Comments from a Reader:

We are loosing our rights to hunt big game in all the western states. States are taking over our rights as the real land owners and regulating mostly for residents. No one seems to mind. Organizations such as SCI, Rocky Mt. Elk and NRA better realize what is happening. There is a decline in hunting each year, yet all people say is “take a kid hunting.” What we need to say is “go to college, get an education and make a lot of money because its about big bucks.”

The national forests are in the hands of the states. All the prime elk drawings are on federal land in Colorado. Now, for all practical purposes, there is no more federal land. It’s up to the states to use the land (all Americans own) and use it how they choose. The federal government is letting them get by with it.

An article in the 2006 North West Colorado Hunting Guide points out that it takes less preference points now for a resident to draw the same hunt as a nonresident. Does this kind of crap suggest to anyone else that the states can’t play fair? In California elk hunting on federal land is for residents only. All the western elk states have slanted hunting in favor of there residents on federal lands. If you’re going to protect our rights there is no better way to begin than stopping these states from regulating the hunting on federal land. Make it fair for
everyone.

Dave
Tulsa, Oklahoma

Response from Guy:

Dear Dave,

Thank you for the comment. I can understand your frustration with the
current licensing system. As the game populations have plummeted out west
and more people are interested in trophy hunting the states have had to cut
back the license tag numbers in an effort to properly manage the big game
species.

The federal government has given the individual states the game within their borders to manage. Public land or private, the states own all of the wildlife. It has always been this way. The state of California is not saying you cannot recreate on federal land, they are saying you have to be a resident to hunt their (California’s) elk.

Because the states have to use some of their tax proceeds to fund wildlife management they naturally give residents who pay those taxes preference to the hunting. My suggestion to you would be, if you really want to hunt in Colorado you might think about moving there and contributing with your tax dollars and you will have preference in the hunting of Colorado’s wildlife.

This argument has been through the court systems dozens of times, argued every way to Sunday and every time the court rules in favor of the state. With the exception of the endangered species, the Federal Government has no interest or intent on managing wildlife. That is left totally up to the state. Much like In-State versus Out-of-State tuition at state colleges works.

Sorry to deliver bad news, but it looks like this will not change any time soon. As a resident of Wyoming, I am glad the game management system is set up this way. Hey there has to be some benefit to living through the
harsh Wyoming winters right?

Thanks again for the feedback. Keep hunting hard!!!

Guy

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 31st, 2006 at 5:16 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.