ORIGINAL: BTBowhunter
ORIGINAL: Screamin Steel
The fishers are part of the PGC's new FR (flock reduction) program. The turkeys are outcompeting all other bird species, so a 50% reduction is being pushed for by the Audubon and the tree huggers. Top it off with the new spur restictions, and we have a mirror image of the phenomenally successful deer program. Bonus hen tags in the spring and 1 1/4" minimum spur length should quickly and dramatically reduce the flock and provide the privileged few with a chance at a real trophy tom. Apparently fishers are very capable turkey killers, known to prey onadults as well as juvenilles, and are notorious nest raiders as well. Just what the PGC ordered. Should accomplish in quick order what the coyotes have already been doing to the turkeys and what they have done with the deer fawns as well.
Posts like that and this thread in general reflect the fact that a sad day has come for hunters in Pennsylvania.
Since I began hunting in the late 60's hunters have always been able to proudly declare that we were responsible for the recovery of many species over the years,both game and nongame. Threads like this and posts like the last one show that we have some among us that are simply so selfish that they can't be bothered caring about wildlife unless it's something they can shoot.
Make no mistake about it, The future of hunting is in the hands of people who do not hunt. For years, the general nonhunting public has hada positive and generally correct view that hunters care and support all wildlife. Posts like these do nothing more than help the PETA folks who would seek to destroy that positive image and they will benefit by pointing out the selfish hunters among us.
Sure. Let's take your eco warrior stance here. Who will be leading the charge to reintroduce bison, timber wolves, (how about mt lions?), surely someday science will allow cloning dinosaurs and other prehistoric monsters.....where will it end? Do you support, then, the reintroduction of EVERY species that has ever come and gone from our region? Hand in hand with that extremist mantra is the elimination of every non native species that would include the ringnecked pheasant, brown and rainbow trout, and many other popular but transplanted species. When will the PGC stop holding hands with the birdwatcher/ conservation romantics? Fishers are NOT needed in a predatorial role today and neither were coyotes whether you believe their expansion was natural or manipulated. MAN is the number one predator of deer, now. Turkeys already suffer high enough predation rates that coupled with cyclic populations due to fluctuation of nesting successes, and managed seasons keep the birds in check.
If you couldn't see the satire and humor in my previous post, then I point it out to you now. But your post seems to be intended seriously, and I find it more ridicuous than my humorous one. Now that's irony.