The Meeting

[Non-Typical Solutions]

As I watched the broadcast last night I found myself realizing how little I do personally to "improve" the wildlife habitat.

There are alot of non-hunters out there who enjoy the wildlife we have in this state.

Church groups, scouts, bird watchers and tree huggers.

 

I pay for tags, license fees and all other required fees dealing with hunting, camping, fishing, hiking. All the things that I enjoy.

I leave my campsite clean, I work hard to teach my kids good hunting ethics.

I have volunteered time to help with cleanup projects.

 

I personally don't belong to any groups, organizations, lobby groups. No board memebers, no comittee memebers nothing of that sort.

 

Right now my dollars are up for grab(not much), but I want to be sure that who ever I decide to join up with has the same values for this state as I do and I have a surety that my money isn't going into somebody's pocket for personal gain.

Personal gain being the difference between making a living and stealing.

 

Sometimes we have to pay people for their time and efforts, I am ok with that. Dumping money into a non-profit program where somebody gets filthy rich, I don't want anything to do with that.

 

One thing that I find interesting is were it not for my addiction to reading hunting stories on this website I would have been clueless about this bill that has been presented. I fall into that catagory spoken of many times last night "average Joe outdoorsman".

 

It was very interesting to see the many different views, I appreciate being able to watch even though I was not there.

[audsley]

I felt the meeting was unproductive. Given the announced agenda, I was expecting to see progress toward forming an alternative voice for sportsmen. Maybe Kurt Davis can take what they heard last night and make something of it, but I have my doubts.

 

I felt the meeting lacked focus. I didn't expect discussion about habitat work or programs for youth. Those are worthwhile activities but have nothing to do with the events and forces that filled the room last night.

 

Bruce Johnson tried to call for the question: Do the people in this room support HB2072 or its purposes? The facilitator wouldn't allow us tackle that question head on. There were some potshots taken, but most of the evening was wasted in avoiding the fundamental issues.

[karmiller]

My first posting, I listened in to some of the meeting and one major thing that I came away with was that everyone better watch out for the gentleman who was not a hunter and read a statement on what he believed to be the wildlife model of the future. We can continue to fight amongst ourselves all we want but let me tell you this, that guy and his friends are winning the war. - Rick Miller

[Non-Typical Solutions]

I felt the meeting was unproductive. Given the announced agenda, I was expecting to see progress toward forming an alternative voice for sportsmen. Maybe Kurt Davis can take what they heard last night and make something of it, but I have my doubts.

 

I felt the meeting lacked focus. I didn't expect discussion about habitat work or programs for youth. Those are worthwhile activities but have nothing to do with the events and forces that filled the room last night.

 

Bruce Johnson tried to call for the question: Do the people in this room support HB2072 or its purposes? The facilitator wouldn't allow us tackle that question head on. There were some potshots taken, but most of the evening was wasted in avoiding the fundamental issues.

 

I really thought what Bruce brought up was what the meeting was supposed to be about, but like you said, seemed like alot of dancing.

Hopefully Mr. Davis will take a look at what wasn't said as well as what was.

[Ringer]

The guy that was against killing sat in front of me. I clapped him on the back and thought he was going to stroke out. Told him he had a big set to say what he did and that I thought it was good for him to be there if he wanted. I asked him to get his friends involved in habitat projects whether they were for hunting or the fish habitat at the Salt lakes. He said he did not want to eliminate hunting but was tired of G&F working so much for hunters. As for the meeting I was about to get up when Bruce said his piece and that was what needed to be said. The vote was never going to happen from the commissioner. Glad Brewer's people could see that. It reminded me of the USO meetings but everyone seemed to skirt the real issue until Bruce and Woodhouse said their part. The bottom line is that meeting was to try to focus energy somewhere that it isn't. We need a voice and that means we need a political lobbyist to do the dirty work like our competition. I hate politics and that is the game we need to be in to stop this bill and others like it. Might be too late.

[CouesWhitetail]

The guy that was against killing sat in front of me. I clapped him on the back and thought he was going to stroke out. Told him he had a big set to say what he did and that I thought it was good for him to be there if he wanted. I asked him to get his friends involved in habitat projects whether they were for hunting or the fish habitat at the Salt lakes. He said he did not want to eliminate hunting but was tired of G&F working so much for hunters. As for the meeting I was about to get up when Bruce said his piece and that was what needed to be said. The vote was never going to happen from the commissioner. Glad Brewer's people could see that. It reminded me of the USO meetings but everyone seemed to skirt the real issue until Bruce and Woodhouse said their part. The bottom line is that meeting was to try to focus energy somewhere that it isn't. We need a voice and that means we need a political lobbyist to do the dirty work like our competition. I hate politics and that is the game we need to be in to stop this bill and others like it. Might be too late.

 

 

Glad you engaged him Ringer. I too thought he had some serious guts coming to a hunting meeting and giving the speech he did. Glad he told you he doesn't want to eliminate hunting.

 

I think people would be wise to realize that there is a large number of people that enjoy wildlife but do not hunt. Those are the people that potentially could be tapped into for funding wildlife projects AND to make sure we engage them in a way that at least maintains them as NOT being against hunting. Inviting those people to habitat projects might be a great way to show non-hunters that hunters spend a lot of time and money on wildlife habitat improvements. Another way is to just invite a nonhunter to go hunting with you so they can see what really goes on and how hunters appreciate nature in a way that many nonhunters do not realize.

[CouesWhitetail]

My first posting, I listened in to some of the meeting and one major thing that I came away with was that everyone better watch out for the gentleman who was not a hunter and read a statement on what he believed to be the wildlife model of the future. We can continue to fight amongst ourselves all we want but let me tell you this, that guy and his friends are winning the war. - Rick Miller

 

 

+1

 

I agree Rick and welcome.