Are Animal-Rights Activists Hijacking Our Wildlife Commissions?
BY Herschel Smith
5 months, 3 weeks ago
This week, as North America’s wildlife professionals gather in Louisville, Kentucky, for the annual meetings of The Wildlife Society, the question of who calls the shots in wildlife management will be a hot topic.
Last year’s Wildlife Society annual meeting, in Spokane, was defined by what some in the wildlife-management profession characterized as a takeover by animal-rights activists who generally feel left out of traditional wildlife management.
They’re not entirely wrong. Most state wildlife agencies are funded mainly by hunters, either through license sales or pass-through revenue from taxes on guns, bows, and ammunition. And while state fish and game departments have wide authority to manage butterflies, minnows, and songbirds, most manage primarily for catchable fish and huntable game.
The wildlife activists, who want state agencies to de-emphasize hunting and fishing in favor of more tolerance for carnivores and non-game species, are not politely asking to be included, as last year’s Wildlife Society meeting indicated. In many states, they’re using the political process to win gubernatorial appointments to fish and game commissions. Washington, where these animal-rights advocates now hold a majority of commission seats, has become the leading indicator of a transition away from agencies that cater mainly to hunters and anglers.
Colorado is quickly moving toward a similar model, with the recent appointment of three commissioners who represent constituents who may have never bought a hunting or fishing license.
I know someone from Colorado. I can vouch for what he’s saying about Colorado hunting.
This is just great. Now they’re coming for hunting!
All of you “We’re not voting our way out of this” guys may want to reconsider your position. I have long said that politics is warfare, plain and simple, just done in another way. If you don’t want to put in the effort to engage in the front lines of the warfare, when will you?
So, you may want to think about who your state is electing to the governor’s mansion. It matters. It matters to hunters and shooters.
On November 6, 2023 at 11:41 pm, Frank Clarke said:
There is a time to MAKE things happen, and there is a time to LET things happen.
On November 6, 2023 at 11:46 pm, Dan said:
In the vast majority of locations such people as wildlife commissioners are APPOINTED to the position. This means that whoever gets elected to the big powerful offices gets to appoint people who think like they do. THAT is one of the many reasons the left focuses on election fraud. It isn’t JUST about the single office they are stealing. It’s about the myriad appointed positions they can then control.
On November 6, 2023 at 11:51 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@Dan,
Yes, and WHO GETS ON ELECTION COMMISSIONS. That is where the control is.
And how they count the votes.
On November 7, 2023 at 6:16 am, Joe Blow said:
Dan and Herschel are correct.
I agree with you that politics is war, just by another name.
I disagree that we will vote our way out of this. I understand your argument, gotta try, right? If you don’t even at least try, well, then, you’ve got nothing to complain about, and I also feel that we should be attempting everything possible short of violence.
But I’m done.
I’ve had it. I’m too tired. I can’t fight unreasonable people anymore.
I can’t have another pointless argument with a person who ignores facts and rational conclusions to give way to emotional arguments. I just can’t. I don’t talk with my wife hardly anymore either. I’m done.
That’s where half this country is.
I’m not going to debate masking mandates when they come back around. I’m going to walk into the store and buy what I need to. If anyone else tries to stop me, I will knock your teeth into next week, then kick their ass there so they can go pick them up.
Things have reached that level.
Elections are pointless, as one party has achieved control over the voting process. If the election fraud is mitigated and free and fair elections are returned to this country, it’s a whole different ball game. However as we have seen that isn’t the case, and the direction of things today suggest that isn’t going to change. They will continue their march across every institution until they have complete and total control. The only way we will save ourselves is by blowing their brains all over the streets. But you do what you want that Tuesday in November, I wish you luck!
On November 7, 2023 at 6:29 am, Joe Blow said:
The mere fact that these miscreants have infiltrated and usurped hunting laws should tell you everything you need to know:
They
Will
Not
Stop
Until
You
Kneel
Hunting laws. They’re going to force you to live their lives no matter what. They’re not really interested in protecting Bambi! They simply want to control you. They don’t go into the woods, never shot a gun, and when they see a wild buffalo they try to pet it. This is what we’re dealing with. It will not stop, it will not give up, and it will not relent, like The Terminator, it will just keep coming.
Even to the point of controlling your ability to shoot game and/or threats on your own property! YOU can’t own a gun to shoot that black bear mauling your wife and kids, call the cops and wait 25 minutes for them to come solve the problem! Literally what they want to force on you.
They don’t have discussions and present reasoned arguments. They shout down opposition and cling to dog whistles calling everything racist.
You think you’re going to REASON with these people?
On November 7, 2023 at 6:50 am, jrg said:
Well said sir. Thanks for reminding us that politicians who want to become elected or stay elected listen to the people who most actively VOTE. When voter decides to opt out, others get to make the choice of which candidate we all will live with. Don’t let others decide who is going to enact or protect the laws.
Texas has Proposition 1 being voted on TODAY (November 7, 2023), protecting farmers and ranchers to continue to work their property.
“Texas already has a right to farm statute in the law, along with every state, as there is some variation of the law nationwide. These laws are in the books as a way to protect agricultural operations from nuisance lawsuits. The operations can be a typical farm or ranch, though the Texas statute includes viticulture, or grape growing, and growing trees, also known as silviculture.
With a quickly growing state, proponents of the amendment say it is needed as a way to update protections for farmers and ranchers. Texas voters will have the final say on if it becomes part of the state’s constitution or not.”
Hunters are under attack from the media and other groups who are anti-firearm. Do your part to prevent or slow that by giving the politicians notice of how important this is to the person who votes.
On November 7, 2023 at 7:23 am, Bill Buppert said:
The only rational form of voting is lobbying and you and I don’t have the resources, money, legal expertise or time to match what concentrated vote buying en bloc (lobbying) can do.
Until the voter roll integrity issues that took place in the color revolutions domestically of 2020 and 2022 are addressed at the retail and wholesale level, the government supremacists will continue to prevail.
Joe Blow is correct BUT Newton’s Third Law will not be denied.
“Jerry Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people:
First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bureaucracy, many of the engineers and launch technicians and scientists at NASA, even some agricultural scientists and advisors in the former Soviet Union collective farming administration.
Secondly, there will be those dedicated to the organization itself. Examples are many of the administrators in the education system, many professors of education, many teachers union officials, much of the NASA headquarters staff, etc.
The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization.”
On November 7, 2023 at 11:29 am, PGF said:
Animal Rights Activists = Communists.
On November 7, 2023 at 12:07 pm, Don't mind me. said:
The situation in regards to voting is past its sell date. I’m not buying the voting mirage anymore.
We have one political party in this country that controls everything down to the state and in most states, the local level. Our society has a significant majority who want more government, it’s as simple as that, and they will not stop.
I’m actually hoping for a catastrophic collapse, and the sooner the better. The longer this shit show goes on, the more people will get destroyed by it. If we are to salvage this country, we need to have a clean slate to work with. NONE of the existing parameters under which our government operates are constitutionally valid; they have corrupted everything down to hunting regulations and toilet tanks and light bulbs.
Your time is much better spent preparing for the collapse of our fake and ghey society.
On November 7, 2023 at 12:38 pm, Latigo Morgan said:
New Mexico, under the commie Oompa-loompa governess? Yes, in the worst ways.
I can’t even run a scope on my muzzleloading rifle for elk hunting this year. Not a “traditional” muzzleloading hunt, mind you, and there are such things where only traditional muzzleloaders are allowed. For some odd reason, in what seems to be a direct violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act, your modern muzzleloader must not have an optic on it.
But, I can run an optic on a crossbow and use that during the muzzleloader season. Go figure?
On November 8, 2023 at 11:11 am, Stephen Arthur jr said:
Same same in Oregon. They tried to get this on the ballot and luckily failed
On November 13, 2023 at 1:55 pm, Bear Claw said:
Forwarded links to a friend high up in our wildlife dept as well as outdoor friends. This type of effort over the last 90 years is how we’ve been subverted in many areas. It’s their mission creep. I will vote on our governor but nothing else