NoMercy;

Where ya been bud. Come on in the waters' fine.

Joking aside, your question is not a new question and has been asked many times. To this day the KDWP doesn' t acknowlege this issue as an issue of fairness. You are not the only one that has noticed, far from it. There are hundreds of people out there asking the same question and it is continually falling on deaf ears. The letter that was posted here on this site is not the only one that has been recieved by the Lame Commission and the KDWP, but as you saw witness on this site it was probably deleted or trashcanned. That is a direct result of the closed mindedness that is inherent and ingrained into our system. It should matter little how the issue was presented, it should matter more that the issue was raised at all and how it was addressed (or in these cases completely ignored). To this day KDWP refuses to accept that there is a fairness issue to address.

All I can tell you is, get involved. You wouldn' t beleive the amount of data we have on this subject. You will also be amazed at what you learn through the participation process. I know there are people on this board that think I just woke up one day and decided to rasie some cain with the KDWP. Far from true, the more I learned about what is going on the more determined I am to get to the heart of this issue. It' s not going to take too many more people like you and me to start effecting how this state conducts business in this area.

I think we have something like 5 major gun clubs statewide and about a dozen more big ones at at the local levels, have you ever wondered where the gun clubs are on this issue and why they are not taking a stand for firearms owners? You and I are not the first people to look at this as a clear gun rights issue. I don' t care what anyone else posts here - IT IS A GUN RIGHTS ISSUE. Well, a couple of other people and I have experience with what' s going on in that area first hand. I' m not going to air any dirty laundry on this site, but I will give you this - find out collectivly who else in the body of your club feels the way you feel, collectively talk to the people on your executive councils. Singly they will discount you, collectively they will not. Find out EXACTLY where they stand on this issue and why. As a paying member you have every right to know. Do not be surprised at the responses you get - but don' t back down, you are right and this is a gun issue and the people on those councils MUST HAVE THEIR FOCUS on those issues - PERIOD. Besides, the KDWP has on many occasions stated that the firearms community is the least reperesented in big game issues. Hard to believe but it' s true. Another thing to consider is firearms are the majority of hunters afield and the minority in represented issues(Could this be at the heart of the fairness issue?) Currently, because of gunclubs stances and lack of representation on this particular issue I do not belong to any of the state or local gun clubs. It is begining to turn. If you are interested, feel free contact me. I will join the first gun club that actively commits to this issue and I know I could get lots more membership for that club just dealing with this issue solely. In my opnion the current representation from the gun clubs that we do have interfacing with the state is selling us all down the river. Make no mistake about it NoMercy, we as firearms hunters have been our own worst enemies through our apathy. Yes we have some slob hunters and individuals with sever harvest mentatily in our ranks - but I personally would place apathy as our biggest problem as firearms hunters. Many would say we are getting what we deserve - I disagree, but it is VERY hard to argue.

Some things to look for in your discussions is key words. Those words usually are a dead giveaway of the stance of the particular individual and speaks a load of where exactly they are coming from. In this issue, you are going to hear the word ' uninmformed' overly unsed. It doesn' t matter that you may have a boat load of data compared to someone that may only have something jotted on the back of an envelope - the envelope guy is usually the first person to cast out " you are uninformed" . Don' t get mad that' s just human nature. This issue stirs passions, so just be informed. The word ' uninformed' is as easy to use as the words ' common sense' . A response to one of my posts on the Any Deer Tag issue made the statement that the current system relies on common sense and then proceded with the rational. The post struck me as funny because I really believe that if you were to look at the deeper issue it is lacking of common sense. Common sense tells you that a regulatory responsibility dictates a clear concise definition for reglulatory instruments such as the any deer tags, and that is not the case. In World Book Dictionary " double standard" is defined as ' a standard applided to one group more leniently than the other.' I' ll let you go back and check the post and see if it stands the scrutinity. The data and common sense tells me it' s a double standard. This is just a drop in the bucket of what you are dealing with. Above all else become informed and participate.

Another thing that some people will try to derail you is with the insult that you just want to liberalize deer hunting - just disreguard that for the stupidity that it is. I don' t know of many firearms hunters that really want to liberalize anything - more like you and me they see something screwy going on and we are not being told the facts straight up(because of the data issue). For example; about a couple of years ago at Emporia, the Commission voted for and unanimously passed without discussion (or data) to deregulate requirements for bows. No longer is there a pull weight, draw lenght or letoff requirements for bows. If this happened in the world of firearms, it would be akin to allowing anything that goes bang for deer - 31 cap n' ball, all the rimfires, 14 and 17 calibbres, etc, etc. I don' t know how anyone in their right mind advocates such a thing and then talks of how concerned they are about the health of the deer herds. Many of my friends that bowhunt said it is the stupidest thing that has ever happened in the state of Kansas, and I agree. All you have to do is look at some of the bows that are showing up in the deer hunting field these days, some are not much more than toys. Now, before anyone scathes me for this statement, I want to be perfectly clear - I don' t cotton to any subcalibre anything - bow, guns, muzzlestuffer - anything. If you are going to hunt deer you need to be sure that you CAN handle enough weapon ( no matter what it is) to responsibility and humanly take deer. This Commission is the same bunch of people that throw away your inputs because you are not nice. Could there possibly be a huge crediability gap here? So, don' t let the liberalization accuzation bother you, the facts on that matter are clearly in your favor.

Don' t be derailed by peolpe that tell you they hunt with both gun and bow. Talk to them and see where their convictions are. People who hunt with both are also on both sides of this issue. Earl Nightingale (world renouned philosifer) wrote " What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you speak" . What this means is talk is cheap, and actions speak louder than words.

If any middle ground is going to be reached, it will be only because Gun Club members get actively involved and then get their executive councils to properly represent them on issues with KDWP. Make no mistake about it - you are on the right track. Keep asking questions and make sure the answers make sense. I or a couple of other people I know can help you with that.

God Hunting to you all.

Dave