Germain - as I understand it, and I've only been involved since '98, the USP was formed by a splinter group of the PFSC who were not happy with the "conservation" stance the PFSC was taking. I'm not familiar with the issues of the day but allegedly some of thesefolks cared more about hook and bullet issues rather than the overriding big picture.A modern day example - habitat vs. deer numbers. From what I've heard, the USP was fairly tame initially and then a more radical faction tookover leadership positions. Since then they've been pretty much critics rather than craftsmen.

As far as membership - no one knows for sure. They used to list member clubs on their website until sportsmen called each club to verify that info. Lo and behold, the info vanished off their website. Many of their publications list 40,000 yet at the last hearing any legislator allowed to them to testify at the number presented was 25,000.

We attend each major sportsmens groups annual meetings every year as well as local "chapter" or "division" meetings" (darn, I have to work Friday night - the PFSC Southern Division meeting is at the PFBC headquarters). FWIW - the PFSC, UBP, PANWTF and others all draw a large crowds and substantial state agency support in terms of people and presentations, the USP does not.

You can decide what that means in terms of influence and importance.

p.s. look for a press release soon regarding one of their top people and a little issue of Title 34 violations. And yes, the violations involve deer.