I am careful not to spend too much time posting on these Montans specific issues, as I don't want people to think that Hunt Talk is a Montana forum. The value I see in this stuff being posted about Montana is that whether you are involved, or not, this same stuff is going on in your legislature, no matter where you live.
It just so happens that I have been involved in this for 20 years, and am one of the more outspoken people. As such, I am often asked to testify. I am sure some of you are the same for your areas.
The point to take from all of this is that as hunting is continually under attack, we can no longer just buy a license and call it good. We have to belong to conservation and hunting groups. We have to be actively involved in those groups.
And, no matter where we live, we have to be invovled in the politics of hunting. The time has come where being politically involved is as much a responsibility as practicing marksmanship, or the many other things required of a hunter. Sitting idly by, in the political climate of our day, is no longer an option. Apathy is our enemy.
Hunters have built a conservation miracle that is the success of the world. Others now see the value in what we have created and they will use all power necessary to appoint it, direct it, and usurp it for the benefit of their group.
This is an inside view of what it is, and how it unfolds. Nothing tasteful about it. It makes for difficult conversations and you lose business and relationships in the process.
As one very important person, who in the face of strong opposition, once said of our wildlife and wild places.
Which is why his face so rightfully belongs on Mount Rushmore, while his detractors failed to make a grain of difference as they kicked and screamed about every measure taken by TR to protect our wildlife and wild resources, and in the process, he increased the public estate for hunters by 200 million acres.
We need another Theodore Roosevelt.
It just so happens that I have been involved in this for 20 years, and am one of the more outspoken people. As such, I am often asked to testify. I am sure some of you are the same for your areas.
The point to take from all of this is that as hunting is continually under attack, we can no longer just buy a license and call it good. We have to belong to conservation and hunting groups. We have to be actively involved in those groups.
And, no matter where we live, we have to be invovled in the politics of hunting. The time has come where being politically involved is as much a responsibility as practicing marksmanship, or the many other things required of a hunter. Sitting idly by, in the political climate of our day, is no longer an option. Apathy is our enemy.
Hunters have built a conservation miracle that is the success of the world. Others now see the value in what we have created and they will use all power necessary to appoint it, direct it, and usurp it for the benefit of their group.
This is an inside view of what it is, and how it unfolds. Nothing tasteful about it. It makes for difficult conversations and you lose business and relationships in the process.
As one very important person, who in the face of strong opposition, once said of our wildlife and wild places.
Which is why his face so rightfully belongs on Mount Rushmore, while his detractors failed to make a grain of difference as they kicked and screamed about every measure taken by TR to protect our wildlife and wild resources, and in the process, he increased the public estate for hunters by 200 million acres.
We need another Theodore Roosevelt.
