Where is SFW Stance?

[cantkillathing]

I thought the SFW wanted to increase the pie so more people can partake. It looks like we are eating more pie than what is available.

Spike Hunt.
Increase LE Elk tags.
Opened up new Open bull areas. WHat a JOKE!
I bet there will be just as many if not more Cow permits.

The outlook to me is that we are slaughtering the crap out of the elk, not increasing the elk herds. Is SFW loosing the battle, why spend millions if we are not going to ever get an increase in our investment?

 

[doityourself]

I've been in the SFW for a couple years now and didn't know they were responsible for tag numbers and allocations?

Honestly, if we need to complain, complain to the people actually making the changes. Call up the DWR yourself and voice an opinion. Go to your local RAC meeting and speak up. Hell, start your own wildlife organization and go try and fix everything to make everyone happy.

I think the tag changes are assinine as well, I live in Cache Valley and we have been trying to get the DWR to help things up here and haven't had much luck. Hell, they even wanted to wipe out a local wintering elk herd, just so they don't have to deal with them anymore. We are having a meeting with the biologist tonight to find out what the crap is going on with the whole situation here.

My point is, if we, the blue-collar working class of the country sit around and hope that everything works out for the best, then we are in for a big surprise. It's time for us to stand up and say "what the hell?"

 

[littlebighorn]

LAST EDITED ON Mar-03-09 AT 08:19AM (MST)[p]+1 for DIY
If you Can't Kill A Thing, maybe you should check the sights on your weapon and quit aiming them at SFW! They are the ONLY organization out there putting their money into fighting bad legislation.IMHO
Perhaps you are too young to remember back before SFW came along, Utah was giving out maybe 100-200 elk tags per year in the whole state TOTAL

 

[cantkillathing]

LAST EDITED ON Mar-03-09 AT 09:58AM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Mar-03-09 AT 09:54?AM (MST)

Let me get something straight, Between my wife and myself we have donated thousands of dollars to SFW, I am a member, will always be a member. i am just curious where there stance is, it was before that they are going to create a bigger pie, meaning that they were going to increase herd numbers so that more people can hunt a quality hunt, not destroy the quality for quanity. SFW has put millions back into the habitat, and it seems as though there is no return for the money. We still have the same size of pie, but now to many are eating and eventually the pie will be gone. I for one am for a bigger pie first then let more eat from it. Lets increase the elk herds, the deer herds first before we give out more and more tags.
We have had an increase in LE ELk permits every year for the past 5 years, but have not increased any elk herds objectives.

BTW, my sights are not targeted directly at SFW, but SFW has not given a stance on what the agenda is towards our utah elk, I do donate to them to help fight battles, so I can sit back and complain on the website, I am hoping that my money is going to be used by the people collecting it to fight the sportsmens battles for me. I will probably continue to donate money regardless but I am frustrated with the DWR and what is happening to the elk and deer herds, and am curious if the SFW are fighting this battle or are pushing for the increase in permits.
Also I shouldn't just have SFW on this but also RMEF, and who ever else is on board.
So in a round about way, who is pushing for what? Who is pushing for the increase of permits? Who is pushing to stop the increase? Who is pushing for the spike hunts? Who is pushing for the decrease of Cow permits? And is anyone pushing for a herd increase?

 

[littlebighorn]

All policy is made by recommendations from DWR biologists, trying to keep herds healthy and viable. They take input from everyone at RAC meetings, whether they are sportsmen, ranchers, or tree-huggers. Then they try their best to make sound decisions about what needs to happen. If you check the DWR website you will see that every elk unit in the state minus 2 are over their harvest age objective, meaning they still have more elk and older age class bulls, than they(and the pressures upon them) can handle.
And if you check the recommendations for elk tags you will see that in almost all units they are recommending increased numbers of LE Bull tags---some significantly so(increasing the pie).
None of us (who want to hunt big bulls) want more spikes killed, but any biologist worth his salt will tell you that you can't have your pie and eat it too. For an elk herd to be and stay healthy, biologists and the DWR have to manage in some way the bull-cow ratio. The present recommendations are a result of those pressures.
I can't speak for SFW or RMEF or anyone but myself, but I have been to enough RAC meetings(and listened to enough complaints from all directions) to know that managing wildlife is not easy and regardless of what they do, someone will always be POed. I have been a member long enough to know that SFW is doing their best to influence good policy. If you want to know what they are advocating, check with your local chapter and they can tell you officially what they are pushing.

 

[Muley_73]

I personally know that the SFW did not support the increase in spike tags. Don and I had a conversation about the very subject.
This is when the DWR was proposing 17,000 spike tags. The SFW pushed and the number was reduced to 12,500. So a guess if you where logical it would say the SFW pushed to cut the tags by 4,500. However I am sure when asked on this forum there will be plenty who claim this to be a loss.

Lets ask Don the exact dollar amount we pissed away on this failure.

 

[swbuckmaster]

The division and SFW are not the ones responsibele for the spike tags.

People the division hand was forced by the wildlife board. The wildlife board title sounds like they should have a degree in wildlife managment or something. They dont they are influenced by their own personal agenda. They dont give a rip what the public wants and it was proven this year at the rac's

Archery is a year round commitment!!

 

[Muley_73]

SW,
I agree completely with thought of the rac never holding any weight.
However, the DWR did propose the 17,000 spike tags for next season and the SFW along with many other sportsmen opposed the number.

 

[swbuckmaster]

The DWR was faced with a growing elk heard that was above objective on most units. They had to do something to keep the numbers down. everyone including SFW was affraid the quality would get shot out if you allowed more big bull tags IE rifle tags.

The spike numbers and the spike hunt came straight from the wildlife board to the division. Using dirty back door politics. I am sure someone here can explain it better than I but the spike hunt was not the divisions baby. In fact one of the wildlife board guys says utahs spike plan should be followed by every othe state. The spike plan is this guys baby. The state wide archery issue is also this guys baby.

The solution to our herds is the same as Arizona's "sheet loads more Archery tags" and no spike tags!


This is also what the wildlife board did with the state wide archery.