N.r.a. [poll]

[cjcj]

Just wondering how many Hunttalkers are N.R.A. members

 

[AZ402]

Never have joined the organization for many reasons. Their backing of USO's Western State lawsuit, pretty much cemented that the NRA wouldn't be getting any of my money....

 

[cjcj]

Never have joined the organization for many reasons. Their backing of USO's Western State lawsuit, pretty much cemented that the NRA wouldn't be getting any of my money....

That a damn good reason...they supported Taulman?
I wasn`t aware of that, but it would take more than that for me to stop sending in a "paltry" $35.00

 

[Wyodeerhunter]

n.r.a. is useless

isn't 35.00 a lot of your disability check cj?

Take that 35.00 and buy toliet paper with it, that nice soft stuff, better to spend that 35.00 on that than the n.r.a.

 

[mtmiller]

Never have joined the organization for many reasons. Their backing of USO's Western State lawsuit, pretty much cemented that the NRA wouldn't be getting any of my money....

I also didn't know this, thanks.

I would rather spend my dollar on wildlife or habitat conservation groups. I don't like their, "first it's your auto-.50 caliber and next your .22 single shot the government will take from you". I would rather lose sleep over something else.

 

[Washington Hunter]

I'm a member but only because it's required in order to be a member of the local shooting range here. Gotta have a place to shoot my rifles. I'm not surprised they supported USO. I hate that their magazine, American Hunter, has many ads for game farms. The ads don't actually say they're high-fenced game farms, but it's not hard to figure out when it says "guaranteed success, no license required."

 

[cjcj]

n.r.a. is useless

isn't 35.00 a lot of your disability check cj?

Take that 35.00 and buy toliet paper with it, that nice soft stuff, better to spend that 35.00 on that than the n.r.a.

Ernesto , if you are going to try to sound like your smart, at least contribute something to the conversation
[like AZ402,W.H.,Miller]did. ...Otherwise you just sound like another dumb [blank] .. You could start by telling Us the reasons the N.R.A. is worthless.

Poll is interesting so far.

 

[Dinkshooter]

I was a member for a year or so. I got so sick and tired of the 27 mailings a week asking for more money, I never re-newed. I swear they must have spent my entire membership fee on additional postage to try and get me to give more.

The USO thing is interesting and now I don't think i will ever join again.

 

[cjcj]

Yep I agree ... I have been on and off as a member [current member]and usually sign up my dad.. he likes the magazine... but they do hound people [good pt.]

 

[JoseCuervo]

n.r.a. is useless

isn't 35.00 a lot of your disability check cj?

Take that 35.00 and buy toliet paper with it, that nice soft stuff, better to spend that 35.00 on that than the n.r.a.

Damn you WyoDH.... I just spit my Modelo Especial all over my monitor.... LMAO..

 

[cjcj]

Jose are you sure that wasn`t MD 20/20 that sprayed from your lips, its a little early for you to be drinking this morning.

Yea thats it Jose "encourage ignorants"... maybe my $35.00 should go to the Wyomingdeerhunter education fund...,poor Ernesto.. the kid posts some good pics and stories... but I have a feeling he`s on the 7yr. plan in school

But now that I have got down to your level , its nice to see that your easily entertained

 

[Nemont]

I am not a member because of their constant phone calls. Also I contribute enough to in the form of excise taxes. Hell just the amount of shotgun shell I burn through helps keep the excise tax coffers full. I guess all those birds I miss helps someone.

No NRA for me. Don't like their scare tactics.

Nemont

 

[Bambistew]

If I didn't need the membership to be part of the gun club I'd never have joined. They also are in support of the fat azz ATV crowd and opening up more roads because "everyone should have access to the forest".

 

[cjcj]

They also support law enforcment agencies ,and the right to a citizen militia... I agree they have some major flaws as everyone has pointed out , I guess its one of those things...Would we miss them if they went away?

poll is pretty much split so far.....good stuff from the non-member side, its making people think... hope we get more hunttalkers taking the poll .

 

[Hangar18]

NRA Life Member and NRA Certified Rifle Instructor. I'm a member because Diane Feinstein said "Turn 'em in America"

 

[schmalts]

I was a member, untill they kept calling for more $. I told them flat out stop the calls or lose my support. I guess they didnt listen

 

[guppie9]

I was a member, untill they kept calling for more $. I told them flat out stop the calls or lose my support. I guess they didnt listen

I was in the same boat, schmalts. I got tired of the weekly phone calls and mailings. I didn't mind doing my small part, but it got real old. Especially since I don't make a lot of money (I'm a teacher). Plus, a few years back, when my wife was pregnant, I really couldn't afford to give anything extra. I told them my situation, but they just kept on bugging me. It was really annoying. It doesn't matter what the organization is, if they bombard me like the NRA did, than they are not going to get my money anymore. I have a feeling my entire $35 went towards long distance phone bills and stamps!!

So CJ, that was my main reason for not belonging anymore.

P.S. If anyone wants a genuine silver (colored) bullet with Charlton Heston's engraved signature, I can hook you up with a couple!!!

 

[cjcj]

The NRA protects my right to own 1 of these baby`s

And I think I want one... don`t need one hump ...just want one.

GIANT 20MM CANNON! sorry pic wouldn`t post.

 

[guppie9]

CJ, I'll be in Phx over the holidays, maybe we can meet up for a beer or two. Unfortunately, all my family lives on the eastside (Mesa and AJ) so it is quite a drive out to your neck of the woods (or desert)!

 

[Oak]

I would rather spend my dollar on wildlife or habitat conservation groups. I don't like their, "first it's your auto-.50 caliber and next your .22 single shot the government will take from you". I would rather lose sleep over something else.

My sentiments, too. In fact, the NRA doesn't give a rat's ass about the environment, which seems like a distinctly anti-hunting stance to me.

They also are in support of the fat azz ATV crowd and opening up more roads because "everyone should have access to the forest".

An example here in CO:

NRA off target on Browns Canyon project
By Charlie Meyers
Denver Post Outdoors Editor
DenverPost.comArticle
Last Updated:11/07/2006 08:18:57 PM MST

Blame it on the politics of the extreme. Or maybe on me.

An election-year survey of Colorado's registered voters reveals as many who count themselves uncommitted as who belong to either of the major parties.

These independents, of whom I am one, held the balance in Tuesday's election, along with the next one and the next, perhaps to infinity. We pride ourselves in rising above the pettiness of party politics, of freeing our minds and loyalties to choose whom we feel to be the best candidates. Among outdoorsmen, this increasingly means those who hold a strong ethic of environmental protection.

What we have done, individually and collectively, is reject the politics of the extremes, particularly as this represents blind loyalty to party at the expense of the common good.

But in so doing, we've also caused an inadvertent fallout, not at all beneficial. In our defection, we've left both the Democratic and Republican parties more in the grip of their respective radicals, the political crazies, as it were.

If we follow this path to its logical conclusion, the result will be a continued disaffection, leaving these core bodies with fewer moderates than before.

So it is with the National Rifle Association, that well-oiled lobby noted for its rabid defense of the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms.

Time was, the NRA could be counted as a friend of the sportsmen, but no more. Having lost much of its temperate base, including this writer, the NRA of late has charged off on a bad trip characterized by a knee-jerk reaction against environmental protection.

Among its many recent wrong turns on resource issues, the NRA now opposes establishment of the Browns Canyon Wilderness, a 20,000-acre corridor along the Arkansas River south of Buena Vista. Proposed by Rep. Joel Hefley and Sen. Wayne Allard, both Republicans, the legislation would protect a wild area that's generally at low elevation, something of a novelty for Colorado.

The push for wilderness appeared to be sailing smoothly until the NRA rushed in, objecting that it would close a motorized trail used by ATVs.
This claim flies in the face of a considerable body of research showing that roads not only diminish habitat and reduce the numbers of animals, but also decrease hunter harvest.

A report released by Trout Unlimited in 2006 establishes a strong connection between roadless areas and successful hunting and fishing.
Other studies strongly connect wild areas with an abundance of deer and elk.

Wildlife managers consistently lament the fragmentation of lands with a growing network of mechanized trails, many pioneered illegally by ATVs.
This condition is being accelerated dramatically by oil and gas exploration in western Colorado.

David Lien, Front Range director for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, notes the proposed Browns Canyon Wilderness is home many forms of wildlife and provides unique hunting and recreational opportunities.

"We need to maintain quality habitat for wildlife populations, and more roads won't do that," Lien said last week in a letter to Allard.

Rather than adhere to the wishes of its many sportsmen members who understand the critical link between environmental protection and quality outdoor sport, NRA increasingly finds itself linked to despoilers.

NRA attempts to confuse the larger issues of habitat and resource protection with scare tactics about firearms ownership while forming unholy alliances with rape-and-scrape politicians who shoot us where it hurts most.

One suspects that if the organization sticks to its guns in opposing popular initiatives such as Browns Canyon Wilderness, it will continue to lose moderate members.

The result, of course, will be an association that's even crazier than before.

Browns Canyon bill daggered
By Charlie Meyers
Denver Post Outdoors Editor
DenverPost.comArticle
Last Updated:12/12/2006 10:07:32 PM MST

Say a little prayer for the Browns Canyon Wilderness Act. Heaven knows, it needs it.

The proposal to protect 20,000 wild acres along the Arkansas River south of Buena Vista hasn't officially expired, but the Pearly Gates are open wide for a bill originally pushed by Colorado's Sen. Wayne Allard and Rep. Joel Hefley.

As discussed previously in this column, a measure that seemed to have clear sailing hit the rocks last month when the National Rifle Association protested closing the so-called Turret Road, an unimproved track up a steep gully pointing like a dagger into the heart of the wilderness.

NRA based its opposition on the complaints of members who wanted to drive all-terrain vehicles into the area.

Jerry Mallett, a member of the Chaffee County Board of Commissioners and a wilderness advocate, thought last week he had reached a compromise to save the bill by offering not an olive branch, but a cherry stem.

That was the characterization of a long, narrow corridor that would have allowed mechanized travel while still protecting the wild values of most of the area.

"I thought we had a deal, but they came back with hard language for a 400-foot-wide corridor that we thought would do more damage than good," Mallett said. "You can turn a semi around in that space."

The thing about driving a mechanized wedge deep into a relatively small wilderness area, Mallett said, is that it spooks all the game farther away.

"If you drive up that trail, you can't do any hunting," Mallett said. "All the game moves away up into tough country, and you're still walking."

Mallett's choice is to let the bill lapse in the current congress and do it again in the next session.

"Hopefully, we'll have a better congress and a more friendly state administration," Mallett said.

What worries the veteran outdoorsman most is the way such standoffs work to forge an alliance between the powerful NRA and advocates of off-road vehicles.

"Together, they can do more damage to the environment than oil and gas development," Mallett said.

The expanding use of ATVs, often illegally, also raises the the ire of David Petersen, a Trout Unlimited activist and member of the Colorado Roadless Areas Review Task Force whose recommendations remain snared by various court and administrative wranglings.

Petersen, a 60-year-old Durango resident, is particularly incensed by the claim that motorized access is essential for those with physical limitations.

"The ATV advocates coming to the meetings who throw up excuses for the young, lame and old are usually in their 30s and 40s," said Petersen who, despite the frailties of six decades, still hoofs up and down mountains with a pack frame.

"I personally have lost almost all my favorite public land hunting places to motorized invasion over the past six or eight years," Petersen said of a growing clamor that sent deer and elk scurrying for distant parts.

"The motorized crowd may not be able to go everywhere they want sitting on their butts, but if they chase all the game out, gouge the meadows, muddy the stream and make all that noise, I have no reason to go there. They effectively have denied access to everyone who doesn't want those things."

Petersen, who plans to write a book about motorized abuse, pushes for changes that would allow Division of Wildlife wardens to enforce off-road regulations. He also favors rules that would restrict the numbers of vehicles in a given area, much as currently is the case with crowding from boaters or campers.

A great majority of the abuse and conflicts comes during hunting season, Petersen believes.

"Hunters are responsible for a majority of the real damage and it's very much the responsibility of hunters to take the bull by the horns and do something about it," Petersen said.

Petersen perceives that most organized ATV groups would like to police the bad apples that give them a bad name, but that no real action ever takes place.

"Every year, it gets much worse."