>>Because thinking out of the box
>>with selling
>>Wildlife to the highest bidder has
>>worked so
>>Well for hunters and mule deer??
>>Tell that to the
>>100k deer and 150k hunters that
>>are gone.
>>
>>You believe everybody should sacrifice except
>>
>>Those that can gerrymander the process
>>or scratch
>>A big check??
>>
>>Will the hunter that kills the
>>last deer be a high
>>dollar
>>Hunter or Joe six pack??
>>
>
>Because of the value of the
>animal, he'll be a Joe
>six pack trying to become
>a high dollar hunter by
>poaching!
Excellent point!! However, and even Tri I think would agree, this is due the loss of what hunting was. Modern hunting has become about inches and points, not meat and experience. My dad and granddad wouldn't have passed a big 4 point to kill a little one, but we have all seen the pics with dudes in wool, carrying army surplus rifles, with old jeeps covered in huge deer. Ever hear the "scores" of these bucks? For that matter how many of them even kept horns? Antlers have become so valuable($305k) that poaching isn't about families needing food like back in the day, its now a multi million dollar "industry". What Tristate doesn't get, and not because he is azz, but because he lives in Texas, is that in Utah, at least for guys over 30, the deer hunt was a holiday(literally). It was "the hunt". The state used to shut down. It was an ingrained part of your DNA, 3rd week of Oct. was the hunt. It was a family gathering, time to meet with friends. People hunted the same place decade, after decade. Guys like Tristate talk about trophy classes or money saving deer, but what happened was we lost 150,000 voters. 150,000 tag buyers. 150,000 rifle buyers, bullet buyers, knife buyers, gas buyers, food buyers. We went from the 2nd LARGEST industry in the state of Utah to an afterthought. The DWR "needs" to sale tags like AI, because they aren't the big dog on the block anymore. We can't dictate to the state legislature that the loss of mule deer will cripple the state due to loss revenue to the overall economy, because WE are no longer that force. In the absence of 250,000 tag buying, money spending hunters, SFW spread its cancer. But its not about mule deer saving with them(check out HB151 in Alaska), its about a vision of private wildlife, owned by commercial entities, and sold to the highest bidder. Perhaps if you grew up in Texas, or wherever this seems normal, or natural, but my ancestors didn't stop in Texas, they kept going west in search of something better. If I, and many like us wanted to have Texas style game managment, we would ask guys like Tri, but he has zero grasp in what it means to be a Rocky Mtn. born man, and what hunting has to due with it. In the end, go look at the pic board on this site with the kids. That is what we are losing with the SFW model. That is what locking up the state in CWMU's is creating. That is what $305k tags will eliminate. Every hunter we lose due to cost, lost access, SFW dream of zero competion for their deep pockets, video games, or you name it, is one day closer to the loss of our heritage. I and Fishon, and many others realize that we need MORE. Not more trophy hunts, or LE units, WE NEED MORE HUNTERS, and the path that the trophy hunting, CWMU loving, SFW expo tag selling people are taking us is ultimatley the end of what we ALL love, HUNTING.
"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun"