerhaften Störung, drohen Wildschäden, hohe Fallwildzahlen und das Abwandern der Tiere“, betont Landesjägermeister Josef Pröll.
Der NÖ Jagdverband appelliert daher an Freizeitnutzer, Regeln für den Aufenthalt in der Natur einzuhalten: „Wildtiere reduzieren im Winter, wenn es kalt ist und das Äsungsangebot sinkt, ihren Stoffwechsel. So sparen sie wichtige Energie. Durch anhaltende Beruhigung werden sie zur Flucht gezwungen und verbrauchen ihre wertvollen Energiereserven. Freizeitnutzer sollten daher auf vorgegebenen und markierten Wegen und Pisten bleiben, ihre Hunde anleinen, sich in der Natur ruhig verhalten und Fütterungsbereiche meiden. Denn Wildtiere flüchten vor allem, wenn es unerwartet zu einer Beunruhigung kommt“, so Pröll. „Halten sich alle an die Regeln und werden die Wildtierlebensräume respektiert, steht einer Freizeitnutzung in Niederösterreichs Natur nichts im Wege.“
Sechs Regeln für Skitouren
Der NÖ Jagdver band informiert mit Hinweisschildern in den Revieren über das richtige Verhalten in der Natur. Da sich vor allem Skitouren zunehmender Beliebtheit erfreuen, hat der NÖ Jagdverband sechs Regeln für einen schonenden Naturgenuss formuliert:
Bitte bleibe auf den markierten Routen.
Halte Dich während des Tages, nicht bei Dunkelheit, in der freien Natur auf und verhalte Dich ruhig.
Bitte beachte das Betretungsverbot von Fütterungsbereichen.
Meide Wiederaufforstungsflächen.
Nimm Deinen Hund an die Leine.
Nimm bitte Deinen Müll wieder mit nach Hause.
History of Christmas
In ancient pagan times, the last day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere was celebrated as the night that the Great Mother Goddess gives birth to the baby Sun God. It is also called Yule, the day a huge log is added to a bonfire, around which everyone would dance and sing to awaken the sun from its long winter sleep.
In Roman times, it became the celebrations honoring Saturnus (the harvest god) and Mithras (the ancient god of light), a form of sun worship that had come to Rome from Syria a century before with the cult of Sol Invictus. It announced that winter is not forever, that life continues, and an invitation to stay in good spirit.
The first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere occurs between the 20th and 22nd of December. The Roman celebrated Saturnalia between 17 and 24 December.
The early Christians
To avoid persecution during the Roman pagan festival, early Christians decked their homes with Saturnalia holly. As Christian numbers increased and their customs prevailed, the celebrations took on a Christian observance. But the early church actually did not celebrate the birth of Christ in December until Telesphorus, who was the second Bishop of Rome from 125 to 136AD, declared that Church services should be held during this time to celebrate “The Nativity of our Lord and Saviour.” However, since no-one was quite sure in which month Christ was born, Nativity was often held in September, which was during the Jewish Feast of Trumpets (modern-day Rosh Hashanah). In fact, for more than 300 years, people observed the birth of Jesus on various dates.
In the year 274 AD, solstice fell on 25th December. Roman Emperor Aurelian proclaimed the date as “Natalis Solis Invicti,” the festival of the birth of the invincible sun. In 320 AD, Pope Julius I specified the 25th of December as the official date of the birth of Jesus Christ.
AD is short for Anno Domini, or “Year of our Lord,” as proclaimed by the Roman Catholic Church. Some non-Christians prefer the alternative designation “CE” for “Common Era.”
Christmas official, but not generally observed
In 325AD, Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor, introduced Christmas as an immovable feast on 25 December. He also introduced Sunday as a holy day in a new 7-day week, and introduced movable feasts (Easter). In 354AD, Bishop Liberius of Rome officially ordered his members to celebrate the birth of Jesus on 25 December.
However, even though Constantine officiated 25 December as the birthday of Christ, Christians, recognizing the date as a pagan festival, did not share in the emperor’s good intentions. Christmas failed to gain universal recognition among Christians until quite recently.
In England, for instance, Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas festivities between 1649 and 1660 through the so-called Blue Laws, believing that Christmas should be a solemn day.
When many Protestants escaped persecution by fleeing to the colonies all over the world, interest in joyous Christmas celebrations was rekindled there. Still, Christmas was not even a legal holiday until the 1800s. And, keep in mind, there was no Father Christmas (Santa Claus) figure at that time.
Hunting Perch with Waterfowl Calls
From mid-winter through ice-out, Devils Lake guide Jason Feldner “hunts” perch with a system he says can’t be beat. Relying on highly detailed GPS mapping and electronics, signs from Mother Nature and a ‘three call’ system, Feldner quickly locates and ices big perch, day-in-day-out.
“When it comes to finding fish, you’ve gotta key in on slight 1-foot depth contours—especially for perch. In mid- and late winter, a good place to start is that 8- to 15-foot range,” says Feldner.
Like birds following a migration path, perch slowly travel specific depth contours from mid-winter through late ice to reach their spring spawning areas. “If you can’t get right on those one-foot contours and follow the perch, you’re gonna have a tough time staying on the action,” says Feldner.
But to get the contour right, sink an Aqua-Vu camera, and you’ll spy a stockyard of yellow, green and black bars moving amidst swarms of shrimp. “That’s what I try to put my clients on. You look down there and it’s like hordes of Green Bay fans moving out of the stadium and into the streets. They’re hungry and looking for a fight.”
To find just the right contours, Feldner utilizes the new Version 4 LakeMaster Nebraska/Dakotas map card in a Humminbird 597ci HD ice unit. “Fishing Devils without a LakeMaster card is like shooting pool with a rope,” says Feldner.
“Once I find the contour the perch are following, I simply choose the chart menu in my 597 and highlight that key depth contour in green. Now, with a glance, I know where the money areas are and simply drill my holes throughout that green shaded area on the graph.”
Pull up the new Version 4 LakeMaster card and anglers will immediately notice that Devils Lake is set to its current elevation of 1455 feet, which means areas that have recently flooded and are underwater show up as water on the map. But even if that changes, Feldner can readjust the depths on the map with the press of a button. Water’s down three feet? Simply set Water Level Offset to -3 feet.
He also adds that fishing Devils Lake without accurate GPS mapping can quickly get anglers in trouble, as the lake is a mine field of barely submerged roadbeds, timber fields, and other structure that can wreck the lower units of the unsuspecting or overzealous. And in the winter, it’s crucial to set a route and be able to follow it back into shore if the wind picks up and anglers face whiteout conditions.
Following the waterfowl analogy, once he’s located schools of jumbos, Feldner likes to use a ‘three call’ system to lure the traveling butterballs into biting.
