missoulacurrent.com
Not sure I would classify that as “lying”. That is just fun with numbers. Pretty typical with surveys. You also have to call out the respondents for basically not having an opinion. Apathy is the biggest impediment to change.FWP has a recent and rich history of lying about hunters being satisfied.
If they don’t show their work, I don’t believe them.
Sportsmen: Elk hunter survey doesn’t support FWP claims
A sportsmen’s group is questioning Fish, Wildlife & Parks’ interpretation of its recent elk hunting poll, particularly claims that most resident hunters are satisfied with current elk management.
Enough magnification to see the deer in Wyoming and ND
Agree. The FWP took some substantial liberties in interpretation. Look, I hate polls and surveys generically (and I hate this one) and probably a good debate to have over a beer around a campfire, but I don't think it can be classified as lying. That seems harsh. If you ask someone to create a survey that implicitly measures their job performance, they sure as hell are not going to to put neutral responses in the negative category. Think if you had to send the same survey to all of your coworkers, customers, etc. Where would you put neutral when you summarized the results for your boss? Again, I hate the survey and I think everyone should look the results independently and not rely on a newspaper articles or FWP to BHA, but mostly people are going to see what they want to see.
Make an argument in this case? Anytime I see a five point survey with the middle being Neither A or B, and A and B can be interpreted as something binary like Change or Don't change, Neither means they don't care. Often times the problem with surveys is they give people an out on what is generally a yes or no question. FWP is not going to take the results of this as confirmation they should make any big changes. Doing so would also be equally questionable.
I think this is a very good point. Hunters are not monolithic and have a variety situations that would cause them to answer differently. Maybe a hunter that has found a great spot in a general unit would answer Neither, but that person sure would have an opinion if the unit went to LE. Maybe FWP needs another question asking the Neither respondents their level of apathy.
This. Just because someone doesn’t feel strongly either way on a particular question does not imply apathy. Perhaps it just isn’t applicable to their specific situation. However, the respondent had the option to choose a lesser degree of agreement/disagreement and declined to do so. Counting them as having any degree of either then is extremely disingenuous.
Maybe the surveys should be regional. Or maybe fwp is looking for the answers they want to get. Add some neutral to the positives is a fine way to get there.
Another idea I like from the Region 4 proposal: It was pointed out that 60% of hunters are content with opportunity over quality. So the idea was floated that each region could have a draw unit or two to help align with those numbers. And those 60% won't apply for the LE tags, since they don't care about quality, right?
The only word I could come up with is apathy. It certain does imply something with elk management, sure, given their current circumstances. Maybe indifference? They are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with management. To argue "it depends" is silly, but probably true. It mostly demonstrates why it is a bad structure to the question. If I apply the same answer scale to the question given to attendees of a conference asking "are you satisfied with the temperature of the room" it might be easier to recognize the problem. The answers tell us nothing about how to adjust the temperature. The FWP question almost encourages the "neither" answer because of the wide variety of circumstances.
