We are in the arena of the 800lb gorilla Lee. They've established the rules of the game.
What I'm am asking is for the 1200lb gorilla to stand up and say enough. The 500lb gorillas either need to get off their asses and help or quit taking our money and wasting our time.
Their was an outstanding quote inside the front cover of the handout last night.
"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing and the worst thing you can do is nothing"
Teddy Roosevelt
So UBA, MDF, UWC, DU, Delta Waterfowl and RMEF get off your asses and do something. Like Lumpy said the only group willing to get to work right now is SFW. Like it or not, they get $hit done.
By doing not a damn thing for your members, other than taking and spending their money, you are part of the problem.
The days of doing habitat projects and organizing shoots is gone. Get your asses in to the fight and help the hunters that pay your way.
These groups are the lobster in the slow boiling pot. SFW is going to push the limited opportunity, elitist wealth tag style of hunting till the rank and file members / donors of a group like MDF or the RMEF cease to exist. Once these members go away they have one of two options. Cater to the elite and further the end of our culture in Utah, or fold up shop.
Several years back I stopped volunteering and contributing to any group that marketed wealth tags. This is from a guy that did an "In lieu of flowers please make a donation to the MDF" when my dad passed. SFW isn't going to change and the other groups / Division are so beholden to the current system they won't do anything either.
So what I am saying to all of these other groups is, Y'all better wake the hell up. Start representing your members the same way SFW represents theirs while you still have members left.
"If the DWR was just doing its job, and
wildlife and hunting were the actual focus,
none of this process would even matter.
But that is not the focus or the goal in any
of this. The current DWR regime, and
SFW were born out of wildlife declines,
and are currently operated and funded
under that paradigm. Those 200 Expo
tags would not even be worth anything if
the focus was where it was supposed to
be, and wildlife and tags were plentiful.
But under the current business model,
that is how the money and power is
generated. It is generated through the
rising "value"(monitization) of a declining
resource. A resource that is supposed to
be being beneficially managed for the
masses that own that resource, ie. US.
The problem is obvious, hedging is not a
long term sustainable strategy, and
others have to lose, for some to win. In
this case it is us, the many, and our
resources, that are being forced to lose,
because there is a minority who's power
and money is derived from our loses."
LONETREE 3/15/16
