SFW last stand?

[hangfire]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-31-12 AT 08:51PM (MST)[p]Well with SFW proposed goals,could this be a last ditch effort to gain membership? Or do they really care about our future generation? Here are there proposed goals.
Reach a population of 400,000 in Utah to be managed on a sustained basis.

3-5 years to grow 400,000 deer, pull out all stops to reach those numbers.

Continue habitat and highway work to support ongoing success.

Dramatic increase in predator control including
$50 state wide coyote bounty
Substantial increase in areal control and trapping

No excuses. The status quo when it comes to mule deer is not acceptable.


I have been a supporter of SFW for 10 plus years, but when the economy crashed seems like they have gone back to the people that got them started. Hope I am wrong and they are opening the ears to the average joes instead of the big pocket book guys. Whatever there reason I hope they succeed and we all have deer to hunt for generations to come.

Well with all my rambling didn't mention my point of this post. Do you think this a last ditch effort to gain the confidence of the average hunters, to show us that they are still working for all hunters? And if they were to succeed in ther goal would it change any of your thoughts of the org. Ok my rambling done fire away!

 

[Zeke]

Mr Hangfire,

I don't see it as a last ditch effort.
My take would be that they adjusted course and wanted input from average members like me and you.

They got the input and decided to make corrections and place the emphasis on the deer since that's what most people care about. The other critters are doing better while the deer continue to decline.

I see it as a good thing for the average Joe whether he is a SFW member or not.

I like your post and it didn't seem like a rant to me.

Zeke

 

[hossblur]

I worked with Byron Batemans son Brett(by the way a really good framer if your looking). When SFW was getting established Brett came around the job sites looking to get members. A lot guys joined up, I didn't, was a member of others so I thought that was good enough. As the housing boom exploded and contractors all thought they were rock stars with limitless expendable income, I saw sfw ride that wave. They followed the money, not just in my industry but across the board. They no longer cared about joe blow, they had big money coming in so they did what big money wanted. Then the crash hit, a lot of us got out of construction, the contractors to whom for nearly a decade burned huge money hunting, found that there was a limit to what they had, many went bankrupt or are gone. Big, limitless money in construction was over, so were the donations to SFW. So now, in order to survive and be relevent SFW needs joe blow again, and mule deer are joe blows concern, thusly so is SFW's. SFW is just following the money again, and right now there money isn't coming via big timing contractors, its just dudes paying memberships.


When they came for the road hunters I was not one so I said nothing. When they came for the oppurtunists I was not one so I said nothing. When they came for the public land hunters I was not one so I said nothing. When they came for me there was no one left to say anything!

 

[littlebighorn]

When SFW first started, all hunting in Utah was in the toilet. Deer, Elk, antelope, sheep, moose, goats, etc.
All of those animals, except deer have made tremendous comebacks, some at record levels. But for an unknown reason to everyone including SFW and despite their efforts, deer have not come back, but actually declined. (across the west and not just Utah)
It is my take that SFW has stepped back to take a harder look at why their previous efforts have failed and they are reaching out more for solutions.
All of us want the good old days for deer. And while I am not sure it is possible to turn back time, none of us, including SFW can just sit on our hands and expect it to happen.

 

[hangfire]

Thanks for the comments guys, hossblur I think your right on target with your assumption. Zeke if I could share my thoughts on why I think it may be a last ditch effort. This is just my opinion not arguing with you. These are some radical goals set by SFW, and my thoughts are there success on membership will be directly impacted by the results of this 3-5 year plan. In other words ifl there plan works membership will thrive, if it fails in any way they will probably loose membership. Littlebighorn I agree SFW has done more for this state than anyone. But i find it odd that 5 years ago people were screaming about our deer heard, but they still seamed focus on where the big money was. Any how I will stay a supporter, just wanted thoughts on everyone's view point. Maybe if they had tried this even five years ago they would have more supporter?

 

[cantkillathing]

We will see if they put the money where their mouth is. But they will have to have a hard push to impact the predators dramatically in the next couple of years to have the results by the end. And since we already had our bear, and Lion RAC meeting for 2012 it is a year behind already.

 

[LOWCOUNTRY]

Pretty lofty goals were set considering I don't think we have 293900 whatever the hell number of deer the dwr says we have. They SFW say their habitat efforts failed. I think they have to give that aspect a few more years to turn to good brush and browse deer eat very little grass which is what is in most of the newer habitat projects. Habitat enhancement could be sped up I think if more browse and sage were directly sown into these projects. Some of the old 10+ year projects are looking good though. Coyotes are a tough one. A fifty dollar bounty would help I think biological warfare I. e. Parvo, distemper viruses would buy more dead yotes for the money. And could target fawning areas with it. Any responsible dog owner would be vaccinated against either. If we have five good easy winters with rainy summers I think will be the biggest boost overall. Just my 2 cents.