https://nwsportsmanmag.com/op-ed-the-changing-landscape-of-language-in-washington-game-management/

May roundup: Even when we hit a wall, we’re still winning

Advocating for fish, wildlife, and habitat conservation as well as hunters’ rights is an all-in proposition. A vocal, united, and persistent hunting community is the single best defense against anti-hunting interests that would love nothing more than for our sporting heritage to simply disappear. 

The month of May is a perfect example of just how important our Howls were in the outcome of a number of issues across the country. While we didn’t win on every front, our voice was heard and taken to heart at some of the highest levels in state and federal offices. 

Two examples would be the veto of an important Colorado wolf reintroduction bill and the narrowly defeated effort to lift the Maine Sunday hunting ban. 

Colorado bills SB23-256 and SB23-255 were both approved by large margins by the state legislature and sent to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk to be signed into law. SB23-256 would mandate a 10(j) waiver, identifying the reintroduced wolves as an experimental population without Endangered Species protections and moving management of the wolves to the state. 

We knew it would be an extremely heavy lift to get the Governor to sign since it was well-known he was against the bill. In spite of thousands of emails in support of the bill, and the overwhelming support of both chambers of the state legislature, Gov. Polis vetoed the bill. 

But the fight isn’t over yet. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available. 

In Maine, our push to lift the state’s Sunday hunting ban fell just short in the state legislature. LD 1241 would’ve allowed for Sunday hunting with a bow or crossbow only and with a $31 fee returning to conservation and youth hunter education. 

Similar bills have been introduced and voted down over the last few decades. None of them had the element of compromise, as this bill does — nor did they have the same level of public support.

With 48 percent of the state in support of the bill, 25 percent neutral on the issue, and only 27 percent opposed — and the resounding support of thousands in the hunting community — it’s a complete head-scratcher why legislators ultimately failed to lift the ban.

Again, the fight isn’t over here either. Be on the lookout for more information. 

On the big win front, Nevada Bill SB90 is dead.

Nevada has long suffered from the overpopulation of feral horses on its landscape.  Populations continue to rise unchecked and are now at several times the carrying capacity of the habitat.  With nearly 60,000 in “off-range” care at BLM corrals, the situation continues to degrade every year, with a lasting drought, increasing horse numbers, and more horses than adoptions can accommodate. 

Adding another spark to the tinderbox, SB90, which would designate the “wild mustang as the official state horse of Nevada,” was introduced in the state legislature. Thankfully, our overwhelming opposition to the bill made a strong impression, and the “state horse” designation died a quick and decisive death. 

International Impacts

Our friends in South Australia, who are facing a ban on bowhunting, are seeing some significant support from our community and the state’s elected officials. While the ban has been approved, it has not been implemented, and, if the legislative response is any indication, it may simply be left on the books to gather dust. 

Our partner organization in Australia forwarded this email response from Hon. Heidi Girolamo, MLC, Member of the Legislative Council: 

“In terms of our understanding around community pushback, I can let you know that our inbox has been inundated with correspondence on this. Probably 1,500 people have written to us, as you initially did, far outweighing any other issue that has been brought to our attention thus far.”

Our Howls are making a difference. 

Likewise, support for predator management in B.C. is receiving a great deal of attention. There is a growing body of science showing that the reduction in wolf density in British Columbia’s caribou recovery areas is helping endangered caribou recover. 

Mike Bernier, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Peace River South, replied directly to one of our staff’s emails: 

This is something that I am very supportive of, understanding the balance that we need to achieve to protect our wildlife at all levels in the backcountry. We have seen huge success in managing the wolf population around rural British Columbia and helping grow and sustain our ungulate populations. We must continue to make science-based decisions on a land base, rather than emotional or political ones. I will continue advocating for this in my role as MLA.

Current actions 

Visit our Action Den to stay up on any additional actions where your voice is needed.

HOWL needs you — become a member today

The amount of time and energy we put into advocating for hunters, wildlife, and habitat is well beyond a full-time effort. The hours spent by our small team and the cost of running HOWLl’s unique platform, are funded solely by memberships and donations.  

Our individual memberships come with fantastic benefits like access to OnX and MTNTOUGH+, and discounts from partner brands like Protekt, Black Rifle Coffee Company, and Eastman’s Tag Hub. There are also reciprocal memberships with Pope & Young, American Bear Foundation, and GOHUNT available.

We also have some cool merch and our own extra dark roast coffee in super-convenient single-serve packs and by the bag thanks to a partnership with Bear Beans. 

Make your voice heard on issues that are important to sportsmen and women in your state and beyond — join Howl for Wildlife today.

United States of Hunt/Fish

In the United States and countries around the world, hunters and anglers are being villainized as a heartless, bloodthirsty band of heathens who kill for sport and don’t care one bit about our natural resources — be it fish, wildlife, habitat — or our planet.

Truth be told, as sportsmen and women, we don’t do ourselves any favors when we popularize stupidity and a win-at-all-costs attitude on social media, don’t call out and correct baseless claims about our way of life, and take a “not my problem” stance when it comes to issues outside of our individual back yards.

Tackling the first two on a single-issue basis may be about as productive as pissing up a rope. But not doing something about the “not my problem” perspective that pervades our community — that’s like pissing on our own boots.

This isn’t some big campfire kumbaya we’re talking about. Giving a damn has tangible economic, conservation, and rights-based values. 

If you’re not familiar with the Pittman-Robertson Act (AKA Wilderness Recovery Act) or the Dingell-Johnson Act (AKA Sportfish Recovery Act), you need to be. 

Pittman-Robertson was signed into law in 1937. It directed manufacturers and importers of firearms and ammunition to pay excise taxes on their sales, which would then be sent back to the states to pay for wildlife management and habitat protection.  In the 1970’s, pistols and archery equipment were added to the list as well.

Dingell-Johnson, modeled after P-R, was passed in 1950 and earmarked taxes on fishing equipment for “restoration and management of all species of fish which have material value in connection with sport or recreation in the marine and/or fresh waters of the United States.”

Over $15 billion has gone to wildlife restoration programs since Pittman-Robertson became law, with another $10.5 billion to sportfish restoration through Dingell-Johnson. In 2022 alone, a combined $1.5 billion was put back into fish and wildlife conservation efforts nationwide.

When you buy your hunting or fishing gear, you help build this fund. If you travel to hunt or fish, your license fees, along with any gear you buy at your destination, go toward funding conservation. 

Even if you only hunt or fish in your home state, anyone who travels to your state to hunt or fish contributes to the conservation efforts in your backyard. Resident and non-resident dollars play a huge role in the health of your fish, wildlife, habitat, and economy, no matter where you call home. 

Likewise, there are tens of thousands of people across the country whose livelihoods depend on the fish and game that residents and non-residents head to the woods and water to find. Guides and outfitters, tackle and gun shop owners, and a litany of other ancillary local businesses would suffer—or shutter—without that business.

Remember, the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is based on all of North America working together to uphold its seven principles, not just each state looking out for its own.

This model should be the single brightest beacon for every sportsman and woman in the US, Canada, Mexico, and the 20 other countries within North America’s 9.5 million square miles. We are a formidable community. 

Unfortunately, that beacon doesn’t seem to draw as much consolidated attention and effort as anti-hunting and animal rights groups.

Anti-hunting efforts know no borders. They’re infiltrating our state game commissions and management decisions. They’re pushing for legislative changes. They don’t care if the issue is across the county line or across the country. If a call goes out at 6 a.m. to help save [insert literally anything], there will be a groundswell of outrage and a call for heads to roll by lunch.

It’s funny because it’s true, but it’s a playbook that hunters and anglers in every state and north and south of the border need to study. 

Outrage is not a one-way street. Demanding accountability and management decisions based on science is not a fallback position. Fighting for everyone’s backyard, not just your own, is not the exception, it has to be the rule. 

When you see that the spring bear season is under attack in Washington State, get involved. 

When you see that the right to hunt and fish is threatened in Montana, Florida, or Oregon, get involved.  Building this foundation of a right to hunt & fish in more states will only make it harder and require more resources for anti-hunters to be successful.  This is a strategy we all need to get behind.  

When you see that black bears are overrunning Connecticut and they need a management season for the good of the public and the animals, get involved. 

When you see that human rights and African wildlife management are being sacrificed to appease short-sighted anti-hunting and animal rights interests, get involved.

When you see hunting opportunities being taken away in Canada, the U.S. needs to get involved... huge numbers of hunters and anglers go to Canada to participate in their hunting and angling activities.

Because when we give a damn about what hunters and anglers in other states — and countries — are fighting to conserve and join them in the fight, that’s community. 

And a strong, united community will keep our fish, wildlife, and habitat healthy and our sporting heritage alive for generations to come.

Solutions:

For the individual hunter 

• Be a leader! 
• Take the seconds or maybe a few minutes to take action 
• Repost the issues with links on social media when you see them
• Do not let state borders hold you back
• If you want to be extra involved get acquainted with wildlife commission meetings, we help with that too!
• Become a member, invite your friends to become members.

For the species ORGS 

• If your ORG itself is not going to take on advocacy of species outside of your orgs mission or not going to take on advocacy at all then share the actions of groups that do, such as HOWL, to your member base. 
• The future of hunting is either helped by doing this or it's not helped by not doing this. 
• Maximum engagement is key. 

For the influencers and companies (such as retail)

• Be a leader for advocacy, lead from the front
• Share! You have a huge audience
• Make 10-20% of your posts, when applicable, advocacy posts.  We must awaken the masses.  

Open Season on Utah’s Cougars

Since 1967, mountain lions have been a protected game species in Utah.  Prior to this, they were considered vermin, and their numbers dropped drastically.  The management policies that followed helped establish cougar numbers, and in 1989 a limited season was opened up.  The high water mark for the state’s cougar population was met in the mid 1990s and has steadily decreased since then.  A flexible and moderated management plan allows for changes in license distributions based on several criteria. 

This will change with a last minute amendment to HB469.  The usual path for a bill of this type is to be introduced into committee with public comment sought for robust debate.  Instead, it was a “midnight addition” just before the bill’s vote. If this is codified, a mountain lion will no longer require a special permit and could be taken with a hunting license any day of the year.  There would be no further ability for Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources to manage cougar numbers.  

Utah Houndsmen Association President Cory Huntsman decries this move: 

“We have collar data that shows us we are decreasing lion populations.  There isn’t more than one unit that unlimited tags has helped improve deer herds.  Even more aggressive pursuits are unnecessary.”

He adds that ongoing research with BYU on mountain lions would be in danger of being canceled if this bill is signed into law.

Currently, HB469 awaits Governor Spencer Cox’s signature or veto.  His office has not communicated which direction the governor intends to take.  

Houndsmen and hunters have been at the forefront of cougar management for decades.  Our efforts and resources have supported better research and practices that have kept cougars on Utah’s landscape.  Our voice has not been heard on this bill and we urge the Governor to veto HB469 and allow it to progress through normal legislative channels.  The way HB469 is being handled is not the way to manage wildlife.  

Read:  Utah Cougar Management Plan 2015-2025

Read:  HB469 Wildlife Related Amendments

CONTACT: 

If you disagree with HB469, ask the governor to veto.  Reach Out To Gov Cox about HB469 through the below avenues:

Emails: [email protected]

[email protected]

Submit Comments: https://cs.utah.gov/s/submit

Phone: 801-538-1041

IG: https://www.instagram.com/govcox/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpencerJCox

Montana Draft Grizzly Bear Plan Open for Public Comment

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) has drafted an updated statewide management plan for grizzly bears and is seeking public comment until February 4. 

The new plan will replace two outdated plans — one for western Montana and one for southwest Montana — with one statewide framework.

According to the FWP, existing bear plans and conservation strategies, the federal recovery plan and the work of the Governor appointed Grizzly Bear Advisory Council all helped inform the draft. 

A draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) has also been completed to analyze the potential environmental impacts of adopting and implementing a statewide grizzly bear management plan. This DEIS helps guide decisions made regarding conservation and management of grizzly bears under the purview of FWP. 

Approval of FWP’s preferred “Alternative B” of the plan would satisfy the largest hurdle in Montana’s efforts to de-list grizzlies from federal endangered species protections and return management authority to the state.

Support from the hunting public in the form of comments is important since hunting is part of the management plan. There has been no hunting allowed for grizzlies since a federal ruling prohibited the activity in 1991 under the Endangered Species Preservation Act.

Prior to 1991, the state had grizzly management efforts in place since 1923 when black and brown bear were first declared game animals. 

Keith Kubista, past president and current director for Montana Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife (MSFW), knows that hunting is a vital part of management, in spite of anti-hunting sentiment. 

“Yes, grizzly bears are important to have on our landscape,” he said. “But there's also a way to manage them in ways that create sustainability, not only for the population but for the ability to hunt them someday.”

After thirty years, US Fish and Wildlife biologists have determined that grizzly populations in the state’s two main recovery zones — the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) — have successfully recovered from their endangered status. Current estimates say that grizzly numbers are between 1,800 and 2,000 statewide.

Montana is the benchmark for grizzly recovery and management. Thanks to the work of the state’s wildlife department, grizzly populations have eclipsed federal recovery goals and bear populations are expanding into areas that haven’t seen the animals in decades, including connectivity areas between the GYE and NCDE. 

Kubista thinks Montana’s tremendous success with regard to grizzly recovery and management should speak for itself, but public support is needed.

“We need the public to weigh in and support state-based management of their own wildlife,” he said. “We have four recovery zones in our state. Montana deserves to get state management control of their grizzly bear.”

The comprehensive, science-based management plan, provides goals for population numbers, distribution and connectivity, human safety, and conflict management.

The plan also includes hunting as a management practice, which is a tradition woven into the fabric of Montana’s rich history and our North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.

The FWP-preferred “Alternative B”, is a forward-looking, science-based approach that will ensure the continued health of the grizzly bear population in Montana and the safety of people as the grizzly’s presence expands — and restore a hunting tradition that’s been on hold for three decades.

Jeff Darrah, retired FWS game warden and current Executive Director of MSFW, believes the plan is a good one.  “FWP already does the yeoman’s share of management work,” he said. “To put this plan into place and put it back into state management, the bear will only prosper. The numbers are just going to continue to grow.”

Submit a comment to Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks in support of the Draft Grizzly Bear Management Plan.

TAKE ACTION HERE

Listen to our initial conversation that started this action here:

No reason to re-write anything when Free Range American already wrote it. 

Check out the article here