From: "David M", [EMAIL PROTECTED] We have all seen articles in the press decrying hunters and hunting as blood thirsty rambos slaughtering poor defenceless animals with no thought to the future etc. Here's a couple of articles that put a different perspective. DM http://www.wheretoshoot.org HUNTING FEATURE ARTICLE: Word Count: 687 OUR UN-ENDANGERED SPECIES Perhaps no other segment of society has a greater awareness of civilization's impact on our natural resources than the hunter. It is the hunters of America who have carried the fight for wildlife conservation through the instigation of regulated hunting seasons and bag limits—reforms designed to protect our wildlife resources from overharvest. All species of wildlife that are hunted are secure today and most are far more numerous than they were before the turn of the century. The helping hand of the sportsman has increased the numbers of many kinds of wildlife to record proportions and has restored many species of game to parts of the country that had been stripped of native wildlife by commercial exploitation and unchecked development. As recently as 1900, the total white-tailed deer population of North America was estimated at about 500,000, following a study by the U. S. Biological Survey. Nearly every state in the nation had closed its deer hunting season, and a good number need not have bothered since there were so few deer to hunt. Massachusetts counted about 200 out on Cape Cod, New York claimed about 7,000 in the Adirondacks and Pennsylvania had a small herd centered in Potter County. In Delaware and New Jersey, deer were considered practically extinct. In contrast, by the early 1960's practically every state in the union allowed some form of whitetail deer hunting. Our nation's whitetail deer population is now estimated at around 18 million and today many of the largest trophy bucks are found in midwestern farming states which were a generation or so ago wholly without deer. In many states, expanding deer herds have created traffic hazards and caused crop damage. In 1987, the total legal deer harvest in the U.S. was more than 4.3 million, more than eight times the entire deer population of North America at the turn of the century. Only 45 years ago, the total U.S. population of pronghorn antelope was about 12,000. This species, which at one time may have outnumbered the buffalo, could not in 1920 be hunted legally anywhere on the continent. Today, however, there are more than 1 million and the pronghorn is once again a legal trophy for hunters in a dozen or more western states. The restoration of habitat, restocking of range and biological attention that protected and increased the antelope population were due mainly to the efforts and dollars of the American sportsman. Today there are more than 500,000 elk, or wapiti, in the nation, 12 times as many as there were in 1907 when elk were common only in and around Yellowstone National Park. More than 800,000 are now to be found in 16 states, and most western states have surpluses that can be hunted. Overpopulation on some ranges permits local restocking and, in Yellowstone National Park where the control effect of public hunting is prohibited, the elk multiplied so fast that they are destroying their range. The wild turkey, which had also disappeared from much of its native range early in this century, has now been restored in many states by hunter dollars. The national population of wild turkeys has increased from 97,000 in 1952 to over 4 million today; and 41 states can now offer spring and/or fall hunting for this traditional table trophy. And so on down the list. The fact is that no game bird or animal is endangered by hunting. Rather it is the helping hand of the sportsman that will protect and conserve these free roaming species of wildlife for the enjoyment of future generations. ------------------------------------------ HUNTING FEATURE ARTICLE: Word Count: 687 HUNTERS PAY FOR CONSERVATION Dating as far back as the 1800s, sportsmen have paid the lion's share for conservation. Through license fees and special excise taxes on hunting and fishing equipment, sportsmen currently contribute a staggering $3.5 million each day. The knowledge of how this money is gathered and how it is spent for the benefit of wildlife contributes greatly to an understanding of the overall conservation picture, and the hunter's important relationship to it. License fees are the largest portion of the hunter's contribution to state fish and game department,s presently furnishing them with some $950 million a year. Because of the many ways license fees are used for the benefit of all wildlife, the purchase of a hunting license, whether by a hunter or non-hunter, is one of the best contributions that can be made today for conservation. A highlight in conservation occurred in 1937 with the passage of the Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act. Strongly supported by hunters, this legislation transferred receipts from a 10 percent excise tax on sporting arms and ammunition from the general treasury to state wildlife conservation programs. This tax, which was raised to 11 percent during World War II, now yields $130 million each year. In 1970, again with hunter support, the Dingell-Hart Act was signed, making a 10 percent excise tax on handguns available for wildlife restoration, hunter safety training and shooting range construction. Proceeds from this tax provide more than $54 million a year. And in 1972, the Archery community entered them picture with passage of the Goodling-Moss Act, specifying an 11 percent excise tax on archery equipment with the $30 million in annual proceeds to be used in the same way as the proceeds of the handgun excise tax. The combination of these taxes has formed one of the best programs ever devised for the benefit of wildlife—game and non-game species alike—and has enabled the states to greatly expand their conservation activities. Nearly half the revenue from the P-R Act is used to improve wildlife habitat by planting feed and cover, restocking animals, constructing marshes and ponds for waterfowl, providing watering places for wildlife in arid areas, and the purchase or lease of wildlife lands. Almost every one of the 50 states has used P-R funds to obtain a total of over four million acres for wildlife refuges, wintering range, wetlands and public hunting grounds—more than the total acreage of the state of Connecticut. It is important to realize that land acquisition from taxes on sporting arms and ammunition provides the non-hunting public as well as the hunter with state-owned recreation grounds. They also benefit nongame species as well as hunted species. But the sportsman's efforts don't end there. Organized sportsmen are often the ones who put practical conservation to work in the individual woodlot, field or stream. It is estimated that hunters spend more than $250 million a year developing wildlife habitat on privately owned land. Hunters have earned their place in outdoor America. Surveys by the U.S. government show that hunters, along with fishermen, pour over $40 billion into the U.S. economy each year. Future generations will need a refuge of peace and quiet in the out-of-doors. They will want clean streams and lakes full of fish, and open spaces where they can spread a picnic lunch and encourage their children to discover the outdoors. This is the future that hunters are shooting for—a future that only wise conservation can provide. This should be the concern of all Americans—hunters and non-hunters alike. Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ____________________________________________________________ T O P I C A -- Learn More. Surf Less. Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose. http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01
