yatran
Member
- Messages
- 60
Ok so I'm a bit new here and a little bit confused, maybe some of you wiser sportsman can help me out. It seems to me as sportsman we should be joining together against the anti-hunters, the tree huggers, Obama and the wolves. But what I'm finding here is a lot of name calling and finger pointing among ourselves. One specific topic that seems to really fire people up is the conservation tags sold to the highest bidder. I have been putting in for OIL tags and LE tags for many years without ever drawing one, So I can see why taking tags away from the average joe (ME) to sell to the highest bidder (NOT ME) would fire people up. Understandably the argument has been, ?Our chances of ever drawing one of the few tags available are hard enough. Why take these precious tags away from me and hurt my chances by selling the tag to the rich guy?? This is a question that I can surely identify with.
As you can probably tell already, today was a little slow at work and so I decided to do a little reading. I went to the DWR website and started reading the Utah Annual Big Game Report. It is an interesting read. I'm sure some of you have already read it. Here is the link?
http://wildlife.utah.gov/hunting/biggame/pdf/annual_reports/10_bg_report.pdf
The report has a section for each of Utah?s big game species. At the end of each section there is a graph that shows the number of hunters in the field for that specific species and how many of that species was harvested annually. The graphs did a great job of showing that in almost every species, there was a DRAMATIC increase in the number of hunters and number of animals harvested right after/around 1997. It was not like the numbers had been increasing since 1970 and we have gradually reached the numbers we are at today. Most of the numbers were growing very slowly or flat lining. Then in 1997 shot right up. (you should really look at the graphs they really make the point, but ill try to illustrate here) The following is the number of each species harvested in 1997 compared to the number harvested in 2010.
Rocky Mtn. Sheep went from 3 to 34!!!!
Rocky Mtn. Goats went from 19 to 110!!!!!
Desert Sheep went from 28 to 48!!!!!
Bull Moose went from 160 to 360!!!!!
Bull Elk went from 9,000 to 16,000!!!!!
I started thinking about this and wondered, what was it that caused this DRAMATIC increase? Was it the fact that a bunch of sportsman got on the internet and started calling each other names? That couldn't have been it; Al Gore barely had the internet going in 1997! Then I started reading about conservation tags. This is what I found? ?Since 1997, the Utah Conservation Permit Program has allowed more than $12 Million to enhance wildlife habitat, transplant and start new flocks and herds, and other on-the-ground activities. The Utah Conservation Permit program has contributed greatly to Utah?s dramatic increase in both quantity and quality of elk, moose, bighorn, bison, antelope, mule deer, goats, and wild turkey. 100% of your purchase price of a Conservation Permit voucher goes into wildlife conservation.? (http://www.sfw.net/in-action/)
Let me say that I am not a member of SFW nor have I ever been. I'm just an average guy who was curious about all the arguing and stumbled across some interesting numbers. Maybe I'm drinking the ?cool aid? SFW is making, but it seems to me that whatever they are doing IS working. I'm not saying they are perfect. I don't know if the directors are getting rich, driving new trucks, or passing some of the tags to their buddies, but really, I DON'T CARE! If they can increase my odds and my family?s odds of getting a OIL tag or a LE tag, God Bless ?em! I have been putting in for Deseret sheep for a long time. I would much rather see 4 of the 48 available tags raffled off every year to the rich guy (decreasing my odds by .001%) IF we can have 96 tags to draw from in 2022. (If we stay at 48 tags the only way I'll ever draw is if all you old guys putting in for sheep ahead of me die!)
If I'm wrong I would love to hear why, I am not pushing ANYBODY'S agenda, I just really want to know. But can we forgo the name calling and personal attacks? Didn?t we grow out of the ?my dad is stronger than your dad? stage a long time ago?
As you can probably tell already, today was a little slow at work and so I decided to do a little reading. I went to the DWR website and started reading the Utah Annual Big Game Report. It is an interesting read. I'm sure some of you have already read it. Here is the link?
http://wildlife.utah.gov/hunting/biggame/pdf/annual_reports/10_bg_report.pdf
The report has a section for each of Utah?s big game species. At the end of each section there is a graph that shows the number of hunters in the field for that specific species and how many of that species was harvested annually. The graphs did a great job of showing that in almost every species, there was a DRAMATIC increase in the number of hunters and number of animals harvested right after/around 1997. It was not like the numbers had been increasing since 1970 and we have gradually reached the numbers we are at today. Most of the numbers were growing very slowly or flat lining. Then in 1997 shot right up. (you should really look at the graphs they really make the point, but ill try to illustrate here) The following is the number of each species harvested in 1997 compared to the number harvested in 2010.
Rocky Mtn. Sheep went from 3 to 34!!!!
Rocky Mtn. Goats went from 19 to 110!!!!!
Desert Sheep went from 28 to 48!!!!!
Bull Moose went from 160 to 360!!!!!
Bull Elk went from 9,000 to 16,000!!!!!
I started thinking about this and wondered, what was it that caused this DRAMATIC increase? Was it the fact that a bunch of sportsman got on the internet and started calling each other names? That couldn't have been it; Al Gore barely had the internet going in 1997! Then I started reading about conservation tags. This is what I found? ?Since 1997, the Utah Conservation Permit Program has allowed more than $12 Million to enhance wildlife habitat, transplant and start new flocks and herds, and other on-the-ground activities. The Utah Conservation Permit program has contributed greatly to Utah?s dramatic increase in both quantity and quality of elk, moose, bighorn, bison, antelope, mule deer, goats, and wild turkey. 100% of your purchase price of a Conservation Permit voucher goes into wildlife conservation.? (http://www.sfw.net/in-action/)
Let me say that I am not a member of SFW nor have I ever been. I'm just an average guy who was curious about all the arguing and stumbled across some interesting numbers. Maybe I'm drinking the ?cool aid? SFW is making, but it seems to me that whatever they are doing IS working. I'm not saying they are perfect. I don't know if the directors are getting rich, driving new trucks, or passing some of the tags to their buddies, but really, I DON'T CARE! If they can increase my odds and my family?s odds of getting a OIL tag or a LE tag, God Bless ?em! I have been putting in for Deseret sheep for a long time. I would much rather see 4 of the 48 available tags raffled off every year to the rich guy (decreasing my odds by .001%) IF we can have 96 tags to draw from in 2022. (If we stay at 48 tags the only way I'll ever draw is if all you old guys putting in for sheep ahead of me die!)
If I'm wrong I would love to hear why, I am not pushing ANYBODY'S agenda, I just really want to know. But can we forgo the name calling and personal attacks? Didn?t we grow out of the ?my dad is stronger than your dad? stage a long time ago?