background check to hunt the parks? are these like nat'l forests? playgrounds with land and deer to hunt?

private property?

Suburban parks loaded with playgrounds, picnic grounds, ski slopes, bike trails, etc etc . The kind of place where common sense dictates that hunters be well acquainted with the area and know where it's safe to shoot what the rules are.

These parks were closed to all hunting till this organization came along.

if they hit him with discharging a weapon, and he didn't, good deal on the dismissal. play by the rules. I'd rather not get shot in the back by a newbie while i do my morning jog through the park...yes back ground check..don't need any chesters in a tree watching my kids play at the public park trying to say he has permission to be there!!!. i think its kewl they make sure someone can shoot and identify the bright orange behind their shot before they shoot so noone dies while trying to have a good time. it sure seems like anyone can join, things take time, why wouldn't this?

besides, ya woulda never been able to hunt here had these guys not set all this up with the county anywaz!!!! he woulda been hauled off to jail!!!

Thing is a farmer limiting the amount of people who can hunt his farm is one thing, that's private property, a county park is not private property, the taxes from all county residents pay for the park, therefore any county resident who wishes to hunt the park should be able to.

Sounds like they can.
Unless you mean they should be able to hunt with no rules or restrictions.

According to the article the only way to hunt the park is to be a Whitetail Management Associates member.
In my eyes that is discrimination against anyone who is not a member.
As far as rules and restrictions go, you do have to abide by all current game rules and regulations regardless.

If membership werent open to anyone, you would be correct. But since membership is open to anyone who applies and can pass the requirements, it's not discrimination any more than passing a drivers test to drive.

As I said before, I'm in a similar program where the selection process is handled by the police department. It works very well but the local taxpayers foot the bill for the time involved.

The only real difference here, between this regulated hunt and some others, is that the county has elected to let a non profit group do the screening. Instead of using taxpayer funded resources, they let a volunteer group do the legwork. It's worked pretty well for years now. hunters who play by the rules get to hunt and the parks take care of a deer problem without costing the taxpayers money.

Like I said, before WMA came on the scene there was NO hunting for anyone in those parks. (except for poachers who snuck in and THAT was really bad for our hunters image)

Shouldnt we be asking why this guy wouldn't/ couldn't play by the rules? They aren't hard to follow.

Some people keep forgetting that hunting is a privlege, not a right. You want the privlege to hunt the park, follow the rules and go through the proper channels. Plain and simple.

gonna disagree with ya here.

Going to have to disagree with you here, while the admin of the membership may not be costing the the taxpayer anything, the upkeep on the park is. If you are paying taxes to the county then every county resident should have access to the park and not have to go through joining some club. As far as qualifying with an archery accuracy test, every state that runs a hunter education program has an accuracy standard that has to be met. So your point is moot at best.