Hunting
I’m taking my son Elk hunting tomorrow. It will be his first time. We’re fortunate to live in a state with such incredible outdoor activities, and I’m grateful for the dedicated sportsmen who make much of it possible.
Today the Tribune had an article on wildlife fundraisers, highlighting alleged friction between sporting conversation groups. The broader story is how these groups work together to accomplish great things in the field. If you like seeing deer, elk, bighorn sheep, turkey and most other wildlife in Utah, you have these groups to thank.
This year, through the conservation tags, the groups likely will bring in $2,000,000, to be used to improve the resource. It’s not just that the State gets money through the auctions that it otherwise wouldn’t, a big part of this success story is the 60% of the money that the groups keep to help fund state-approved projects. Not only do the groups contribute the money, they also contribute their valuable time and expertise to completing the projects. Their effort and dedication have completely turned around wildlife resources in this state.
The other day, a constituent was complaining to me about too many tags being set aside for rich people. That is a misperception, in my opinion. Many of the conservation tags are simply raffled off at the fundraisers, to increase the gate. By walking through the door, he or I could win one. And the ones that do go to the highest bidder make the rest of the program possible. Though my constituent and I are not in a financial position to buy one of the auctioned tags, the fact that others are, and do, makes good things possible for the rest of us. My boy and I get to go hunting tomorrow because the habitat has been improved to a point where lots of tags are available to anyone who applies. If a small percentage of tags gets people to dump a lot of money into improving the resource and those improvements increase the number of tags available to anyone who applies, what’s wrong with that?
My constituent laughed and admitted that the rub was that he hadn’t drawn out yet for a Pansaguant buck tag.
Today the Tribune had an article on wildlife fundraisers, highlighting alleged friction between sporting conversation groups. The broader story is how these groups work together to accomplish great things in the field. If you like seeing deer, elk, bighorn sheep, turkey and most other wildlife in Utah, you have these groups to thank.
This year, through the conservation tags, the groups likely will bring in $2,000,000, to be used to improve the resource. It’s not just that the State gets money through the auctions that it otherwise wouldn’t, a big part of this success story is the 60% of the money that the groups keep to help fund state-approved projects. Not only do the groups contribute the money, they also contribute their valuable time and expertise to completing the projects. Their effort and dedication have completely turned around wildlife resources in this state.
The other day, a constituent was complaining to me about too many tags being set aside for rich people. That is a misperception, in my opinion. Many of the conservation tags are simply raffled off at the fundraisers, to increase the gate. By walking through the door, he or I could win one. And the ones that do go to the highest bidder make the rest of the program possible. Though my constituent and I are not in a financial position to buy one of the auctioned tags, the fact that others are, and do, makes good things possible for the rest of us. My boy and I get to go hunting tomorrow because the habitat has been improved to a point where lots of tags are available to anyone who applies. If a small percentage of tags gets people to dump a lot of money into improving the resource and those improvements increase the number of tags available to anyone who applies, what’s wrong with that?
My constituent laughed and admitted that the rub was that he hadn’t drawn out yet for a Pansaguant buck tag.
posted by steve u. at 12/03/2004
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