logs

I spent from about 9:30am to about 1:30pm on the 10th in Madison at the Legislative Joint Committee on the Review of Administrative Rules hearings. nub and BigE were also there (between their smoke breaks). There were at least 100 snowmobilers..(henceforeth SM) there who were brought in by bus to lobby and show support for thier cause.
There is a lot of material out there today saying that the SM are siding with the hunters agianst the DNR. Don't believe it. Wheather you like or agree with the DNR is not important in this issue.
The SM want to control our hunting season. They think it is too long and hampers their time in the woods. They want all,ALL deer hunting done by the end of December. They stated at the meeting while testifying that it was to cold in December to Bow hunt and why would we want to be out there anyways. Further thier biggest concern is that land owners will not open thier land up to SM while they still have hunters on the property, be it gun or bow. The SM found this to be terrible and unacceptable on the part of the land owners. If there was no hunting there would be no problem.
They want a 16 day gun season starting on November 15th each year, regardless of the day of the week, period. They want that time to include the muzzleloader season and there be no Zone T season in Dec regardless of the deer population (this year or any other year).
They also stated that the Bow season was over 100 days and that was too long. In a normal snow fall year they have SMing from December to the end of March if not into April north of hy 8. Now that's long.
They further attempt to strengthen the position by claiming 80% of their members are hunters. Since thier numbers include children under 12 and wives I doubt that is true.
The guy who's going to be a real problem to hunters in the future is Rep.DuWayne Johnsrud. This guy claims to be a hunter but apparently needs the vote of the SM to keep his job. He backed everything that the SM said. He was actually the lead off speaker from the floor who got the ball rolling for them.
If you a bow hunter this guy want to eliminate those 4 days you got to hunt immediately before gun season. The Monday throught Thursday to make up for the lost time due to the T-Zone in October. He thinks you distrub the woods and deer to much. Must be the noise bows.
I personally talked to Reps.Seritti, Turner and Robert Welch about the Bow season and the lenght of the normal snowmobiling season. If you can call or e-mail you Representative and make your own arguement for what you want. The hunters were way out numbered at this meeting.

TJD

No suprise...the snowmobilers are kind of like the AARP...get a busload of people together, give them a meal maybe, and ship everybody off to the Capitol to show how "grass roots" their movement is.

And I will bet the DNR caves in on this, unless we can lobby more sucessfully ourselves.

The letters to the reps are on their way...

deerslayer still

Here once again we have someone lumping all people that participate in something into one group. I snowmobile and I also hunt. I wouldn't dream of trying to cut the hunting season short and I'm sure a lot of other snowmobilers feel the same way I do. The snowmobilers that the hunters are mad at are the ones that showed up in the busses to lobby, they don't represent ALL snowmobilers, though they may claim to. Keep the criticizm where it is due.

TJD

Point taken, deerslayer. I should have narrowed the criticism down a bit. I like to snowmobile too.

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BackstrapFever

Well, here is one snowmobiler that does not consider himself lumped with those who spoke out against the hunting season. I belong to numerous hunting organizations and I also belong to a snowmobile club. I enjoy both sports and activly support both. These snowmobilers who showed up must be from extreme northern Wisc. Our club is from Ozaukee county, and in no way, is trying to disrupt any hunting season. Now some of you are saying that because I am in a club, that means I belong to the whole allience of snowmobilers, which is very true. We very seldom get enough snow here to begin sledding before the holidays. And because the majority of the land here is private, we have to respect the landowners or we might as well give it up. I have made it known to our club president, as well as the AWSC president, that I will quit the AWSC if this type of b.s. keeps continuing. I have written a letter and spoke with a JCRAR represenative with my concerns prior to this meeting because I was unable to attend. Those snowmobilers that attended obviously don't realize that our hunting heritage was here way before snowmobiling got big. I will always fight for hunting over snowmobiling. This is very hard for me right now because I like both sports and there is no reason for both groups to get along. I do not support the testimony from those snowmobilers. Did anyone out there mention that 16 of the last 22 snowmobiling seasons didn't start until Dec 20 because of lack of snow? Did anyone mention that there has never been a snowmobiler that was killed from a stray arrow?

Thank you for posting this logs. My AWSC membership might now be cancled a little earlier now.

logs

There is a lot of truth that it is wrong to lump all of any one type of recreational group into one class or identity. The problem here was that this group, Im not exactly sure of its title, presented themselves as the spokes people for all WI SMers. Ms White, thier VP and one other spokes person for them went so far as to refer to 27 other states as part of the same organization but I don't think anyone bought that. Just as there are good and bad hunters, the ones that speak out in one form or another get the attention. This group was there represented themselves as the spokes people for all SMers.
That being said, if you hunt and SM you may want to check on the position of your club or any other group you belong to, to ensure you are being represented as you really want to be.
Also get on the phone or e-mail your representative and let your position be known. Have your Rep contact the members on the JCRAR committee in Madison and present your side of the issue.
When I walked into that meeting I did not harbor a bad feeling toward SM. I was cautious of thier presence and a bit uneasy. When I left, I knew I'd never let another SMer club on my land agiant unless they changed thier additude.
At the meeting I did not hear one SMer come forward and stand up agianst this group. I was not able to stay for the entire thing so I can't say it didn't happen. Maybe BigE or nub could tell you otherwise.

deerslayer still

I am saying something by posting on here for one. I am also a proud member of three snowmobile clubs and very active in the legislature here in Minnesota. If you ride a snowmobile on the maintained trails you have a responsibility to join a local club and help out. One person speaking out is easily discounted but a large group "Lumped" together will have their voices heard.

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BackstrapFever

I still would like to know where the snowmobilers that were in attendance came from. I snowmobile in a lot of conties and I have not heard one complaint about the hunting seasons. The fact is, that there are more deer licenses sold every year than there are regestered snowmobiles. There is more revenue being made from hunting seasons than during the snowmobile season. Those snowmobilers that showed up obviously do not hunt and they don't have all there facts straight. We have 90 percent of our trails marked prior to the gun deer season. If someone wants to mark trails during the gun deer season, it's not too hard to put on a blaze orange jacket. Bowhunting is not the only season going on during winter. Coyote, fox, and rabbitt are also going on and yet, they failed to bring these issues up. I am going to attempt to contact some officials from the AWSC and try to get some answers and reslove some issues.