While this article is obviously a good thing. I think the motive is bad. We are being leeched. How can they expect to keep hunting for the masses if only the wealthy can afford to hunt. Or we can try to survive on public land.
This is a long term problem with no solution in site. If public land was managed correctly we wouldn't have to lease private land to do our hunting. IMHO the USFS,BLM and any other land managing entity is doing about the worst job possible managing our resources.
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"Banning guns is an idea whose time has come."
- Joseph Biden
Associated Press 11/18/93
"Be thankful that we're not getting all the government we are paying for." Will Rogers
I read the attachment and I may have missed something but I did not see anything in there that was antihunting or talked about public vs private land. I think the firearms safety in school is a good thing. And it isn't mandatory. I had my Hunter's safety course in school way back when. If the school board allows it and permission from the parent(s) is granted I don't see a problem.
Personally, if it were up to me, I would make firearms safety a mandatory requirement. I grew up around firearms. They were just sitting in a closet or the corner of a bedroom. I was taught not to touch them without an adult present and learned how to handle them at an early age. I believe the children today are just as factinated with firearms as we old timers were (are) but do not grasp the concept of how dangerous they are. This is especially true with 'city' kids and not so much with the kids in rural areas or those that have parents that take the time to enlighten them.
__________________ PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO THE RISING COST IN AMMO PRICES I WILL NO LONGER BE FIRING A WARNING SHOT.
A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have.
I'm not as good as I'm gonna get - but I'm better than I used to be. "Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil - it has no point."
I don't have a problem with the classes. I would also make gun training mandatory.
The issue is the dnr and policy makers treating us like a cash machine. Imagine what would happen if we all took a year off of hunting. If we all stood up and said no more. I don't think it would take more than one year to change things.
Tom
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I have come to understand that I really enjoy learning things the hard way.
I think the hunter safety classes in school is a good idea. I think kids that won't end up hunting will take the class and be more positively disposed to both hunting and to guns. When I took this class at the age of about 45 with my 12 year old son I learned a lot of very interesting facts that I didn't know such as the role of regulated sport hunting in species conservation and recovery. It would be well for every citizen to have this knowledge.
As to the further comments about the future of hunting going to the wealthy. There is one action people can take, don't pay to hunt on private land. I hunt on private land, but I don't pay for it. I take the trouble to make acquaintences and establish relationships with people so I can hunt for free. Now these are not prime big game trophy hunting lands, but like it or not big game trophy hunting IS a rich man's game and always has been. In my case, I have to go from Texas (where leasing private hunting lands seems to be the thing) to Oklahoma to find private land to hunt on for free, and this involves paying for a non-resident deer license and non-resident hunting license to hunt ducks and such. That is cheaper than paying $1,500 for a deer lease to hunt non-trophy, smallish deer in Texas. Just say "NO" to paying to hunt on land dudes! For elk and pronghorn, you can hunt public land. Again, if you are in it only for the trophy -- that is exceptional, meaning upper 90th percentile, upper 98th percentile -- you better get your wallet limbered up. The profit making hunting businessmen have gotten there ahead of you and locked up the best consistently producing properties, or the drawing odds are so friggin' long you might as well take up knitting for your hobby.
This is a long term problem with no solution in site. If public land was managed correctly we wouldn't have to lease private land to do our hunting. IMHO the USFS,BLM and any other land managing entity is doing about the worst job possible managing our resources.
Yes you are correct, if the land was managed properly we would not have a problem. The problem is Public land is not allowed to be managed properly.
The USFS is theone of the only Federal Departments that should add money to the National Treasure. The problem is the tree hugger's have so many law suits against the USFS that over 60% of their total budget is allocated to litigation!!! They are not allowed to manage our timber resources in a proper Tree management procees. They are forced to do whatever a tree hugger judge tells them to do!!! Even though the tree hugger judge has no idea how to manage aforest!!!
As a nation we are loosing Billions of dollars a year in timber loss, because the USFS is not allowed to cut trees that should be cut. We are also paying three times more for a 2X4 because this timber is not allowed to be cut. WHY??? So we can protect the Spotted Owl!!! What in the HE** is a Spotted Owl???
Do you remember when Bill Clinton destroyed a lot of the bridges in our National Forests?? And when he closed roads in our National Forests?? Why are we not allowed to use roads that are built in OUR national forest?? The answer is litigation.
It is really not the fault of our Departments that govern our great natural resources. The problem is the morons who are in charge, who know absolutely nothing about how to manage a forest. Tom.
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West by God Virginia.
We need to stop using these terms today, "Sniper Rifle", "Tactical", "Assault Weapon".
While this article is obviously a good thing. I think the motive is bad. We are being leeched. How can they expect to keep hunting for the masses if only the wealthy can afford to hunt. Or we can try to survive on public land.
Well, one CAN survive on public land, if you are close enough to some that you can become familiar with it. Colorado and New Mexico have always provided me with ample opportunity to kill elk and deer. Here in PA, there's a lot of public game lands, and in upstate NY, thousands of acres of state forest that is open for hunting.
I share your concern about the danger of hunting becoming a rich man's sport, like it is in Europe. When I lived in Germany, I did hunt. My fellow Jaegers (the German ones) were all people of substantial means, who could afford to purchase the hunting rights to large "reviers", or hunting areas. Farmers could not hunt on their own lands, only those who owned the rights... Those who owned the hunting rights had to pay the farmers for any crop damage done by game animals. And, if you were an invited or paying guest of the "game owner", you were entitled to the antlers, cape, and heart of the animal you shot. If you wanted any of the meat, "X Deutsch Marks per kilo" of meat. The money went into the rights owner's game management/damage compensation fund.
Would hate to see that happen here. IMO, this is in the same category as "titles of nobility"....... anti-liberty!
I believe gun safety should be taught to all kids staring in about the third grade. After the rudiments are learned, an opportunity should be provided for them to take a hunteing course, that should consist of not just hunter safety, but conservation as well. In addition, a different elective would be available for those who wished to do competititve shooting. These would be electives, but the basic safety course would be mandatory for all kids since they all seem to be coming in contact with firearms more often these days.
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"Bitte, trinks du das Wasser nicht. Dahin haben die Kuhen gesheissen."
I love how out west a majority of hunters use public land, I've hunted it, but here in IL, it's almost entirely private, sure there is public land to hunt. I'm certainly motivated to make a buck so I can buy my own spread to be able to do what I've only been able to dream about, all we can try to do is change the system for the better and until then, work within it I suppose.
Explotation of Hunters
