Arizona Game and Fish - Pays Influencers - Newberg cancels contract after backlash

[browning2480]

Boys that is what you call a mic drop. Well said Randy!! Keep up all the great things you do for conservation and the hunter

 

[wapitibob]

Keep up the good work Randy.

 

[SDHNTR]

The deadlines and how the draws work will be part of my annual podcast series. I will continue to do videos explaining the AZ draw system.

Randy, love ya, but this is the stuff that needs to stop! We are past the tipping point now. It’s doing more harm than good. Go back to just entertaining us with cool stories, scenery, critters, and characters, real TV! The draw process and the logistics part, it’s supposed to be hard! It’s supposed to be intimidating. You’re supposed to earn it. You’re supposed to actually read a proclamation, and pour over statistics and learn to do research. That’s all part of the experience. There needs to be some barrier to entry to overcome to make the experience treasured. Please sir, you’re killing the golden goose. Point creep and overcrowding are the results. The pendulum has swung too far. Stop it now.

And I realize you are not the only one. In fact, there are far worse offenders. But you were brave enough to show up here so I commend you for that. Hopefully you’ll take some of this backlash to heart. Entertain, don’t cheapen the experience with another easy button! We’ve got enough of those.

 

[FlatlanderAZ]

Funny stuff right there. As if the petition had anything to do with it. The petition had nothing to do with it. I had notified AZ G&F of my intent to withdraw from the last year of the contract months before the petition came out.

When the 2021 regulations came out with the changes to OTC mule deer, a hunt I have never done or ever promoted, I called AZ G&F and told them that if the 20% archery harvest was being triggered by mule deer harvests, I did not think it was good for us to be promoting deer hunting during this drought. We talked it over. I told them I was withdrawing from the last year of that contract. They asked if I would wait to make a final decision. We talked again in late July. Again, I told them of my intentions at that time.

That was before any petition was put together using me as the poster child. It has nothing to do with "backlash."

But, if the petition organizers think the BS storyline that they pressured me to withdraw is going to lower the archery harvest below the 20% threshold for more restrictive seasons, or you think that is going to change the huge increase in archery success rates that helped trigger the 20%, or you think that is going to result in more fawns in drought years, then carry on with that story line.

I've always been a "residents-first" supporter. I think AZ G&F should do what residents want and us non-residents should be hunting at the pleasure of whatever hunting opportunity is offered.

I will continue to hunt AZ as I have since 1984. I will continue to tell my audience that I think AZ is in the top 2 states of value provided to non-resident hunters. A fact is that AZ is my top value when spending my non-resident dollars. It has been for many years. Given my enjoyment of hunting late season elk, small game, quail, archery Coues, and archery javelina, I suspect it will be at the top of my list for a long time. Those hunts will continue to show up on my platforms. The deadlines and how the draws work will be part of my annual podcast series. I will continue to do videos explaining the AZ draw system.

The petition and its claim of "Victory" is laughable. I'm a pretty easy guy to reach. If they had contacted me before their petition, they would have known of my decision to withdraw. And they could have maybe focused their efforts on things that help improve deer numbers, management policies, and resident opportunity.

Happy Hunting.

Hey Randy nice to see you made it off the goat mountains safely. Congrats on the goat and I hope your mom is well.

For those who don’t know me my name is Andrew Gillett and I organized this petition. I agree with many things Randy has said here, but the assertion that you are easy to reach and that I didn’t try to contact you is simply not true. Although I appreciate the sentiments, I don’t need your help knowing what to spend my energy on. This July on your own forum I asked you a number of questions about your contract with AZGFD and whether it was good for the long term outlook of hunting in AZ. You avoided nearly all these questions by saying you were on the road with many other commitments (I guess the rest of us are just sitting around trying to think of things to do) but would respond when you had more time. You never did. You also never bothered to say then that you were canceling your contract, despite this being precisely when you claim to have done so. If you will read what I wrote on the petition, you would see that I did not claim the petition caused you to cancel the contract. Only you know the reason why. I feel like we did some thing good here. In AZ it’s been very difficult to get our commission to listen to the concerns of the sportsmen. It is clear now that this voice is being heard by some.

If you wanted to put an end to this back in July when I reached out via HuntTalk or in September when I started the petition, and notified you that I had done so, you could have contacted me, I am pretty easy to get ahold of.

 

[Randy Newberg]

Andrew, this July I answered all of the questions you asked on my forum. Some were answered when I was on the road and the rest when I got home. You never mentioned anything about a petition.

I told you how the contract worked, what we were hired to do, the scope of work, the process of using ad agencies, etc. I also made a similar post here on Rokslide that answered most the same questions. I think my response is linked in one of the prior posts in this thread.

When you sent me a PM on my forum last week, I was out on a mountain goat hunt. I did not know you were the petition organizer. In fact, I connected the dots between you and the petition just this evening after my first reply above.

In that PM last week, I told you that I had notified AZG&F of my withdrawal last spring when the first proposed changes came out. I complimented you on your letter to the Commission about focusing on residents first. I gave you ideas I thought would benefit resident hunters. I told you the sequence of events that I just posted here.

You had all those facts and knew of that information, including the timeline, before you posted the claim of "victory because of backlash" on your petition page.

As I stated above in my prior post, none of that happened because of your petition. But, if taking credit for that is helpful to your cause, knock yourself out. Funny stuff, for sure.

Happy Hunting.

 

[FlatlanderAZ]

Andrew, this July I answered all of the questions you asked on my forum. Some were answered when I was on the road and the rest when I got home. You never mentioned anything about a petition.

I told you how the contract worked, what we were hired to do, the scope of work, the process of using ad agencies, etc. I also made a similar post here on Rokslide that answered most the same questions. I think my response is linked in one of the prior posts in this thread.

When you sent me a PM on my forum last week, I was out on a mountain goat hunt. I did not know you were the petition organizer. In fact, I connected the dots between you and the petition just this evening after my first reply above.

In that PM last week, I told you that I had notified AZG&F of my withdrawal last spring when the first proposed changes came out. I complimented you on your letter to the Commission about focusing on residents first. I gave you ideas I thought would benefit resident hunters. I told you the sequence of events that I just posted here.

You had all those facts and knew of that information, including the timeline, before you posted the claim of "victory because of backlash" on your petition page.

As I stated above in my prior post, none of that happened because of your petition. But, if taking credit for that is helpful to your cause, knock yourself out. Funny stuff, for sure.

Happy Hunting.

I guess we will have to agree to disagree about you answering all of my questions. I left that conversation with many more questions than answers and that is what prompted me to take this action.

I apologize if you felt deceived by my petition, I made sure to tag your platforms when it was posted. There weren’t any secrets about where it came from.

Here is the “Victory” claim that seem to offend you

Victory!​

Andrew Gillett
Mesa, AZ, United States
NOV 19, 2021 — I wanted to provide an update to everyone who supported this effort. Today I was informed by Randy Newberg that he has canceled his contract with AZGFD and will no longer be paid to promote this opportunity. Additionally he is advocating for several guideline changes that will help preserve resident opportunity for archery deer hunting.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this effort!

I didn’t say anything about backlash and mentioned that you were an advocate for changes that would help residents. If victory is the word you take issue with, I’d say we accomplished what we set out to do. This was always about getting the residents of AZ to speak up and get involved. That’s what they did. That’s a victory in my book.

Again, just as I told you before, I appreciate your work for conservation and this isn’t an indictment of you or your platforms. This is about doing some things different here in AZ.

 

[dieselchessy]

Seems pretty slimy to proclaim victory, then describe the victory. And then later try and say what you described wasn't the victory, but instead some previously unmentioned thing is the true victory.

You did not say “Victory, AZ residents got involved and spoke up”.
You did say “Victory, Randy cancelled his contract with AZGF”.

You should run for political office. You’d fit right in.

 

[FlatlanderAZ]

Seems pretty slimy to proclaim victory, then describe the victory. And then later try and say what you described wasn't the victory, but instead some previously unmentioned thing is the true victory.

You did not say “Victory, AZ residents got involved and spoke up”.
You did say “Victory, Randy cancelled his contract with AZGF”.

You should run for political office. You’d fit right in.

Dude, I never said we made him cancel his contract.

The very fact that this discussion is happening here, on a forum I have never before seen, among a bunch of people that I don’t know, says everything it needs to say.

I know a lot of people love Randy around here. This isn’t about him or anyone else. This is about helping AZ hold on to hunting. If you can’t see that, I can’t help you.

 

[browning2480]

Dude, I never said we made him cancel his contract.

The very fact that this discussion is happening here, on a forum I have never before seen, among a bunch of people that I don’t know, says everything it needs to say.

I know a lot of people love Randy around here. This isn’t about him or anyone else. This is about helping AZ hold on to hunting. If you can’t see that, I can’t help you.

But you specifically called him out in your victory speech. Linking him directly to your petition, he is just telling you he cancelled before the petition was even out. So maybe , like many other false news agencies, you should go back and amend the words to your victory speech. Since your petition had no bearing in what Randy did. It is false advertisement and misinformation

 

[ewade07]

All these people trying to drag @Randy Newberg through the dirt....I just dont seem to get it.

Keep up the good work, Randy. looking forward to watching your content!

 

[browning2480]

Randy, love ya, but this is the stuff that needs to stop! We are past the tipping point now. It’s doing more harm than good. Go back to just entertaining us with cool stories, scenery, critters, and characters, real TV! The draw process and the logistics part, it’s supposed to be hard! It’s supposed to be intimidating. You’re supposed to earn it. You’re supposed to actually read a proclamation, and pour over statistics and learn to do research. That’s all part of the experience. There needs to be some barrier to entry to overcome to make the experience treasured. Please sir, you’re killing the golden goose. Point creep and overcrowding are the results. The pendulum has swung too far. Stop it now.

And I realize you are not the only one. In fact, there are far worse offenders. But you were brave enough to show up here so I commend you for that. Hopefully you’ll take some of this backlash to heart. Entertain, don’t cheapen the experience with another easy button! We’ve got enough of those.

Pretty sad when we as free Americans feel we can tell others what they can and can’t talk about.

 

[JGross1]

I didn’t say anything about backlash and mentioned that you were an advocate for changes that would help residents. If victory is the word you take issue with, I’d say we accomplished what we set out to do. This was always about getting the residents of AZ to speak up and get involved. That’s what they did. That’s a victory in my book.

Again, just as I told you before, I appreciate your work for conservation and this isn’t an indictment of you or your platforms. This is about doing some things different here in AZ.

My guess is Randy's frustration with the term backlash is due to the misleading title of this thread.

 

[wapitibob]

My guess is Randy's frustration with the term backlash is due to the misleading title of this thread.

Don't talk out your ass like Deerhunt1988 if you're going to call somebody out.

"Earlier in the year folks discovered what many of us already suspected: that state game and fish agencies were paying influencers to advertise hunting in their state. Which doesn't sound too bad until you start losing hunting opportunities because of it. In Arizona's case, they cut out over the counter archery deer tags in a few units. AZ hunters were not happy, and started voicing their concerns. A petition was started below:"

"The petition was just updated stating that Newberg reached out to the petition organizer and stated that he was cancelling his contract with AZGF. See below:"

 

[FlatlanderAZ]

Pretty sad when we as free Americans feel we can tell others what they can and can’t talk about.

I would suggest that it might be sadder when we can't have a critical conversation about the impacts of the actions of ourselves and our government agencies. I'd say its good when people voice concerns like @SDHNTR shared here. We need to challenge ourselves and create accountability for the results of these types of actions.

When the North American Model was adopted, its creators recognized that commercial use of wildlife was unsustainable. I think its fair now to evaluate whether or not the current trend of utilizing public land and public wildlife is any more sustainable. Although podcasts and videos don't reach the letter of the law regarding commercial hunting, they may still meet the intent of this tenant.

These are hard questions that we need to ask ourselves. Its fair to offer up criticism of practices that many feel are contributing the loss of hunting opportunities throughout the West. If we aren't willing to have these conversations, then we are stuck with whatever the consequences are, no matter how well intended they are.

 

[HuntHarder]

All these people trying to drag @Randy Newberg through the dirt....I just dont seem to get it.

Keep up the good work, Randy. looking forward to watching your content!

How exactly is he getting "dragged thru the dirt?" Seems like he, as well as thousands of people who signed the petition, agree that him promoting otc mule deer hunting in AZ is not the right thing to do using Azgd funds. Randy sounds like he is pro-resident hunting opportunity first and should be applauded.

 

[ewade07]

How exactly is he getting "dragged thru the dirt?" Seems like he, as well as thousands of people who signed the petition, agree that him promoting otc mule deer hunting in AZ is not the right thing to do using Azgd funds. Randy sounds like he is pro-resident hunting opportunity first and should be applauded.

I should have clarified. I was not speaking solely about this thread, but all the other previous threads where he has come up on this site.

I agree with you, he should be applauded.

 

[Newtosavage]

Randy, love ya, but this is the stuff that needs to stop! We are past the tipping point now. It’s doing more harm than good. Go back to just entertaining us with cool stories, scenery, critters, and characters, real TV! The draw process and the logistics part, it’s supposed to be hard! It’s supposed to be intimidating. You’re supposed to earn it. You’re supposed to actually read a proclamation, and pour over statistics and learn to do research. That’s all part of the experience. There needs to be some barrier to entry to overcome to make the experience treasured. Please sir, you’re killing the golden goose. Point creep and overcrowding are the results. The pendulum has swung too far. Stop it now.

And I realize you are not the only one. In fact, there are far worse offenders. But you were brave enough to show up here so I commend you for that. Hopefully you’ll take some of this backlash to heart. Entertain, don’t cheapen the experience with another easy button! We’ve got enough of those.

I don't understand this mentality. The HUNT should be hard, not the application process.

Good on Randy for being willing to help people.

 

[browning2480]

I would suggest that it might be sadder when we can't have a critical conversation about the impacts of the actions of ourselves and our government agencies. I'd say its good when people voice concerns like @SDHNTR shared here. We need to challenge ourselves and create accountability for the results of these types of actions.

When the North American Model was adopted, its creators recognized that commercial use of wildlife was unsustainable. I think its fair now to evaluate whether or not the current trend of utilizing public land and public wildlife is any more sustainable. Although podcasts and videos don't reach the letter of the law regarding commercial hunting, they may still meet the intent of this tenant.

These are hard questions that we need to ask ourselves. Its fair to offer up criticism of practices that many feel are contributing the loss of hunting opportunities throughout the West. If we aren't willing to have these conversations, then we are stuck with whatever the consequences are, no matter how well intended they are.

I completely agree with you. But when I have conversations with specific people, I do that via PM. Calling someone out publicly, when they have done nothing wrong, is the issue. All of this needs to be directed at the Arizona Game amd Fish, not at someone who has a right to put whatever he wants on his platform.

 

[FlatlanderAZ]

I completely agree with you. But when I have conversations with specific people, I do that via PM. Calling someone out publicly, when they have done nothing wrong, is the issue. All of this needs to be directed at the Arizona Game amd Fish, not at someone who has a right to put whatever he wants on his platform.

If someone produces content for consumption by the public, its fair to discuss the impacts of that publicly. The petition was directed at the AZGFD and was sent to the director and every commissioner. I also sent a copy to Randy via PM along with an outline of my concerns. He responded directly to that and I was happy to leave it there. However, when he joined the discussion here, it seemed appropriate for me to do the same.

That being said, since this conversation is about a public agency's business dealings with a public figure and the impacts to the general public, having the discussion in the open seems pretty logical.

 

[browning2480]

If someone produces content for consumption by the public, its fair to discuss the impacts of that publicly. The petition was directed at the AZGFD and was sent to the director and every commissioner. I also sent a copy to Randy via PM along with an outline of my concerns. He responded directly to that and I was happy to leave it there. However, when he joined the discussion here, it seemed appropriate for me to do the same.

That being said, since this conversation is about a public agency's business dealings with a public figure and the impacts to the general public, having the discussion in the open seems pretty logical.

He joined the discussion here, because he was publicly called out and eluded to that this petition is what made him change his mind, but it actually didn’t.