BenDover USO

[wetmule]

Got word today that this bill (S 339 - HR 731), whatever the number is, passed the House yesterday and will be on the Presidents desk ready to sign in short order.

Thanks to all who got off their @$$*$ to help your congressmen make the right decision. We will have our state back soon. So sorry George, ADIOS !!

[DesertBull]

Does anyone know what the G&F's plans are for next year, assuming that the law is passed? Go back to old system or compromise and set aside a percentage for NR's?

 

I think the old system was more than fair, everyones name in the same hat and cap the NR tags. I would not be against raising the cap though to say, 12-15%.

[KGAINES]

Thanks for the good news wetmule.

[azpackhorse]

Curious if anyone received a reply from the e-mails that were sent? All I got was a standard automatic reply from Grijalva.

[DesertBull]

Grijalva? I'll bet he was too busy smuggling Illegals to care about a hunting bill.

[25-06]

Wetmule, KGAINES, Thanks for spreading the word and sites for everybody to go to and give heck, to get back what's rightfully ours

[KGAINES]

I didn't do anything except write to Trent Franks, wetmule and coueshunter were the ones to press the issue to everyone. Thanks to everyone that got these guys to make the right decision.

[wetmule]

THE PRESIDENT SIGNED THE BILL

IT IS NOW LAW !!

Arizona and every state can now go back to determining their own fate.

If you get the chance, thank your Senators and Reps.

Go away George and USO

[ultramag]

thats great news, i wonder what are fearless g&f are going to do for next year.i want to email george boy and tell the good news.shove that up your butt uso

[bowhunter4life]

u.s.o # is 1-800-845-9929. give dingle berry and his other brother darrel a call and tell them the great news.

[az4life]

Score One for the Good Guys!

[coueshunter]

This is the best news for western states in years........thanks to everyone who sent out letters/emails...........Allen Taylor......

[CHD]

Dang it Wetmule, I am now screwed outta drawing my 13A tag this year, LOL.

 

Seriously tho, this is good news for all hunters, resident or not.

[diablo]

This is from, John J. Jackson, III, Chairman of Conservation Force

 

The voice of nonresident hunters and anglers has been silenced by Congress. On May 11th the Reid bill, S.339, passed as a rider to an emergency military appropriations measure, H.R.1268, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and

 

Tsunami Relief, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005. It was signed by President Bush on the night of May 11th.

 

Senator Reid portrayed the amendment as one of "States' Rights." The new law grants the unlimited right to states to discriminate against residents of other states when issuing hunting and fishing licenses. The new law delegates to states the authority the Federal Courts have said is reserved to Congress by the U.S. Constitution. The law expressly authorizes states to charge nonresident hunters and anglers any price for licenses and to discriminatorily limit the number of license available to that class of applicants.

 

John J. Jackson, III, Chairman of Conservation Force, an organization supporting fairer treatment of nonresidents, stated that, "It is the first and only natural resource law of its kind in the nation. It is unthinkable for states to hoard any other natural resource. States have tried to hoard their resources such as petroleum and natural gas without success. Now they can do it with game and fish. What is incredible is it passed without legitimate debate in the Senate or House as a rider to an appropriations measure when it was not even an appropriations issue."

 

Congressman Collin Peterson of Minnesota, past-Chair of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus, was one of the few who made a dash to stop the "fast track" measure. The Congressman challenged the Reid rider before the Rules Committee because it was not germane to the emergency military appropriation. He argued that it was a substantive matter unrelated to the appropriation for the military.

 

Reid claims that the measure was necessary to overcome a 9th Circuit court decision in Arizona last year. That case held that discriminatory licensing of nonresident hunters was "unconstitutional." The elimination of such warring between the states

 

was the very reason for the Convention that adopted the U.S. Constitution, according to the court.

 

"The new legislation eliminates the last hope for nonresidents to be more fairly treated when hunting or fishing out-of-state," said Jackson. "It makes no difference if it's public or federal land or a migratory species that flies across the nation and is otherwise largely regulated by the USF&WS. Nonresident sportsmen and sportswomen

 

have been relegated to second-class treatment on federal lands and to leftover game. It's no coincidence that Senator Reid represents Nevada, which has limited nonresident licensing of deer, elk and pronghorn antelope to as low as 5 percent of available licenses, even though more than 85 percent of that state is federal land."

 

"Some have seen the issue as an undesirable contest between hunters over a limited resource," Jackson said. "It is not a contest, because it is one-sided. Nonresidents are underrepresented before state legislatures and game commissions that determine license allocations and prices. The contest was already uneven, now nonresidents have lost

 

their U.S. Constitutional protection and Congressional representation.

 

It's inherently unfair, particularly on federal lands and with migratory species. It's also unfair to private landholders and businesses that cater to nonresidents. The whole multi-billion dollar interstate hunting and fishing industry has been compromised, even though it has been a growth component of the larger industry. One out of seven hunters hunt out-of-state each year. It remains to be seen if

 

they will be able to in the future."

 

Jackson promised that, "Though the fledgling rights of nonresidents have been silenced, it's not over. We will be watching closely. The states have made it a Congressional issue. Indeed it now will be if the discrimination worsens."

[billrquimby]

I've known John Jackson for a long time, and I talked with him at the SCI convention in January about the court ruling. I tried very hard to get him to understand this was more than a resident/non-resident issue.

 

I told him that if his side prevails it would, in MHO, take major wildlife management decisions away from states, and seasons and limits for big game would be set much like is done today with migratory game birds: The states would make decisions based on "frameworks" set by the feds.

 

Also there would be a very good possibility that owners of vast parcels of land who could prove wildlife did not move off their private property would make a case that they be allowed to set seasons, limits, etc.

 

My arguments fell on deaf ears.