I respectfully disagree. You get the benefit of internal satisfaction from donating to causes that you deem worthy. You also get the benefit of being able to tell people about all the good you’re doing.
Agree.
I do donate to access and places I will never hunt.
No, not it at all. Believe it or not there are people out there that do things when there is nothing in it for them.
You're entitled to your opinion. It's still not a hobby to me. Thank you for your interpretation, I don't agree however.
Not sure it matters what title we give hunting but I disagree it’s a hobby for everyone. I would think of it as a lifestyle or a way of life. If you grow up hunting out your back door with family it can just become a way of life, when filling the freezers is an actual important part of the hunt- like the goal and not just a by product of success. When your meat from hunting is 90 percent of your family’s diet it’s a way of life. Just because there is no profit motive doesn’t automatically make it a hobby. If you plan 2 weeks a year to draw a few tags and hunt those 2-3 weeks it’s probably a hobby. If you are out in the woods year around hunting and trapping I would say it’s a way of life. In Idaho you can be hunting 11 months out of the year, throw in fishing and it’s a part of daily life and a lifestyle. It’s not important what terminology we use but I think for a lot of hunters it’s a hobby for others it’s a way of life and transcends just being a hobby.
Confused ha ha. I agree that for anyone in the business of hunting it is NOT a hobby. I think for a lot of hunters it’s also not a hobby even though we don’t make a profit or living from it. I was saying for some hunters it’s a hobby for others it’s not.
Amazing how few posts in this thread actually follow the point of this post.There has been a ton of changes in the western hunting game the last few years. And it is still changing daily/weekly/monthly. One of the biggest and hotly debated topics is license/tag allocation. Res vs non res.
Anyone that is on SM has seen topics from it. The interesting thing to me is I honestly think residents are shooting themselves in the foot. Sure it will be better short term getting more of the licenses. But what about long term? Or do they even care as long as they get their second moose tag?
I used to (emphasis on used to) donate a lot of money to RMEF, WSF, and MDF. I was a member and would spend $500+ at each of the banquets. I would spend money on the different raffles throughout the year. I haven’t went to one of their banquets this year. I haven’t renewed my memberships this year. The states residents that benefit the most from those donations I used to make, are doing their best to give myself and other non res a smaller and smaller percentage every year. I wonder how many other non res are realizing the same? I know 100% it’s not just me.
That money can be used for guide fees, private land access, copter ride into land locked public, a beach vacation, etc.
Look at all the help wanted posted on this forum when it comes to hunting/wildlife issues. One of the most recent was the area 23/26 caribou closure in Alaska. Please send emails, etc. I wonder how many more people would of sent emails if Alaska didn’t have their guide rule for sheep, goat, and grizzlies? Maybe if they would have gotten 1000+ more emails against the closure the decision would have been different? (I’ll come back to the closure in a few) Residents are always wanting non res help when it comes to wildlife issues. I expect that help to dwindle more and more every year.
One of the dumbest things I see residents post is “These are Our animals. You have zero say in how we manage Our wildlife. If you don’t like it Move here.”
To add to that, the harder you make it for a non res and turn it into a res paradise the more and more non res that will move there. Where are they going to move to? Up in the mountains in the summer range or down on the winter range? Of course the winter range. Less and less habitat. More and more people loving the outdoors to death. (Look at SW Colorado for an example)
Then there will be bitching like there already is because guess what? Residents of most of these states can’t afford what the non res can. So it prices the res and their family out. (Recently read a post from Idaho residents bitching about not being able to afford property taxes) How does that look? Do you want your kids to move away after they grow up because they can’t afford to live on their own there? I mean isn’t that why we changed allocations in the first place? So little Johnny can draw a sheep tag in his lifetime? Too bad he won’t be able to afford to live there.
Which leads me to this part. If it was about little Johnny why are the residents that have already gotten the opportunity to hunt what should be an oil species, still applying and trying to draw? Greed. Nothing else. Most hunters will never get to hunt an oil species. Yet there are a few that have already and are still trying to take that opportunity away from someone that hasn’t.
Next thing you know it won’t be non res vs res allocation. It will be res vs res. The closure for caribou in 23/26 wasn’t just for non res of AK. It was for people that don’t live in that area. Huge amounts of federal land closed to some of AK’s residents for caribou hunting.
What about opening up the late season mule deer hunts to wipe out CWD in Wyoming. I wonder if 100 emails from non res for it, will show that there is public support? If they do add the hunts it benefits non res even if they don’t apply there.
Public land. Most hunters don’t care about public they can’t hunt. It would be nothing to sell off some of the more useless land. Keep the mineral rights of course. Or people could make a push to graze more livestock. That actually helps pay for the land. The state running their wildlife on federal land is welfare. So if there were more cows/sheep out there that will help offset the cost.
Corner crossing. Donate donate donate! Make sure you donate to open up more land for the hunter! “We are all in this together!” While at the same time the residents are doing their best to make the non res pie smaller and smaller.
The short game is to get all these adult residents more tags.
What does the long game look like? Less habitat. More non res moving to your state for hunting reasons vying for the same tags you are. Less donations. Less support for wildlife issues. Less support for public land. Not being able to afford to live where you grew up.
I guarantee I’ll get some haha’s. I know most is true though. Look at Idaho, Montana, (just saw a news clip about another hundred acres getting developed by Bozeman today) Colorado, even Wyoming. Wyoming has the least amount of people. But prices there are shooting up on real estate. It’ll be easy for your kids to afford to live there I’m sure.
If you are a non res to the western states I would try to get what you can as soon as possible or move. The future isn’t looking bright for non res hunting. If you are a resident of a western state I hope you like company, higher cost of living, and loss of habitat. Because you are bringing it upon yourselves.
You guys are lucky I only had my phone
Didn't you just go on a tangent in post #209 telling a bunch of people how generous you are?
You want a gold star or a cookie? I'm not throwing out blanket statements that I haven't researched there genius. You made a blanket statement that I responded to, not my fault your feelings got hurt. I'll say it again just so it sinks in for you. Idaho has the most liberal predator seasons in the country. Wtf else do you want? M44s everywhere killing everything? You haven't offered a single "fix" to any of your complaints. Not one. Straight from the IDFG director Ed Schriever's mouth last week "45,000 hunters purchased wolf tags in 2021. 48,000 total wolf tags. 210 individuals harvested at least one wolf, less than 20 harvested 2 or more, and less than 5 harvested 3 or more ". You wanna control lions? Talk to the houndsmen.
Yep, any lion we catch here in Idaho we have to release, even if we have a tag in our pocket. I know trappers that released a half dozen this season alone. I've also heard from houndsmen themselves that they get units closed to take by killing females early in the season. That way they can have cats to chase all winter and work their dogs.
You know why Colorado Parks got rolled back in to Colorado Dept of Wildlife? Because they were broke. Not the first time Colorado has been down that road. Your non consumptive outdoor user groups aren't funding anything. They consistently shoot down the backpack tax, their version of PR and DJ, because "I'm not paying more money for a pack or sleeping bag".
I feel he was making a point. Some people contribute to things that they don’t directly benefit from. He provided personal examples to illustrate that fact -not tooting his own horn. Op suggested that not allowing every non resident to draw the tag they want will lead to a massive loss of support for conservation groups. Basically that if nr can’t kill it personally they won’t support it. Buzz example was spot on a lot people support things they will never personally use or get direct benefit from. Providing personal examples of that is just that. A real life example. I might have misinterpreted what you were saying?
Exactly right. Get rid of hunting revenues and any wildlife management is screwed. I’m surprised how many hunters on here don’t understand the North American model of wildlife management.
To you I agree, to society as a whole I would disagree, the popular opinion/view is in the end what matters as it makes the rules. Being viewed as a hobby doesn’t mean it doesn’t do good but don’t kid yourself that the world has the same view of it as you and many others of us.
