Issues Facing Hunting

You said a mouthful and then some DougFirtree. I can't disagree with any of it. Many hunters go out of their way to make enemies rather than bending over backwards to make friends.
 
You said a mouthful and then some DougFirtree. I can't disagree with any of it. Many hunters go out of their way to make enemies rather than bending over backwards to make friends.

BTW, you have my favorite avatar on this site.
 
I'd love to see a country in which hunters are thought of as skilled woodsmen and women ...
Me too, unfortunately it's as tjones described, the "Flat billers with Monster Muley stickers" driving their jacked-up, mega powered OHVs through the streams and up the mountain in search of the next extreme adrenaline-pumping sniper long-shot mega-dollar trophy hunt who have become the stereotypical American hunter ... much to my dismay.
 
BTW, you have my favorite avatar on this site.

Thanks, I will tell Gus and his head will swell even larger...

However, this is how he would prefer to be thought of

2018%20January%20Last%20Bird%20of%20Season%20and%20Gus%20on%20Stump%20small.jpg
 
Very good eye. Yes, Merkel Model 8.

Just to keep things on point, that's a public land cottonwood stump :)
 
"Just to keep things on point, that's a public land cottonwood stump"

With a good looking Golden sittin' on top of it. Our dogs aren't real concerned about our issues as long as they're doing what's illustrated in that photo.:)
 
Biggest issue I face is I have not enough time off, money, kitchen passes from the wife or a combination of all three to get in all the trips I want to...
 
Primary threats to the future of hunting are:
1. Declining hunter numbers and its ripple effect on Wildlife Restoration funds (Pittman-Robertson Act)
2. Conflicting user groups (bowhunters vs. gun hunters, non-hunters vs. hunters, anti-hunters vs. hunters)
3. Time pressures
4. Rising costs
5. Growing anti-gun PC culture
6. Access to affordable, quality hunting lands (public and private)
 
1. Access to land and simple, affordable ways to start hunting.

2. Public perception. We are our own worst enemies in many regards. If you ask non-hunters to name hunters they are familiar with, Ted Nugent is often on their short list and that spells disaster in my opinion. Many other examples exist, he is just the most terrible in my opinion.

3. The extreme right and the extreme left.

4. The fact that our political system is so broken that we have to regularly fight to keep programs like the LWCF afloat.
 
1. Politics.
2. Partisan division of hunters.
3. Enviro hunt organizations partisan play dividing hunters .
4. T.V. hunting personalities dividing hunters over politics.

Overall, the biggest issue is the directional use of partisan power plays that demand hunters to jump in one of the two partisan trenches. Those who seek dialogue and cooperative collaboration / stewardship to keep public lands public while respecting "Multi Use" to promote domestic extraction American family jobs, etc... over, "Not in my country" mentality - all or nothing partisan pandering.
 
Sytes: I am really not aware of any hunting organizations that have a "not in my country" mentality. The mining and energy development opportunities that many hunting orgs oppose are special places and are opposed for legit reasons.

My list would be:
1. Conservation of wildlife habitat
2. Protection of water resources and wetlands-which I guess is pretty similar to number 1
3. Public access to quality lands and waters
4. toss up of climate change or wildlife diseases
5. declining hunter numbers
 
This is merely a response to Northwoods Labs comment directed specifically towards myself.
We are all permitted to share our opinions, perspectives and positions, not "facts" as some nitpickers would manipulate and proclaim. This brief disclaimer is not addressed to the vast majority of HT'ers including Northwoods Labs. This brief opening statement is addressed to a few vocal people opposed to opinions that differ from their own referred to as, nitpickers.

Northwoods Labs,

I should have expanded on my opinion regarding, "not in my country". This is a constant due to the all or nothing mentality within environmental groups (generalized as I'm sure this does not include all...).

There is, again in my opinion, (not stating fact) such a hard push against domestic extraction of minerals valuable to the U.S. development of products and American family employment that if the ground is shifted, it is an environmental impact upon the land and thus, must not be.

This entrenched setting makes many of us who value domestic extraction and American jobs as well as these American's that value our outdoors, we put our hands in the air and say, wtf???

With any extraction there will be "environmental" changes... Be it a flower that will no longer grow or a lizard that may cease to be... In that area, (not extinction). There has the be a reasonable level of acceptance for temporary adjustment to the "environment" for the U.S. to extract minerals ourselves.

Reclamation, restoring our land once an x year operation completes... To many of us that refuse to join the entrenched warfare, we would better see "Multi Use" actually utilized. We would like to see more of the successful collaboration / stewardship programs implemented. We want safe operations. Safe to the environment as well as the American families supported by the employment opportunities that open because of the mineral extraction operations.

With that, an example as shared by Randy (Big Fin), the Stillwater Agreement. It brought great employment opportunities to the community in exchange for tighter than current laws regarding environmental impacts caused by the operation. This is what the "Can't we all just get along" (our wise, Dr. Baton King quote) crowd values. :)

To identify organizations that present the fight at all costs against domestic extraction, I've added a few quotes from certain groups.

https://earthjustice.org/climate-and-energy/oil-gas-drilling/infrastructure

Earthjustice is opposing infrastructure development by:

Challenging the construction of new natural gas pipelines and other infrastructure, including gas storage projects that will allow more fracking-enabled gas development and jeopardize public health, safety, and sustainable local economies.

Fighting the building of proposed liquefied natural gas export terminals that could dramatically increase foreign demand for gas, spur more drilling and increase carbon pollution.

Challenging investment in new, unneeded gas generation capacity that could lock in reliance on fossil fuels for decades to come.

...However, even in national forests, wildlife face threats from incompatible logging, roadbuilding, oil and gas drilling, livestock grazing, mining, fire suppression, and climate change.

https://www.sierraclub.org/policy/energy/fracking
Statement of Policy. The Sierra Club opposes the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking).To limit the damage from fracking until it can be ended entirely, the Club calls for prompt closure of loopholes that effectively exempt fracking from important aspects of major national environmental laws.

Rationale. There are no “clean” fossil fuels. The Sierra Club is committed to eliminating the use of fossil fuels, including coal, natural gas and oil, as soon as possible.

I could continue to quote environmental groups though I believe this presents a response to your comment about my opinion.

Many support countering the loophole used by coal companies to reduce royalties paid to US, in no way are we opposed to regulations meant to protect our lands. However, the entrenched fight is not conducive to the value collaboration and stewardship, the Good Neighbor Agreements, etc. We want American jobs for our workers to support our families. We want renewable resources to support our future. We want mining of the materials required to manufacture the battery blocks necessary to store many forms of the renewable energies.
We are not entrenched. We seek compromise.

And for humor sake, "we" may equal myself and one other person in America. Though from those I speak with it may be one or two more than that... :D

BTW, I believe my comment about enviro hunt organizations was their partisan play that assisting in that entrenchment type mentality not completely related to the "not in my country" type mentality. Though I do believe it does attribute to sme extent.

Not directed towards you, Northwoods Labs and many HT'ers here who value each sharing opinions without the personal attacks and belittling attempts:
Nitpickers, pick away. Grammer run on sentence Nazis point out the grammatically challenged, etc. I'll be your huckleberry. ;)
 
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