Trebarker, Bowfanatic and KJr;

It is really easy to have the sweetest friut on the tree and tell everybody else they need to be happy with the crap that they getting. Firearms hunters have been getting screwed for so long in the state of Kansas, and I for one only see it getting worse.

It seems funny to me that KDWP operates so much without hard data about this very situation - now you guys want to see hard data!

Let me give you some food for thought, this is a letter that was recieved by the Game Commission, make no mistake, this a is a culmination of the thoughts of MANY firearms big game hunters in the state of Kansas:

Commissioners;

I wanted to write to you originally to thank you for the firearms season in the new Unit 19 in the October time frame. But, as I read the remarks of Chairman Dykes, Commisioners Warner and Carpenter and the absence of statements of support for firearms issues from the other Commissioners - I got the general feeling that it was a big mistake and something the Commission did NOT like. You see at first I thought maybe the Commission was really interested in restoring fairness for firearms deer hunters, but I guess it now seems it was not an intended move to equity. To make matters worse Commissioner Warner wanted the firearms regulated to shotgun and muzzleloader only. WHY? Anyplace that is safe for a shotgun or muzzleloader is safe for anything you can put in a Contender pistol or in a revolver. Why is the Commission so dead set againist centerfire firearms? Why do you regulate the .44 Magnum pistol the very same way that you regulate the 300 Weatherby Magnum rifle? What is the real problem with straight walled non-belted cartridges in handguns, carbines and rifles? Shotgun slugs offer no real margin of saftey over these firearms. Shotgun only areas are political solutions - NOT practicle solutions. The archery crowd is already rasing alot of cain over the Oct firearms season in Unit 19. I beleive that this may be the only year for that firearms season, I believe you will follow the wishes of the bowhunters, and move kill the Oct season. Another problem with shotgun only in Unit 19 - we all know it won' t stop there. It is no secret certain bowhunters would certainly like to abolish the centerfire firearms season in this state.

I think the biggest problem is a Commission that is closed minded to providing equity for firearms hunters. It also reflects how out of touch this Commission is on firearms issues. After all, you would have to be crazy to go deer hunting during the firearms season - is that the correct statement Commissioner Carpenter (according to the minutes)? Many good ideas have been brought before this Commission regarding firearms seasons and deer hunting, but you continue to ignore them. The only thing you seem to be interested in is pandering to the KBA. Best example is the issue a couple of years ago when you did away with the regulations for pull weight, draw length and let off requirements for bows. I know it was done to get youth involved in bowhunting. Consider, in order for a young person to hunt deer with a firearm he must be able to handle enough gun to responsibly take a deer. Archery equipment is even more critical in this area, and this Commission has seen fit to shirk it' s responsibilities in this area and bend to the bowhunters demands, knowing full well it is not a good idea. In the area we hunt we have a sloppy bowhunter with one of these underpowered bowes. We are constanly cleaning up after this guy(s), but no more, we are moving to a new location - what ever happens to the arrow stuck deer there happens. We' re tired of seeing it. You can bet the surban people will tire of it faster than we did, especially if an arrow stuck deer is bleeding, thrashing and dying in their flower bed with thier kids watching. Commissioner Warner, Carpenter and Chairman Dykes, I and many other hunters have a bigger problem with a bowhunter hunting an urban area with an underpowered bow than we do with someone hunting in the same area with a 44 Mag pistol or carbine. We feel the latter hunter is just more responsible because he realizes what it takes to hunt this type of environment and more than likely, saftey will be his/her utmost concern. I also realize this statement is too much of a leap of faith for most of this commission.

The last series of workshops for deer management concentrated its efforts mainly on the transferable tag issue, and in the opinion of many hunters afield turn out to be a failure. Management issues were not discussed, it turned out to be nothing more than a squabble over transferrable tags with all participants protecting thier own turf. There certainly wasn' t much forward thinking going on. That is nothing new with this commission, you have been operating basically on historical momentum. That happens when you operate with the gross lack of data. Commissioner Hall, I want to thank you for pointing out the obvious about inadequete data. The rest of the commission and the KDWP certainly aren' t hearing the publics complaints on this particular issue(and it has been brought to their attention many times) - maybe they will listen to you.

I do wish to thank this Commission for changing my thoughts on a couple of issues. One is KDWP acquiring more lands for public hunting. I no longer am in favor of this. Chairman Dykes has said on many occasions that one of the goals is to open more public grounds to hunters. He has to be making these statement for bird hunting and bowhunting because it certainly isn' t true for firearms deer hunters. Quite the opposite, firearms deer hunters loose more ground every year. Just last year (2002)the Flint Hills Wildlife areas are no longer avaliable for center fire firearms for big game hunting. There isn' t one wildlife area manager in this state that DOESN' T have plans to reduce the areas avaliable to centerfire firearms for big game hunting in the next 5 to 10 years. More land acquistion for bowhunting preserves at my expense? No thanks, I am no longer interested. Chairman Dykes, your words and the actions of the department are 2 different things. The other thing that I am now in favor of is maximizing the transferable tags. This seems to be the only way that firearms hunters will be able to have a decent crack a getting an any deer tag. In the past 9 years I have had an any deer tag only twice. Bowhunters get those tags every year, consistantly and constantly, while firearms hunters are subject to accumulating points and listening to that bogus " success rate study" that the KDWP and the KBA so fluently speak. I have since found out that " study" is nothing more than an unsubstantiated theroy. What' s more it was originally concieved by a bowhunter from upper New York state. It' s unsbstantiated because of NO CREDITABLE DATA.

I also hear rumbling of the species specific tags. I would just as soon KDWP and this Commission just leave well enough along on species specific tags. I really believe things would only get worse for the firearms hunters in this state.

A backlash is looming. I believe more firearms hunters are going to be doing business with outfitters(if you loose accesses you move to the next desirable option). On checking these guys out they are very adept at herd management and extremely knowlegable. They operate from hard data. In my opinion that gives them a leg up on the KDWP and this commission. They don' t take such anti-gun stances and they certainly are more welcoming of firearms hunters. One problem about being out of touch with the firearms hunters, is they are the majority and that puts you out of touch with the majority. A time will come when outfitters with the backing of firearms hunters will have the clout to help appoint commissioners to this commission that are far more fairness minded. I and many other hunters will be right their with them. Maybe at that time we can get the KDWP back to the state of Kansas and out of the hands of the people responsible for their new nick name: Kansas Department of Wildlife and Bowhunters.

Thank you for you time and attention. From a personal level, I do understand the difficulties in tackling these issues.