ORIGINAL: BTBowhunter

Windwalker, I call t as I see it and RSB stepped over a very important line with me tis week as did the BOC. Hell, I wasn't even against crossbows although I did have my concerns. The vote in the face of the heavy opposition without any science to back it up was a major F___ you to the organized bowhunters of this state.Were talking about the BOC spitting in the face of the organization that backed them up on an archery stamp price being raised beyond all the other increases. We're talking about the BOC taking a big steaming dump on the organization that backed the PGC when they put a week of gun hunting right in the middle of bow season.Of course, I'm talking about the UBP. The UBP has selflesssly backed the BOC till now because till now, the science was on their side IMHO. Again, this was primariy a social issue and the BOC turned their back on the friendly's.

RSB's "take a flying leap" was the icing on the cake thisweek. Out of respect, hoping that the post was partly done in anger, I gave him severalchances to back off that statementeven a little and he did not. It now appearsthat his attitude was not momentary anger but his deep rooted position.I still believe there are a lot of guys out there that are generally supportive ofmuch of the deer management but I have lost my respect for the current BOC and RSB has definitely eroded my respect for him as a representative of the PGC by a great deal. Quite frankly, a public servant who feels that the people who have funded him and his agency forhis entire career should simply "take a flying leap" needs to consider a new place of employment.

That having been said, if you look back you'll find that I have often disagreed with parts of the PGC's policies and disagreed with RSB before.

For example, I have repeatedly called for smaller WMU's. I would like to see the concurrent season we now have in 2D 2G etc expanded to the whole state. RSB and I debated on opposite sides on the extension of our hunting hours to half hour after sunset a while back. (we hunters won that one)

I do believe we have had far too many deer for far too long but alsobelieve we have reached or are very close to the point where we need to level things off depending on the area.

When it comes to Bluebirds outrageous distortions, RSB and I often come down on the same side. But so do several here that have issues with some PGC policies. Lying, overzealous extreme fanatics like Bluebird don't help those on his side of theissues.

Sure, the timber industry has serious influence! So do the farmers. We are never going to see a MSY policy again. We as hunters need to realize that without farmers, landowners, timber interestsetc. we havevery fewplaces to hunt. Like it or not, the fact that they feed and provide habitat for most of the herd means they probably will continue have more say than we do. With the exception of gamelands, even public ground belongs to all taxpayers and not just hunters.

Gamelands are another story. Bought and paid for by hunters, they should all be managed for wildlife first. Any timber, oil, gas ,wind generation etc should be secondary to wildlife on gamelands. A hunting license or similar use permit for non hunters should be required for any and all access to gamelands for any reason.