Cody-
Glad to see you are following in the footsteps of your old man and pretending to know the motives of anybody who disagrees with your position. The apple certainly did not fall far from the tree in that respect. No harm. I actually enjoy my discussions with you and DeLoss on these topics. I view it as an opportunity to share ideas and educate others as to what is happening in the great State of Utah.
I won't pretend to speak for others on this forum, but will tell you that my focus is not ?downing the SFW? as you claim. I am just an average guy that enjoys hunting, hiking, fishing, camping, etc. In recent years, I have become more involved in some of these issues, not because I want to torpedo a certain group or to further my own position. Rather, I saw something that I thought was broken and so I decided to try to make people aware of the problem and hopefully fix it. To use your words, I guess I was trying to ?attack and fix problems.?
Unfortunately, I believe that SFW, despite the many good things they do, is part of the problem here in Utah. As I explained before, it started with the complete lack of accounting and transparency on the Expo tags but it then expanded to other topics. A group of concerned sportsmen ? and I don't want to take credit for this because there were many people involved ? got together and presented a ?better model? or ?solution? as you would say to the Expo tag issue. Unfortunately, SFW and MDF resisted because they did not want to give up the benefits of receiving roughly $1 million a year from public assets with no strings attached. After a great deal of organizing, discussion, debating, meetings, etc., the two groups ultimately agreed to commit 30% of the Expo tag application fees to actual conservation. So this means that $1.50 (not $3) of every $5 application fee is now committed for approved conservation projects. Did we get everything we wanted? Nope. But it is a small step in the right direction. Would SFW and MDF have done this on their own without the public outcry for change? Nope. Have we given up on this issue? Nope.
During this process, I became aware of other issues that were concerning to me and others (e.g., # of convention permits, the North American Conservation Model, stream access, transfer of federal lands, etc). Once again, I felt like SFW was on the wrong side of these issues. Perhaps the most troubling realization to me was that SFW (and some other conservation groups) have so thoroughly infiltrated the DWR, the Wildlife Board and the entire political system that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to get anything done in Utah that is not in line with their agenda. Now, this is not a problem so long as your personal goals and ideals are aligned with SFW?s (think Cody and DeLoss). But good luck effecting or resisting any change that is in conflict with their agenda. Kudos to SFW. They know how to play the game, and they play it well. Unfortunately, they are now in a position to also change the rules to the game (think recent changes to Wildlife Board).
So coming full circle, there are many of us who are working to fix problems and come up with better models. Right or wrong, those ideas and proposals likely will not go anywhere under the current system unless they are consistent with SFW?s agenda. This has played out time and time again. So sportsmen like me have three choices: First, we can roll up our sleeves and continue to work to address the obvious problems we see ? fully knowing that it will be an uphill battle under the current system and will likely draw the ire of the SFW faithful. Second, we can turn a blind eye to the fundamental problems we see, join the SFW train, and pat ourselves on the back that ?our group? has the loudest voice in wildlife management in Utah. Third, we can give up and become another one of ?the average joes? that you continually mock because they don't care enough to get involved. Of those three choices, I have chosen Option 1. I hope this helps you see where I am coming from on these issues. I doubt it will change your views but it never hurts to try.
On a more positive note, Robiland and I found out today that we will be hunting Region G this fall. I am looking forward to chasing big deer on rough, steep mountains. Good luck to the rest of you this fall.
-Hawkeye-