Conservation / Stewardship?

Matt W.

Matt W.

WKR
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As I hear and see conversations I am reminded how fortunate we are to benefit from the North American Model of conservation. As hunters we need to educate our selves on the history of hunting, the evolution of conservation, and be very aware of how our hunting dollars are spent. It is important to remind folks that hunting conservation groups have done more to protect wild game populations and habitat than the "greenie" movement ever has. Why? Because quite frankly we care, and we care more. We have to much lose if we don't care and act....

As I was in the process of a recent gear review I spent a bit more time than usual exploring what some of the big name companies are about.

Sitka - The easiest company to find info on what they support:
http://www.sitkagear.com/stewardship

Patagonia - Despite a search I could not find a specific example of them being anti-hunting. And they are definitely pro-habitat. (Just wanted to pick a larger player in the general outdoor world. They get a lot of attention)
http://www.patagonia.com/us/patagonia.go?assetid=67582

KUIU
Could not find much, but know they attend the Wild Sheep Show so assume they support the Wild Sheep Foundation, and its a no brainer they are pro-hunting.

Kryptek
Another no brainer pro hunting organization that also seems to have a heart and mission for vets.

First Lite
yet again, definitely pro hunting, but no specific info that I could find. I believe they support the RMEF and are obviously pro gun...

Kifaru:
No specific links but a browse of their website easily shows they are pro guns, pro hunting, and supportive of our military and vets. I also noticed a link to Backcountry Hunter's and Anglers. Another no brainier to figure out that they support what we all love.

Midway USA
Another very transparent company in our corner.

More info to read:
http://www.rmef.org/Conservation/HuntingIsConservation/NorthAmericanWildlifeConservationModel.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Model_of_Wildlife_Conservation


So the question:
Are you a member of a group that fights for your right to do what you love and pursue the creatures we thoroughly enjoying seeing, chasing, and catching?
Do you think about how your dollars are spent?

Sometimes its not easy to base decisions in this manner, but perhaps we all should make more efforts.

I personally am a Lifetime Member of the NRA, a member of the Wild Sheep Foundation and the B&C Club. Should do more, but that is that is as far as I have gotten thus far... Any thoughts on what can we do? We are now 4000 members strong. That is 4000 hunters and together we can make a difference...
 
I think everyone should research which conservation orgs actually post how their money is spent as well. Good to spend your $$ where it will do the most, not all of them are very transparent with how your donations are spent.
 
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dotman said:
I think everyone should research which conservation orgs actually post how their money is spent as well. Good to spend your $$ where it will do the most, not all of them are very transparent with how your donations are spent.
Click to expand...
Have any way that we can track this statistic down? It would be great to identify the top 3-4, then vote on them and have every member send $5 (I think we could all afford that, some could even send more). Even in only 1/2 participated that would be a nice chunk a change to one of these groups. Maybe even tailor to a specific action one these groups is taking. Be great publicity for Rokslide and us Hunters. For example, be pretty cool to see access to some new area courtesy of Rokslide, or this research which provides XYZ to this species is paid for in part by the generous donations of a band of hunters over at Rokslide.
 
I have been wanting to start a similar thread like this for a while now..... Good on yeah HC

So what organizations should a guy support? Were pretty limited here in Canada.... Currently I support the RMEF because they do work here in Canada, and they seem to be pretty transparent on where the money goes. FNAWS has also been getting my money recently as well.... Who else is worth supporting?


Great idea HC, A group donation on behalf of the roklide forum is a great idea. Mods, is this a possibility?

We all spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on hunting each year, what is another $5-10....
 
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High Country said:
Have any way that we can track this statistic down? It would be great to identify the top 3-4, then vote on them and have every member send $5 (I think we could all afford that, some could even send more). Even in only 1/2 participated that would be a nice chunk a change to one of these groups. Maybe even tailor to a specific action one these groups is taking. Be great publicity for Rokslide and us Hunters. For example, be pretty cool to see access to some new area courtesy of Rokslide, or this research which provides XYZ to this species is paid for in part by the generous donations of a band of hunters over at Rokslide.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how one would go about it, maybe send each organization an email requesting transparent information on how much money they receive each year and how much is put back into conservation and not just into the pockets of members or attorneys. Maybe add some generic questions on if they receive State tags to auction off, how much is given back to the state for the wildlife within that state, etc etc. You can then get the admin to maybe have a section with each response saved as a pdf and have people vote or at the very least the responses from each org are posted and people can make their own decisions on who they support.
 
High Country, great thread. It does appear that you have done your thorough gathering of orgs that support the growing need for conservation as a whole.

Organizations that lobby for improved and protected habitat and wildlife resources are great and necessary. But, if you're asking my opinion on what more we, as hunters, can or should do...it's education...from the bottom up.

The best way to ensure that our resources and rights to hunt and fish are protected is to educate our children, our neighbor's children, and anyone we have the ability or means to influence.

In my line of work I've learned by repetitive cycles of user group impacts that organizations are great for broad awareness and movements in political arenas, but they fail at the grass roots level. This level is where we individuals can and should motivate stewardship and conservation-minded field practices. After all, it's the guy with a sloppy trigger finger who shoots more game than he can recover or the guy who chainsaw's his way through a wilderness area for access ease who impacts the "picturesque" interpretation of abuse.

So, all that to say this...the next time we hunt with someone, take time to open the doors of communicating impacts, awareness, conservation of resources, ethical hunting, and acceptable use of lands and its Natural beauties. Motivating human behavior to resulting actions that foster our reputation and protect resources for future generations is a people problem, not a political one. At least on the fundamental level of where the vibram meets the soil.

Respectful post, man. Many props.

Larry
 
Larry Bartlett said:
High Country, great thread. It does appear that you have done your thorough gathering of orgs that support the growing need for conservation as a whole.

Organizations that lobby for improved and protected habitat and wildlife resources are great and necessary. But, if you're asking my opinion on what more we, as hunters, can or should do...it's education...from the bottom up.

The best way to ensure that our resources and rights to hunt and fish are protected is to educate our children, our neighbor's children, and anyone we have the ability or means to influence.

In my line of work I've learned by repetitive cycles of user group impacts that organizations are great for broad awareness and movements in political arenas, but they fail at the grass roots level. This level is where we individuals can and should motivate stewardship and conservation-minded field practices. After all, it's the guy with a sloppy trigger finger who shoots more game than he can recover or the guy who chainsaw's his way through a wilderness area for access ease who impacts the "picturesque" interpretation of abuse.

So, all that to say this...the next time we hunt with someone, take time to open the doors of communicating impacts, awareness, conservation of resources, ethical hunting, and acceptable use of lands and its Natural beauties. Motivating human behavior to resulting actions that foster our reputation and protect resources for future generations is a people problem, not a political one. At least on the fundamental level of where the vibram meets the soil.

Respectful post, man. Many props.

Larry
Click to expand...
Understood Larry, at the ground level as individuals this is a great idea. In addition, it would be great to fund an education or conservation project that creates opportunities for those we mentor. Thanks for pointing this out..
 
I also think that viral video clips of doing things right is a solid head start for grass rooters. I've noticed that Aron and partners do good deeds without trying to necessarily do great things, but their messages are solid work for conservation. This sort of education needs to be adopted by the masses so that short vids on social media formats can be shared and spread like butter through our houses and phones. The days of organizing great feets of movements are over IMO, it's time we get with the bigger picture of how information is shared and how our behaviors can and do impact people to make good choice afield.

Not a change of focus, but an improved delivery system and focus on the larger lens of mentorship can and does make a difference with future generations.

Think of meat immersion techniques, game bag technology, field tips on Leave No Trace or low impact approaches, etc. All things add up to do great things for shaping behavior with our generation and our children.

anyway, great post brotherman.
 
What programs are there that focus on youth? We have hunter education courses etc, and I know the National Archery in Schools Program reaches a lot of youth in a positive way. If Roksliders feel compelled to contribute financially, maybe a youth organization should be the focus. (The ones mentioned are just examples)

Larry, you definitely have a good grasp on the topic and every Rokslider can also contribute without spending a cent.
 
All of the above organizations should be 501C3 tax filers and as such public records of the finances should be available for the asking to see where the money goes.
I applaud the effort here to look for ways to do good for our sport and the future hunters.
I do not know if trying to "create" something "new" is necessarily the right way to go.
Lots of education/mentoring opportunities out there just looking for folks to help out: National Archery in Schools, NRA Eddie Eagle programs, BSA camp and shooting sports programs (look for an announcement in February regarding BSA/SCI partnership, initial funding coming from Mid South Sports), Salvation Army youth programs.
It doesn't take a lot of folks to have a huge impact...but you have to get involved. NRA has 5 million or so members speaking and defending 100,000,000 gun owners. SCI has 55,000 members world wide, yet arguably has the most powerful lobby in the world for hunters rights.

Again, great thread!
 
My goal was just to get enough info so that we could make a difference for something that protected a specific species or particular endangered habitat area.
For example: We choose to support the Mule Deer Foundation, general donation.
Everyone just goes to the MDF website, makes the donation during a specific time period and we see the impact we made.

Example 2: We choose to support the Wild Sheep Foundation's Research Center at Washington State University.
We all go to the WSF website, earmark the dollars and see the impact we make.

An annual donation, that while small to each individual, the sum of it makes a difference and we get to see the impact. We could make it an annual Rokslide deal and track it over the years. This is not in lieu of responsible behavior and efforts to mentor and education others, but in addition to. A strictly financial impact we can make a as group to help keep wild critters out there to watch and chase.

I wanted this effort to be about conservation, specifically focused on habitat and species protection. 2nd Amendment rights, youth organizations and the like can get fairly political and is all something we should personally think about and make decisions on. Its hard for me to imagine that most of us are not for the protection of the critters we love to see and chase. ???
 
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