Oh, the irony!

[Straight Arrow]

odd choice of firearm for what appears to be water fowling.

Those staunch NRA members and radical 2A protectors spend enough time at the range that they can take a goose with a 22-250 head shot!

 

[morley.tyler]

My biggest concern is that some Gasbag, like Utah's Lee or Idaho's Raul, will be appointed Secretary of the Interior.

God help us.

 

[rjthehunter]

I wonder who will win out? Joe six-pack, or a representative's billion dollar donor that wants an elk ranch of their own.

Money talks.

 

[406dn]

As a hunter who is aligned a bit to the left of center, I have long been worried that the political right might succeed in transferring federal lands to the various states, or sell them outright. I, maybe naively, have long thought the Democrats would never succeed in significantly eroding gun rights.

This is a dilemma for every hunter. One side is more correct on one side of the coin and quite wrong on the other.

Few of us are truly aware how of valuable certain resources are, that exist on federal lands. You can be quite certain there are commercial entities that absolutely have a good idea how valuable the land might be, if offered for sale.

We were bequeathed a priceless asset when Teddy Roosevelt and others had the foresight to place these lands into public trust. Big game hunting as we know it would not exist if not for their actions. It would be far more similar to the hunting available in Europe.

This political fight will be ever present, the land is just that valuable. It is a fight that once lost, there is no true recovery from it.

 

[SAJ-99]

The irony is that after the election, regardless of outcome, everyone thought they could get on to living their lives for 4 years. Unfortunately, they should pay more attention now. If we have to rely on the average citizen paying attention to budgets and political maneuvering, I have a feeling we are all screwed.

 

[Beignet]

My biggest concern is that some Gasbag, like Utah's Lee or Idaho's Raul, will be appointed Secretary of the Interior.

God help us.

Lee is more likely to be appointed Attorney General. If that happens and SCOTUS agrees to hear Utah v US, he’d be in charge of the office tasked with defending the government’s case for retaining lands in question.

 

[Big Fin]

Lee is more likely to be appointed Attorney General. If that happens and SCOTUS agrees to hear Utah v US, he’d be in charge of the office tasked with defending the government’s case for retaining lands in question.

Yup. He'd fold the tent on behalf of the public.

 

[KingOfTagSoup]

As part of my morning coffee I usually spend 1-2 hours reading newsletters I subscribe to that keep me informed about public land and conservation issues. Being on the road most of the last three months, I have a lot of catching up to do.

I subscribe to as many of the "opposition" emails as I can stomach. The Mountain States Legal Foundation is the incubator of most the efforts to get rid of Federal lands.

This one cracked me up. See the image below where they are asking for donations under the guise of "Stopping Attacks on your Second Amendment Rights."

View attachment 348865

I wonder if anyone pointed out to them that their support of the "State Transfer" effort would eliminate recreational shooting on over 400 million acres where it is currently allowed in the west? How is that protecting our 2A rights?

I will finally be off the road in mid-December. I'm putting together another video/podcast series that points out how this effort will eliminate recreational shooting on hundreds of millions of acres. I had it scripted this summer, but I feared it would be considered politically motivated, given 100% of the folks who have introduced or advocated this effort are Republicans we hunters and shooters tend to vote for, and who run on the grounds of protecting our 2A rights.

I made the decision to hold off until after the election. I suspect when we roll this out it will cause some consternation among the die-hard partisans and will motivate the truly independent-minded folks who tend to lean a bit more right, as is my profile. I'm fully prepared to take the heat for pointing out that as much as gun control is 100% a Democratic effort, this attack to take away places for public shooting is 100% a Republican effort.

That seems to cause a paralysis among some. They feel that since they voted for a person that somehow they can't oppose stupid ideas from that person. Reality is, they are often uninformed on the consequences of such efforts and they benefit from our efforts to point out the stupidity of an idea they support.

The reality is, many of the people we vote for, many of the groups that claim to have our interest at heart, are supporting these efforts. As you can see by the ad above, the 2A campaign seems to be the flag they all want to wave, hoping nobody will point out that they are going to screw us over by making hundreds of millions of acres off limits to shooting. The new "virtue signal" among Republicans is to wave the 2A flag, even while you are screwing over shooters.

I suspect I'm going to find out if us shooters and hunters (and groups who claim to represent us) are willing to oppose bad ideas from those we tend to vote for, as we are when bad idea are proposed those we tend to vote against.

This is definitely an important topic to discuss. I suspect that many Republican politicians don't quite understand that public lands are one of the few things the Federal government has gotten right(ish). The "fad" among Republicans these days is "Feds evil"...and quite frankly they are largely correct in my opinion HOWEVER, in regards to federal public lands we need to encourage them to not throw the baby out with the bath water

 

[SAJ-99]

Lee is more likely to be appointed Attorney General. If that happens and SCOTUS agrees to hear Utah v US, he’d be in charge of the office tasked with defending the government’s case for retaining lands in question.

Looks like AG will be Matt Gaetz.

 

[Redman]

If the incoming administration is truly for the American working class then we need to stand strong together and remind them that is our land and not up for sale to the highest bidder. This is not about R & D. If OUR public land goes up on the auction block we are screwed. What most of these politicians see when they look at public lands is $$ either going out or finding away to bring it in. Finding common ground with people who are not hunters but enjoy the use of public land would be in our best interest.

 

[Treeshark]

Wait, so I'm supposed to get worked up and come to the defense for a public resource, in a state that chose to elect these people (idiots), a public resource that supports the wildlife that I'm either completely excluded from or ridiculed for accessing? You made your bed, now you have to sleep in it.

Hard to argue with you on that point. I would have been way more bothered by this 5 years ago than I am now (thanks mainly to Hunt Talk/ @Big Fin for that change of perspective, ironically). From the private messages I get, I’m not the only one on here who has made that shift.

The recreational shooting on public land angle is a bit bizarre to me. That could go away tomorrow and most of us would be much better off. I have seen recreational shooting mentioned on here dozens of times, and this is literally the first time it was done so in a supportive light. Almost always, it’s within the context of slobs littering all over and/or the dangerous situations it creates.

If selling off some of these lands in Western states leads to those states being able to better support themselves financially, perhaps it is worth a closer look. I suspect that may be part of the “why” for states like Iowa to support something like this.

 

[nrpate05]

Looks like AG will be Matt Gaetz.

That is depressing.

 

[Matthew57]

Hard to argue with you on that point. I would have been way more bothered by this 5 years ago than I am now (thanks mainly to Hunt Talk/ @Big Fin for that change of perspective, ironically). From the private messages I get, I’m not the only one on here who has made that shift.

The recreational shooting angle is a bit bizarre to me. That could go away tomorrow and most of us would be much better off. I have seen recreational shooting mentioned on here dozens of times, and this is literally the first time it was done so in a supportive light. Almost always, it’s within the context of slobs littering all over and/or the dangerous situations it creates.

If selling off some of these lands in Western states leads to those states being able to better support themselves financially, perhaps it is worth a closer look. I suspect that may be part of the “why” for states like Iowa to support something like this.

I'm the exact opposite; I was largely ignorant of the issue five years ago and am much better educated/care more now.

 

[Irrelevant]

I'm the exact opposite; I was largely ignorant of the issue five years ago and am much better educated/care more now.

Just wait until you've suffered through the 8th, 30-page diatribe detailing how every public land hunter's woes, or wildlife problems in general, are caused by WA NR hunters.

 

[Forkyfinder]

If anyone thinks they'll have more access if federal land transfer happened - you'll be disappointed.

Spiting your nose to save your face.

 

[Treeshark]

If anyone thinks they'll have more access if federal land transfer happened - you'll be disappointed.

I do not think that personally- it seems fairly obvious (at least not public land access, private opportunities could certainly expand).

More of an equity issue for me, personally.

 

[Forkyfinder]

I do not think that personally- that seems fairly obvious. More of an equity issue for me, personally.

So - spiting nose to save face.

Enjoy.

I suppose if i was stuck somewhere without elk and let selfishness go too far id feel much the same

 

[SAJ-99]

If selling off some of these lands in Western states leads to those states being able to better support themselves financially, perhaps it is worth a closer look.

You go to Disney recently and have a few too many adult beverages during the parade...?

That is depressing.

It will get worse before it gets better. More unqualified sycophants to come.

 

[Treeshark]

You go to Disney recently and have a few too many adult beverages during the parade...?

Sorry man, you missed me with that one. Probably my end

 

[Beignet]

Looks like AG will be Matt Gaetz.

Lol. Geez.

Man, the DC punditry has been way off on presumed picks so far. Who’d have seen that coming?